SpartanNerd Unboxing and Review…Masters of the Universe Classics Evilseed

When Evilseed went on sale, I decided I would get him, only to be held off by circumstances.  I thought I would have to catch him on Cyber Monday, maybe.  But he remained on sale…perhaps he didn’t sell out?  Regardless, I ordered mine, and over a week later he arrived in this mailer.

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I quickly opened it, to reveal the sealed packaging.

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The front of the box has a nice window that has Evilseed on display.  You can clearly see his accessories…he has the tag line of “Evil Master of Plants.”  And that’s about it.  Just from seeing here…he is quite incredible looking, if you are a MIC collector.  But that’s not me.

I flipped the box over, and check it out!  For the first time, I own all of the characters on the back of the box!

Evilseed gets a new “real name” and bio, photographed here for you, oh Hub City Geeks.  But I’m just throwing away the package.  Notably, the bio says that Moss Man created Evilseed.  A good story.  But I prefer the Mike Young version that this figure is based on.

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Removing Evilseed from the package isn’t difficult.  He did have some rubber bands, and the vine-whip accessory had to be wrangled out of the blister.  But other than that, it was all good.  Notably, there was no “smell” associated with this figure.  (If you will recall, Moss Man” had a very strong pine scent.)

Here he is in the first pose I made for him.

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Evilseed has a terrific sculpt.  When I first saw this revealed, I knew I had to get one to go with my Moss Man.  The Four Horsemen hit a homerun every time!  Check out all of the little scaly looking parts.  Check out the thorns and vines.  I went back and watched “Orko’s Garden,” “Council of Evil” part 1 & 2, and “The Last Stand” today to check my facts.  I have ready other reviews, and there is some criticism of this version being too bulked up.  In the MYP cartoon, his IS skinner at the torso and waist, but the entire upper body looks almost perfect.  The thicker torso here is welcome, if you ask me.  While they could have used some amalgamation of Lizard Man’s parts, I think this was the way to go.  It doesn’t look wrong at all.  Maybe he’s been working out?

Evilseed has that terrific sculpt, and also the standard articulation that all of the other MOTUC figures have.  Rocker joint ankles, hinged knees, ball jointed shoulders, waist twist, ab crunch, ball jointed shoulders, bicep swivels, hinged elbows, a swivel wrist, and a ball jointed head that can rotate freely and be swapped out.

The cool new addition to the articulation is the way the vines look on the legs.  They are made of a more rubbery material, and are a continuation of the waist piece.  These come down and loop around the knees, which means Evilseed has both loose vines on his knees and articulation there!

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How about this face!  If he had a mother….

For real, this is one of the most evil faces ever sculpted for MOTUC.  Evilseed’s overall green color is a stark and EVIL contrast to this sinister eyes and mouth, which are bright red in color.  This is the only red on the figure…everyghing else is green, black, or brown.  This highlights the evil human nature of the figure, and even makes him appear alien.  Where his hair should be, we have this bunch of creepy looking vines/grass/seaweed.

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The torso is evidently just the same sort of Torso that He-Man or most of the others have.  But this time there is non-removable armor sculpted with he specific viney details demanded of Evilseed.  There is a very striking collar that comes up beside his head on both sides, giving him a plant/vampire look.  You can see the vine details on his back, and also two mysterious green thorns in the middle of his back.

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One of Evilseed’s two accessories is “The Scepter of Power.”  My research tells me that this Filmation artifact was in the episode, “The Magic Falls.”  I don’t personally own this episode on DVD.  I started to watch it on YouTube, when I discovered that all of those videos appear to be playing at too fast a clip, giving a chipmunk effect to most of the music and voices.  It was unbearable to me.  And As a music teacher, the difference in key created by the effect was just too jarring. Anyways, Evilseed looks really good with the Scepter of Power.  It is supposed to be for King Randor, but since I am not a fan of “Throne Room Randor” and, nor the Burger King version of the regular Randor, I decided to settle on letting Prince Adam hold it.  (He would inherit it anyway, right?)

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Not bad at all.

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The other accessory is this vine-whip creature.  You can position it almost anywhere on his body.  I think I might try and order more of these!  I think he should have come with more of them.  Watching the MYP version made me realize how ridiculous and over-exaggerated the vines that Evilseed controlled were.  But it worked really well in that cartoon.  Evilseed even made T-Rex sorts of plants, and hydra plants also.  He also would use them to transport around on…Mattel could have given us an interchanging waist so we could display him as seen transporting around on a “trunk” of vines!

In getting this figure, one of my aims was display him in battle with Moss Man.  Here is my first attempt!

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Even with the “plant god” head on, Moss Man appears to be from a different line entirely.  Both are green, but the flocking on Moss Man blurs his details.

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Evilseed looks pretty good with Moss Man’s weapon, but the seed-bag armor with knife doesn’t fit properly across Evilseed because of the collar piece of the armor.  It fits loosely around his waist, which is something I do with Moss Man sometimes.

It might be better to use it to imprison him…

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Heheh…looks like Orko is going to set him free…

Evilseed was a part of Skeletor’s Council of Evil…We can compare Evilseed to Count Marzo and Skeletor by reenacting a scene from the cartoon.

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SpartanNerd Rating of Masters of the Universe Classics Evilseed.

Evilseed has terrific sculpting.  He is highly articulated, even specifically for his figure.  (With the vines around his knees.)  His paint looks good, and there was no “pee plastic” smell like I detected from King Hsss and Snake Armor He-Man.  He comes with two accessories…the only complaint I can level is I wish we had MORE vines.  But this can be easily done.

So I give MOTUC Evilseed a 5/5!  I am not the least bit disappointed in this figure.  Every detail matches my specifications!  There are some people who complain that this isn’t Filmation’s “turnip head” version.  But I don’t even like that version…it was even a reason I might not subscribe to that little add-on sub.  This 200x version looks evil, not goofy.  He is ready for battle…ready to kick some plants!

The SpartanNerd gives Masters of the Universe Classics Evilseed a 5/5.  Do you agree or disagree?  Let me know in the comments!

SpartanNerd and SpartanTeen Review…Knight Gundam (SD)

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The second SD Gundam model review ever.  The Knight Gundam.  Does the SpartanNerd think this is worth picking up?  Keep reading!

The Knight Gundam is another of those Gundams that I have zero association with.  I never heard of it.  SpartanTeen saw it on “Gundam Build Fighters”, at least I gather.  The price was $13.99.

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The instructions were in Japanese.  But the Knight Gunam came with a Manga.  No idea what is going on here.  It is a cute little comic strip, though.

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Here is the model assembled.  Highly detailed!  I like the color scheme…mostly gray with blue and red details.  A splash of yellow for the cross on the shield and the headpiece.  It has that oversized head of course.  Tis time there is a barrel inside that allows you to give him two different looks for the eyes.

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This Gundam has an AMAZING amount of accessories.  I removed them all so you can see just how incredible it really is.

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Without the accessories, he feels like a knight without armor should feel.  I applaud the detail that went into this.

But this isn’t all!

It can TRANSFORM!

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That’s right…Knight Gundam transforms into a Centaur!

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I can’t say enough good things about this toy!  Wow!

The SpartanTeen had a few things to say about it:

“The mask part is shiny.  The rest of it is not, and it should be.”

“The sword is hidden in the shield.”

“Knight Gundam and Unicorn Knight Gundam combine, to for a unicorn.  Alone, he is a Centaur”

“This Gundam has relatively few problems compared to other models in this series.”

“It was nothing hard…it took me about ten minutes to build.”

Here is a comparison shot with the Build Burning Gundam SD.

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So what does the SpartanNerd rate Knight Gundam (SD)?

I can’t say anything negative about it.  The SpartanTeen is a little bothered that the mask is vac-metal while the rest of the armor isn’t.  I think it makes the mask pop, though.  Then he informed me that it isn’t just a transformer, but a Combiner as well.

This thing gets a 5/5.  Only $13.99 for basically hours of entertainment.  The amount of things to do here reminds me of playing with “Modulok” from Masters of the Universe Classics.  It is fairly sturdy, and has no stupid problems.

The SpartanNerd rates Knight Gundam (SD) a solid 5/5.  Do you agree or disagree, oh Hub City Geeks?  Let me know in the comments!

SpartanNerd Unboxing and Review…Masters of the Universe Classics “Snake Armor He-Man vs. Battle Armor King Hsss” Two Pack

I always wanted to have Snake Armor He-Man from the 200x line.  Unfortunately, I’ve never seen one in stores, and apparently it only was sold in Europe.

When Mattel revealed the MOTUC version, as a double pack with 200x King Hsss…I was very surprised.  Here is a company that has consistently said they weren’t going to do “anime stylized” figures.  I, like everyone else interested, watched Pixel Dan’s video review…and I knew this would be my next purchase.  Then came the big news of a 200x subscription line…I am still deciding on that.  But I am very glad to know that they are visiting that old line and bringing new figures from the show that were never released, like Ceratus and Calix.

I ordered this as soon as it was available on February 16, and today it arrived on March 2.  Not so good.  Not that the amount of time the shipping took has anything to do with the value of the figure, but it is kind of a bummer that it took so long.

Anyways, on with the review!

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The toys arrived in this mailer box.  Similar to what we have seen in the past.  You can see the names of the figures prominently on the front.

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Removing the inner box from the mailer reveals this packaging.  It is similar pakaging to what we got with the Palace Guard two pack.  There is a Snake Men sticker conspicuously on the blister bubble.

Flipping the box over…wait a minute.  (sniff sniff).  What’s that (sniff sniff) smell?

I’ve heard of new car smell.  And there is/was a blog or show on the web “That New Toy Smell.”  But I never actually smelled a new toy outside of a toy that was supposed to smell.  And I have to say, it isn’t very pleasant.  It is a strong smell, that overcomes the packaging.  I heard complaints on Roast Gooble Dinner podcast about some of the new plastic Mattel using smelling “like urinal cakes.”  I wouldn’t quite describe this smell as that bad.  It smells of chemicals, though.  And like new paint.

Onto flipping the box.

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We get some pictures of other snake men in the line, notably Tongue Lasher, my favorite Snake Man…until today!

The bios are interesting, and you can read them on your own time, Hub City Geeks.  I am just throwing this packaging away.  (As I type this, I am looking at the two figures on my kitchen table, and they continue to smell funny.)

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Both figures are MAGNIFICENT!  The sculpt of He-Man’s armor…what they’ve done with the concept is incredible!  And there are lots of tiny details.  He-Man is one of those figures I could stare at for a while and keep finding new things.  King Hsss likewise, has a remarkable sculpt, and this time, they adapted the 200x look into his Armor instead of making a new buck, or whatever.  Both figures feature loin cloths reminiscent of the 200x time period.  King Hsss comes with a snake staff and a shield, just like the older version…

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No shoulder swapping has been done to the new King Hsss!  The older version has a certain nostalgia, but the newer version carries Egyptian details.

He-Man has received a new head sculpt, and this is what has people excited the most about getting these figures, I think.

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No more fish-head haircut for He-Man  Notice that there is a sword holder on his back, designed to hold the 200x sword!

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He-Man also has the claw accessory that was prominently featured in the cartoon.  It just clips right into his gauntlet.

He-Man and King Hsss have all of the articulation of other MOTUC figures: Ball jointed head, ball jointed shoulders, bicep swivels, rotating wrists, an ab crunch, rotating waist, ball jointed legs, knees with a hinge, and rocker ankles.  Neither figure has a boot cut swivel, but that is generally unnecessary.

King Hsss’ head swivel is hampered by his headdress a little bit.  Otherwise, all of the joints feel tight and the figures stand very nicely.  I would like to point out that the loin cloth on both figures hampers their ability to ride on a steed…He-Man can’t properly ride Battle Cat (if you happened to get Battle Lion and armor swap.)

You can remove King Hsss torso and swap out with the snake form from the previous figure.  Mattel is promising a 200x snake form to be packed with a different figure.   I feel that the older snake form looks like a buck-toothed rabbit.

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You can try trading He-Man’s head sculpt onto different figures, and vice versa. You can make a truly 200x regular He-Man now if you have King Grayskull’s armor.  Or you could take the armor off of the 200x He-Man, and use that…it fits the classics figures just fine.  (I don’t have these options available, sadly.)

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But putting that 200x head on Prince Adam looks SWEET!  He looks like some kind of model, don’t you think!

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Here is a COMPARISON TIME:  Wolf Armor He-Man 200x and Snake Armor He-Man MOTUC

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Hsss’ staff and shield are given to us in muted colors this time.  I especially like the staff in this color.  It looks extra evil.  And the darker colored shield is also better than the brighter shield we got before.

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He-Man’s sword is the same as the other swords we have from 200x, but this time the cross on the hilt is highlighted in black.  Some things are lacking in this department for He-Man.

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Sure we have awesome new armor…(incidentally, non-removable armor).  But Snake Armor He-Man needs a snake shield.  He also needs a sword that can open up to fire the power of Grayskull at Serpos, like we saw in the final episode of the 200x series.

So what’s my rating?

I had a blast coming up with cool poses for each figure.  They look absolutely awesome together.  My favorite thing is the action pose you see above, where He-Man is fighting King Hsss.  This armor lends makes you believe this figure is a real snake fighter!

But no way around it…I have to take off some for a couple of reasons.  We didn’t get all we need with these figures.  King Hsss missing his alt mode.  He-man not having a transforming sword or a shield.  And then there is that smell.  That has to be enough to really effect some people’s fun.

But the positives really outweigh the negatives.  The sculpts are amazing.  The customizability that is opened up with these figures is also very nice.  The figures are fun to play with and look at.  I can’t say enough about all of the details.  The paint is very intricate as well.  This has to make up for some of the bad.

So I am going to rate this set a solid 3/5 or a cautious 4/5.  If you are a fan of 200x, or just the snake men in general, then this product is for you.  I mentioned above, this sculpt of King Hsss has promoted him to my favorite snake man.  And I really like the part swapping options opened up with the new 200x head sculpt.

SpartanNerd Vintage Toy Review…”Masters of the Universe Wolf Armor He-man and Snake Armor Skeletor”

This is one of the longest titles I’ve typed on this blog!

Today you get the final pictures taken with my iPhone 4s.  Good riddance, after seeing how good the iPhone 6 camera is!  (I can hear Skeletor from the MYP cartoon saying “Good Riddance!”

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This item was originally meant to be a gift set.  You are getting two figures, both with an action accessory, and a VHS tape. (GASP)

The front of the box is a nice window where you can see the figures and the video inside.

I love the SpartanWife…If it weren’t for her, I probably never would have got these!

Here’s the back…

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Everything all over this packaging is in three languages.  English, Spanish (or Italian?) and French.

Probably Spanish, aimed at the Mexican market.  Sorry Europeans.  (Seriously.  There are mega fans in Europe.  Especially Italy and Germany.)

The back of the package gives you instructions, and also shows off some other figures and vehicles from 200x.

I do miss the 200x show!

On with the review.  This packaging is just landing in the trash.  I’m not sure this could have counted as Mint On Card anyways.  The box has had some abuse.

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Here is everything assembled, for your photography pleasure.  The video is going to stay in cellophane.  I believe I will display it with my 1987 movie VHS tape.  Because neither is EVER going back into a VCR to be eaten.  That’s why.  And besides, I have “The Courage of Adam” on DVD.

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Here are the accessories.  I activated the action feature of both shields this time.  I prefer to display them like this.  Skeletor’s activates by press of a button.  You reset it by pushing that skull back up, and then the blades retract.  He-Man’s works by turning that wolf head.  His isn’t spring loaded, unfortunately.  But it looks way cooler with the blades out.

This is the first He-Man I’ve ever owned that didn’t come with a sword!

Also notable, He-Man’s helmet is removable…Skeletor’s is not.

He-Man has a wolf claw weapon.  And I’m not sure WHAT Skeletor’s weapon is.  A gun?  A sword?  I tend to think those silver pieces are meant to be long retractable tentacles.  So more of a gun.  But then again, it could be that the two silver pieces are meant to mirror Skeletor’s double sword.  I just don’t know.

As far as I know, there is no extant fiction for either character…

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Here’s Skeletor.  His shield is really heavy.  200x Skeletor tends to be sort of hunchbacked as it is.  But in order to have him stand and hold the shield, you have to bend him backwards, pretty severely.

The figure has a snake head on top of his helmet.  I thought this must be a button for an action feature.  Nope.  Maybe the Horsemen intended it to be so?  The armor is removable, but it looks to be two pieces.  I don’t feel the urge to take it off…you can’t remove his helmet, so you would have a shirtless Skeletor with a snake hat.  And what if I have trouble getting that armor back on?

I have to add that the snake hat is glued to the hooded head that was on the original, non-variant version.  Mattel really cut corners on this figure.  And I don’t necessarily appreciate it.  I do think these are cool designs.  I might not understand them.  But stuff like the mess that is on Skeletor’s head is pretty infuriating.  Why isn’t that removable.  Or at least, not GLUED TO HIS HOOD.

Skeletor is fine below the waist.  His loin cloth is elaborate.  His toes look ever creepy.  To bad he didn’t have claws on his feet, as he had in the cartoon and the Vintage figure from the 1980s.  I wish they at least painted the nails black as a compromise.

Skeletor also doesn’t have the torso punch.  How did that get left out.

I can make a comparison this time.  We have what I believe to be Battle Armor/sound Skeletor from the 200x line.  He has a spring loaded waist twist.  And you can remove his hood.  I’m just saying.

Onto Wolf Armor He-Man.

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He-man is superior to Skeletor in every way.  He has the same problem as Skeletor in that his shield is too heavy for him to stand and hold it as usual.  I am not necessarily a fan of the way the He-Man holds his shields in 200x.  Shields should strap to the arm.  Not be held in hand.  But this is an overall style criticism.  He-man’s waist twist works great.  His armor is removable.  I generally have a hard time standing 200x He-Man.  His legs are sculpted in an odd way.

He-Man’s armor is a nice gold color.  His furry shorts come complete with the little pouch that hangs from his belt.

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I tried out the sword from the 200x Castle Grayskull playset.  This sword has good symmetry with the shield, matching the other shiny silver pieces.

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Here’s Skeletor with the other 200x villains in my collection.  Too bad we can’t see Two-Bad’s faces.  (get it.  “Two Bad.”

SpartanNerd’s Rating

Here goes.  Whhhhhh…..(sigh)

What these figures ARE is kind of a mystery.  Snake Armor Skeletor kind of makes sense.  Skeletor is the enemy of the Snake Men.  But we never saw him in the cartoon wearing this.  On the other hand, He-Man was decked out especially for the Snake Men.  But what was Wolf Armor He-Man?  There were no wolf enemies.  I guess this was just a variant like the “Jungle Attack He-Man” or “Smash Blade He-Man.”

Skeletor’s figure has a very compromised feel to it.  Like they intended for it to be more than it is.  But had to cut corners.  So there is no action feature.  And the helmet is not removable.  And they didn’t bother with a new head sculpt…hence the hood is still there under the helmet.

Add to these problems the fact that the figures can’t stand properly because of the weight of the shields, and the fact that He-Man doesn’t come with a sword.  And the score is pretty low.

But I don’t dislike these figures.  They are fun!  I think the shields’ action features are cool.  Especially Skeletor’s with the spring loaded blades.  He-Man’s shield, with the blades sticking out around it is especially cool looking.

I rate 200x Wolf Armor He-Man at 3/5.  His sculpt is great.  He has a cool shield.  It is a nice variant.  He looks cool on the shelf.  With the downside of not coming with a sword, or being able to stand holding the shield without being contorted.

I rate 200x Snake Armor Skeletor as 2/5.  He has a compromised feel.  Unremovable Helmet.  Dubious removable armor.  A strange weapon.  And can’t stand naturally holding the shield.  On the other hand, the action feature on the shield is fun, and the overall look of the figure is nice.

I’m not even going to bother rating the tape.

Because these figures look so cool on the shelf, and that is their main function, I am going to rate them probationally 3/5 as a set.

That’s right.  The SpartanNerd rates the dubiously named:

200x Masters of the Universe Wolf Armor He-Man and Snake Armor Skeletor Gift Set *

3/5.

Do you agree?  Let me know in the comments!

*I added the colon because it is supposed to be funny.

SpartanNerd Vintage Toy Review…Masters of the Universe Miniatures!

Darkness descends on the darkest day of the year…My Birthday!

So what did I get?  The perfect thing for a SpartanNerd!  Of course, I already opened the MOTUC Modulok, so anything else I got was icing on the cake!

The SpartanWife found these guys on e-bay!  I have no idea what she paid for them, and am hesitant to ask.  I love this gift no matter what it cost-ed.

Here is my Unboxing and Review!

IMG_0382These are the 200x versions of the figures, sculpted in that creepy Todd MacFarlane Four Horseman style!  It has a large window box where you can see all four figures: Stratos, Beast Man, He-Man, and Skeletor.  The Beast Man was evidently exclusive to this particular gift-set!

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The back of the box shows off these and other figures in this miniature line.    (I researched.  There weren’t that many of these figures.  Maybe around 12?  So collecting them all should be do-able!)  It also shows the only action feature and articulation point, a waist swivel

Each Figure is very detailed.  There are lots of intricacies the more you stare at them.  It is notable that some of the paint is a little sloppy…we are talking about mini-statues.  I,m sure it is all handpainted.

So we get two good guys and two bad guys.  Fun!

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He-man looks vicious, with his 200x techno-sword raised overhead, and shield in hand, ready to bash something.  I like that it has the cross detail on the chest, but looking close, it looks like they might have tried to distort that a little bit to resemble that stylized H that became the dominant He-Man symbol for the time.

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Stratos is appropriately poised on a cloud.  It looks like he is blasting off!

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Beast Man has the whip up and ready to crack.  This time, the whip is glued to him at the shoulder, and unfortuanately, you can see that glop of glue….

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And then Skeletor.  the 200x version of Skeletor as a toy never looked much like he looked on the cartoon.  It is far more evil looking.  This version has skeleton sort of mirroring He-Man, raising his sword, this time the two-piece weapon favored during the 200x days.  His other hand has the Havoc Staff.  Unfortunately, the staff is made of soft plastic that stays bent.  I’m afraid there is no helping that when you are talking about the minimal materials used for this product.  Still, it looks very menacing, maybe that bent-ness adds to the evil look of the whole mini-statue.

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I am going to grade these figures based on quality, artistic licence, and the intangible happiness level they gave me when opening.

What the heck.  I am so happy, they all get a 5/5!

I got one more unexpected item on this 21st of December…A Vintage Mini-Comic.  Not just any mini comic either…the English/French version…probably Canadian.  “King of the Snake Men!”

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