If you notice in all of these pictures that Ram man seems to be doing a lot of standing around, it’s because this new Ram Man is, unfortunately, living up to the precedent set by his vintage figure.
Ram Man has always been one of my favorite characters. I love the sheer simplicity of his shtick: here’s a guy who hits things with his head. He is exceptional at this thing he does. All of the Masters of the Universe are specialists at what they do. Some people have big fists, some can spin around really fast, some are good at clamping. But Ram Man is the best “hits things with his head” guy around, and he is by Eternia going to pattern his life around that skill.
My original exposure to Ram Man was in the original Mini-comic that seemed way more prevalent than any other Mini-comic. It was entitled “He-Man meets Ram Man” and yes, He-man did indeed meet Ram Man. He met the bidness end of his head, is what he done did. And then Skeletor magicked the crap out of Ram Man so he would pound his head into the front gate of Castle Grayskull over and over. Because Skeletor’s unique ability was to make batshit crazy plans.
“This guy…yes…this guy hits things with his head. I must use that ability…for eeeeeeeeevil.”
Followed by ten minutes of cackling.
Anyway, Ram Man was an armored gladiator looking guy with a helmeted head and an axe whose legs were ribbed for everybody’s pleasure and I needed that figure asap. Well, I got him, and he Rammed, man. He rammed a lot. It was really all he could do, because he was one of the least articulated Masters of the Universe characters that ever mastered his universe. His arms were cantilevered, and his legs sunk into his torso, making him even squatter than he already was. And much like Charlton Heston, a trigger made him boioioioing.
Masters of the Universe Classics finally gave me a fully articulated Ram Man like I had always wanted. Along comes Masters of the Universe Origins, with freshly articulated takes on all of those vintage figures, and there I was, hoping that I’d have a figure that looked vintage, but wasn’t held back by his 80’s action feature. With modern toynology he could still boioioioing while also having articulated legs, right?
Well, yes, he could, but he doesn’t. Instead, his legs are fused at the crotch. Oh, that are no longer one solid piece like ye olde Rammy. They are technically separated, and he bends at the knees, but the lack of ankles adds to the general disappointing feeling of the toy. He can stand there, he can maybe kick a leg back a little, but he, like his vintage counterpart, remains frustrating.
Upon learning he was a deluxe, I was thinking his deluxe status would be a necessity to give him a brand new sculpt with mobile legs that improved on the original. But despite the addition of knees and the additional points of articulation at the arms and neck, he is still held back by his action feature, a feature that could have still been made to work alongside mobile legs, not in lieu of them.
The action feature does work well. Not having a trigger, you just push his legs up into his torso to lock them, and push again to release. The spring inside has some bounce to it, so you could probably kill someone with him. Ok, you won’t even bruise anybody, but you can definitely knock over a few other figures with him.
Despite that, I have to conclude that Ram Man ends up being a bit of a bummer in a string of what feel like successes. Now despite it seeming like I am, I don’t want to be too much of a buzzkill. It’s only my own expectations that drag him down. As a slightly updated version of his vintage figure, he pretty much does what you need, as long as you don’t expect too much more out of him. His arms are definitely better, and he has knees that…well, allow him to put either leg slightly behind the other one, which doesn’t do much for balance.
Ram Man comes with two axes, one single bladed and one double. The single is vintage accurate, the double is a nice bonus. He comes with a second head that has a little more armor on his face. It’s a nice inclusion but not something I’ll ever use on mine. Finally, he comes with a second gripping hand to replace his left hand fist for dual axe wielding.
I don’t regret getting the figure as he’s a necessary entry into the MotU world, but the concessions with the legs cut down on the “fun” factor that the rest of the line has provided. It just doesn’t go that “above and beyond vintage” that the rest of the line does. When it came down to creating a few action pictures with him the inspiration just wasn’t there. I already want them to revisit him with a better leg setup.
