Moss May: Moss Man from Masters of the Universe by Mattel

    Today is the last day of Moss May and I'm going to wrap things up with a look at the Moss Man figure from Mattel's 200x Masters of the Universe toyline. Moss Man did appear in the Mike Young Productions cartoon that went along with the toyline and he had an incredible redesign that has never been fully captured in to form. Yes, this is the Moss Man from the 200x series, but his design his not based on his excellent cartoon appearance. Instead, his design is based on a mixture of the vintage toy and the 200x Beast Man as this Moss Man is again a Beast Man repaint with flocking added. While I would have loved a cartoon accurate Moss Man, I still do like this figure. Also, Moss Man was a mail away exclusive from Mattel. All you had to do was purchase three Masters of the Universe figures on one receipt and then send in the order form with $5 dollars shipping and the three proofs of purchase. That doesn't sound too bad but the problem was that the 200x series had some serious distribution issues after the first series, so finding three figures you needed at one time was reportedly more difficult. Also, requiring the proofs of purchase meant you had the destroy the packaging, and thus made this a more costly exclusive for fans who kept their action figures mint on card. Still, if you lucked out and found three figures you needed at one time Moss Man was a pretty nice prize. Let's take a look at Moss Man, the Heroic Guardian of Nature, after the break...

Old School MOTU: Butthead from He-Man by Mattel

    I don't know if Butthead has the strangest name for a Masters of the Universe figure but he's definitely one of the characters whose name will make you giggle when you hear it. Butthead is another of the Space Mutants from The New Adventures of He-Man cartoon who received some major screen time on the show, although he was referred to as BH on the show so as not to offend the censors or parents. Butthead was part of the 3rd series of figures in Mattel's He-Man line and was released in 1991. Unlike many of the other 1991 figures, however, I never owned him as a kid. Honestly, I don't even remember him. Looking at Butthead now, though, there are definitely elements of the character that remind me of some of the early concept designs for vintage MOTU characters that appeared in tomes such as the Power and Honor Foundation's catalog. He's kind of like an evil version of Ram Man, isn't he? Let's take a look at Butthead after the break and see if he's a smashing success or a wet fart of a figure. More after the break...

Old School MOTU: Thunder Punch He-Man from Masters of the Universe by Mattel

   Ready for another He-Man review? Of course you are! If you weren't, why the heck would you come to Action Figure Barbecue, right? Today I'm checking out Thunder Punch He-Man, the heroic leader with a loud power punch! Thunder Punch He-Man is another of the vintage He-Man variants from Mattel's juggernaut of a toyline and Mattel worked to always keep He-Man himself on the shelves. While the original figure was re-released a couple of times, Mattel also put out some unique variants over the years to keep the main man fresh on shelves. Thunder Punch He-Man was released in the Masters of the Universe line in 1985 and was the third He-Man figure released (not counting Prince Adam). I never had this He-Man as a kid, though, and I'm speculating it is because I tended to go for more new characters rather than variants. I had the original and Battle Armor He-Man and Prince Adam, and that was enough for me at the time. Of course now, after 35 years, I finally managed to get my first vintage Battle Armor He-Man. Let's check him out after the break and see if he still packs a powerful punch!

Moss May: Moss Man from Pint Size Heroes: Masters of the Universe by Funko

    There are only a few more days of Moss May left so I've decided to at least finish Funko's four Moss Man offerings thus far by checking out the Pint Size Heroes Moss Man! I've reviewed a few of the Pint Size Heroes over the past month or two and I really would like to see a second series of them. They're quite small but they display well when posed in front of other Masters of the Universe vinyl figures and such. Like the other three Funko Moss Man offerings, this Pint Size Heroes Moss Man has his own unique sculpt, meaning he isn't just a Beast Man repaint like the vintage toy and Mattel's other Moss Man offerings. Let's take a look at this little sprout of a Moss Man after the break...

Moss May: Moss Man from POP! + PEZ Dispensers: Masters of the Universe by Funko

   Today for Moss May I'm checking out the Moss Man POP! + PEZ dispenser Funko released last year. Moss Man was actually the first of the MOTU Pez dispensers I picked up since I adore Moss Man and I really like the wacky concept of these. Moss Man was a standard release and not an exclusive or anything, though I don't recall ever seeing him in the wild anywhere (mostly places like GameStop, FYE, and Hot Topic carried these). He's not flocked which is definitely unusual for a Moss Man toy, but I guess since he's a food dispenser that you might conceivably have to wash at some point flocking doesn't make sense. Let's take a brief look at this Moss Man Pez Dispenser after the break...

Old School MOTU: Snake Busters Car from Hot Wheels by Mattel

 Ready for another kind of oddball Masters of the Universe review? How about a review of the Snake Busters Car from Hot Wheels? Originally released with the Hot Wheels Snake Mountain Challenge set it appears that the Snake Busters car was later sold in a baggie via the Mattel Toy Club. What exactly was the Mattel Toy Club? I'm not 100% sure, so if you can enlighten me I'd appreciate it. My guess is that it was a mail away program managed by Mattel to sell items directly to consumer (Kenner, Hasbro, and many other toy companies had similar programs). There are many sellers on Ebay who have a full box of these individually wrapped, so it really seems that these may have even been used as a promotional item or something. Let's take a look at the car itself after the break...

Old School MOTU: Quakke from He-Man by Mattel

    Of all the New Adventures of He-Man toys I had as a kid, Quakke was always my favorite. I really don't remember what happened to him (he was probably a victim of a yard sale) but I've recently been able to remedy a past error and he's now part of my collection. I love Quakke and I was thrilled that Super7 included him in Masters of the Universe Classics when they took over (he was one of my most wanted MOTUC figures for a long time) as he has such an interesting design and a pretty cool play feature. One of the Evil Space Mutants, Quakke hails from the planet Denebria and uses a massive mace to cause earthquakes. That's one heck of a power! Like may of the He-Man figures I've reviewed lately Quakke was from the third series of action figures and was another toy I picked up on my epic childhood excursion to the Gurnee Mills mall. Let's see if Quakke lives up to my childhood memories after the break...