Masters of the Universe Movie Figures

Masters of the Universe Movie Figures

Super 7 - William Stout Collection

Masters of the Universe Classics

Super 7: "Coming Summer 2019...movie He-man figures! Pre-order now!"  Were they worth the legal-rights wrangling and delayed subscription release?  These immediately  rank right up there with realistic Popeye!

Even with it's shortcomings, I've always enjoyed the 1987 live-action Masters of the Universe.  It's one of those Saturday afternoon movies that my local UHF station probably picked up cheap (or ran illegally) with the likes of TRON, Superman IV, and Flash Gordon.  A guilty pleasure with mostly endearing qualities...and totally 80s!

They may not have spent much time on Eternia due to budget restraints, but the elements we did get looked awesome.  These figures bring some of the best costumes and accessories to life, taking a few liberties here and there to keep in line with the MOTUC proportions.

While not as good a Dolph likeness as NECA's Ivan Drago, this He-Man strongly suggests Dolph.  At least the one head does...not sure what the other one is supposed to be...concept art?  Harry Hamlin?  Anyway, his armor looks to be screen accurate.  The cloth cape is a strange departure for Classics, but may have been necessary for his sword connection in the back.  His armor straps may have been a bit too skimpy to support a full plastic cape as well.  

They've given him some actor-accurate lank in the arms and legs, which is another Classics departure in body bucks.  He still fits in, but there's just something a bit strange about it after all these years of same-body builds.  Meh, not a dealbreaker at all, just something to note.  The only real detractor is the knife accessory that is supposed to port in his boot.  It does port, but not well, and without it, it leaves a strange gap on one of He-man's legs.

Karg is pretty much a straight movie repaint of Classics' first release.  I skipped the first one, not having a full movie line-up...score!  Though here is the opposite of my He-man buck dilemma:  Karg is way too tall and muscle-bound on the Classics body.  Everything else is fine, especially his grandma-like wrinkles and pompadour. 

Skeletor was always going to be my favorite here...and they gave us a double-dose!  Frank Langella's take on the character, while devoid of any of the silliness we love about cartoon Skeletor, is totally boss.  The figure brings the same menace and grandeur to life on a smaller scale.  And the details on his armor robes...he's all business.   Like Karg, he may be a little more muscly than he should be.  He would have benefited from a flat, plastic covering over that six-pack.  Maybe Frank Langella likes sit-ups? At least he has no visible belly button like Space Skeletor.

As if a screen-accurate Ram Staff weren't enough (maybe my most wanted full-scale prop), he comes with the best accessory of the lot, the cosmic key...correctly scaled and colored, of course.  I guess previous key releases can be dismissed as prototypes?  Gwildor does have tiny hands after all...easier to go big in the planning stages.

"Tell me about the loneliness of good, He-Man. Is it equal to the loneliness of evil?"

God Skeletor is mostly a repaint with a new hat...but what a new hat!  Spiny and shiny!   All those weird variants of Skelly in the original and 200x line-ups were just filler for the hole that God Skeletor has now filled.  (The closest may have been Fire and Ice Armor Skeletors, what with their extra armor and pointy hats.)

"Kneel before your master!"

I'm over the moon in having these figures join Blade, Gwildor, and Saurod in my Classics collection. If these mark the end of my Classics collecting, good job and good journey, Super 7...what a finale!  They may have been a bit pricey, but there was no other way to do it.  If you didn't do the preorders on their website, these are available for a small mark-up on some e-tailer sites like Bigbadtoystore.  I can see these fetching quite a resale price on down the road, so don't hesitate if you're on the fence.