Toy Fair Day 2 > Masters of the Universe Classics

February 15, 2011 | Poe

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First off, just so you all know, I only went to Toy Fair for Saturday and Sunday. But I’ve got plenty to write up about–so much that I’ve decided to break it down. I’m going to discuss a few topics, like MOTUC, in its own post; others, like NECA’s licenses, I’ll group into one post.

First up, we have Masters of the Universe Classics (you can see my pics gallery here). Previously unannounced/unrevealed figures:

Before we go any further, be sure to vote on the Man-E-Faces color issue (this is an official vote by Mattel). What’s all this then, you say? Well, the original Man-E-Faces figure had a blue-and-orange color scheme. But anecdotal evidence, such as the vintage packaging art, suggests the orange parts were actually supposed to be flesh-colored. The figure on display at Toy Fair had a sort of in-between coloring–orange-ish pink–and I thought it was a great compromise, so I voted for that. But you should vote as you think best.

My thoughts on the reveals:

DSCF0350The Faceless One: In terms of the body sculpt, this guy is amazing. The colors and armor look great (though I’ve now become wary of the Keldor boots, as these seem to cause consistent problems with warping when pulled from the molds).

The glowing red Havoc Staff was a great idea too, and I’m looking forward to finding out its origin in the bio.

But as many have noted, the Faceless One…has a face. Not much of one, to be sure, but a face nonetheless. I think most of us were expecting an unbroken field of white, somewhat like The Blank from Dick Tracy, with perhaps some slight indentations for eyes and a mouth, and a slight prominence for a nose. I didn’t get a chance to ask the Four Horsemen why they decided to sculpt it this way, but it’s definitely odd. At the very least, he should have no mouth.

DSCF0248Battleground Teela: Of all the MOTUC figures shown, I have to say I’m most excited for this one. She’s based on Teela’s appearance my favorite work of MOTU fiction, the three-issue DC comics miniseries from 1982-3. I’m curious to see whether and how the bio explains her blonde hair, though.

This is the new female buck for MOTU, and I think it looks great. The blaster and sword are straight out of the comic, too. I think she’ll look best next to Vikor, though, which again makes me wonder why they’re actually making her Teela and not, say, a new character, or perhaps a pre-magical Goddess (Sharella) or an pre-Grayskull version of Teela Na (the Sorceress).

DSCF0253 Clawful: I’ll admit this is one case where 200X has it all over vintage, and it’s awful (*rimshot*) that we’re not going to get a 200X head here. The arms and claw look cool; the torso armor looks great; and the shell-shield is neat. But that head…oh, that head. It’s so goofy. With the eyes and furry eyebrows, he looks like Animal from the Muppets.

Again, I realize it’s based on the vintage figure, but the vintage figure was goofy, too–goofier than the rest of the line it was a part of. Only Loo-Kee was goofier.

DSCF0360 Man-E-Faces: I’m psyched for this guy. It’s a fairly straightforward translation of the original figure, but personally I’m a fan of the light orange they used for the arms and chest, which does nail the middle ground between the two choices.

The faces will turn via the dial, just like the original figure. Ultimately I have to say I’m a bit underwhelmed by MEF; he needs something else to give him some oomph, which may be why he’s getting some sort of secret accessory as well. (It had better not be another ring.) Any guesses as to the accessory?

DSCF0234 Megator: Bit of a surprise here, as I wasn’t sure we’d get the big guy in 2011. He looks fantastic, though–I just can’t resist a giant green monster. The ball-and-chain look great, and apparently he’ll also have a secret accessory. The articulation does look more or less identical to Tytus, however, which I know is a big turn-off to many of you. Any guesses as to his secret accessory?

Other stuff:

Panthor and the Grayskull Weapons Rack were also there. The rack looks a bit bigger than I think it seems from the early pics, and should be a nice display piece. I don’t relish the thought of having to jostle with everyone else for it on Mattycollector, though. I’m loving Battle Armor Skeletor’s purple axe.

And on that note, there was also another important revelation at the Mattel Collector event. It’s yet another example of Mattel’s Jekyll-and-Hyde treatment of fans.

It seems that while the Horsemen had worked hard on a way to get She-Ra to fit on Swiftwind, nothing was quite working, so they’re going to re-release She-Ra with some major changes on the same day as Swiftwind. She’ll be using the new female buck for Battleground Teela, she’ll have a softer skirt and more poseable legs to help ride Swift Wind better, and she’ll be a bit shorter than the existing She-Ra. To make up for the new tooling, she will only come with one new unmasked head with no hole and a vintage toy mask that clips on (another fan-requested feature).

However, this updated She-Ra will not be part of the subscription–which, of course, sucks. I’d much rather they perhaps changed her deco a bit more, maybe added an extra accessory, and made her a full bonus figure and thus, part of the subscription. But that’s because I’m really bitter about any instance in which I’m forced to use Mattycollector.

Mattel really needs to start offering an opt-in feature for subscribers for non-sub items. They ask subscribers to commit to spending hundreds of dollars on toys sight unseen, then negate the single advantage subscribing offers–not having to worry about visiting Mattycollector–by not including the items most likely to cause a frenzy, i.e., the brand-new stuff like large beasts (in 2010) and display items/vehicles (in 2011). It’s maddening.

Anyway, that aside, I’m excited about most of what was shown. Here’s how I’d rate the reveals, starting with my favorite:

  • Battleground Teela
  • Megator
  • Faceless One
  • Man-E-Faces
  • Clawful