MOTU Origins King Hiss and Thunder Punch He-Man Deluxe Figures In Hand Review
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Mattel is hitting all cylinders with their latest MOTU Origins King Hiss and Thunder Punch He-Man Deluxe figures! As Mattel exclaimed at the 2022 San Diego Comic Con, 2023 will be the Rise of the Snake Men featuring brand new figures and brand-new packaging. The Deluxe card backs looks amazing! Continuing with the Rise of the Snake Men theme, both Thunder Punch He-Man and King Hiss come packaged on Snake Men themed card backs complete with the Snake over the MOTU logo, Snake Men logo sticker and unique front and rear card art! The King Hiss features all new tooling and Thunder Punch He-Man includes his Thunder Punch action feature, but in Origins style. So join us now for this MOTU Origins King Hiss and Thunder Punch He-Man Deluxe Figures in hand review!
The vintage Thunder Punch He-Man wore a backpack that opened, and you then loaded caps into it to create his “Thunder Punch”. Well, this new Origins version does not use caps, but instead includes a waist swivel and small speaker holes in his back to create that “Thunder Punch Sound”. The original King Hiss featured two halves of a torso and a head that you peel off. This version of King Hiss requires you to assemble his snake parts on directly on to him! You need to remove the arms and head then his armor harness comes off to reveal his snake torso! Then, the snake arms plug back in and he comes with an extra snakehead to complete his alternate look to achieve the fully transformed King Hiss!
Packaging
The Rise of the Snake Men packaging features the Snake Men graphic looming over the Masters of the Universe logo. The blister features snake pattern detail and texturing, and the faction logo, which is an updated version of the vintage Snake Men logo. As you can see, Mattel has really stepped it up on the card back packaging by not only adding the Snake Men faction’s sticker to the front of the blister bubble, but they have added spectacular Snake Men art to the top of the card back!
With spectacular artwork by Axel Giménez & FETCH Francisco Etchart, below you can see the amazing package both front and rear of the new King Hiss and Thunderpunch He-Man! The front of the packages brings us awesome illustrations of King Hiss and Thunder Punch He-Man on each of their packages. The card backs are also adorned with the incredible Rise of the Snake Men theme with the snake rising up behind the Masters of the Universe logo and the blister bubble that includes those cool snake scales! The rear of the package features beautiful new artwork which we will look at in closer detail below. It also includes the complete cross sell new Rise of the Snake Men wave! It features King Hiss, Rattlor, Kobra Khan, Thunder Punch He-Man, Snake Armor He-Man and Bolt Man.
The rear artwork drawn and illustrated by Axel Giménez & FETCH Francisco Etchart show an amazing scene of Thunder Punch He-Man going at it against two Snake Men Horde Troopers! And you can also spot Viper Tower way in the back ground! Does this mean that we are getting Snake Men Horde Troopers coming to the Origins Line? It would make total sense seeing that they already have the mold for the Horder Troopers! That would be so amazing!
Here we get a closer look at all the beautiful detail in this new Thunder Punch He-Man cardback artwork!
The rear artwork drawn and illustrated by Axel Giménez & FETCH Francisco Etchart show an amazing scene of Snake Armor He-Man going at it against King Hiss in his full snake form!! And you can also another Snake Teela, in the background. If you recall Snake Teela was part of a leaked list that came out in September. If you want to read more about her, go to this LINK. Is this confirmation that Snake Teela will be coming to the Origins line?
Thunder Punch He-Man
Thunder Punch He-Man was quietly revealed at this year’s San Diego Comic Con, sitting in the MOTU Origins ginormous Eternia display. Later to be followed up by quite preorders dropping on Entertainment Earth and Walmart for preorder! Well, we finally have him in hand and this version of He-Man is spectacular and packs a huge “punch”! Thunder Punch He-Man looks absolutely stunning in his classic Thunder Punch gear! He comes with his classic red armor, silver H on his chest, brown shorts, and the same brown and white boots as Flying Fist He-Man. He also comes with a flaming yellow blast effect to put on his fist, gold colored power sword and vac metal shield! By twisting He-Man’s waist, he then throws a “Thunder Punch” blast and a sound comes from his back to simulate his vintage cap ring blast! The only other thing that would have made this He-Man complete would have been some faux red cap rings, like the one packaged with the Mondo He-Man! By the way, if you haven’t checked out our in hand review of Mondo He-Man, you can read it HERE.
Weapons and Accessories
- Thunder Punch SIlver Vac Metal Shield
- Bronze Colored Power Sword
- Yellow “Thunder Punch” blast effect
Thunder Punch He-Man upclose and personal
Let’s take a closer look at Thunder Punch He-Man at all his amazingly classic design! This version of He-Man is the perfect Origins style homage to the original 1980’s iconic figure!
Head Sculpt
Thunder Punch He-Man comes with his vintage inspired head sculpt, which has become the norm in all recent He-Man releases. Just like the Flying Fist He-Man figure, the neck peg is frozen in place as only one half of the body mold was cut out to make room for it. This might be a consequence of the waist twist feature, as both figures had that or they just reused parts of the Fly Fist mold, in either case it is a little annoying that you can only swivel the head and it doesn’t move up and down.
Chest and Back
Thunder Punch He-Man comes with his classic Thunder Punch red armor, that has silver accents and his signature “H” on the chest. The back of his armor is shaped like the vintage version, with the “red cap ring” mechanism sculpted into the design. The backpack does not open, but it is made to look just like the vintage. The nice thing is, it isn’t as bulky as the vintage version, so it looks much better.
By twisting He-Man’s waist, he then throws a “Thunder Punch” blast and a sound comes from his back to simulate his vintage cap ring blast!
Arms, Legs and Waist
The figure comes with the Standard He-Man arms, but this time with red colored bracers. The arms are not removeable, similar to Battle Armor He-Man and Flying Fist He-Man. This is to allow for the waist twist Thunder Punch feature. By twisting his waist, you activate his Thunder Punch!
Thunder Punch He-Man’s waist and legs are again the same standard design as the other He-Man figures, similar with an orange belt, burgundy shorts and burgundy boots with white furry trim. I think this looks fantastic and again a direct harkening back to the vintage toy!
Accessories
Thunder Punch He-Man comes with the following accessories:
- Thunder Punch SIlver Vac Metal Shield
- Bronze Colored Power Sword
- Yellow “Thunder Punch” blast effect
The power sword is simply a bronze colored version of the standard power sword.
You also get the translucent plastic yellow “Thunder Punch” blast effect that slips on over He-Man’s right fist to simulate his Thunder Punch attack!
The shield harkens back to the 1980’s version complete with the handle in the back to hold onto and the front holsters to slide the power sword into
Origins of Thunder Punch He-Man
Thunder Punch He-Man was originally released in 1985, Wave 4 of the original Masters of the Universe Line.
According to The Battle Ram:
Thunder Punch He-Man was the “deluxe” version of He-Man that everyone in my grade school peer group coveted. The counterpart to Dragon Blaster Skeletor, Thunder Punch He-Man had a new an exciting action feature – you could load a ring of caps (of the kind typically used in toy revolvers of the era) into his backpack, twist his waist back, and he would spring forward with a power punch and a loud bang. It was quite the upgrade over the power punch feature typical of the line.
Thunder Punch He-Man was the “deluxe” version of He-Man that everyone in my grade school peer group coveted. The counterpart to Dragon Blaster Skeletor, Thunder Punch He-Man had a new an exciting action feature – you could load a ring of caps (of the kind typically used in toy revolvers of the era) into his backpack, twist his waist back, and he would spring forward with a power punch and a loud bang. It was quite the upgrade over the power punch feature typical of the line.
Sculpt wise, the figure featured all new parts apart from the head and sword. The legs were based on the original, but he was given bigger feet to make him more stable. The sculpt unfortunately on the arms and torso is a bit soft and unfinished looking compared to the original. Befitting his action feature, his right fist is closed, ready at any time for a thunder punch. He also has painted bracers, something previous versions didn’t get.
His boots have white fur tops, which was actually how He-Man had been previously illustrated by Rudy Obrero and R.L. Allen. Earl Norem would occasionally depict him like that as well
He has a new harness design, sculpted onto the chest rather than as a separate piece. He keeps the “H” logo that first appeared on Battle Armor He-Man, and which also appeared on the side of the Dragon Walker and on Flying Fists He-Man. The symbol looks like a blend between an H and an M.
Thunder Punch He-Man: Heroic leader with loud power punch (1985) – Battle Ram (battleramblog.com)
King Hiss Deluxe Figure
King Hiss makes a triumphant return to MOTU in the Masters of the Universe Line Rise of the Snake Men with this new deluxe figure! He comes packed with really cool features and a ton of accessories. When you remove the arms, head and armor harness, it reveals his really cool snake torso! He includes new snake arms that plug into the arm holes and a Snake head. Once you plug in those snake arms and head, he has completed his transformation into his snake form of King Hiss! He also comes packed with his classic green snake staff and red snake crested shield!
Weapons and Accessories
- Snake Men Shield that slips right over his wrist
- Green snake Staff
- Alternate Snake Head and interchangeable Snake arms
You can also mix and match the arms and head to make any flavor of King Hiss that appeals to you!
The cool thing about this version of King Hiss is that you have so many display options or can have fun just making him go through his transformation to pure Snake Man!
King Hiss up close and personal
Head
The design of King Hiss’s head is a direct homage to the vintage action figure. It is a brand-new head sculpt to the Origins line. Complete with that green scaled helmet design, beady white eyes and flesh colored face.
The head sculpt has a ton of snake scale detail on it front and back.
You also get an alternate version of his head, that is a bright yellow snake, with a wide-open mouth and fangs! This snake version of his head is fantatsic! The bright yellow color and snake scale details looks spectacular! His mouth is wide open and has nicely painted details inside that include a red snake tongue and white fangs! He has beady red snake yes and to top it all off a snake tail that is wrapping around his neck! You can display King His with either head and he looks so rad!
Chest and Back
Just like the vintage King Hiss figure, this MOTU Origins version includes green snake scaled armor with silver trim and a bright green Snake Men logo sculpted into the center of his chest. Just like the vintage figure when you take off his armor, it reveals his yellow snake torso below.
Arms, Legs and Waist
King Hiss has all new sculpt for his arms. Just like the vintage figure, his arms are the color of his green armor, and have scaled horizontal snake design that lead down to his orange gloves. His arms are removeable and can be swapped out for his yellow snake arms!
The yellow snake arms are arriculated both at the shoulder and the “hand” which is the snake head. They are very detailed with snake scales and red eyes on thee snake head. The snake head does swivel as well.
Just like the vintage figure, King Hiss is wearing a red belt, with a silver belt bunckle. He has on bright red scaly shorts and is wearing horizontaly scaled green pants with brown boots.
Accessories
King Hiss includes the following accesories:
- Snake Men Shield that slips right over his wrist
- Green snake Staff
- Alternate Snake Head and interchangeable Snake arms
As mentioned before his snake head and snake arms are interchangeable parts that can be swapped out on the figure. Beautifully detailed snake scales adorn this bright yellow snake parts and look great to bring variety to your King Hiss on your shelf!
He also includes his classic snake staff in a bright green. It’s the same staff that was included with Rattlor.
Finally, you get his signature red shield with a large Snake Men logo crest on the front. It clips onto King Hiss’ wrist and can swivel at the clip.
Origins of King Hiss
First introduced to the Masters of the Universe line in 1986, King Hiss was the leader of the of the Snake Men. He looked like a human, but underneath, he was really a snake man. The King Hiss action figure was made of several parts of a human head / torso and arm shell pieces that would clip onto the figure to conceal the slithering snake body underneath. His legs were human shaped as well but did not transform. He wore green armor with golden yellow gloves. His accessories included a red shield and a green snake staff. This was the same staff as came packed with most of the other Snake Men. King Hiss was an all-new figure sculpt due to the transforming nature of the character and was released much later in the line, when there were tooling dollars to pull off such a new character.
According to the Wiki Grayskull:
King Hiss (also known as King Hssss[1]) is a character in the Masters of the Universe franchise. He was the villainous leader of the Snake Men and one of He-Man‘s more powerful enemies. Although he never appears in the original animated series by Filmation, which had ceased production by the time the figure was released. Hiss makes a belated animated debut in the 2002 relaunch of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe by Mike Young Productions, this time as the major villain of the second season.
King Hiss | Wiki Grayskull | Fandom
Source: Wiki Grayskull
Source: The Toys of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe
Mini Comic
These figures include an all new mini comic ” Heart of Snake”. We photographed the entire thing for you, so if you want to read it, please see below. Thunder Punch He-Man and King Hiss square off with help from the Sorceress and Mekaneck!
Toy 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 Deluxe figures were a blast to photograph because you can create an incredible Snake Men attack melee scene! Enjoy!!!
Where to Buy:
You can also get the rest of Wave 11 at the retailers below:
Looking for MOTU Figures?
Be sure to check out our NEW 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.
