Masters Of The Universe 40th Anniversary Masterverse He-Man Review

 

Last year, and apparently this year as well, Mattel is celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Masters Of The Universe franchise with this new action figure. Until this purchase, I hadn't bought any of the action figures from Mattel's Masterverse toy line so I'm on new ground, let's see what I think of this new He-Man.

In all honesty, I haven't been a fan of the Masterverse MOTU toy line. I don't really like the way the figures work, I can't explain it any better than that other than to say it's how they make me feel, you may love them. One of the biggest issues for me was the way some of the faces look, particularly with HE-Man. Despite their 80's origins (pun intended), I like the MOTU Origins toy line which is a remake of the 80's toy line to look like the original toys but with modern articulation. When I heard of this figure being released I was interested due to the 40th Anniversary but again being a Masterverse figure I wasn't hopeful.

When I first saw the 40th Anniversary He-Man I knew he would be my first Masterverse purchase. The head was all it took for me, they designed it like the original He-Man action figure and I liked what I saw. I was going to order him online but decided to go to my local stores to see if I could find one in the wild and the second store I went to had five of them so I had my pick of the litter. 

This 40th Anniversary He-Man action figure is a 7-inch figure like the other Masterverse figures. He-Man has 30 points of articulation which is an incredible amount compared to the original figures from the 80s. I remember playing with my He-Man figures when I was young and to my small self, the figures seemed to be bigger than they were. He-Man action figures seemed to be as tall to me then as a Barbie doll is to me now and this 7-inch action figure seems to be pretty close to the same size as I remember them and that makes me happy.

This action figure comes with the 7-inch tall He-Man figure and five accessories. He has the classic He-Man load out of the Power Sword, Shield, and Axe. He-Man also comes with a second set of hands, a closed fist on the right hand and an open slap hand on the left hand. The detail of the weapons is pretty good but the plastic looks and feels very cheap to me. It feels like the choice in plastic for the accessories was made based upon budgetary limitations which I understand but you can only get so excited for a product when you can instantly see the bean counters' work instead of the artists. 

40th Anniversary He-Man on left and Super7 Movie He-Man on the right.

For whatever reason, the 40th Anniversary He-Man looks to be taller in my hand than Super7's Movie He-Man action figure that was released a few years ago even though they are exactly the same height. I think they look pretty good next to each other and I'm looking forward to seeing the upcoming Masterverse Movie He-Man and Skeletor action figures.

Overall I'm impressed with this action figure. I think I was a little too hasty in my judgment of the Masterverse toy line and I do have two on order, the movie figures I mentioned above. I will also probably start collecting some of them but not all of them. Out of all of the Masterverse figures I've seen in person I think the two I currently want the most would be Mossman and Man-E-Faces.

Original He-Man, 40th Anniversary He-Man, Origins He-Man

I think if you like He-Man action figures then you'll like this figure. I also think that the Masterverse line of toys isn't bad at all after getting my hands on this figure. What better endorsement is there than me saying it's changed my mind on the toy line and will be purchasing the ones I like in the future. I would give this 40th Anniversary He-Man a 9 out of 10!