The Masters of the Universe/She-Ra Thread!

[IMJ]

Originally Posted by Leo656

Hopefully your local Target stores aren't staffed by f*cking jackals taking them all for themselves to flip on eBay. It's goin' around!

They have had them for years. These are the same guys that act like they aren't sure about what you are talking about when you go there.

"Hi brother, do you know off hand if you have any NECA TMNT in the back?"
"TMNT?"
"Yeah, green toys, two in a box, look like turtles or other animals."
"Oh yeah those, I'll go check."

OR

"Do you think the NECA rep maybe left any inventory in the back from the TMNT line?"
"Oh yeah -the ummm... the turtles, those things."

Note the last example was a response from a super late middle aged weirdo that doesn't remember me at all, but I used to frequent the small comic shop he managed about 15 years ago. So... you know... "the turtles, those things".

[Leo656]

People on the He-Man board have described experiences where they were in-stock on a pallet in the back but the employees couldn't be bothered to get them. In one case it was "My supervisors are back there and I'm supposed to be doing something else", and in another it was an actual manager - a woman, naturally - refusing to get them because there was something else in the way and "I'm not bothering with that just for a collectible toy."

Definitely shady sh*t going around. That manager could very well just be a bitch, I can believe that. But in the other case, either the employee or his "supervisors" (or both) were definitely swiping them for themselves, I have no doubt of that.

If the website says "In Stock At (store location)" at 6:30am, the store opens at 7 and they're already "sold out" before the doors even open - as has been the case according to multiple reports from people who made it a point to be there for the store opening - that means they're going out the back door the second they hit the loading dock. There's no other explanation.

Which is supposed to be completely against store policy, but we all know how much Target (and Wal-Mart for that matter) gives a sh*t about THAT. As long as it's a registered sale I doubt they give a sh*t at all that their employees are cheating "real" customers out of stock. They're only getting two or three per store anyway so actually I bet they encourage the practice; just let the stock boy buy them right off the truck, saves the hassle of putting them on the shelves. They're probably not gonna enforce "store policy" on an item they're only getting two of.

Such bullsh*t.

[Leo656]

I got an email this morning saying that my Grayskull shipped and should be here Monday! WHOOOOOOO!

Also, bit the bullet and got a Keldor/Kronis "Rise of Evil" pack on eBay for $75 after shipping.

[joe-eyeball]

Originally Posted by Leo656

I got an email this morning saying that my Grayskull shipped and should be here Monday! WHOOOOOOO!

Also, bit the bullet and got a Keldor/Kronis "Rise of Evil" pack on eBay for $75 after shipping.

Damn I just walked into an Akron area Target today and there was just one Keldor/Kronis pack. I got lucky on that but I’ll be damned if I can find Clamp Champ or Ram Man!

[IMJ]

Originally Posted by joe-eyeball

Damn I just walked into an Akron area Target today and there was just one Keldor/Kronis pack. I got lucky on that but I’ll be damned if I can find Clamp Champ or Ram Man!

I just found two Clamp Champs at a Northwest Burb (Chicago) Target. I bought one, opened him. Left the other on the pegs. Both were unpunched.

It's the fist time I've even seen a deluxe figure at retail and maybe the sixth time ever I've seen any MOTU O other than He-Man and Skeletor.

[Leo656]

There was ONE (1) Teela at Wal-Mart today next to the 20-something He-Man and Skeletors.

[IMJ]

Originally Posted by Leo656

There was ONE (1) Teela at Wal-Mart today next to the 20-something He-Man and Skeletors.

That tends to be similar to what I see. Lots of He-Man and Skeletors amidst usually several Battlecats and the occasional Panthor. And then now and again a stray figure or two from one of the other waves.

[joe-eyeball]

Originally Posted by IMJ

I just found two Clamp Champs at a Northwest Burb (Chicago) Target. I bought one, opened him. Left the other on the pegs. Both were unpunched.

It's the fist time I've even seen a deluxe figure at retail and maybe the sixth time ever I've seen any MOTU O other than He-Man and Skeletor.

I have seen wave 4 at three different stores but I never saw wave 2 at all. Would love to snag a flocked panthor at retail but who knows?

[IMJ]

Originally Posted by joe-eyeball

I have seen wave 4 at three different stores but I never saw wave 2 at all. Would love to snag a flocked panthor at retail but who knows?

In hindsight I can't believe I left a flocked Panthor on the shelves at wal-mart but that was before Leo and I had one of our chat sessions where he sort of got me into this line.

If I saw one now, I'd buy it right away.

[Autbot_Benz]

Here are some of the Revelation Masterverse figures

[Leo656]

Those look WAY better than the crummy photos that came out a few weeks ago.

Also, my Grayskull order says it was shipped, but now the "Arrives By" date got pushed back to the end of the month even though it originally said it was coming today. Ah well.

[Leo656]

So I had a GREAT day for mail-drops, to say the very least.

First up, my Rise of Evil two-pack showed up, and it's a beauty!


More Skeletors need to come with capes, I swear. And that Alcala Skeletor head is gorgeous.

SO THEN, I ended up going to the gym, coming home and finding THIS F*cking Thing on my front porch:



So beautiful. I can't wait to actually open it and dig in, but I'm gonna save that for a video tomorrow (I hope).

Only problem is some jagoff (either a Wal-Mart jagoff or a FedEx jagoff) put a huge gash in the top rear corner of the box, but so long as everything inside of it is okay I'm not super-concerned, especially since it's on the back and not the front. But yeah, the ol' "Wal-Mart Caveat Emptor" strikes again.

It's whatever. I have a new f*cking Castle Grayskull and I am so f*cking hard right now.

[IMJ]

What?!?! are those Masterverse figures? Those look awesome... are those basically Mattel's "Marvel Legends" of He-Man or something?

That's no good - ever since getting into the Origins line I've resisted going full bore into the Super 7 Filmation stuff, but now those Masterverse? LMAO! Better yet - don't tell me about what they are. I don't need to know.

On that note, I got my Man-At-Arms origins today which was intended to be opened. I'm now sitting on a MOC unpunched set of every wave released, and a loose set of all but wave 2.

[Leo656]

It's funny, several people are making the comparison between "Masterverse" and "Marvel Legends". But so far the reaction to the Masterverse figures has been mostly tepid-to-negative.

People aren't liking the packaging, which they think is boring. They don't like how small He-Man and Skeletor's heads are, the body proportions, and the lack of muscular definition in the midsection area ("Dad-Bod He-Man", people are calling him). From the out-of-package photos that leaked a few weeks ago, Skeletor's cape is made of some pretty cheap fabric. They REALLY hate Evil-Lyn's "Legend of Korra" cosplay outfit, especially. And they're pretty iffy on He-Man having the "H" logo instead of the cross on his harness, as well.

Personally, I think they look "okay", and I'll almost certainly pick them up, but I get why people are unhappy, as they're a far cry from MOTU Classics. And to be perfectly blunt, the fanbase at large is still rather furious at Mattel for pulling the plug on that line to do Masterverse and Origins instead. If you ask most MOTU fans, Classics is the greatest action figure line ever made of ANYTHING, period, and they don't mind telling you how anything that isn't that line is a gigantic waste of time, in their eyes. Seriously, there's tons and tons of people out there who are boycotting EVERYTHING Mattel's doing with the new MOTU lines because "I'm not paying for anything that isn't Classics, until they bring that line back I'm out." I'm not quite as fanatical about it, but I do see their point because those Classics figures are quite good and anything else would objectively be a step backwards. But I choose to make peace with the fact that the collectors-only Classics line had to be sacrificed so that Mattel could bring the line back into the retail space with Origins and now Masterverse and actually make a lot more money with it. So far, it sounds like it's working, based on their recent earnings reports.

As for Masterverse in the grand scheme of things, we really don't know a whole lot, still, because supposedly Netflix won't let Mattel talk about it until the "Revelation" cartoon is ready to debut, because at least the first one or two waves of Masterverse are going to be based on that show. All we really know is:
- They'll be about 6-inch or 7-inch scale with generally 30 POA
- Most figures will come with a variety of weapons and accessories like extra hands, heads, etc.
- The first wave(s) will be based on the Revelation cartoon, but supposedly other waves will be a mix of variants from other iterations of MOTU. We don't know which ones, yet, but people are speculating that Filmation, the DC Comics run, and the upcoming CGI reboot cartoon are all very likely to be among the first ones to hit.
- The Reboot figures will probably come out before most of the others because that show is coming out soon and so far they haven't announced a dedicated toy line just for that show, yet, but obviously they'll want to have figures on the shelves as soon as it comes out. So assume that the first three or four Waves of Masterverse will be almost entirely a mix of Revelation and Reboot figures, possibly alternating between them (For example: Wave 1 = Revelation, Wave 2 = CGI Reboot, Wave 3 = Revelation, and so on).
- They were originally announced as costing $20 at retail, but now they're saying they might be $25, with "Deluxe" figures possibly being around $35.

It'll basically be like Mattel's version of the "DC Multiverse" line from McFarlane, with using different variants from across their own "MOTU Multiverse", but probably lower-quality. That's basically what it feels like, to me; Mattel wasn't thrilled at all with DC taking their business to McFarlane, so this is their way of "getting even". "Multiverse", "Masterverse"... it's too similar to be just a coincidence.

I'll probably pick up at least most of them, but so far they haven't exactly bowled me over. That very well can change, though. We'll see.

[IMJ]

Well if they include solid Filmation releases that don't utterly pale in comparison to the Super 7 stuff, then I'll probably be on board for those.

Biggest grip about the MOTU O - no paint apps on any bracers and why in the hell are Man-at-Arms hands green? They should've just packed him with He-Man hands.

[Leo656]

Man-At-Arms always has green hands in every cartoon and action figure he's ever been represented in. I assume they're super-tight gloves.

Meanwhile, the pic of me with Grayskull has gotten the biggest response of anything I've ever posted on FB, with over 600 Likes on the MOTU Classics Group page. Awesome! Wasn't expecting quite such an enthusiastic response BUT He-Man fans tend to be the best fans.

Hopefully I'll have a video up by the end of the weekend because I can't wait to mess around with this thing.

[joe-eyeball]

Leo I officially hate you now!!!???? where did you score Castle Grayskull? And did you snag it at a reasonable price? I’ve been looking everywhere and I’m not paying what everyone is asking!

[Leo656]

I pre-ordered it on the Wal-Mart website for $75 plus shipping the same day pre-orders went up (I said Amazon by mistake in my earlier post), on October 9th. Some people had their pre-orders cancelled so I took out a back-up pre-order on Big Bad Toy Store just in case.

They're about $80 on BBTS and the rumor is that the retail price in-store is gonna go up to $100 or more, soon - "allegedly" Mattel has regrets about making the original MSRP $75-80 and that's why some of the pre-orders got cancelled, so they can sell those items at retail for a higher price. Who knows if that's true but this is easily a $100-ish item so I can definitely see that. At $75-80 it's a steal.

Most Wal-Marts that are getting the new Castle Grayskull, are only getting one or two in at a time and they disappear fast. Most people are finding them stocked in the Lego/Mega-Construx section, not with the other MOTU toys. I guess because the box is so large (about two feet tall by three feet wide, roughly).

Good luck, but I'd just recommend to everyone that they pre-order on BBTS while supplies last. It's the cheapest you'll find and the only way to guarantee getting one. The stores are a total crapshoot with this line as it is, and seeing how large the box is I can't see them devoting a lot of shelf space to it. BBTS orders for Grayskull say they might not ship until August but it's worth the wait just to ensure you'll get one.

[joe-eyeball]

Leo, I appreciate the heads up on the retail price increase on these. I just went ahead and pre-ordered through BBTS. I’m an impatient bastard and wanted one now but ah screw it, August will be here before you know it.

[Leo656]

Glad to help! MOTU is back in a huge way and I want everyone to have a chance to be involved.