Review > Battle Armor He-Man (Masters of the Universe Classics)

January 28, 2010 | Poe

Almost as long as there have been action figures, there have been variations of action figure characters. But it was Star Wars–with its Tatooine Luke, Dagobah Luke, Luke in X-Wing Outfit, Bespin Luke, Jedi Luke etc.–that proved kids and collectors were willing to buy the same character over and over again. Unfortunately, while the various Lukes made perfect sense, toy companies decided to create completely ridiculous variations of main characters in hopes that kids would still bite. This tendency would reach its nadir in the mid-1990s with the rise of Arctic Batman and so forth, but it still happens today.

But sometimes there’s an exception that proves the rule. Even I can’t deny Battle Armor He-Man had one of the coolest gimmicks ever seen.

It was functional, the designs looked great, and the result was a He-Man figure many kids preferred over the standard version. Mattel even imported the feature into their other famous boys’ brand, Hot Wheels.

When the time came to introduce Battle Armor He-Man (BAHM) into their adult collector-oriented Masters of the Universe Classics line, Mattel had to find a way to replicate the action feature without having to go through an expensive retool process. Their solution was to make three removable breastplates. Some fans were pleased, others not so much.

So the question, then, is this: Is Battle Armor He-Man still cool without his iconic action feature? (more…)

Preview fatigue?

January 26, 2010 | Poe

I’ve got a question for you, Poesters. I’ve been reviewing a lot of Masters of the Universe Classics lately, and of course you get to see MOTUC weeks before my own review thanks to the samples sent out to Fwoosh, AFI, Pixel Dan etc.

Do you find that these previews dampen your interest or enthusiasm in my own reviews? I’ve noticed the number of comments in those reviews has been going down, and I’m trying whether that’s due to lack of interest in the figures, this preview sample issue, or a general waning of PGPoA’s popularity itself in my post-DCUC-collecting era.

Reviews > Adora (Masters of the Universe Classics)

January 23, 2010 | Poe

When Mattel began developing a toyline counterpart to Masters of the Universe geared toward girls, they didn’t stray too far from the formula that was working so well for He-Man and his pals. Eternia became Etheria, Skeletor became Hordak, the Sorceress became Lighthope, Battle Cat became Swift Wind, Orko became Cowl, He-Man became She-Ra, Princess of Power (POP), and Prince Adam became Adora.

Unlike Prince Adam, Adora never got her own figure back in the 1980s. I’m not sure it was ever even in development (though I’m sure a better MOTU/POP historian than I would know, and could perhaps let us know in the comments below). Therefore POP fans have spent nearly a quarter of a century pining for an Adora figure. Mattel has proven their committment to fan desires with MOTUC several times already (He-Ro being the most obvious example), so it comes as no surprise that Adora is the line’s first foray into Etheria.

One interesting aspect of Adora’s story (which is really only implied in the bio below) is that she was actually on the bad guys’ team for most of her life, serving Hordak as his Force Captain. This plot twist is a bit weakened by the subplot that Hordak had Shadow Weaver cast a spell on Adora so she wouldn’t ever question the Horde’s methods, but it’s still more than we ever got about Prince Adam’s life before He-Man. (more…)

Evil-lyn’s bio revealed

January 21, 2010 | Poe

Via Facebook:

Real Name: Evelyn Morgan Powers
Raised by her father in the ruins of Zalesia™, Evelyn left her home in a fit of teenage rebellion. Taking the name Evil-lyn®, she traveled Eternia® learning from many of its great masters the ways of magic and the dark arts. While searching for new ways to increase her power, she met and met and fell in love with an ambitious alchemist named Keldor™ and agreed to join his cause. After Keldor™ was transformed into Skeletor®, he lost all emotional attachments to Evil-lyn® and she began to scheme against him. In a series of miscalculations, she helped release both King Hssss™ and Hordak™ from their inter-dimensional prisons. Evil-lyn® uses her crystal ball to foresee the evil future!

Fans over on He-Man.org are already deep in debate over this bio. The target of most of the ridicule is her name; for what it’s worth, it is derived from the original He-Man Bible, though that’s hardly a good source for names–if it were, Skeletor’s #1 punching bag would have been “Biff Beastman,” which makes Raqquill Rqazz sound like Horatio Alger.

As for the rest of the bio, there’s some complaints here and there, particularly because Evil-lyn is responsible for unleashing both King Hssss and Hordak due to “a series of miscalculations” (making her look like a bit incompetent), though I think that was actually what happened in the 2002 cartoon.

There are also some complaints about how the figure looks too toy-ish, which is entirely due to the Bright Molded Plastic Factor (BMPF) (see also).

TNI has new pics of Evil-lyn

January 20, 2010 | Poe

What the title said: Evil-lyn pics

Still unhappy about the Teela feathers/leaves on lower part of the outfit, but pleased with the yellow skin, head sculpt, Screeech, and wand/staff option.

On Adora’s Sellout

January 16, 2010 | Poe

Regarding the Adora sellout: to clarify, I definitely think they were more, possibly a lot more, total Adoras than total Battle Armor He-Men. What I was suggesting in the comments to the Adora post was that the total number of Adoras available on Mattycollector yesterday might have been exceeded by the total available BA He-Man because the entire stock of BA He-Man was available, whereas a large portion of the Adoras were taken up by the subs.

I didn’t expect BA He-Man to sell out before Adora. Actually, I didn’t think about it at all, but if you’d asked me before yesterday I would have thought Adora just as likely as BA He-Man, perhaps more so due to the subs. BA He-Man is a variant, and plenty of people already have the regular He-Man, and these figures aren’t cheap–BA He-Man has all of that working against him. (And then there’s this–which I don’t agree with, but could represent the view of some casual fans.)

What gave me–and I think many others–pause is Adora selling out within half an hour. I don’t even expect that of Trap Jaw. Battle Cat yes, but partly because I suspect he was produced in a relatively low numbers so Mattel could hedge their bets with their first larger-scale item.

I’m perfectly willing to entertain the idea that Adora is just a really popular character. Rob of Topless Robot has said Adora alone makes the entire sub worth it to him, and he even ordered an extra one (I know because I was ordering it for him).

Happy Adora Day!

January 15, 2010 | Poe

Here’s the link to the all-in-one sale page.

I’ll admit it–Adora is the first MOTUC figure I’m pretty lukewarm about. I never watched She-Ra as a kid, so Adora is even less interesting to me than She-Ra. That said, I don’t regret having bought the subscription, and I certainly don’t begrudge She-Ra fans (like Rob of Topless Robot) their long-overdue Adora. And as a completionist on this line (so far), I’m buying her no matter what.

Fortunately, she’ll be followed next month by Battle Cat and Trap Jaw, who look to be the finest examples of MOTUC figure to date. And she also comes at the same time as Battle Armor He-Man. Oddly enough, I’m pretty excited about him. As my friends can tell you, I tend to loathe variations of characters; I just want the iconic version (Trenchcoat Hellboy, Batman minus any ridiculous armor or gear, the regular Ninja Turtles sans gimmicks or costumes, and so forth). But for whatever reason, some of He-Man’s alternate looks really appeal to me, and Battle Armor is one of them. I’ve also got my fingers crossed for an Ice Armor He-Man (on a side note, check out that link…apparently I’ve been saying I “loathe variations” for years).

But don’t forget–there’s also the reissue Beast Man and Movie Masters Harvey Dent. I’m tempted to get a new Beast Man, since my original has very loose knees, but given the odds of ending up with some other QC issue–like weak ankles, which are becoming the Achilles’ heel (HA!) of this line–I figure I’ll just stick with what I’ve got. Besides, Beast Man looks pretty good hunched over.

As for Mr. Dent, I’ll just wait for Two-Face. But for those of you who have anxiously awaited an Aaron Eckhart action figure, this is your time!

(Should I even mention the CARS exclusive? Does anyone here collect those?)