The top 5 Masters of the Universe Classics: 2008/09 Edition!
That’s right guys; the day has finally come where me and Jaysun are teaming up on an article and what better way to start than with one of the most prominent of our many mutual fixations: Masters of the Universe! Mattel’s been cranking out the MOTU Classics line for nearly 5 years now and for all our bitching on the show, it’s been a (mostly) fun ride. Still, with so many releases in our hands, which ones stand among our favorites? Find out here as we boldly live in defiance of writing a list that’ll generate hits on Google Image Search!
Since there’s anywhere between 12 and 20-something releases a year, our format’s a mutually agreed upon top 5 (because that’s half of 10) with each of us getting an honorable mention of our own choosing. But since I don’t think most people read intros to lists, I’m going to stop typing up here now.
By the way, I’m in Blue and Jaysun is in Red
5.) Teela (October 2009)
Teela was the line’s first female figure and she still stands up today; it doesn’t hurt her legacy that almost every female figure that’s followed being based on her parts in some way. Teela herself is still among the strongest of those MOTUC figures, and remains so even in comparison to figures from other Mattel lines. The Teela buck is light years ahead of anything released for DC Universe Classics, even Wonder Woman who was probably their best release. There’s just no favorable comparison as Teela lacks the willowy limbs that hamper most DCUC females and she annihilates any figure in that line with her accessories. The staff and a 200X inspired sword are standout weapons that, while the headdress/alt. head combo satisfied fans who desire direct tributes to vintage figures or card art. Zoar was a little underwhelming but I’d never complain about extra accessories, even if Mattel’s coming close to wearing out the mold used for him and his avian compatriots. To finish out her vintage accessories, Teela includes her shield,a great piece with deeply sculpted details and a unique color. Teela was also one of the figures with the best functioning ankle movement, whose solid feeling carried across all of her articulation. The paint really sells her as eye-catching with its mix of white, gold, and red.
Teela is fitting for the first female MOTUC, as she comes with a TON OF ACCESSORIES. I kid, I kid! Teela not only had one of the best head sculpts in this year (and 2 months), but the debut of the female buck is easily one of the best for female characters in modern toys. No longer is a female character helplessly thin and prone to fall over (hello 200X females). The gold hue is fantastically in contrast with the clean white and wonderful bronze. The spiky shield is awesome, the detail on the sword is a perfect recall of 80’s and 200X styles. Mattel really gave the consumer a choice of display, with a large amount of different ways to make your own Teela unique. Her head sculpt (as mentioned previously) is great, with a ponytail long enough to give some allusion to the early aught’s version, while retaining the “vintage” look of the character rom Filmation and Mattel. It’s just exciting to be able to put a female character figure on a list of “best of” figures and not feel forced, mainly because it’s nice that someone cared about the quality for once (DCUC).
It’s easy to see why me and Jas are in concordance here: even now, Teela’s still impressive. The two heads are maybe the most notable thing about her as both of them are among the most beautifully painted faces in the whole line, with nice clean details for her eyes and lips. Sometimes the Four Horseman sculpts suffer when they’re reduced from 2-ups (which is the generally accepted theory behind the relative weakness of those DCUC females) but Teela stands out as gorgeously realized piece among all their efforts, with her versatility in alternate looks really pushing her into the top flight of the first year of figures. A wonderful first effort in an area that Mattel had been iffy with on the production side of things.
4.) King Randor (December 2009)
Randor, as a character, is awesome. A fighting king is always interesting, as even kings work for what they want. That may not be true on the Filmation show, but in the original figure he looked ready to kick the ass of skull-faced, retconned brothers everywhere! This figure puts the fighting spirit of the original figure and the 200X character back at the forefront. His sword? It’s completely bad-ass, it even looks like a crown! How does one beat that? With a staff that looks like a crown, that’s how. The Horsemen even got the goofy color scheme to work, and giving him touches of the He-Man Iron Cross. Burger King this, Burger King that, his amazing beard and hair totally rule the microwave meat peddler to the ground. His armor works so well, as I love the MOTUC update of the classic armor styles. Randor looks like a true king.
While the different Burger King images are hilarious, this is a standout figure that I think flies a little under people’s radar. Scott Neitlich was smart to opt for the sword over the vintage gold spear (which later came in the second Weapons Pak) as it helps make King Randor more distinct especially with the sceptor/staff. Jaysun may think the color scheme is a little wild (I admit the orange tights are a bit much) but I think that’s what makes the figure: combining regal blue, gold, and red all make for one of the most eye-catching figures, even to this day. That armor is also amazing and the way the cape segues into it? Incredible. Even if he avoids taking on the look of the 200X action-mode interpretation, Randor still looks like he could be at home on a battlefield as easily as he could sit on a throne. That’s not an easy look to attain, especially if you’re hemmed within the visuals of the vintage toy. As a character with three completely separate and drastically different popular interpretations, the MOTUC King Randor still seems definitive; not bad for a figure that’s a tribute to a low-cost repaint from near the end of the line. Randor commands your attention as a modern Masters of the Universe Classics figure when he could have blended too easily into the background of a display with his detailed headsculpt, ornate armor, and excellent accessories.
3.) Mer-Man (April 2009)
Looking at the list, I’d say there’s probably a slight bias against the figures released towards the last quarter of the year but if there was one character that surprised me when it comes to the figures we were expecting to get early on, it was Mer-Man. I knew that all of Skeletor’s famous goons would turn out well but I didn’t think any of them would exceed expectations in the way that the Evil Ocean Warlord did. Like Randor and Teela, he’s got a pair of equally awesome accessories; I still can’t decide if I like his trident or “corn” sword more. The trident finally overtook the sword but less because I’d made up my mind and more because it’s more convenient to store the sword sheathed in a display. That feature is just one of the reasons I love Mer-Man’s armor and really, just his entire aesthetic in general. The alternate heads appeared here first and the look each brings couldn’t be more different outside of color. I have the weird card art head on mine, as it seems a bit more intimidating than the vintage head, but either looks great. Even if Mer-Man is mostly one color, this figure avoids looking basic with a unique deep green mixed on top off yellows. Despite Beast Man’s more detailed sculpt, Mer-Man finally overshadows him with his spectacularly rendered armor and accessory compliment. I actually came to this figure as a reissue and he still managed to impress despite being rereleased among some excellent 2010 figures. When you still love a figure despite one of his hands being splayed out past where he could hold an accessory, you know the Horsemen and Mattel have done a killer job.
Mer-Man ended up being the first MOTUC figure I bought at a Wizard World. He completely sold me on Masters of the Universe Classics. Mer-Man from the 200X line was one of my favorite figures from that entire line, and all the things I love from that figure were faithfully brought over to this one. I also LOVED Mer-Man as a kid, he was easily one of my favorites, and the things I loved about HIM migrated over to this figure as well. The corn-cob weapons are so perfect, and the way the sword fits in the back sheath is way more fun than it should be. Alternate heads were introduced with this figure and I couldn’t have been happier. Besides the amazing weaponry, we can choose how he looks? LOVE it. You could even army build him with the opposite head for Mer-Man’s minions! That’s an exciting way to sell more toys, and boy do I want some. Mer-Man is creepy anyway you shake it, but he’s also so much fun to play with.
2.) Scareglow (November 2009)
Vintage Scareglow is one of my absolute favorite Masters of the Universe figures and it was disappointing how the character never had much of a 200X presence, even as a Staction Figure. Excusing his appearance in the one-shot comic The Power of Fear, Scareglow was absent from Mattel’s big relaunch to the point where I didn’t realize just what a big deal this figure was. As a kid, I never realized how rare Scareglow was as his original toy arrived at the tail end of the line when Masters of the Universe was losing retail space to competing properties. I loved the figure so much that he’s the first toy I ever specifically got an extra of to keep on the card; the result was my family had three of him as my parents had incredible clearance finding skills at the time and my brother wanted another for himself. Scareglow really was seriously popular in my home and that affection extended all the way to me getting a sketch of him done by the 200X comic artist Emiliano Santalucia when me and Jaysun met him at Wizard World Chicago one year; it’s one of the few art pieces I have in a really-for-real-nice frame. Mattel had even more of my attention when they revealed Scareglow would be in the new line and I’ve been majorly on board with MOTUC ever since. As much as the fandom wants to give Scott Neitlich grief, he did the right thing for the right reasons when he put this overlooked character in the line.
Scareglow- the black light He-Fan’s figure of choice. Making this new figure glow in the dark was the greatest, as that made the original one of my favorites to have battles in the dark in the bathroom. Why the bathroom? My dad built one of the bathrooms without a window, so it was complete darkness. Was it easy for kids that knew nothing about He-Man that my mom forced me to hang out with so I didn’t spend all day making giant battles and stories with my figures to confuse Scareglow with Skeletor? Sure, but that made the appeal even greater, it was now a theme. This Scareglow includes two of the 10 best weapons in the entire line, so gotta give up props for that. The love in Classics Scareglow is so clear that it just glows off him. Sorry, I had to, and I never will again.
Since I have such fond memories of Scareglow, there was a lot of pressure on him to represent a truly outstanding release. Fortunately, he more than lived up to the task right down to the glow-in-the-dark paint that reminds he’s there in my display case when I’m watching a movie in the dark. Even his bio is one of the better thought out ones that the product planners have done, managing to cover a reasonable origin while explaining that keen new Grayskull reliquary. Scareglow’s original figure treaded an interesting line between nonsensical and crazy unique with his MOTUC incarnation matching up to those qualities easily; he’s got the most elaborate paintjob of any release in the line’s first year and, minor flecks aside, the effect is spectacular. The red eyes in his headsculpt scream character and the solitary crack on the top really is the kind of detail that sells the ghost aspect when logic starts creeping into the picture. On top of the outstanding new head and cape, the scythe and reliquary make for amazing new accessories, with the latter being particularly inspired since it has zero precedent anywhere else in the property’s history. Scareglow is a top-flight figure, letting me return to an old favorite while letting many fans have their first real exposure to him ever. You really can’t ask much more from a release in this line, with his quality assured by how Scareglow demands some of the higher secondary market prices to this day.
1.) He-Ro (SDCC 2009 Exclusive, July)
He-Ro. Ah, He-Ro. My first foray into the wonderous joy of Mattycollector.com. I can’t begin to describe the wondrous joy which befell me on that faithful day. But at least I got him. His announcement meant this line was aiming to go all the way, and this was the corsage before the hotel room. What’s not great about He-Ro? His variants were all so insignificant that I didn’t care to have all of them (AWESOME!), his boots are still the best yet made, the BADASS blue sparkly sword, the massive opening staff, and the totally rad 80’s headband. IF I were to make a complaint about He-Ro, it would be he feels a bit bulky to play with (but this is a trait I learned to live with). But can I really call having TOO MUCH a complaint with a $25 toy? I couldn’t in good faith. Every color hits right, the fighting wizard aspect it perfectly captured, and this is the first He-Ro figure. For a guy that has loved He-Man since diapers, finally getting to play with this amazing Powers of Grayskull lead character is awe-inspiring. For real though, look at those boots.
As awful as using Matty Collector’s site was (and still is depending on what’s on sale that day), He-Ro was worth the extraordinary amount of stress it took to get him. Like Jaysun, He-Ro signified that Mattel wasn’t messing around from a character standpoint and picking such an infamous example of where the Masters of the Universe mythos stopped in the late 80’s was a beacon for the interesting places this line could go; He-Ro’s first ever figure lives up to all that hype with style to spare. The boots, the staff, the armor, everything about him is startling and he still feel just as special three years later. While his actual story hasn’t been the best related element of the new bios, that isn’t something you can hold against this figure at all and He-Ro’s so outrageously unique that I didn’t even mind the slightly soft paint on his eyes when he finally arrived. The Four Horseman and Mattel didn’t just produce an especially fantastic figure, they made one of the coolest SDCC exclusives that year period. The profile this toy world legend gave the MOTUC line was huge, even if we’re still waiting for Eldor. Kudos to everyone as this is one incredible figure from his Sparkling Crest toothpaste colored sword to his bronze armor finish.
Honorable Mentions:
2009 was one of the tougher years for me to consider as it’s filled with pretty excellent figures. A few were held down by production issues, like He-Man’s red eyes or Skeletor’s hand that couldn’t grip the Havoc Staff; those problems saw fixes in the reissues but of all the major characters released in the first year, the next figure that stood out the most for me (and just missed the list) was Man-at-Arms. His alternate heads are great and not even the soft plastic of his mace can hold back how great all the extra accessories are. Loose fitting gauntlet aside, Duncan is still an astonishing and ambitious release, especially so early in the line. The fact that parts from him sourced at least two figures since, without either of them feeling too much like retreads, is a testament to how well their progenitor turned out.
Zodak. Is it lame to give the spot to a repaint? Maybe. But I love this figure. He’s a step up from Zodac, the web-footed Cosmic yokel. The blue highlight war paint, the boots, the long staff, all improvements on the weak-link one-different-letter compatriot. Zodak is also stupid fun to play with, posing is a dream, the contrast of his color scheme makes his action poses really pop. Everything I dislike about Zodac, I love about Zodak.
Man, poor Zodak; despite easily taking the crown for ‘best variant’ of 2009 (it’s only between him and the Goddess) he didn’t get one of those cool ads that Mattel was putting in places like ToyFare. But that’s it for this round; we’ll be back soon with the top 5 for 2010, once we finish debating about it. Feel free to drop in a comment about how we’re insane for leaving out Hordak or even He-Man as it’ll give me a chance to justify why each of us specifically left them out of the list. In the meantime, I’m going to unfreeze my newly acquired Snout Spout’s right ankle before I open the can of worms I already know the 2010 list will be.
Planned Banter 
I like this list. Only one I don’t really care for is He-Ro. I don’t know if my top 5 would read exactly like this, but at least 2 of them would be in there. I’ve never given much thought to my own MOTUC top 5.
Obviously I would rank the Star Sisters really high…
When the 2012 list comes around (in december?), I believe you will expect the Sisters of Star on there! Neck extensions!!!!
Guess that means I should open mine soon; they’re still MIP along with Swiftwind and the griffin. Dumb space issues. BTW Mattel, how about that second vehicle now? Or a playset?
Love this article! And the fact that just the 2 of you had to agree makes it interesting since there was no way to win by majority. That said, let me tell you how stupid and wrong the choices you agreed on are. Not really. Your list is great and I can’t argue it since I love almost all of the releases so much.
Teela: Wonderful figure that broke my will to resist buying into this line. I fell in love with the painted prototype at a con. I’m not picky enough that I need to be uncomfortably attracted to a toy, but most prior female figures with comparable size and articulation tended to look awkward. Many Marvel Legends, for example. She looked beautiful and strong, unlike many of the 4H’s own DCUC females even. And there’s a good reason. MOTUC is sculpted 1:1 scale, so they don’t get warped from the shrinking process. And that means the figure I finally received was pretty darn close to the high standard set by the prototype that impressed me so much. Awesome!
Her only flaw to me is that as the first female, she didn’t have the benefit of trial and error that resulted in softer skirts for later women in the line.
King Randor: UNDER. RATED. You guys rocked this one. After I bought into this line, I thought about maybe not going back and buying him and a few others that weren’t part of my huge 2008-early 2010 ebay lot purchase. Bought him, Goddess and Webstor together at a con for a great price. He’s just really well done. And he’s not lame for looking silly, he’s great for overcoming some the strange vintage color choices and still kicking ass as a toy.
Mer-Man: Not a lot to say here aside from he’s the only one on this list I had as a kid and he really set a standard early on for optional style-specific parts. Every time we’re disapointed by the lack of an extra part, Mer-Man is partially to blame for being so great. Open hand looks cool, even if it’s sometimes useless. I like it the way it is and I’m glad Eric T. got to take a second shot at Mer-Man to finally get the perfect cardback version he always wanted.
Scareglow: YES! If I had to name a favorite from now until this line is done, it is and shall always be Scareglow. Never heard of him as a kid, so I became fascinated learning about the vintage figure years ago. And also a bit sad, because I’d have loved that figure so much! That crime has now been rectified. Long live Scareglow. Long die Scareglow? I dunno. He’s just a prefect combo of kind of goofy and immeasurably cool looking, and that’s exactly what I love most in MOTUC.
And he’s made of glow in the dark plastic. My kid self is doing backflips.
He-Ro: Only one that I don’t agree with because I’d place several figures above his, but he’s still very important because of what he represents. This line was going to dig deep. This line was about wish fulfillment. Fans got to finally have the main character from a line expansion that was cut short just barely before he existed in stores. Even if the figure isn’t #1, the idea behind him is. Aside from Teela, the other thing that pulled me into this line was the variety of the reveals. Obscure stuff. Unexpected stuff. The occasional thing I’ve heard of. I geek out over this sort of thing. I’m not a He-Man expert, so every time there’s a release that I’m only loosely familiar with, I do a lot of reading on it. And that pulls me deeper into the MOTU world. Which gets me excited even more for whatever’s coming next.
Honorable Mentions: Man-at-Arms I consider top tier. He’s pretty close to perfect. Weapon storage on his back makes him live up to his name! Extra head, a few weapons AND a 2002 sword!? Craziness. I HATED his vintage toy, so this one is truly amazing to win me over so hard.
Zodak: I like Zodac almost equally because he’d so lame and has just a pistol, but he Vintage-Slaps me in the face so hard that I got attached to him. Zodak rocks a bit harder since he somehow looks so tough despite so darn similar.
Plus! GLOW IN THE DARK TATTOOS. Scratch what I said. Zodak rocks MUCH harder than Zodac.
I won’t lie: at least 50% of why I love He-Ro so much is the craziness of seeing an abandoned prototype make it out as a toy. I love mine even if he’s one of the rare figures with a huge QC flub on his face (him and Adora have issues with their eyes) but just hearing about He-Ro in the last mini-comic from back in the day was enough for me to get excited about him. I think I read that about 60 times over the week I spent in a hotel while my sister was being born; I had a stack of MOTU mini-comics and some random issues of Transformers to entertain me along with the recently purchased Quickswitch I’d gotten from the Children’s Palace in the big city.
I didn’t make an argument for Scareglow being number one as I knew that would be totally biased in every way. One more fun note: that Emiliano sketch is Jaysun’s cell phone icon. The She-Ra sketch I got from Enza still awaits use somewhere though…
Here I am, checking for part 2 of this installment and my inevitable feature length reply and I noticed something….
No He-Man or Skeletor!? Strange. And also strange that I didn’t think of them either. I guess that’s the price for being the basic, most inevitable figures in the line. You’re not unusual enough to be picked.
I will point out that I LOVE the MOTUC He-Man. I wasn’t wild about a near naked dude as a kid, particularly since the weapons that made him cool were often lost. 2002 He-Man is probably my least favorite figure I own from that line, and it’s not about the controversial focus group approved hair or crotch pouch. I find his sculpt weird, particularly the huge awkward shoulders that must have been done moments before the 4H figured out their brilliant method of integrating the shoulders into the chest.
Anyway, MOTUC He-Man is the first time I’ve loved the look of the character in toy form. Skeletor is perfection to me, even if I love the 2002 figure’s design almost equally. Also perfect to me is Beast Man, who may be the most enjoyable character to pose around.
Tri-Klops is damn amazing to me. The “secret” eye details are cool along the lines of Scareglow’s keychain. And it must have been a good business month at Mattel for them to put a Doomseeker in there and then go ahead and toss a ring as well. Ring is low on usefulness but immeasurable in nostalgia for things you barely remember owning 20+ years ago.
I also find Webstor pretty much perfect, even if he’s not thrilling due to the standard Skeletor build and simple palette swap. I forget he exists all the time. Once I notice him again, I fall in love with the deep shade of blue and the intense red eyes sitting in that perfect head sculpt!
What I’m saying is…I don’t know. I’d just suck at a top 10 list. I’m seeing the brilliance in forcing yourselves to agree on this.
Enough of that, though. I of course love He-Ro due to the geek out factor. I go nuts over all of that kind of stuff, from Gygor to Vikor. Even the Star Sisters earned some love for me purely on that. But He-Ro’s definitely the king of that group, since he’s a character that you realize was barely snatched from your waiting hands as a kid. Unlike the other cancelled/concept stuff I don’t remember anyone putting up much of a fight over his release. He’s a promise fulfilled, and no other figure will quite carry that same feeling.
(Mine also has slightly googly eyes. But, he was one of my first figures for $25 at my comic shop, so no complaints here)
Jaysun is writing. I’m not logging out and logging in. Gonna have to deal with it.
Well, we discarded He-Man and Skeletor because of their production problems that were fixed in later releases. Still love them though. I love Beast Man, I don’t believe Richard is too fond of him. His face is the greatest, always comedy. TriKlops almost made it, but you can blame me for that one. I prefer his 200X version.
Webstor is so rocking, if I had another honorable mention, would’ve been him. I always have him hanging on display. If his grippy hook breaks, it will be worth it.
Googly eyes…that move?! I want that for BEAST MAN!
Considering how they exhausted EVERY possible toy gimmick in the vintage line, I’m actually astonished that GOOGLOR wasn’t a figure.
The whole first year was really strong which was weird to think about when you realize there weren’t a ton of new parts in play. If this had been a top 10 list, it’d have been easier (as with honorable mentions, we could include everyone) but then these would all be 10,000 words long minimum. I do like Beast Man but he didn’t blow me away in the fashion a lot of the stuff this year did. Webstor was actually my honorable mention until I realized that it’d be a crime to leave Man-at-Arms off the list because he came with so much stuff that it seems like they were getting away with murder. The extra head is what cemented it for me and I think most agree; I don’t know who uses the non-mustache head but they can’t be extremely common.