A Childhood Drawing Come to Life (May '12)

So Masters of the Universe Classics offered an extra subscription this year: The 30th Anniversary sub.  You saw the first guy: Fearless Photog.  It was the perfect way to get that old 80's contest winner into the toyline, because the 30th Anniversary series is a small batch of figures created by various folks either involved with the line or...well, whoever Mattel contacted that wanted to make a figure.  Most importantly though, they held a new create-a-character contest, so technically we get two winners of such contests in one series!  That's six figures total: Two contest winners (the one from the 80's and a new one), three figures made by inside Mattel folks (two designers and one brand manager), and one made by a big-name comic artist.

We're looking at the third 30th Anniversary guy now; the one made by the brand manager.  The brand manager of MotUC, to be exact: Scott Neitlich, or Toyguru on the forums.

You can star booing now, if you like.  Depends on what you know.  If you're a regular collector of the MotUC toyline and keep track of all the drama, then you'll know that quite a few folks don't like this guy for various reasons: the look (too much like Deadpool, sorta), the "time traveler" deal, the spade on the chest, and especially the fact that Mr. Neitlich got to have a figure and that's just wrong, because he's doing a bad job or some such thing.

That's all we'll hear about that, though, because it's silly and frankly - I'm tired of it.

Instead, lets look at the facts and my own opinions!  This guy is a time traveler - the suit is called a Vortex Suit, and the wristband holds a time jumping device.

If your brain is gutter surfing, then you might see the word "sex" in there, which I assume means that in the world of The Mighty Spector, it's always time for sex.  I can't fault the man for that.

He's also got an apple flavored Laffy Taffy stick some sort of green power source sticking out of the back.

You'll find more Laffy Taffy of those power sources in his leg strap (with one missing) for use in the time device, and his pistol.

If you're at all familiar with the 1987 He-Man movie then you may recognize the buttony design of the time device:

Yes, it's a tiny version of the Cosmic Key!  The future always brings smaller technology, and apparently time travel devices are no exception (though the Cosmic Key primarily traveled through time AND space).  And, apparently, all you need to power it and any weapons you might have is a little green stick.

Speaking of weapons: Spector carries a neat futuristic little pistol at his side in a big 'ol yellow holster.  I really like it for the simplicity of the design.  Also, I mean the possibilities are endless with that green energy!  Who knows what kinda shots he can fire with that thing?  I mean, the green sticks can even make a time travel device do THIS:

Put THAT in your DeLorean and 1955 it!  You can't, 'cause you'd totally cut it in half.  The whole year.

So there's no telling what his pistol can do to manipulate the green energy.  You just know it'll be awesome.

Now, there are a lot of reasons why I like this figure.  First of all, if you go into this with no information at all, you can see how simple the whole figure is.  Not a whole lot going on with the mostly purple bodysuit and yellow harness.  It's not technically mismatched, but the color scheme definitely harkens back to a time in the 80's and 90's when a brightly colored harness was thought of first before a standard black or brown one.  I think that's part of what draws me to the figure, and indeed, the whole vintage styled toyline.  He's a little brighter, a little more simple, and a bit more fun than many of the standard black-and-realistic figures and designs of today. 

Of course, that's a little harder to look for in something like G.I. Joe, for instance, because it's military themed and people seem to think that has to be realistic, so I liked that MotUC could include just about anything and it's goofy enough to allow a figure like this - who would normally be in a standard black and gray color scheme - to shine a bit more in some old fashioned bright colors.

Now one of the other things I like about this figure is the eclectic look.  It really looks like a collection of things that a kid would think is cool, right down to the random selection of the spade symbol.  I love that!  It reminds me of the pages and pages of drawings I used to produce (in lieu of paying attention in class) that gathered together all the crazy junk that was floating around in my head.  That's not a coincidence, 'cause this figure really is Toyguru's childhood creation!  He's stated that the spade is simply a symbol he thought was cool, and Spector was name he used often as a kid.  That info immediately hits a chord with me because...well that's what I did!  There were always certain themes and names I liked best, and if I were to make my own character, I'd probably go through them and pick the best ones to finally solidify into something physical. 

That's what this figure looks like to me, and I think it was a fantastic idea for that purpose: to add a figure to the MotUC line that was imagination itself.  Heck, if you look at the rest of the 30th series I think you'll see that in all of them! 

Now when we delve into The Mighty Spector's bio, you'll see that he's really Lt. Spector (pushed forward in time) from the Palace Guards set.  The reasoning behind this is that, at the time, Toyguru was surprised with a sculpt of his own face for the Palace Guard set, and he used his own childhood standard name of Spector for the guy.  Well, when the 30th came along and Toyguru was offered a slot (or whatever the story may be) he certainly had to build his childhood standard, but now he had a whole figure to mess with!  So, the two characters are one and the same, working for two generations of Kings, depending on the timeframe. 

My personal Lt. Spector used a mace, so I carried that over to Mighty Spector as well.

So that's one of the most disliked figures in the MotUC line.  I haven't talked about that much, but that's mostly because I'm tired of it, as I said, and because there are just so many stories floating around it that it's pointless to form opinions about things you simply cannot confirm for yourself.  He is what he is, and what he is to me is a simple homage to childhood imagination and a cool lookin' figure.  I love the sword and knife combo (not too much, not too little), the harness with the spade, and especially the mini Cosmic Key on his arm!  The more I mess with the figure the more fond of it I become. 

I'm not gona tell you to run out and grab this guy, because most folks see "Deadpool", I guess.  Honestly though, I see a generic harness that has been used in many places, and a design over the eyes that has been used in so many ways and on so many masks that you can't just say it's one dude.  I see the 80's and 90's mixed up in a secret agent, time traveling ninja insanity and I just think that's friggin' rad.  Then again,  I collect toys...so there's nothing that I buy that doesn't fit in somewhere.