#51 HE-MAN – SKELETOR and FLIPSHOT/ ICARIUS (Ref. 2303 and 2275) (1989)

After the Masters of the Universe series was cancelled in 1987, there was an attempt to bring the series to the market again. The old MOTUs aged very badly with only 6 points of articulation. Kid’s new favorites were G.I.Joe, Ninja Turtles and M.A.S.K. among others.
 

Mattel tried to adapt somehow the MOTU concept creating a new story, in which only He-Man and Skeletor remain. According to the mini-comics included in the packages, some travellers from the future are looking for He-Man…the legend says that he is the only one who can help them against the evil that is that is destroying them. When they find Eternia, they are deceived by Skeletor, who takes the whole power from Castle Grayskull. Prince Adam cannot transform into He-Man anymore, but he manages to be lifted together with Skeletor into Starship Eternia. There, with the power source, becomes He-Man and together with Hydron and Flipshot defeat Skeletor. The evil Skeletor gets to escape into the future, and He-Man must follow him to save the future world. According to Ehapa comics, the story is very similar, but some characters are different, including Darius, never produced as a toy, although it appeared in the cardback of the first wave figures.

The cover and the poster of this ehapa comic (german version) is presented here. Note that the poster include all characters from the first wave (Darius was not produced), and the second wave, although Karatti and Hoove may be drawn just from prototypes or maybe just invented. The two figures presented in this article appear in both images. 

The figures of “He-Man - New Adventures”, as you can see in the following pictures, are much slender than the older figures. They include an articulation in the knees, and the one in the legs have been improved. Some figures can now open their arms (and not only turn them), while other figures have special movements that do not count as PoA.

By the way, many of these special movement are very difficult to reproduce correctly. I don't know if it is a design problem, or maybe that most figures are broken, but I never got Icarius to work properly (this figure should have some "punch-action movement"). The same applies to the accesory known as Turbo-Tormentor, which will be shown some other time. Skeletor does work properly, since its movement is relatively simple: by turning its waist, the figure moves its arms up and down. 

The casts of the figures are much better, not only for the details, but also because they’re all different, there is no repetition in arms, chests, heads… as occurred in the previous toyline. Almost everything in this series is better, but they didn’t got to succeed. The figures are much more fragile and the arms and legs tend to loose up and then it’s difficult to make the figures stand or to place them in a particular position. 

There were four waves of He-Man. The last one is very difficult to find, while the other three are cheap and easy to find nowadays even on card. If you look for these figures “loose”, be careful because they might not be in perfect (C-10) condition.

Detail: Back of Skeletor without the cloak

FACTS and FIGURES:

• Name: SKELETOR and FLIPSHOT / ICARIUS (Ref. 2303 and 2275)
• 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