#460 MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE – HORDAK and MANTISAUR (1985 and 1986)

 The Mantisaur is one of the few vehicles/creatures that I have at home. I thought it was time to show something different from a figure in this action figure toyline, so I chose the Mantisaur ridden by Hordak, who is supposed to be its owner.

The Mantisaur was released in 1986 (5th wave), and it is a rather expensive toy compared to other vehicles/creatures, although I do not know exactly why...

The creature has a very long body to which four legs and two arms are attached. At the tail it carries a machine gun, which is the most usually lost/missing part. To keep the figure on top of it, the Mantisaur came with a saddle and foottraps.

The Hordak figure shown here is the first version ever, released for the first time in 1985 (4th wave). Mattel decided to introduce this second bunch of bad guys for a reason I do not know… and if this was not enough, they also introduced the Snake-Men, so at the end there were much more villains as heros.

The figure came with a red plastic cloak, which is very fragile, a white crossbow (each member of the horde came with one of these in different colours and with slightly different designs), and a red bat-shield that could attach to one of his arms. The figure also came with a removable armour. Seen today, the face of the figure is really frightening. For some reason, I never had an Hordak figure as a kid, but back then, I didn’t find it so terrifying as I find it now.

Hordak and Mantisaur were also available together in some European countries as a “gift set” with reference number 1621.

FACTS and FIGURES:

• Name: HORDAK (Ref. 9172) and MANTISAUR (Ref. 2085)
• Toy Line: Masters of the Universe (Wave 4 and 5)
• Year: 1985 and 1986
• Company: Mattel (U.S.A.)
• Size of the figures: 5½’’ or 14 cm
• Size of the creature: Around 30 cm