Tag Archives: Masters of the Universe Classics

Two Generic Dudes- Demistros and Black Falcon SpartanNerd Action Figure Showdown!

by

17

I mean…I keep waiting on some Conan the Barbarian Ultimates! figures to show up, and they keep getting pushed back. So now I am expecting Battle at the Mounds figures in June and King Conan in July…I ordered both going on a year and a half ago! In the meantime, I have been building a MASTERVERSE collection, with a minor emphasis on skeletons. I already think Masters of the Universe Classics Vikor looks great fighting skeleton warriors, and that will be the perfect thing for Conan figures to fight. I am also on the lookout for a giant snake…

The Four Horsemen had a special sale, where I picked up Demistros. And because Super7 pushed King Conan back another two months, they gave me a 15% discount on my next order…which is why I picked up Black Falcon.

Both are great skeleton warriors, but I would like to do a little throwdown here. Both are kind of generic…I mean they have names but who knows who they are? Not me! Who will win? Let’s start with Demistros.

DEMISTROS

Demistros came in a plain box in the mail…it was small enough to fit in my grandma’s mailbox! (long story). But it was the perfect size. I don’t usually care, but it was nice to have a little less trash. Demistros’ package was no bigger or different than other Mythic Legions figures….But wait. Here’s a point. Demistros isn’t a Mythic Legions figure! They actually made him to be one of the generic baddies you might have encountered in 1980’s cartoons. They say so on the side back!

So back in the 1980’s, you would have Masters of the Universe to purchase, but sometimes you might go to the store and they only had figures you already owned. What to do? Get a KO. A knock-off. And there were plenty. Sometimes they would be named “Galaxy Warriors” or other nonsense. But I had a little collection of guys who could hold Masters weapons and ride their vehicles and really just blended right in. And this went along with the M.O. of the Filmation show also, didn’t it? There were Count Marzo, Lizard Man, and Strongarm just to name a few. Also, WWF/WCW wrestlers were big, and their toys also sometimes went right along with MOTU. So Demistros here kind of fits that bill. And how did I come across purchasing it? A random side impulse. “Store Horsemen In Stock Sale!”

The package has a nice illustration, and I prefer the blue/purple background to the red/yellow on the back of Mythic Legions. So let’s open this collector friendly Mythic Legions style box.

Oops…the cat’s out of the bag. (This little piece of paper!)

Here is everything you get in the package. The Demistros figure, who has all of the articulation and swapability of a Mythic Legions figure, a giant sword, a lance/spear thing, and a morning star weapon. Also, the cape is soft goods and separate, the pauldons are removable, and necessary to hold the cape on.

So here are some things. That head sculpt…when I ordered it, I didn’t realize how much of a BUTT CHIN it would have. I mean…severe BUTT CHIN. I mean, giant spikes coming from the chin! It is a very nice sculpt, and that is just a wacky detail. Green evil eyes. Kind of a repugnant smile. I think it was the horns that sold me. I am very partial to horned helmets. I did remove the horns with some force, and I am uncertain if they were meant to be removed, unlike most Mythic Legions parts. They snapped right back in, but caution, everyone! After I ordered this, I saw what must be the exact sculpt but red at the Toy Federation store in Greer, SC. With red, it looks like Satan. no other way to say it! It is amazing how much the paint changes the character.

Now I am of the mindset that Demistros is supposed to be a KO Skeletor. Skeletor is often depicted in modern media as having horns like this. From DC and Dark Horse comics to Skele-God in Masters of the Universe Revelation. It’s just that the Four Horsemen did it first in figure form, and they couldn’t call him Skeletor. Here is Skeletor’s head on the figure with proper weapons. I mean really, it is terrific! But as before, the head doesn’t fit the neck joint, so it is actually just sitting there. But in this case, there is a big “collar” that goes around the neck so that it isn’t obvious at all.

Pictured: Demistros body with MASTERVERSE New Eternia “Viking” Skeletor alternate head, MOTUC Havoc Staff from The Faceless One, and purple Power Sword from MASTERVERSE King Grayskull.
Pictured: MASTERVERSE New Eternia “Viking” Skeletor body with Demistros head and spear.

The cape…I really would like to put it on someone else. But after attaching it, using the hair dryer, etc. Way too much effort to be worth the fun. The trouble I had with it…That is probably never coming back off. It’s a shame, really. This is easily the best soft-goods cape on an action figure I own at this point.It really took me a lot of effort. The problem is that the peg doesn’t want to fit in the hole snuggly with the fabric of the cape in the way. (There are holes cut in the fabric that line up with the holes in his back.)

Articulation is just like Mythic Legions. All easy to move joints and modular parts. Only the head has trouble moving because of that glorious BUTT CHIN.

I think the whole sculpting on the figure is insanely good. And this is what the Four Horsemen do. No one is better at it in the business.

The weapons are a nice little variety. The sword is of the anime style…ridiculously huge. There are green “runes” sculpted on there. This is sculpting with paint details, and the figure appears to be powering up this sword. The morning star is cool. It has a real metal chain. My problem with this weapon is…how do you display it?

It just hangs. You can’t pose it swinging or anything. The spear/lance is the same weapon we already have gotten with other skeleton warriors, but this time we get a little bit of oxidized copper finish. It kind of reminds you of those bronze or brass grave markers. (Here is an example.)

So not many accessories. I believe the sword to be the best, but there is potential with the morning star…maybe I can figure out how to rig a wire through that chain so that I can pose it.

Black Falcon

Black Falcon came in just the opposite. A large piece of trash box labeled Super7. Which just meant that a FedEx man had to set it down outside my grandma’s door.

Inside that box was Black Falcon in a “The Worst” mailer.

And so let’s talk about The Worst. Who really cares about them? Who are they? No clue. I remember when The Worst was first released as ReAction figures. They were the first to use the Masters of the Universe Reaction molds for Battle Cat, which I thought looked ridiculous anyway. I couldn’t get behind the big hole in the back where you had to put the poorly articulated three inch figure. I have seen Masters ReAction figures on pegs, and I just think they are dumb, which is why I don’t own any. I prefer Dollar Tree minis, or Eternia Minis, or really almost anything to those figures that aren’t quite as good as GI Joes. (I don’t mind ReAction figures of stuff where there will be no other action figures, for instance, Parks and Recreation.)

But I have to admit, I thought Black Falcon was the coolest one of the bunch. And in Ultimates! form, his design is the best when compared to Captain Deadstar or Batula (which were in the same wave). Not that I am against either of those, but the horned helmet skeleton wins the $50.

Here is what was in the mailer.

This box cover. Now I don’t even like this illustration. And what is he holding? A brick? The problem is I think this is a good illustration for the ReAction figure, but the Ultimates! figure deserved better. This is a shiny cover…but what to do with it? I have the Cobra B.A.T. still in his covered box. And I think it fits so well. I considered keeping Metalhead’s, but it came damaged. This one isn’t damaged, but why would I keep it?

Finally, what does the box look like?

You get this shiny foil background and this coffin shaped window. You can see the contents very well! And like the Cobra B.A.T. there is a double blister inside. Here’s the back for more of a description of who Black Falcon is supposed to be.

So after taking the figure out, I just tossed the box. I don’t have room to keep every box. Still…it is a very good box, and on par with the other Ultimates! boxes I have. I think I may keep the Conan boxes when they arrive, so I need to eke out room.

So what do we get?

Oh Boy! A long list. First of all, three heads. (standard, smiley with a cracked skull, and fiery orange). a removable, posable soft-goods cape. It appears that I received an extra gripping hand…(this was floating around in with the figure in the box. Hope I don’t have someone else’s). So I got nine hands in total. (two fists, three gripping, two open claws, two fiery gripping, and one “circle game”). I got a falcon boomerang, a necklace with an X on it, a bident spear, a sword with horns, a falcon shield, a bagged lunch, and a coffee or soup canister with a removable cup/lid.

I don’t believe I have ever opened an action figure with so many accessories!

All these accessories will make for tons of fun, but lets just talk about the figure first.

In the box he has the cape and necklace on. The cape is terrific, and like Demistros it has rips and holes. But this one has a wire that is posable (or posable some other way I don’t know how it works). But it has this gold snap in the front that is just too conspicuous. But it is much easier to remove than Demistros cape, and could easily go on another figure if I wanted.

While you keep looking at that circle…(other The Worst figures have middle fingers, so…) notice the paint. For a guy named “Black Falcon,” the only black apparent on the figure is in the eyes of the skulls. He is generally gray and copper colored with some splashes of gold. The paint is very nice. The sculpt is also very good, but of course not as great as a Four Horsemen sculpt. However, his sculpt is more detailed than the Cobra B.A.T., more detailed than Metalhead, and it fits in well with MOTUC Vikor. Important, because the original Ultimates! figures were Masters of the Universe Classics. All of this is an evolution of that line of toys.

Pictured: Black Falcon with sword, shield, and cracked face. Vikor with Mythic Legions battle axe.

The helmets on these three head sculpts remind me of old football helmets. The only thing that bothers me about Black Falcon’s sculpt is the falcon on his right arm is non-removable. Why? This is a missed opportunity, especially since Captain Deadstar seems to come with two parrots. (I only know about him from pictures).

Back to accessories. Notice that the shield doesn’t have straps, but has one of those dumb handles. I am pretty sure I’m not wrong in thinking shields are never wielded this way, but rather worn as a type of armor. Still, plenty of action figures have shields like this. The sword is very detailed and also painted with pride, which is more than I can say for at least the morning star weapon Demistros has. (I believe that is a green “wash” on the spear…should I consider that paint?). Most MASTERVERSE weapons don’t have this level of paint work.

I was baffled to hear another reviewer not seem to understand the purpose of the translucent-ish orange face and hands. Seriously…that guy needs to read some Ghost Rider comics and play some DOOM. Flaming skulls all over the place. And maybe I am the first to point this out…remember in the 1987 Masters of the Universe movie, where Skeletor unlocked the power of Grayskull and transformed Into a god? One of the featured colors in that transformation was THIS EXACT SHADE. (Super7, please send me a reward for pointing this out). I do wish there was more paint on the eyes and in the mouth on this head sculpt. OK. Why the bag lunch and the coffee. These are hilarious! And that the top comes off to become the cup, like most real coffee thermoses, is just an added design detail that makes this even more fun. Here I imagine that coffee was really hot! Then his face caught fire. Remember that the front illustration featured Black Falcon holding a box. Nope. It was the bag lunch. (Another reason that illustration isn’t so great.)

Here is another one I haven’t seen anyone point out. (Brian Flynn…are you reading?). The falcon-a-rang weapon fits in the crack on the alternate head sculpt. This would be a Batman reference…there is a villain, “Bat-a-rang Face.”

THE SHOWDOWN. WHO WILL WIN?

Well there’s no question that I was able to write a lot more about Black Falcon than Demistros, mostly on account of all the many accessories. And all around, Black Falcon is more fun. So Black Falcon gives the first punch, right to the spiky BUTT CHIN face of Demistros.

On the other hand, in the sculpting department, with the work of the masterful Four Horsemen Studios, Demistros is eating Black Falcon’s lunch.

Demistros looks great with other Mythic Legions skeletons. I have Maximillius on order to be the boss of my skeletons, but Demistros is a terrific boss. He can do what bosses do best…stand in the back and send the underlings forward, and looks great doing that.

Pictured: Mythic Legions skeleton “legion builders” armed with MASTERVERSE New Eternia “Viking Skeletor” scimitar and MASTERVERSE Revelation Teela’s shield, McFarlane Toys Raven Spawn scythe, Masters of the Universe Classics Vykron barbarian axe and armor, Masters of the Universe Classics Vikor shield, and Demistros commanding them to battle.

But Black Falcon is more fun in a mix of characters.

Pictured: Black Falcon surrendering to MASTERVERSE New Eternia “Viking” Skeletor, who is armed with the MOTUC Faceless One Havoc Staff and Black Falcon’s cape, and also surrendering to Demistros. Notice that Black Falcon is holding MASTERVERSE Revelation Mer-Man bident and his own bident. You can clearly see the Super7 spear is more detailed by far.

I mean…it could be a tie…

For me…I don’t “play” with my figures as much as I pose them and take pictures. So to me I value sculpting and paint higher up. Putting Demistros in the lead. I can’t wait to have Demistros sit on King Conan’s Throne of Aquilonia.

On the other hand, the many, many accessories that Black Falcon brings to the whole activity actually enhances the fun of other figures a good bit. A great bit actually. I can’t wait to have Conan Ultimates! figures fight against this guy.

I have to reluctantly say Black Falcon is the winner! Both are generic jerks. They are bad to the bones. They are evil inside and out. They are twisted with their circle game and BUTT CHIN humor.

So Hub City Geeks, do you agree with me?

Do you think I should do more Action Figure show-downs? This was my first time of trying that and I really enjoyed it. Let me know in the comments!

MASTERVERSE New Eternia Ram Man

by

2

You can see my video of the package here!

Here I am back to Ram Man. The last Ram Man I had was the Super7 Ultimates MOTUC “re-issue,” that had that orange color scheme on his armor instead of the classic red. The orange was from the “cross sell” art on the back of the vintage figures. It was cool. Very detailed sculpt, with even the boots having skull details.

(Surely people reading the SpartanNerd blog are familiar with vintage Ram Man. But just in case…) The vintage Ram Man toy was so iconic…so incredibly cool and everywhere. Everyone had one. I always felt like his plastic was a little different than the other figures…it felt like some Christmas ornaments my grandmother put on her tree. And it had that springy leg action feature. You locked him down first by pressing his legs up through his armor skirt into his hollow body. Then you pressed this button on the back of the boot, and he would pop up. Only his arms were articulated, and he had this axe that really no one else could hold, and likewise he couldn’t hardly hold anyone else’s weapon. He was featured heavily on the Filmation cartoon, and was portrayed as kind of stupid. And he was shorter than everyone else as well.

But since 200x, Ram Man has been portrayed as larger. And more of a “Juggernaut” type who has powerful strength to smash things with his head. No version of Ram Man has had the spring loaded legs. (I don’t think the 200x toy had them.). I suppose the requirements of modern sculpting just keeps it from happening. But today, I am going to show what I think is a terrific attempt at giving us some of the feel of the vintage Ram Man’s action feature.

Here is what New Eternia Ram Man comes with.

Check out this pose! I know I already talked about what was in the box, so lets talk about these legs. What we have are evidently standard MASTERVERSE legs encased in a hollow rubber tube. It is bendy stuff, and you can see it kinking up behind the left knee. But this is a fine attempt to do something that calls back to that original idea. Just be careful when bending the knees. That green covering prevents you from seeing which direction the knees are facing. I had to feel around for awhile before attempting to pose the legs. I really, really didn’t want to break anything.

So some things I didn’t mention in the package video. The axe has a very nice “patina” on it. Some brown, rusty shading. The armor has the Battle Ram missile warhead on the front.

I haven’t complained too much about the quality of the toys in this line. The ones I have are pretty terrific. I am a very picky customer. There are a few that I am just not going to get, for instance Andra, Mercenary Teela, or any of the Virgil Abloh collection. There is no appeal to those specific offerings for me. I also am holding out for a better Gwildor than the Revolution one they are offering with Orko. I would like a movie accurate figure. Some of their products don’t appeal to me, but otherwise the quality has improved, and the New Eternia figures are giving some of the Masters of the Universe Classics figures a run for their money. Still not quite as awesome of sculpt work as the Horsemen do.

Which is why the next statement is shocking. Ram Man is the first MASTERVERSE figure I have that came with a problem.

Full disclosure. I opened and photographed this after 1:00 AM, (I went to a Disturbed concert. Very nice!) I was trying to remove this head, and I just couldn’t get a grip on it. The helmet has smooth surfaces, and my fingers kept sliding off. So my solution was to pinch it tighter. Perhaps I should have got out the hair dryer, but you see, after the Disturbed concert, I wasn’t in the mood to get that out I guess. At any rate, I heard a “crack,” and I knew something very bad was amiss. I got the head off and saw that a piece has cracked, and the neck is separating at the seam. BOO! So for the rest of the photos you will see, I am showing you the head barely on. You can’t tell it isn’t snapped down, but I just couldn’t risk it.

The armor has its own special issues. On Ram Man, I haven’t been able to get the straps to lock tight. The left side keeps bucking open. Why do we have this head? I would have rather had an unhelmeted sculpt like the MOTUC version, with the metal plate on top. This looks like Judge Dredd to me. Is it supposed to be a helmet for riding the Battle Ram? I don’t hate it and am glad to have it. This is one of the New Eternia “riffs” like Beast Man had, where he had awesome fur armor in addition to vintage style armor.

And here he is with the Samurai helmet. This one does remind me of Shredder from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I don’t have a problem with that, but I have never thought of Shredder as being so big. (This weapon is the samurai spear from Animal Warriors of the Kingdom.)

Oh yeah…I almost forgot. In the comparison of MEGA Ram Man and the back of MASTERVERSE Ram Man’s back right leg, you can see that he has a stirrup or something…this is a call back to that little switch that activated the action feature in the vintage line!

Speaking of size, Ram Man isn’t a towering Juggernaut as he has been in the past. He isn’t short. But he isn’t bigger than, for example New Eternia Beast Man.

So armor swap time. This armor looks OK on Beast Man. But there is still room. I tried it on 40th anniversary He-Man, but it was way too big. I suppose it could work on Two Bad. The issue is that Ram Man is just “fatter” than anyone else so far.

So I am a little conflicted on scoring this one. I love the character and am glad to have a new figure of him. The sculpt is very nice, and the solution they came to for the springy legs is novel. Nobody ever asked for those two heads, but they are nice additions. The helmet-less head would have been cooler. The armor that goes on top of the armor…really just, “why?” It is barely usable on anyone else, and the straps don’t want to connect. The axe is nicely done, and the paint all around is as well, though I think this Ram Man is a bit more youthful than I would prefer.

The neck joint breakage is a big problem. I am a grown-up. I am not going to cry about stuff getting broken. But what about a kid? And he comes with those alternate heads, but they are not easy to swap even for a dexterous SpartanNerd. But I feel a little burned every time something like this happens. Super7 Ultimate Cobra B.A.T. had a hand that snapped when I was swapping it, and it almost put me completely off of their stuff. But there were other hands. On Ram Man, this was the whole neck joint!

I have to give this figure a low 3/5. The armor is aggravating and the head swap resulted in a broken neck. Those are negatives outweighed by the positives of well-thought-out leg design, excellent sculpting and paint, and variety in the accessories.

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

San Diego Comic Con Exclusive Scareglow

by

6

Follow this link to see video of the SpartanNerd talking about this package. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1vypm_1GfnJPw5OGGSxXQHT4gJBCdpj6a/view?usp=sharing

I was in Columbia South Carolina (GO GAMECOCKS) and decided to shop for some toys at the local collector store, LT Toys and Stuff. This is a nice place with a good selection of things that interest me. (It was my first time of going there). A good selection of MASTERVERSE figures. On the top shelf I saw the box for Scareglow, but didn’t know what it was, so when I asked for help and the worker opened the box, I was pretty much immediately sold.

Now, before anyone says anything about me paying this price, I know that this figure has been “reprinted” at a lower price point. But do you get the box with that? NOPE. You see, this box is very under appreciated. Think about it, Hub City Geeks…this is the only toy representation of Subternia we will probably ever have. Let that sink in… Do you think they are making a setpiece for Subternia? Some kind of castle? Nope. This cardboard cave is it. Likely all we will ever have. So I am going to take full advantage of this admittedly limited item until it is totally worn out.

Speaking of worn out, I bought this used. Sealed and new is going for $120 ish. The sleeve thing on the front is the only piece that really shows any wear.

After opening it up, I decided I didn’t want the blister so I just tossed that. Here is what you get in the box. Scareglow, who has a cloth cape with a wire in it for posability and features a rubber collar, two alternate hands (one fist and the other opened,) a scythe, and a power sword that features two separable parts.

You can see that this sword is ridiculously oversized. My big question is “why?” I know this story…who doesn’t if you are a MOTU fan? Yes, the sword is separated and must be united…blah blah blah. Why. Is. It. So. Stupidly. Big?

I mean, in the Revelation show, Evil Lyn and Orko (and others) go and ask for the dark half of the Power Sword from Scareglow. You can see that even Scareglow holding the purple half himself looks better than that massive one that looks like some kind of Burger King toy.

These two pieces have a peg to help them stick together, and they go into the hilt by snapping in. You can cross-color it, with yellow on the purple side and purple on the yellow side. These don’t appear to glow, sadly.

OK. So what else besides the sword.

The scythe looks pretty good, and the end of it does glow. So what about the glowing? I am photographing this with a blue light filter, to help make the glowing “pop.” The head glows, apparently molded in glowing plastic. The rest of the glowing is paint. BUT…this isn’t the classic Scareglow look is it? Check the image below for a little comparison.

MEGA Scareglow IS using the correct glowing effect. (The black and white filter helps highlight what I am saying.). Most of his body…maybe all of it is molded in glowing plastic, and then there are black shadows painted on. The MASTERVERSE figure mostly reverses this effect. So there are more dark pieces than glowing pieces. The only reason I can figure for the change is to try and match with the animation. Revelation is the first time we saw Scareglow in cartoon form, so maybe they just tried to make it faithful to that version. I wonder if there might be a New Eternia Scareglow eventually, and maybe even one that can get the spider legs like we saw in the recent Revolution show.

How does the head look on other figures? Skeletor is fine. This head, with the paint job…it reminds me of something from the Eternia War comics…or the DC Comic series that led into it. I am not sure which. But it seems that Skeletor had some kind of skull that he used to communicate with the Horde or something, and eventually he gets mad and kicks it away. I will have to go back through those books and investigate that story. But the skull does remind me of that.

If you put it on a generic Mythic Legion skeleton, it looks ok, but not much neck. The Mythic Legion peg system doesn’t work well with the ball and socket MASTERVERSE joint. I tried to remedy this with the wrist bracer from another figure, and then with the forearm joint. They just don’t work. But he does look creepy with it just sitting on the collar like that.

If you want him to be more generic, I highly suggest it. Just remove the cape and put some kind of helmet on him. Now Liliana of the Veil is his boss.

My rating of the San Diego Comic Con Scareglow is 4/5. Here is my reasoning. That sword just stinks. I mean, the glow effect could be different. But is it wrong? I believe there will be another more classic looking release eventually. And as a glowing paint job on a figure, this is just fine. His articulation is fine, and that cape has a wire in it, making that more posable. The packaging is its own toy and carries over any other flaws I can find.

I mean, with glowing filters added on, you can make other figures really pop. Here is the 200x Zodak figure with MOTUC Faceless One’s Havoc Staff…they look like they should look in Subternia. (Please, Mattel, give us this version of Zodac again. He was the best!)

So do you agree with my rating of 4/5? Let me know in the comments!

SpartanNerd Unboxing and Review…Animal Warriors of the Kingdom Weapons Loot (gold)

by

6

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 Conan with 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!

MASTERVERSE Revlations Evil-Lyn

by

4

Many years ago, at about 5th-6th grade (I’m on the older side, so I might have been 11 turning 12,) I got some of the final Masters of the Universe Toys I would ever have for Christmas. These were Tyrantisaurus, Rio Blast, Extendar, and Evil Lyn. So I took Tyrantisaurus and Evil Lyn with me to my grandma’s party, where I was promptly made fun of. (That’s a doll! You have a girls toy with a purple dinosaur!) Didn’t matter to me. I loved those toys! 

I haven’t owned an Evil Lyn since, (if you disregard the many MEGA ones I have.) So I didn’t even feel bad about picking up two at the same time. I got MASTERVERSE Movie inspired Evil Lyn, and MASTERVERSE Revelation Evil Lyn. (See the review of Movie Evil Lyn Here.)

Revelation Evil-Lyn came in this basic style of packaging that all of the first wave of MASTERVERSE figures used. You can see everything you get clearly. Unlike other figures I have opened in the line, this one had a “double blister”. And if I was keeping it MIB that would have been very nice. The top images, you can see that my crop tool hasn’t been working right, but you get the essence of the rest of the packaging. There is a nice artwork of Evil-Lyn on the side. I heard somewhere that Eamon O’Donahue was doing this artwork? I don’t think there has been a piece of MASTERVERSE artwork that I haven’t liked. I might not care for some of the Revelation designs, but this artwork is very good. Evil-Lyn has the tag “Evil Warrior Goddess,” which I am pretty sure was the vintage toy description. (I am saying it one final time, I don’t like this blue window box.)

I was tempted to get the “Bat Sorceress” version, which was SO Eternity War. Maybe I still will someday. But I got this one because she fits with the style of the rest of the bad guys that were dear to my heart. Now I am only waiting on Whiplash and Clawful! Then I will have the whole of MY bad guys. (I place Modulok in with the Horde. Never had Webstor, Ninjor, or Jitsu. Cobra Kahn and Tongue Lasher go with Snake Men, and that will be another collection for me when they ever come out.)

Here’s what you get. Evil-Lyn with an alternate, not helmeted head, a short staff and a long staff, a pocketbook, a pair of punching hands, another gripping hand, and another spellcasting hand. This is a lot of stuff, considering Movie Evil-Lyn came with basically nothing. I am especially fond of the un-helmeted head with white hair. In Filmation we only saw this a couple of times…maybe even only once. 200x and Revelation did this right. In fact, this updated Revelation design has absolutely nothing wrong with it. Nothing to complain about. The sculpt is great! Not sure if it was intentional, but the white haired head also has two-toned eyebrows, giving the appearance of some age. Notable that the other head doesn’t have this detail. (I don’t like God-Lyn. But I do really like the reformed Evil-Lyn (just Lyn?) design. Beautiful and princess-like.)

You can tell that the same designer did these two hairstyles. I in fact double checked to see if this was a re-used part. (It isn’t). The short staff and the long staff. I believe they are the same weapon…she can extend it to use more as a bo staff, and for general magic casting she uses the short staff.

Notice that these 6 to 7 inch scale figures with staffs like to be posed in this way. I have already posted a few pictures of mythic legions, Savage He-Man, and also of Mer-Man doing this pose. Probably even more characters. I will say that the joints are much looser than I would like, and also I was afraid I was going to break the right hand thumb on the gripping hand trying to get her to hold this.

And because Movie Evil-Lyn came with basically nothing, one of the staves is a good weapon for her. Either one only needs one magic staff at a time anyway. Despara here is taller, but doesn’t she seem more stiff? It isn’t an accident. The more recent figures are more posable. Movie Evil-Lyn has no problem standing or being posed. But Revelation Evil-Lyn has looser joints.

Let’s talk pocketbook. If I remember the Revelation Part 1 series, Evil-Lyn carried something around in her pouch. It contained some of the last magic left in Eternia. But no one would have to know that, would they? This is a fine purse, for any female figure actually. I couldn’t resist making this photo!

The alternate head goes nicely on Masters of the Universe Classics Battleground Teela’s body to make basically an entirely different character. I’ll concede that Evil-Lyn has less of a tan, but if she is wearing makeup then this is a fine shade of skin for her face. At least we don’t usually see Evil-Lyn in barbarian armor. See how nice of an added detail the purse is?

These two finally reunited! (The 200x story presented The Faceless One as Evil-Lyn’s father. He was the original protector of the Havoc Staff, and that green face in his off hand is the Ram Stone…magic that can take down any wall.)

That these two bonded in Revelation was quite a surprise. We got more backstories for both characters from that!

I read the Revelation comic book that detailed Skeletor’s origin story. (Spoiler…he is like the Joker. You can’t tell if he is being truthful). My point is…I don’t think Evil-Lyn could be attracted to Skeletor. Not as a bare skull face. She is too beautiful herself for that. True, she lusts for power and Skeletor provides that for her as something to admire as well as gives her an ambition to overthrow. 200x was more believable, that she thought Keldor was handsome, but then the transformation “hideous.” January 25, 2024 UPDATE- Watch Revolution! See how this turned out!

There is a loyalty of Beast Man to Evil-Lyn. Why? I don’t know. She treats him bad. And in Revelation Part 2 she turns him into a gigantic attack dog, that gets thrown into the abyss. AND that is a loose end for the next installment I suppose.

So my rating for this figure. I only have one complaint, and it is that the joints are a bit loose. She can stand just fine, and hold her weapons (but be careful of the thumb). But it isn’t as tight as I would like. I am surprised at how small she is compared to the male figures. (Trust me. Most of the camera shots I took has her standing more in the front, skewing the effect of this). Beast Man pictured above kneeling really makes her look small. But I appreciate her femininity, especially in comparison with the design of Teela. Loose joints, but lots of accessories, another head sculpt that can be used on almost any other female figure with a removable head, a great sculpt and terrific paint job. A versatile pocketbook accessory. Two wand staffs. Nice artwork on the package. I am giving this a 5/5. I mean…maybe 4.5/5 if that is allowed. (Why not. It’s my rating system).

So what do you think, Hub City Geeks? Am I right? Let me know in the comments!

MASTERVERSE “Movie” Evil Lyn

by

4

I picked up two Evil Lyn figures…Movie Evil Lyn and Revelation Evil Lyn. My reasoning? Movie Evil Lyn will be necessary to own. We have never had a figure of her! But she doesn’t look right with the non-movie figures. I’ll review MASTERVERSE Revelation Evil Lyn later. Let’s look at Movie Evil Lyn first.

(Find my recent thoughts on the 1987 movie here)

Here is the packaging. This is the newer style, that gives us more cardboard and less plastic. The wraparound artwork is great, showcasing other things from this movie that MASTERVERSE will surely eventually bring us, including Movie Beast Man and Air Centurions.

At the bottom on the back we can see some upcoming figures. I am very tempted to get this Man-At-Arms. I have not gotten MASTERVERSE Teela, but they have to give us the right one. Soreceress Teela is fine, but I would rather have a good Teela and a good Sorceress. I hate the Revelations Teela, and it keeps warming the pegs at Wal-Mart too. Guess I’m not the only one. I picked up Trap Jaw, and we’ll just have to see about Skeletek. There is a “variant vibe” to him that gives me a nostalgia feeling like from the 1980’s. Of vintage variants, I had Battle Armor Skeletor and Dragon Blaster Skeletor. Never had Terror Claws or Lazer Light. But Skeletek is a new design, with a big goofy Havoc Staff arm. There is a Locutus of Borg feeling to this figure.

Anyway, on to Evil Lyn.

Here is what you get.

Evil Lyn has a removable shoulder armor with soft-goods cape, two extra hands, and a glittery translucent bluish-white Cosmic Key. AND THAT’S ALL.

Why all caps? DUDE. They could have included all kinds of things for Evil Lyn.

Now the sculpt is terrific, and this time it captures the actress, Meg Foster, very well. I know there was money thrown into those rights. I know that this sculpt and paint cost the big bucks. I know that this is a retail figure. They could have sold it as a deluxe and given us something else. A wand staff. Or some of the props from the movie (Scanner and Collar of Alldrabad come to mind). Instead we get what probably nobody wanted. An unpainted Cosmic Key.

I didn’t take a pic, but if you remove the cape Evil Lyn looks like she is dressed for the prom. You can see in my photograph I was trying to get her to do the “Batman” move with her cape. (She did this in the movie a couple of times. I couldn’t get it quite right here.)

The sculpt and paint look very nice. More accessories please!

So, there is an elephant in the room. A pink elephant. A pink bodysuit elephant. In the movie, her outfit was gray and gold. This figure presents a pink outfit with very muted gold armor.

There is something else…

I know that Evil Lyn came first, so somebody should sue somebody! Liliana is from the Funko line of Magic The Gathering action figures. A very short-lived line. You can see those tattoos all over her, and Evil Lyn has something similar going on.

She looks really good with Skeletor. (How about this Diorama? I have been working on it. I am new at making the pieces, and am learning.)

Here is the whole set of MASTERVERSE movie figures, with most everything we have minus extra hands.

Because He-Man doesn’t have Dolph Lundgren’s head sculpt, that makes him feel like the weakest offering. I know Dolph is hot commodities nowadays, playing in Aquaman and all. His likeness probably costs a ton. But is this He-Man? In this picture you can see Skeletor’s painted Cosmic Key for comparison.

And here are the ladies. You can see that Despara (from Masters of the Universe Classics) is a little bit taller.

I failed to mention that Evil Lyn (both of them) are my first female MASTERVERSE figures. Movie Evil Lyn is sturdy, but I can’t say the same for Revelation Evil Lyn. Oh well, I’ll write about that later.

My rating of Movie Evil Lyn. It irks me badly that they didn’t include any cool accessories. The sculpt looks good, and it looks like Meg. They didn’t paint the knees, and so there is an interruption of the pattern that is a little jarring if you care about details. The gold on the bodice and armor is too muted and what was gray is now pink. Why? To reflect the movie lights on the Grayskull set? Maybe. But this isn’t paint job…it is design choice. I am giving Movie Evil Lyn a reluctant 3/5. As a movie action figure a score of 4, as an action figure in a vaccum, a 2. So let’s average it. 3/5. Her sculpt looks good and the paint isn’t sloppy. This is the first representation of Meg Foster as Evil Lyn in figure form, and I have to give a point for that. But the lack of accessories is unforgivable considering she used many objects in the movie. So unforgivable. 

Hub City Geeks, do you agree or disagree? Should she have come with more items? Do you think it looks like Meg Foster? How might you improve this figure? Let me know in the comments!