Opinion/News: Mattel SDCC Exclusive Reveals part 1

Yesterday Mattel released information on the toys that they'll be selling at the San Diego Comic Con this summer (and on MattyCollector.com shortly afterwards). Reaction has been... well, it's been mixed, to put it nicely, particularly in regard to the Masters of the Universe figure.

This year is the 30th anniversary of He-Man and his pals. Although not as big as he once was, he's still one of the most well known of Mattel's characters and to celebrate there have been a number of 'events' this year. The main one has been the 30th Anniversary figure line. This has been... Okay, I personally think this line was a bad idea. Apart from Photog (who should be there), the rest of the characters are 'all new'. Mattel's idea seemed to be that instead of celebrating the He-Man brand, they'd promote their staff instead and got them (and Geoff Johns since he's Big in the comic world and they're hoping he'll advertise for them) to design some new figures.

Hmm.

Anyway, the next part of the celebrations is the SDCC figure. It's this guy, Vykron -

The original idea for He-Man was that he could be anybody - with a change of clothes he could be a barbarian, or a spaceman, or a military man, or... Very Barbie-like, in this regard, I suppose. Ultimately this was abandoned in favour of the He-Man design everyone knows and loves. The SDCC figure comes with the three outfits above, so you can change him to be whichever you like. 

Reaction to the figure has not been great, to say the least. Toy Guru, the brand manager for MOTUC has responded - 

I usually don't ever want to comment on any one fan's choice in characters they like or don't like (Star Sisters vs. Fisto if you go by the boards). But man, I gotta say, I am SHOCKED at the reaction this time. It is the 30th anniversary 

 man! We wanted to do something that went really to the root of the line and offered a figure that just didn't fit into a monthly slot usually due to parts and pack out.  

Everyone around here from the Horsemen to Bill, Terry, Ruben and even management were all totally on board for this one. Yeah, they look goofy as hell, but they should! This is not a monthly sub figure. It is the SDCC exclusive. And viewed as that slot, I really stand behind the choice of Vykron. Slam dunk in my book.

Not often I say this, but I totally agree with him. Personally, I think this is one of the best ways to celebrate the anniversary - much more so than what's making up the anniversary line of figures. The only design I'm a bit iffy on is the Boba Fett-inspired spaceman who could do with a little more detailing on his outfit, but other than that they're great! Sure, a bit goofy looking, but then so are a lot of He-Man characters. A guy with an elephant head - how goofy is that?

My favourite, going by the pictures, is the military guy. Although having a gun firing that close to your head surely can't be sensible. The barbarian looks okay, although not super exciting since he's not too dissimilar to the final He-Man figure that was produced. I do like his silly hat. That's possibly my favourite accessory of the lot.

So the question is now, do I buy one or three?

Tomorrow I'll continue giving my opinion on the reveals by Mattel - including Ghostbusters' Dana & DC Comics' Death.