Can you believe it has been around 8 months since my last Masters of the Universe review? At one point nearly every other review I wrote was a Masters of the Universe item but that's not the case right now. Maybe I'm just very content with the collection I have? I also think I'm not particularly excited by much of what Mattel has been releasing as of late. Origins has become rather stale to me and now most of the vintage figures are locked behind the "Club Grayskull" paywall. Many other products, like anything from Mezco, just seem arbitrarily expensive and we usually get the same assortment of 6 to 8 characters over and over again. I'm excited (and optimistic, I think) for the upcoming film and I still have a deep and abiding love for the property, I'm just not thrilled with much of what's out at the moment. Moss Man is my favorite character, though, and I was thrilled when he showed up in the Masterverse: New Eternia series. The "Heroic Spy & Master of Camouflage" is available online through Mattel Creations and was easy to get. Heck, you can still order him and he went up for order back in August of 2025. My first figure had a defect and I had to send him back and receive a new one. That's why I'm reviewing this guy so far after release (though let me say that Mattel Creations has very good customer service)! He's an incredible Moss Man figure and one that really leans into the Green Man/ Eternian nature spirit side of the character. I love Moss Man as some sort of cross between an ancient Eternian nature demi-god, an Ent, and an urban legend like Sasquatch or Bigfoot. Ready for some more of Moss Man? Then join me after the break...
Height: 8 inches
Articulation: Swivel/hinge ankles, calve swivels, double hinged knees, thigh swivels, balljointed hips, swivel waist, balljointed mid-torso, swivel/hinge shoulders, bicep swivels, swivel/hinge elbows, swivel/hinge wrists, and a ball jointed head.
Accessories: Vine hand, mace, dagger, belt, harness, 2 shoulder spikes, vine wrap, bracer, and diorama backer.
Non-Scalper Price: $35 dollars
Year of Release: 2025
* Mattel's packaging designs for the Masterverse Mattel Creations exclusives have all been just fantastic. You get a very collector friendly box with beautiful art on the front and back, a sturdy cardboard box with the accessories inside, and a fantastic two-sided backdrop. This is way better than anything Hasbro did during their plastic free days plus, since it's online only, no one is swapping out Moss Man for a 12 oz. can of tuna and a dried out highlighter with googly eyes attached.
The Positives:
* Here's Moss Man by himself without all of his extra gear. No, he's not flocked not scented, but he is green, shaggy, and massive. At 8 inches he towers over most other Masterverse figures and just looks like a formidable being. His fur is a little lighter green than it appears in the pictures. And yes, I did say fur as it looks to be fur. I man, I'm pretty opening to Moss Man having both hair and plant growth, so I'm not to plussed. Like the vintage figure, I imagine this body will be shared with other characters in the line, but it's a nice hairy body with plenty of muscles that fits Moss Man just fine. I'm really digging his loincloth which looks to be made from leaves held together by a belt. A very ancient looking belt with some ornate design and a patina. How long has Moss Man had this? Perhaps it's a relic of Preternia?
* Here's Moss Man by himself without all of his extra gear. No, he's not flocked not scented, but he is green, shaggy, and massive. At 8 inches he towers over most other Masterverse figures and just looks like a formidable being. His fur is a little lighter green than it appears in the pictures. And yes, I did say fur as it looks to be fur. I man, I'm pretty opening to Moss Man having both hair and plant growth, so I'm not to plussed. Like the vintage figure, I imagine this body will be shared with other characters in the line, but it's a nice hairy body with plenty of muscles that fits Moss Man just fine. I'm really digging his loincloth which looks to be made from leaves held together by a belt. A very ancient looking belt with some ornate design and a patina. How long has Moss Man had this? Perhaps it's a relic of Preternia?
* This Moss Man portrait is incredible. I am digging his exaggerated features with one eye being open wider than the other and a cocked brow. Also, the beard? Perfection. 10 out of 10. No notes. There's even a drybrush for the beard to give it some variance in the shades of green. This might be my favorite Moss Man headsculpt. I don't know; he's up there with the alternate 200x portrait from the Masters of the Universe Classics Moss Man. There's just so much personality here.
* Here's a shot of Moss Man from the back so you can check out the furry sculpt and see how there's actually some shading on the body to keep it from looking like it's flat and just one color.
* Moss Man has some cool shin guards wrapped around his ankles. They're made from leaves, like his loincloth, and held in place with vines.
* If you take Moss Man without all of his extra gear he's a pretty decent vintage styled Moss Man if that's what you want. Want a better Moss Man, perhaps the best ever? Then check out how he looks when you add on all of his extras. He's way bulkier now with a thick pelt of leaf like growth, various tree branch like growths (are they armored bits he wears or are the ones on his back growing out of him?), and some additional vines and a bracer that matches his belt. He really looks impressive like this and it's clearly the default way he's meant to be displayed.
* Here's a shot to look at the tree branch like growths that are very spike like. Five are coming out from beneath his shaggy green mane (I think it's intended to be his actual hair/ fur/ foliage rather than something he's wearing) and I think they might be growing off of the vines he has wrapped around his chest as a harness of sorts. The two on his shoulders have vines that are wrapped around his biceps, keeping them in place.
* Here's a closer look at the vine wrapped around his right forearm (removable) and the leaf-like growth on his right hand.
* And here's the bracer on his left forearm. Like the belt, it's rather ornate and clearly ancient as there is a patina on the metal.
* The Masterverse figures haven't changed much in their articulation scheme since they first debuted around five years ago but the quality feels a bit sturdier and the joints all have an excellent range of motion. He's quite fun to pose and looks cool just standing around majestically or in various battle poses. He's a heavy fellow, too, so if you see someone littering or something just walk over and club them in the face with Moss Man. It's what he'd want you to do.
* Moss Man doesn't have any extra standard hands but he does come with a really cool wild alternate hand: A tangle of vines that can be used for ensnaring and battling any Evil Warriors that come his way. This is an incredibly cool alternate hand and really looks great on the figure.
* A mace is Moss Man's classic weapon and this one is probably the most ornate version of the weapon we've seen. It's designed and painted to match his belt and bracer so it's also covered with cool flourishes and a patina. The paintwork is quite elaborate, too.
* For closer encounters, Moss Man also comes with an ancient dagger. It's simple but I'm sure it gets the job done for him when he needs to pull it out.
* The dagger fits into the sheath on the vine belt on his waist. The sheath rotates, too, so you can angle it how you want or put it on whichever side of the figure you want to have it on.
* I showed off one side of the backdrop up above but here is the alternate side. That's quite a gorgeous image of the Central Tower of Eternia as seen through a break in the trees. Mattel certainly hires some of the best artists for the MOTU artwork without fail.
Moss Man (real name Kreann'Ot N'Norosh) is one of my favorites and along with the vintage Moss Man I've also reviewed the 200x Moss Man, the Masterverse Revelation Moss Man, the MOTU Origins Moss Man, the M.U.S.C.L.E. Moss Man, a stick of Eternia Pine Deodorant, the MOTUC Moss Man, the Dorbz Moss Man and Beast Man 2-pack, the POP! Moss Man #568, the POP! + Pez Moss Man dispenser, the Vinyl SODA Moss Man, the Pint Size Heroes Moss Man, the Monogram International Moss Man bag clip, the Masters of the Universe Minis Battle Armor Skeletor and Moss Man 2-pack, and the Mega Construx flocked Moss Man that came with the Battle Bones set and the standard Moss Man.
Eh mine smells of something. I dunno if pine cos I can't remember what pine actually smells like and doesn't seem like they sell air fresheners of pine anymore around here. But it's got some scent that other figures don't have.
ReplyDeleteAnyway he's fine, I just don't find the figure that interesting myself. And, it was EXPENSIVE. It cost £45 here not including shipping when a regular Masterverse figure costs me £26. So that annoyed me to spend so much. Then recently Mattel Creations had him in a sale where he was really cheap but only on the US store, not the UK. So that annoyed me too. The figure has had a lot of design and mostly new parts but it just hasn't clicked with me and he's spent all his time on the shelf since I got him back in August.
And I would be excited for the film if not for Jared Leto and his many, many allegations (how does he still get work when he's known to be creepy with women and very young fans, and he's an insufferable 'method actor' and when he leads it a major movie it tends to bomb... Twice in the case of Morbius).
Huh. I just don't detect any smell at all.
DeleteMoss Man is my favorite so I'm already just interested in the natural, woodsy vibe and I'm very thrilled with him. Having him in hand I think he's second only to the MOTUC version for me.
I do wonder why Leto was cast. I mean, I'll be honest, looking at him I can see him as Keldor, but he hasn't really seemed to be much of a box office draw in quite some time. Fortunately, I imagine he's mostly going to be just the voice as Skeletor seems to be largely CGI. I know there have been weird vibes regarding Leto for a while now but the big report from 2025 seems to have come out after the film was already underway/ in production and it doesn't seem any legal action has been taken as of yet. Maybe he'd be out if a sequel hits?
I wonder what method action Leto has taken for Skeletor? Maybe he's been painting himself blue like Dr. Tobias Funke? Has he possibly removed his face with acid? Perhaps he's failing at everything he does these days?
Thing is Leto's reputation goes back at least 20 years. And it was well known enough in 2018 for Dylan Sprouse and James Gunn to make tweets about it.
DeleteDylan tweeted "Yo @jaredleto now that you've slid into the dm's of every female model ages 18-25, what would you say your success rate is?"
To which Gunn responded "He starts at 18 on the internet?"
Also there's photos of Leto at his creepy island (never a good look to have your own island of young women/girls especially in this age) from 2019 and before. Where he's dressed in white robes like he's jesus and hundreds of girls and women are also dressed in white and it's all so weeeeird.
When Kevin Spacey was accused of stuff, he got removed from a film he had already pretty much finished filming and was replaced with Christopher Plummer and scenes were all reshot and cgi was used in some other bits and such and it cost many millions of dollars. If Leto's most severe allegations turn out to be true or even worse, then this MotU film, the character of Skeletor, and well this whole franchise is gonna be tainted forever.
Also still kinda odd we had Skeletor voiced by Mark Hamill, many say the definitive Joker.... and now we have Leto... whose Joker... not quite as popular, eh?
Oh, he's a weird guy for sure and I wish someone different were attached to the property. I definitely think his involvement in the film is being downplayed by the filmmakers. I'd love for him to be removed though I imagine without criminal charges (which I believe Spacey had, though I could be wrong) the studio might not be in a position to do anything.
DeleteMaybe Jack Nicholson could show up and voice Skeletor?