Review: Masters of the Universe Classics He-Man figure

4:00 PM on 12.17.2009   |   Jason Millward

He-Man and the Masters of the Universe was the favorite cartoon series of many (I dare say most) of the children in my generation. I was certainly no exception. I remember always being excited to get out of kindergarten for the show to capture my attention for a half hour each day.

As my family was not the most financially well-off, I never owned a single He-Man figure. I was left to drool over those of my friends. I strongly suspect that my adult obsession with toys is simply me fulfilling my childhood dreams.  I must not have been the only one. A year ago, Mattel created the Masters of the Universe Classics line targeted specifically to adult collectors (or the scalping middle-men that grab and mark them up).

I was one of the lucky few to snag one of the re-issued, slightly improved, He-Man figures that quickly sold out last month. Hit the jump to see my review with photos by Thomas Ruffo.

In addition to the ridiculously limited quantities of the figures in this line is the extravagant pricing. These toys are all exclusive to Mattel's site mattycollector.com. They sell for $20 apiece. Factor in the $10 shipping charge, and you're looking at 3-4 times what a similar figure might sell for in stores.

Aside from the brand new sculpts with vastly improved design and articulation, there isn't much to justify the cost of $30 per figure (3 times the amount of the originals even when adjusted for inflation). The packaging does attempt to go above and beyond. Inside the corrugated cardboard box is a minimally printed, white box which contains the the blister-packed figure. A sheet of tissue paper is placed over the front of the plastic to ensure it doesn't get scratched. Despite all of this attention to keep the figure perfectly mint for collectors, there was a creased dent which ran across the bottom of my backing card. At least they tried.

Finally getting a chance to look at the figure in the blister pack, I was honestly less than impressed. The squatted pose they have him locked in is terribly unattractive. Worse yet are the knee and elbow joints. There are 1/16" deep pits on both sides of each joint. I can't, for the life of me, understand why those couldn't have been filled in. They look horrible. The face doesn't have the most attractive expression. To be fair, it's accurate to the source material.

I have to admit, in the three weeks between getting my first look at this figure and when I was able to  photograph it, I was fully prepared to pan the heck out of it. I was incredibly disappointed with my first impressions. Once I got him out of the packaging though, I started to warm up to him.

The articulation is actually really well done. The figures from the 80's, and even the modernized figures from 2002, would be envious at the range of movement that the Classics line are capable of. The legs and arms both have double joints at the shoulders and hips. Not only can they pivot up and down, but they can move outward and inward as well.

The knees and elbows bend as you'd expect. The hands pivot at the wrists. The feet are jointed at the ankles, which felt incredibly loose, but didn't prove to be a problem during the shoot. The torso is able to provide slight movement at the abdomen. I'm not sure if that extra bit of versatility was worth the seams that run underneath his rib-cage or not. I'm neither happy nor upset with that choice.

I was very pleased to find that the head is attached to the neck by a ball joint. This universal master is more than capable of showing off numerous dynamic poses.

As for the new sculpt, I'm a fan. This isn't He-Man reimagined. The original 80's look has been maintained, including the afore-mentioned facial expression. Sadly, the short banged, Prince Valiant look is back as well. There are improvements to be had. The 21st century update has given him more realistic proportions. The muscle definition looks quite nice.

 Even the cross logo on the chest, which was replaced in rereleases of the 2002 toys to appease religious groups, is happily intact.

As I mentioned before, the reissue of this figure has a few improvements from last December's initial version. They've made some improvements to the shoulder joints. They've also toned down the gloss level on his skin tone. I should note that the paint used for his eyebrows is still incredibly reflective. In many of the photos we took, they reflect back the lights. I doubt this will be an issue for display purposes. It's worth bringing up for photo bugs like myself.

They also toned down the amount of red paint from under his eyes, which gave an almost kabuki look to the original version.

The real question comes down to one of cost. Is this figure worth the hefty $30 price tag? I would have a hard time recommending it at that cost. If Mattel would mass produce the line and get them into stores, I'm sure that you'd only be looking in the 13-15 dollar range. To me, that would be a steal.

Even if you had to kick in for shipping, a total of $20 would be worth worth the cost. Unfortunately, even shelling out $30 is not that simple. Mattel has sold out on every figure that they have offered within a few weeks, or even minutes. This figure was gone in just a couple of hours. With the popularity of these toys growing faster than the supply, they become hard to get a hold of even at that price.

If you keep in mind that they limit every purchase to 10 figures, it's no mystery who is the getting the majority of these figures. Retailers and ebay scalpers. Within minutes of a sale, and even months before, you'll see auctions for these toys. Many internet retailers will add them to their catalogs for around $35 plus shipping. Right now on ebay, Battlecat is up in many auctions, and he won't go on sale until February.

When I first found out about the line, I immediately wanted to get a hold of every single last one. However, the He-Man and Skeletor figures had sold out quickly and their values had since sky-rocketed. Without the main characters, what was the point? Having He-Man in my hands, I've lightened up a bit. I definitely want to get a few of my favorites, but only if I can come by them at a reasonable price. Being a He-Man junkie, that works for me just fine. For anyone else, you might just want to get in line with everyone else to make a few bucks on ebay (or be there to help a desperate brother out when he oversleeps the sale).