ItsAllTrueReview:
MOTU Classics Moss Man

NoisyDvL5

As if Moss Man wasn’t full of enough vintage goodness already, Mattel took things a step further and added his trademark scent just like we remember. I’d heard online that Moss Man was particularly pungent and I was eagerly looking forward to smell just how bad he’d be. I have to say I was disappointed.

Now, for full disclosure, I worked in the candle business for a long time and, evidently, I broke my sniffer. I smelled Moss Man, mildly at first, but quickly got used to the scent. I wasn’t sure if it was just me or if my Moss Men weren’t up to par. When Sil got home, she immediately made a face and demanded to know what the smell was.

Okay, so it’s just me. He stinks. He-Man wouldn’t step on him accidently in the wild, because he could smell him from ten feet away. But, in my defense, Sil’s gotten used to the smell too, just not until the next day…

One thing we skipped over during our discussion of flocking was its ability to hold up to over time. I’ve played with them a bit, had them outside, knocked one off a 20ft deck (oops), and the flocking has held up really well. I think if I wanted it to come off, I could make it, but it’s gone through some rugged play so far and come out fine. But, then again, I haven’t gotten him wet.

Yep, that’s one more controversy to the Moss Man release. The glue used is apparently water soluble. If you dunk him for a bit, you can remove the flock fairly easily.

While I’d be steamed if I got my Moss Man wet, it’s not been bad for all MOTUC fans. There is an anti-flocking contingent in the MOTU fandom and more than a few have taken advantage of the water soluble glue.

Pictured at right is a custom by friend of IAT, Nate Baertsch. You may know Nate by his screen name, Baena, and for the beautiful artwork he produces and showcases on both his blog and DeviantArt (check out those POP redesigns!).

Baena let us know that it was a fairly easy custom to do with most of the work going into removing the leftover glue and matching the paint from the various different colored parts of the body. As you can see, he did an amazing job.

So much so, that I can honestly say I’m not opposed to Mattel trying and replicating Baena’s success. I had thought an unflocked Moss Man relying on Beast Man alone would come out silly, but with the 4H sculpting the head details under the flock and Baena’s hard work, this version of Moss Man is sharp.

Huge thanks go out to Baena for letting us showcase his work for this review. Thank you!

Overall, I’m glad to be off the flocking roller coaster. There have been times that I’ve been convinced that I wouldn’t be happy with this figure. There were times I wasn’t even sure what version I was going to end up with. But in the end, everything worked out. The final Moss Man is a great figure with enough options to appease fans of both the vintage and modern looks. The flocking may look odd in pictures, but it person it blends together so well that it even hides some of the joints. It’s just another great figure in the line. It’s not worth the high prices if you missed out, but it’s worth waiting for the reissue.

And most importantly, it’s Moss Man! He’s one of the eighties toys that crossed over into parental awareness. I wanted to see if mine remembered him, so I took him to show my parents after he arrived. I figured they hadn’t even thought about Moss Man since I was a wee tot playing with him a quarter-of-a-century ago, but my Dad took one look at him and asked, “does this one smell?”

“It’s just like you remember,” I said as I handed it over.

He took a whiff, smirked, and asked, “how much did you pay for him?” That’s my Dad.

“Well,” I said, “not everything is just like you remember…”

For more MOTU reviews, check out our MOTU Classics Collector’s Guide.



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31 thoughts on “ItsAllTrueReview:
MOTU Classics Moss Man”

  1. Hey, this is a Red Sonja figure review…I’ve been liked to! >_<

    I like how the pics make him look like a Mego doll, makes me want it even less 😀

    Hey, I didn't notice the green stuff was multi-colored, that's pretty cool.

      1. “This ISN’T a Red Sonja review, I’ve been LIED to!” Tharrr!

        …Did you guys edit my post so I look like more of an irate bum than usual? xD

        1. I did rescue it from the spam filter (because my blog likes to toss you in there, not sure why…), but it is otherwise unedited. 😀

          1. Thanks for looking-out! xD Even AD considers my posts spam, and probably Poe too since only maybe 1 in 3 comments will get through…yeah, I’m sure that’s why, haha!

  3. oh lord… i don’t think i can handle moss puns… i just can’t take any moss!

  10. After reading several Moss Man reviews and looking at countless photos, I truly think I’d prefer a figure like Baena’s custom, that head sculpt looks fantastic without the flock generated fro’

  13. Great review. Entertaining and that’s what we needed. Everyone else has already covered all the usual nonsense, so I was pleased that this review was more fun while still be informative.

  14. Cool review NoisyDvL5.Looks like I have to get Moss-man from BBTS store and I almost got un flock version on Matty Collector.

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