Toys from the Past: #135 HE-MAN –VIZAR and KARATTI (Ref. 3369 and 3529) (1990)

Thursday, April 5, 2012

#135 HE-MAN –VIZAR and KARATTI (Ref. 3369 and 3529) (1990)

We already presented two figures from the first wave of this collection; this time I’ll show two figures from the second wave and we will explore the package in which they were sold.

One of the figures (Vizar) is a heroic master, the other one (Karatti) is an evil mutant. Both heroes and evil mutants (as well as the accessories that were sold “carded”) have more or less the same card type. It has some kind of blue explosion in the bottom right-hand corner and in the background a starry sky. The logo of He-Man is displayed in the top center of the card, and below this logo, a small picture depicting the figure “in action” and its name can be found. Sometimes, a stickers have been applied to the card to remind possible buyers that these are the “new” Masters of the Universe. In this case, since my cards were intended for the Spanish market, the sticker is in Spanish, take a look at the top right-hand corner (“Nuevos Masters del Universo”), were Masters of the universe is written using the logo of the previous series.

I have to say that all He-Man MOC figures I own have relatively worn cards. I guess it’s just mine, but it could also be that the cardboard in which they’re printed is not that good. Some even present small cracks and holes, that are extremely rare in G.I.Joe: ARAH cards (made of heavier cardboard), for example.

Observe that the figure is inside a big bubble, and the weapons packed apart in another one, although both bubbles are the same piece (this is a difference to the old MOTU). Note that the bubble is shaped in a way that the figure cannot move or adopt some strange position, rather than standing at.

The backcard is also very interesting, because we find it written in 6 different languages. This type of card is often referred as “foreign”, in opposition to the US card, which was only written in English. The upper part of the card is a short description of the character. The rest of the card is divided in two, the left remaining side describes the featured action of the figure, and the right half is a small catalogue of the available figures, very similar to the one in the vintage MOTU series.

The first character is Vizar. According to his description: Vizar is a “brilliant surveillance officer from planet Primus. Has the skill and training to help He-Man gather information from behind enemy lines”. As most heroes, he seems to be a human. He comes with a two piece helmet (helmet and visor, from which his name derives), a laser pistol and a stealth hook. His featured action is a waist turn with punch, very similar to the feature of the original MOTU figures from wave 1. The cast of this figure was reused by Mattel to create one figure from the “Demolition Man” series a few years later (1993).

The second character is Karatti: “Bone crushing goan squad mutant from the evil planet Denebria. Has a rock hard head and a karate chopping arm and elbow”. It comes with two edged weapons that attach to his wrists. The action feature is a waist movement that moves both arms up and down, and with them, both weapons. There are two versions of Karatti, depending on the colour of his weapons. This one comes with silver weapons, but other came with black weapons. I don’t know which version is most difficult to find.

The figures in the second wave of this collection are:

HEROIC MASTERS: