The New Masters of the Universe Classics (MOTUC) figures are starting to reach conusmers. I’ve been anxiously awaiting the arrival of these figures for some time now. Do they live up to my expectations? Read on for pics and opinion!
I suppose I should start off my review with my He-Man fan pedigree. I don’t have much of one. I had a bunch of the toys as a kid and watched the show every day religously. I haven’t seen the show in years, though. I did not collect the 200X line of figures (though I did buy a bunch for custom fodder), so this is my first forray into the Masters line as an adult collector.
I do remember seeing to first prototype MOTUC He-Man at Mattel’s booth in 2007, but it wasn’t the highlight of the con for me or anything. Still over the years of announcements and prototype shots, my anticipation began to build. Now that they arrived at my doorstep, what do I think? Have they lived up to the hype?
In a word, yes.
He-Man
First off it’s so nice to have a He-Man figure that actually can stand up like a normal person. Well, a roided up normal person, but you get the point. He-Man shares a lot of the same parts as the 2008 SDCC exclusive King Greyskull (KGS), but unfettered by the cape, long hair and longer loincloth of KGS, He-Man is quite a bit more poseable than his ancestor and consequently, a lot more fun to play with. I got serious nostalgia vibes when I pulled this figure out the package. Strains of the theme tune and Prince Adam’s opening narration from the old cartoon played in the back of my mind as I placed He-Man in his classic "I have the POWERRRR!" pose. He-Man has the same level of atriculation as a standard DC Universe Classics (DCUC) figure with a couple notable exceptions.
First of all like most DCUC figures, he has the rocker ankles – the ankles tilt from side to side. Unlike most DCUC figures, however, these rocker ankles actually work! They don’t have the range of some of the Toybiz Marvel Legends figures, but there is a definite improvement from KGS and most DCUC figures. The rocker ankles help He-Man keep solid footing as you start messing with his poses. The hips are also a bit different than the DCUC figures. These guys have ball hip joints. It’s a little different than the usual ball hip though, in that the front of the leg actually covers up the front of the ball joint. I think this a nice take on the ball hip joint that is aesthetically pleasing while retaining a nice range of motion. He-Man also has a twist joint at his boot cuff. The rest of the articulation is standard DCUC, but I was impressed by the range of motion in the ab crunch and arms on He-Man. One of my action figure pet peeves is figures can’t hold their arms at their sides a lot of times because the arms are too big or the articulation isn’t engineered right. He-Man’s arms are as big as they come, but he can hold a resting pose nicely. It’s worth noting that all of He-Man’s articulation worked great out of the package with no frozen joints or loosness. He holds poses great!
The paint for He-Man’s skin is a nice combo of flesh colored plastic with airbrush highlights to bring out the muscle detail. There isn’t anything flashy, but it gets the job done. Like the original figures, He-Man also has a removeable harness. While I don’t see myself using this feature, it’s a nice nod to previous lines. Even though it’s removeable, it holds in place fine on the figure and isn’t too thick so as to look odd when on the figure or hinder articulation. It’s also useful in that you can store his weapons and shield back there just like the old toys. I have mixed feelings about the weapons. I do like that they are made from a really stiff plastic and they fit the figure well, however I wish there was a little more texture detail there.
The headsculpt is my favorite aspect of this figure. The sculptor did a great job capturing the spirit of the ambiguous expression of the original figure. Is he grimacing, growling, gritting his teeth or half smiling? Who knows, but it’s definitely He-Man. I like the updated tousled hair which gives his pageboy haircut more of a ‘Conan’ look rather than the ‘Dutchboy’ look from the old cartoons. He definitely has a very solid barbarian look, making this the toughest looking He-Man I’ve seen. Out of the two figures released December 1st, I was looking forward to Beast Man more. I already had KGS and He-Man seemed so close to KGS, that I was ready for something new. Even as a kid, I favored the more monsterous characters in MOTU, finding He-Man a little less interesting. Mattel and The Four Horsemen have made a He-Man that is just as cool and exciting as the crazier monsters of Eternia, a He-Man that looks like he is ready to kick butt and take names.
Beastman
A favorite figure of mine as a child gets an amazing update here. Beasty has pretty much the same articulation as He-Man, the difference being Beast Man has no mid-calf articulation. He can also stand up straight, but I really don’t think he looks right out of a crouch. Your mileage may vary. Like He-Man, the articulation has a great range of motion and worked well straight out of the package. Unlike He-Man, though he has a couple of loose joints. The twist at the top of the leg is a little floppy on my figure. Beasty is capable of a wide variety of poses even with the looseness, however. Definite hand candy. I’ve been playing with this figure since I got it and I’m having a blast setting him up in different attack poses. Beast Man’s loincloth is a little more flexible than He-Man’s so it’s easier to get him in crouching and sitting poses. I hope that future releases use the same flexible plastic for this area. Beast Man has a nicely detailed sculpt with great texture details on his armor and the toothy spikes on that armor. The fur detail on his body and his harness are well done and are highlighted by washes and drybrushing. The Harness and Shoulder armor are removeable, but he looks a little silly without the things for my money. The headsculpt is appropriately menacing and the paintjob on his toothy growl is amazingly clean. Factories have a hard time with this kind of paint job, but they got it right this time. The overall effect is a nasty, growling, monster-man of a figure. Perfect Beast Man.
The combination of 4 Horsemen sculpting, DCUC articulation and Classic He-Man designs works as well in practice as it sounded in theory. Well, it works for this particular action figure fanatic that loved MOTU as a kid at any rate. While it is nice to not have to search the stores, the shipping does add to the cost and makes these fairly pricey figures. If you have a local buddy interested in this line, you might want to team up and split an order – shipping for two figures is the same as it is for one, so you can split the cost. I, for one, am sold on this line and could see buying for as long as they make them. Skeletor is up next January 15 and I can’t wait!
Here are a few more pics.
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