The Masters of the Universe/She-Ra Thread!

[Candy Kappa]

I love Serpentine King Hissss' accessories, mostly cause I missed out on the Snake-Men 2-pack. Kinda felt giving 200x Hissss' snake body a separate release was a bit bs, but I guess packaging it with the Snake He-Man & Battle Armor King Hssss 2-pack would be too much, and the snake-ed up legs are neat for a more complete look for Hissss

I'm still waiting for prices for Clawful to be at reasonable prices, the Filmation Clawful can be found at $20 but that version has a terrible design


There's also some cheap figures on bigbadtoystore, Double Trouble or Mischief for legal reasons are there for $19, kinda tempted since I lost mine in the mail when I moved. Sadly missed out on Goat Man, he's sold out. And Granamyr is sold out... finding something on BBTS and trying to save up for it does not work out for me, tried that with Gothitropolis Decimus Hrabban by Four Horsemen, got super stroked that they actually had him, had to wait for my pay and boom he's gone.

Makes sense though, the second marked on the Gothitropolis Ravens are insane so him being scooped up for around $40 was a given. Probably got resold on eBay for $140

[Leo656]

Was going through my storage again and taking inventory. Just for fun I decided to take a few pictures of some of the cooler-looking MotU figures that are still in great shape (not missing armor, etc.). I still have a lot of the weapons, they're in a bag separately.

BATTLE CAT and PANTHOR!

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They're both holding up well. Panthor still has most of his flocking. Battle Cat's saddle peg broke like forever ago but if you double the strap through the buckle it holds in place fine. The other side of his mask is a bit chewed on, just a little - the puppy I had in Kindergarten took a liking to poor Cringer's face armor - but I just say it's "battle scarred".

Speaking of flocking, I don't see too many Moss Man figures in this great of shape!

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Leech, from The Evil Horde... one of the sturdiest figures in the line!

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Tri-Klops is still looking great as well!

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Faker! This one could be tough to get sometimes. Almost positive this was the 1987 re-release.

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The ones most kids who jumped in after 1983 got "stuck with"... Battle Armor He-Man and Battle Armor Skeletor!

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TRIPLE the Power with "Flying Fists" He-Man, the Original He-Man, and everyone's favorite variant, "Thunder Punch" He-Man!

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MAN I wish Original He-Man wasn't so expensive to find. Because if I could change ONE thing I would love to paint his goddamn wrist gauntlets. That's always bothered me a whole lot, but I don't want to do that on my one and only Original He-Man figure. If I ever get another one, then definitely.

Just for fun, here's 2003 He-Man in his Golden Battle Armor, looking slightly reminiscent of "Flying Fists He-Man" from the original series:

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His voice chip still works just fine! That's awesome.

I have a LOT more figures from both the original and 2003 lines; those were just some that struck my fancy as I was organizing them. Sadly, like ten or so of my original series figures are missing most/all of their armor and weapons, so I might end up replacing them altogether as in some cases a Loose/Complete figure is not much more expensive than just getting the accessories.

The biggest heartbreaker is The Sorceress; she's not "broken" but her legs have turned inward at an odd angle and she simply will not stand at all. Very frustrating considering how rare and expensive she is. I doubt I'll buy a replacement, but I imagine the legs' rubber bands will eventually break anyway, at which point I'll just do a full repair job. I'm not about to "break" the figure on purpose in the meantime just to fix it, though; I wasn't going to display it anytime soon so as of now I'm planning to just let nature take its course.

I do have quite a few weapons left but not as many as I'd like, so that's gonna be a small project unto itself. Ah well.

[Leo656]

Going through some more storage stuff... BEHOLD, the original 2003 Action Chip Castle Grayskull, 100% complete and in pretty much mint condition!

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Ain't she beautiful? I messed with it a little bit before I re-packed it, and the electronic features still work like new! It's lacking some of the features and charm of the original Grayskull, but it's still pretty amazing!

Trying to save up some money for a used and complete vintage Grayskull. They ain't TOO bad on eBay but I definitely need to save up a bit first. Soon!

[Leo656]

The two most recent additions to my vintage MOTU line arrived... Fisto and Zodac!

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Zodac is new to my collection; for some reason I never acquired him as a kid. As I mentioned elsewhere, his harness is broken in the back with a piece of the clasp missing, but a replacement should be here shortly.

I already had Fisto, and in good shape, too; but he was missing his armor and sword, and for SOME reason it was much cheaper to just buy a complete loose figure rather than just the pieces I need. This one's in near-perfect shape too, though. His arm spring is still nice and tight and his armor and sword are pristine!

I think the only missing figures I can afford to pursue from the original line are Gwildor and Blade; past that, it's all just replacing broken figures and missing parts. I need:
- Armor and club for Mekaneck
- Belt and arm attachments for Trap Jaw
- Sword for Tri-Klops
- Belt for Prince Adam
- Webstor's rifle
- New Modulok (I'm missing more than half the pieces)
- Arm attachment for Roboto
- Rokkon replacement w/Blaster
- Mace for Spikor
- Blaster for Stonedar
- Replacement Sy-Klone (Mine's missing the chest hologram)
- Right arm cover for King Hiss
- New Multi-Bot
- Replacement Hurricane Hordak (mine's broken)
- Several guns for Rio Blast

In some of those cases, I can get the parts I need cheap, but in a few cases it's cheaper just to buy a replacement figure. I also need a few characters like Dragon Blaster Skeletor, Terror Claws Skeletor, and almost everyone from Wave 6, but all of those are over $100 loose so I'm pretty sure I'm just gonna have to let those go. I can get most of what's on the list above for around $20-50 each, but I don't think I'm inclined to drop $300 on goddamn Mosquitor, y'know?

I also need parts for a few vehicles and a couple replacement playsets, but thankfully most of that stuff remains fairly reasonable. I'm really thrilled with my vintage collection!

....Now if only the MOTU Classics stuff wasn't so damned expensive! I have about a dozen of them so far but I don't know when I can get back into buying more... almost ALL of them start at around $100 and go up from there.

From Mattel's Classics line, so far I've managed to snag:
- Adora
- Battleground Teela
- Dark Despot Skeletor (1987 movie)
- He-Man
- He-Ro II
- Rebel Leader He-Man (1987 movie)
- Serpentine King Hiss
- Skeletor

And from Super7's Filmation/"Club Grayskull" series, I've managed to pick up:
- Prince Adam
- She-Ra
- Ultimate He-Man
- Ultimate Skeletor

That's not a bad start, but I want to at least get more of the basic main characters in either/both lines, like Teela, Evil-Lyn, Man-At-Arms and Beast Man, but they're all SO expensive in either series.

Trying to stay up to date on the new Origins line as well, but I'm "not allowed' to buy any more until after my Birthday next week since my wife most likely got me a couple. I don't want to fall behind!

[Galactus]

The thread about how many TMNT figures we all still have from when we were kids actually made me think and be sad that when I moved to the UK when I was 8 almost all my MOTU figures were left behind in Spain.

It was quite a collection that included Scare Glow, Laser Power He-Man and Laser Light Skeletor. I could kick myself for not bringing them along with me. I don't know if I'd ever have the heart to part with them but just knowing how valuable they are now makes me sad.

[Leo656]

Yeah, that's a real bummer. Of all the ones to leave or lose, of course it'd be the most valuable and rarest ones. Oooooof.

I'm still smarting because SOMEone made off with my Grayskull and Snake Mountain during one of our many moves. I have a few small assorted parts but the shells disappeared a long time ago. Those are gonna be tough to replace, but I'm saving up.

In the meantime, another replacement figure came today... RATTLOR!

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He was always one of my favorites as a kid but mine broke when I was very young. Thankfully, this new one is in great shape aside from a little bit of paint rub. Neck still works great!

A couple replacement parts are on the way as well. It was impossible to find just the belt and/or sword for Prince Adam at a reasonable price - I'd have to buy an entire Loose Complete figure and I already have two Adams, one with no accessories at all and one that's just missing the belt and sword, and also that'd be around $40. So I broke down and ordered some Repro ones. I don't care, really, I just want to have "complete" figures with all their accessories to have on display. It's nice if I have original authentic weapons, 99% of which I already have or can get rather easily, but in the case of a few things like Power Swords and Sorceress's Staff I'd honestly rather just pay $5-10 and have something that at a glance looks the same as the original. I mean, $40 for a dinged-up He-Man sword, or $25 for a repro Sword, Axe and Shield together? I do stick to the authentic weapons whenever possible but sometimes it's just a pain trying to track them down for a reasonable price.

Thankfully, I can find most of the parts I need for around $10-15 apiece. I'm looking at a few lots, also, but most of them are full of stuff I have and I'd still end up paying like $40+ for one or two things, and at that point I'd just as soon pick them up one at a time. I'unno. Either way, getting there!

[garsh]

I know it's really just an accommodation for his spring neck feature, but I love the look of Rattlor's bulky torso and stunted legs. To me those less uniform anatomical features are a lot more interesting.

[Leo656]

Yeah, he's an awesome-looking figure, I'm glad to have him back in great shape, finally. He was cheap, too, like $20 I think.

I always loved the Snake Men. Unfortunately they all ended up stolen or broken or in King Hiss's case, missing a single part that I can't find by itself now. But I've done well in rebuilding the army thus far. They were some of the coolest-looking figures with some of the neatest gimmicks in the line. Going through my storage stuff and picking up missing figures has really brought me back in touch with why I loved this whole line so much in the first place.

From the sculpts to the crazy characters to the awesome gimmicks, I just love everything about the MOTU line(s). "New Adventures" doesn't count; I never got any of that stuff.

[Leo656]

For my Birthday, my wife got me Teela and Evil-Lyn from the new Masters of the Universe: Origins series!

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I haven't been "allowed" to buy any for the last couple weeks just in case I accidentally bought ones that she already got me, so now I can get caught up! It's so exciting to be getting in on the ground floor of a MOTU line again; I managed to hang in for the first several waves of the 2002 series but didn't manage to complete it, and I literally only got my first MOTU Classics figures a few weeks ago even though they've been coming out since 2008. Hopefully I'll be able to get everything in this line!

[Leo656]

He-Ro finally showed up today!

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For those who may not know, this figure is kind of a big deal. He-Ro and Eldor were supposed to be two of the first figures in the "Powers of Grayskull" line in 1987, before Mattel abruptly pulled the plug on all things He-Man. Thus, neither figure ever made it past the prototype stage, and were never produced in the vintage 5.5 scale or style until the 2018 Super7 line finally made it a reality.

I love all the details of the packaging, right down to the "Coming In 1987" cross-sell artwork. They really knocked it out of the park on this.

Eldor and Shadow Weaver should be here by Monday if not sooner. After that, I'll only need Buzz-Off and Evil Seed and I'll have all the main Super7 5.5s, not counting variants. Oh, and the Three Terrors-related figures, I gotta get them too, eventually. Anyways, we're getting there!

[garsh]

I realized I ended up derailing the topic in the Funko Savage World thread to all MotU, so I figured it would be better moved here. Hope that's cool.

Originally Posted by garsh

For a while I was pretty much on the same page as you about the color schemes; not necessarily bothered. Once I got my figures in hand, though, it started nagging at me, and I considered painting them. Like I was getting at, though, the WWE guys have much more natural skin tones and such, so having those to fall back on for easy custom solutions has been nudging me toward learning to appreciate the new color scheme for its own merits and just keep them as is, enjoying them for what they are. Like you said, ultimately it does them their own unique style instead of just slavishly re-treading what's already been done. I'm still pretty adamant on touching up Battle Cat, though.

So far He-Man and Skeletor are the only two characters to show up at my one and only local Walmart. Teela is the one I've been most anxious to get all along. What do you think of those knees? They seem to be a little divisive. I wasn't bothered, but I've seen some modification done by He-Bro on youtube that might be preferable. I have a Dremel of my own, so it's tempting to try it myself.

I agree that it's really surprising how quick and comprehensive they're fleshing out the releases. Honestly I'm a little worried by it. They're putting out so many toys in advance of the new shows or movie, it has me concerned they won't see the sales numbers they're aiming for in time to keep things moving. I really want it all to succeed! I've been craving decent barbarian figures for quite a while, and I've deeply missed the MotU property, so I want it to carry on for a good long while, and deliver lots of my favorite characters, vehicles and playsets! I want to see The Horde again -- not least of all the Fright Zone and Slime Pit!

It's easy to keep forgetting there's also the Masterverse series coming up. If I understand right, those are also supposed to be affordable and available at retail. I doubt I'll dive deep into that, but at the very least I'm hopeful for bits and pieces that would expand custom options. Have you seen the leaked Moss Man yet? It suggests Masterverse will offer a fairly substantial re-imagining of assets. I'm eager to see what that might mean for yet another Grayskull!

Originally Posted by Leo656

Eh, the knee joints on the females are rather prominent but I'm not very bothered by them. It's always something, and you'll never please anyone anyway. I personally am not a big fan of "ab crunch" joints, for example; they rarely seem to contribute much and they're very often prominent to the point of ugliness, like the new AEW figures where guys look like they were sawed in half and spliced back together. Point being, when it comes to articulation, it's all very subjective and there's no way to please everyone.

They're definitely doing a lot very fast, but sadly, I have a nagging feeling that the Kevin Smith MOTU project isn't going to be what anyone hopes for. I *like* Kevin, and I do like much of his work - the early stuff, like any sane person does, before he went nuts and completely lost the plot about 15 years ago - but I've seen his Batman. I've seen how he tackles the "Iconic And Beloved Characters From Yesteryear." And that has me more frightened than enthusiastic. I suspect that Mattel knows more than we do and may be suffering a bit of "buyer's remorse" on the project, or at the very least they expect it to be HIGHLY divisive. Therefore, what I suspect is happening, is that Mattel is pumping out a ton of MOTU stuff NOW, just in case Smith's project sh*ts the bed and renders the entire property radioactive for another ten years. Which let's be honest, has a really good chance of happening.

As for the live action movie... I'll believe that's a real thing when I'm finally in the theater, I've been saying that since they announced it in goddamn 2001. Likewise, I'll also believe that it won't be complete garbage when I see that with my own eyes, as well. I can't tell you how afraid I am of that movie. A lot can go right, but even more can go wrong. And right now, Hollywood is firmly in "Let's Do Everything Wrong" mode. They missed the boat by not going full-blown Epic Fantasy and putting out the live-action movie in 2003 when the cartoon was out and Lord of the Rings was still hot. It's way more of a risk Now than it was Then, but back then it was dismissed (despite a really good script premise from Goyer) because it would have been Too Expensive. That doesn't give me any hope at all for what we might get NOW. Aside from wanting it to be made cheap, right now Hollywood is leaning hard on remakes that do little but remind you how stupid the original was and what an idiot you were for liking it. I really don't want that to happen to he-Man, but I have a bad feeling it might.

But anyways, if and when the live action movie comes out, IF it ever does, the toys that come with it will probably be completely different from the Origins line, so I doubt one will affect the other very much. Origins might be done by then, we don't know.

But yeah, I feel like Mattel is trying to give us as much as they can NOW in case those future projects don't pan out. Which honestly makes sense.

I haven't seen any of the Masterverse stuff. I honestly don't keep up on things as much as I should. I gotta do better at that.

As for the Origins figures and their availability, "techincally" they're available at the Walmart over here but ours sucks. I've seen pictures online of many Walmart stores getting great big end-of-aisle displays holding dozens of MOTU figures; we get a single hook that's always empty and gets restocked "whenever". I broke down and got He-Man and Skeletor online a few months ago when I just couldn't find the first wave anywhere after weeks of trying. They've since popped up a few times since then, but I've only encountered those two figures at Walmart. Everything else get snapped up immediately. I managed to get Battle Cat and the Sky Sled with Adam at the flea market over here because I'm friends with one of the vendors and they hold stuff for me when they can.

Likewise, they just got in Beast Man and Man-At-Arms, the two I still need, and are gonna try and hold them for me until I can get there, hopefully by Sunday.

Originally Posted by Leo656

I've pretty much given up on ever finding any of these at Walmart and paying $15 each for them; that's just not how the world works, anymore. "At Walmart for $15" is code for "$30 on eBay" and everybody knows it.

Gah that's so cynical. I expect they'll all show up in time.

Here's that Moss Man leak I was talking about. As far as I know, this is the very first sneak peek at anything Masterverse. He looks closer to Classics, ab-crunch and all, but clearly an entirely new interpretation of the concept.

Industry insiders always talk about how crucially vital "the entertainment" is. They stress how a cartoon or movie, or at least a comic book, is effectively essential to sell an action figure series. MotU and TMNT (as action figures) never would have existed in the first place if they hadn't both "scammed" their way into animation, if The Toys That Made Us is to be believed. So it baffles me that they're so out of sync on this launch. That's actually the same scenario they blame for the failure of 200X; they say the show came too late and was never able to catch up like it needed.

Last I heard, I thought the movie had been pushed to Netflix. I remember hearing about it and feeling like it was a condemnation that the movie was doomed to be low budget and crummy. Then I thought more about it and realized big budget cinema releases are all garbage now anyway, at least as far I'm concerned, so a Netflix release might actually be a saving grace.

I wonder, if or when they get around an Origins Moss Man if he'll be flocked (and scented) or if they'll pull another Panthor and offer two separate skus. Fifteen bucks extra for flocked Panthor!

I agree, the timing of this whole effort seems really odd to me.

[Leo656]

Don't worry about being "off-topic", I do that more than anyone.
This will be a long-winded, two-part post as I have a lot to say about the things you've presented.
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That's a very interesting Moss Man. Quite different but overall I like it. I looked up Masterverse briefly and it sounded quite a bit similar to Classics, aside from the $20 price point (HOW is that gonna work, exactly? Cheaper plastic and fewer accessories, I guess, but we'll see), and I was gonna ask "Why not just keep Classics going instead, then?" but that makes me think that the characters will mostly be dramatically redesigned, to various degrees. In that case, an entirely new line does make more sense.

I am forever in favor of more MOTU so whatever, bring it on! All of it!
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What's so funny is, brands like MOTU and TMNT had such a symbiotic relationship between their toys and their cartoons, as you pointed out, to the point where one was essentially a commercial for the other. BUT, fast forward to modern times, and neither of those brands can hold a TV show and seem destined to remain nothing but an eternal string of successive toy lines. I've said in other threads many times, in 50 years I definitely don't see people still making TMNT cartoons or movies anymore, especially at the rate they've been going since the Nick sale with each new version being worse than the last. But the NECA and Super7 toys have generated a ton of interest, and it seems to me like that is the future of the TMNT brand: a never-ending series of toy lines aimed at nostalgic adult collectors, just like MOTU has been for the past decade (and may remain if other projects fail to pan out).

I mean, let's be honest, when the news about Smith's animated MOTU project came out, the reaction wasn't exactly rapturous. It was mostly split between people biting their nails over how bad Smith might screw it up, and the rest were people saying "A new MOTU series? Seriously? People still care about that?" It hurts, but it's the truth. And I think even Mattel knows that, since they solicited a limited-run series and not a multi-season ongoing. They know that not enough people would watch a new MOTU cartoon in the 21st century to make it worth the investment. Therefore, as symbiotic as the relationship between the toys and the cartoons was back in the 80s, MOTU is almost certainly going to remain predominantly JUST a line of nostalgia toys that can't even sustain a cartoon show anymore.

TMNT will get there, too, if it's not there already. The movies tanked and nobody watched "Rise", so the future looks bleak. One day, that brand too will be "JUST a toyline" and the idea of a new cartoon will be laughed at because "Who even cares anymore?"

Maybe that's cynical, but hey... Entropy is the One and Only Constant in the entire known universe.
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I feel like quality-wise, the MOTU movie might end up the same even if it ends up on Netflix. It was obvious from the years of pre-production hell that the main thing is, the studio doesn't expect it to make a lot of money and therefore does not want to sink a ton of money into it. That right there puts a ceiling on how good it can be. And they're probably right, it probably would not make a ton of money because of how small the fanbase really is, but it's a shame that they're afraid to aim high all the same. I mean, how many people even knew "Lord of the Rings" before those movies came out? Lots of people, sure, but not the same audience that goes to the movies, very generally speaking, not by half. Not a single person I knew even read those damn books before; the movies became a phenomenon just by being Really Good, not because there was a huge audience for the property beforehand, and thus they created an entire new audience for the property out of literally thin air. Millions upon millions of people who in 1999 wouldn't have read those books if you put a gun to their head, a few short years later went out and bought them all after being blown away by the movies.

I very firmly, very strongly believe that the same thing CAN happen with MOTU. People say that it's silly; it's not, they're ignorant, but that's how they feel. But that can be changed very easily with a really good live action film that treats the property with the reverence it deserves instead of treating it like a campy extended gay joke. For whatever reason, people treat films as if they have greater "legitimacy" than other forms of media. You can have a successful video game, cartoon, or comic book, but the general thinking of the mainstream is, "If you were any good, you'd have a movie, and that movie would make one-point-six billion dollars and not a penny less." Again, it's a bullsh*t way of thinking, but it's the consensus. Your brand ain't sh*t unless it makes a billion at the theater; otherwise, it's kids' stuff. A MOTU film CAN "legitimize" the entire property in the eyes of the general public, but it has to be done properly and taken seriously, first. If it ends up being something like "Transformers", or god forbid the "Jem and the Holograms' movie, well... then absolutely nothing was gained and we're arguably worse off than we started.

Perhaps the fact that there's "less pressure" around a Netflix release means it may turn out even better than a theatrical release. One can hope. There are so many variables in play that it's tough to predict. My problem is, again, Perception Is Reality, and most people look at Netflix movies and say, "Those aren't Real Movies." I'd hate it if after 30 years of waiting for it, it finally comes out but people ignore or dismiss it because of the distribution model. It may be good for the film, but not for its perception and reputation, sadly. Even if it came out and was great, people would say it "doesn't count". Because that's how people are.

I don't know. I don't honestly think about it too much, because like I said... they "promised" a new movie 20 years ago and we're like three inches closer Now than we were Then. I'll get excited when I see something concrete. yeah, they hired a guy to play he-Man... that really doesn't mean much, sadly. Especially with the pandemic turning the entire industry upside-down.

Frankly, I expect the latest version of the movie project to be one of the many, many movies that will inevitably become a victim of the pandemic. It'll be very quietly cancelled because there's no money to spend on it and no audience willing to pay to see it. It sucks, but seriously, the entire industry is gonna have a near-impossible task in trying to crawl out of the wreckage from this disaster, and MOST of the announced movie projects from the last year or so simply aren't going to happen, now.

The movie industry is in a shambles and even Disney is tightening their belt. That tells me, there's simply not going to be any place for a He-Man movie once the smoke clears. Maybe not even if they huck it to Netflix. I'd love to be wrong, but... we'll see.
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(Cont.)

[Leo656]

Circling back to the earlier assessment of my cynicism, I proudly cop to that. I am most likely THE most cynical person you've ever spoken with, just to be clear going forward. I didn't come out of the box like that, but many, many years of Observe and Report have worn me down, to the point where I have to concede that quite simply, in life, there is What is, and there is What We Wish Were So, and that they're almost never the same thing. And that's just the way it is.

As far as my cynicism towards toy collecting, well, I've been doing it a long time and seen way too much sh*t go down. Christ, look at all the NECA TMNT figures that are allegedly "in stores" and yet you have to jump through a hundred hoops to find them anywhere except eBay. Or even the Mattel WWE figures, particularly the Elite series; oh, they come out in stores, but unless you want to poke through 87 identical AJ Styles figures, you're not buying them at the stores, you're buying them at the flea market or on eBay, no exceptions. Before that it was the Jakks WWE Classic Superstars figures. Even when there was more than just Target and Walmart, and you still had Toys R Us and Kay-Bee Toys and these figures were sold everywhere, you STILL had guys like Zeus or Dr. Death who most people will swear they never saw on a toy shelf at any store, ever. "$15 action figures" that were immediately $50 on eBay the day they were released and go for over $200 now. That's just the way it goes. It was like that with the 200x MOTU line, as well, which was the only reason I stopped collecting it 2/3s of the way through. I WANTED to keep getting the figures, but none of the stores near me had them except the variants I already had, and I didn't have the internet at the time so eBay was not an option, so I had no choice but to stop altogether.

I mean, sure, some of it is location. But there's fewer stores stocking toys than ever before and every single town has a scalper, now. For every Walmart that gets a case of MOTU Origins or Masters of the WWE Universe or WWE Elites, there's at least ten people living within a five-minute drive whose sole mission is to hawk that place, buy up all the stock as soon as it hits the shelves, and then flip it on eBay. It's an unwinnable war.

I do occasionally find something good "in the wild", and am always happy when I do so. A few months ago I found the entire set of Ghostbusters Plasma Series at Walmart, and that was wonderful. But I never, ever expect that anymore. When a new toy is announced, I know that my first step is to hope my flea market buddy gets them in, and Step 2 is to buy it online and eat the shipping charges. I never, ever expect to just stumble across it at Walmart. I'd have to go there twice a day every day for that to end up working in my favor, and I just can't do that. I have enough gray hair.

I mean, that's the entire rub. Beast Man wouldn't be $35+ on eBay if you COULD simply buy him at Walmart right now for $15 the way you're "supposed" to. These people know you can't do that, because they themselves already cleaned them all out. I can only imagine what an ordeal Scare Glow is gonna be. He's always the one everyone wants, which is why I guess they're putting him out so early. He's gonna be showing up online for $50+ at launch, mark my words. It's discouraging, but I've come to accept that it's simply the name of the game ever since Toys R Us went under.

I do kinda think or HOPE that some of the heat will cool down as Wave 2 and 3 come out. Then again, we're on Wave 5 or something of "Masters of the WWE Universe" and those things still vanish immediately and go for $50 online and stay that way. So who knows? In the case of that line, the opposite of what you'd expect happened: the first few weeks, they kind of just hung on the shelf since nobody knew they were gonna be a thing. Then once people became aware of them, they became a hot item and now they're impossible to find at retail. At least in my area.

It is what it is. So yeah, I'm very cynical about it. But what else can I do? I just Observe and Report, I don't make things be this way. I'd very much wish it were different, but that's not how it goes, unfortunately.

If nothing else, my buddy at the flea market has had an easier time getting the MOTU Origins lately. So at least I've got that going for me! I do hope it becomes less of an ordeal though. For you, for me, and for everyone. It's a great line, I want people to be able to support it properly. It just sucks that people insist on making that difficult.

[Leo656]

Eldor from Super7's "The Powers of Grayskull" line arrived today!

Spoiler:

Spoiler:

Shadow Weaver should be here tomorrow I think. After that I need Buzz-Off and Evil Seed, and I forgot about Robot He-Man (although I almost count him as a variant).

[neatoman]

Originally Posted by Leo656

Eldor from Super7's "The Powers of Grayskull" line arrived today!

Spoiler:

https://scontent-lga3-2.xx.fbcdn.net...e0&oe=5F95EAC0

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https://scontent-lga3-2.xx.fbcdn.net...ae&oe=5F96E873

Shadow Weaver should be here tomorrow I think. After that I need Buzz-Off and Evil Seed, and I forgot about Robot He-Man (although I almost count him as a variant).

... Is that... Is that T-Rex shooting Slimer from Ghostbusters out it's vagina?

[Leo656]

No, but I love the way you think!

[Leo656]

As predicted, Shadow Weaver arrived today!

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Yet another character who never had a figure during the 80s run of toys. Probably for the best, as frankly I kinda think the original She-Ra toys were not very good, or at least they were very poor representations of their on-screen counterparts. Even She-Ra looked a mess in her own line, nothing at all like the cartoon with her ridiculous giant headdress and poofy scarves, and the same was basically the case for everyone else in the line. So I can't see how Shadow Weaver would have turned out any different. I suppose that like most of the Horde did, there was a small chance she could have appeared in the "real" MOTU toy line, but I doubt it, as most of the female characters were strictly part of the She-Ra toy line by that time with the exception of Sorceress. So this is one more example of Super7 correcting something that Mattel dropped the ball on back in the 80s.

Incidental, but... anyone have any idea what the hell Shadow Weaver looks like under that getup? The fact that I can't see her makes me nervous, because watching the cartoon back in the day I could never get past the fact that while there's always a chance she's some kinda squid monster under there... her tits were definitely immaculate. Can't anybody argue with that. She easily had the best rack on the show after She-Ra herself. That said... I'd still hope she's not all gross under there.

[Leo656]

Repro Power Sword for my vintage Prince Adam came today. It's a different shade of pink than the original sword that came with the figure, but it's fine, at least he finally has a sword.

Given how hard to find some of the characters' weapons and accessories have become, I'm really glad there's people out there doing repro's. When I get done buying my wife's Birthday presents I need to get a repro He-Man Power Sword and Shield. They're about half as much as buying an authentic original, and they look the same to my eye so whatever. Be nice to have the authentic sword that came with the figure but I don't wanna pay $50 on a tiny plastic sword.

$25 for a tiny plastic sword and shield and ax is already kind of a bummer but at least it's not AS bad.

I think the repro belt I ordered for Prince Adam is supposed to show up tomorrow. I had to order a new Mekanek even though I already have one, just because mine didn't have armor or his club and of COURSE, it's cheaper to just buy a loose complete figure than try and track down the parts separately. Sigh.

[garsh]

That's a great Shadow Weaver! I'd love to have that, especially if we don't get an Origins version, which I expect we won't. Are you gonna show that repro sword? I'm curious to see if it's a half sword and whatnot.

[Leo656]

You can find that Shadow Weaver at bigbadtoystore.com for about $20 and shipping. You never know, they might do some She-Ra characters in "Origins" if they keep it going long enough.

Sure, I took some pics, although it's late and the light's off and I used the flash so it's not 100% accurate to the color the plastic really is. But it looks good. I also took a picture of the note they sent with it so you can look them up if you wanna look for any of their other MOTU repro weapons. They apparently do a lot of good stuff.

It's a half-sword but I think they make whole swords too if you ask.

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It's definitely made out of a harder plastic than the original swords were but it feels good. As mentioned, there's a few other things I plan to order from them in the future. Like I need a Skeletor Power Sword, the He-Man accessory set, and the Sorceress Staff. They're all way cheaper than finding the originals and they look just as good anyway. In the case of those specific things, anyway. Some of the other weapons I need are cheap enough to find the authentic ones, but those specific items are often pretty expensive so $10 or so for a repro isn't bad, I think.