So, the Man-E-Faces color vote is over, and as expected, half/flesh-half/orange won. I voted for half-and-half back when the poll started. It was my first instinct upon being told about it at Toy Fair, and I didn’t question it at that time.
But I’ve changed my mind. It’s not that I specifically wish one of the other choices had won, but rather, I think either of the other choices should have won. This should have been an either-or situation.
Any orange in the coloring basically makes it the toy version. So now, rather than getting a definite vintage art or a definite toy-based version, we’re getting what amounts to a watered-down toy version. I think I (and everyone else who voted for the half-and-half) blew this one.
But I also I don’t think Mattel should have offered the half-and-half in the first place. It was an easy way out, and the majority of fans (myself included) took it. If orange and flesh had been the onely options, it would have been really interesting to see who won; even though flesh-tone had the higher vote count of the two in the actual poll, I suspect many half-and-half voters would have chosen toy colors.
Now, all that said, half-and-half did win, and I’m a big fan of democracy so, hey, that’s that. Still, I wish Mattel hadn’t even offered the option. Now we’ll have to hope that the Hawkman/Stratos, Aquaman/Mer-Man, Green Lantern/Zodac and Supergirl/Wonder Woman two-packs sell well enough to get us to a fleshtone Man-E-Faces/DCSH colors Two-Face two-pack (and, fingers crossed, minicomic-red Roboto/robot Brainiac 2-pack).
Also: It’s worth noting that my graphic up there isn’t quite correct, and that there is a difference beyond skin tones. All three pics were based on the vintage cross sell, and I only changed the skin color. The vintage toy had much brighter, pinkish tubes on the armor, rather than dark purple. The half-and-half is, unsurprisingly, somewhere in the middle.
Out of curiosity, I tossed up a poll over the weekend to see what people chose when they didn’t have the half-and-half option. It’s on the sidebar of the main page.
oICEMANo
Considering he was always meant to have Flesh tone… I voted that way.
FakeEyes22
@ Poe:
I agree so very much on that one. I like the idea of the sculpt and colors matching the art, but something about the pale skin makes me uncomfortable.
I think you've just said why. My brother watched Dune non-stop when I was very young and very freaked out by every single thing about it. Except his Sand Worm toy. That's right, the film was so disturbing as a kid that the nasty monster was the least weird thing to me.
Poe
For some reason, the cross-sell, flesh-toned MEF has a very "David Lynch's Dune" look to me.
Speaking of which, cross-sell is starting to pull away in the poll…
FakeEyes22
I either never saw this photo or forgot about it, but it alleviates some of my doubt after voting for half & half:
http://www.mastersunbound.com/Toys/man.htm
The MOTUC version should end up pretty close to the vintage toy prototype, with its card accurate sculpt and orange tone to the body. The prototype's flesh colored face seems to support the orange "jumpsuit" idea, but I prefer that his face be the same as the body. I guess an argument could be made that we're essentially getting a vintage pre-production style Man-E-Faces. From that angle, I can get a geeky kick out of it.
MegaGearX
I voted half and half. I would have gotten both the orange and the pale version, but we might not be getting MEF at retail in other colors.
Thanks to Skeletor/Lex Luthor pegwarming, Wave 2 showing up almost 5 months late to retail and Wave 3 being really unpopular with fans, I think Mattel sees the writing on the wall for the TRU 2packs.
RM
Poe wrote:
I'm guessing that internal voting at Mattel ended up the same way, hence throughing all the options at us for a tie-breaker.
Matt
I voted cardback because he's clearly sculpted to look like the cross sell art. The toy Man-e had a different look to his helmet – it was more simplified. For me, an orange skin Man-e needs a new headsculpt as well.
I would bet that the results of a poll without the half and half option would have been pretty evenly split.
Henry
I didn't vote since, being someone who has avoided Mattels honeypot trap, It wouldn't be revevant to me.
However, if I had voted, I would have gone for the half and half, since on paper it sounds the beast, and this line is starved fore creativity, even illegitimate creativity like this comprimise. Errors and poor choices of the past shouldn't be repeated just because it was that was 20 years ago.
RageTreb
I voted half-and-half and I'm glad I did. I actually think neither color looks that great, but the combination of the two toned down the garish orange while darkening the skin to make him look less naked. It was the best of both worlds in my eyes.
However, if the half-and-half choice wasn't there, I suspect I would have chose orange. I guess I like the idea of his suit completely covering him. For all we know his entire body changes when he switches heads.
Poe
I'm impressed by how neck-and-neck the poll is so far…
Mario
@ dayraven: I just need to say this… You're entitled to your opinions, what I have difficulty understanding, however, is where you figure they give you "carte blanche" to shit on others. Seriously.
PrfktTear
I voted half-and-half and I don't have any regrets. I didn't like the fleshtone and as Snarf! Snarf! so eloquently pointed out, I didn't want a Snooki colored orange either.
ero
Pardon the "Welcome to my world" indulgence, but …
Try being a Joe collector. Half the homage figs we get, you have to squint your eyes to blur out all of the colors, parts and headsculpts that don't even remotely resemble their ARAH-era counterparts.
You MOTUC guys have it SOOOOOOOO so good. Ha! Worrying about orange tint! Ha!