Friday, June 29, 2012

Thanks for the Escape (Oct. '10)


These guys know how to put my favorites on my birth month!  Scareglow was November, but he was supposed to be October, so I still count him.  Roboto is October proper, though!  And if you read my opening post, you know robots are one of my top favorite things. 

GYGOR (Sept. '10)


GYGOR!!  Finally, we get the big yellow and green gorilla in MotUC!  Who's Gygor, you ask?

Whiplash and Chief Carnivus Also Didn't Deserve Pics...? (Aug. and Sept. '10)



Another couple of figures of which I barely took any pics.  Can't say why.  They are certainly cool figures!  Well anyway, Whiplash is a vintage guy and a 200X guy.  His figure comes with a vintage head and a 200X head, as well as a vintage and 200X weapon.  The 200X weapon is disappointing because it is made to only fit in his open hand...meaning only those with open hands can use it.  And it looks like a super-mega-can opener.  The head is cool, but it looks a little big on his smaller body.  I mean compared to the 200X figure - he was ALL BEEF PATTY.  So we have this beefy head made for a beefy body on a comparatively smaller body. 

SDCC Exclusives 2010

It's funny...fans seem to like toy jokes, but they do NOT want those same toy jokes invading their toylines!  This is what happened with SDCC 2010 when one of the exclusives - just one of them - was based on a Robot Chicken sketch.


Thursday, June 28, 2012

This is You on Black Flowers (July '10)


I gotta explain something again.  This is Count Marzo!  Well, this is how he looked in the 200X cartoon, and honestly I don't need a toy of his original look.

These are the Jokes, People

Random Jokes!  Most of these were either just random or responses to posts.  As usual, I can't remember what some of them were responding to.


Mix And Match: Fall Edition

It's actually completely random, but most of these pics are longer items of clothing on various figures.  Like they're getting ready for fall?  I dunno.


Learn Dark Magic, Totally Ignore it and Toss Acid In Brother's Face (June '10)


Guess what?  This is Skeletor before the whole face melting thing!  Yeah I know; pretty obvious.  Anyway, this is one of those things that was only fleshed out in the 200X series, sorta.  One of the final minicomics in the vintage days tried to explore the disappearance of King Randor's brother Keldor, and Skeletor tried very hard to counter the search so that they never knew of the truth behind Keldor...but the minicomic story was never finished, due to the death of the toyline.

For the Honor of Grayskull (The Power is Reserved for MEN) (June '10)


Yeah, I dunno the story behind the "Honor of Grayskull" thing. As you may know, the MotU cartoon had Prince Adam shouting "By the Power of Grayskull!" and turning into He-Man all superhero-like. So Adora does the same thing, but shouts "For the Honor of Grayskull!" because although She-Ra displays the same amount of physical power, she fights for the Honor of Grayskull rather than using it's power. Which she obviously IS using the power. I guess. I mean, the Princess of Power cartoon actually gave She-Ra way more interesting things to do with her sword, so I guess there's that.


Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Equal Partners


This was a response to a post on He-Man.org.  I cannot remember what it could have possibly been responding to.

Mix and Match: After Optikk

What can you do with Optikk parts?  That was a question on my mind from the moment I saw his prototype.  The answer: MANY THINGS.


Don't Even Ask him about Cinnamon Toast Crunch (May '10)


So Optikk is awesome.  Not sure if you knew.  Heck, you probably didn't even know about him!  And why not?  Because The New Adventures of He-Man was something that most people hated for some reason, that's why.  Optikk came from that very toyline, though the toyline was just called He-Man while the cartoon was The New Adventures of He-man.  I didn't have the original figure, but I always wanted him.  I mean, what's not to love?  Big cyborg eyeball man.  Sounds like a score!

MAN KING

 
That is all.

Mix and Match: An Old Pastime

I've already stated my love for accessories.  That love stems from the fact that any one accessory could mean the perfect item for some other figure. 

Other times...I just like throwing things together and seeing what sticks.  Here's some of that.


Too Many Power Swords

So by the time I got the new Weapons Pak I realized something: There were a lot of Power Swords.


WEAPONS PAAAAAAAK!!! (Apr. '10)


Have I mentioned I love accessories?  See, back in the day accessorizing was for both girls and boys!  We just accessorized with different stuff.  Barbies had a million jobs they could perform just by changing clothes, and figures like He-Man could be equipped for any battle with multitudes of weapons!  The original Weapons Pak was a favorite of mine, so I was super excited to get a new version of it for mixing-and-matching goodness with the MotUC line. 

HAWK ARMOR


Evil-Lyn and Wun-Dar didn't Deserve Pics...? (Apr. '10)



Yeah, I'm not sure what happened.  I didn't take any pics of these guys when I got them, which is funny 'cause Wun-Dar is one of my top favorites!  I think I saved it all for the Weapons Pak that came around the same time.

The Mossiest of Men Smell Pine Fresh (Mar. '10)


This guy is an endless fountain for jokes.  There's two comics in here and one gag, which is more than I do for most.  I mean, his vintage head is hilarious, but the stoic gaze on the 200X head has an amount of hilarity as well.

MotU vs DC: Because Superman just HAD to Fight He-Man Sometime


Shut up, toys!  You don't own me!

A Cat for Battling (Feb. '10)


WOW.  This was one I was surprised to see when they announced it.  This toyline was already expensive without beasts!  Still....couldn't resist.  You can see I had the original one, and this one is just...perfect.  Everything I could have wanted in an articulated version of the 'ol cat.  Everything has been faithfully recreated with the Four Horseman's trademark super detail.

Don't Piss off Skeletor (Feb. '10)


...or else you'll end up like Trap-Jaw.  Well, depending on your choice of story!  The original minicomic had Trap-Jaw as an inter-dimensional criminal that was brought to Eternia when Skeletor tried to open up Castle Grayskull (because the Castle was originally this mysterious dimensional nexus).  Our new mashed-together story of MotUC makes Trap-Jaw a mix of the 200X story and the old one.  They are keeping the criminal thing, but also bringing over his previous name of Kronis, from 200X.  He was Kronis before he became Trap-Jaw, and Kronis worked for Keldor (Skeletor's name before the whole face melting business). 

Armor for Battling (Jan. '10)


He-Man's first variant: Battle Armor!  The kinda armor you wear down to the Battling Cages on Mid-Boss Mondays.  Why?  Cause this armor apparently fixes itself up after three hits!  Yeah, if you know toys, then you're familiar with battle damage and all the options available for that kinda feature.  Sometimes it's awesome removable parts like Jurassic Park dinosaurs that had breakaway skin to reveal bones 'n such, or maybe cuts and scrapes that are revealed with cold water and disappear with hot water. 

Sunday, June 24, 2012

He-Man has a Twin, by the Way (Jan. '10)


I was as surprised as He-Man!  See, I can't remember much of the MotU cartoon, but I DO remember The Secret of the Sword.  I tend to remember things that my Grandma taped, because I watched those old tapes over and over and over.  So the story with Adora is that Hordak stole her from the crib at birth, but no one thought to tell Adam that he had a sister.  I'm sure they had a reason, but I can't remember it now.  Anyway, turns out there's a sword for her too, the Sword of Protection.  The jewel in the hilt allows it to transform into stuff 'n all that.  Then, of course, it allows Adora to transform into She-Ra, which I think works better for her story than for He-Man's.  I'll get into that in She-Ra's post, though.

Variety Pack Strikes Back

More random junk for your eyes to take in and give to your brain for processing. 


I pulled off the Marvel Legend War Machine's armor around this time.  He broke not long after I got 'em out of the package, so him and his broken leg had been sitting in a box for forever.  At the time, I had finally decided to make use of some of his stuff.  Turned out you could rip his armor right off of him!  Go figure.  People constantly complain about the poor quality of MotUC figures, but I've barely had any problems with them while a bunch of my Toybiz Marvel Legends have broken over time.  Some of them right out of the package, some of them way later while I was just messing with them.  Toybiz gave me the highest frequency of broken toys that I've ever had.

The Birth of MAN KING (I Think Randor is in there Somewhere) (Dec. '09)


The King!  I never had this guy when I was a kid, but I was happy to get 'em now.  Kinda a goofy look, but he's still an important player in the story.  Ya know...'cause of being He-Man's dad and all.  Depending on what you're reading or watching, that is.  You know; same 'ol same 'ol.  The minicomics just had him as the king but not related to He-Man, and then the toon changed it so he was Prince Adam's dad (either the toon or the old DC comics...not sure which was first). 

Lets Try This Again, Skeletor (Dec. '09)


Wait Alexx, don't you have this guy already?  Why another one? 

I'm a Sucker for Translucent Plastic (Dec. '09)


Was Teela not confusing enough for you?  Here, let me make it worse:  This is The Goddess!  Remember how I said Teela was labeled as a warrior goddess, but played both warrior and goddess separately in the minicomics?  Well, when The Goddess - Teela, sort of - showed up in the minicomics originally, she was green.  That's right; a green Teela.  Except it wasn't Teela because she was wearing the snake armor.  Get it?  Teela doesn't wear the snake armor, for some reason.

Scareglow is the Best Toy Ever Made (Nov. '09)


If it wasn't obvious, Scareglow was a figure near the end of the vintage line that was just a quick repaint with minimal new parts so they had a MotU presence at the stores without spending much.  A cheap repaint, I guess.

Warror, Goddess, Sorceress: Teela (Oct. '09)


The first female in the line!  Teela came around in the vintage line pretty early, and she was confusing as heck.  Just as Zodac sorta had conflicting backgrounds between the toy and the show, Teela had conflicting backgrounds in EVERYTHING.  The toy labels her as a warrior goddess, the minicomics show her off as a warrior without her snake armor and The Goddess with her snake armor.  So then the cartoon rolls around and erases The Goddess, replaces her with a Sorceress (and Teela is back to a warrior), and then later minicomics say that Teela is a clone of the Sorceress!  GAH!

No No, I'm Zodak with a "K." The Other Guy is Zodac with a "C." It's...Complicated (Oct. '09)


It's Zodak!  Yes, different from Zodac.  You see, they changed up Zodac a bit for the 200X series.  They gave him a different skin color, awesome tats, and more of a....mystic quality.  Rather than a gun, they changed it to a staff, so he really falls under "mystic martial artist", which makes him quite different! 

Variety Pack!

Random stuff! 

This first one is a pictorial I did to show someone how articulated the MotUC line was.  Someone said something about the legs barely being able to move around because of the loincloth, and I wanted to show 'em how much range there really was if you just suck it up and not be afraid to bend it.


ALL SKELETONS

That's what Skeleflex is: All skeletons.  And apparently no one wanted them.  Those poor things were clearanced pretty quick, though they did last long enough to get a few interesting variations out.


A Spider with a Grappling Hook (Sept. '09)


So here we are with Webstor!  This keeps with my theory that all the monster people on Eternia are just crazy human genetic experiments from the ancient past.  They swapped humans with animals, but they could never get the body to produce the unique abilities.  So, given centuries, the animal people eventually adapted by creating their own items to fill in the rest of their missing abilities.  The spider people have no web abilities, so: grappling hook!  Cut and paste this talk for other guys like Buzz-Off or Clawful.  Buzz-Off has mechanical wings and a helmet to provide bug eyes, and Clawful has to wear shell-like armor.  All of 'em have to produce their own extra anatomy to finish the junk that their bodies won't do on their own.

Vintage Conversations

So I talk about the Masters of the Universe Classics line so much, and the fact that it's special 'cause the vintage figures were my first toys ever.  Why don't we see how those 'ol vintage guys are doing?


Saturday, June 23, 2012

Tri-Klops Sees All, but can He See Why Kids Love Cinnamon Toast Crunch? (Aug. '09)


We got another winner here, folks!  I oughta just list my favorites because I'm gona lose track of the ones I keep saying are "the best in the line."  Mer-Man was one, Man-At-Arms is another, and Tri-Klops gets tossed right on that list as well.  I can understand that he may be a little plain to some, but I friggin' love this guy.  He was a particular favorite when I was a kid, and they just knocked the new one out of the park.

I'm Serious About Force Lightning: Find Some


Friday, June 22, 2012

Random Pictures of He-Man Guys


He-Ro, the Unfortunately Named (Aug '09)


Alright, so his name isn't any worse than He-Man the Redundant.  Or any of the other multitudes of simply named folks in MotU.  It just seems like maybe they should have tried a tiny bit harder with this one.  Just a little.

Man-At-Arms: Finally, Someone Useful (July '09)


I don't hate Stratos...he's just useless.  Of course, at the time the Good Guy count was two: He-Man and Stratos.  The Bad Guy count was five: Skeletor, Beastman, Mer-Man, Faker, and Hordak.  Zodac is off in his own little world of neutral, gray indifference.  Or he's evil.  Either way it doesn't help the Good Guys.  Then along comes Man-At-Arms, bringing all the MAN and the ARMS.

Hordak Attack (June '09)


Neutral Party (May '09)


Mer-Man of the Sea (Apr. '09)


There were few pics for this one at the time, but make no mistake: this is one of the top figures in the line!  He comes with everything he needs to be your custom version of awesome: the classic head and sword, a second head to mimic his totally different head from his vintage cardback (and sorta how the 200X one looked) along with a trident that was featured with his 200X figure.  Any mix of parts is awesome.

The Evil, Robotic, Blue and Orange He-Man (Mar. '09)


I love the crap outta Faker.  I just could not think of any jokes around the time when I got 'em, nor did I feel like any large photo shoots.  So this was all I had at the time!

...What About Other Accessories?

You got a taste with the guitars - I'm an accessory freak.  I have been swapping them out between figures since I was little.  Whenever something might line up with someone else I try 'em out.


And Then he Bought Tiny Guitars (Feb. '09)

Like I said in the last post: I found these little Guitar Hero guitars at Toys R Us, and when they went on clearance I got the whole set.  At the time of these pics I think I only had a few.

I'm not sure what they were made for other than display.  They came with little stands to show them off, and they could be taken apart for customization but...well that's kinda boring!  Once I found out they were the perfect size for MotUC figures I was set.  That was all I needed.  Thank you random Guitar Hero toys.


Evil Lord of Destruction (Jan. '09)


OH MAN I was so excited for Skeletor.  This guy was my absolute favorite when I was little - apparently he was delicious.  I'll remind you that I was very young for the MotU toyline (MotU born in 82 while I was born in 83), so these things doubled as chew toys.  Still, Skeletor went with me everywhere.  I carried him around the house, took 'em in the car, took 'em to bed, and so on and so forth.  I don't know why he was my favorite; all I've got to go on is stories from my parents and my Grandma: one of which involved me calling him "Hehe" all the time because of the way he laughed in the cartoon.  My Grandma even tried to correct me, but apparently I was insistent on "Hehe" so much that I put a finger to her lips and corrected her back. 

Battling Skeletons

One thing I love making is battle scenes.  They take a long time to set up however, and I think I've lost patience for it over time.  That, and I keep thinking of all the backgrounds I could use for a good battle, and how much work they would take to make or how expensive they would be and - BAH.  I'll get back to it someday, but for now; here is one of the short fights I staged with some Skeleflex figures.


First Pics of He-Man (Dec. '08)

Part of the function of this blog is to have a nice and easy place to compile all the pictures I've taken of MotUC figures.  Most of 'em had jokes involved, so that's the top reason.  Still, I did take a lot of pics of these guys, so I might as well compile EVERYTHING rather than just leave it to the jokes. 

So here we go with the very first pics I took of He-Man when he arrived sometime in December of 2008.