#867 HE-MAN NEW ADVENTURES – HE-MAN and HYDRON (Ref. 2274 and 3259) (1989)

At this point in the history of the blog, there is nothing more to add regarding this toyline. I can finally present the newborn He-Man, as it was intended to be rebooted in the very early 90s. Strong, but without those huge muscles and with a stylish hair.

The action figure was also updated to have many more points of articulation, and be more playable. New characters (all new except He-Man and Skeletor), new story (more sci-fi and less sword and sorcery), but unfortunately a much lower success.

He-Man came with armour, helmet, sword and shield. The armour could be used to carry the sword. The handle of the sword is extremely fragile, so in many cases (maybe 90% or even more) the sword will be broken. As there are many of this, a figure with a broken sword has a very low value, while, if the sword is complete, the prices are reasonably higher.

Hydron is another of the heroic warriors. It is some kind of diver and comes with an harpoon, backpack/oxygen bottle and a diving helmet. The backpack does not attach very well to the helmet. The figure is not very rare, but it is often incomplete.

 

FACTS and FIGURES:

• Name: HE-MAN and HYDRON (Ref. 2274 and 3259)
• Toy Line: He-Man (also New Adventures of He-Man) (Wave 1)
• Year: 1989
• Company: Mattel (U.S.A.)
• Size of the figures: 14 cm

#674 HE-MAN - SPIN FIST HYDRON (1992)

This figure belongs to the last wave of the He-Man toyline an was released in 1992. It belongs to the same series than the He-Man and Skeletor figures shown in entry #601. It is therefore one of the 6 last figures to be released in the 90s, and also one of the most difficult ones to find, specially if complete with its two accesories, and in good shape. We know that this series has especially fragile articulations, and sometimes legs are a bit loose.

 

 

 

In this figure the right arm is quite heavy because it is also its "action feature", a giant claw, quite heavy, that can be turned and twisted from the shoulder. It is quite fun to grab another figure by its waist and twist it like an helicopter's rotor. Because of this fact, the right arm in this figure is always a bit loose, except maybe in MOC'd ones.

 

 

The price of this figure can reach up to 60-80 US$, and even more carded. Compared to the other figures in this collection, it is a very high price.

 

 

FACTS and FIGURES:

• Name: SPIN FIST HYDRON (Nr. 5788)
• Toy Line: He-Man (also New Adventures of He-Man) (Wave 4)
• Year: 1992
• Company: Mattel (U.S.A.)
• Size of the figures: 14 cm

#601 HE-MAN - THUNDER PUNCH HE-MAN and BATTLE BLADE SKELETOR (Nr. 5586 and 5705) (1992)

The last versions of He-Man and Skeletor in the He-Man (Masters of the Universe New Adventures) toyline were "Thunder Punch" and "Battle Blade"... these would be the last versions of these characters for quite a long time until the re-activation of the line in 2000 (and on) with the MotU 200X.

They belong to the 4th wave from 1992, which was the last of this toyline. We have several times commented that last waves are usually more difficult to find because at the time sold in much lower numbers than the previous figures. In this case, the wave 4 comprised the following figures:

• Thunder Punch He-Man (Nr. 5586)
• Spin Fist Hydron (Nr. 5788)
• Missile Armor Flipshot (Nr. 7769)
• Battle Blade Skeletor (Nr. 5705)
• Hook Em Flogg (Nr. 9309)
• Too-Tall Hoove (Nr. 7013)

From all 6, the versions of He-Man and Skeletor are the easiest to find, the other 4 are really difficult, specially if complete with all accesories and in good shape.

The He-Man figure is not very interesting, it doesn´t have any special feature but the good-old waist-twist that also had the very first He-Man figure from the original toyline. The accesories are pretty much in the fashion of those early 90s with lots of neon yellow. I´d like to point out that the sword is very fragile and the handle is sometimes broken. The shield is also fragile because the handle is made of hard plastic and is also sometimes broken. The name of the figure comes from the carved accesory on the wrist of the right arm, which was also available as a role-play toy.

The Battle Blade Skeletor figure is much greater. It has an amazing design with a skull body and a great head sculpt including hair. The figure has an strange gesture with arms in different orientations and this results in a strange action feature. The figure came with a brown/occre shield that can be fit to the wrist by means of a peg (sometimes broken) and another unidentified accesory, probably some kind of axe of other weapon with a "blade" (otherwise... the name wouldn´t make any sense). A last and great feature is that the skull carved in the torso of the figure is fluorescent, glow-in-the-dark, painted.

FACTS and FIGURES:

• Name: THUNDER PUNCH HE-MAN (Nr. 5586) and BATTLE BLADE SKELETOR (Nr. 5705)
• Toy Line: He-Man (also New Adventures of He-Man) (Wave 4)
• Year: 1992
• Company: Mattel (U.S.A.)
• Size of the figures: 14 cm

#549 HE-MAN - BATTLE PUNCH HE-MAN vs OPTIKK (1990)

We have sometimes commented that the main character(s) of a toyline has to be available in each wave. The Masters of the Universe and later the He-Man toylines made available in each wave the figures of He-Man and Skeletor, and each time a different figure with a different action feature.

 In the He-Man series, the first He-Man figure is very common and easy to get, but the second and third versions are very rare and also quite expensive for that series. This is the second one (we would say “v2”), and it features a quite impressive move, never seen in any other figure of the line. The accessories included with this figure are a rather big (slightly oversized) and a shield. Despite the size of the weapons, they are quite rare to find.

The second figure presented in this entry is Optikk, one of the evil characters working for Skeletor. It is one of my favorite figures of this line, because the design is really amazing with that big eye instead of a head. The figure came only with a pistol/rifle and its action feature is a spring-loaded punch with the left hand. As in many other toylines, the figures of the evil faction have quite dark colours, and this character has a dark brown with golden details outfit.

FACTS and FIGURES:

• Name: BATTLE PUNCH HE-MAN and OPTIKK (Ref. 1340 and 3262)
• Toy Line: He-Man (also New Adventures of He-Man) (Wave 2)
• Year: 1990
• Company: Mattel (U.S.A.)
• Size of the figures: 14 cm

#450 HE-MAN – TORNADO/SPINWIT and QUAKKE/EARTHQUAKE (Ref. 1683 and 1849) (1991)

The next duel of He-Man figures is Tornado / Spinwit vs. Quakke / Earthquake!

These figures belong to the third wave, which is quite rare, although not as much as the fourth wave from 1992, whose figures usually cost around 100 Euros when they’re complete, and much more if they’re mint on card.

 

The third wave comprised the following figures:

 

GALACTIC GUARDIANS

• Artilla / Weaponstronic (Ref. 1639)
• Sagitar / Tharkus ["Deluxe Action Figure"] (Ref. 2145)
• Spinwit / Tornado (Ref. 1683)
• Tuskador / Insyzor (Ref. 1319)

EVIL MUTANTS

• Butthead (Ref. 2026)
• Quakke / Earthquake (Ref. 1849)
• Staghorn (Ref. 5804)

Tornado is a very attractive figure with bright colours. It is curious that in this collection all characters from the evil forces have relatively dark colours, while He-Man and friends have brighter colours. In this case, Spinwit/Tornado is orange, blue, pink and yellow and includes grey/silver accessories.

The figure features some “twister”-effect with both arms, and this way it is supposed to be able to fly, a little bit like a helicopter. The description on the cardback says: “Uses his amazing tornado spin to help the inter-galactic forces of good to fight the evil Skeletor”.

 

The figure came with a three-spiked gun and two wings that could attach to his arms. It is not clear if these wings are attached in one direction or the other. According to the package, the thick part of the wings goes on the shoulders, although the figure looks somehow better the other way.

He-Man New Adventures: Spinwit / Tornado - two variants

Although I have never seen any references to this, there are at least one variant of this figure, which can be easily identified just by looking at the head of the figure. If the head has a uniform colour, the head has been painted, otherwise, it might have some golden/brown patterns. This second version has some details painted in gold while the first figure has these same details in a dark yellow colour.

Quakke is a very heavy figure, with huge arms and legs. It is decorated with dark colours: brown, red, black and includes a black handle with a stone that detaches in 2 parts. The stone fits in that handle, and the figure can hit the ground with it, what produces an Earthquake. The mechanism is located on the back.

Both figure’s mechanisms are very interesting, since they are new to the Masters of the Universe and He-Man toylines. The stone is relatively difficult to find, since it often got lost. It doesn’t fit very well the handle and it doesn’t look like a real accessory.

 

FACTS and FIGURES:

• Name: TORNADO/SPINWIT and QUAKKE/EARTHQUAKE (Ref. 1683 and 1849)
• Toy Line: He-Man (also New Adventures of He-Man) (Wave 3)
• Year: 1991
• Company: Mattel (U.S.A.)
• Size of the figures: 14 cm