He-Man is very nearly the same story as Skeletor. The figure is your basic He-Man with new chest armor. While that may sound like a knock, take note, this may be the last time we get this He-Man head sculpt. There’ll surely be more He-Men figures in the line, we have two incoming right now, but they have different heads. So just a nod to that head sculpt that launched the line if we don’t see it again.
Okay, so the armor – on a complete reuse figure, you better take that armor and just knock it out of the park! Just kill it! And… yeah, no, they didn’t. The first thing to anyone is that the connectors are again in the pretty much the worst place possible and annoyingly bulk up the figure, but that’s not the big deal for Flying Fist Fans.
See, this He-Man was awesome thirty years ago because he was vac-metal. I never had this guy, but heck, I would’ve loved vac-metal armor. Classics has even done vac-metal armor before with Hurricane Hordak, but they didn’t do it here. Now, part of that is because vac-metal Hordak had some issues. They vac-metalled soft, bendable plastic that would cause the vac-metal to flake if you would remove it. And the cheap paint on the symbol came off easily… And with that in mind, I still would’ve liked to see the try again. The armor is actually a cool sculpt and it looks sharp, but it would look better reflective.
He-Man included three accessories and they’re done well, and they make more sense than a random dragon skull (seriously, has anyone seen the dragon from Dragon Blaster Skeletor lately…), but I just don’t know quite what to do with them. The shield is the cooler of the two. It clips on like we’re used to and then the little wi-fi attachment spins around. His other accessory is his three-balled mace. It’s a faithful recreation of the original, though He-Man skipped his back-clip and so it can’t be stored there. He-Man also comes with the traditional Power Sword, though it’s completed unpainted for the first time and… well, lackluster is a good word.
Overall, I know I’m a bit flippant with this review. I just really don’t have it in me to care about these two. I like new characters and stuff I can add to the display that’s not treading the same ground. I do appreciate that these guys got made and their fans can finally be happy. And the pair is definitely toyetic. They look good sitting here, even with the bulky and not metallic armor. I’m still a bit bewildered by the accessories, but they’re not out of line with other weird stuff that Hordak, Tri-Klops, and Man-At-Arms have dreamed up.
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Great review – I’m not feeling them, too:
The Heroic Master of Cost Effectiveness & the Evil Lord of Couldn’t Be Bothered 🙂
The spinning weapon goes in the spare parts bin (at least it’s not a little pinwheel toy like in the classic mini comics), but the Power Sword is just lazy.
As for crazy hands, I would have really liked his blaster rifle from one of the last modern mini comics. The one that looked like a Tyranid Gun from Warhammer 40k.
Btw, back then my He-Man & Skeletor were Battle Armor & Dragon Blaster. Not because I got them first, but by then the originals had been completely worn out: Lost weapons, broken armour, chafed off paint … Poor things, that first year of MotU was INTENSE!
Great review and hilarious comics yet again.
As glad as I was to get these to fill some gaps in my collection, I’m not intensely thrilled with them. Bulky, non-chromed armour and accessories were the biggest catching point. (I bet a vac-metal Power Sword would look killer.) I actually like the modified loincloth for Skeletor; I think every Skeletor should have that, regardless of what the Vintage version looked like. So he goes through all the trouble to get mystical Battle Armour, but leaves his loins less protected than they were before? Baffling.
And, other than the metallic bits, the action feature was what made these toys in the Vintage line. He-Man’s gleaming weapons whirling and swinging, Skeletor’s claws slashing viciously, and, when the whim struck him, his Snap-Dragon flail lashing forth like a mechanical whip to chomp a big bite out of whatever poor barsinister was in his way.
These guys, without the metal armour and the action feature? Not so amazing.
God help me, I kind of like TC Skelly. It feels in keeping with his FILMation personality of ridiculous over-the-topness. Why go with spiked knuckle dusters or Krueger gloves when you can have MASSIVE INFLEXIBLE METAL ARMS CLIPPED TO YOUR WRISTS. Though it’s still not quite as crazy as foregoing, say, a shoulder-mounted flamethrower in favour of hunting down, capturing, and strapping on a live baby dragon…
FF He-Man though… ugh. I don’t even get how those are “flying fists”. I suppose “Whirling Testicles He-Man” just didn’t grab Mattel upper management by the… uh… well, you know.
Meh. I’ve always hated vac-metal figures, because I’ve never seen one that stood up at all. They always end up flaking and looking like crap.
I’m usually younger than the average MOTU fan (I was born in ’82), but the originals will always be MY He-Man and Skeletor. I look at all the other versions how most of us look at variants today: they’re crappy, goofy, bastardized, non-canon versions of the real characters.
It’s odd, because I keep hearing people complain about flaking vac-metal, but I’ve never had problems with it flaking on my stuff. I dunno if I’ve inadvertently stumbled upon the perfect storage conditions, or if it was because I was always careful with them. (As in, when I was a kid, I didn’t bash my figures together to make them “fight.”)
After reading the “Junk Drawer” article on The Fwoosh yesterday, I fished out my old Tomy Rascal Robot (one of the best toys ever), and it still looks pristine after nearly 40 years. Transmetal II Megatron only has a couple tiny spots where the red has come off the chrome, and MOTUC Hurricane Hordak is as good as ever.
Now I really wish there was a MOTU/POP fan at the meteorological bureau, so that we could one day get a news report telling us to board up our windows in preparation for the arrival of Hurricane Hordak.
It’s funny that you bring up the Transmetals, because I remember getting some that were already flaking in the package. Especially disappointing was an import of Fire Convoy (2001 RiD’s Optimus Prime) that basically lost all his vac-metal just standing on the shelf. I hadn’t paid much attention to him for a while, and when I checked in on him, most of his vac-metal paint was dusting the shelf at his feet.
I have no nostalgia for these two. I didn’t even know they existed until high school. And they’re really….well, it’s obvious they were scraping the bottom of the idea barrel by this point. I wouldn’t mind having just the terror claws, but that’s about it.
And my firsts of the Big Two were actually New Adventures. That Skeletor is still one of my faves, He-Man…not so much. I’ve always been all about the Battle Armors. And Dragon Blaster.
Actually, I bet it would look really good if you swap the heads and armors to have Dragon Blaster with that red belt.
ALWAYS HAVE BEEN A SEXUAL ATTRACION BETWEEN SKELETOR AND HE-MAN
This isn’t Westeros, it’s Eternia!
You do know that Keldor is Randor’s half-brother, right? making him Adam’s uncle.
Well, upon going thru my old before selling off I.had all 4 (no lazer lights here) Skeletors (Original, BA, Dragon Blaster, and Terror Claws) what remember TC I liked as enjoyed the look and creepy factor the claws had. I just don’t see it here. The purple Vac metal would’ve helped as its one I wish did not sell.
Flying Fists I never owned. All before yes but guess never got into it. Can’t really say what think of him. On the sword, wasn’t all our old weapons one solid color? Call it a throwback 2nd a Vac-metal sword (hey why not a Diecast One)
A great review as always and funny comics. Await the next.
“His other accessory is his three-balled mace.” #PHRASING!!
also, pretty sure that would be a “mourningstar”? Google sez…nope, “flail”. huh.
as for the figures, yeah, the new armors look a bit sleek and snazzy, but chunky due to the clasp placement. Pop them onto any other character and you really wouldn’t know where the armor came from. nothing else to really write about.
(except that dragon…!)
bright side: this year’s Black Friday sale was a flustercluck on “free” shipping. It took a couple hours, but I got mine refunded, so I will finally have my first Castle Grayskull! woot!
also managed to pick up a few figures I’ve missed the last year or so.
DCIE Huntress was the only one I still missed out on. :/
Terror Claws Skeletor & Thunderpunch He-Man were my two Skeletor & He-Man figures growing up & I got the MOTUC Thunderpunch figure to fill in the ones I grew up with. Not blow away with this 2-pack either, so for my Classics shelf the Laser Light/Power Skeletor & He-Man may end up fulfilling that role on my shelf.