griffin's MOTU collection.

[griffin]

Thanks to Hasbro AU's TFs toy drought in the last few months, I've been able to spend some time collecting the toys I was a fan of before Transformers existed - Masters of the Universe.
I never actually had any, but I had friends and relatives who did, so have always had a liking for the toys and story universe.
Since about half way through last year, I had started getting a bit of a 'craving' for the toys, maybe after the fad of the TFs movie and toys had died down abit and the interest in TFs was dropping off a bit.
I did a bit of research on MOTU, thanks to this website:
http://www.he-man.org/
I was able to put together a checklist of 100 of the early year figures and playsets that I was most interested in, from 1982 to 1987, including half a dozen from She-Ra (I would have wanted more from that series if all the action figures didn't come with things like combs instead of weapons).

The figure of 100 is actually just coincedence, not intended, but covers:
70 Figures
12 Vehicles
11 Beasts
7 Playsets

And as a spread over the years of the original series:
1982 - 12
1983 - 11
1984 - 17 (He Man)
1984 - 6 (She Ra)
1985 - 19
1986 - 22
1987 - 13

As mentioned above, I am limiting the number of She-Ra items to just 6 (the four main characters, her flying horse, and playset castle), and not including accessory items or overly gimmicked figures.

So in my one month splurge, I managed to acquire 64 of those 100 items (with one still owed by a dealer who keeps forgetting to send it). It might sound impressive, to have about two thirds of the collection already, but I was really wanting to get the two main playsets in this first splurge (Castle Grayskull and Snake Mountain). As such, I will have to probably wait until after BotCon to get them, as I am going to hold off on chasing up any more figures until then.
Most of the remaining items are the rare expensive figures, fetching US$40-70 each, as opposed to the majority of the ones I so far acquired at between US$5-20 each. For such a great 'vintage' toyline, I was surprised at how cheaply you can get them these days in complete condition. I guess if they get another live action movie happening soon, these figures will be a lot more expensive to acquire, so I have to complete the collection as soon as I can.

Photo here of what I got during January:
http://www.otca.com.au/motujan.jpg

A quick rundown of the figures in the photo:

1982
-figures - HE-MAN, MAN-AT-ARMS, SKELETOR, BEAST MAN, ZODAC, TEELA, MER-MAN, STRATOS.
-creatures - BATTLE CAT
1983
-figures - TRI-KLOPS, TRAP-JAW, EVIL-LYN, MAN-E-FACES, RAM-MAN.
-vehicles - ATTAK TRAK
-creatures - ZOAR, SCREEECH (still not received)
1984
-figures - BATTLE ARMOR HE-MAN, BATTLE ARMOR SKELETOR, PRINCE ADAM, BUZZ-OFF, FISTO, ORKO, JITSU, WHIPLASH, CLAWFUL, KOBRA KHAN, MEKANECK.
-vehicles - ROAD RIPPER, ROTON, DRAGON WALKER.
-creatures - STRIDOR
1985
-figures - THUNDER PUNCH HE-MAN, MOSS MAN, ROBOTO, SY-KLONE, TWO-BAD, STINKOR, SPIKOR.
-Evil Horde - HORDAK, LEECH, GRIZZLOR, MANTENNA, MODULOK.
-vehicles - LAND SHARK, BASHASAURUS.
-creatures - NIGHT STALKER, BATTLE BONES.
1986
-figures - RIO BLAST, SNOUT SPOUT, EXTENDAR.
-Comet Warriors - STONEDAR, ROKKON.
-Evil Horde - HURRICANE HORDAK, DRAGSTOR.
-Snakemen - KING HISS, TUNG LASHOR, RATTLOR.
-vehicles - JET SLED (accessory)
-playsets - SLIME PIT
1987
-movie - GWILDOR, BLADE.
She-Ra (1984)
-figures - SHE-RA, CATRA, BOW.

Still Missing:
1982
-figures - SKELETOR
-vehicles - BATTLE RAM, WIND RAIDER
-playsets - CASTLE GRAYSKULL
1983
-figures - FAKER
-creatures - PANTHOR
-playsets - POINT DREAD with TALON FIGHTER
1984
-figures - WEBSTOR
-playsets - SNAKE MOUNTAIN
1985
-figures - DRAGON BLASTER SKELETOR
-vehicles - SPYDOR
-playsets - FRIGHT ZONE
1986
-figures - FLYING FIST HE-MAN, TERROR CLAWS SKELETOR.
-evil Horde - HORDE TROOPER, MULTI BOT.
-vehicles - FRIGHT FIGHTER, BLASTER HAWK, LASER BOLT.
-creatures - MANTISAUR, MONSTROID.
-playsets - ETERNIA
1987
-figures - KING RANDOR, SORCERESS, CLAMP CHAMP, SCARE GLOW, NINJOR, BLAST ATTAK.
-Evil Horde - BUZZ SAW HORDAK, MOSQUITOR.
-Snakemen - SSSQUEEZE, SNAKE FACE.
-movie - SAUROD
She-Ra (1984)
-figures - KOWL
-creatures - SWIFT WIND
-playsets - CRYSTAL CASTLE

And when I get the two main playsets, I'll be getting a table in the toyroom to display it all. When that happens (later in the year), I'll post a photo. I also want to get the DVDs while in America (about half the price of the AU DVDs, and exactly the same). Until then, it's back to collecting Transformers... :)

[Pulse]

Very nice Griffin. Good luck finding the other figures for a reasonable price.

The MOTU as a cartoon were very cool but the figures were something I just couldn't & can't (even now) get into (even the new ones they released a couple of years ago). I can recall watching the cartoon on "Agro's Cartoon Connection" when I was a kid (that's showing my age) & recently I've been watching them again on Foxtel's Boomerang in the middle of the night.

About a year ago I watched the live action movie with Dolph Lungren that was made in the late 80's &, I honestly have to say, It was complete garbage - What the hell were the producers/writers thinking? Maybe the poor showing of this movie has something to do with the low values of these figures today.

[griffin]

The new series of toys were pretty bad, because they overdid the sculpting to the point of making the figures looking mutated.
I guess I loved all the accessories that came with the figures and castle Grayskull, plus the sheer size of them compared to the other two main action figure lines at that time - Star Wars and GIJoe.
And it seems that I continue to be in the minority over the live action movie from 1987, as I loved it. I watch it often (had to import a copy, because it hasn't been released here).
I still want to get the original cartoon on DVD though, just to get a better feel for the various characters I now have toys of (for the first time).

[Paulbot]

My cousin (of a similar age to me) had a range of He-Man figures as a kid so I recognise some of those from playing with them, as well as recognising some from the show. He didn't like the comics and gave them to me, I still have them somewhere.

I like that you didn't just ignore the She-Ra line completely. My sister had that She-Ra toy and I remember that the "conversion" to the Princess was pretty lame. I did think the Horde characters were more interesting than Skeletor's goons and remember thinking it was odd they were He-Man toys but in the She-Ra cartoon.

I liked the mould of the new He-Man and considered buying that one, but would like a modern looking She-Ra to match. I think there is one that was a convention exclusive and thus very pricey.

[Lord_Zed]

Nice collection.

I sold almost all my He-men as a child, they were my favourtes till Transformers, and G.I.Joe arrived.

I loved the sculpting of the evil villains for the new He-man series, and have tried to pick up as many as I can. The old toys were alway exagerated, the new ones are equally exagerated but in a way that keeps up with the times. New MOTU TrapJaw is one of may favourte action figures of all time, mind you I'm partial to the old one to, he's one of my few remaining classic MOTU. I wish matel had continued the new He-man line, the sculpts for Four Horsemans Staction figure line have been amazing.

[1orion2many]

:)I liked MOTU but preferred THunder Thunder Thunder Cats :D.

[GoktimusPrime]

He Man + Prince Adam = worst secret identity - ever!
At least Clark Kent had glasses! :p

[autobreadticon]

that guy looks like conan :p

[Soundwarp]

:p Nerd!!!!!!!!!!!


Lol

[GoktimusPrime]

Seriously... it's such a bad attempt at a secret identity.

http://www.heman.altervista.org/He-man.jpghttp://blogspace.mweb.co.za/Portals/_HeMan__SheRa/images/default/hm000.jpg

You know you're secret identity sucks when Clark Kent can surpass it!
http://www.schnappmedia.com/images/supie/superman_06_clark.jpg

Seriously guys... get a frikkin' mask! :p http://www.ls1gto.com/forums/images/avatars/strongbad.jpg

[roller]

Was this some cartoon from the '20's? :p

[Sam]

I thought He-Man's storyline was actually fairly good for a cartoon, such as how the characters were related to one another, and the back story of some of them (Teela's father, He-Man's mother being from Earth, Skeletor being Adam's uncle, etc.).

[Lord_Zed]

You know you're secret identity sucks when Clark Kent can surpass it!

To be fair, He-man did instantly aquire a tan and a macho voice whenever he used the Sword of Power, so If Clark Kents glasses are were enough to throw people of then why not He-mans tan?

[GoktimusPrime]

They're both really crap disguises. :p Even Roller's Optimus Prime mask was a better disguise! ;)

[Bartrim]

Nice collection Griff. My brother and I used to have a huge MOTU collection as kids. Makes me wish I kept it.:(

On the whole "bad disguise" issue Maybe Prince Adam should of said "By the Power of Puberty" when he lifts the sword as it appears he has a growth spirt when he becomes He-Man:p

[Lord_Zed]

Even Roller's Optimus Prime mask was a better disguise!

For his sake he better hope so. :)

[Kyle]

Thanks to Hasbro AU's TFs toy drought in the last few months, I've been able to spend some time collecting the toys I was a fan of before Transformers existed...

I know the feeling... :p

I've been buying lots of the new Lego castle sets since the drought...

[Pulse]

Hey Griffin,

It's been some 3 months since you took that pic. I was wondering if any more MOTU figures have found their way into your home since then? :)

[griffin]

Not with BotCon. But now that it is over, I will start looking for some of the playsets soon.

[Sam]

I thought the He-Man and Masters of the Universe plot was pretty good, and the toys were not bad. But I disliked how the molds were always the same... the new toys have different molds and sizes so they were better in that sense, but I couldn't dig the angular faces man... maybe they're trying to tell you that He-Man was cut out of rock. :)