#51: Masters of the Universe Classics - Orko

My nostalgia for Masters of the Universe isn't strong enough that I was willing to pay full price for many of the MOTUC figures from Mattycollector. Only Fearless Photog, Battle Cat, and Panthor. Faker was from a Black Friday sale, and He-Man and Skeleltor were from the MOTUC vs DCUC two packs which provided much better value. Thanks to Big Lots, my MOTUC collection has recently grown with figure that I would otherwise never have bought. Looking forward, the only upcoming figure I'm interested in is Modulok, and depending on how its priced, I may or may not order one.

So anyway, Orko here is my latest Big Lots acquisition. He's appropriately pretty small, but he comes with a staff, a book, and a flight stand. The arms and head are articulated, but he can't really hold the book very well. Sometimes an accessory outshines the figure it comes with, and this is one of those cases, because included with Orko is a Prince Adam figure.

Mattel has made many controversial decisions with the MOTUC line, but the idea of packaging Prince Adam as an accessory for Orko is so goofy that I can't help but love it. The accessory gets more accessories than the main figure in this case. Adam includes a regular sword, the half sword, and an extra head. Why an extra head? No idea.

Word from Mattel is that from now on, MOTUC toys won't be showing up at Big Lots. That may even be true. But for now, I'm glad that I've been able to buy some of these figures at such great prices.

#47: Masters of the Universe Classics - Man-E-Faces

Big Lots strikes again! At a different Big Lots from the one where I found Megator, I found Man-E-Faces. For 10 bucks, I was more than happy to pick up the figure, which is one that I had as a child. I always liked the gimmick of spinning the knob on top of the helmet to reveal three different faces. While Mattel has generally shied away from reproducing the gimmicks for the Classics line, they fortunately stuck with it for Man-E-Faces. Without it, he'd just be a guy in a weird helmet! Not only did they update the gimmick, they went one better and gave him even more faces to switch between. If I remember correctly, the second head of faces was a secret accessory that wasn't revealed until the figure showed up in the mail. To facilitate three extra faces, the helmet and rotating knob are removable, and then you swap heads. The three new faces are Orko, Skeletor, and He-Man.

The many faces of... Man-E-Faces.

"It's like looking into a mirror!"

#46: Masters of the Universe Classics - Megator

Lately reports have been surfacing of Mattycollector exclusives showing up on the cheap at Big Lots. I am glad to report that this is absolutely true. Aside from Megator, there were the SDCC exclusive Skeletor and Mo-Lar sets as well as the 12 inch Egon and Ray Ghostbusters sets. Megator and Mo-Lar sets were 10 bucks apiece, while the Ghostbusters set was 30 bucks. 10 dollars! Megator was originally 40 dollars, plus shipping, which probably came out to over 50 dollars. So this is one hell of a deal. When Megator originally was released, I had no interest in it, because I had no idea who the character is, but when I saw them on the shelf for so cheap, it was impossible to resist. Having read the bio on the back, I'm still not particularly invested in the character (was he even in the cartoon?), but whatever. He's a giant green figure with a ridiculously oversized ball and chain weapon. What's not to like? Well, due to typical Mattel cost saving measures, Megator has a lot of rotocast pieces, which make him feel really lightweight for his size, and lead to reduced articulation from the MOTUC standard. If I'd paid full price for him, I would feel disappointed. But I only paid 10 bucks, so I'm totally satisfied with the value of my purchase.

The other accessory Megator comes packaged with is a zombie head. It has rooted hair, which is cool. But the expression on the face is really goofy looking, so I'll definitely be sticking with the standard head for display.



Here's a quick size comparison, guest starring the Fearless Photog.

#104: Masters of the Universe Classics - Faker

Mattycollector had a big Black Friday/Cyber Monday sale with a lot of older Masters of the Universe Classics figures that hadn't been available for a long time back in stock for reduced prices. Due to a variety of reasons, I haven't been very into the MOTUC line, but one figure I missed out on and have been wanting to add to my collection was Faker. The concept of Faker is so ridiculous that I can't help but enjoy it, and it is very indicative of the typical 80s cartoon villain insanity that I love so much. Faker is a robot meant to impersonate He-Man, but he's blue! Is everyone on Eternia color blind? Skeletor may not be the smartest leader, but you have to admire his big stones. Appropriately, this is a repaint of He-Man, wearing Skeletor's chest armor. Thanks to the way it was posed in the package, the left shoulder cover is bent out of shape. Thanks, Mattel. I did fortunately get a figure that is free of QC issues. For accessories, Faker has one regular sword and one half sword. It's my understanding that the original MOTU figures had the half swords, so this is part of Mattel's slavish devotion to the original toys. It seems kind of unnecessary, but whatever. This is a quality figure, and I'm glad to have added it to my collection. It helps ease the disappointment of not being able to order Castle Grayskullman.

...I can't tell who is the real He-Man!

#19: Masters of the Universe Classics - Fearless Photog

A few years ago, pop culture website extraordinaire X-Entertainment did a post on the unproduced MOTU figure Fearless Photog. Mattel had a figure designing contest, and the winning entry was supposed to get made into a real figure, and the winner also got to be president of Mattel for a day as well as a scholarship. Nathan Bitner won the contest with his creation, Fearless Photog, but for whatever reason (probably logistics), Mattel never made the figure. The post spawned a massive amount of commentary from readers trying to figure out why the figure not got made, as well as what had happened to its creator. I'd never heard anything about the story before that, but it stuck with me. Fast forward a few years, and Mattel announces they are finally making Fearless Photog. Now, for various reasons, I'm not a huge fan of this line, but the novelty of this figure and its origin story was enough to make me get one. Although I was obliged to use my phone's web browser to place my order, I didn't have any problems with the ordering process. Although Newgistic's tracking system is woefully out of sync with reality, Fearless Photog soon was delivered.

Photog was totally worth the wait. Yellow and blue is a color scheme I'm fond of, so I dig his look. This is a guy with a camera for a head, a gun that looks like a camera, a shield that looks like a flash, and a belt made of film reels. What's not to love? With this kind of dedication to his theme, he would have made a great Batman villain. The best part? The lenticular sticker on his chest. Lenticular sticker technology is under-appreciated these days.

China: Eternia's weapons forge

Is it a camera? Is it a gun? Is it BOTH?

It is unfortunately common to hear about QC issues with each new release in the MOTUC line. With Photog, it has been reported that the lens is cracked or is stuck and won't extend. Fortunately, my figure was clear on both issues and is overall in good shape. Here's how the lens looks while extended, which is activated by a tab on top of the head. A cool, unobtrusive play feature is always good in my books.

#743: Masters of the Universe Classics - Jewelstar

Hello everyone!  It's me Novelty from Toy a Day.  I'm the guy who designed the title for this blog though, so it's almost like home here.  The last time I did a review here on A Year of Toys, it was one-third of a review for a three pack.  Well, this time, around, there is no difference - I'm opening another 3-pack and the review for one of the three figures is here.  It's Female February over at Toy a Day, and I've just opened MotUC's Star Sisters today.  That's Starla, Tallstar and Jewelstar.  And since I know Mario likes bling bling (or was it jar jar blinks?  I always get confused about that), it was a no brainer to pick Jewelstar for A Year of Toys.

#38: Masters of the Universe Classics - Panthor

As soon as the MOTUC Battle Cat was announced, I knew there would be an inevitable Panthor repaint. Since I actually had Panthor as a kid, I was more excited about this release than Battle Cat. When Panthor was scheduled to go on sale, I wasn't able to be at my computer, so I was a bit worried. I was able to go online about an hour after the sale started, using my phone, and I was able to place my order for Panthor in less than ten minutes with no problems. Most of that time was typing on the tiny keypad. No White Screen of Death! It appears that the rumors are true, Mattel has cleaned up their website issues and increased their production numbers.

The original Panthor was flocked, and while I would have preferred this version to have the flocking too, I can see how it wouldn't work well on a highly articulated figure like this. Panthor was originally completely unarticulated, so it worked. Otherwise, this is a repaint of Battle Cat, with a different helmet. So it definitely looks good and is well articulated. The helmet. When I first saw pictures, I thought it looked terrible, and planned to leave it off because the original Panthor didn't have a helmet. In person, I do think that the helmet looks a lot cooler than I was expecting. I dig the giant ram horns. It does look terrible in this picture, though. I guess it's not very photogenic. It does clip onto the head pretty securely. But I'll still probably be displaying it without the helmet, for the sake of the classic toy's appearance.

I think I'm done with buying MOTUC now. I've got He-Man, Skeletor, and their respective feline companions, and for me that is good enough. Although I might get a Faker next time they do a reissue. My He-Man nostalgia just isn't strong enough for me to get anything else. Matty's possibly resolved website issues aside, they're just too much for me to get more. They're nice figures, but I'm done. I'd recommend Panthor, but he's naturally sold out. I'm sure there will be a reissue!

#135: Masters of the Universe Classics Battle Cat

So, a funny thing happened. Mattycollector was having its Cyber Monday sale, and Battle Cat was one of the items up for sale. I thought it would be cool to get one, but assumed that it would sell out pretty quickly. I had to be at work, so I figured there was no way I would get one. Shockingly, I got home something like seven hours after the sale started, and Battle Cat was still in stock. Even more surprisingly, I had no problems placing my order. No White Screen Of Death! Ragging on Mattel is quite fun, but I will give credit when its due. Congratulations, Mattycollector.com, you have finally achieved adequacy! I don't know if they upped the production numbers, or if most people that wanted a Battle Cat already had one from the first time it was on sale or what, but whatever it was it worked.

Anyway, Battle Cat is pretty cool. Pretty damn cool. When Mattel isn't messing around, they are capable of doing great work, and Battle Cat is an example of that. The original was completely unarticulated, while this one has all the articulation you could ask for. Even the jaw is articulated, which is always a cool touch. The sculpt on Battle Cat is great, with detail all over. Even the bottom of his paws are sculpted. Another improvement over the original is the paint, with even the armor getting some subtle touches which really save it from looking flat and boring. The helmet fits on the head somewhat loosely (it arrived askew in the package), but that's no big deal.

Of course, the best part of this all is that my gimpy He-Man figure (he can't stand on his left ankle) will have a Battle Cat to sit on.