Wednesday, October 21, 2020

Minifigure Review: Serpent Claw Man-At-Arms from Masters of the Universe Eternia Minis by Mattel

 

   

Masters of the Universe Eternia Minis series 2 is full of repaints, repacks, and remakes of previously released figures. While some of them are kind of lame, some of the repaints are fairly inspired. Take Serpent Claw Man-At-Arms here; based on a slightly uncommon variant from the Masters of the Universe vs. The Snakemen series of the 200x line, this is a pretty unique look for Man-At-Arms that radically differs in color from his most well known looks. That makes this a more fun and interesting variant in my book who definitely will stand out on the shelf. It's also cool to see some more acknowledgment of the 200x line and designs by Mattel, especially hearing about the hostility some at the company seemed to have had for the 200x line during the Masters of the Universe Classics era. Let's take a look at a minifigure celebrating a pretty fun era of MOTU after the break...



The Facts:

Height: 2 1/2 inches

Articulation: Swivel waist, swivel shoulders, and a balljointed head.

Accessories: Mace, 2 piece Snake Mountain container

Non-Scalper Price: $5 dollars

ID Number: D





Comparison:

*On the left is Serpent Claw Man-At-Arms while the first series Eternia Minis Man-At-Arms is on the right. Serpent Claw Man-At-Arms is a straight up repaint of the first series figure.









The Positives:

* Since he's a repaint of the previous Man-At-Arms, Serpent Claw MAA still has a really nice sculpt. He's very detailed and his color scheme does an admirable job of capturing the look of the 200x variant the figure is based on. It's quite cool to see Duncan in a different color scheme. The laser blaster on his left arm is also quite pronounced, which I really like. 



*  Man-At-Arms has the same headsculpt as the series  figure, though I wish he'd had the headsculpt from the 2014 figure. It would have meshed better with this figure since it's based on a 200x variant. His face is still quite expressive, though (he looks pretty angry!) and he's also sporting a clean shaven look. Yup, no stache here. That's accurate to the vintage toy but not the 200x figure. I've always liked Duncan better with his mustache, but it's OK to have some variation here since this is a repaint.


* I really like that Mattel gave Man-At-Arms all of the cool gadgets he carries with him. They're tough to identify here but he's clearly got them. 

*  These are nice little minifigures with decent articulation, especially the ball jointed heads.  They're very durable little figures and would probably fit in well with lines like Imaginext and the Hasbro Heroes figures, so if you have a little one who's into MOTU these could be some decent starter toys. They're fun to play with and have a lot of shelf presence!

* Duncan only comes with one accessory but it's his classic mace. It's molded in silver this time to better match the look of the Serpent Claw variant.
* The Eternia Minis come blind packaged but it's actually not a bad thing at all. First, there is a very prominent code on the bottom of the package identifying the figure inside (Serpent Claw Man-At-Arms is "D"), so you don't have to buy these without knowing what you're getting. Second, the packaging is a very cool plastic Snake Mountain. It actually separates in half and you can connect them with other Snake Mountains to make a long chain of evil. It's a cool sculpt and some of the best blind packaging I've ever seen. The detail is insanely nice on this!

*  Furthermore, the Snake Mountain container functions as a really cool display stand. There is a peg on top that plug into the figure's feet. When you connect a row of these together you can have a long display stand for multiple figures.
   There are only two Heroic Warriors in the second series of Masters of the Universe Eternia Minis and one of them, He-Man, is a straight up repack of the series one figure. Serpent Claw Man-At-Arms is the second Heroic warrior and he's the winner of the two. I already liked this Man-At-Arms sculpt and I think this color scheme might be even better! The 200x line had some cool color variants and Serpent Claw Man-At-Arms was a pretty unique one so it's great to see it here. For $5 bucks, this is an Epic little minifigure and one of the highlights of Series 2. Make sure to track him down if you can!

 

 If you're a fan of Man-At-Arms, I've also checked out the Mega Construx Man-At-Arms, the minicomic Man-At-Arms from Castle Grayskull, and the toy Man-At-Arms from the Battle Bones set, the Dorbz Man-At-Arms, Mondo's 1/6th scale Man-At-Arms (Mondo Exclusive), the 200x Man-At-Arms, the NECA Series 3 Exclusive Micro-Busts set which includes Man-At-Arms, the Funko POP! Man-At-Arms #538, the Little People Man-At-Arms, the ReAction Man-At-Arms (Movie) variant and blind boxed Man-At-Arms (Metallic), the Super7 Man-At-Arms and Crystal Man-At-Arms, an appearance in 1983's Colorforms Masters of the Universe Deluxe Play Set, the Eternia Minis Man-At-Arms, and the M.U.S.C.L.E. figures from the #1 Masters of the Universe Set (Green) and the original He-Man, Teela, & Man-At-Arms set. 

For more reviews from Masters of the Universe Eternia Minis check out the following:




2 comments:

  1. ...have yet to see any of these mini MOTU- want them all!

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    Replies
    1. Do you have my email? I've seen them everywhere and I can probably help you out!

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