Sit back and get yourself a cup of Joe as I ramble through my latest thoughts.
A long long time ago, in a small town far from the hustle and bustle of the capital city, there lived a young boy who was inevitably mesmerized by the sheer might of the Masters of the Universe franchise (although that boy won't have a clue about the word 'franchise' until he hits middle school some years later). A kid growing up in the early-mid 80s really has no chance against the power of Grayskull (pun intended) and you'd probably end up having tons of the toys to play with at home. Action figures literally cost a fraction of what it is today which means it didn't take long before your Masters of the Universe (MOTU) collection started to look like this.....
Picture taken off the internet because I don't have any taken back in the day let alone to handle my dad's ultra-expensive Nikon
Stocks on the toy shelves at your Toys R Us and other toy stores were plentiful. They were beautiful. There were barely 'scalpers' (or 'Scal-por' to us MOTU fans) anywhere. Your first glance at the toy aisle of your choice would probably look like this...
Yup, you've guessed it. Picture also taken off the internet. Nobody really had smartphones at their convenience to instantly snap pictures those days.
Kids were also bombarded with a barrage of advertisements in various media ranging from the newspapers, comic pages and entertainment magazines. Don't forget the catalogues on the action figure backing cards that your friends gave you to persuade you to take the plunge into collecting the MOTU line. Those b******s!
The internet has so many interesting images from yesteryear. Thank God.
Your purchase of each MOTU figure comes with a mini-comic which would depict the character in question in action. These original mini-comics from the 80s costs a fortune now. It makes me wanna kick myself for throwing these around when I had them back in the day.
Source: collectors.com
Honestly I can't recall which one came first, the toys I saw at retail stores (there were no Internet yet at the time, so physical store visits were our go-to!) or the coolness of the Filmation He-Man and the Masters of the Universe cartoon series.
Was there a kid back in the 80s that do not stand up while we held aloft our imaginary Power Sword whenever the theme song filled our living room. There ain't any.
Like many other kids in town, my immediate focus was getting the main characters' action figures first, which meant that the likes of He-Man, Skeletor and the main gang were the ones that went into the shopping cart first when I first saw them at a nearby book store near my house at the time akin to the Barnes & Noble in the States today. Yes, that chain of book store (which I believe has shrunken down its operations in Malaysia ever since the 80s) once carried MOTU figures at the very back of their aisle much to the delight of bored children who waited for their book-browsing parents to finish...err...browsing books.
And the price of one MOTU action figure was just loose change to our parents during those days. I remember my dad taking out some crumpled small notes and some coins to pay for my action figures.
The nostalgia of playing those original figures until their rubber band that held their bodies and groin snapped to smithereens is still one of the best memories of my geek life. Yes, none of my original MOTU figures survived my robust style of playing. I never regretted doing any of those violence on my figures but it could have been nice if some had survived to grace my display shelf today.
On a side note, I seriously recommend that The Toys That Made Us MOTU episode and The Power of Grayskull on Netflix if you want to spur your inner suppressed nostalgia for the classic MOTU line.
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Post - 1980s, my action-figure collection remained MOTU-less since I lost everything in the mid 80s. The early 90s New Adventures of He-Man was okay in my books despite many fans dissing it off as being inferior to the original. I only bought the main man from that series.....
Yeah, this guy here was the only one I purchased during the series' airing in the early 90s and also because I was already starting junior high at the time, so priorities might have changed at the time. This figure also never survived the test of time.
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A decade later the MOTU 200x series aired to many shocked fans. Many were shocked as in the lot of us never really expected to see any new MOTU materials faithful to the original 80s series ever being made. I never had an issue with the 90s 'New Adventures series but there's a bunch of angry folks who got cheesed off when Mattel, who was directly dictating the direction of the series, decided to take He-Man into space and give Skeleton eyeballs/pupils.
I have some issues over the 200x series. Firstly I still do not know why many are still referring to the series as '200x' when we clearly already know it was aired in 2002.
Secondly, did the lack of its action figures or the unavailability to find those at retail in Malaysia at the time was down to the fact that Mattel wasn't directly controlling the series' direction (it was in fact handled by the Mike Young Production)? Mattel has a presence in Malaysia and the original MOTU toys were made in Malaysia as evident from the date stamp at the foot of some of the action figures. So the fact that Mattel Malaysia was directly involved in manufacturing one of the coolest toy lines of the 80s never qualified it to carry any future MOTU toys in the future?
Eventually, I got my fix, albeit only some were found at a specialty toy store in town at the time, much to my chagrin.
As pictured here, I only found a few (I still love that re-design of Trap-Jaw and Tri-Klops though!) and although I was initially shocked to see the designs being modified from the steroids-induced days reduced to these gangly lanky appearances, true to their on-screen counterparts.
These 2002 figures came in various gimmicks like the originals do i.e. Snakemen versions and all. I, of course, never found nor seen any at retail.
Even though many of us dissed the re-imagining of He-Man and co, us collectors were still thankful for the chance to get new MOTU figures after a decade of silence (again, I have no problems whatsover with 'New Adventures). I just wished that the toy lines were mass produced and sold through retail stores like they were back in the day. That would have really changed the game and paved the way for a more glorious return of the MOTU franchise.
He-Man and the Masters of the Universe 2002 eventually got cancelled midway through its second season due to lack of interest to the toy line and its abysmal TV ratings. So sad. By the end of the 2000s I completely lost my faith to search for the rest of the action figures so I sold off whatever I had (yup, those four measly figures).
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So the death of the 2002 series and toy line meant that MOTU fans are done for, right?
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Or so we thought.
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At this point, I planned to talk first about the Masters of the Universe Classics line from Matty Collector, Mattel's sub-company that produced collector-grade collectibles. But I think I'll keep that towards the end of this post and for now I'll head straight into.....
Masters of the Universe Origins toyline!
The MOTU Origins toyline began to hit shelves sometime in late 2021 and had caught many by surprise because they resemble closely to what the original 80s figures were albeit slightly better head sculpts and a tremendously improved point of articulations. These are meant to be a 'throwback' to the original line thus indirectly aimed at that very same segment who had bought the original toys back in the 80s. Those same boys would have been daddies to their own boys by now.
I never meant to collect any Origins figures since I've already gone through the original toys back in the day. The MOTU Classics line is a better/upgraded representation of the original figures in my opinion since they were the toys we deserved back in the day, but if you want to re-live the glory days then Origins line would be more of your cup of tea. Your opinion may vary but that's what fandom is all about. Each of us have different opinion and may not agree with each other. I feel that I don't really need to collect the Origins line in its entirety since I've already done the whole MOTU toyline shebang back in the 80s, so yeah.
Some may not agree with me but please feel free to leave your thoughts in the comment section if any.
Having expressed my inner thoughts about the Origins line, I somehow STILL end up with a few of the figures myself (LOL) when several good Samaritans said that they had immediately thought of me when they passed through the MOTU Origins display shelf. So thank you for picking those up for me, friends! It really pays to have friends knowing you're a big kid at heart. Now since I've the few core figures for my feeble 'Origins display shelf, I really only need a couple more to call it a day from collecting figures the line....*heh*
Very tempted to collect more of these 'Origins figures but I remind myself of the torturous experience I went through from 2008-2016 to collect the 'Classics line. I don't want to collect yet another MOTU toy line when I already have my 'ultimate' MOTU figures in the form of those 'Classics line.
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And there is always the Eternia Minis which are usually placed at those aisle right before you do your check outs from Toys R Us. They're much easier to find and nobody really scalped any of these except for certain locations in town where darn scalpers like to clean Mini Faker off the shelves. My son loves these figures. They're easier to find he says. He even customized an extra He-Man (yes, He-Man is THAT easy to find) into Wundarr, the Wonder Bread He-Man. I do admit that they actually look good when grouped together.
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.How about Kevin Smith's MOTU Revelation series over at Netflix? Did you enjoy the series so far? I like the extreme direction taken by Smith thus far, very Rian Johnson-esque if you're into Star Wars. The toy line however, to me is an uncanny mirror of the toy line from the 2002 MYP's MOTU series, very stylized. Not my cup of tea really, although I came close many-a-times to picking up Scare Glow at retail. I didn't want to because it'll lead to another....and another...and before you know it I'd be having the whole core lineup in my hands.
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Just the other day, I've read some comments in a local MOTU fan page over at some local MOTU fanpage on facebook. Some of these 'hardcore' fans were telling other collectors off in that particular page, saying that true collectors will most definitely collect the 'Origins and the Revelation line with them being the current iterations of the MOTU franchise. One is staying faithful to the original 80s toy line and the other is just...well, a very modern take of He-Man and co.
Believe me when I say, there ain't no definition of a perfect MOTU fan. Some will prefer to collect only the steroids-induced action figures (Original and Origins); some prefer the 2002 line for their radical redesigns of the characters (in some sense, the Revelation figures are the same); and some may choose to collect only the 'Classics line for their sheer upgrade of the Original figures. You mileage may vary.
I know a local guy who's religiously re-collecting the original 80s figures and that's fine by all means. It's up to you really. Find something that rocks your world and stick to it. Ain't no matter what the haters/non-believers say! We all have our own cup of tea.
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Inevitably, all that rambling finally brings us to my take on the.....*drumroll*....
Masters of The Universe Classics line!
I think those who went through the legendary white-screen-of-death (WSOD) days will definitely remember the stress that came with each round of ordering the monthly Matty Collector figures. For the uninitiated, the WSOD or at times red-screens, it's when your screen goes all white even when you're all done entering your payment details during checkout. The stressful thing about this is that when you finally manage to log in again, those figures were probably all sold out already. I've personally lost a couple of figures through this anomaly but thankfully I've managed to source them out through other means thereafter.
WSOD aside, who remembers the awesome MOTU Classics ad that came out a month before each figures are offered through Matty Collector? I hope to get these printed out and framed someday. These are a thing of beauty! Remember staring down at them while you wait for the sale page to go live?
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Ultimately the MOTUC line is the perfect modern incarnation of the original MOTU toyline. Your views may vary because you may like the stylized Revelation or 2002 versions more. Again, I'm not looking to argue with anyone here but let it be known that the MOTUC line is my absolute favorite modern MOTU line that hearkens to the original 80s toyline.
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I may have missed a few back in the day but I can safely say that I have a good 90% of the whole line, even though I can't vouch for the ones made by Super 7.
Speaking about Super 7, they took over the MOTUC license from Matty Collector who starter the whole MOTUC revolution back in 2008, sometime in 2016 but they ended the line after releasing some B-grade characters without ever finishing what they promised to do in the first place which is to finish their offerings from the Filmation TV series.
I'm just glad we got to collect the core characters first before everything went down south.
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Here are some highlights from the MOTU Classics line:
Among my favorite from the MOTUC line is Ram Man, specifically for the aesthetics and not for the functionality. You see, the MOTUC line is not known for replicating the exact playability like the ones like the original toyline had. These MOTUC look superb on your shelf, especially when paired with the rest of the gang.
Anyway, when was the last time you played the heck out of your MOTU action figures since the 80s. I would think that most adult collectors would want them to sit pretty in various action poses on your shelf these days, right?
Anyway, I went ahead and bought the Origins Ram Man because it has the spring-loaded retro play feature. This one's however, is nowhere near the awesomeness of how the MOTUC Rammy looks like, but you get to bounce him around just like you did with the original 80s toy.
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Anyway, coming back to the MOTUC line, even the New Adventures figures look superb and dare I say it, miles better than they ever were in the early 90s. Gotta love that pony-tailed He-Man...
...and a super-scary Space Skeletor to match!
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My only slight regret is that I never picked up any of the 1987 movie figures but that was mainly because I had switched my attention to other toy lines at the time those figures were released during the Super 7 days, to which I had largely ignored.
These William Stout-designed action figures are worth heaps of cash these days but who knows, I might go crazy and pick them up someday. Just maybe.
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Regrets aside, inevitably what we had during the hey-days of Matty Collector era remain the crown jewel of most MOTUC collectors. Personally I was ecstatic when the royal family line-up was completed....
...and when the Horde line-up finally made their appearance on our display shelves.
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Getting King Grayskull, who was faithful to the original source material, was also a sight to behold, unlike the King Grayskull from the Revelation TV series.
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Remember when we got to do this to emulate that 1st episode of She-Ra?
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Never in a million years would I expect to Madame Razz and Broom in the line, because they were never made in the original She-Ra line in the 80s. The pair was sold out in mere seconds on the Matty Collector website so imagine the joy when they finally appear on your doorstep back then.
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Who can ever forget that gimmick employed by Matty Collector where Orko was the main offering of the month but he had Prince Adam hidden at the very bottom of his packaging. Can you see him in the picture?
Together with Cringer who came with Queen Marlena, we could finally assemble that trio who hung lazily within the Eternian Royal Palace compound. Cringer had no articulations but I didn't hear anybody complain at the time.
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Shadow Weaver was also another tough cookie to get. She was only accessible to those who subscribed to that one particular year's worth of MOTUC figures. You technically paid for the figure in advance and waited for it to arrive in the mail. There wasn't any other way to get her unless you were best friends with the resellers but even then you would have to employ your excellent negotiation skills to avoid from being scalped to death. Shadow Weaver is a must in any Horde fans' collection so I guessed many sacrificed their kidney or some other bodily organs to get her.
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How about Fisto? I remember that he was a subject for debate at the time of his release. You see, a section of the MOTUC collectors proved to be a difficult group of people to please because they were at the time, complaining of how Fisto's headsculpts were deemed too 'realistic' compared to the other MOTUC releases proceeding him.
Seriously?
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Anyway, that brings us to the end of my long rant about MOTU action figures. Thanks for reading right to the very end. Your thoughts and opinion might vary and that is very good for the fandom. I might write more long-ish posts about some other things in the future so stay tuned.
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