#1058 MOTU NA – ARTILLA/WEAPONSTRONIC and STAGHORN (Ref. 1639 and 5804) (1991)

It is a long long time since I talked about this line for the last time, so it is now time to take out some of these figures and take nice pictures of them. We have selected this time Artilla and Staghorn, two characters from the third wave of the toyline, still easy to find, and not especially expensive, although rarer than other figures from wave 1 and 2. If you are looking for them carded, then, they may be worth a lot of money.

Artilla / Weaponstronic (Ref. 1639):

I put these two together because they are kind of difficutl to play with. Artilla has a strange position of the legs, and a lot of weight on the upper part of the body, so if the figure has been played with and the legs are a bit loose, it is very difficult to pose in a given position. Also the position of the arms is not the best choice. 

On the positive side, the figure came without accessories, or, said in another way, integrated on the body or head. The action feature is cool, no complaints about that. The missile on the left hand is not detachable, it is more like a ram that only goes a few centimeters out of the fist. The weapon on the right hand is only hidden below and has to be turned to the front, and, finally, the head rams to the front, but, again, only 1 centimeter more or less. The character is also quite cool, as a robotic master of weapons and technical helper (maybe a mechanic) of He-Man´s team.

Staghorn (Ref. 5804):

Staghorn is also less poseable than the average figure, as his legs are bent on the knees and also the arms are bent on the elbows. If he is wearing his mask, then in is even less poseable, as it interferes and crashes with his arms or the axe accessory. I do not quite follow what is the intention behind that action feature. According to the backcard, the spikes of the accessory are intended for hand to hand/close range fights, both for attack or defence. Maybe the intention, if I interprete the text on the packaging correctly, was that the mechanism could lift an enemy figure and throw it into the air.

In this case, the design is also OK, Staghorn could be some kind of ogre, as there were many in the original He-Man cartoon series or comic books, only with a futuristic twist, as everything in this toyline has.

So, not the best designs, but they look nice in the shelves with the rest of the team.

FACTS and FIGURES:

• Name: ARTILLA/WEAPONSTRONIC and STAGHORN (Ref. 1639 and 5804)
• 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

#922 HE-MAN - ROCKET DISK POWER PACK and TURBO TORMENTOR (1989)

This month I am joining many other Masters of the Universe fans worldwide to celebrate the 35th anniversary of this great toyline in Spain. A friend of mine with a few other colleagues is writing a book about this topic that will be published soon. The title is "Yo Tengo el Poder: La Historia de los Masters del Universo en España", haven't you heard about it yet? Visit their Facebook site for all information regarding this topic, and don't miss the release!
 

The New Adventures of He-Man started with a big set of figures and interesting vehicles in sizes ranging from small (Bolajet / Shuttle Pod) to huge (Starship Eternia). But that first wave also included two small accesories sold in blisterpacks, whose price was approximately the same than the price of a figure in a single pack. My Rocket Disk blister is tagged for 1.100 pesetas (6,60 euro), but I doubt this was its retail price, seems a bit too high for me. The price tag does not look very professional, so maybe it comes from a reseller or small toy shop.

Masters of the Universe, the vintage line, also had some battle accesories, but, again, not many considering the length and the number of references in the complete collection.

Well, the two accesories made for the He-Man toyline were the Rocket Disk Power Pack for He-Man or whoever heroic warrior was around and the Turbo Tormentor for Skeletor or any of his friends. These were small and cute backpacks that could be attached by means of a plastic harness to the figure and that had some shooting/firing function.

The Rocket Disk Power Pack could launch discs similarly to the Blaster Hawk from 1985, only in a much smaller scale. Each blister included 3 orange disks, that could be carried along: two in a special compartment, and the third one "loaded", ready to be fired by activating the corresponding trigger. The design is simple, but includes some kind of laser cannon on top to make it slightly more interesting (otherwise it would look just like a box).

The Turbo Tormentor also launches discs, but these fly like a propeller. The blister pack included two disks, either in bright yellow or in greenish yellow. The launcher is located at one side of the figure, with the tip over the shoulder. The backpack has again a slot where one of the disks can be carried, while the second one is loaded. The design is kind of more elaborated, not just because of the unsymmetric way to carry it, but also because the launcher looks like a futuristic cannon (not like a box).

The propeller stuff is a classic feature seen in many toys through the years, and a specially funny one.

While the first accesory commented in this entry was available worldwide, the Turbo Tormentor was an euro-exclusive item. I do not know the reason behind it, and it doesn´t seem to be due to law restrictions or safety regulations about shooting toys (there are later toys with this same feature available). Then why?

Many collectors claim that the mechanism behind the Turbo Tormentor never actually worked correctly, so maybe, after Mattel checked that this was actually happening, decided not to distribute this reference in the United States... it is also a possibility since it is also something that already happened before with Darius. Another posibility is that the propellers are actually too fragile and break easily, like Hasbro claimed when they recalled Roadblock v4. Despite being an European only release, the prices for this item are low or even very low, being very easy to find carded even today (30 years after its release). Same happens with the Rocket Disk accesory, it is also very easy to find.

Another comment... like the bubbles of the figure´s blister cards, these two accesories also carried sometimes the sticker promoting the "new" masters of the universe toyline, but the two carded toys I own unfortunately do not carry them.

Read more about Masters of the Universe in these links!

All Masters of the Universe stuff

Masters of the Universe (vintage collection)

He-Man: New Adventures

FACTS and FIGURES:

• Name: Rocket Disk Power Pack (Nr. 3533) and Turbo Tormentor (Nr. 3531)
• 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, backpacks are maybe 4 or 5 cm wide

#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