MOTU Origins | He-Man

Masters of the Universe has a rich and diverse mythology, which is an original concept built behind the action figure toyline by Mattel. It’s one of the franchise that defined its identity with how it was packaged with a minicomics at the same time established its own identity without the support of other forms of media. In the early stories based on the minicomics by Don F Glut and Alfredo Alcala, which introduced He-Man, was a barbarian from the tribe of Eternia that was given weapons to become the hero that he was. Of course, Mattel would refine the character and the mythology with that became history. Thirty years later the revival for He-Man is here!

He-Man and the Masters of the Universe were never gone from a fandom that was built upon originally as a kid’s toyline. There were iterations and re-invention of the franchise after the original run, but it was a hit or miss for most heavy competition as well with other toy franchise.

There never was a MOTU toyline available on retail since the 2002 MYP (Mike Young Productions) series that only lasted for two seasons with an unresolved storyline ending with a cliffhanger. But it redefined the franchise and some of its long standing mythology. Though there were no animation to support the following toyline, but comicbooks were published over the years, but it became only available as a collector exclusive toyline known as the MOTU Classic.

After a long absence on toy retail Mattel brought back the franchise going back to its roots and adding modern articulation with “retro play” and that’s were MOTU Origins made its debut. But like any toyline there were growing pains and challenges of distribution not only in the US, but internationally as Mattel didn’t realize how the landscape has changed in bringing these toys to general retail but it’s finally here.

Modern Nostalgia in an Artful Card Back

In the original release He-Man was part of the 8 back, which is packaged in a blister bubble adorned with the bursting rocks and the starry blue sky, which was adapted again for the Origins toyline. This time around you can see at the upper left corner of the card there a “New for 2020” as part of the first wave of six figures.

At the back you see brand new art work on top of the card with a short blurb and art showing He-Man as the defender of Castle Grayskull. The left side which originally describe the action feature shows the ‘Modern Retro Play’ how to attach the weapons and how to do action poses.

Just like the original you see the figure is packaged with a minicomic but this time it’s not 20 pages. When you open the bubble you get He-Man tied down on a trey while the weapons are bagged and you get a six-page minicomic titled “Beast Barrage” short story featuring all six figures from wave 1. Within the minicomic there are Easter eggs and some familiar reference only fans would recognize in each page.

Most Powerful Action Figure of the Universe

He-Man stands close to six inch and still under the 5.5 inch scale as the original figures are on their squat pose. But this is the modern take of the vintage figure having articulations to make those action poses for your display or for your photography. Of course, this He-Man has a brand new head sculpt having more details on the hair and that modern look.

Despite the impressive overall aesthetics it’s not a perfect figure as you’d expect, and being a retail product there are imperfections as this copy has paint splotch on his lip from the paint on his pearly white smile that appears he had a white lip gloss, while red paint on the squares on his harness has spilled over that was unnoticed until you open up the figure to see those issues.

The way Mattel has put this together is definitely nostalgic from the packaging down to the figure’s aesthetics, that when you compare to the He-Man from 2002 it would give you the vibes that the old is new again. While the supposed modern version did not age well as you’d expect it to be. But both versions have its own interpretation and the He-Man from that time was product of Japanese anime explosion in the west.

Featured Articulation:

• Head at the Ball Joint
• Ball Joint at the Shoulders
• Swivels/Bend at the Elbow
• Hinges at the Wrist
• Turn at the Waist
• Hinge-like Ball Joint at the Thighs
• Swivels/Bend at the Knee
• Boot Cut Swivel
• Ankles Moves Side-to-Side

Interchangeability and Modular

There’s something special about this new MOTU toyline that would appeal not just for kids, but also to collectors with a hidden gimmick which is the interchangeable body parts that’s modular for customization. Though, this has not been known in the first wave but down the line by Wave 4 it will include instruction sheet which parts can be removed and can swap with the other figures.

He-Man dismantled in so many pieces as you see here would be odd for someone who used to having the original action figure. But this is where Mattel is going with these retro toys that have been adored by those who grew up with the brand. Imagine the potential for creating new characters using this body.

Armed for a New Adventure

Just like the vintage action figure He-Man comes with three accessories that include the half-power sword (more of this later), battle, axe and shield. The original battle axe and shield are more detailed compared to the current iteration.

The axe itself doesn’t have those lines and design that you see here and it’s kind of plain while the shield is one piece compared to the original that’s made of two plastic pieces glued together and what was just a tampograph now used to be a cardboard insert. They look great from a far but when you look closely, both of these accessories have been simplified to fit with the budget cost for the figure which is understandable.

An improvement from the original is that He-Man’s harness has now a slot for his power sword unlike before where you can only find the straps at the back. There is another conventional feature that most would not thought about is that you can also store the axe and shield while He-Man uses the Power Sword as his main weapon.

Secret of the Power Sword

In the original story concept, the Power Sword that He-Man uses is just the half of what Skeletor also own that when joined together becomes the key to Castle Grayskull. This concept for the Filmation animation was abandoned for the series, but kept it for the toyline that became part of its lore.

The engineering on the half sword is different from the original, which only have a single long male peg as the new one has round pegs to secure the connection with the other half sword. The difference also is that this version is mirrored to the original as the hand guard is supposed to be the opposite when you position the front of the sword to his right side, while Skeletor have the opposite version.

Looking at the concept it still stands out that Mattel did not abandon as Castle Grayskull would be available for you to use the full sword to gain access to opening the drawbridge, which definitely is why the nostalgia runs dip with this toyline.

Overall He-Man is a must have starter pack if you’re new to MOTU, and also to those trying to recapture their childhood. It is an impressive figure despite the paint quality of the copy featured in this review. This figure is very difficult to acquire outside the US territory and when it was sold in the Philippines they were only handful.

But everything that fans hope for was met with great expectation barring minor issues and nitpick it is warranted that He-Man should be available anywhere despite that the toyline is well ahead of Wave 5 as of this writing. You can never have He-Man not showing in the retail shelves as this figure is common in the US stores when it was only sold in the Philippines in very few selected shops.

He-Man is part of the first wave for Masters of the Universe Origins from Mattel, which is distributed in the Philippines by Richwell Global Inc retailed at ₱ 999.75 (**$ 26.98 AUD | $ 20.86 USD) that was acquired at Ollie & Co Glorietta. For more about MOTU Origins and the store that carry this toyline follow them on their social media via Facebook!

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