Toys from the Past: #354 MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE

Sunday, December 1, 2013

#354 MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE – RATTLOR vs. EXTENDAR (1986)

These are two more figures from wave 5. In the entry dedicated to Rokkon and Stonedar, we already mentioned, that wave 5 characterizes for having many different casts for figures. Unlike previous waves, there are not so many He-Man-casted figures as in other waves. These are two further examples, figures without reused body parts.

The first pictures show a small diorama with both figures performing their special features.

EXTENDAR

Extendar is quite a singular figure in the whole collection, since it is made of a different kind of plastic than the rest of the figures. The plastic is thinner than it is for example in Battle Cat, and has that shiny pearl effect from some She-Ra creatures. It is one of the most fragile figures in the collection, since it suffers from sun damage and it is prone to break if it falls. It is also one of the most complicated figures to open, so if you have a broken figure, it is much easier to look for a new one than repairing your own.

The figure’s feature is to “grow” by extending his neck, torso, legs and arms. It came with a red shield that also has a “growing” feature.

For me, it might be inspired by the Golem, the Jewish creature brought to life in Prague. The figure represents a robot. In the comic book it is depicted as not being very intelligent, it is fooled by Hordak by the promise of making him as strong as He-Man.

The hands of this figure usually present some kind of decolouration/oxidation and turn green, similarly to the “pink boots” of Roboto.

RATTLOR

The second character today is Rattlor from the Snake Men. The figure is also made from a brand new, never used again cast. The figure main characteristics are a plastic tail (very similar to Whiplash’s) and a long neck, which is also it’s special feature. By pushing a button on its back, the neck grows as if attacking other character. It’s name Rattlor comes from the rattlesnake, which produces a rattling sound with the tip of the tail as a warning to enemies and predators. The figure also produces a similar sound when shaken… a lot of cool features in one single figure!

The figure came with only one accessory, the stab which is shared by all Snake Men in dark red colour.

I have this figure twice. The first one belongs to my childhood collection, and the second one was acquired recently. When comparing them, I noticed that they’re slightly different. I took pictures so that you can also notice this. One of them was made in Spain, the second one in Malaysia. The Spanish-made figure is made of a lighter red and also the belt is painted in a lighter shade of brown. These variants are quite common throughout the collection, since some figures were made in different countries simultaneously. This is just an example.

There is a variant of this figure with red neck instead of yellow. Some experts say the last figures made had this difference. This variant is quite rare to find, and also very expensive.

The bonus this time are two mini-comic adventures. The first one is called “Snake Attack”, where both characters appear and have great importance in the story. The second one is called “The Warrior Machine”, and Extendar appears again fighting the Evil Horde.

SNAKE ATTACK: