{"id":18401,"date":"2012-04-25T22:44:13","date_gmt":"2012-04-26T03:44:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=18401"},"modified":"2012-04-25T22:44:13","modified_gmt":"2012-04-26T03:44:13","slug":"motu-classics-com-thunder-punch-he-man-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=18401","title":{"rendered":"MOTU Classics.Com:
Thunder Punch He-Man Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a>There\u2019s little that challenges my fondness for nostalgia as much as a quarterly Masters of the Universe Classics He-Man armor variant. They\u2019re not just like we remember with newly sculpted torsos and a swank action feature that provided not only added value, but something much more important at the time, novelty. <\/p>\n

In the Classics line so far, the need for a unique torso has been replaced by smarter part reuse, requiring only a new harness or new armor. Toss in a new accessory and the vintage look is achieved pretty easily on Mattel’s end. But while doesn\u2019t take as much investment as other characters, the shadow of the $20-22 price tag draws longer over a figure with so few new parts. Particularly one that is essentially just a change of clothes. <\/p>\n

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I never had Thunder Punch He-Man as a kid. I had the seldom-used Original and infinitely-more-awesome Battle Armor He-Man. I seemingly had no use for the other He-Men beyond that (or Skeletors either for that matter). I guess I was just that odd kid that didn\u2019t need to pile up the different versions of the same character. Though somewhat ironically, I\u2019ve apparently gained that compulsion as an adult. Mattel has gotten me to buy near a dozen DC Classics Hal Jordans (a character I\u2019m not even all that fond of), and they\u2019ve sold me He-Man six times over the last few years. <\/p>\n

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With those things in mind, I wasn\u2019t that excited about spending $20 on another He-Man variant, particularly one that seemingly never appealed to my young self some nearly thirty years ago. I respect the need for these variants and the other collectors who really want them. I\u2019d like to see some Snake, Ice, or Horde Armor myself, so I know the feeling. And yet, I felt like I was going to be taking a Thunder Punch for the team on this one. Draego-Man was the real prize for April, or so I thought. Then fate (a.k.a. Digital River) intervened. My 30th subscriptions would ship separately. Thunder Punch He-Man would arrive days before Draego (Draego still isn\u2019t here, in fact); making sure that I had time to properly examine and appreciate TP He-Man. <\/p>\n

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And a funny thing happened. Thunder Punch He-Man actually turned out to be pretty cool. Yes, he\u2019s still a modern version of a design I had little interest in as a kid. But I see some fun aspects to him now, so much so that I wonder if a cap-poppin\u2019 He-Man would\u2019ve been fun as a kid. I did love that feature on so many other figures after all. <\/p>\n

SO, yes, he\u2019s still just He-Man with new armor and a few new accessories, but the MOTUC team didn\u2019t use him as an opportunity to simply cash in. I don\u2019t know what the magic number of new pieces should be in terms of value, and quarterly variants still seem to be budgeted on the lower end in that regard, but the extras are what really sell Thunder Punch He-Man. <\/p>\n

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At his base, you\u2019ve got the standard He-Man that we\u2019ve surely all bought more than once. The shared parts that we\u2019ve bought in an even wider variety of colors. TP He-Man adds to that variety too, as he\u2019s considerably less tan than previous He-offerings. It makes sense too, as his place in the Toy Guru\u2019s timeline suggests he largely lives underground in Tundaria on the run with other Renegade Masters. It’s hard to keep a tan when you’re on the run. <\/p>\n

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The coolness comes from the details. There is the exceptionally important fist, required for any good Thunder Punch. There\u2019s the new armor which features vac metal on the front and a working \u201cbackpack\u201d on the reverse that can hold another accessory, the imitation cap. The imitation cap is unintentionally hilarious, by the way. What a silly thing to have. The figure also includes the classic Thunder Punch shield that can be used to stow the imitation cap and the included sword, a new clear yellow version. Continue to Page 2<\/a><\/p>\n

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All the new pieces are nice sculpts, true to the original, but with the right look for Classics. Mattel could\u2019ve stopped there. Not to be negative, but they usually do<\/em>. We would\u2019ve been thankful they at least spent the money the new fist – though I do wish we could have gotten it without the crummy paintjob, but I digress.<\/p>\n

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We also got something a little extra with Thunder Punch He-Man too and, like any good collector, it makes me want more. The fist has snap-on energy attachment. I\u2019m not going to say it\u2019s the coolest thing in the world, but it is pretty damn cool. It\u2019s dynamic. It\u2019s visually appealing. It\u2019s just fun. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s something that we definitely need to see more of in the line. How much cooler would Kobra Khan have been with a spitting venom attachment? How about a lightning attachment for the power sword? Energy cackles for pistols. Spell bursts for staffs or hands. A blast of energy for Hurricane Hordak\u2019s \u201ccannon arm\u201d? I could go on all day.<\/p>\n

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I\u2019m not saying every figure need these extra bits. I know this time Mattel had a rare opportunity in that they had a relative cheap figure and already had to cast something in a clearish plastic anyway. But damn! How much cooler could this line be if the budget allowed us to explore further in this direction? How much cooler would our displays be? How much more fun would the figures be?<\/p>\n

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Thunder Punch turned out to be a real highlight for me. It could just be that I wasn\u2019t expecting much out of him. The great Joe Posnanski often promotes a “Plus-Minus” system when he rates movies. Basically, your expectations play into your reactions. Something highly anticipated that turns out mediocre can seem worse than something similarly mediocre, but had low expectations to meet. Is TP He-Man getting the benefit of my low expectations? I don’t know, but I am much happier with him than I thought I would be – though I will admit my newfound appreciation of him comes with the intense desire to find him a new head and make him into a unique character!<\/p>\n

Anyway, TP He-Man\u2019s fun and I need more of that in Classics, nostalgia is great, accuracy is crucial, quality control is king, but fun is important. Very important, cause these are still toys the last time I checked…<\/p>\n

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For more MOTU reviews, check out our
MOTU Classics Collector’s Guide<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/center><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There\u2019s little that challenges my fondness for nostalgia as much as a quarterly Masters of the Universe Classics He-Man armor variant. They\u2019re not just like we remember with newly sculpted torsos and a swank action feature that provided not only added value, but something much more important at the time, novelty.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_options":[]},"categories":[7,34,10],"tags":[78,20,16,2558,1494],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pObc6-4MN","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":21308,"url":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=21308","url_meta":{"origin":18401,"position":0},"title":"Vault Review: MOTU Classics Dragon Blaster Skeletor","date":"October 4, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Masters of the Universe Classics usually does a fantastic job of updating vintage figures with a more modernized look. \u00a0I was particularly excited to see what Dragon Blaster Skeletor\u2019s would look like.\u00a0 Unfortunately I think my expectations were too high. I never had Dragon Blaster Skeletor as a kid, but\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "MOTUClassics"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.itsalltrue.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/dbsk07.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":19001,"url":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=19001","url_meta":{"origin":18401,"position":1},"title":"Mattycollector Announces Dragon Blaster Skeletor","date":"June 6, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Mattycollector announced another upcoming MOTU Classic via a \u201csneak peek\u201d e-mail to Club Eternia members. I was again left off the mailing list, but it didn\u2019t take long for news of Dragon Blaster Skeletor to make his way to me. I gotta tell you though, I'm not in love with\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "MOTUClassics"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":17311,"url":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=17311","url_meta":{"origin":18401,"position":2},"title":"First Look at Thunder Punch He-Man & Stinkor in Package","date":"March 1, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"I\u2019m a little late to the party on this particular update, but Mattel posted in-package pictures of Thunder Punch He-Man & Stinkor on the Mattycollector Facebook page yesterday. We saw Thunder Punch He-Man\u2019s bio at Toy Fair, but Mattel provided some new images of him to go along with Stinkor\u2019s\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "MOTUClassics"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":13133,"url":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=13133","url_meta":{"origin":18401,"position":3},"title":"We did it!!! SDCCExclusive Battle Armor Faker","date":"July 1, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"In a press release today, Toys R Us and Entertainment Earth revealed a handful of shared SDCC\/online exclusives. There's plenty of cool items from several hot toy lines, but there's one you know is near and dear to my heart. A DC vs MOTU 2pk featuring Bizarro facing off against...\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "MOTUClassics"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.itsalltrue.net\/newsimages\/Bizarro-vs-Faker.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3583,"url":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=3583","url_meta":{"origin":18401,"position":4},"title":"ItsAllTrueReview: MOTU Classics Battle Armor He-Man","date":"January 25, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"","rel":"","context":"In "MOTUClassics"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":15680,"url":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/?p=15680","url_meta":{"origin":18401,"position":5},"title":"MOTU Classics Update: New Prices & Schedule Changes for 2012","date":"December 5, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Over the weekend, Toy Guru posted his latest \u201cState of the Union\u201d for Masters of the Universe Classics over at He-Man.Org . It\u2019s a big update; mentioning a few new licensing opportunities as well as price increases, production decreases, a couple schedule changes and some hints about changes to Snake\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "MOTUClassics"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18401"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18401"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18401\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18408,"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18401\/revisions\/18408"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18401"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18401"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.itsalltrue.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18401"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}