This Savage Henchman is not taking orders from anyone. ANYONE.
While nothing ascends above Masters of the Universe Classics for me, I really love to see new and different kinds of product executions from the property that I love so dearly. Be it plush, clothing, vinyl, or other, the promotion of the brand is very important since it does not have a current media tie-in (save for an ongoing comic), and we get some diverse products along the way from a myriad of different companies.
The home team is getting in on the action a bit too, and Mattel has been producing the MOTU mini figures all year to add a, ahem, little diversity, but starting in September, the Matty team decided to go big too. The result is the MOTU Giants line, and Beastman finishes off their offerings for 2014 in fine style. If you have been following the chatter online, you know that this line has been met with varied opinions, and each individual figure has had its own share of conversation as well. If you saw our look that the Giant Stratos figure, you know that I was a little split on him; I found good points and areas that could be improved. However, I find Beastman to be a more successful figure and I would say he is at the top of the heap for best Giant figure thus far.
I say that because, since I ordered the one-time shipping subscription, I have not gotten He-Man or Skeletor yet. I think that if any figure is going to give Beastman a run for his money, it will be Skeletor, but I will let you know my thoughts on that in the coming days. For now, we can keep the focus on Beastman and consider his design qualities and how they lend themselves well to this line. I have always found the bad guys in the MOTU pantheon much more engaging, and their colors and shapes certainly add to that. When you blow that up to several times the original size of the vintage line, it can be fun to experience those qualities all over again.
Let’s face it, we have all grown up (at least physically) since we played with the original MOTU toy line. As we have grown up, so have our toys, but nostalgia is a big part of this line, so it is walking a balance of old and new. One of my particular beefs with Stratos is that I feel he does not follow the recreation of the vintage figure to a tee, and I think that is something that is VERY important in a line like this. The overall feeling is there, but there are a few details (like the feet) that just don’t capture the shape and look of the vintage figure as well as they could. I am happy to say that I find Beastman to be much more successful in this and several of the issues I have with Stratos have been corrected here, just by virtue of the differences being more conducive to creating a successful Beastman figure.
But just to get it out of the way, I will say that both the wrong feet and the break line in the legs are still present here, and they are no more appropriate on Beastman than they were for Stratos. Neither of these are deal breakers, but for the feet in particular, I wish the letter of the vintage figure was followed more closely and we were given the “rounded” feet of yore. I get it, the toes are probably more visually interesting and certainly more accurate to the character, so, for any other line, I would be fine. However, I think the ethos (or at the very least, implied ethos) of this line is to provide a pure recreation of the vintage figures, despite the warts and limitations, at a larger scale. I know, I might be a stickler, but I think that Skeletor will offer all of those things, so I hope to see for sure seen. As it stands, though, I still like Beastman quite a lot.
Like I said, I am a sucker for the bad guys, and the Evil Warriors remain my favorite MOTU faction to this day. I have always thought Beastman to be a dynamic design, and his angry scowl and bright colors helped make him one of the most popular MOTU characters of all time. While Mer-Man was always my favorite, Beastman was most certainly a staple, and he makes Strato’s grey look even more muted by comparison. Aside from the couple of continuing quibbles I mentioned, I think everything else has come together very well and in true style. My favorite piece is the head sculpt, and it is painted just like you remember! That is where so much of the personality of the figure comes from, and I am glad it is retained here.
Beastman does include his requisite accessories in his armor and black whip. Both of them are fine representations and a accurate updates of the originals. The armor fits well and it looks good on Beastman, though I am not completely sure why he is packaged without it on, I suppose he is taking a page from Webstor’s book in that sense, or is there a packaging variant from the vintage line that I am not aware of? Speaking of packaging, Beastman’s card is identical to Stratos’, so if you like that one, this will not disappoint.
I am interested to get my hands on He-Man and Skeletor from this line; I think they will represent the strongest and weakest offerings, but I think Beastman is solid too. I certainly prefer him to Stratos, and that is not just the bad guy sympathizer in me talking. As it stands, Beastman is the last figure in Giants line that we know of, but Zodac was teased, so hopefully the line will continue. I would like to get the entire “8-Back” and especially Mer-Man — he will be awesome in this scale.
Beastman goes on sale at Matty Collector on December 15th.
*Thanks for reading and thanks to the team at Mattel for sending Beastman along for a First Look.
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