I can't believe I still find myself revisiting this line, but it's the one I keep on display, and looks most cohesive with current growing Super7 lines. I've fallen into occasional rabbit holes of filling gaps that I've had in the collection. Most recent acquisitions include Pt Dread Teela, Grizzlor, Mantenna, blue Hordak, Super7 Filmation Hordak, TriKlops, Merman. This week Modulok arrived, and Stinkor and Roboto are coming.
Aesthetically, I still think these are the best MotU figures. Based on articulation, not so much. Value, forget about it, these are the worst. I'm finally starting to see some prices depreciate, which is how I've managed to score some of these that had been out of my range for a while. Masterverse has this line beat on articulation and value for sure. But as often as they make killer versions, Masterverse still pales just a bit next to the iconic Four Horsemen sculpts of the Classics line.
Classics to this day is my absolute favorite action figure line ever. And that's saying something, considering all the great lines there have been. But since I was a kid, MOTU has always been my favorite toy line and brand (TMNT Is an extremely close second, but MOTU wins.)
And while the vintage collection has so much Nostalgia, and then current things like Origins and Masterverse are so fun, and so cool, Classic is still just the perfect MOTU line
I always liked the body/buck for the Classics figures, and their articulation. They just looked and moved perfect to me, for what they needed to be for a big barbarian warrior toy line for adult collectors.
I'm glad you're going back and getting some that you'd missed NORM. They are such great figures, and honestly just great pieces of art.
Do you have a favorite figure out of all the Classics you have NORM? And is there a figure you don't have from Classics that you want most at this point?
I know there are a lot of bad memories of the process of collecting this line because of our old friend Digital River and Mattycollector, but I enjoyed the collection process so much. It was just so much fun getting a new figure each month (sometimes more!). Some of those figures were lifetime grails for me, such as Shadow Weaver (never before made) and the Sorceress (I never had the vintage figure). Tri-Klops was my first figure so I got in fairly early on the line, thankfully. As soon as they revealed the first subscription I got in on that too. I guess that's why I wasn't as annoyed with Mattycollector as some were.
I will never be a fan of Scott Neitlich because of his huge ego, but I give him credit for getting all the major unique characters from the PoP line done in their cartoon looks. That was a huge accomplishment that I don't think we will ever see with another line again.
My biggest regret from MOTUC is that they didn't get through all of the New Adventures characters, especially my favorite, Spinwit.
@supercamel-1982 Currently, the big hole in my collection is Mekaneck. He's still in the $100 range, while most figures have come down from that. I don't necessarily WANT him, but he's the omission right now. I'd also love to have the cartoon colors Sorceress. I have the comic colors (all white) but I never loved that wing construction. She's also still asking for big bucks. I also have the Filmation version, which is really nice.
I need to sit down and really think about what my favorite figure is. If I were to spit one out off the top of my head, probably Ram Man, thanks to the unique sculpt and build. I have a lot more than I ever planned on (originally cherry picked, then went for the ones from the original line, then wound up caving on so many that were deeply discounted, and the collection tripled).
I feel you on the Mekanek front. I had a custom character I really wanted an extra Mekanek for but couldn't source one at anything close to normal price. Obviously, it's not quite as bad as not having one at all, but it would be nice for you first, and then for me, if the price would fall back to earth.
I agree on The New Adventures of He-Man figures. I wish they could have finished them, and I really wanted Nocturna. I also wish we could have got a figure of Dragoon. I have always wanted Dragoon from the classic Filmation Cartoon. Maybe we will get an Origins Dragoon someday.
Fair warning that I'm going to throw a little negativity on here. But not just for the sake of it - just as a reflection on the line this far out. Totally fair if anyone doesn't want to read negativity and if so - It was a great line overall and you should stop reading here.
I've sold basically all of my MOTUC figures (and because the AF market in this part of Canada is fucking gaaaaaarbage, I sold them for a lot less than they tend to go for). There's a few I got rid of during just 'purge mode' that I kind of wish I hadn't. But for the most part I don't really miss any of them. I've only kept two He-Mans and Blade at this point, and Blade is now on the chopping block.
The reasons for this were pretty varied. Part of it was just faulty figures. So many of my He-Man-boots figures got weak ankles over time and it became a source of major frustration. Little things also started to bother me like figures not having extra hands and limited poseability - so you end up with a lot of people standing around giving the thumbs up. One of my favorite figures/characters - Tri-Klops - had his ankle basically fall apart while just standing in a neutral pose on the shelf and that REALLY pissed me off and spurned on a big purge.
Blade, one of my other all-time favorite characters, got such a shitshow of a figure and it actually made me angrier the longer I owned him.
It just started to feel like the entire line was a house of cards. It was built more on the idea that it was so expansive that it not only had never happened before, it very likely would never happen again. And that allowed figures, especially later in the line, to be kind of phoned in or shitty in ways they didn't need to be, and that would have been very easy to fix if Mattel and Scott had cared to. And they didn't. It just became a game of releasing figures that were 60% good enough because they knew we'd all buy it.
I'll also admit that I can, sometimes, be the type of collector that straight up gets tired of things if I look at them for too long. The best thing I can do to not make regret-sales is rotate my collection so everything spends at least some significant amount of time in storage. Then it always feels a bit fresher when it's out on display. But also, figures stored in bins for long periods always seem to come out with some loose joints or warps or whatever and that sucks too.
That being said, one of the figures I've kept all this time is the original (actually the fixed re-release) He-Man, with the variant toy-style (and Alcala-style, I have both) head. And to me that is still very nearly the perfect He-Man figure. I have that and the Battle Armor He-Man, and I swap the two heads between them whenever they're on display and I still love them a lot. Kind of wish I'd kept a few other favorites like Mer-Man and Skeletor - but again I went on kind of a rage-purge when Tri-Klops broke.
It does help that Origins came along and, in my opinion, did a lot of what Classics did that was so interesting to me; an expansive line with creatures and vehicles and playsets. Obviously not as expansive as Classics, and almost certainly never will be. But hilariously they're more poseable than Classics so.. a trade-off, I guess. Classics was an incredible line, but I don't think it was incredible because individually the figures were incredible. Some were. Many were not. But it's still very special and deserves a lot of the praise it gets.
I love my MOTUC collection. I'm just waiting for someone to come along and make an affordable Castle Grayskull KO.
Same questions Super Camel presented goes out to you all - What was your favorite figure(s) from the line, and are there any gaps you're still looking to fill?
So - the only Mattel release from the line that I didn't get, and I don't know why and I wish I had is Arrow, Bow's horse. It's a dumb miss, and I probably should have ordered multiples so I could customize some of the other mounts from the property. But I didn't.
The one I'm actually saddest I didn't get was from the first round of Super7 releases, the Ultimates Teela. At the time I decided I didn't need the Ultimates since I had all the original Classics figures - but man oh man - I wish I had just ordered all of them. But Teela is the one I actively want the most. The extra head makes it so much more desirable and such a better figure. Also the Ultimates Ram-Man in his different colored outfit. I regret not having that one now as well. In hind sight I wish I had just ordered the entire first run of Ultimates re-issues. That was a big miss.
I skipped a lot of the Filmation versions of characters when I already had the Classics version. I didn't love the simplified cartoon aesthetic of most of them. The only one of those I kind of regret skipping is the Filmation Grizzlor. I kind of like the look and the non-furry execution of his look that differentiates him from the Classics version. I wouldn't have minded grabbing that after all either.
As for favorite figure from the line... man that's so hard. There are so many great figures - a top handful for me are - Fisto, Buzz off (with his 200x head), Demo Man and Filmation color Hordak (the Mattel repaint, not the later Super7 Filmation line figure).
Same questions Super Camel presented goes out to you all - What was your favorite figure(s) from the line, and are there any gaps you're still looking to fill?
It's so lame but I genuinely think the corrected version of regular He-Man is the best figure in the line. It's just .. iconic. It's beautiful. Any issues that crop up with this body type of whatever on later figures just aren't present here because this is THE figure for this body and it just works. As I said above - I kept it. This is still very much my default He-Man and one of my favorite figures in my entire collection. Even without the better head options that came later, it's too good for any MOTU fan to pass up.
Another I'll point out is Mer-Man. Mer-Man was an absolutely beautiful, near-perfect figure. And Scareglow. I never cared a lot about the character, but that figure was incredible and even with 100-odd figures on display, he commanded some shelf presence. But I'd also argue that probably the whole first year or so of releases were mostly straight bangers, and plenty into late 2009 and early 2010 as well.
@theknightdamien which was the corrected version of regular He-Man? I’m not as well versed in subtle variations like that.
@theknightdamien which was the corrected version of regular He-Man? I’m not as well versed in subtle variations like that.
Don't quote me on this but I think it was the third time they released the basic He-Man. Maybe 2011? The first version had the really red face and swapped shoulders. The second version fixed the shoulders but still had too much red around the eyes. The third version had the fixed shoulders and a better face. Also, if I recall correctly, the third version was generally not quite as 'shiny' (in terms of the plastic quality/type) as the previous two. Someone can absolutely correct me if I'm misremembering any of this.
If I had to pick a favorite, it'd have to be He-Man himself. He's THE guy, and exactly how I picture he's supposed to look. Especially with the retro head that came with the Ultimate re-release.
But my surprise favorite is Captain Glen. I was already a fan of bubble-helmet space chicks, but I had never heard that He-Man's mom was from Earth and completely reshaped how I think of the property as a whole.
My biggest regret, like I said, is not getting Castle Grayskull when it was first released. The resale cost kept ahead of my income, but now that I can technically afford one, it's not worth the price.
Modulok and Multi-Bot are my two favourite figures, I ended up buying multiples of each, I’m also one of the few people that likes Cy-Chop, guys got giant scissors for hands and while I don’t have every figure I managed to get the ones I wanted.
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