Masters of the Universe has done a pretty good job of offering up several very stylistically different heads for our toys. In the beginning they were consistently offering at least two head choices per figure when it was appropriate — Mer-Man in particular benefited from this by finally getting us the extraordinarily welcome cardback head — but later toys have missed out on golden opportunities for dual heads. Options are awesome. With head packs now a thing, there are more avenues than ever before for us to get the precise look that we want from our toys.
Over time I’ve accumulated a box full of extra heads. When the correct opportunity presented itself, I tried to buy two figures of characters where I was fond of both heads. For instance, I’m fond of Man-At-Arms being both Tom Sellecked-up and smooth-of-lip, so I needed two of him; and I really dig having two versions of Mer-Man — but many times there’s only one head I preferred and didn’t bother buying a second. Characters like Bow fall into this category. While having the option to display him with his toy head is nifty, that’s not the Bow I choose to show. But again, the option was there.
There have been several releases that could have benefited from the inclusion of a second head. The much-maligned SDCC exclusive Filmation Hordak could have easily come with both the standard head and a second animated Filmation-styled head that pretty much everyone considered to be the point of the figure. I’m actually quite fine with the use of the regular head as-is, but I totally get how people wold want the cartoon head on the cartoon-colored body. Maybe at some point a full Filmation Hordak can be released so adult collectors can stop using the term “Failmation.”
Rio Blast was . . . well, there was a lot wrong with him, so much that a second head probably couldn’t cure all of his woes. But he’s another case where a genuine vintage-inspired head would have been a welcome alternative to the radically different head we did get. While I can appreciate it from an aesthetic viewpoint, I have a certain idea of who I want characters to look like, and Sam Elliot is not really my go-to for Rio.
Let’s be honest: these toys are stupid expensive. The price of shipping doesn’t help at all, so while we continue to get reamed by Digital River because of what I can only assume is the fact that these toys are shipped from Mars and we’re paying for rocket fuel, any little extra that allows us to point at our figure and say, “Yep, total package,” is appreciated. And while I get that Masters of the Universe is a niche that’s growing nichier and nichier as the years pass, a little extra value is always welcome. My Fisto will never wear a crown and I look at those who choose for him to wear a crown warily out of the corner of my eye, but everyone can have the flavor of Fisto on their shelf that they want, which made Fisto one of the more standout figures in the entire line.
Let’s take He-Man for instance. Over time we’ve been able to get a fair amount of He-Man heads in addition to the initial Classics head. But He-Man changes so often depending on the media that I wonder if you can truly have “enough” He-Man noggins. Getting the vintage-inspired head with this year’s sub Exclusive Oo-larr was a huge deal as it immediately took over as my main He-Man head in a head-to-head battle that left one head ahead and one head aching. Having scratched the itch for the vintage head and the Alcala-styled head that came on the aforementioned Oo-larr, I’m still missing a very important “look” for He-Man: Texeira.
If you’re a mini-comic worshipper like me, then Alcala isn’t the only guy whose vision of He-Man is emblazoned in your brain. Mark Texeira depicted a fierce, long-haired warrior He-Man that was just as intimidating as the Alcala-styled one. It’s a neck-and-neck race between Alcala and Texeira for which He-Man I see when I close my eyes and think of barely naked men in loincloths, which doesn’t happen all that often, but when it happens, I’m not quite sure which head he has. Toys have screwed me up in so many ways, man. I’d love to see that head run through the Four Horsemen grinder and see what pops out the other side.
In fact, As many He-Man heads as we’ve managed to get, his nemesis Skeletor is another who needs several more heads. While Alcala’s take on Skeletor was truly frightening and easily stands atop all others for what I envision when I see Skeletor — even overtaking the vintage toy, which says a lot — Texeira did a great version of him as well. He has more of a traditional skull look to him than either the vintage toy or the Alcala head, but it is still iconic to me.
I’d also love to see a George Tuska Skeletor head, as depicted in the 1982 DC Mini-series. As inked by Alcala, it has much in common with those first four mini-comics Alcala illustrated, but there’s a subtle Castle Grayskull vibe to his face, as if Skeletor was the first Castle Grayskullman.
No list of important artists to tackle He-Man and Skeletor could be complete without Earl Norem. While there’s only subtle differences in how Norem depicted the pair, there is enough of a difference to warrant plastic interpretations of them. His take was like realistic versions of the toy heads. I like the idea of that, and I can see how that could make a great toy even better.
And I can’t forget the live action movie. While we may never get real movie versions of Skeletor and He-Man, maybe we can get something pretty close. The movie rights may be off the table, and Lundgren’s likeness might be forbidden, but if we can get Val Kilmer as Flipshot, then we might be able to get something fairly close — close enough, anyway. And a good Langellator really doesn’t require anything except for some ingenuity and a bit more white instead of yellow. I know this is even nichier than the nichiest of niches, but who stops at half a dream when they’re dreaming their dreams?
But even if we go past He-Man and Skeletor, there are plenty of other characters that could benefit from having more options for heads. While we’ve gotten two heads for Ram Man, I’d dig one that is a little less . . . squinty. Maybe one with a bit of gritted teeth like in his mini-comic appearance. Ram Man has had enough of your crap and will hit you with his head, and you will like it.
How about a sexy Teela with her long, red hair down, like Alcala depicted her in one of the earliest mini-comics? Or a Texeira Beast Man that had a bit more human in it, which made him somehow creepier?
The new Filmation-styled figures will be covering a lot of ground with cartoon accuracy, but there is still a lot of room to play around with all the various media interpretations of these characters. Whether it’s in head packs or pack-in heads, I hope Mattel doesn’t let a lot of great opportunities pass. Look at it this way: ever head deserves a body, every body is another sale, and every sale is more cash in Mattel’s pocket. Win win. A new head can reinvigorate a character, or it can make him an entirely new character, depending on your whim.