“So here’s a question for all my readers. Why can’t some fans accept new ideas and concepts in their favorite properties? I’ve been noticing this more and more lately in a few different industries, but the last couple days, it’s the MOTU community that has drawn my ire.
Among many a MOTU fan, it seems to be open season on 200x bashing ever since MOTU Classics started. Fans of the original series like to treat 200x like some sort of nightmare concocted by Skeletor. Yet these were the same people that I seem to recall watching the show and happily gobbling up the figures (when they could find them) just like everyone else. It was He-Man after all, but did they only like it because it was the only He-Man stuff around at the time? Any port in a storm, I guess. Now that MOTU Classics is in full swing, these same fans that stood with us have now turned on us and want to convince us that we too were wrong for liking it.
I realize not everyone was a fan of 200x. Hell, there are some He-Fans that still claim that MOTU Classics doesn’t hold a candle to the vintage line, as insane as that sounds. But, in general, the fan community supported the line and the show at the time.
That was then, and this is now.
The best comments 200x fans seem to get anymore is that “Evil Lyn had hot hair”, and “Thank God that show only lasted two seasons”. I don’t get that. Sure, it’s always ok not to like something. I make a living off of it. But there’s no reason to turn on something just because “it’s not what I watched when I was growing up”. Life goes on after childhood. I know – I didn’t believe it either, but it’s true. We grow up and generally, like it or not, things get better even though many people consistently fail to recognize the improvements.
But the MOTU fans are a special lot. It’s not enough to just talk about liking things better when we were kids, because we were kids when POP and NA were on the air too. Those are cartoons from those same childhoods. And yet, the nostalgia defense seems to only apply to He-Man and not to She-Ra & Optikk?
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But this refusal to look past the original line doesn’t end in harping on the fans of the spinoff properties. In our last Ask Matty, we asked a question about doing new figures with pre-existing parts, like Battle Armor Faker or reusing the parts from a 100% sculpt like Extendar to make an evil Horde counterpart for him to fight and to increase the tooling’s profitability. Again, some fans shrieked in defiance. “How dare they make a new character!” (Mattel didn’t help matters by asking fans to choose between BA Faker and Dragon Blast Skeletor either. Why the hell does it have to be either/or anyway? Doe any MOTU fan actually believe that had we all voted for Faker, they just would have happily ignored Dragon Blast Skeletor? Of course they don’t, or at least I hope they don’t. Mattel does the fans a great disservice with these black & white questions). With some fans not wanting anything but the original MOTU figures redone – not wanting POP, NA, 200x or anything new, the stupidity seems to be piling up high lately. So, here’s what I want to tell all you He-Fans who think Classics only means the original three waves of MOTU figures (yep there’s even a fan contingent against the later less popular MOTU figures). Buy whatever figures you want. If you have a sub, sell off the ones you don’t. Make an arrangement with an open-minded fan ahead of time and have him buy your sub from you instead. Do whatever you have to do to make your personal MOTUverse right in your home. I want you to. You deserve it. |
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But shut the hell up about how you think the MOTU Classics line should be limited. It shouldn’t. You’re wrong. There is an expansive MOTU Universe out there and Mattel has stated time and again that it will include all eras. Mattel has stated time and again that “Classics” implies a style of figure and not one show over another. Let the line thrive and grow without you trying to smother it in its crib.
If you don’t want Zodak? That’s cool, but he and his awesome paint job belong in the line – so let his fans have their moment.
If you don’t want a single POP figure? Then don’t subscribe, but if you miss something because Mattel shorts it, it was still your choice to risk it. There are those of us that think there should be more than three women in our MOTU world and Mattel agrees, so you’re the odd man out. Sorry.
You don’t want New Adventures? Then come May go out and smell the flowers and tell them they’re not as good as the flowers you had as a kid. I’m sure they’ll appreciate it as much as NA fans do.
To sum up, for those who don’t understand yet, leave those of us that enjoy the toys Mattel is going to make alone. You don’t have to like all of them. You don’t have to buy all of them. But we don’t care what you consider to be part of the mythos or not. I’ve got news for you, if it’s considered part of the MOTUverse by Mattel, then it is. Even those disgustingly annoying characters like Orko , Lookie, and Gwildor. If I have to put up with them in my MOTU, you can handle a little Hadron & Lord Dactys.
I totally agree with the author. I grew up with the classic Masters Of The Universe. I Still have my vintage Collection. Complete with Grayskull and Snake Mountain. But I dont want to be Limited to the same figures. I like the fact that mattel wants to release as many characters as they have the rights to. I like the Godess… I like King Grayskull. (even though i missed out on him) I Like Adora.. I want Princess Of Power Figures. Because whether you like it or not She-ra is related to Masters Of the Universe. She is He-man’s sister. He-man appeared many times In she-ra. The more Characters the more Fun the collection! So stop complaining. Dont ruin it for everyone else.
I think the fact that Mattel is releasing Optikk as subscription figure proves that they don’t really care what the hardcore three waves fans think. Strictly from an exposure level, NA is not as popular as POP or even 200X, I didn’t watch that show (I saw a couple of episodes recently and I think it’s horrible), I didn’t owned an Optikk figure when I was a kid, but guess what, it looks great, solid, new and very different. So, he’ll be a great addition to the line.
Plus, if getting Optikk is the only way to get a Man-E-Faces (same legs and Mattel loves to re-use) or perhaps even a Meckaneck, then give me Optikk and I’ll gladly take it.
Not to put too fine of a point on it, but I think Optikk was made because Trap-Jaw/Man-E-Faces/Roboto all use those parts, not the other way around. 😉
I know, and I agree, perhaps I wasn’t clear enough. What I’m saying is Mattel needs to re-use the parts of each character a bijillion times (it must be in the 4H contract or something), so, perhaps there just weren’t enough characters in the first line that needed Trap-Jaw’s legs. So if they only produced Trap-Jaw, because they knew they could use his parts for as many figures possible (including Optikk), that’s why I’m happy to get him.
Also, I’m sure they produced Optikk first because they are not sure how to work Action Features in the line yet. And Roboto and Man-E-Faces are all about action features.
I’m loving every new MotUC figure I’ve seen. Characters I never expected to like, I’m loving it!
But who am I to complain… I got the Green Goddess… 🙂
I like having figures from different eras and the thought of new original figs is fantastic. I think these hardcore fans just want to see the original characters made first and having these other guys come out now delays completing their collections. Personally, I want to see more of the NA series, but I would like to see the transparent robot guy (sorry, I don’t remember his name) soon. He was a favorite as a kid.
His name was Roboto (Yeah, I know… But it was the 80s and MOTU names were usually just bad puns… “Two-Bad”? Really?)
That’s the dude. Thank you or should I say, “domo arigato”. I know, that’s a corny reference, but you said it yourself, it was the 80s. LOL
What? People actually say stuff like this? I’m not a follower of the new MOTU line (mostly because I’m following so many other lines as it is), but I was a avid fan of the show and toys back in the day (had Grayskull and everything). To think people are actually calling for a toy manufacturer to stop and restrict themselves to that is plain short sightedness. We have that. If you want that, collect the old toys.
Look at GI Joe, Transformers and Star Wars. Look at Barbie. All are icons because they innovated and kept product coming, even if they had their off days (or years). So I didn’t particularly like Transformers: Armada. That doesn’t mean I’m going to call for Hasbro to stop trying out new ideas. Jeez. If Mattel wants to put out a few clunkers to fill out the line, then good on them. With the way they sell MOTU, you don’t even have to worry about getting stuck with doubles or with crap figures like us poor bastards who have to worry about case assortments.
You have an awesome site!
Optikk will sell out in 3 hours, easy. Guess what? 200x figures? They were the best toy line ever made. Period. Show me a line with more creative sculpts, character array, great looking figures, and excellent playsets? No? That’s because its the best. It’s our dream. Want Marvel Legends scale vehicles? Too Bad, its a collectors line! Want larger figures in your Star Wars line? Nope! 5-6 inch figures are what collectors consider canon lines, we all clamor for vehicles in EVERY line we collect, and dream of playsets. We also want pose-ability, for display, interesting design, good figure mix, play-ability. Whatever we wanted before and after we never got, but Mattel did it for us then. Respected the past and looked to the future all in one line. And that was it, we will never get it. McFarlane was too late on articulation, Minimates were too late on vehicles, Street Fighter was too late on characters that mattered. 200x will forever be remembered as the pinnacle of Older Collector retail lines. Cherish what we had, do not tarnish it. If that line was so awful, why did it sell so well? It was only the exit of Jeremy Pawader did that line die. If Mattel had offered a little more cash, we could still be buying those figures today, I believe that. As much as I love Classics, I would trade them all for just 5 more 200x figures.
ok… that diatribe is almost precisely the kind of thing that mr rant was talking about, so… yeah. needless to say, jaysun, you’re ill informed about the potency of the 200x line, though i’m glad you liked it. the only one quote i’ll have to fire back at you is “5-6 inch figures are what collectors consider canon lines” ifs not only completely subjective, BUT when one tries to apply objective observation to this, is falls completely apart… the two longest-running, most lucrative boys action figures, microman and star wars, are both 3 3/4 scale and feature more playsets, vehicles, beasts and dioramas than any other toy line PERIOD. microman has more stuff than barbie. sorry homes, that’s the way she is…
that said, i love this article, cuz it brings me to a question… wasn’t the strength of motu (for fans besides myself) that it brough in all these disparate ideas and made a universe for them where anything was possible? that’s why i loved it, cuz nothing was forbidden, anything goes… it inspired the imagination! that’s why new characters are so appealing to me. i love the idea of BA faker and this extendar horde character noisy is suggesting… sounds like a blast!! i love the idea of lord dactys and king carnivus too!
i suppose from an old fart perspective, the great fear is that while doing lord dactys, “tey will kill teh lein,” leaving stalwarts like two bad twisting in the wind… and i kind of get that. i want two bad pretty bad. but i don’t fear the outcome of this line for two reasons… continued nigh-instantaneous sellouts and it’s only action figures… chances are, the line will die before i get EVERYONE i’d like, especially since i want everyone, but it’s only action figures. life isn’t fair, life is short, all that crap. nobody pledged to the fans that they’d get all their faves, so shut the f%^k up and get some perspective. if the idea of not getting roboto makes you THAT mad, you need clinical help. there are starving people some where, go fish w/ them.
course, now that i think about it, shouldn’t we do another of these, only aimed at mattel? the female neck issue, the idea of new characters… they need to hear this stuff too, clearly. and for gods’ sake, stop listening to facebook!! those people are psychotic! wait till they propose an anatomically correct version of mekaneck, (named something else), and hour later, toy guru will be promising to make it… STOP!! they are lunatic reactionarries on there, not the reasonable measured voices of sane observers!
MEKADICK! (sorry I just had to say it…)
i’m glad you could follow my thought pattern there…
2001 the only real problem i had with the 2001 MOTU was that they changed he-man’s sword way too much. it looked like something out of Voltron. also they made cringer sound like a kitten. otherwise it was starting to grow on me. Cool fight scenes and it added to the Original series.
I loved the 200x line! I still do, in fact I have some of the 200x figures mixed in with the new Classics in my display.
Ya I have noticed this too, its some of these people jumping on the bandwagon I guess. But hey I’ve loved every single MOTUC figure that has come out so far.
dude, i’m not dissing the 200x line, but let’s not pretend it’s the grail, that’s all i’m saying… they’re still just figures… and while the line had it’s strengths, it had it’s weaknesses too.
I’m gonna say this once… the original Masters of the Universe cartoons were a joke and are really hard to watch. It really seems a lot of fans of that version, myself included, remember it with rose colored eyes, or whatever that saying is. Dude, no offense on anyone who is, but it is really very homo erotic with all the half naked buff guys running around maybe like 3 girls. I mean, it’s cool if you’re into that sort of thing… maybe 4 girls…
The 200x cartoon, on the other hand, was an innocent adventure cartoon that both boys and girls can enjoy, tough heroic male and female leads against tough scary antagonists.
What Mattel is doing with the Classics line is awesome and I’m glad they aren’t just going after the original stuff, cos that’d just be too boring. Actually, I’d also want to see some new stuff outside of the cartoons, some new characters by the 4H.
I dunno, that’s just my opinion! lol
I think that this same statement (“Stop Placing Restrictions…”) should be addressed to Mattel! “No FILMation-specific characters, no Movie figures that weren’t in the ’80s line…” Come on, Matty!
That said, I am SO glad that Masters Classics is NOT merely an ’80s tribute line. With nods to Princess of Power, New Adventures and the Modern Masters, the line is a great mix. The sky should be the limit! I don’t know that Mattel will ever be so bold as to introduce all-new characters, but I would welcome that, too!
As I understand it, the restrictions you mention are actually contract issues that Mattel is trying to work out, not arbitrary restrictions they’ve placed on the line. I’m sure they’d be happy to do Filmation-specific characters, but they don’t have the rights to those characters at this point.
I completely agree. The backlash on He-Man.org regarding the rumor of a Mo-Larr figure is just… depressing. People are acting like Mattel would be making Mo-Larr the new He-Man or something world shattering like that. Personally I really, really want a Mo-Larr figure, but even if I didn’t, I could definitely appreciate the humor in making one.
Great rant! I have never understood why some people think that a toy line should only be the figures that they want. I’ve heard the “waste of a slot” line so many time in WWE Classic Superstars and DC Universe Classics that I’m utterly sick of it, because I think it’s a crap line. Diversity is the key to a good line, because it gets everyone buying something. I don’t want the Doom Patrol or Metal Men in DCUC, but someone does, and them purchasing those figures will keep that line going, therefore, they’re not a waste!
With MOTUC, they announced from the very beginning that it would encompass anything that has had the MOTU name slapped on it, be it POP, NA, 200x, Classics, etc. That means thatany and all are fair game, with the exceptions of the stuff Matty doesn’t have the license for. So, why be upset that they’re coming when you knew from the very beginning that they were. I, myself, don’t want Optikk, but he looks pretty neat, and people out there do. Adora sold out in 30 minutes! People want these other figures from other lines. To say that including them shows that Matty doesn’t care about those customers that want only the first three waves is ridiculous, because, if anything, they’re showing that they care about everyone and anyone!
Right on, Mr. Rant! It’s all ONE line. Adora is He-Man’s sister. He-Man left for space and say goodbye to Randor! The 200x elements have to be worked in, but that’s okay. They can be.
W
Bring on some new figs! More Cosmic enforcers, BATTLE ARMOR SHE-RA!! Those guys would be better “bonus figures” than Hannah Montana Fanboy Skeletor and nWo He-Man. (Mattel does Hannah Toys whose audience is outside USA IIRC)
The more characters, the better. I’m totally down for new characters mixed throughout MOTUC. In fact, I find the idea very exciting. While there do seem to be a lot of anti-200X comments these days, I remember more than a few people complaining that MOTUC was “a step backward rather than forward.” As harsh as that sounded, I can’t disagree entirely. The modern MOTU toy line ended in 2004, and that isn’t really all that long ago. That means that within the past decade we’ve already had rereleases of various original MOTU figures, and new figures of many of the original characters. Now with MOTUC, we’re getting a bunch of those same characters a third time, and it does get a bit boring at times.
That being said, I think what Mattel’s doing with the MOTUC character lineup is fair to all of the MOTU fans (even if their handling of the line overall is a bit wonky). There’s something for everybody mixed throughout the year. I won’t be buying every single figure, but I guarantee Mattel will get more of my money by mixing it up and tossing in guys like Optikk. Nevermind him not being original MOTU. Nevermind him being from a somewhat looked-down-upon toy line and cartoon. The character looks great, and so does the 4H treatment he received. I can’t wait for it.
So yeah, let’s keep it open. The idea of creating variant Extendar characters is a great one. That’s the great thing about MOTU. You can do a repaint and change up a couple of details and suddenly you have an entirely new character. That was the thinking behind the original toy line. Why not think that way for MOTUC?
Nice Rant!
I don’t have to have every MOTUC. Any they make that I happen to not want, could very well be priorities for someone, like Ram man or Rio-Blast are for me.
I’d love things like Ice Armor He-man and that Halloween inspired BA Faker(yes the He-man variants could get old if they release them too frequently, but I figure it won’t be too bad if they space them out and keep them as bonus figures.)
And regarding throwing the no limits back to Mattel? I’d love to see some key action features included. Would it really cost that much to put a little spray bottle in Kobra Khan? How about if you just make him with a hollow body and a head designed to accommodate one?