Category Archives: Masterverse

MASTERVERSE Revelation King Grayskull

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I picked up MASTERVERSE Revelation King Grayskull at Toy Federation in Greer, SC for $20. I had picked him up a couple of times and thought about getting him, but kept punting. Until finally I decided to go for the touchdown. (Did that make any sense?)

Elephant in the room. Yes. They did it. It has grown on me over time. He doesn’t look as much like He-Man now, and this cuts down on the cognitive dissonance that people have when they see the 200x design. They have the same reaction as Prince Adam in the show. “He looks like He-Man…only bigger.” It kind of makes sense the more you think about it. AND the diversity is welcome. What they did with him in Revelation and Revolution was brilliant.

PACKAGING

This is the original package design. When I bought King Grayskull he had been sitting on the shelf for at least four years. Probably at Target or Wal-Mart before landing at Toy Federation, but maybe not. You can see everything he comes with clearly.

The side image is awesome! But notably, he didn’t come with this sword.

And the back image…

This is such an awesome image! ….. I have recreated it a couple of times now.

Pictured: MASTERVERSE Revelation King Grayskull with Mythic Legions Heroic Magic Effects lightning.

CONTENTS

So what do we get in the package? (Lightning Effect from a different set).

The Power Sword divided into good and evil sides. Alternate hands. You have two gripping hands, a punching right hand, and a chopping left hand. An alternate head with a more menacing expression. A shield with the 200x “asterisk” symbol. Notably this might be the only time we get that symbol on a shield and on the power harness. Also the cape is soft goods.

The only thing that really bothers me about this figure is the pauldrons do not want to stay on the shoulders properly. They want to sag down the back. In fact, you can see that the way he came packaged the pauldrons were hanging down. I keep getting them back up like they are supposed to be.

The Power Sword halves do not combine into a full sword like the vintage toys. No way to do it…I tried and they just didn’t design it that way. I think they were going with “hot metal that has cooled into this shape.” And this is fine. It is different, but fine. The abomination that came with Scareglow was NOT WELCOME.

FIGURE REVIEW AND OBSERVATIONS.

Pictured: MASTERVERSE Revelation King Grayskull and MASTERVERSE 40th Anniversary He-Man in similar poses.

As he was in the first wave, you can see that he is a little smaller. NOW who is bigger…(40th anniversary He-Man probably isn’t a fair comparison.)

Pictured: MASTERVERSE Revelation King Grayskull and MASTERVERSE New Eternia Skeletor with Masters of the Universe Classics Faceless One’s Havoc Staff.

But New Eternia (Viking) Skeletor is also bigger.

Pictured: MASTERVERSE Revelation King Grayskull and Sorceress. King Grayskull is holding 40th Anniversary He-Man’s sword as well as a crystal ball I picked up at the mall.

There’s this story that King Grayskull transferred the power of Grayskull into “The Orb” or something like that. Here I present the scene. This was harder than it looks. King Grayskull is very “leggy.” That blue crystal ball doesn’t want to balance on the chopping hand so easily. And when it works, the weight kind of knocks the balance off. And I had to keep fixing the shoulders!

Here’s a shot at kitbashing a 200x He-Man with King Grayskull’s parts. I took Tri-Klops’ body, which has a darker loin cloth and boots. King Grayskull’s shield and Power Harness. Savage He-Man’s massive axe. And the chrome vac-metal power sword from the 200x Castle Grayskull. (I never owned this toy, only a couple of its pieces. Not a fan). And which head? The not-Dolph Lundgren head from the 1987 Movie He-Man figure. It is the best I can do so far. But King Grayskull made it possible because of the shield and the power harness.

One more recent development.

Pictured: MASTERVERSE Revelation King Grayskull and King Conan’s Throne of Aquilonia.

He can’t sit on the throne properly. Which has me concerned about the Skeletor that I ordered which will come with the bone throne. I was determined NOT to break the right knee on King Grayskull. The left works fine and bends all the way back, but the right does not, even with hair dryer heat or hot water. And I wasn’t going to force it.

SPARTANNERD’S RATING

This is a terrific figure. He-Man that came out in the first wave alongside King Grayskull was very off-putting. But the King is done right. He comes with appropriate accessories, but I wish he also came with a normal Power Sword. The sculpting is great and the paint also. But the soft-goods pauldrons are irksome. Movie He-Man had good pauldrons, and all of the Mythic Legions I have came with better solutions. And finally, the issue of articulation is a point off.

But do I feel like this figure is a 2/5? Not really. 3/5 is my feeling about it all, even with those three marks off. He’s got some issues. But look at the hole in the collection he fills. We have some 200x options…I might not be a fan of that Castle Grayskull toy, but I really like the character designs and the show was SOOO GOOOD. 200x options have to count for something. And I like King Grayskull as a character. All versions of him.

So my rating of MASTERVERSE Revelation King Grayskull is 3/5. Do you agree or disagree, Hub-City Geeks? Let me know in the comments!

Mythic Legions Mysteries of Mythos box- SpartanNerd Action Figure Showdown

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I am going to wait until the next post to talk about King Conan…in the meantime, let’s talk about what I pulled from the Four Horsemen “Mysteries of Mythos” blind box!

As you can see, I got two figures. The deal with these was purchase the Myteries of Mythos box, and you received a newer figure and an older “out of production” figure that they had in stock at the storehorsemen. The cost was $70 per box, and there was $10 shipping on all orders (flat rate shipping). This still seemed agreeable to me, and I made my order on the final day. Wouldn’t it be great to get “Eagalus?” Here was my chance! I wasn’t allergic to any of the potential older figures, and the hope of picking up that American Eagle Mythic Legion made this worth it. Furthermore, if I purchased either one at a store, I would pay more than $40. I figure this was a new type of “clearance” sale for Four Horsemen Studios.

You can see above that I got “Sir Godfrey” and “Xylernian Guard” Legion Builder. Eagalus was definitely too much of a long shot!

I thought I might do a little comparison…a showdown if you will, sort of like I did with Black Falcon and Demistros. Which figure will win?

OPENING THE XYLERNIAN GUARD LEGION BUILDER

Nothing special here, but I haven’t seen this cardback. It features a Shiva-type of figure. Here is the front and the side with description

I know there is a description, and I read it, but I don’t care one bit. Where can I find this story to read? Maybe I would care more? I am aware of a big “moose” steed that is out of production…I can assume this guy is on his team.

But for me, I see a toy soldier. We have a green “elf” look, and a caucasian look.

Here is everything in the box. Notice that the face shield on the different heads has a different design. One has a cross, while the other is plain. (You are going to see alot of pictures with the parts of “The Throne of Aquilonia.” This is the platform he is standing on and the torches in the background.

So what do we get? Two heads as mentioned above with interchangable facemasks, but non-removable helmets. Two pauldrons, a nice ornamented sword. A huge shield. A belt. A bow. A quiver. And an arrow. This shield features a three-part design. The handle comes off, and the deer figure can separate from the standard piece of the shield. However, I don’t have anything else that can replace the deer, so this is a useless idea for me until my collection gets bigger I guess.

Here is a more “archer” look, fitting for the green elf face.

The sculpt is incredible as always…this is the work of the Four Horsemen after all! There is a soft goods front skirt piece, which is backed by a plastic one. It makes it look busier, but I wonder why they did this? It looks good though. Once again, just like with the skeleton legion builder that I have which came with this same bow and arrow, it is not easy to get a good bow and arrow pose. The skeleton’s arrows were only one color…Xylernian Guard has green on the feathers and the quiver is painted brown. The arrow shafts are silver. So more went into the deco, but there needs to be a way to “knock” the arrow.

Pictured: Super7 Ultimates Black Falcon and Mythic Legions Xylernian Guard figures. Black Falcon is armed with Animal Warriors of the Kingdom gold weapons pack axe. This is a more “heavy duty” build of the legions builder figure.

In the above assassination attempt, you can see that the Super7 Black Falcon looks much more “cartoony” than the Mythic Legions figure.

Pictured: Mythic Legions Xylernian Guard legions builder with un-helmeted MASTERVERSE New Eternia Man-At-Arms head. Note that this head is just sitting there…it doesn’t peg in.

So besides these guys, Demistros, the two ML skeletons I have, and the Tower Ogre, I don’t have many alternate heads. But I found that the unhelmeted Duncan head works very well with this green color scheme.

OPENING SIR GODFREY

Crickets…(I lost the photos of the box!) Trust me. This box was exactly the same as the Skeleton Legions Builder. But it DID have a bio for Sir Godfrey. I suppose it is a shame, as this IS a named character and not really a legion builder. Or is he?

Here is everything you get in the box. Two pauldrons. A sharp mace. A sword. a large shield. A belt. and some pieces that I eventually figured out were back adapters so you can add wings. Also notable, the plume is removable from the helmet.

So Sir Godfrey is obviously a Knight Templar, and I have seen this figure on a peg at Toy Federation in Greer, South Carolina. But I never bought it, being more interested in skeletons. I have also seen a black version with white accents, but don’t know if that is the same character name or a rival or something. Notable, the head of the mace is removable for parts swapping if you have them, and also the front skirt piece is removable if you want to sit him on a ride.

The most striking thing about Sir Godfrey is this silver paint job. WOW! No photo I make could do this justice. It is almost Chrome!

Pictured: Mythic Legions Sir Godfrew and Masters of the Universe Classics Battleground Teela with MASTERVERSE Revelation Teela alternate head. Teela is armed with Sir Godfrey’s sword and her own sword for comparison.

So basically Teela has a new sword! I prefer this to the one she came with. The gold on the hilt matches her armor very well as opposed to that drab brown on her personal sword. Also Godfrey’s sword is thinner, and I appreciate that for such a character as Teela.

Pictured: Mythic Legions Xylernian Guard, Mythic Legions Sir Godfrey, and MASTERVERSE 40th Anniversary He-Man.

I find there to be beautiful congruence in this photo. The crosses on the shields and armor. The swords. That they all stand with the same pose.

Yes, they would probably be on the same team. Maybe they are training here?

ACTION FIGURE SHOWDOWN. WHO WILL WIN?

While Sir Godfrey has striking paint, he is basically a walking suit of armor. He swings down hard on the guard’s parrying sword.

Xylernian Guard has so many options for display. He is basically four characters in one! (Caucasion archer, Caucasian heavy armor, Green Face archer, Green Face heavy armor). So yeah. He knocks down Sir Godfrey and then uses that sword for what it’s for! Hope it is sharp enough to get through that armor, though.

SPARTANNERD’S RATINGS

The SpartanWife said “Well if you get characters you don’t like in this mystery box, you could just sell them.” And she was correct. I could sell these and at least recoup my losses. What losses? I don’t want to! They are terrific additions to my collection. Sir Godfrey’s head makes a great helmet for anyone to hold. All the display options of really both characters.

Scultping is equally good. Paint is wonderfully done. Xylernian Guard is more colorful, but Sir Godfrey is a heavy armored Knight Templar, and should look like this charicature of medieval knights armor. I don’t have any wings for the figures, but those back adapters will come in handy one day no doubt, and can be used on any of my Mythic Legions. They are both nicely articulated.

The only weakness in Xylernian Guard is the difficulty of posing the figure with the bow. The weakness of Sir Godfrey is that he only came with one head, and you don’t know what his face looks like. (I just saw on the internet that versions of him do have an alternate head where you can see his face). Xylernian Guard gets 5/5 AND Sir Godfrey gets 5/5. But the winner of this competition is Xylernian Guard.

Do you agree or disagree, Hub City Geeks? Let me know in the comments!

More on this photo in my next post!

MASTERVERSE New Eternia Man-At-Arms

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To see video of Man-At-Arms packaging, click here.

Ah. Man-At-Arms. One of the favorites! And one I picked up for Valentines Day. Yep. It’s April. Almost May. Just now getting to it. (That Disturbed concert really did a number on me!)

Mattel has really done a good job of cutting the blister plastic down. Inside the box you not only get Man-At-Arms, but also a box that contains the other accessories. I said it before, but this is similar to GI Joe Classified.

Here’s what was in the box. Two fists. A non-mustached head. An alternate helmet. And a ball-and chain alternate mace head.

The head sculpts…neither looks very Duncan-ish to me. The mustache is my preference, but it looks too much like the guy who might tie someone to the railroad tracks. The mustacheless one looks like it could be a generic guard, especially with the helmet off. I get that it is supposed to be the two main looks for Man-At-Arms, but this is a miss.

Man-At-Arms has a huge removable pauldron and arm protector, and I really love that. The alternate helmet is welcome…in fact, that we can even remove the helmet and swap it out is cool. Unfortunately, the leg armor is hard-sculpted on.

Pictured: MASTERVERSE New Eternia Man-At-Arms and MOTUC Battleground Teela with customized head. She is wearing the alternate helmet that came with Man-At-Arms, and is armed with weapons from The Great Unrest weapons pack.

My feelings on what they’ve done with the mace…I get that this was inspired by an early prototype. But this is faulty execution of a good idea. We should have had a real metal chain instead of this sculpted plastic “stick”.

Pictured: MASTERVERSE New Eternia Man-At-Arms and Man-E-Faces.

I like how they are messing around with the accessories in this line. Man-At-Arms has a little clip on his back to put weapons. But that clip can come off, and it looks like he is holding some kind of Filmation device. Looks like Man-E-Keldor is going to try and steal it. No one will ever notice with that blaster on his head…

Pictured: MASTERVERSE New Eternia Man-At-Arms and Man-E-Faces. Also MASTERVERSE Revelation Orko, who came with Savage He-Man.

Now for some fun!

Pictured: MASTERVERSE New Eternia Man-At-Arms and Trap Jaw. Notice that Man-At-Arms is using the 200x gun from the MOTUC Great Unrest weapons pack.

The caption says it all! He holds this weapon just fine and looks great doing it.

SpartanNerd’s rating is 4/5. Why? The head sculpt isn’t quite right. And that is a key thing to me. I used to have the MOTUC Man-At-Arms, and he was spot on. However, this figure comes with so many options that it is truly outstanding otherwise.

Do you agree or disagree, Hub City Geeks? Let me know in the comments!

MASTERVERSE Revelation Teela

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Boom! I found a Teela I can support. I didn’t even know they made this one.

So this is “Captain of the Guard” Teela, who is being knighted “Man-At-Arms.” The Teela that becomes angry and angsty. She throws that crown down in a tantrum of a fit in the Revelation show. Rightfully so, I suppose. But all of the Teela figures I saw before this one in the Masterverse line has had that “emo bodybuilder-bounty hunter” look. To me, Teela should be pretty. In fact, usually. Generally. Masters of the Universe females should retain a certain level of feminine attractiveness. I am a fan of the curves on the Filmation show, and as great as the animation on Revelation and Revolution is, that classic female form was abandoned probably on grounds of modern tastes.

But this Teela doesn’t appear manly at all! Keep reading to see how this figure has been one of the best figures I have gotten in a long time.

Packaging

OK. So this is the boring blue package. You can see in the window box everything she comes with. Also, the sword has come loose from her hand.

I got this figure at Toy Federation in Greer, SC. It seems like they had another there also. At $20 for a 7-inch scale A-list character, you can’t beat that.

The art on the side is outstanding, but check out the art on the back of the box.

Once again. BOOM! Whoever did this (Eamon O’Donahue?) great work. Wonderful fantasy artwork feminine beauty. You can see some Wind Raiders flying overhead and some castle to her right. The bio here is a summary of her role in the Revelations cartoon.

The bottom of the package shows off some other figures you can get. At this point I have Teela (of course), Mer-Man, and Skeletor (viking). I don’t care for that inferior Viking He-Man. (That’s no Vikor.). Notice that the Teela in the picture looks fairly different than the actual figure.

Figure Basics (with comparison)

Below is a “Two-for-one” pic. I am showing you everything you get in the box, PLUS what the alternate head looks like on Masters of the Universe Classics Battleground Teela. So, Comparison time? There are things I like about both. But I am into that long red hair. This is the best head I have put on Battleground Teela. Yes…it is loose on that ball joint. But that doesn’t matter. MASTERVERSE Teela has knobby knees and fat elbows. But MOTUC Teela has unsightly pin joins. I have pointed out before when speaking of Despara vs Evil Lyn. The MOTUC females seem more rigid, and it’s true. They are less posable. It is a tradeoff for superior sculpting and paint, I guess. MASTERVERSE Teela also has bigger muscles, but they don’t ooze the manliness. MOTUC Teela is bustier, and I appreciate the more skin shown here. But MASTERVERSE Teela has a classic costume reminiscent of Filmation and also of the vintage figure…a figure I never had. I really never even saw on a shelf until I was an adult.

Pictured: MASTERVERSE Revelation Teela with extra hands and holding the sword and shield. MOTUC Battleground Teela with alternate “hair-down” head from MASTERVERSE Teela, also holding her original sword and the Great Unrest weapons pack shield.

Action Pics

Here you can see Teela in battle against Mer-Man from the same wave. You can see how the skirt does hinder some of the posing. (You can also see that she and Mer-Man wear the same color of underwear!)

Pictured: MASTERVERSE Revelation Teela vs. Mer-Man. Mer-Man is armed with not only his scimitar, but also MOTUC Sir Lazer-Lot’s shield.

Finally, I can properly display the father and daughter pair. (You can see Man-At-Arms review here.)

Pictured: MASTERVERSE Revelation Teela and MASTERVERSE New Eternia Man-At-Arms. Teela is wielding The MOTUC Great Unrest Weapons pack sword and pistol, while Man-At-Arms is wielding MOTUC Sir Lazer-Lot’s sword and MASTERVERSE New Eternia Two-Bad’s pistol.

So here she is with a classic group of Filmation friends. I like this kind of “disarmed” picture.

Pictured: All are MASTERVERSE figures. The He-Man shown is my favorite in the line, 40th anniversary.

Why the SpartanNerd believes this is one of the greatest action figures.

At the beginning of this post, I made a bold assertion. This Teela is one of my very favorites. The next picture is going to show you why.

Pictured: MASTERVERSE Scare Glow con-exclusive with Subternia backdrop and an added plant detail, MASTERVERSE Revelation Teela, who is armed with the MOTUC Great Unrest weapons pack snake armor and Staff of Ka. Both characters are using Mythic Legions magic effects, and Scare Glow is on the Cosmic Legions figure stand.

Whoa! Alot going on here! I had to take out the hair dryer because the MOTUC armor is getting some age, but new MASTERVERSE Teela’s head fit right inside after a little blast, making this my preferred way of displaying her. She looks just like the cross-sell art I saw on the cardbacks as a kid. Yes. This is getting into serious collector territory. After all, you are looking at years of building up this figure. But I love it!

SpartanNerd’s rating of MASTERVERSE Revelation Teela

You might have guessed that I would give this figure a rating of 5/5, and you are correct. It hits all of the boxes just as it is.

The two head sculpts are beautifully crafted and painted. The sculpt of her clothes is also very nice. She has great articulation. You have options for displaying her hands. The weakest thing here is that yellow shield, which could use some paint. I threw away the box, but this is beautiful artwork worth keeping a pic of in your Apple library.

But it is the world of possibility that makes this figure fun. Right now that “hair-down” head is on Battleground Teela, who is riding Battle Cat. EPIC! Right now, MASTERVERSE Teela is doing battle with Mythic Legions Demistros wearing that MOTUC armor.

So Hub City Geeks, were you as enthused about this Teela as me? Let me know in the comments!

Animal Warriors of the Kingdom Weapons Loot (Red)

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To see video of the AWOK red weapons loot box, click here.

I already reviewed the gold weapons loot, which you can read here.

This time I really wanted to catch the packaging. It was more impressive with the gold weapons, but it still rocks pretty good. (The back is the same, featuring Pale.)

In this set, you get a pair of hooked daggers, a pair of axes (possibly throwing axes), a knife or short sword with a mysterious hole, a bow, the same two-piece spear as in the gold set, and a scimitar.

I decided to get out of the light box and outdoors for these pics!

Here you can see them racked with the gold weapons on my custom weapons racks. Notice that I added that string to the bow.

Here is Savage He-Man riding on my pet potbelly, Nori. He really lends himself to the use of spears. The spear that came with him is very nice, with nice paint. But the AWOK spear is longer. I prefer the red to the gold for a character like this.

Clearly Trap Jaw wins this exchange. Man-E-Robot has successfully parried the short sword attack with the scimitar, however Trap Jaw is swinging with his own dagger arm to cut the hoses. (It could be that Man-E could “ripost” and stab Trap Jaw.)

Least impressive are the curved daggers. I thought they would look good with Beast Man, but they are underwhelming. This is the final picture of the Mythic Legions arrow. After I moved Man-At-Arms from outsided to indoors, I dropped it somewhere.

I want to know why we didn’t get a proper string and arrow with this bow? Even a plastic molded string would have been sufficient compared to no string. I fashioned this bow string out of a piece from a party hat. Notice that the Mythic Legions quiver fits nicely on Man-At-Arms armor, and also notice the figure stand he is on. This is the Mythic Legions figure stand, and I planned on reviewing it in the future, but…spoiler ahead. It is terrible.

Finally, Ram Man with the two hand axes. Because he is an axe wielder naturally, I knew he would look good holding them both. Imagine this dynamo ramming in and swinging those axes!

Rating. Well, I mean they are different enough from the gold weapons…But female figures or figures with smaller hands can’t hold these weapons. I was very tempted to try the bow with Teela for instance, but I am not risking stretching those fingers out or breaking a thumb.

I feel like these want added paint more than the gold ones. The gold weapons have dark handles and wraps, with additional paint on the jewel in the sword. But these weapons are all the same sort of drab color. I have to mark down for the bizarre exclusion of a string or arrows for the bow (We could of at least had a molded quiver, like the Mythic Legions). The packaging is really good however, and these weapons add alot to what you can do with the figures. But they feel less glamorous. In fact, there is another blue and gold set that I have been tempted to pick up…I decided on this instead and kind of feel burned. (There is this shield with a face on it that looks too “smiley” for me). But at least that set had more color

So my rating? 3/5. They aren’t terrible. But I had to improve the bow, and I feel the need to improve the paint. What do you think, Hub City Geeks? Do you think a 3/5 is a fair rating? Let me know in the comments!

Masterverse Tuvar and Baddrahh

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Pictured- Masterverse Two Bad heads on the bodies of Super7 Ultimates Black Falcon and Four Horsemen Studios Power-Con Exclusive Demistros.

APRIL FOOLS (a few days late…)

For the real review of Masterverse Two Bad, click here.

For a full Review of Super7 Ultimates! Black Falcon and Four Horsemen Studios Demistros Power-Con Exclusive, Click Here!