Last weekend I drove to Needless Toys & Collectibles in Lincolnton, NC where I found three of the four figures from the newest series of Mastervere action figures. This is a fantastic toy store that not only carries lots of great vintage toys (they had a G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero Defiant in the box) but also stocks new product from smaller companies like Four Horsemen Studios, Mezco, the Nacelle Company, Super7, and Boss Fight Studios as well as product from Mattel, Habro, NECA, and McFarlane. Since they actually have accounts with these companies, their prices are really competitive. The newest series of Masterverse figure includes the Sorceress from MOTU: Revelation, Pig-Head from Sun-Man, Shadow Weaver from Princess of Power, and a New Eternia Man-E-Faces, which I'm checking out today. By the way, Shadow Weaver was the figure I didn't pick up yet, so I'm still on the hunt. Man-E-Faces is one of my favorites and is always such a fun figure, so I was really looking forward to him. Ready for a cool new take on Man-E-Faces? Then let's check him out after the break...
Height: 7 inches
Articulation: Swivel/hinge ankles, calf swivels, double hinged knees, thigh swivels, balljointed hips, swivel waist, balljointed mid-torso, swivel/hinge shoulders, bicep swivels, double hinged elbows, swivel/hinge wrists, and a rotating head.
Accessories: 4 interchangeable hands, helmet, 6 faceplates, pistol, and carrying case.
Non-Scalper Price: $23- $25 dollars
* When you pull Man-E-Faces out of the package you're met with a very classic, vintage styled Man-E-Faces. I mean, there are definitely updates here such as better detailing, more colors, and some slight differences, but if you just want a classic styled Man-E-Faces in a larger scale, you've got it here. The back of the package describes Man-E-Faces as an adventurer and mentions an event when Castle Grayskull shatters New Eternia, connecting it with the shattering of Man-E-Faces mind. It seems to convey that this event curses Man-E-Faces, forcing him to take on the mind and memories of multiple different beings, each with their own agendas. The last line, "Little does he know, the combined memories of his many faces are the map for restoring Eternia to glory" is very mysterious and definitely makes Man-E-Faces an important part of this new mythos. I love it.
* His helmet is really cool and so is the classic Man-E-Faces head inside. It's really just a faceplate but it looks excellent. The helmet itself doesn't rotate; only the cylinder. Man-E-Faces can swap faces, but it's a bit different than usual. See the purple knob on top? You can't just spin it with your fingers. It's actually a feature and not a flaw, but I'll get to that in a moment.
* When you pop off the helmet (it's easy) you can rotate the head cylinder with your fingers if you wish. There's another way to rotate it, though, but I'm not there yet. The faceplate attach onto the three sides of his cylinder, so you can swap them up. Since six are included, you really get some fun options. Three of them are new to Man-E-Faces, too, so that's awesome.
* Next up is an amazing new take on Man-E-Faces' robot face. I love this, especially the red eye-ike visor. This just looks incredible. But wait.. there's more!
* The third face is the classic monster face for Man-E-Faces and while it's not as intricate or as detailed as the MOTUC sculpt, it still looks pretty solid.
* Now let's take a look at the three new faces! Yes, three new faces that we have never before seen with a Man-E-Face figure. The first is a really cool take on the standard Man-E-Face face that comes from Mark Tayor's concept work for the character, which was originally called Multi-Face. The coloring is slightly different than the concept art, but the design is the same. It's a cool, fresh take on the character despite being based on something even older than Man-E-Faces himself.
* The final face is a skull. Not Skeletor's skull, though maybe there's some inspiration there. The MOTUC Man-E-Faces did come with a separate head cylinder with a Skeletor face (as well as He-Man and Orko faces), so perhaps this is a take on that. It also kind of looks like the Vashta Nerada from Doctor Who as well.
* Here's a shot of Man-E-Faces from the back so you can admire the tubes and details and such. He definitely is a weird blend of man and technology, and this figure shows that off nicely.
* Perkaedo's boots and trunks are very true to the vintage figure with a nice, metallic blue sheen and some purple highlights. Classy!
* Other than not having a ball or barbell jointed head, Man-E-Faces is as well articulated as any other Mastervers release. He's tons of fun to play with, especially since you can match poses to his different faces, and the quality is excellent. These are some really fun action figures.
* Man-E-Faces has two pairs of swappable hands: A pair of standard grips and a pair of fist. They wap easily and give you a couple options for displaying him.
* A cool briefcase is included to tote around his extra faceplates. There's some circuitry sculpted onto the lid and a giant eye design as well. Why? Why not, I say.
* My only complaint is that the case doesn't have a true hinge; just a bent plastic hinge. That means that over time the plastic will get stressed ad may eventually break. I hate when you have to stress plastic pieces like this.
For more of Man-E-Faces check out my reviews of the MOTU Origins Man-E-Faces, the Mega Construx Man-E-Faces, the Netflix Man-E-Faces, and the M.U.S.C.L.E. green Man-E-Faces from the Masters of the Universe Set #1 and the flesh colored M.U.S.C.L.E. Man-E-Faces.
For more Masterverse reviews check out the following:
Damn, Masterverse wave 8 is a super strong wave (with 3 absolute killer figures in Man-e-faces, Sorceress and Pig Head) after a rather tepid wave 7.. Man-e-faces (Maskor, in its french version !) always was my favorite MOTU figure when I was a kid. I can still remember how it felt when that incredible wave 2 hit the toy stores.. That combo of 4 figures (Ram Man, Man-e-faces, Trap Jaw, Tri-Klops), it was just unbelievable. Masterverse wave 8 hits the same kind of super colourful, super creative vibe, I feel.
ReplyDeleteSeries 8 is really strong, but I thought series 7 was really strong, too. Honestly, Masterverse has really just been a very strong line overall for the last few months. I'm always excited for what's next with this line. It's very exciting, especially with the excellent mix of different areas of MOTU covered. My NA He-Man is on the way, too, so more coolness incoming!
DeleteHey! That's pretty cool. My NA He-Man just arrived today. Hopefully I'll get to open him late tonight while watching The Mandalorian.
DeleteAlso just wanted to add this : if I were you, I wouldn't worry too much about the plastic hinge on the suitcase. When I was a kid, all the Big Jim suitcases had plastic hinges like that, and they never broke, to the best of my knowledge. The plastic kind of turned white at the hinge after a while, though.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I doubt that I'm going to be opening and closing it enough to cause it t break, but it's just a weird design issue to me. I had a few plastic parts like that as a kid that did eventually snap, though I'm trying to remember what they were off hand.
DeleteWow, Man-E-Faces is like Zartan but way cooler! At least for me it is. Sure, Zartan can disguise as the Hard Master or even Snake Eyes, and in the cartoon he even disguised twice as Cobra Commander, but Man-E-Faces looks like if he was a disguise master!
ReplyDeleteNot gonna lie, sadly i don't have clues about Man-E-Faces nor his history/biography. Could antone give me a brief description of Man-E-Faces and his roles in combat?
Finally, the only thing i can say is that it's a great review for a great figure. I hope to see more MOTU figure reviews, maybe that way i can get more info about MOTU's lore and history!
I wasn't being sarcastic. As i told here tons of times, never liked MOTU much except the live-action film, so apart of He-Man and Skeletor i don't have many clues about the characters, so i have to make my own suppositions.
DeleteLike many MOTU characters, Man-E-Faces has a few different backstories. He's an Eternian actor who has either been cursed with multiple personalities or who just has the ability to change his faces in order to play more parts. Sometimes his personality and power can change depending on the face (that was his portrayal in the 200x cartoon series).
DeleteHe has been used as a disguise expert before because of his acting abilities, though he wore an outfit to complete the disguise. There was also a plan to make him a shapeshifter for the planned "He-Ro, Son of He-Man" cartoon that never happened.
Wiki Grayskull and the Battle Ram Blog are excellent Masters of the Universe resources, are are the excellent multiple books from Dark Horse publishing.
Wow, nice character story! Well, at least you can use both this Man-E-Faces and Classified's Deluxe Zartan and make a competition to see who is the true master of disguise! Or at least who is the best to mimic people for videocall pranks, ha, ha!
DeleteMan-E-Faces owned Zoom during the Eternian pandemic lockdowns. He trolled everyone.
DeleteCarnivac : well, Bat-Lyn and Two Bad were cool indeed, but I found the other three a little boring.. especially Roboto and Frosta. But it's just a matter of taste. The previous wave (with Jitsu) was even more boring actually, I really don't like the Masterverse Jitsu, everything about it looks "off" to me (the face, the build, his big golden hand..).
ReplyDeleteHey, those are both solid figures, so stay excited for them! Also, I think Stratos was amazing and I'm not a big Stratos fan. He turned out incredible.
DeleteAnother cool figure that was inspired by good old Man-e-faces : Power Lords Disguyzor.. I still have the figure with me after all these years (although my favorite Power Lords figure has to be Grippttogg the 4-armed brute..). Any Power Lords enthusiasts out there ? It would be so cool to get new figures of these characters.. Four Horsemen nearly did it apparently, or at least they were planning to do it, but it seems like the project was abandoned, eventually.
ReplyDeleteThat's cool. I know a little about Power Lords but not much. I wondered what happened with that line. It looks like they're going to use some of the influence from that line in their Cosmic Legions series.
DeleteOops, sorry about my (unfortunate) comments on Jitsu and Frosta, Carnivac.. Expressing one's appreciation or dislikes on social networks is always a little tricky, as one can always (unwittingly) hurt someone else's feelings in the process. However, I'm sure my curmudgeonly comments won't keep you from enjoying your new figures ! ;-)
ReplyDeleteAnd hopefully (for us), wave 8 won't take forever to reach European shores. I'd really love it if my next Masterverse purchases were Man-E, Pig and Sorceress..
Feel free not to like any figures you want. Except for Moss Man and Teela. Anyone who badmouths Moss Man or Teela here gets a stern talking to from me.
DeleteWell, i understand that Teela is a really cool character and if someone doesn't like her that person deserves to get jailed in the catacombs of Castle Grayskull.
DeleteBut, i must say that Moss Man is a curious case. The character design for me looks more like a green monkey (in fact it reminds me of a Kinder Surprise toy i have from years ago which was a green monkey with velvet skin and hair, maybe that is why i see it that way), but the concept of a guy made entirely of moss just to camouflage in the open fields and manage to surprise his enemies is incredibly funny but effective.
Expecting a package and it not arriving is just a soul crushing feeling!
DeleteI liked the Moss Man Masterverse figure, though the sculpt might be a bit "soft" but it definitely gave him a unique body and leaned into him being an Eternian nature spirit. My favorite Moss Man is probably the MOTUC version with the 200x inspired head, followed by Mythic Legions Bryophytus. He's a great "not" Moss Man. The upcoming Netflix CGI Moss Man with the owl companion looks pretty amazing too.
And I love Fisto, but an evil Warriors Fisto in new Eternia would be pretty cool.
Yeah, having Bale's Batman improve the batsuit was a nice nod to the flaw of Keaton's costume.
ReplyDeleteA turning head would have been nice and I'm sure they still could have made it easily removable. Not sure why they didn't
And, yeah, Perkaedo does come from the MOTUC bios. I actually kind of like it. I'll be honest; I've looked and I have no idea what word you're referring to in that name.
Wow, I've just looked up Four Horsemen's Cosmic Legions series of figures, and these are amazing - right up my alley. I kind of hate how Four Horsemen's stuff is always kind of pricey and "limited" (read "already hard to find after only a couple of months"), but thanks for mentioning them, Barbecue17, I will definitely scour eBay and check what's available.. :-)
ReplyDeleteThey actually have quite a few stores that are direct retailers of their product. Stores like BBTS, yeah, but they have quite a few in Europe as well. You do have to typically preorder their merchandise or pick it up right away as they don't overproduce for mass retail like Hasbro, but they usually give very generous preorder windows.
DeleteFinally got this guy (I was waiting for the price to drop on amazon.fr), and I just love how the suitcase where you can store away the extra faces is an obvious throwback to the "004" spy Big Jim, which was hugely popular back in the early 80's. Another really cool case of Mattel self-referencing their own history, and re-using ideas from other toy lines of theirs from the past. Great figure whatsoever, I first thought that the greyish blue on the arms was a little off-putting, but I have grown used to it. Any idea if Whiplash will be in the same "scarcity limbo" as Pig Head ? Based on what I have read online, it doesn't seem unlikely..
ReplyDeleteHey, that is really cool about the spy Big Jim. I'm not terribly familiar with Big Jim, so that was new to me.
DeleteI'm not sure about Whiplash. Over here it's been pretty easy to find most figures, especially using e-tailers like BBTS. He's still available for preorder there, so who knows?
Speaking of Big Jim in relation to Man-E-Faces, I think that the very first prototype for Man-E was actually an evil character from the Big Jim line called Zorak. That's where they took the idea of the solid "hood" which conceals several different faces (2 in the case of Zorak, 3 in the case of Man-E..) :
ReplyDeletehttps://www.coleka.com/fr/figurines-de-collection/big-jim/figurines-big-jim/zorak_i56390
That Zorak is really neat. I need to spend some time checking out the Big Jim Archives of stuff as there are some really unique pieces from that line.
DeleteOh, one ugly spot on the face of this otherwise pretty much perfect figure : the big copyright information/"made in Thailand" text on the area just above his arse.. Maybe I'm amnesiac, and I don't own all the Masterverse figures (far from), but I don't remember seeing that on another Masterverse figure before.. It's like barcodes on the artwork of records/CD's if you get my point, you just want to make it disappear with a magic wand.
ReplyDeleteI don't remember them standing out too bad on the other figures, either. Maybe it's underneath the furry trunks on the other figures?
Delete