Well, time to see if I can sell off some stuff to get a Collector...
He-Man, and also the Masters of the Universe
- Thread starter Maruten
- Start date
While not confirmed, Mattel said last year that Turtles of Grayskull would run “about 25 figures”, which is basically what they hit with this year’s line (including the BAF Metalboto). While I would be FAR from disappointed if they ended the line at the conclusion of the year, I think the concept has legs for AT LEAST another year.
So I up and brainstormed another year. Obviously, a good chunk of the line would be new iterations of core characters, but there is still some room for other ideas. Also, I use “Turtle Power” as term for the iterations like Man at Arms and Teela which feature turtle/martial arts themed armor elements. My core story beats are that Shredder, defeated by the Turtles and a restored He-Man, flees to Etheria. Meanwhile, Skeletor’s remaining mutagen is stolen by King Hiss who uses it to enhance his forces for an attack on Eternia. The Heroes must split up, some going to Etheria to capture Shredder before he makes more mutagen, while others try to hold back the Snakemen forces.
Basic figures, Good:
Leo (He-Ro inspired)
Donatello (Rio-Blast elements. Donny uses leftover Rio-Blast equipment to fashion a cold blast system to slow down/weaken Snakemen)
Raphael (Dual Fisto smash fists)
Mikey (Sy-Klone theme. Say-Klone teaches Mikey how to use his nunchucks to generate wind blasts)
He-Man (Turtle Power armor)
She-Ra (Turtle Power)
He-Man II (Snake Smasher)
Mutant Stratos
Basic figures, Evil:
Skeletor-Mutated (Exposed to the mutagen when it was stolen, Skeletor takes on a more monstrous appearance. Think reusing some of the Stranger Things elements to make him more monstrous looking)
Jitsu- Foot Enforcer
TriKlops- Foot Warrior (Defected to Shredder)
Kobra Khan
Karai (Steals Evil-Lynn‘s magic artifacts to stop Shredder’s plans)
Foot Trooper (robot Foot Soldiers upgraded with Horde Tech)
Wyrm (Stinkor elements)
Shredder Prime (Super Shredder merged with Horde Prime)
Deluxe:
King Hiss (utilize Vypor head with new arms and Serpent tail alt pieces)
Splinter (Eldor inspired with extra accessories)
Mutated Buzz-Off (maybe share tooling assets with Webstor)
Squeeze
Wingnut and Screwloose (Imagine Stratos elements with the underlying Bat theme)
Rattlor
Usagi Yojimbo (With Samurai armory)
Webstor- Mutated
So I up and brainstormed another year. Obviously, a good chunk of the line would be new iterations of core characters, but there is still some room for other ideas. Also, I use “Turtle Power” as term for the iterations like Man at Arms and Teela which feature turtle/martial arts themed armor elements. My core story beats are that Shredder, defeated by the Turtles and a restored He-Man, flees to Etheria. Meanwhile, Skeletor’s remaining mutagen is stolen by King Hiss who uses it to enhance his forces for an attack on Eternia. The Heroes must split up, some going to Etheria to capture Shredder before he makes more mutagen, while others try to hold back the Snakemen forces.
Basic figures, Good:
Leo (He-Ro inspired)
Donatello (Rio-Blast elements. Donny uses leftover Rio-Blast equipment to fashion a cold blast system to slow down/weaken Snakemen)
Raphael (Dual Fisto smash fists)
Mikey (Sy-Klone theme. Say-Klone teaches Mikey how to use his nunchucks to generate wind blasts)
He-Man (Turtle Power armor)
She-Ra (Turtle Power)
He-Man II (Snake Smasher)
Mutant Stratos
Basic figures, Evil:
Skeletor-Mutated (Exposed to the mutagen when it was stolen, Skeletor takes on a more monstrous appearance. Think reusing some of the Stranger Things elements to make him more monstrous looking)
Jitsu- Foot Enforcer
TriKlops- Foot Warrior (Defected to Shredder)
Kobra Khan
Karai (Steals Evil-Lynn‘s magic artifacts to stop Shredder’s plans)
Foot Trooper (robot Foot Soldiers upgraded with Horde Tech)
Wyrm (Stinkor elements)
Shredder Prime (Super Shredder merged with Horde Prime)
Deluxe:
King Hiss (utilize Vypor head with new arms and Serpent tail alt pieces)
Splinter (Eldor inspired with extra accessories)
Mutated Buzz-Off (maybe share tooling assets with Webstor)
Squeeze
Wingnut and Screwloose (Imagine Stratos elements with the underlying Bat theme)
Rattlor
Usagi Yojimbo (With Samurai armory)
Webstor- Mutated
I was going to say that I could see Donny being the He-Ro... until you brought Rio Blast into it. Oof. Decisions, decisions...
Stratos x Ace Duck
Anyone?
-ZacWilliam, Triclop-Ceraton?
Anyone?
-ZacWilliam, Triclop-Ceraton?
"Tricera-clops"?
I DID think of that, but my feeling was that it would have been a bit redundant in the face of the mutated Stratos figure.
Amazon has got a coupon for about $2 off Wave 1 Turtles of Grayskull figures, making them about the price of the basic MOTU Origins assortment. Leo is a couple bucks higher, probably due to popularity and 3rd party seller shenanigans.
Walmart is in clearance season, and that includes assorted MOTU stuff, including the Masters of the WWE remnants they have. Stores may have more/varied selections, but here’s what the website is offering:
New Eternia Battle Armor He-Man $9.59
Masters of the WWE, prices ranging from 4.53 to 6.58- Stephanie McMahon, Ultimate Warrior, Macho Man (Horde), Roddy Piper, Ricky Steamboat, Goldberg, Kane. Chyna is available at $12.22
Origins Battlecat $10.90
Mekanek and Road Ripper $14.64
MegaBloks Skeletor Head Sets (Trap Jaw and Jet Sled He-Man) ~$5 each
And a few other assorted MOTU items, but those were the big ones
New Eternia Battle Armor He-Man $9.59
Masters of the WWE, prices ranging from 4.53 to 6.58- Stephanie McMahon, Ultimate Warrior, Macho Man (Horde), Roddy Piper, Ricky Steamboat, Goldberg, Kane. Chyna is available at $12.22
Origins Battlecat $10.90
Mekanek and Road Ripper $14.64
MegaBloks Skeletor Head Sets (Trap Jaw and Jet Sled He-Man) ~$5 each
And a few other assorted MOTU items, but those were the big ones
I got BA He-Man (LOVE the design, not a fan of the head, though I might see if I can swap with the 40th version), and some of the MOTWWE to “fill out” my little Origins collection. I got Steph, Ultimate Warrior, and Steamboat because those interpretations straddle that line into being usable as “real” MOTU characters, rather than “Wrestler in MOTU cosplay”. And Macho Man, who straddles THAT aforementioned line quite finely. He’s not as glorious as the earlier “Macho Man At Arms”, but the Horde armor offers options.
Admission: I have never ever seen any of the MotU-WWE toys in a store. And I go to look at toys in Walmarts all the time. I can't tell if that means they're very popular or really unpopular in my area.
-ZacWilliam, I do not care even a tiny bit about Wrestling and have not since about 1989 but I like MotU enough that I've kept my eyes open for these and just never seen them irl.
-ZacWilliam, I do not care even a tiny bit about Wrestling and have not since about 1989 but I like MotU enough that I've kept my eyes open for these and just never seen them irl.
The only ones I saw were waves 5 and a bit of 6 in late 2021, before Walmart ditched the line and the last couple waves got dumped online. Prior to that, my local store didn’t carry the line at all. The line effectively ended in early 2022 when wave 7 was shared online and wave 8 was online only. I’ve been shocked that Walmart has carried the remnants (and that they’ve lasted so long) online.
I was really disappointed that Mattel never reran older figures for online sale in 2022. I am by NO means a big wrestling toy guy or watcher, but there were some REALLY inspired figures made for the line that also “jived” with MOTU in general. Or, like in Mr T’s case, just embraced the sheer absurdity you can’t NOT love it.
I have the same attraction to Turtles of Grayskull: As a crossover, Mattel understood the assignment and did a bang up job, and did so in a FUN way.
But, it’s also why I don’t care about WWE Superstars (the “replacement” for Masters of the WWE, uses the same Origins figure structure/design), by removing all the outlandish and fantasy elements, they’re just basic wrestling guys in a different style.
Well, BBTS made my decision concerning a Grayskull: they had the Netflix one on sale for $40 (that’s just above the cost of a Voyager!). Added it to my PoL with Rattlor and Kobra Khan (who cost as much as the damn play set).
Also, promo pics of Necro Conda, Walmart’s summer deluxe Origins figure. He Glows in the Dark! With a lot of extra accessories! And a troop builder! But who TF knows if I’ll be able to get one given Walmart.
Also, promo pics of Necro Conda, Walmart’s summer deluxe Origins figure. He Glows in the Dark! With a lot of extra accessories! And a troop builder! But who TF knows if I’ll be able to get one given Walmart.
In-package images of the Mattel Masters of the Universe Walmart Exclusive Necro-Conda Figure
In-package images of the Mattel Masters of the Universe Walmart Exclusive Necro-Conda Figure
toynewsi.com
Seems like there's been some new drama with a certain MOTU centric YT channel by a certain former MOTU brand manager (presumably the photos in question were at least partially MOTU considering the normal subject matter, though the original photographer also focuses on superhero stuff):
thefigureinquestion.com
Thoughts?
About This Spector Creative Thing
Click here for the 4/29/24 Update Hi everyone. There’s been a situation of note going on concerning me, this site, and a couple of Youtube channels. Scott Neitlich of Spector Creative and T…
thefigureinquestion.com
Thoughts?
Just Scott up to his usual BS. I pretty much wrote him off years. While he offers some interesting insights (especially in regards to MOTUC), by and large, he isn’t nearly as knowledgeable as he likes to think he is. Even as a layman collector, I’ve found MANY of his suppositions and declared facts suspect, Doubly so for one who worked in such management positions across multiple companies (maybe THAT is why he barely lasted a year across multiple companies after leaving Mattel…).Seems like there's been some new drama with a certain MOTU centric YT channel by a certain former MOTU brand manager (presumably the photos in question were at least partially MOTU considering the normal subject matter, though the original photographer also focuses on superhero stuff):
About This Spector Creative Thing
Click here for the 4/29/24 Update Hi everyone. There’s been a situation of note going on concerning me, this site, and a couple of Youtube channels. Scott Neitlich of Spector Creative and T…
Thoughts?
And for someone supposedly running a consulting firm…his output on YouTube is EXTREMELY amateur, and hardly of the quality I’d expect large firms to be impressed by.
While I think TFIQ went a little overboard with the number of copyright claims…given the unruly beast that is YouTube’s automated systems, I can’t say what he did was overtly malicious, nor would someone not used to dealing with YouTube realize the ramifications of that many claims.
I was on his side in this, until I read that article. Seeing him basically turn as soon as he got his channel back... ick.
He was already on something of a downhill slide for me with his partnering with some NFT toy thing and this AI comic book (I don't think he ever replied to my comment about what it would be like if MotU Classics had been done with AI instead of hiring all those artists and such...), but this on top of all that...
Throw in that IIRC, he's the reason that Hasbro couldn't call Hot Rod "Hot Rod" for several years, and at the very least, I feel like I have a sense of where he stands regarding others' work.
Oh, and here's the latest couple of posts from his channel:
He was already on something of a downhill slide for me with his partnering with some NFT toy thing and this AI comic book (I don't think he ever replied to my comment about what it would be like if MotU Classics had been done with AI instead of hiring all those artists and such...), but this on top of all that...
Throw in that IIRC, he's the reason that Hasbro couldn't call Hot Rod "Hot Rod" for several years, and at the very least, I feel like I have a sense of where he stands regarding others' work.
Oh, and here's the latest couple of posts from his channel:
Scott is reaping what he's sowed from what I've seen of him in the last few years. I admired his videos for the look into MotU Classics and the DC figures he worked on. But once he started the Origins is cancelled thing a couple years ago now it was pretty apparent he has no idea what is going on at his former employers. He kept moving the goal post to keep what he said right and yet Origins kept going. It's felt like he's jealous of the success MotU has had. Sure it's not exactly thriving in stores lately, but the fact we are still getting MotU figures in anyway.
Considering the current team needed to shout "MOTU is not cancelled!" in a presentation a while back, I imagine he's seen more as a liability than a brand advocate these days.
He’s also been the main voice proclaiming that Mattel would lose all MOTU rights in 2023. That also contributed to that narrative last year.
(Sidebar on the lost of rights things: While it was certainly possible that Mattel MIGHT have had a slate of trademarks or certain media rights expire last year, the state of the IP remained strong between the licensing to Super7 and the subsequent push in 2021 pretty much secured Mattel’s hold on the brand).
IIRC, his thing was that's when their rights contract with Dreamworks would be up. It's possible they renewed?
Yes! That's what I was referring to.