40th Anniversary He-Man In Hand Review

40th Anniversary Masterverse He-Man In Hand Review. We got our hands on the most powerful man in the Universe and we take an depth look!

Celebrating 40 years of Masters of the Universe, the most powerful man in the Universe returns in truly glorious fashion with this new 40th Anniversary Edition Masterverse He-Man in a stunning homage to the 1982 Vintage He-Man action figure! This is hands down the best He-Man figure to date and pays tribute to the true Origins of the character and his vintage design. This standard retail release is everything we could have wanted in a modern He-Man figure! We got our hands on him, so let’s take a deep dive look at the strongest man in the universe! I can’t tell you how excited I am for this one!

In a complete homage to the 1982 vintage He-Man, the new Anniversary He-Man has a vintage inspired head sculpt, and vintage style chest armor with the classic red cross. This new head sculpt looks amazing! The recent modern versions of He-Man’s head sculpts have all been a bit off, but this Anniversary He-Man head sculpt absolutely nailed the look of his vintage counterpart! His chest looks to be a new sculpt as is resembles that bulkier stalkier look of the vintage He-Man figure. The loin cloth and boots are in that classic burgundy color like the vintage. He shares the same wrist bracers, belt, loin cloth and boots as the current Masterverse Revelation He-Man but in vintage inspired colors. His arm bracers are in an orange color with burgundy wrist straps. He-Man’s skin tone is a much better more peach skin color, which is a vast improvement from the yellow toned Masterse Revelation He-Man. Shown below is the Masterverse Anniversary He-Man with all his accessories. He includes a vintage style power sword, axe and shield and also 2 swappable hands.

The great thing about these new Masterverse figures is their modern articulation. With 30 points of articulation, and vertical hinge on his wrist, you can finally have your He-Man action figure hold his power sword aloft and utter those 4 famous words “I HAVE THE POWER!!!!” And when you set him in this pose he is just spectacular!

Here you can see all four sides of the new figure. His chest a bulkier design to emulate the style of the vintage chunky 5.5″ action figures. His torso is an all new buck then the previous versions of He-Man. This gives him that vintage look in the 7″ Masterverse style. They did an amazing job giving him just a hint of shading on his musculature to highlight his biceps and abs very nicely! This is a huge improvement to what we saw from the promo photos where it looked like He-Man had been rolling around in a mud pile. His chest armor is a total tribute to the vintage with the red cross in the same vintage design. His furry lion cloth has a touch of brown wash on it to accent the texture in it, so it really comes off looking great. The same can be said for He-Man’s hair, which has his bowl cut vintage style hair with just a touch of brown wash and I absolutely love it!

Packaging

The 40th Anniversary He-Man comes packaged in the standard collector friendly window style Masterverse packaging as the rest, but with a huge twist! His package artwork is a direct tribute to Mattel’s 1982 He-Man, complete with the red rock burst, blue sky and classic Masters of the Universe logo. This Anniversary He-Man’s front and rear package artwork is spectacular! The rear artwork shows He-Man in all his glory welding his axe at Skeletor with Battlecat by his side and Castle Grayskull standing proudly in the background. Of course we know the SDCC version of Skeletor has been produced, but can this be a tease to more vintage inspired Masterverse figures to come in the future? Let’s hope so!

He-Man was originally released by Mattel in 1982. Shown below is the Vintage He-Man Master of the Universe figure as he appeared on his vintage card back! You can see the blue sky, red rock burst and classic Masters of the Universe logo that were all used on the new Masterverse Anniversary Edition He-Man!

Head

The 40th Anniversary He-Man head is the perfect rendition of the 1982 vintage action figure! Mattel absolutely nailed it on his head sculpt! From the dough boy style hair do, to the stern He-Man face, this looks just like the vintage action figure! We will have a comparison time with the vintage figure further in this article.

The detail in the hair sculpt looks amazing and is styled right after the action figure, and includes a slight brown wash to bring out the details.

After so many attempts to get a modern He-Man figure’s face correct, Mattel finally nailed it with this face sculpt! I can’t tell you how many derpy looking He-Man heads we have gotten in both the Origins line and Masterverse line. And finally in Origins Mattel got it right, well now it was Masterverse’s turn! And let’s hope they adopt this head sculpt for all future versions of He-Man moving forward! The jaw line is finally correct, his grin on his face looks great, and his eyes and brows are finally the right proportions! They really did him right and I love it!

Chest & Back

He-Man’s chest is an all new design with that stalkier bulkier look of the vintage action figure. This vast a wonderful design choice for Mattel and really makes this Anniversary He-Man the modern version of the 1982 action figure. With a really light brown wash on his abs and chest, this helps to accentuate his muscles and really highlights the brilliant new torso sculpt. It is a very subtle wash so it’s is balanced perfectly and only added a subtle highlight. His abs have a nice light wash as well to accent his muscles and his ab crunch cut it just under his armor, so it it nicely hidden. His chest armor is a complete homage to the vintage action figure with the same style red cross design and 3 red squares on the shoulder straps. The back of the straps have a new designed clasp which is not my favorite design as it tends to loosen apart a little, but it does have a built in holster for his power sword. His back looks just as expected with a light wash on his muscles as well.

Arms, Waist, Legs

Arms:

This He-Man figure uses the same arm buck as the previous Masterverse figures, but with the improved skin tone and slight wash, it looks great on him! He is wearing an small orange wrist bracer made of a flat colored plastic on his right wrist. While on his left wrist, he has the larger shinny colored orange wrist bracer with burgundy colored straps. It’s odd that this wrist bracer is a shinny colored plastic while the right one is a flat color. I believe it is because the left wrist bracer is made of a burgundy colored plastic, which the orange part is painted on, but they could have chosen a less glossy paint tone.

Waist

The design of the 40th Anniversary Masterverse He-Man’s waist follows the same bulk style of previous Masterverse figures, but with those vintage style colors. His belt is a flat orange plastic color with circular patterns on it. His loin cloth is the same longer loin cloth of the Revelation version of He-Man but in a burgundy color that matches that of the vintage action figure. It also has a nice brown wash on it that helps to accentuate the details in the loin cloth. All in all it is done very well.

Legs:

He-Man’s legs uses the standard Masterverse buck, again with a light wash on his muscles to nicely highlight them. He is wearing burgundy colored boots again matching the style and color of the vintage action figure. His boots have molded ankle straps and furry top lining. The boots also have that same brown wash as his loin cloth and is done very well. All together all of these components make for the quintessential He-Man figure.

Vintage and MOTU Classics Comparisons

Vintage Comparison

In the words of the great Pixel Dan, “It’s comparison time!” Let’s take a look at how this new 40th Anniversary He-Man stacks up to his vintage counterpart. Seeing them side by side, you can totally see how Mattel took all the classic elements from the vintage action figure and translated them into the modern Masterverse version of He-Man. Let’s take a look at the biggest elements that harken back to the vintage figure. Fist the big bulky chest, six pack abs and big bulging biceps. The new Masterverse version nailed it when it comes to the right proportions on his chest and abs. They reused the Mastervers arms, but they do compare well to the vintage figure. Of course both figures have their signature arm bracers, but the Masterverse version got an upgrade in orange and burgundy colors rather than the molded skin tone ones on the vintage figure. Then both have the signature orange belt, furry burgundy loin cloth and burgundy boots. So all these elements, Mattel nailed it with the new 40th Anniversary version. The big item is He-Man’s head! Let’s take a closer look at that below.

On the left the 1982 vintage He-Man and on the right is the new 40th Anniversary He-Man. Here you can see how the new 40th Anniversary version really did a wonderful job at capturing that classic He-Man look on his face and head sculpt. Given the new figure’s face is a little slimer, the proportion for his taller figure make sense. But the cheek lines and square jaw really match the vintage. Also that classic He-Man grin is captured very well. The eyes and eye brows on the 40th Anniversary version are a perfect tribute to the vintage figure as well. The 40th Anniversary He-Man’s hair looks great also, with the same dough boy style dirty blonde hair, same sweeps in the front and also how his hair meets his face. Then they added a slight brown wash to the new Masterverse version to highlight it’s detail. I think Mattel nailed the head sculpt perfectly! Compared to the derpy looking He-Man heads in the past, this is a welcome update.

Vintage figure shown on the left, Masterverse on the right; on the back of his head, the new Masterverse figure follows the same style hair design as well, but with a little bit more detail. I think that they did a fabulous job of paying homage to the vintage figure with the hair sculpt as well.

Mattel’s 1982 He-Man action figure shown below in classic form riding on Battle Cat! The first time I sat He-Man on Battlecat and saw how absolutely AMAZING he looked sitting on there, it took my breathe away! I am sure we all hold a special place in our hearts for the Vintage 1982 He-Man action figure! Now getting to see the new Masterverse He-Man on Battlecat ( in this case we used a Classics Battlecat), I get those same feelings of nostalgia!

MOTU Classics Comparison

This wouldn’t be a complete comparison and battle to the ultimate version of He-Man if we didn’t compare this new Anniversary He-Man with his 6″ MOTU Classics counterpart. Here we can see the MOTU Classics He-Man on the left and the 40th Anniversary He-Man on the right. Although the Classics figure has it’s place in top He-Man figures of all time, I have to give it up for the new 40th Anniversary He-Man. The Classics version has a fantastic head sculpt, very nice looking accessories with added silver accents, but with modern articulation, pin-less joints and that totally vintage looking head sculpt, chest armor and color scheme, the new 40th Anniversary He-Man does the best job at paying homage the 1982 Vintage He-Man!

Shown here is a close up of the MOTU Classics head sculpt on the left and the new 40th Anniversary He-Man on the right. I really loved the look of the MOTU Classics head, but once I got that new 40th Anniversary He-Man in hand, that face is He-Man! This new figure just pulls on all the right nostalgia strings!

Photography Fun!

If any of you follow our Toy Habits Instagram page and The Toy Sorceress Instagram page, you will see the Toy Sorceress loves Toy Photography, so here are some photographs for your enjoyment and inspiration! The new 40th Anniversary He-Man was a blast photograph! He is battling it out with MOTU Classics Skeletor for now until we get the 40th Anniversary version in hand.

Celebrating 40 Years of He-Man

We at Toy Habits focus on Masters of the Universe and GI Joe, so we find it only fitting that we pay a special tribute to the 40th Anniversary of MOTU and take a trip down Memory Lane!

You can see that the 40th Anniversary Logo was modeled after that famous scene of He-Man holding his power sword aloft in front of Castle Grayskull and saying those 4 iconic words ” I have the power!!!”

Seen below are Mattel’s first Wave of 8 action figures released in 1982. Will we see more Anniversary style Masterverse Action figures? Only time will tell, but let’s take a moment to pay tribute to the first 8 that started it all!

• He-Man
• Skeletor
• Man-At-Arms
• Teela
• Mer-Man
• Beast Man
• Stratos
• Zodac

As kids, we always looked forward to coming home after school and tuning into our favorite cartoon, the 1980’s He-Man and the Masters of the Universe by Filmation!

Part of what made Masters of the Universe so mystical, and grand was the artwork. And Mattel was no stranger to producing amazing art posters for the line! Below are a few classic examples of the some of the amazing art posters that came out of the 1980’s!

Rating

This new 40th Anniversary He-Man retail release is the best version of He-Man made to date and has nostalgia pouring out of him! The new SDCC version will have it’s place on top with the added diecast accessories and flocked loin cloth and boots, but for a standard retail release, this version of He-Man is perfect! I love his classic face sculpt, vintage inspired color scheme and modern articulation! Finally we have a He-Man figure who can hold his sword up high and say “I HAVE THE POWER”!!! This He-Man figure is everything we could have asked for in a modern version of the iconic 1982 Vintage figure and more! If you want to have a rush of nostalgia in a modern action figure, this is the He-Man for you! We give him a perfect score 7.0 out of 7.0! We highly recommend you pick this one up! And below is where you can get yours!

Where to Buy:

You can preorder 40th Anniversary He-Man at the following places:

Be sure to check out our MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE SHOP PAGES! You can find links to your favorite retailers for all your favorite MOTU figures all in one convenient place from the vintage line all the way up to Origins and Masterverse!