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I grew up with two younger brothers. Being the big brother and general winner, I usually had the good guys when it came to Masters of the Universe. One brother had Skeletor’s guys, and another Hordak’s guys. But near the end, neither of them were getting Masters figures. There were a lot more GI Joes, Ninja Turtles, and other stuff happening. So I got a few baddies of my own, and Mantenna was one of them.
I’m unsure of when I realized the character had four legs. The figure only had two…but if you look closely you can see that they are actually skinny legs sculpted together. Kind of genius. I probably realized it after watching She-Ra, but maybe from the mini-comic. But all around…one of the weirdest looking dudes. And he had a lever on his back to make his eyes pop up. So very cool to a 10-11ish year old.
So how did the MASTERVERSE version come out?
PACKAGING
You can see above that this is the same kind of packaging as we have gotten now for around three years. Why isn’t he from the “New Etheria” line? The recent Hordak was.
The wraparound image shows the Evil Horde attacking Eternia. The Horde mothership flies above the palace with a fleet of Klingon Birds of Prey (not). Isn’t that the Temple of Shakoti in the background?
The other side has the library image, with the alternate eyeballs extended on their stalks.
The back shows a photoshop of the toy, with what might be the Whispering Woods in the background. Mantenna is searching for pieces of Castle Greyskull. Interesting!
You have some action feature images…it shows off the weapon he has, which isn’t a crossbow (BOO) and his alternate looks with different eyes.
The cross sell features Anti-Eternia He-Man and Mosquitor (Review coming soon.)
I probably won’t get Anti-Eternia He-Man. Just…Why? I’ll accept it as a gift from someone, though!
FIGURE REVIEW
What do we get in the package?
- Mantenna Figure
- Eyeball Ray Gun
- Two eye stalks
- One alternate eye.
He was $23. So I’m saying this up front. He is a good hunk of plastic. But not much paint. Most of the resources here went to the four legs and the swapping eye feature.
I am actually showing you the closest you can get the figure to appearing like the vintage member of the Horde. You can’t pose the legs parallel to one another. Otherwise all of his articulation is good. I do wish you could close his mouth instead of him having this static toothy round cavity.
The good thing is, though, this may be a hint of how we will get Modulok and Multi-Bot. Both guys had four legs in their default mode. But here is a question…these legs have single jointed knees, and furthermore the knee area looks quite a bit like the Origins figures. So … are these legs swappable? I am not going to risk it, but if they are, then that is another hint about those two lego-type characters.
All around, the blue plastic…it is too dark and just needs paint. This was a cost-cutting measure I’m sure. I’m not a fan of Webstor or Zodac. Why? BORING colors. Mantenna wasn’t in that category for me, but they managed to do it wrong. Maybe the plastic is too dark…or maybe it needs a “wash” of some lighter color blue. I can’t really tell…photos and such that Mattel provides have super good lighting and it kind of offsets the effect. But if you don’t have it under that perfect jewelry store condition, you have overpowering dark blue.
ACCESSORIES
Is it really that hard to give us a crossbow instead of this dumb weapon?
I really wish they were giving us crossbows. Maybe updated ones. I wouldn’t mind this eyeball gun so much if they also included a crossbow. Or maybe if the gun was an eyeball-crossbow arrow or bolt.
The eye-swapping feature…to do it, you have to remove the upper face of the figure. THEN the eyeballs are in the socket pretty good. I had to use a guitar pick to wedge them out.
They alternate eyeballs they give us feel like a down-grade from the main eyes he is packed using. I don’t much see the point, these may be a reflection of the She-Ra cartoon. I haven’t watched it enough and don’t have much memory about it.
SPARTANNERD RATING
It’s a shame, but I just don’t have that much more to say. The blue darkness overpowers the positives. Mattel has opted to cut the paint and promote the plastic…something we see more and more. Kobra Khan was bland for this exact reason. That shiny green was OK on a snake, but not spectacular when seen through the larger lens of other available figures. GI Joe Classified…same price point, always better paint than this. Mythic Legions cost more, but face it…MASTERVERSE is competing against that brand, and all of the figures from plain skeletons to royalty have exceptional details in the sculpt and the paint.
It’s like Mantenna hits the big point from the 1980’s. He has bug eyes and a bizzarre head. Mattel hit these points, and everything else was an afterthought. I remember hearing the Four Horsemen talk about laboring to design figures. To make them epic. I’m afraid Mantenna doesn’t feel epic. It feels like a chore to take pictures of him…and that is a definite bad thing.
You can see in the above picture different lines and even companies. And the colors on Mantenna seem to be more plain than anyone else. He’s big, blue and red. But that doesn’t make him epic.
I am awarding MASTERVERSE New Eternia Mantenna 3/5. He just doesn’t do it for me. The lack of accessories and the boring colors make someone who should be amazing rather bland. He gets a feels points because I NEEDED Mantenna on my quest to recollect the toys I once had. He doesn’t have stupid problems, but if a kid gets this they might have a hard time swapping those eyes. His sculpt is OK. Points subtracted because of accessory count and paint apps.
3/5…Do you agree or disagree? Let me know in the comments!
spartannerd 