Going through my boxes of stuff that's been in storage for over ten years, taking inventory and whatnot, and I came across a couple boxes of my 2003 He-Man collection. I know I must have at least one more box somewhere, because I had almost all the variants and stuff like the "Samurai" figures but I can't locate them at the moment. But I managed to find most of the main figures from the first two waves - He-Man, Skeletor, Teela, Man-At-Arms, Battle Cat, Panthor, etc. - along with the electronic Castle Grayskull!
Since I hadn't looked at them in so long, I forgot how much I really liked these figures. The only real negative is that they came out just before lots of articulation points became a standard, so they're a bit dated with the lack of knee and elbow joints, but it kinda fits given that the whole line was like a simple "update" of the original line, which didn't have a ton of articulation, either. But I really love the sculpts and the level of detail in the outfits. I know not everyone liked the "anime"-style head sculpt for He-Man, but it doesn't really bother me and the other figures' features are a bit more "natural". Skeletor's face is great. Some of the poses are a bit weird, but again, like the limited articulation that kind of thing was pretty standard at that point in time.
I have most of the vehicles, too; everything still works great. I only ever really had them on display, so everything has very little wear, if any. Castle Grayskull is of course the biggest deal; to my surprise, the voice stuff still works great. I used to have the original Grayskull and Snake Mountain, but I think my Dad sold them or one of his friends stole them, because I can't find them anywhere. The original castle definitely had more cool action features, like the Throne trapdoor and the elevator, but it also had a ton of tiny parts to break or lose. This one was the First Series version of the 2003 Castle, with the chip-activation action features. I haven't tried them out but I remember they worked fine last time I bothered with them. It kind of lacks in features compared to the original, but it's a nice size, with tons of room to display figures on, so that and the fact that it talks kind of makes up for whatever it lacks in other areas.
I love everything He-Man, and I really dug this line and was sad that it didn't last longer. They didn't get too deep into the character list, and that was disappointing. I know MOTU Classics and Club Grayskull more than made up for that, but I never got to collect those and they're pretty damn expensive now. I'll definitely pick up some of those one day, but in the meantime, I already have about 3/4s of the 2003 line, and one of these days I should get around to finally finishing it.
I just got a new bookshelf so tomorrow I might put some of these on display. Sadly, I got no room for Castle Grayskull, so that'll have to stay in the box for now.
