MOTUC News Motherlode

Perhaps to salve the disappointment of the SDCC exclusive not being revealed (and there are some out there theories regarding that figure springing up around the Web), Mattel dumped some serious surprises on us at the Gallery 1988 affair last night, including a look at the very first New Adventures figure in Masters of the Universe Classics: Optikk!

The best pics can be found at ActionFigureInsider. I’m going to risk their wrath by re-posting a couple here, but you’ll have to visit their site for the full, hi-res images.

Optikk, in my opinion, looks fantastic. I speculated back in October that Optikk’s addition to MOTUC was imminent, and I was 75% right in my guesses for how he would be put together. He has my predicted new armor and head and Kronis’s arms, but his legs are entirely Trap Jaw’s, while his crotch very obviously belongs to the future Man-E-Faces (though it’s still quite accurate to Optikk himself). He also gets his distinctive gun, plus a brand-new shield and what appears to be an alternate head. No word yet on whether the head will be an interchangeable one included in the package or a production variant a la He-Ro’s staff jewel.

Optikk was easily my favorite New Adventures figure–by which I mean, he was the only NA figure I owned, and I didn’t actually use him to play with He-Man but rather my other action figures, like the Ninja Turtles or X-Men. But I’m still very psyched by this news. I think he looks great, and melds just fine with the rest of MOTUC. But I realize a good number of fans are bummed about the prospect of having an NA figure foisted on them by the subscription.

By the way, just to confirm, Optikk is the May monthly figure.

But Optikk wasn’t the only surprise at Gallery 1988.  We also got a better look at Evil-Lyn–including her wand, as well as Screech, complete with armor and stand. I’m still annoyed about her armor, but I’ll admit she looks more appealing here than she did in ToyFare. I’ve got a question, though–what are the odds the crystal ball in her staff will actually be translucent on the production figure?

But wait, there’s more!

Mattel also posted some clues to future figures. On the left is clearly She-Ra’s shield, followed by what is probably Keldor’s acid vial. The other shield and sword are a bit trickier. The yellow sword could belong to Thunder-Punch He-Man or New Adventures He-Man, though I’d rather get a newly-tooled Power Sword for NA He-Man. The best guesses for the shield that I’ve read is that it’s the redeco for the re-release King Grayskull, or possibly Vikor; or both the shield and sword could be part of the upcoming weapons pack. Speculate away! Personally, I’m rooting for Vikor.

But wait, there’s still more! Mattycollector posted their catalog pages for Trap-Jaw, Wun-Dar, Battle Cat, and the MOTUC display stands. The Trap-Jaw pics are some of the best we’ve seen yet, and are making me both nostalgic and excited for the figure–much more than the 200X figure, awesome as it was, did. For some reason, for me it evokes the original ad for Trap-Jaw.

All that said, I have to point out their catalog photo of Battle Cat.

Saddle’s riding a bit low there, tiger.