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Saturday, August 22, 2009

Mattel’s Heroic SDCC Effort

As a recent convert to Mattel’s Masters of the Universe Classics line, I have enough figures to chase down on eBay without letting this one go too, even though He-ro is a figure I’ve picked up for completion purposes only, since I knew nothing about the character. Once I checked his Wikipedia entry I understood why: he was a planned character that never came to be. Fun to see that Mattel is picking characters like this up and weaving them into their own mythos this bring them in to reality in plastic.

I really love the MOTUC packaging – dramatic and yet compact – easy to open but also contained if you want to keep the figures in the box. The only complaint I would have if I was a MOC collector would be that the packing is so small that it’s hard to get a great look at the figure inside.

As for the figure itself, to me it kind of looks like a roided up Ken broke in to He-Man’s wardrobe and dressed up. His slightly two-dimensional appearance isn’t helped by a lack of subtlety in his flesh tones, quite different from previous figures when seem to have had more light and shade. Let’s hope this is a one-off and not a new trend.

He-ro’s staff is quite groovy. I got the red stone, one of three options apparently. I like the way the prongs hang out, which is good, because I can’t get them to reattach and stand closed. Minor QC quibble. Like my Man-at-Arms, He-ro’s leg joints are on the loose side, making a slight challenge to stand.

I don’t think He-ro is going to go down as one of my favourites in this line, but I think the fact that Mattel made the figure is a nice nod towards the whole He-Man history, and I’m happy to have him.

You can see more pics at Facebook , discuss this at the AFB Forum, and comment on this post to enter the August AFB Comment of the Month Contest.

Until next time!

11 comments:

Saranga said...

Well, I like the staff.

Tom Freak said...

I think he's OK. Is cool that they made him an exclusive, because probably an unknown character wouldn't sell as much otherwise.

But seriously... His name is He-ro. He-ro? Really?

Understandable from the guys that brought you Mekaneck.

Nice going there 80s.

bigraj said...

Not really digging the costume, or the name. The staff looks good. The backstory I've read is interesting.

Westy said...

Man I like the lack of texture on the flesh tones, it reminds me of He-Man toys from the 80s. I'm personally outraged that they would call it a classics line and give them more poseability than the originals.

Jay said...

I'm personally outraged that they would call it a classics line and give them more poseability than the originals.

Eh? It's called "classics" because it hearkens back to the original style of the figures and TV show. Posability and paint apps have improved and I'm for one, extremely glad about that. (As well as thousands of others who have helped the figures sell out each run).

Ollie Queen said...

he looks overweight

Tom Freak said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Tom Freak said...

Hey! In the good old days of Eternia you didn't need to be in shape to be a interstellar hero with a magic sword.

You could be the best buddy of King Grayskull and still enjoy a burrito or two.

Saranga said...

Actually, the more I look at it, the more I like the colours and paint job. Takes me right back, that does.

fishmilkshake said...

He-ro? Man, they were scratching for names by now weren't they? For an off the cuff idea Mattel scored big with MOTU. Nice to see the love still there 25 years later.

DCcomicsfan said...

you got the red one yay!

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