Modern Masters of the Universe

[Ben]

Hit the jackpot this morning, scoring all six figures in the first wave.  Found the Minis too, so I got He-Man, Skeletor, and the Slime Pit He-Man.

That is awesome Ben! I’ve been trying to use Brickseek to track these down, but I seem to keep missing them by just a bit. I did manage to get a Skeletor yesterday after work, so now I have Battle Cat and Skeletor. Hopefully they will continually be getting stock in. Nice score!

Thanks! These hit pretty hard here locally, so hopefully it goes the same everywhere.

I got them all opened and man, these are some really fun toys. I collected Classics heavily, but these are a different beast. They’re bright, colorful, and feel substantial in the hand, just like the original line. And they aren’t $30 a piece like the Classics were.

[Brian]

Awesome pic, agree completely. Like you, I was all in on Classics for quite awhile. When they started to get to the point where they had finished what I was most familiar with from my childhood, I sort of started dropping off. I grabbed a few things here and there between Mattel and Super 7, but was mostly done with that line (and at the time I thought the franchise).

Which brings me to this line. At first I was asking myself why I was going all in on another He-Man line, when Classics had covered all of this so well before. There is just something about them, like you said. Reminds me of the vintage line, and they just look/feel like toys. I only have Skeletor and Battle Cat so far, but I opened those today and really love them. I hope this line carries on for awhile, and is a hit not just with collectors but hopefully kids as well. Seems like a fun, durable line that you could really create a lot of adventures with.

[Muftak]

I am sorely tempted by what I have seen of this line so far. I was very much into the 80s line as a kid, starting with Trap Jaw and quickly falling down the rabbit hole. I had most of the 2002 line, but skipped the Classics and the Super7 lines. I am not in stores anywhere near what I used to be able to do, and I'm not excited enough to hunt them online, but when/if I see them in person I may not be able to resist collecting these, or at least my favorites...

Ben: your pic is very enticing, thanks for that!

[Brian]

New reveals today at the virtual Power Con. Looks like next round of basic figures is:

Roboto
Stratos
Mer-Man
Ninjor

As well as a Deluxe Origins line ($20)

Ram Man
Clamp Champ
Battle Armor He-Man
Battle Armor Skeletor

Also Panthor (and WalMart exclusive flocked version), and Land Shark. Target two pack of Keldor and Kronis. Also back of packages show Mekanek, She-Ra, and Zodac.  Side note, they are also starting a 7” (Classics scale) line called Masterworks, launching next summer. Packaging shows “Revelations” artwork, so maybe based on upcoming Netflix show? Overall, I’m very excited. More great figures and another vehicle sounds rad to me.

[Ben]

I’m pretty hyped for the Land Shark. I had that one as a lad and loved it. Hearing Roboto and Ram Man are coming is great news. I’m also glad that this is expanding to all retailers next year because trying to hunt all this great stuff at Walmart only would be a nightmare.

[Ben]

Found some clearer images of the Deluxe figures coming next year:





I like the new He-Man headsculpt. The current Origins head leaves much to be desired.

[Ben]

And here’s some pics of some of the neat stuff revealed at Power Con:





Really looking forward to Roboto. That was my favorite MOTU figure ever. 

[Brian]

I’m right there in that Roboto fan club with ya Ben, glad to see he’s on the way (hopefully with spinning gears somehow). I have a couple vintage ones as I played with him so much. For me, the tops in MOTU were He-Man/Battle Cat (my first Masters toys as I recall), Roboto, and Man E Faces. Remember liking Ram Man a lot as a kid, even though he was a different style of figure. For bad guys, Tri Klops, Trap Jaw, and Stinkor.

[Brian]

After a wild goose chase yesterday, where WM.com said a store in town (which happens to be the furthest away from where we live) had these in stock...only to talk to three people to finally figure out they were “supposed to” be on the next truck, I had better luck today. A different store which is kind of on an out of the way route home from work, said they had these in stock. I stopped by this morning, and....nothing on the pegs (but two Battle Cats).

I asked an employee here and he said that he thought they got a shipper in, but they hadn’t put it out yet. He asked which I was looking for, and I said “any of them”. He left, and a few minutes later he comes back with an armful of one of each saying “this was all the different ones we had”. It has to be maybe my first positive experience with Wal-Mart as far as getting help, and it is nice to get these in hand. Looking forward to opening them later. Just need to find the Sky Sled/Adam and I’m caught up until Wave 2.

[Ben]

Nice! It’s too bad these are still so hard to find. I haven’t seen any since I bought mine, which is weird. I joined a group on Facebook and there’s all sorts of stories of the shippers going up and being wiped out in a day. 

[Brian]

Got a chance to crack these open this weekend, and man I really love these. Sure, not as detailed as Classics (a tremendous line), but I just love the bright, colorful, and as far as I can tell durable qualities of this line. Plus I think it really hits that nostalgia spot. I sort of miss the times where we could just have fun toys that could appeal to kids and collectors. Everything has gotten so segmented in so many lines today (and I know that’s coming with Masters next year as well), and the collector stuff is great....but just nice to have fun toys out there, that just embrace what they are. Now I continue to hunt for Adam and the Sky Sled, and hope my preorders for Wave 2 don’t get cancelled by WM.

[Ben]

Looks like Castle Grayskull is on the way!

[Ben]

Some carded shots of She-Ra and Roboto have popped up, shipping in February:

[Ben]

And just now found Zodac and Mer-Man, which I guess makes up the next wave:

[Brian]

These look great, always loved me some Roboto. Hopefully the rumors of WM exclusivity being over a little early are true. It has been a mess (at least locally). I was able to get the first wave eventually, but only because I asked someone if they had any and they brought me a set from the back. Still haven’t seen any on the pegs until this week, when our closest store had about 6 each of only He-Man and Skeletor. I found a couple Battle Cats at the beginning, still haven’t seen the Sky Sled at all.

Psyched about what is on the way though. Glad it seems we will be getting a Grayskull. I always regret not biting the bullet to get the Classics version, it seemed so pricey at the time. Since then I’ve ponied up for the Sail Barge though so I guess times have changed.  Just a fun line overall though, hope it continues.