Review > She-Ra (Masters of the Universe Classics)

June 21, 2010 | Poe

Due to the notoriety the much-maligned 1987 live-action Masters of the Universe movie, it’s easy to forget it was actually the second Masters of the Universe film to be released to theaters. The first was The Secret of the Sword, an animated film that came out in March 1985 and introduced He-Man fans to his twin sister, She-Ra. The movie comprised the first five episodes of her series, She-Ra: Princess of Power.

Mattel was and always will be the House that Barbie Built. While they’ve had successful boy brands–Major Matt Mason, MOTU and, most importantly, Hot Wheels–Barbie has always been the company’s most successful and iconic brand. With so much experience with the girls’ toys market, it’s not surprising they decided to take their (at the time) incredibly successful Masters of the Universe franchise and see if they could market it to girls, too. Thus was She-Ra born. (Legend has it she was originally going to be called the more mythologically resonant He-Ra, but the name was already being used by another toy company–just as well, because in retrospect She-Ra was a much more marketable name, and less subject to transvestite jokes and feminist criticism.)

On a more personal note, while I had several of the Horde figures as a child, I’m afraid I have no nostalgia for She-Ra. I don’t remember watching the show; by 1985 I was all about Transformers. But I can certainly recognize the significance of the character and the show, which continued the story of the MOTU universe (and supposedly with much better writing).

Looking back, Mattel and Filmation did something that no other toy company has even come close to trying to do with a boys’ brand: offered a girls’ version of the brand that was more than just a hollow marketing gimmick (actually, I can’t even think of any attempts to do this at all, hollow or not). While I didn’t continue to follow She-Ra myself, and I’m sure there were many boys who ignored it under the “girls are icky” principle, I’ve met enough male fans to be sure She-Ra was able to appeal to both genders (even if those boys could never bring themselves to get the toys, which were far more girlish than the show).

Also, now that I’m not six years old anymore I can point out that, in retrospect, She-Ra was pretty hot. (more…)

Oo-Larr-La

June 19, 2010 | Poe


I don’t know…it reads weird to me. –PG

Holy crap–Gygor IS big

June 18, 2010 | Poe

Via Facebook:

Hey He-Fans!

So one of the big things we wanted to do for the MOTUC line is to introduce figures that never quite made it into the vintage line. Much like He-Ro, Gygor the gorilla made it as a prototype into the vintage line but no toy has been made…until now.

Originally based on the “Big Jim Gorilla” (much like Battlecat or Zoar) Gygor was set to be a large gorilla figure in the 1982 line. While he was cut due to logistics, we are proud to present the first ever MOTU Gygor figure in the new Classics line. Truly, this is what the MOTUC line is all about.

Gygor will be the third oversized beast in the 2010 line and will go on sale September 15th. He will not be part of the subscription (but the beasts will be added to the subs in 2011 per fan demand!)

The final oversized beast/pack for 2010 will be an army builder two pack shown off at our fan panel at SDCC on Friday July 23 at 1:00 in room 29ABC. See you all at Mattypalooza 2010~!

Matty

I don’t know whether this will silent the speculation that Gygor is a retool of the DCUC Gorilla Grodd (Mattel and the Four Horsemen say it’s a 100% new sculpt), but he sure is bigger than Grodd. The torso sculpt is definitely different.

But wait, there’s more! Read on for the bio…such as it is. (more…)

Mattycollector mod speaks out on recurring problems

June 18, 2010 | Poe

For those of you who don’t visit the Mattycollector forums, it appears that ToyGuru has stopped posting as frequently, but another moderator, “Catra’s Wrath,” is a font of interesting information. You can check out some of her posts by clicking here.

I’m not sure whether CW works for Mattel or Digital River–she could just be a fan they hired as a moderator, for all I know. But oddly enough, CW’s posts have provided a more intimate peek into Mattel’s behind-the-scenes thinking on MOTUC. Here’s a sampling. (more…)

Happy She-Ra Day!

June 15, 2010 | Poe

Before we get to the inevitable sound and fury, let me point out Mattel’s reveal of Whiplash’s bio and packaging on Facebook yesterday. (more…)

Ask Mattel > June 15 Edition

June 15, 2010 | Poe

1.) Dead Man Walking asks: Mattel continues to insist that it will not do a fan’s choice figure for MOTUC because of the varying levels of unique tooling that figures require. However, Mattel is in the driver seat here-why not present the fans with three choices for figures with comparable amounts of new tooling, such as Battle Armor Skeletor, Terror Claws Skeletor, and Thunder-Punch He-Man, and allow fans to determine which will be the next bonus figure? (more…)

MOTUC Unbound

June 14, 2010 | Poe

I just wanted to highlight this. If you want to get an idea of what pretty much any character you can think of might look in the MOTUC style, check out the fan art of He-Man.org member The Raw. Here’s his Chief Carnivus, created back in January:

As you can see, he guessed correctly about a lot of the re-used parts (and I don’t think we can blame him too much for assuming Mattel would re-use more parts than they did).

He’s got tons of other characters in there, up to and including Plundor (who, sadly, is a Filmation character we won’t see unless Mattel finally buys the rights). He’s even taken a crack at some of the Meteorbs!

Some other cool ones:

Toy Aisle Trolls > DC vs. MOTU 2-Hacks

June 11, 2010 | Poe

Toy Aisle Trolls is a feature highlighting acts of vandalism to in-store toy items. If you find a ruined package, a stolen figure, a swapped-out figure, or any other such acts, take a photo (cell phone photos are fine if they’re not blurry) and email them to poe AT poeghostal.com. Also, please note: I’m deliberately being over-the-top with my condemnation of these people–I don’t actually wish bodily harm upon them. Just severe mental anguish.

Poester T16skyhopp pointed me to these two travesties, courtesy GTR-prime0088 on the TF2005 forums.

Where to start with this crap? First off, that’s the lame Superman from way back in Mattel’s early 2003 “Batman” days. This asshole couldn’t even be bothered to put a decent He-Man in there. That’s douche-y enough.

Then he puts a Green Goblin body with a first-release(?) Skeletor head on the non-Skeletor side of the second pack, and crams The Leader–THE LEADER–into what’s clearly labeled as the Skeletor side? And this thing was on the shelf at TRU?!

First off, may the jackass who did this be forever stuck in his parents’ basement until the despair drives him to suicide by masturbation. Second, while I try to have sympathy for beleaguered, overworked, underpaid toy store personnel, this is pretty ridiculous.

I’ll Rip Out Your Optikks

June 10, 2010 | Poe

One of my favorite theories about Optikk is that he’s just some sort of weird, inhuman creature inside a big robotic suit (a la the Daleks). Spawn board member Dragonblaster took that idea and made it an awesome custom out of it.

Note to Dragonblaster: get a peg on that socket, cast some molds in green and I guarantee the fans will pay for these things.