November 2010's Offerings

I took a few pics of each of November's things in 2010, so I'm just mixing them together.  First of all: Weapons Pak #2! 



...it was kinda disappointing.  The first one was a homage to the original with some extra stuff.  Granted, some of the extras were a little odd, but it was overall useful.  This one has some more fans-asked-for-it stuff, like She-Ra's two-toned sword (grey and silver) and the awesome Faker axe and shield to match He-Man's stuff.  There was also a green stand and HAWK ARMOR to mimic the hawk's original gear from the vintage days.  They even threw in some black Roboto arm attachments for Trap-Jaw!

The confusing items were a bit more numerous with this one, sadly.  They threw in Whiplash's useless 200X weapon...no idea why.  Then we got Evil-Lyn's staff in purple, which is kinda neat, but it seemed like it was supposed to go with something...just not sure what.  'Course I ended up using it for other things, but we'll get to that on Battle Armor Skeletor.

Anyway, there were some good things and some uninteresting things.  Also some things that made this:

I think the dark gold Mer-Man armor and sword were included to mimic his 200X colors, but they kinda...didn't.  At all.  And I don't really know what to do with them other than this!

BUT...lets see...what else?

Grizzlor is another figure that is so cool, but I barely took any pics.  Definitely gona go back and do a pictorial on him later.  He's pretty much got everything you need: he looks just like the vintage guy and has his crossbow.  Then they tossed in all the 200X stuff from his Staction figure! 

I don't think I ever explained those:  Staction figures came around when the 200X line and cartoon died; it was a way to get out the figures they had planned for the toyline.  Sadly...they're just mini statues in scale with the toys.  Cool, but useless for a guy like me that likes for play and pose the figures.  Still: MAN that was a cool way to improve Grizzlor!  From a monster with a crossbow to a bestial hunter with a backpack full of weapons.  This Grizzlor comes with a hatchet, longsword, and a hand axe.  They all fit on his back along with the crossbow!  Then, to further the look, they threw in his tribal loincloth.  He was planned to have a removable face so you could replace it with the 200X one, but in the end it pushed him over the price point so they cut it.

Anyway...the only pics I took...were these...

So I love the figure the the first thing in my mind is this: "If I just took the head off and put on another one while the figure holds the Grizzlor head...it'll look like a suit.  Why would anyone wear a Grizzlor suit?"

HUHUHUH.

So what else came out that month?

King Grayskull!  As I've explained before, the King came from the 200X cartoon as He-Man's ancestor.  He-Man's original ancestor was He-Ro...technically.  I mean, the toyline He-Ro was from never actually came out, so He-Ro never got to serve his purpose. 

Anyway, King Grayskull and He-Ro now share the role of pre-He-Man, by giving the ancestry to Grayskull and the Power Sword to He-Ro.  I like this idea, and I think it's cool to think of those two fighting off the Horde and the Snake Men in the past.  Kinda neat!

Thing about the King though, is that he still comes with the Power Sword, to show it's "glow" dimming as he takes ownership of it when He-Ro passes it on when he dies.  What was Grayskull using before that, though?  Recent comics show him just with an axe...and I think that's kinda boring.  That's why I give him the 200X sword! 

For the MotUC story they use the 200X sword as a mechanical sword that can harness the Power to turn Adam into He-Man in the absence of the real Sword...but why not make it a little more interesting?  I have it that that sword was King Grayskull's sword, which would be why it would work to harness the Power in the absence of the Sword.  The only thing different about it would be that it doesn't just contain raw POWER like the Sword, and Adam is the only one that can make it be anything more than a strong, but normal sword.

So that's my own personal story there.  In terms of the toy; this is a repaint of the very first MotUC figure.  King Grayskull came out as an SDCC exclusive in 2008 to debut the MotUC toyline.  Sorta...I think the King was a way to gage interest and at least build that initial muscleman buck that would be used if he sold well.

Since he was an exclusive and kinda hard to get, they decided to repaint him a bit and release him again so everyone could have a Grayskull!  Very cool of Mattel.  The repaint made him a little...Santa-like, with the red cape and white fur shoulders, but the rest of him is better than the original, I feel.  This time around he came with a Power Sword that is sort of fading (since He-Ro is the only one who makes it glow, I guess) and the two halves of the Power Sword so he can split the sword.  I guess he does it in the MotUC story (I like having the Goddess do it, still).  He also comes with a translucent, sparkly blue orb which is the Power of Grayskull from the 200X toon....not that I took any pics.

I think that's enough to explain, anyway.  Here's how the sword was passed on and split:

Finally, I took the chance to use Grayskull's items to sort of recreate a 200X He-Man look.

 

Overall this was a cool release and I'm glad they gave everyone another chance to own Grayskull while also refreshing him a bit with translucent things.  I love translucent things!