MOTU Origins Cartoon Collection and Fan Favorite Reissues Wave 15
The MOTU Origins Wave 15 assortment of figures include Cartoon Collection He-Man and Beast Man plus Fan Favorite Mer-Man and She-Ra!
Special thanks an anonymous source, the 2024 waves of MOTU Origins assortments will be made up of figures from the newly announced Cartoon Collection and Fan Favorite reissue figures. Since the reveal of the Cartoon Collection at SDCC 2023 and with the Fan Favorite Mer-Man showing up in the display case along side of the Collection, we were wondering how Mattel would handle the assortments for each wave of figures. For the Cartoon Collection, which will be available at retail, the inaugural figures included He-Man, Man-At-Arms, Teela, Beast Man, Skeletor, and Trap Jaw. Furthermore, piecing together preorders for the Fan Favorite MOTU Origins characters, there are 5 figures that we know of. With respect to the Fan Favorite reissue figures, they include Zodac, Mer-Man, She-Ra, Tri-Klops, mini comic Trap Jaw, Ninjor, King Randor, and Webstor. Given that the Cartoon Collection is a new sub-line, we could see Cartoon Collection figures paired with Fan Favorite reissue figures for the next few waves as their are only 6 characters so far in the Cartoon Collection. Also, keep in mind, the remaining “Vintage MOTU Origins” line will be moving to Mattel Creations but it looks like the Fan Favorite reissues might be retail releases. With 3 main MOTU Origins sub-lines, it might be a little difficult to follow as the Cartoon Collection, the Vintage MOTU Origins, and Fan Favorite figures make their way into collector’s hands.
Wave 15 Assortment
According to this anonymous source, Cartoon Collection He-Man and Beast Man will be paired with Fan Favorite reissues She-Ra and Mer-Man. Like we always say, Mattel reserves the right to change figure assortments, but this is the most up to date information we have right now.
She-Ra
The Power Con 2020 version of figure was meant celebrate the 35th anniversary of She-Ra: Princess of Power. To delight fans. Mattel released a standard verion of She-Ra, with no rooted hair or cool card art. The standard release is featured on the standard MOTU Origins cardback.
Mer-Man
Mer-Man honors classic MOTU traditions while incorporating modernized design details. The figure comes with a mini Masters of the Universe comic book on retro-style packaging.
He is an ocean warlord who lurks in the depths of the sea awaiting Skeletor’s orders and his telepathic abilities that allow him to control other sea creatures, and making him nearly invincible underwater.
Cartoon Collection He-Man
This new sculpt of He-Man looks fabulous! You can see that they gave him an all new head sculpt from the previous release from the He-Man Anniversary 4 pack.
The new figures have incredible new packaging with a Filmation inspired card back! You can see the classic animated Castle Grayskull on the cardback. It also has a new “Cartoon Collection” sticker in the Filmation rainbow logo style.
We also got another look at the Cartoon Collection He-Man for the upcoming Mattel Creations Skeletor x VeeFriends Skilled Skeleton 2-Pack.
Cartoon Collection Beast Man
Beast Man was the loan hold out from the Cartoon Collection reveals! They also display the card art for the figure as well!
He comes with a hover ray that was featured in the episode Dragon Invasion. He comes with his whip as well. He has all new chest and shoulder armor. He stands more upright and is a little more slender than the v1 Beast Man.
Here is the card art for the Cartoon Beast Man:
Where to Buy
You can purchase the Cartoon Collection He-Man and Beast Man and the Fan Favorite Mer-Man below!
Check out our coverage on YouTube too!
Fan Favorite Reissues
Back on July 29, 2023, an online retailer put up half of the MOTU Origins Wave 3 and Wave 4 assortment up for preorder! We saw, in Mattel’s booth ad SDCC 2023, an image of Mer-Man with the “fan favorite” callout in the upper right of the front of the card. We can assume that the entire Wave 3 assortment could come with the callout but Mer-Man is the only figure we have seen with the added info on the card. We reported, back in April 2023 that Tri-Klops had a new listing on Walarmart so we could see other figures getting the Fan Favorite branding to differentiate them from their first release.
Tri-Klops on Walmart
Building on the reissues of Wave 2 released at Target stores and Wave 3 through BBTS, we thought Wave 4 be next as a helpful viewer “Rob” sent us a photo of a Walmart price tag for MOTU Origins Tri-Klops! Tri-Klops was a Wave 4 release that is getting increasingly hard to find and going for almost $100 on the aftermarket and some collectors are yet to have him in their collection. Could we be getting Tri-Klops and a potential Walmart MOTU Origins figure
If you recall, end cap displays with 40th Anniversary logos of Wave 2 which includes Scare Glow, Orko, Man E Faces and Trap Jaw, started showing up in Target stores several months ago. Then shortly after, Wave 3 which included She-Ra, Roboto, Zodac and Mer-Man popped up on BBTS. This could be an absolute possibility because the price tag was dated April 6th, 2023. Also when we scanned the tag it does indeed bring up this listing on Walmart.com.
Tri-Klops Walmart listing is below:
Preorder Dates
Right now, TheWholeShebang has the following preorder dates listed on their website:
She-Ra and Mer-Man are set to arrive in February 2023
Tri-Klops and Zodac are due to arrive in April 2024
Tri-Klops
MOTU Origins Tri-Klops was released in 2021 as part of Wave 4 along with Hordak, Stratos and Ninjor. Now Tri-Klops was very hard to find when he was originally released, which has made his value on the aftermarket skyrocket! He is hard to find on eBay, and is selling for upwards of $100! He is a classic homage to the original 1983 vintage Tri-Klops figure that was part of the original Wave 3 of vintage Masters of the Universe action figures!
The vintage Tri-Klops was released in Wave 3 in 1983 and included the signature spinning tri sided eye visor with the 3 different colored eyes. Tri-Klops was also released in his Mini Comic colors as a Mattel Creations exclusive back in 2021!
MOTU Origins Specialty Wave
Entertainment Earth has put a MOTU Origins reissue specialty assortment preorder that contains King Randor, Mini Comic Trap Jaw, and Webstor. It looks like Entertainment Earth has put up a chance for collectors to get some characters from previous waves so this is great news! The assortment will contain:
- 1x King Randor (UPC: 194735244133)
- 1x Ninjor (UPC: 194735244188)
- 1x Webstor (UPC: 194735244256)
- 1x Mini Comic Trap Jaw (UPC: 194735244317)
We wanted to thank @cowabunga_toyz for the heads up! You can preorder these figures on Entertainment Earth right now!
King Randor
This version of King Randor is a complete homage to the 1980’s version, with his red and gold shinny armor, gold arm bracers, crown, orange pants, and blue boots. Where Mattel diverged from the Vintage was that they decided to go with a plastic cape, rather than the soft goods cape of the original.
From the rear image, you can tell the cape looks similar to that of the Origins Scare Glow and Keldor. King Randor may look like the Burger King, but I think he looks absolutely amazing.
Mini Comic Trap Jaw
We saw Mini Comic Trap Jaw almost one year ago at the 2021 Power Con Mattel Display! And where has he been? It seems that this repaint of Trap Jaw has been teased at and shuffled around in the assortments for some time now. He is pictured with an all new comic book “Mind over Matter” where you can see him coming to attack Digitino on the front cover!
Below is the prototype image that was in the Power Con display at last year’s 2021 convention. You can tell it is a painted sample and not a production run.
Here the official image of Mini Comic Trap Jaw!
Ninjor
This theory stands to reason because the past two waves were re-issued and just recently Mattel used the Ninjor mold to make the new Wave 13 Slamurai figure! MOTU Origins Ninjor was also released in 2021 as part of Wave 4 along with Hordak, Stratos and Tri-Klops. The neat thing about Ninjor is that his vintage figure he was originally released nearly at the end of the line, all the way in Wave 6 in 1987. This late release was produced in small numbers which now makes a vintage Ninjor go for a pretty penny!
Webstor
Webstor is a timeless classic and he looks amazing as a MOTU Origins figure. Hopefully, collectors who missed out on him will get a chance to pick him up!
Complete Your MOTU Collection
Be sure to check out our Masters of the Universe shop pages where we’ve curated figures from MOTU Origins, Masterverse, Classics, Vintage and more so you can find the figures you need easier!
