He-Man, and also the Masters of the Universe

[Steevy Maximus]

Entertainment Earth has a drop for next week, presumably for the next wave(s) of product for Origins and Masterverse. There are still listings from Walmart.com for the remainder of the year.

I think doom and gloom is a BIT premature. MOTU isn’t flying off shelves, but frankly, little is at mass retail. All of the major toy players (Mattel, Hasbro, Lego) have cited significant increases in their direct to consumer sales efforts. Hell, if you were going by my Walmart, Transformers should be struggling since they haven’t gotten (besides the launch of Earthspark) anything newer than Deluxe Legacy Wave 1, Voyager wave 2, Coronation Starscream and Junkheap.
And Power Rangers? Hasn’t been stocked in years and GI Joe got choked off with the movie Classified releases. Are they dead in the water?
Right now, Target is still carrying the lines. It is entirely possible that Walmart simply opted to clear inventory before carrying the brand in the fall on the back of Christmas sales. As is, there is a LOT of movie stuff hitting next month, maybe MOTU got pushed out because of that?

Frankly, if fans are “starved” it’s because they are still relying on local retail, which has been a losing battle for several years now. Entertainment Earth has a surprising amount of new stuff “Pre-Sold Out”, which indicates there is either more demand than anticipated…or Mattel is cutting orders. Hard to tell at this moment, but I still view something selling out in preorder as a general “good thing”.

 

[LBD "Nytetrayn"]

For all the "MotU is on clearance now" buzz I've seen, that sure as Hell wasn't the case at my Walmart.

 

[Steevy Maximus]

For all the "MotU is on clearance now" buzz I've seen, that sure as Hell wasn't the case at my Walmart.

All the more reason using Walmart as your example in regards to ANYTHING toys is a losing situation. Walmarts vary wildly from region to region, even within a metropolitan area. Several years ago, I went up to Iowa for some family business, and despite being a good 30% SMALLER than my local store in Oklahoma, and serving a community HALF the size…the store sported a toy section nearly double the size with far more variety.

So, yeah, Walmart. Not a good measuring stick for anything besides how confusing a company can manage merchandise

 

[Daith]

True, after all my local one still has yet to clearance out Eternals Marvel Legends. They are doomed to an end cap display on the edge of the store that barely anyone would walk by.... But sadly MotU has been eliminated from their aisle planner for now.

But things can vary for sure. All I know is the only local place still carrying Motu at normal retail is Target with a space for Two Bads MV figures last I saw.

 

[Steevy Maximus]

Somewhat back to just talking about MOTU at the moment…in my current “fuss” over MOTU, I snagged the Minicomics Collection and the Toy Pictorial books from Amazon. Generally really well done, and the minicomics are always interesting because of how the brand evolved in its early years.
But I got some nitpicks-
In the Minicomics Collection, I’m baffled at the decision to not include details of which figure each comic was packed with, nor does the organization seem clear to me. I know they’re roughly “by year”, but it’s not well defined. Oddly, this information WAS available in the toy book.

The biggest nits I have with the Toy Book is in details concerning the 2002 line. For all the fuss about the European exclusivity on later MOTU products, very little of it was mentioned in regards to the Snakemen refresh. Most of the repaint notations were “Mattel saved money and made this guy in different colors”, failing to note how 2002 had largely puttered out in the US market, but was still thriving in Europe. Pretty much the entire Snakemen line was European exclusive (aside from VERY limited distribution of wave 1 figures to Aldi, of all places).
The 2002 line ran a full year longer in Europe than the US, and as a result, a number of repaints were refreshed on Snakemen cardback (plus the rerun of Grayskull). That’s in addition to things like Zodak failing to feature BOTH his card backs (he saw limited availability in the series 1 red back in Europe, but was dominantly available on the Snakemen packaging).

 

[Daith]

 

[Steevy Maximus]

Complete list with promo images of today's reveals. For a "dying line" they actually have a hefty amount of stuff on tap.

Masters of the Universe Fall 2023 Catalog

Mattel have sent through a ton of new product images for upcoming Masters of the Universe items due in Fall 2023. This includes both Origins and Masterverse, with roughly 30 new items included. No pre-orders yet, those should start going live at various retailers starting soon. Read on to check...

www.toyark.com

Also, Wave 13 (2002 Randor, Snake Teela, Snake Trooper, Slamurai) has seen "limited distribution" and some sites have gotten them

MOTU Origins Wave 13 Review In Hand Review

We bring you our very own MOTU Origins Wave 13 In Hand Review! Yes we got a hold of Wave 13, and we review them with incredible images!

toyhabits.com

Wave 14 will be Snake Armor Man at Arms, Squeeze, Mini Comic Man E Faces, Eternia Guard (Snake Infiltrator), and Spikor will be due in the fall.

Point Dread and Snake Mountain will also roll out this fall, with preorders hitting at the end of April. Online retailers have figures dropping tomorrow.(
Bundles include another Rulers of the Sun 3 pack, a Skelly warrior 2 pack, Skeleton (with GLORIOUS 80s neon armor) with Screech, and a Snakemen Battle pack with 3 custom warriors and a repaint of Snake Armor He-Man (notably with a chrome power sword).

Also, Masterverse Ram Man has alternate gear for his 2004 Spike Armor look. Which kind of miffs me when I've settled onto Origins and that segment is already doing 2002 Snakemen refresh designs.

 

[Platypus Prime]

I feel like I sort of won this round. I haven't been picking much up lately due to various events, but I did set aside $50 with the idea that it was my best guess as to what Point Dread and the Talon Fighter would be in the modern era, and it looks like I was reasonably close! I assembled a Greyskull set around (this isn't a joke) a Battle Armor Skeletor (my all time favorite original MOTU figure) that a friend got me for my birthday in the Origins style, and now I will have what I considered the 'critical' accessory for Greyskull itself, a giant pigeon to sit on the statue!

...I have many, MANY issues...

 

[Caldwin]

...

Okay, I'm going to need a picture of that.

 

[Platypus Prime]

I don't have it yet, BBTS says about July or so (and I think it's strange that they don't show pictures of it, though all the online commentary during the drops confirmed Point Dread could connect to the castle) but in the meantime, here's a picture of a minion with the New Boss:

Seriously, even as a kid, I never understood why Skeletor WASN'T the main resident of Castle Grayskull. I mean, it had his motiff and everything so while I imagine people wouldn't appreciate it, I usually have him on its throne.

 

[LBD "Nytetrayn"]

Sometimes he was! The whole intended play pattern was basically "king of the hill" with the castle, and the flag on top was supposed to be turned to show which side controlled it.

That is, until our lord and savior Jesus Christ Filmation showed us all the error of our ways, so that we could play with our toys properly, of course.

 

[Tuxedo Prime]

Sometimes he was! The whole intended play pattern was basically "king of the hill" with the castle, and the flag on top was supposed to be turned to show which side controlled it.

That is, until our lord and savior Jesus Christ Filmation showed us all the error of our ways, so that we could play with our toys properly, of course.

And then, 20 years later, the same writing team decided to tell us just why it was called Castle Grayskull in the first place, and just whose power Adam was swearing by....

 

[Platypus Prime]

Honestly, my favorite version of the story was the split power sword barbarian world one. In my own mind, I use the Adam that came with the sky sled as Faker since I don't have a real one.

Edit: And by pure fluke I found a Faker! Now to make an alternate universe where he suffers odd delusions that he's "Adam, Prince of Eternaia-" etc, and neither He-man nor Skeletor have any idea what he's talking about...

 

[Steevy Maximus]

I’m still surprised Mattel opted to tool up those new torsos. I figured they’d end up deluxe by pure parts count, but the WWE Macho Man and Roddy Piper showed they had tooling to “replicate” the Battle Armor gimmick with standard bucks.

 

[Platypus Prime]

It was the fact that they worked like the originals (and Battle Armor Skeleton was my first MOTU figure) that really impressed me. I'm not completionist, I'm mostly just getting those that are at least as functional or better than the originals. I do look forwards to Point Dread and the Talon Fighter, and then trying to sort out how to get Pinky and The Brain into it for that night's plan.

 

[Steevy Maximus]

Is it strange I’m hoping that Mattel might make BraveStarr and TexHex in the Origins line? BraveStarr always did feel a bit like a cousin line to He-Man (maybe Rio Blast was a design refugee from that line?), be neat to see that crossover.

But I’m also the kind of weirdo that’s like “throw in dead line homages in GI Joe to celebrate them!”

 

[Caldwin]

I'd love to see BraveStarr done in any kind of line. I never was sure if it was as big as GI Joe, MotU or Transformers though.

 

[Dake]

Ramen Toys is doing a small not-Bravestar line. Hard to imagine anyone else besides S7 ReAction being interested in manufacturing anything official though.

 

[Platypus Prime]

Today's theme is 'fine print'!

Especially where Real Estate is concerned.

 

[Agent X]

Good use of the alternate heads.