The Grayskull Poster from Adam to Zodac

October 30, 2009 | Poe

Back in the heyday of Masters of the Universe during the 1980s, a few promotional posters for the line were made. These were lush, fully-painted depictions of the characters rather than checklists featuring photos of the action figures. By far my favorite was the so-called Grayskull Poster, because it featured most of the early, iconic MOTU characters, vehicles and playsets that I owned.

He-Man.org poster He-Lurker has been kind enough to provide his fellow He-Fans with a beautiful hi-res scan of the poster:

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Pretty nice, huh? Of course, while He-Man and Skeletor look ready to mash it up as usual, there’s a lot of other strange stuff going on in the background of this poster. (more…)

Review > Zodak (Masters of the Universe Classics)

October 29, 2009 | Poe

zodak_artThe 2002 revamp of Masters of the Universe was ambitious in scope, encompassing the toys, a new cartoon, a McDonalds tie-in and even a videogame. Mattel was fervently hoping to recapture the bottled lightning they’d found in the early 1980s.

Unfortunately, the toys weren’t as successful as Mattel’s immense hopes, and after two years it was shut down (though it lived on for quite a while via NECA’s “stactions”).

The theories for the 2002 line’s demise have been hashed out ad infinitum, so I won’t go over them again here. Suffice to say Zodak represents the second 2002 character to appear in MOTUC. As a variant of the already slow-selling (comparatively speaking) Zodac, it’s not surprising that he took two weeks to sell out; I’m very curious to see how the Goddess does in December. (more…)

The He-Man that might have been

October 27, 2009 | Poe

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Lord Fallen Eldor of He-Man.org came across this fascinating, never-published He-Man comic from the 1980s, apparently made by Whitman Comics.

It’s a very different origin story for He-Man, with a level of character development that rivals the MYP series. There’s something approaching actual pathos in He-Man’s story–and they even explain where he got the goofy name. It makes for an intriguing might-have-been for the MOTUniverse. (more…)

Review > Teela (Masters of the Universe Classics)

October 26, 2009 | Poe

teela2Whew! After all that chaos and uncertainty, Teela is finally here.

I’ll forgo the tempting-but-predictable “sausage fest” jokes about the current state of Masters of the Universe Classics and simply say that Teela, the line’s first female figure, is a welcome addition.

The story of Teela’s creation for the original 1980s MOTU line, and how that conception was later woven into the various continuities, is pretty damned complicated. The original sketch of the character we know as Teela was called simply a “female warrior.” Since it was known even in those earliest stages that MOTU would re-use a lot of parts between figures, there was also a sketch of a character called the Sorceress, who would use the same basic body as the female warrior but have a snake-themed helmet and staff.

From here the story gets murky, but somehow the design labeled “Sorceress” got labeled “Teela” on the toys themselves, but the early mini-comics mixed up Teela and the Sorceress all the time (sometimes referred to as the Goddess, or even the Warrior-Goddess). In one mini-comic she was actually colored green.

The cartoon series put an end to it all, with the figure’s design (sans snake armor and staff) being called Teela, captain of the king’s guard, and the Sorceress having a completely different design. But the “Green Goddess” idea continues on, and we’re even getting a translucent repaint of the character (with a new-tooled staff) in December. (more…)

Big Mattel update on the Teela situation

October 23, 2009 | Poe

Yesterday Mattel posted a fairly comprehensive update of the situation on–get this–the Mattycollector website (as opposed to Facebook). Text after the jump.

For the record, it seems that pretty much all subscribers–including me–received their shipping confirmations overnight. (more…)

Optikk for MOTUC?

October 20, 2009 | Poe

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According to a poster on He-Man.org, Mattel filed for the trademarks to Optikk, Tytus, and Megator this month. (It should be noted that ToyGuru has said that Mattel now files for all sorts of trademarks to hide which characters they’re actually making. Ah, the perils of the Information Age.)

I’ve long hoped Optikk would be the first NA figure in MOTUC. But since his design was so unique, I’ve been trying to figure out how they’d make him using existing MOTUC parts. Here’s my guess:

  • Head – new sculpt
  • Armor – new sculpt
  • Chest: generic heroic (hidden by armor)
  • Shoulders, biceps and hands: Trap-Jaw/Kronis
  • Forearms: Trap-Jaw, possibly some new tooling
  • Crotch: He-Ro
  • Thighs: Trap-Jaw, possibly some new tooling
  • Calves and boots: He-Ro

MasterPOEce Winners

October 16, 2009 | Poe

The totals on the board are correct: Jeff M. Donato is the grand prize winner of the MasterPOEce Contest! Jeff will receive a carded 200X He-Man (cross variant) signed by the Four Horsemen, as well as a custom figure of his Poe Ghostal design by Passion Designs, Inc. (more…)

Ask Mattel Answers for October 15

October 15, 2009 | Poe

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1.) Bambam asks: In DCUC wave 9, the blue Wildcat version was suppose to be the chase variant. Is this still true, or is the Wildcat ratio now 50/50? Are the Mantis figures 50/50, too?

Blue Wildcat is the chase figure. He is not 50/50.

2.) Baena asks: Is there any interest at Mattel or among the Horsemen for a “concept He-Man” in MOTUC? It could be as simple as a standard He-Man, but with a Viking helmet head?

Well we did include Demo-Man (prototype Skeletor as shown in the MOTU art book) in the bios, so it is possible that we may have plans for Vikor as well…

3.) Dayraven asks: Does Mattel have any say/input when it comes to the grade of plastic gets used? For example, the MOTUC Webstor had very different types of plastic for the hooks on his grappling hook vs the shaft of the same hook. Was the decision to use two different plastics for that in Mattel’s hands or the factory’s?

Mattel makes these choices.

4.) Barbecue17 asks: With the price increase taking effect with wave 11, many casual buyers and perhaps even collectors may be tempted to switch to lines which are less expensive and easier to find. What is Mattel planning on doing to add to the perceived value of these figures?

We have a great new theme for 2010. Wait and see!

5.) Dyl asks: Does Mattel have any interest in producing a line of figures based on the designs of the Batman: Arkham Asylum game? The designs are subtly different than the mainstream, and would be a nice alternative.

This is possible, but nothing is locked in right now.

Happy Teela Day!

October 15, 2009 | Poe

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Easy order page: http://www.mattycollector.com/store/matty/DisplayShopperDefinedBundlePage/OfferID.3198617709

I’m curious–due to the bonus figures, Ghostbusters, DCUC and so forth, how many of you have actually been able to avoid logging on to Mattycollector thanks to the subscription? As of right now, the only month in the foreseeable future that I’ll get away with it was…last month. Next month I have to get the He-Man reissue, then in December there’s the Green Goddess and Winston, January has Battle Armor He-Man, Battle-Cat in February and Walter Peck in March…sigh.

Oh, and Bank Robber Joker is on sale today, too. Also, don’t forget, the MasterPOEce voting ends tonight at midnight!

Poe’s Point > My Five Most-Wanted Obscure He-Man Characters

October 12, 2009 | Poe

I’ve already written a post about the five characters from previous Masters of the Universe toylines that I’d like to see in Masters of the Universe Classics. Today’s post is about the five fairly-to-utterly obscure characters I wouldn’t mind getting a figure of. What are the chances we’ll actually see any of these in figure form? Probably close to nil, with one exception. (more…)