I ordered the Animal Warriors Of The Kingdom gold weapons loot pack from BigBadToyStore, as I was looking for weapons packs and weapons, weapon racks, and other related items for 6-7 inch scale figures. I was specifically looking for things that were cheap, but probably would work with my growing collection of MASTERVERSE. This weapons pack caught my attention because I thought it might go well with the Super7 Ultimates! Conan the Barbarian: Battle of the Mounds figures and King Conanwith the throne of Aquilonia that should be arriving within a couple of months
Animal Warriors Of The Kingdom (AWOK) is a line of action figures by a company, Spero, that I am not very familiar with. There are named characters apparently, but I am unaware of the story at all. In my mind, it’s a little bit like the Mythic Legions, where the figures could be any generic fantasy Idea. Most of these figures look like they fit well with the ThunderCats. There are several different colorways of these weapons, as well as variations of what weapons you can have in a “weapons loot”. It was the gold weapons that stuck out the most to me. Below are pictures of the package.
These weapons came in a wonderful window box…it was really very nice. Maybe I should have videoed this box because it is hard to do justice to the effect of holding it and looking at it. When my wife saw the package, she said “That is a terrific shadowbox.” It’s true. There is an orange Sunburst in the background and the weapons are suspended in a blister that allows light in and shadows to fall behind. It’s a boring window box otherwise, but the main idea here the weapons inside are very apparent. These weapons are just attached in a blister. There is no kind of weapons rack or other storage solution, which is just too bad. (Almost my only complaint!). The character on the back is apparently named “Pale,” (Question? ”pronouced “Pail” or “Peh-Leh?”). which is information readily available if you look at the other offerings from the line. He is some type of simian.
The weapons included are: a large mace similar to some weapons in Elden Ring, a broadsword with a jewel in the hilt (very original), two guns (one a shotgun and the other a muzzle-loader type of pistol…both in the safari hunter style). What first appeared to be two pieces- a scepter/magic staff and a short sword, are actually meant to combine to be a long spear. I suppose you could technically keep them separate. And my favorite…a battle axe.
The SpartanNerd has been working on his photography game little bit. You can see that I have a new light box set up. I’m also working on diorama pieces and so here are weapons racks that I made homemade. I found many of tips on the internet about making weapons racks for G.I. Joe classified guns, and also there are racks available to buy. Mostly these are for guns that come with G.I. Joe classified or Marvel Legends. In my case I want a more barbarian, Masters of the Universe congruent look, so I just made an A-frame similar to what we got with Castle Grayskull in the 1980s, and also a square one similar to the Masters of the Universe Classics version.
I won’t lie to you. I thought about buying the Classics version again, but there aren’t that many of them out there for sale and what is for sale is well over $50 used. I remember when I had this, I wasn’t that happy with it. It seems to me like I could not get the weapons on there the way I wanted, and sometimes the tight pegs would rub the paint off of the weapons. I resorted to rubber bands on it also. Looking at old pictures of it doesn’t bring back great memories. Why aren’t there more diorama pieces readily available to purchase to help fans like the SpartanNerd and the Hub City Geeks out?
I decided to break out the She-Ra from the San Diego comic con exclusive 200x from I don’t know, 2003 or 2004. I keep her in her window box but take her out on special occasions. Her style of sword and the gold motif on her armor match up very well with Movie He-Man and the golden AWOK sword. Now is a good time to point out that none of these weapons will work with 7-inch scale female figures. In the case of this sword and also the guns below, you feel like the fingers are stretching even on larger hands.
I like characters that are like walking weapon racks. Case in point, Two-Bad here can run with the whole mercenary motif. I need to talk about the size of the handles of these weapons. In order for Two-Bad to hold the rifle, I had to face it into his body first in order to wedge the handle into his fingers, and that twist it around. Even this way that handle is so thick it does not want to give me the desirable Sergeant Slaughter type of pose I would want. These weapons were terrific with other toy lines, case in point the redeemer here holding that golden Mace just seems perfect. (The Redeemer can’t hold the guns. His fingers are too stiff. Too bad, because he only has trigger fingers.)
Vikor fending off a Mythic Legions skeleton army builder. A good test case for a future Conan model. From this picture, don’t you think that the handle looks too big? Because Ultimates Conan figures are basically Masters of the Universe Classics figures, I wonder if there will be drama. This sword looks great otherwise in Vikor’s hand.
I’ve had terrific fun posing and taking pictures of my figures with the Animal Warriors of the Kingdom gold weapons loot set. The weapons look great in the hands of male MASTERVERSE, MOTUC, Mythic Legions, and even Spawn figures. The shadowbox packaging is a neat trick. Be careful with the hands as the handles on some of the weapons are a little thick. I am curious about how well they fit in the hands of the AWOK figures. Spero offers plain army builder figures out there for low prices. Maybe I will get one someday and see. Of more interest to me is the set of armor I saw on Big Bad Toy Store.
I am rating this set 5/5. The weapons look great and that is really the whole point for me. They can add a new dimension to figures like Two-Bad or Barbarian Skeletor. I don’t warrant subtracting a point about the handles…after all I did get the weapons into the hands of the figures and nothing broke and no paint scratched or peeled off. (But it is worrisome.)
Do you agree with my 5/5 score, Hub City Geeks? Let me know in the comments!
The SpartanNerd’s copy on VHS.Don’t know when the last time I watched this tape was.This time I streamed it onTubi, which was free except for a singular commercial at the beginning.
I have recently picked up two Evil Lyn figures…one MASTERVERSE Revelation, and the other MASTERVERSE “Movie Inspired.” I will be doing reviews of those figures soon, but I thought I would stop and watch the movie again…maybe the twentieth time ever. But this time with a more critical eye and thinking about recent toys.
As I watched, I jotted down some “quick notes.” I have a habit of doing this nowadays, especially on a second or third viewing of a film. I am commenting on a film that is 37 years old (as of 2024), and I am very aware of the “cult classic” effect of the movie on a modern audience. There are things about it that are forgivable, and others that are not so much. Below you can see my observations as I watched the film in bold, and my commentary a few weeks later in italics.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The Castle Grayskull matte painting is very epic. You can get a scope of the scale by seeing the Sorceress standing in the right eye socket.
We only see the castle a few times.That they chose this more tower design is interesting.I wonder if they were thinking of the Eternia Playset or something like that.And while the sorceress, in white clothes reflecting the Temple of Darkness colors, can be seen in that eye socket, I believe she is still too big!
The set of Grayskull isn’t very epic. The throne room has steps that appear like average hardwood. The throne and the Great Eye of the Galaxy look very dramatic, with nice hieroglyphics on obelisks on either side of the seat. But the surrounding environment really takes away from it. I’ll have to keep watching, but isn’t the great eye similar to Skeletor’s ship?
That there is this circular design behind Skeletor actually did confuse me as a child.Because Skeletor’s invading space ship also has this circular design.What?? is he flying around with the Great Eye of the Galaxy?I wonder why a better design wasn’t created.Why not something closer to “The Collector?”
Teela and Gwildor had never eaten meat or considered it.
This always has bothered me.Teela says that Earth is “Barbaric.”Isn’t that what Masters of the Universe is supposed to be?Even as a child I thought it was odd that Teela hadn’t eaten meat.Gwildor is a wierdo.He gets a pass.But the Captain of the Guard? She would know what rib bones were.She would have at least seen animals eating meat. And we know she enjoys Roast Gooble. But Movie Teela has to be straightedge I guess.
Weapons He-Man uses. Up to the high school scene, we have seen He-Man wield the storm trooper rifle twice. The blaster that he handed Julie was evidently set to stun, or Saurod’s armor is lazer proof. She shot him point blank in the back, but it only jarred him.
He-Man stole Blade’s sword and duel wielded!
Another note…there is a “backless” part of the cape, good design choice for us to still be able to see the sword. Haven’t seen the scabbard yet.
He-Man is a heavy gun user in this movie.I know my mother didn’t approve of this.And we never see him use guns in other media much…he hardly uses weapons including his sword in Filmation.I notice that the gun that came with the new figure is solid black, but He-Man’s blaster in the movie has silver parts on the bottom. I will probably customize this. Why didn’t they just give us accurate stuff? They could use GI JOE Classified for pointers! Eventually we do see the scabbard, and it is indeed only a half-sheath.Very strange, but the figure is accurate.Dolph’s backless cape is more dramatic than that on the figure…the backless part is almost ignorable.I know why that is there… so we can see the power sword, a necessary compromise.They wanted to give him a cape to make him more superheroic, but stay true to the roots that his main weapon is supposedly a sword.
The Cosmic Key has a handle like a gun.
I don’t own the Masters of the Universe Classics Gwildor, but I don’t think we have had a toy cosmic key that really captures what it looked like in the movie.It has that cylindrical shape, with tuning forks around it, and rows of buttons, with one big red light that activates it.And what looks like a blaster handle or rifle stock sticking out perpendicularly also.But no one uses the Cosmic Key like a gun.The little strap on the two MASTERVERSE Cosmic Keys we have isn’t a gun handle or stock.
39:18 into the movie, there is a cool scene of Julie and He-Man sitting and talking in the storage room at the high school (or a nearby construction site?) The rubble and items around would make a good photo scene for figures. I wonder if there is a Courtney Cox figure out there in scale? She is wrapped in He-Man’s cape
I have been making dioramas lately, and this scene caught my eye. I haven’t looked into a Courtney Cox figure very hard. I would be a cool idea, though!I also don’t know if He-Man’s cloth cape can detach from the armor.Something I might feel up to messing with.What is the worst that could happen?I have to gorilla glue it back?
5’5” short hair pink sweater
This is Kevin’s description of Julie to Lubick. He really narrowed it down, didn’t he? (NOPE)
Gwildor in a ’57 Chevy…pink. “Primitive land boat.“
l love some ’57 Chevy action.The very first model car I build was of a ’57 with flame decals.This idea in this movie calls out to so many other things, from Christine to the Delorean to Grease.
42:30. Skeletor and Evil Lyn staring into each others eyes.
Evil Lyn is agging on his obsession with He-Man. This tracks with modern portrayals.
Indeed modern depictions of Evil Lyn contain this seductress element. The best is the depiction in the comics, where she used that guy to gain access to the Eye of Grayskull, and to get revenge on him for betraying Trap Jaw. In 200x Mike Young cartoon, she clearly strikes something up with Keldor, and adoringly gushes over Skeletor’s power later on, seemingly to regret the loss of that relationship. And in Masters of the Universe Revelation seducing Skeletor is her way of gaining the power of Grayskull for herself. This intimate scene in the movie is probably the first time we saw such a relationship between the two. In filmation, she was clearly second in power and ability, but no romance.
Skeletor’s force lightning evaporates Saurod. My thought about Sauron…he is the least likable of the mercs.
As a child I had this toy.I remember throwing him up in the air and getting it stuck in a pine tree.So he got zapped here and “sapped” there!
Possible accessories for evil Lyn: Scanner, Hologram projector, (The image of the Cosmic Key actually looks a little bit like Gwildors vintage toy), Collar of Aldrabad
Evil Lyn IS NOT wearing pink. It looks gray actually
Why am I pointing these out?Because the MASTERVERSE Evil Lyn woefully didn’t come with anything except that unpainted, “translucent”, Cosmic Key…the same sculpt of Skeletor’s without paint.They could have included all of these.In fact, the hologram projector would have been a no-brainer.The wand that she has in so many depictions, with the dragons claw and spherical crystal could have been easily modified.Just give it a flat top!So the SpartanNerd has a bit of color blindness…sometimes I don’t see shades so good.And as I watched the movie, I kept looking to see if she was wearing pink this whole time but somehow I missed it.But no I’m pretty sure it’s gray.There is a lot of lighting that makes it look pinker, purpler, redder than it actually is.Also, it is definitely a skin-tight garment.She isn’t showing much skin, something else I wondered.
Skeletor’s army has a control tablet that blows up the microwave because of its interferance. Why is Kevin putting Burger King trash in the sink? But he is microwaving a fresh bucket of Robbie’s Ribs…
One of those nonsensical things you might miss if you don’t look for it.Probably Burger King paid for product placement. Another great question.Why hasn’t a Gwildor figure ever come with a bucket of ribs?
Evil Lyn leaves right as pink Cadillac arrives. Classic 1980’s
Seems like this gag comes up in many movies.It is a classic.
Music Store destruction! The music store scene has some of THE WORST acting
It’s true.So true.As a guitar player and musician, I looked closely at what kind of instruments were being destroyed.These are cheapies.I wonder if this was a set or an actual store somewhere. The shouted lines, the over-acted anxiety from He-Man to Gwildor to Karg. This is the hardest scene to watch.
Beast Man leads the stormtroopers. Like twenty.
There are alot of extras under those costumes.Seeing Beast Man as a commander is a little bit different.He doesn’t speak, only growls and grovels in this movie.And yet the storm troopers (this is what they are, but it isn’t clear what their actual name is,) follow his lead. The guys in the air are called Air Centurions
Evil Lyn has a round ship. Skeletor has a round ship. The great eye of the galaxy is round. Dumb design choices
Just pointing this out again. They did build a different Eternia for this movie. I get it. I suppose they didn’t want it to look like Star Wars or Star Trek, (both in peoples’ minds at the time.) I heard someone say that Gary Goddard wanted a New Gods story, disguised as Masters of the Universe. Maybe that’s why. From a filmography standpoint, and I am not an expert…this is the Christopher Reeves era, so the camera tricks to convince you that they are flying might have relied on that gimmick, where the rear view of the ship had to be obscured. (For some really bad Superman style flying effects, check out Robocop 3. Very cringy.)
One of the most heroic fights is when He-Man steals the centurion’s flying disc. This movie so far has been kind of light on He-man solo action. But we see him use the blaster, lose the blaster. Then use his sword to take out some guys. When he lands to where Skeletor has his friends hostage, he throws like five stormtroopers off of him and grabs his sword, but then Skeletor blackmails him with the old “It’s you or your friends” routine.
He-man’s only true “weakness” is that he is bound to protect his friends.
He-man does indeed have half of a scabbard that hangs down awkwardly. He has no cape when Skeletor takes him away and you can see it well. Also, what are those gems on his arms?
Teela remarks when He-Man throws down his sword. What is the story here? Does she know about Adam and He-Man at this point? Is it because it is easy access to Grayskull? Is it necessary to open The Great Eye of the Galaxy? That this is a power sword isn’t really addressed in this movie. It is hinted at. And He-Man does raise it for a “I have the power” moment in the movie, but does this give him more energy? Does the blast drive back enemies? Unclear.
Skeletor winces as He-man takes the beating. A good detail. It makes Blade seem more sadistic. It reflects that Skeletor knows what that whip feels like.
Frank Langella was truly, truly a master in this role. This year he is 86 years old. I haven’t seen any other movies of his. But he really did Skeletor right. Menacing, calculating, diabolical. Also just over the top.
Gwildor has two strong ET moments. When he puts on the women’s clothing. And when he rigs up a cosmic key (like the communicator made from a speak n spell in ET).
That Kevin is a “master songmaker” kind of brings the high fantasy of “The universe is made of music” into realistic earth terms. Many people are musicians…this is something we can relate to. And every kid watching this movie would have a music class at school. This was the age of hair metal and synth pop. Guns-N-Roses was huge. Van Halen. Etc. And Hip-Hop. And every cartoon from He-Man and all of the upstarts underneath him had a theme song. And kids would sing those every day. This part of the movie makes the power everyones.
Some of Skeletor’s best acting is in the whip scene. Also, he said He-Man’s friends should rot. When a skeleton tells you this that hurts…but he also calls sorceress an old crone. Her old-lady-look mirrors his sunken-in face look
The fight at the end where Skeletor declares himself a god. Skeletor keeps zapping He-Man. But he is seemingly indestructible. Even the Darkseid eye beams. When He-Man grabs his sword, we see it absorb Skeletor’s lightning.
This tracks with the idea of the power sword being a conduit of the power, however this isn’t really talked about until later fandom, for instance The Four Horsemen designing the techno sword to harmonize with Grayskull.
Skeletor draws the dark sword at the end of the fight, after He-Man breaks the Havoc Staff.
I brought this up because I asked the question “Did Skeletor even use this sword?” when I reviewed the movie figure. I didn’t remember when. This is the only time, when He-Man offers to save him.
The time paradox problem. He-Man’s armor is extra gold for the end
OK. Here goes. If Gwildor had the ability to send Julie and Kevin back in time, so that Julie could prevent her parents from crashing on the plane, then couldn’t this whole movie have been avoided? Evil Lyn duped him into giving up the Cosmic Key, but he had a prototype. So, why not go back in time and…tell himself not to fall for the trick? Tell himself how dangerous the Cosmic Key is? Or hire bodyguards? Or any number of solutions that would have by-passed the bulk of the movie. I suppose this is the problem of all time-travel movies.
Julie wakes up in a gown in her bed. And walks down the stairs to her huge surprise…she can stop her parents! But the way it is framed. Like Christmas morning when you are going to get presents…this is the feeling of the scene!
As I watched this final scene, this was my thought. I mean, we just had Christmas here. And some of my fondest memories was going down the stairs on Christmas morning to find presents.
Julie is wearing a frumpy gown…it looks a little bit juvenile for a teenager. These are the pajamas that kids are supposed to identify with. She sees her parents. And the smile, the reaction. Even if her parents go and fly…even if she goes with them this time. She has already made a difference in the timeline so that they won’t die. And what better present could there be?
But like I said…why?
“I’LL BE BACK!”
Sadly, Skeletor never got that return, did he.I remember talking to my friends.“When will He-Man 2 come out?” I was in denial that the movie wasn’t well received and He-Man was going underground.I lumped this sequel into the Back To The Future (Two sequels happened) category of possible movies. Rocky had tons of sequels. There were rumors of Bill And Ted’s Excellent Adventure sequels (This happened). There were rumors of Star Wars movies that would tell of Darth Vader becoming evil. (These were only rumors of children!Surely this would never happen.That would be too crazy!) But no He-Man movie ever came out again…or since. I became aware of “New Adventures,” and my younger brothers had He-Man and Slush Head. I disliked the different, wimpier design. I never watched the cartoon but once. But I jumped for Joy in my first year of marriage when they announced the trailer for 200x. I spent hours downloading that trailer over dial-up!
I just heard today on the ForEternia Podcast that the Netflix live-action movie that seemed to be the closest ever to a movie was just shelved. WHY?!
I couldn’t help it. I received an e-mail from Mattel Creations about a clearance sale, and went to look around. I was pleased enough to buy what I wouldn’t have bought at regular price. The three items here were each under $10. In the video above, I am showing off the package. It seems like the easier thing to do with the amount of things I am reviewing. These are all in the “sporty” packaging that I complained about before, but at least it is collector friendly. I have waxed poetic about the line that is never coming back…Masters of the Universe Classics. After thinking about it for awhile, I believe they are probably doing the correct thing. There is symmetry between this line and Star Wars Black Series and GI Joe Classified, as well as some of the newer Transformers. This box seems pretty similar if you think about it. You get a nice artwork profile on the side, an illustration on the back, and in the window you can see what you get. If you were a collector of this line in package, you could file them on the shelf easily like books and take them out when you want. This is the way I see especially GI Joe Classified on the shelf at places like the Toy Federation in Greer SC.
As you can see, I picked up New Eternia Skeletor, Revlations Stinkor, and Revelations Mer-Man. I also have Revelations Savage He-Man with Orko on the way in the mail. After the shipping, I spent $55. You know, Super7 Ultimates cost $55 each, without shipping… See where I felt this was a good value? Looks like I missed Trap Jaw and Tri-Clops…these were already sold out. But today, I just browsed Big Bad Toy Store, and they have all of these at similar prices. It seems like it might be because of the Black Friday sales going on.
Let’s begin with Skeletor.
This “New Eternia” Skeletor has a barbarian vibe that I really like. Sort of stupid and cool at the same time that he has a goatee. (Skulls can’t do that can they?) The concept that they are referring to on the package is of what became Demo-Man, an early concept for Skeletor. In MOTUC they mish-mashed the story up so that Skeletor is Keldor plus this Demo-Man demon. This begs the question of how much of Skeletor’s evil is his own. Not a big fan of that story. The MOTUC Demo-Man figure was bright green and really evoked the concept art. This one only hints at it. I went back and looked and there really isn’t much resemblance.
Above is a similar stance with the scimitar sword.
This figure has loose leg joints. It seems that the thigh cut is loose, and the bottom shin is also. So there is a complaint there. I really had to wrangle to get him to stand. The cape is an interesting piece. It has a large neck hole with a hard piece of bat armor meant to go over the top of the regular armor, really making this figure seem like a two-for-one. It is a soft-goods cape. (On thinking about this line vs. Classics, the soft goods have to be cheaper than those plastic capes. Think about all of the plastic and paint that went into those! With these, its a piece of fabric. The cost is less, and it does the job. However, there is something to be said about the plastic sculpted capes. They are impressive and it keeps a consistent look to the figure.
This is the way that I will generally keep him on display. This alternate head is more jovial but campy evil. The red eyes stare aggressively. The havoc staff is pretty heavy, and the pole is thick. I didn’t break any fingers, but you really have to stretch them. Skeletor also has a trigger finger but no gun accessory.
Look at how evil the goat head appears. This head is so different, like I said before, it could be a different character. Check it out on Movie Skeletor’s body.
Here I have a scene where movie Skeletor is summoning some help. See how this viking type of Skeletor can go as a generic kind of guy? Here is a good comparison now. Look at how much more detailed the paint is on the Mythic Legion army builder skeleton. With the Four Horsemen figure did they scrimp on the paint? No where. Skeletor has mostly unpainted blue plastic. The face is ok. But do you see why this figure is so much cheaper? To be fair, Movie Skeletor has many more paint hits. Maybe more than the Mythic Legion.
Oh the barbary!
This is the kind of thing I am after! Vikor fits pretty good with Skeletor. Yes, Skeletor is more articulated. So why didn’t I buy the New Eternia He-Man that was also on sale? Why would I? It is the same basic figure as Movie He-Man with different paint and a horned helmet.
The New Eternia He-Man doesn’t have a cape or the daggers. Essentially I also didn’t really like the way it looked.
Let’s move on to Skinkor
Here’s what you get. That mouth has a hole in it to plug that mask into. Without the mask it looks like he has an open mouth, giving you another option for display.
Notice anything missing? NO GUN. I think he should have some kind of spray gun. And no. He doesn’t stink. One thing I do like about this figure is the paint job. They really caked it on this time, which makes him fluffier looking.
So I wanted to see if he has a skunk stripe down his back?
Nope. No skunk stripe. No stink. No gun. BOOO.
There would never be a time when these two would fist bump! His hands are larger than the other figures. He has gloves obviously. But He-Man’s fist…I said it before. Deadpool baby hand.
The vintage Stinkor was a repaint of Mer-Man. Here you can see that isn’t true, at least between Revelations Mer-Man and Stinkor. There is some resemblance, and perhaps a different version of Mer-Man has the same head.
Speaking of…
My review of Mer-Man
This is the Revelations cartoon version of Mer-Man. Here’s what you get. Mer-Man, who has no removable armor. Four extra hands. These hands are four fingered and feature webbing. An aquatic scimitar type of sword. And a bident. (I mistakenly said “trident” in the packaging video. SHAME!)
This figure is a wizened and grisly motif for the character.
The box for Skeletor’s scimitar sword mentions that his is a “legendary weapon.” Mer-Man’s is likely generic. But it does look cool!
Never bring a bident to a gun fight!
He can even swim! (Just kidding…photo magic!)
SpartanNerd’s ratings of these three figures.
Skeletor is by far the best. That is exactly what I wanted! The undead knight look of that head is great. I do wish his legs were more sturdy, and that Havoc Staff has a little too much plastic in the handle. Taking off for the weak standing…4/5.
Stinkor is the weakest. I picked it up for just over $8. But no gun or other weapon? No stink. Why? You get a skunk themed biohazard suit character with a blue shield and some hands. 2/5. Pretty low. At least he stands well and the sculpt and paint are good.
Mer-Man is OK. I appreciate that he comes with a couple of weapons…pretty cool weapons. And he does look like the cartoon. I really like that color. Whatever it is … blue. Green. Aqua? The scratches and scars are a new and welcome touch. If they included yellow armor and a corn-cob sword it could be better. I am awarding 3/5. I’m glad to have him.
Savage He-Man and Orko are on the way. Keep an eye on the SpartanNerd Blog for my review!
I remember going to see the 1987 Masters of the Universe movie. I would have been nine years old. But such a memory! We went as a family, mom and dad, me and my two brothers, and we ate at a cafeteria style restaurant. Back then we had a mall on the east side of Spartanburg, “Hillcrest Mall.” The same theater is there, but the mall is gone. I remember when the movie was over and we got out to eat at the place, my father expressing dislike for the movie, which was shocking to me. I thought it was great! I may have been experiencing a hype fantasy…not hard for an extreme fan like 9 year old SpartanNerd. I had most of the toys and watched the show every day. I got the magazine.
I remember this being a hard time…we were seeing less and less of the toys at the stores. I would keep getting some MOTU toys for a few years…when I was as old as eleven or twelve I got Tyrantisaurus Rex and Evil Lyn for Christmas, and was made fun of by my uncles. I didn’t care.
I just wanted to set the scene for you. We would eventually get the movie on BetaMax and I would watch a blurry copy a whole lot. Sure, when I was 13-16 years old, not much toy business for me. A few legos, and some models cars and things. But I remember clearly being a Senior in high school and getting on the internet for the first time. Our teacher said, “Go to Yahoo.com. There you can type anything you want and the internet will search for it.” And what did I type…”He-Man.” I found Adam Tyner’s page, or what must have been the beginning of fan pages, and ever since that is how I have stayed afloat. In college I took my Mosquitor toy with me. I have no idea what happened to it. But Masters of the Universe have been my jam.
Why this trip down memory lane?
I saw these on sale last week during the Comic Con…I saw it online of course. But Movie Skeletor had the ominous “Only a few left.” At $33 each, I didn’t want to miss out.
I didn’t get the Super7 MOTUC version of He-Man, and their Skeletor was God Skeletor from the final scenes of the movie. (Was there a MOTUC of regular Skeletor?) But these were so cool I couldn’t pass them up.
I don’t collect this line. I have mentioned a few times that I was immediately put off when I saw the first images of He-Man. And it isn’t as elegant of a line as the Masters of the Universe Classics. The only one I had before these was 40th Anniversary He-Man. I don’t have the Skeletor, but I picked up that figure at Target for $20. I was drawn to the packaging and just the 40th anniversery-ness of it. But these guys come in the “boring” packaging that is one of the things that put me off of this line.
But I might be evolving on that…I will need to have a look at some other boxes next time I make my unfortunate visit to the department store (probably Wal-Mart.)
The side of the boxes give us some images. I won’t say they are wonderful, but they could be worse. He-Man looks like a member of 1980’s hair metal band. Skeletor looks like the mascot for Iron Maiden or similar. He-Man DOES NOT resemble Dolph Lundgren in the art. (The other side of the package just has the name of the character.)
The two boxes on the back can combine to create a scene…this represents the Great Eye of the Galaxy. Or something like that from the movie, where Skeletor is about to open up the power of Grayskull. As a piece of comic book art, this is great. I was about to throw this box away…instead I am going to cut off the back of the boxes. This would be a great poster. HINT HINT MATTEL!!! And at this point, isn’t this rare official art? The last official movie art we had would have had to have been Erle Norem’s work from the magazine, or maybe some movie posters.
LET’S LOOK AT HE-MAN
The inside of the box isn’t bad either. This rock texture makes for a good diorama. Here is what comes with He-Man. This figure boasts of 30 points of articulation, and it’s true. But it isn’t pretty. You can see the joints all over the place. He-Man comes with two knives (sheathed in the picture), a lazer pistol (in the holster), the power sword, two extra fists, and a classic toy sculpted head.
I remember after seeing the movie that my mom was concerned about a couple of things. The cursing, and He-Man used a gun a good bit of the movie, which was uncharacteristic of the character. We had toy guns, GI Joes, Transformers, but she didn’t like us playing with them. But our uncles kept giving us stuff…You can see that He-Man has no problem getting into this classic lazer gun pose. You can see the armor on his legs…this is sculpted on. It has good details on it. Very busy. What do you think about this head sculpt? Does it resemble Dolph to you? Not to me. You can tell they were trying really hard to capture his likeness. But it just isn’t quite there.
These two knives…I don’t think He-Man used these in the movie? The one on the boot keeps coming up. It is from an early He-Man design, and it must have been present in the movie version. The one on his belt seems superfluous. But I guess He-Man is “EXTRA” like that. Notice the cape. It is soft goods. It reminds me of old Batman toy capes. Just a note, it was taped to the blister card in the box, and I was freaked out a little removing it…I was afraid I would tear it. The pauldrons on the shoulders don’t hinder the articulation much, but his joints are very tight. His shoulder joint is massive, and I was worried I would break something in moving it around. But he is tougher than you think. I am uncertain what the design on the center of the chest is or on the belt. A dragon? A tornado? A lightning bolt?
You can evoke a more cartoon vibe by putting on the fist hand and the classic head. Once again, this looks a little bit too…something. Naive? Oblivious? Is he smiling? Is he talking? To me there is something about this head sculpt that takes away from the character of He-Man. Maybe he seems too “soft” or something. I will also say, this is the same “baby hand” fist that we got with the 40th anniversary figure. (Comparison below. Notice that 40th anniversary has a much larger chest.)
And I guess I have to show this off too.
The sword goes through a look at his neck, and the point end fits in a scabbard on the bottom under the cape. Why not a whole scabbard? Maybe this is what the movie props did? I don’t know? You can see that the armor is removable. They missed an opportunity here to put some stripes on his back from Blade’s Lazer whips. Then I would be inclined to remove the armor!
LET’S LOOK AT SKELETOR
Skeletor comes with what you see here. The Havoc Staff, a dark version of the same sword as He-Man, the Cosmic Key, and a fist and a chopping hand. Was this sword in the movie? I guess I need to go back and watch again. Pay attention SpartanNerd!
Skeletor’s articulation. isthe same as He-Man’s, but there is a problem…The Samurai armor that he has hanging down is stiff and so Skeletor can’t be on his knees. Which is fitting…Skeletor kneels for no one!
You can’t do much with the Cosmic Key. But it looks nice. It really can’t be held and doesn’t have anywhere to hang on Skeletor’s belt like it did in the movie.
Here we can compare the two swords. I guess they are similar, but they are. a little bit different at the hilt.
The sculpt of Skeletor is terrific! You can remove his head, but the hood remains attached. Under that is the ribbon chain, and under that is shoulder armor, and the soft goods cape…all removable. There are bone details sculpted onto the chest armor. Like He-Man, I can’t make out what the symbols on the armor are. The missed opportunity here is another hoodless Skeletor head, so we can do the post-credit’s scene “I’ll be back!” (Of course this turned out not to be true…very sad.)
So how does the SpartanNerd rate this sort-of impulse purchase?
Like I said, Skeletor is just about perfect as far as a sculpt. He-Man misses the mark as far as Dolph Lundgren goes…but the rest of him is pretty good. He-Man is very articulated, but you can see every joint in exposed detail, which is unsightly. Skeletor’s sculpt is so busy that you don’t see the seams so much.
There were missed opportunities on both figures. A hoodless head for Skeletor, and stripes on He-Man’s back.
The packaging was surprising. The art is good, but He-Man looks a little too “Motley Crue” to me. The scene on the back is epic…it reminds me of the big Todd McFarlane splash pages. (But no art is as good as McFarlane’s! Well…Maybe Norem’s.)
I felt like I had good value. I am going to go with 5/5!
The SpartanKid (College kid now….) He said “What other figures like this would you get. There is no market.” I disagree!
Give me a Kevin, Julie (Courtney Cox fans rally!), Music Store Guy, Lubbock, Movie Man-At Arms, Movie Teela, Movie Sorcerous (old crone!), Movie Evil Lyn. Surely there will be a Karg, a Movie Beast Man, a Saurod, a Blade, and a Gwildor. Maybe a dark shock trooper with a flying disc. Maybe even a Robbie’s Ribs cow!
Are you as enthusiastic as me, Hub City Geeks? Do you own these? Are you into the 1987 movie? Let me know in the comments!
Here is a product I didn’t even know existed! And the SpartanWife gave it to me for Christmas! I knew about “The World’s Smallest Figures” but haven’t been collecting them. Last year someone put World’s Smallest Battle Cat in my stocking. But this year, I got a four pack, which like I said I didn’t even know was a thing.
The front is a nice window box. The back tells us what a Masters of the Universe fan already knows, with artwork that I think is from the new Origins line of figures. And I am pretty sure the art on the sides is Emiliano Santalucia’s art from the DVD collections. (I might be wrong about that.). I appreciate how the Masters of the Universe logo with the exploding red rocks on the bottom is present.
There is a black blister on the inside. This four pack is a great display on its own because of this blister. We also get a pamphlet showcasing other products by Super Impulse. The Micro Figures are there most prolific product. I didn’t know there was as much of it out there. We did have the MTG Jace vs. Chandra decks once. Isn’t Super Impulse the best name for a brand of novelty products like this?
Here are all of the items outside the blister. I went ahead and opened the hinged boxes on the two cats so you can see how these each have their own collector friendly package. On He-Man and Skeletor, you get the little door on the back.
You can see how this works. There is a little pull tab on the back of the micro blister. A polybag has all of the accessories.
For some reason He-Man came with two power swords? A mistake at the factory? I am not used to photographing such small things. You will have to forgive me. It is amazing how different the lighting can be when you focus on tiny objects. And then I cropped what I had and adjusted the lighting using Apple Photos.
I want to say how hazardously small these figures are. I am not even kidding. It is a feat of toy engineering! They are about the size of a dime. The sculpt is pretty good. The arms and the head move, but the legs are stiff and unarticulated. The armor appears to be glued on…I didn’t try and remove it. He holds the sword reasonably well and the shield snaps onto his forearms and elbow OK. The armor doesn’t have a functional holster for the sword or the battle axe. The battle axe really, really, really is hazardously small. The handle is loose in He-Man’s hand. It is like the thinnest piece of plastic. It is about as thin as a high e nylon guitar string.
Here is a size comparison for you. Sorry, not opening the 200x He-Man for this! You can see how very tiny this is. Someone at a toy store told me that the World’s Smallest figures go well in the Hot Wheels vehicles. I’ll have to try that when it snow. (You can see how the 40th Anniversary Masterverse figure’s sword isn’t holding up too well. :(. )
Amazingly, I have one smaller figure! This one came with GI Joe Classified Sgt. Slaughter. If He-Man wasn’t on a stand, the Sarge’s hat would not even tough his belt. However, this tiny figure isn’t articulated.
I KNOW. THEY ARE DIFFERENT THINGS. Still, the detail of the head sculpt on the micro figure makes the MEGA minifig seem derpy and comical. World’s Smallest He-Man doesn’t sit on Battle Cat so well…
Here is the whole set. Skeletor also doesn’t fit on Panthor so well. Both cats have the same articulation. All four legs move. Their heads can turn but not go up and down. Their tails are articulated, and you can remove their armor. This Panthor is not flocked.
Here is Skeletor beside He-Man. Once again, sorry about the blur! Skeletor can’t hold the Havoc Staff so good either. It has the same handle thickness as the battle axe. Also, his armor looks kind of wrong. But I do enjoy the redness of his eyes.
I had lots of fun taking pics of these guys. As miniature action figures, these are the smallest you could get without becoming a rubber slug like Sgt. Slaughter’s micro figure. (Still puzzled about them including that. It is cool though!). The sculpts are great and they come with appropriate accessories. I guess the issues with them holding the Havoc Staff and the battle axe are ignorable. Just be careful. The axe is so small I was afraid of it getting stuck under my Macbook Pro keys! They go right back in their packages, and then that goes back in the blister no problem. Panthor was an exclusive for this set, another bonus!
I am giving it a 5/5. Do you agree or disagree, Hub City Geeks? Let me know in the comments!
Build Review part 1 (you are looking at it right now!)
Build Review part 2 (coming soon)
If it has been awhile since you checked in to the SpartanNerd blog, here is a link to the main page! I suggest starting with “catching up” from July 4, 2022.
Part 1 of this review is the “Filmation” side of the mountain.
I am also highly distracted, so I feel like this is one of the most ADHD reviews I have ever done. (’tis the season for chorus!)
It took me from mid-September until last week (second week of December) to complete this side. This is working in spurts of an hour and a half or two hours. when I felt up to it. I would get a couple of the polybags out and assemble those steps. Then put the whole project away until next time. I think there are 27 steps here?
This playset really gives you the scale of a mountain with the mini figures around it.
The trap door is pretty nice. But beware that the figures fall a long way. I had to wrangle with it so that the mechanism would work smoothly.
Webstor is doing the “trap door spider” thing. Notice these pink squirelly things and the horns. They look cool. This place “oozes evil.”
Grayskull with Point Dread and the Talon Fighter is only barely taller.
Snake Mountain is even taller than Master Grade Gundam Epyon EW on a flight stand with beam saber raised!
Shades of purple. The Land Shark and my custom “War Sled.”
I want to begin by saying that just like Castle Grayskull, each small section of Snake Mountain is packaged in its own plastic baggie. They give you this set in small and manageable chunks, and the instructions are pretty clear. Sometimes I personally have a hard time seeing the correct shape of a piece in respect of it’s orientation and position in the picture…But this is more of a SpartanNerd problem. Because it is in such small bite sized chunks, I don’t feel the need to always set out the pieces and organize them like I do smaller sets.
While the instructions are easy and the sequence is clear, the build HAS NOT been easy. I am of the belief that Mattel has opted to use cheaper or at least different plastic than they used for Castle Grayskull. The effect of that is…I really have to work hard to get the pieces to snap together! I mean…sometimes I set the pieces and the table and have to hammer them with my hand. And all of the SpartanPets go running. And then…If you make a mistake and have to take it apart…Let’s just say that the “brick separator” is our best friend. The forks on the end have worn out from me having to separate blocks that are wedged together too tightly.
I recently had to rebuild Castle Grayskull. (YAY. It has crumbled TWICE on me.). I managed to get the castle back together in about four hours. (Large pieces stayed together negating the need for a total rebuild.).
Rebuilding that set in the middle of working on Snake Mountain let me see the true difference of what is going on. Grayskull’s pieces don’t stick together so tightly…Hence the lack of durability. That roof is also dubious. It is barely attached to the playset, Snake Mountain…I probably could drop it from 8 feet in the air like I did Grayskull, and it would mostly stay together except for the little horn details and such.
(OK. I decided to move the castle to the top shelf to be beside the new Snake Mountain which is too tall for the better shelf on the lower level. I had also attached the Talon Fighter to the top of the tower. And I dropped it. In the closet. Pieces everywhere and underneath stuff in the closet. A real nightmare.)
Earlier I said cheaper/different plastic. This plastic has a problem. There is a tiny discolored nib on almost every piece. Sometimes it is on a stud. Sometimes it is somewhere else. But it is ugly and uncalled for in a set that costs over $300. Mattel knows they will get their money from people like the SpartanNerd. But every time I would see one of those ugly artifacts, I felt a little burned. I felt this bad enough to where I thought…”Would I buy a Fright Zone, Eternia Playset, or Crystal Castle?” All of those are possible sets on a similar scale and price point to Snake Mountain and Grayskull. They can do better.
Now probably the economy has to do with this. Oil/Petroleum shortage. Biden-flation. ETC etc. Maybe they purposely wanted the plastic to be more rigid so that the set wouldn’t crumble. I don’t know. But people who put pupils in the eyes of a Man-E-Faces Mega Mini Figure pay attention to details, and those ugly nibs are a problem.
Next up. I have a problem with this piece (First picture)
Notice how there is a white scar on each of these blocks.
@#!$%&*@. This large piece is stupid.
Maybe this was a reprinted piece from some earlier HALO set. Seems a little familiar. Mattel/MEGA, you missed an opportunity here. By giving us this large hollow piece you have deprived us of the ability to build that piece. And on this subject, there are some dubious design choices on some of the interior. Instead of solid blocks, they have us use large flat rectangular pieces back to back with a row of studs in between. MIND BOGGLING. WHY!? I think it might have been to save money on plastic? Maybe it made the set weigh less? I don’t know. But that design choice seems wrong on a building toy.
Last complaint. The wraparound snake. This is another missed opportunity. This snake should have been a complete snake. We should be able to remove it for a monster battle. You say, “SpartanNerd, it didn’t do that in Filmation.” True. But it did in 200x. My point is, if we received a proper tail piece, this snake would have been even more epic. We could have disconnected it from the mountain and used it. Too much fun, I guess.
On to some positivity. IT IS HUGE. A good problem, but also a problem. It is as tall as Grayskull with the Point Dread and Talon Fighter configuration. The figures look great posed on it. You get a real sense of “mountain” that I always felt that the vintage playset failed to capture. It is that sense that us collectors and fans crave that pushed the Super7 Snake Mountain to be so large and expensive.
The little horns and pink squirelly things make this really evil. Also the monster face at the base of the mountain just appears from the build, and as I mentioned before, I prefer that! The trap door is a nice touch, but the figures fall a long way down and can get busted.
The “faces of evil” are a Four Horsemen design if I remember correctly. In the middle, that purple support snaps off way to easy. It is only for looks…isn’t a functional piece for stability. I could not get the face on the left to attach without bulding up the layer underneath with spare parts.
The only “extra” on this side of the mountain is this “sarlacc pit” trap under the trap door. I put The Sorceress here, with Evil Lynn clearly summoning the monster. The Sorceress seems to wind up a prisoner quite often.
You can remove this trap and sit it other places. “The Well of Souls?”
So what is my overall feeling? Can I rate this yet?
I think it will be awhile before I begin on the second half. It seems kind of daunting. And that isn’t what a toy should be.
On the other hand, the other side has some of the cooler parts of this set. Skeletor’s throne for one. The magic table from Filmation is another. There are others…That lava slide. But I also never was a big fan of the face on the other side. Or the rat/wolf microphone. But I really liked the bridge.
Well, I am glad that we got this side with the snake, that really looks like a Filmation Snake mountain sort of. At least they gave us a little more snake.
I feel that a person might be able to customize this set a little bit. I am building it as it is meant to be first, for now.
So far Grayskull beats this set, however. It might be because of my own personal attachment as a child. But I find it is also just really awesome…in the sense that Mortal Kombat II was more awesome than Mortal Kombat I. It is more, More, MORE! I had Snake Mountain as a child, but this set departs from the vintage design enough to where it doesn’t hit me the same way that Grayskull does. I know that this is based on the Super7 Snake Mountain design, which summarizes the toy and the Filmation version. But that wasn’t “my snake mountain.” If it was dark black and gray with a giant snake wrapped around and lava coming out of its mouth…That’s “my Snake Mountain.” or if it was an exact copy of the vintage toy. It’s still cool and it’s still epic, though!
spartannerd 