Masters of the Universe Classics: Battle Armor He-Man: Most Powerful Man in the Universe Figure Review

After being impressed with Mattel's "Masters of the Universe Classics" (MOTUC) Teela, I figured it was time to purchase the main character.  Now that I look back, I regret not purchasing the original He-Man figure Mattel had offered several months ago.  He was made available for sale via MattyCollector.com on January 15, 2010.




Flavor Text:

"Battle Armor He-Man, Most Powerful Man in the Universe

Real Name: Adam of the House of Randor

To adapt to new enemies and situations, Adam has learned to tap further into the great power which his sword unlocks.  The combined Power of the Universe and the Knowledge of the Elders is used by Adam to imagine and create new forms of armor and weapons to combat evil.  His BATTLE ARMOR was created to protect He-Man during his early battles with Skeletor and his evil warriors.  Using the Power of Grayskull, He-Man - The Most Powerful Man in the Universe, is now shielded by his mighty BATTLE ARMOR!"


The Good:

• Battle Armor (BA) He-Man has 21 points of articulation: ball-jointed neck, jointed shoulders, swivel upper biceps, hinged elbows, swivel wrists, ab-crunch joint, swivel waist, swivel/hinged legs, hinged knees, swivel boots, hinged ankles, and hinged "side" ankles (for lack of a better term).

• He comes with a decent number of accessories (a total of 5) for a 6-inch figure: battle armor, armor breastplate, slightly-damaged armor breastplate, heavily-damaged armor breastplate, and battle-axe.

• This is another one of THE definite "nostalgia-inducing" figures from this line (yeah, I know it's called "Masters of the Universe Classics" for a reason).  I used to own the old-school BA He-Man with the "rolling" armor breastplate action feature.  It would make a "clicking" noise each time you turned the breastplate.  Thankfully, the Four Horsemen opted not to incorporate the same "action feature" but instead [brilliantly] settled with "snap-on" armor breastplates.  I've got to say that the detailing on the three variations of He-Man's breastplates are superb!  The "H" symbol on all three breastplates is consistent and well-designed.  Even the "damage"detailing is just breathtaking!

• As expected, BA He-Man's right hand is sculpted perfectly to fit the battle-axe accessory without any "looseness" in his grip.

• You know how with most figures (including Teela) their detailing stops right at their feet?  Well, the details on BA He-Man don't stop there, but instead continue on the soles of his feet.  The straps wrapped around his boot continue around the soles of his feet.  Little things like that boost the overall score of any figure in my book.

The Bad:

• For some reason, He-Man's head sculpt reminds me of Ken from Street Fighter.  It could be the hair and quite possibly the grim facial expression.

• There are small but noticeable holes or "air bubbles" in He-Man's hair.  There are also dashes of dried and smudged paint on both his left and front sides. The more I look at it, the more flaws I see on He-Man's hair.  Way too many smudge marks, especially in the front.
  

• This is nitpicking: while his battle armor is on, He-Man's head is limited to swiveling left and right; also due to the battle armor, He-Man's bulging arms can't be placed all the way down to his sides.
  

• There are brown spots and smears on He-Man's: inner right thigh, inner left thigh, on the back of his left arm, strap closest to his elbow joint on his left arm.

• I really wish Mattel didn't apply silver paint on He-Man's body (underneath the battle armor), but instead applied it with flesh-color paint.  This would give collectors the added incentive to purchase "The Goddess" figure (basically a "green-colored" Teela) who comes with He-Man's regular armor.
  

• Although BA (Battle Armor) He-Man comes with several accessories, it would've been nice to include his shield.  Even the picture of BA He-Man on the back of the packaging has him carrying a shield in his left hand.

• The paint job on the battle-axe could've been a lot better.  Using plain gray-colored plastic cheapens the overall superior quality and overall sculpt of the figure.
  

• He-Man's thumb on his left hand (on the inside) has been smudged and mangled.

• The paint job on the left hand is weird: his hand is tan-colored from the wrist up to his knuckles.  The color gets noticeably lighter from the knuckles all the way to the fingers.  It sort of looks like He-Man's left hand got scrapped and lost some skin on something sharp, maybe from his battle axe?

The Ugly:

• Unfortunately, BA He-Man has really loose ankles joints.  If the knees are straightened, He-Man will fall flat on his face.  At least the knee joints are solid.

Additional Notes:

• There is one major mistake on the back of the packaging under He-Man's bio: "Real Name: Adam of the of House Randor".

I purchased this figure online via MattyCollector for a total of $28.00 (price includes S&H and tax).  Due to the popularity of this "bonus" figure, it is no longer available for purchase on MattyCollector's website. Your only recourse is eBay or other online retailers such as BigBadToyStore who will (once again) price-gouge you, because they can.  Despite the somewhat high cost of individual figures like this, Teela is one figure that you can't miss.

NOTE: I DO NOT REPRESENT MATTEL, eBAY, OR BIGBADTOYSTORE.  I HAVE NOT BEEN PAID TO MENTION THEIR NAMES.


Although I wasn't thoroughly impressed with BA He-Man at first, the more I look at him and (yes) play with him, he's becoming more and more one of my favorites from the "MOTUC" line.  The Four Horsemen sure don't disappoint.  With pretty decent sculpts and quite a number of accessories, $28.00 seems like a good deal.

Score: (out of five)