One of the cool things about Masters of the Universe Classics is that even when there is a drought of official news, there are always plenty of cool happenings with things that can make your collection even better.
We have been on a roll lately highlighting some awesome 3rd Party MOTUC pieces by AlessandraF, DJ Force, and others, but now I want to take you on a spin back to an old Friend of the Fwoosh – The Castle of Power. Many of you might know CoP by another name: Zombihamma. “Zombihamma” has been the online moniker of the insanely talented Mat O’Toole for a long time, and he has been a Fwoosher for a very long time. When he is not busy working on little films such as The Hobbit, he makes awesome add-on kits for MOTU Classics. Now, Matt K and I have highlighted some of Mat’s work before, but just by chance, both of us have recently acquired some new pieces, so this week felt like a good time to catch up. Whether you are a fan of digging deep into MOTU history for some Classics realization or if you are more about expanding beyond the proper Masters boarders, we have some cool stuff to show.
I am going to kick it all off with a look at a couple of items that are new to the CoP shop – the aptly dubbed Guerr-or and Mat’s take on the ever-popular (and very MOTU compatible) Conan. Both of these characters are right in Mat’s wheelhouse in terms of playing to his strengths as an artist, and since he has an appreciation for MOTU lore and history, these two pieces (especially Guerr-or) are a perfect storm of creativity and execution that make for a couple of very easy additions to your Classics shelves.
GUERR-OR
With King Grayskull, Vikor, Wun-Dar, and Vykron already on our shelves, and Oo-Larr coming early next year, the history of the character of He-Man has been brought to life in thorough fashion via Classics. That is what is so cool about the ethos of Classics – it gives us an opportunity to mine corners of Masters history for the first time in plastic. With those previous versions accounted for, there is one glaring omission currently left undone:
That is an unarticulated statue by sculptor Tony Guerrero that is thought to be the influence on the original He-Man design that made it all the way to the prototype stage. While “Vykron” was a mock-up and Vikor was a drawing, this piece is an actual physical point in the toy-rendering process of creating the original He-Man figure. To say that it is a big part of Masters history would be an understatement, and while the horned helmet was eventually abandoned for the blonde pageboy hair, you can clearly see most of the physical elements of the vintage He-Man figure taking shape:
So why has this version not made it into Classics yet? Well, it is possible that Mattel and Horsemen just have not gotten around to it yet, but there are also rumors that Mattel cannot prove or corroborate ownership of the piece, so it is, at the very least, in limbo, or even potentially off-limits from a legal perspective. So while that stinks for those of us that love MOTU history, don’t go kicking that rock just yet because, as you can probably guess by now, the Castle of Power has you covered!
If you order this piece (you have the option of having it delivered painted or unpainted), you get Mat’s take on the striking head sculpt (complete with helmet) from that original Guerrero sculpture (hence the name Guerr-or). The head fits right on a standard Classics body (in the case of this review, He-Man was used) and without over-simplifying, there you have it: your very own Tony Guerrero-style He-Man that will fit in perfecly on your shelf. I painted the gauntlets and belt silver with red and blue (Tamiya paint red and sky blue match Mat’s colors pretty perfectly) highlights to match the source material, and I am now good to go for this piece. Now, as you can see in the original sculpt, this He-Man is not wearing boots, instead foregoing them for painted-on shoes. If you want to hit even more accurate to the source material, Oo-Larr’s shins will go perfectly with the standard boot feet when he is released next year, so plan on picking up an additional one to complete the look here.
If you are familiar with Mat’s work at all, you know you will be getting a fantastic sculpt and a great paint job to go with it. He certainly has a style that has a few signatures here and there so you can identify his work, but Mat has really pulled the feel of that original sculpt into this piece that balances well with the Classics aesthetic. You can see the quality and the detail in the pictures and everything holds up really well under intense magnification. This is a more savage He-Man than Adam has been portrayed recently, but the clenched teeth and angry expression will take you right back to that vintage He-Man figure because little changed as far as the face goes from that sculpt to the final figure.
Since the Classics canon is written with “He-Man” being more of a title, this will allow you to incorporate “Guerr-or” into your Masters world as a previous guardian of Grayskull, while preserving Adam as the one we all know and love. I think he fits in between Vikor and Vykron (who is a He-Man in my canon) in terms of timeline and is more of a warrior from the south as opposed to Vikor’s northern origins. His helmet makes a nice transition between Vikor’s and the “chalice” style helmet of Vykron as well. I love how nicely this pulls everything together; I just need to come up with a good name for him.
CONAN
Let’s make no bones about it, getting a Masters of the Universe compatible Conan the Barbarian head is kind of like coming full circle. It is no secret that the Conan movie craze from the early 1980s helped spark a wave of barbarian/fantasy craze, and the timing of Masters of the Universe was no accident. In fact, the two properties made for expected bedfellows, but if you are fan of the genre, the more the merrier and there is room for all comers as far as I am concerned. Anyway, it is a no-brainer that Conan can and will slip seamlessly into your Masters collection.
This Conan takes its influence straight from Frank Frazetta, but Mat has certainly given us his own take on the character and has “Classicized” him up a bit. The face is still very square and imposing, but his hair has been trimmed a bit, and, if you take a cue from Masters lore, it almost looks like this Conan has taken a roundabout influence from He-Man himself. This makes for an interesting interpretation and a bit of backwards inspiration as He-Man spurred out of the Conan craze, so too does this Conan take thanks (in appearance, anyways) from the He-Man trend. I rather like that thought and it makes it all come full circle with a Conan head that will fit right onto a Vikor body and never look back. This was almost meant to be.
However, if Conan isn’t your bag, or you have no need to bring him into your He-Man collection, I find that this custom head makes for a great alternative to official Wun-Dar head. Over the years I have heard some lament the fact that Wun-Dar only got a repaint of the standard He-Man in the Classics line, even though that was accurate to the vintage design. Well, if you are in that boat, this head bears more than a passing resemblance to He-Man, so it is close enough to keep with the Wun-Dar theme, but just different enough that it is not a blatant repaint:
Having multiple options to one piece is always a good thing, and if you want to diversify an existing figure, this should foot the bill nicely. Wun-Dar’s tagline is “Savage He-Man,” so this piece does a great job bringing that to the next level. I do want to mention that this same sculpt it available in “blonde” as well and is called “Alcal-Or” on the Facebook page. So, if you want He-Man himself (Adam) to toughen up a bit, you can certainly have that too.
I am on a high of customs and 3rd Party sets right now; they are really helping me build an even more diverse collection than I am getting on a monthly basis, and that is saying something because Classics is fantastic in terms of offerings. Mat has been giving us all kinds of cool additions, and I love it whenever he debut’s something new. Hmm… At any rate, check out the Castle of Power Facebook page because there is probably something there you will want to have in your collection, and keep it right here: Matt K will be here on Friday to bring you another piece from this very talented MOTU fan!
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