Masters of the Universe Origins

[Gimpdiggity]

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I was in Walmart tonight and saw a few of these figures.

They looked pretty well done. I’m NOT very familiar with the originals, so I can’t really compare, but the quality of these looked solid, and the packaging was nice.

They had 4-5 of the figures and Battle Cat.

 

[Psab keel]

My friend at work is a die hard He-Man and Masters of the Universe fan and after he showed me the Battle Cat he bought when I ran into him on my day off, I literally went to Walmart immediately after seeing him and bought two for myself. For me as a kid I knew He-Man before I knew Star Wars and it was my obsession. My parents have pictures of me holding or opening the toys for birthdays, showing some pretty excited expressions. I had the figures, and playsets, a blanket set, t-shirts, storybooks, the mini comics, a role play set, a defective inflatable Battle Cat, a toothbrush head shaped like He-Man that squirted toothpaste from the top of his head. I lived and breathed it as a four and five year old.

Sufficed to say I am collecting this line even after getting out of toy collecting years ago. This line just brings me right back to my childhood. The figures and packaging are a wonderful hybrid between the vintage originals and the Filmation cartoon which to my mind blends those worlds seamlessly together to breathe new life into a classic toy line.

If I am able I would like to collect the whole line. Something I haven't attempted since the POTF2 Star Wars figures from 1995 on. I stopped with those 4 years later but as long as Mattel keeps hitting home runs with this Masters of the Universe: Origins line, I am in it to win it!

Hasbro can learn a thing or two about making their products more affordable, more easily available, and frankly more fun to collect by going to the store like we did when we were kids. Just seeing these He-Man figures on the pegs in the toy aisle makes me light up, and that's saying a lot for a cynical retail worker like me!

Hopefully it sets a resurgence in motion that gets other toy companies to follow suit and toy collecting can be fun again, which is ultimately all it should ever be about.

 

[Gimpdiggity]

My friend at work is a die hard He-Man and Masters of the Universe fan and after he showed me the Battle Cat he bought when I ran into him on my day off, I literally went to Walmart immediately after seeing him and bought two for myself. For me as a kid I knew He-Man before I knew Star Wars and it was my obsession. My parents have pictures of me holding or opening the toys for birthdays, showing some pretty excited expressions. I had the figures, and playsets, a blanket set, t-shirts, storybooks, the mini comics, a role play set, a defective inflatable Battle Cat, a toothbrush head shaped like He-Man that squirted toothpaste from the top of his head. I lived and breathed it as a four and five year old.

Sufficed to say I am collecting this line even after getting out of toy collecting years ago. This line just brings me right back to my childhood. The figures and packaging are a wonderful hybrid between the vintage originals and the Filmation cartoon which to my mind blends those worlds seamlessly together to breathe new life into a classic toy line.

If I am able I would like to collect the whole line. Something I haven't attempted since the POTF2 Star Wars figures from 1995 on. I stopped with those 4 years later but as long as Mattel keeps hitting home runs with this Masters of the Universe: Origins line, I am in it to win it!

Hasbro can learn a thing or two about making their products more affordable, more easily available, and frankly more fun to collect by going to the store like we did when we were kids. Just seeing these He-Man figures on the pegs in the toy aisle makes me light up, and that's saying a lot for a cynical retail worker like me!

Hopefully it sets a resurgence in motion that gets other toy companies to follow suit and toy collecting can be fun again, which is ultimately all it should ever be about.

The one thing I hope with this line is that they avoid the “convention exclusives.”

I know they’re big sellers, but they also make complete line collecting very difficult.

I REALLY like the new GI Joe Classified line. GI Joe for me as a kid was exactly what you describe He-Man was to you.

I was really excited and preordered the first five figures, got them and love them. Shortly after, I started noticing variants that I hadn’t been able to preorder. Turns out they’re all con exclusives, and sold out online within seconds...meaning that the only way to get them was on the secondary market, for 3-4 times the suggested price.

I canceled the preorders that I had made for a couple other figures right then. To me part of the fun of collecting is completing the collection, and it looked like I wasn’t going to be able to easily do that.

I would LOVE to see this Master of the Universe line not go down that road, and instead just sell them in stores. Sure, if you want to have say a Target exclusive or something, fine...but just don’t have any that are so elusive they get bought by people who JUST plan to flip them.

I plan on buying these next time I’m in Walmart. I really like how they looked.

 

[Psab keel]

It's funny because somewhere along the way I fell in love with Star Wars but only had 2 brand new figures that were given to me for my birthday (I literally remember opening them) and maybe another 2 or 3 from my cousins that were second hand. Most of my early childhood was He-Man and all kinds of cheap knock off action figures from drug and discount stores. Then I got into G.I. Joe. I had more Joe toys than anything else in my entire childhood, figures, playsets, and vehicles included. They were likely the most affordable for my parents and they had BY FAR, the best articulation of any action figure of their day.

I contemplated getting a handful of my favorites from some of the new lines Hasbro made of the Joe's but there is absolutely nothing I can buy locally. Literally zero figures to be found. It's the same with modern Star Wars stuff. It's just either not stocked or it's picked off by scalpers who are only reselling it on the secondary market. I mean fine, whatever, I'm not going to totally begrudge someone trying to make a few extra bucks, but it certainly kills any desire I have to collect them. Plus I find a kick starter business model from Hasbro (a multi-million dollar corporation) to be incredibly tone deaf to the collectors who have stuck with them throughout the decades. Essentially asking their customers to pay a subscription fee for an already overpriced product. Often not even offering the same product to international fans. Which is pretty low if you ask me.

Which is why seeing Mattel going back to the old ways of doing things, like not short packing certain figures, and stores regularly stocking figures, is such a welcome sign and this coming year will be available at other retailers to widen to scope for collectors to get them. Sure I might not find everything on the first try in my local stores, but the thrill of the hunt can be fun. As long as I know that at some point I will find what I am after and I don't have to pay 2-3 times retail prices for brand new figures online. I just hope they see the value, and success in this method of sales. I certainly have no intention of collecting these further if they get harder to come by.

I just find it strange that the toy companies over the last decade or so seem to think exclusives are a good idea because they mean "better value" for the collectors. Those items might command higher prices on the secondary market, and they may or may not hold their monetary value, but I would rather get a common figure than have to pay exorbitant prices for some exclusive just for bragging rights. Besides, if someone is interested in these MOTU figures being valuable some day, just look at the original Kenner figures. They are so beloved by the fans that if you get them mint on card they command high prices, despite being cranked out of the factories by the millions. What's to say the same couldn't happen for MOTU: Origins one day.