Zodac & Beastman (Masters of the Universe Minis)

I'm almost through the Masters of the Universe Minis with the fifth of six sets. Here we have cosmic enforcer Zodac and Skeletor's savage henchman Beastman.

This set brings together perhaps my favourite Master of the Universe with one of my least favourites.

(Zodac)(Beastman)(Both)

Green Lantern vs. Zodac (DC Universe Classics vs. Masters of the Universe Classics)

Mattel had the licence for both DC Comics and Masters of the Universe and since they were making similarly scaled figures for each a crossover was like a match made in Nerd Heaven. They released 7 of these two packs but full disclosure I only got this one because I wanted Zodac and shockingly the inclusion of Hal Jordan lowered his value on the secondary market.

I do love the Green Lantern mythos but I kind of burned out on Hal Jordan years ago. He's just the least interesting Green Lantern to me but I didn't have a modern articulated figure of him so this wasn't really frustrating as a purchase.

Ironically Zodac is depicted with the staff used by his 200X counterpart instead of the blaster he comes with.

(Green Lantern)(Zodac)

She-Ra (Masters of the Universe Classics Club Grayskull)

For the honour of Grayskull! Adora uses the Sword of Protection to transform into She-Ra, Princess of Power! A former Force Captain in Hordak's Evil Horde Adora learns she is the twin sister of He-Man and can wield the mystic powers of She-Ra in service of the Great Rebellion.

This figure comes from Super7's continuation of Masters of the Universe Classics which is more focussed on the designs from the Filmation cartoon series and since that's my main connection to this world I'm all for it. I got on the train to Etheria a bit late so the earlier Mattel releases of She-Ra were much harder to come by so I'm extra happy to be able to add this version to my collection.

Fancy slipcover over the box.

Buzzsaw Hordak (Masters of the Universe Classics)

Leader of the Evil Horde (Who calls us that?!) Hordak is second only to Skeletor in terms of cartoon villain coolness. This figure is an update of an action feature variant of Hordak's vintage figure. He's basically the same design as vintage Hordak but now his chest opens and a crazy double buzz-saw is revealed. This is a pretty subtle variant so I'm on the fence about whether or not I need to track down the original release of MOTUC Hordak or not. This guy definitely does the job of representing a non-Filmation Hordak.

In terms of Masters of the Universe I'm more of a She-Ra fan than a He-Man fan so I've definitely gravitated toward the Princess of Power and Evil Horde figures. For the cartoon Hordak's colours were brightened and his design streamlined a bit so it's neat to see him be more foreboding and sinister.

Man-at-Arms & Faker (Masters of the Universe Minis)

Man-at-Arms and Faker are the next duo in the Masters of the Universe Minis collection.
Since I took those first timid steps into the world of He-Man I've now become a pretty big fan.

At this point I've watched about three-quarters of the original Filmation cartoon and amassed a bunch of Masters of the Universe Classics figures. So while I would still say I'm not an expert I'm no longer a novice fan of the world of Eternia. Man-at-Arms is He-Man's mentor/gadget guy and the father of Teela. Faker is Skeletor's evil robot duplicate of He-Man who is blue and orange because that makes it more fun.

(Man-at-Arms)(Faker)(Both)

Stratos & Scareglow (Masters of the Universe Minis)

Stratos is the leader of the Bird People of Avion. He can fly.
Scareglow is Skeletor's Evil Ghost. As in a ghost serving Skeletor. He can glow in the dark.
These guys are from the short lived Masters of the Universe Minis line.  I don't have much else to say as I'm not super knowledgeable about these characters. I love glow-in-the-dark so Scareglow really appealed to me and since each set came with a Castle Grayskull piece and weren't very expensive I decided to catch'em all. I find Stratos' ape-like qualities to be very odd for the king of the Bird People but that's also part of the ridiculous charm of MotU in general.

(Stratos)(Scareglow)(Both)

Shokoti (Masters of the Universe Classics)

In part two of "House of Shokoti" we meet the evil sorceress for whom the episode is named. She communes with a Lovecraft-esque "Sleeping Beast" (well as Lovecraftian as you can get on Saturday Morning TV in the 80's) and a disobedient boy named Stanlan learns a lesson. Shokoti has a simple design but it works well enough. I like the black abyss of her eyes and the skull on her belt. The red cape pops with the blue of her skin. Her hands are clearly meant to hold a sword or something but she doesn't come with anything to hold. A quirky figure of an obscure villain.

Lord Masque (Masters of the Universe Classics)

Lord Masque is a villain from the episode "House of Shokoti." He's not much of a character, just tasked with guarding Shokoti's House of Darkness and trying to scare away the archaeological expedition Prince Adam and Ram-Man accompanied out into the Sands of Time. Masque is more of a cool design than a character but let's be honest that's most of the Masters of the Universe.

He's a pretty typical MOTU Classics figure in terms of articulation. The mask is well done which one would hope to be the case when the character's name is Masque.

Geldor (Masters of the Universe Classics)

Geldor is a villain from the early days of MotU mini-comics. Apparently Mr. T has elderly relatives on Eternia. Geldor is a simple but fun figure who comes with an axe and a glass of the "Liquid of Life" which is said to bestow immortality. He is defeated by He-Man being purposefully clumsy. Regardless I'm a bit of a sucker for such an obscure character who totally fits in with the greater Masters of the Universe aesthetic and is so totally 80's. (Apologies in advance for all the 80's references)

Ultimate Skeletor (Masters of the Universe Classics by Super7)

Probably the most famous villain from cartoons (at least from the 80's) Skeletor is the arch-foe of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe. His bony visage haunts many a modern meme and this figure put a significant dent in my budget via a popular online auction site. I'm not the biggest Masters of the Universe fan but my interest has be piqued in the franchise over the last couple of years and I've scored a few figures from Masters of the Universe Classics that were pretty good but Skeletor has got to be the pièce de résistance of any He-Man collection.

Battle Armour Skeletor & Moss Man (Masters of the Universe Minis)

The second set of Masters of the Universe Minis has Battle Armour Skeletor and He-Man's ally Moss Man. Jump to both

Batros (Masters of the Universe Classics)

Batros is a figure I bought on looks alone. I haven't yet seen the episode of He-Man in which he appears but he looks so much like Batman by way of Eternia that I couldn't resist. The figure has decent articulation and the wings don't really get in the way all that much. His spiky mace thing was a bit tricky to get in his hand at first but now it's not so bad. Here's the bio from the back of his packaging:

Battle Armour He-Man & Mer-Man (Masters of the Universe Minis)

I was a bit too young to catch He-Man fever the first time 'round back in the 80's. In fact I didn't have much interest in Masters of the Universe until probably the last couple years. So I'm definitely not a die-hard MotU fan but I do appreciate the bizarre 1980's weirdness and the sci-fi/fantasy amalgamation.  So the Masters of the Universe Minis line was the perfect thing for me. Plus I got them all at discount prices when the infamous mattycollector website was shutting down at the end of 2016. [Jump to He-Man ○ Mer-Man ○ Both]

Collection Corner

Ok it's a new year and time for a new series of blog posts. In addition to eating cheese and drinking tea I also have a fairly substantial action figure collection and I finally decided to bite the bullet and share it with the world (or at least the subset of the world that happens to stumble upon this blog).

In past posts I've talked about my love of "genre" fiction which just might be the worst name ever. My pop culture interests tend to reside in the sci-fi/fantasy/super-hero milieu and such is my collection.

I'm just going to randomly post pictures of the various displays around my house. As the seasons or my moods change I rearrange my shelves and will start sharing new pics when that occurs. (I have become one of those nerds whose collection has indeed outstripped his living space but I have an understanding and wonderful spouse)

Without further ado I give you the first installment of "Collection Corner" or "Sharing Shelves" if you like.



This is my cabinet of curious collectibles which lives in the corner of my living room

Apologies for the lighting, I didn't think this post through very well, the rest of the pictures were taken earlier in the day