The first wave of Super 7’s Masters of the Universe Classics line is into the hands of collectors, which includes Ultimate Editions of previously released figures. This includes He-Man, Skeletor, Teela, Faker and Ram Man. As you know, Super 7 is the sole company that will be making and distributing Masters of the Universe Classics line on behalf of Mattel, and will continue to work with the Four Horsemen to make new characters going forward. The Ultimate Edition line was an idea that came from the Four Horsemen themselves, as Mattel abruptly cancelled Mattycollector with all of the lines including ThunderCats, this left Super 7 with very little time in 2016 to offer anything for most of 2017. The Ultimate Edition figures were meant to refresh older characters, which all come with all of the parts previously available for the character as seen in other releases throughout the line.
What has also changed is that these are made to order as opposed to a subscription, which means that these will likely have fewer produced compared to what Mattel has done in the past, and the price has also gone up. For those of you that missed out on the order deadline, sadly Super 7 will not be offering extra’s. So your best bet are places like Amazon and eBay.
Super 7 is off to a strong start of their Classics line, as Mattel is now completely hands off on this. How can we tell? Well for starters their logo does not appear anywhere on the packaging. Which for a He-Man line is definitely not common for Mattel. Speaking of the packaging, this is an entirely new direction for it as it pays homage to the packaging of the 1980’s vintage line, back when He-Man was packed on store shelves. The artwork brings back that vintage vibe to it for the packaging, with the blue and red detailed artwork, and the back of the packaging has an action shot of the character, instructions on removing the head, as well as a look at what is to come from Super 7 as we previously reported. What is not shown in our gallery below are the brown mailer boxes that Mattel had switched too from white, which are also offered to fans by Super 7.
Last year, Mattel had stopped printing the bio’s on the back of the packaging of their Classics figures, leaving fans wondering and without a story to read that was either a history of the character, key elements and story plots in the Second Ultimate Battleground, as well as a continuation of other stories. This is because since Scott Neitlich left the brand, the people running Classics and working behind the scenes were less passionate and not as interested to keep the bio’s and mini-comics going according to our sources at the time. Super 7 however have brought the bio’s back, which come as collectible cards located behind the figure that can be removed. On the front of the cover, there is detailed artwork as if it was the front page of a mini-comic, and on the back is the original bio, along with an update to it below it. The bio is also printed on a scroll just like how it was when Mattel was offering this. Only now it’s no longer part of the packaging, and more fun to collect. It’s a great thing that Super 7 brought this back, as this was a core element to the line that was missing. The only thing missing now is the revival of the mini-comics, which we hope to see Scott Neitlich back on this and we hope that this is something that Super 7 does offer in the future.
Availability: August 2017
Essentially, every figure in the Ultimate Editions line-up is a repaint/reissued figure that comes with every head and accessory ever offered for the character throughout the history of the line. One of the rarest and most sought after and requested figures was Teela, as she was first introduced to the line in 2009, and was among the lowered produced figures in the line. Aside from Mattel offering her again to fans in other ways including Battleground Teela, and Pilot Teela, the 2009 figure has not seen a reissue. Teela is pretty much the same figure, with some updated paint apps including red boots and red hair as opposed to brown boots and hair on the original 2009 figure.
The head sculpt with the red hair also has different facial deco, as the paint apps do not include makeup on the cheeks as seen on the original figure. If you’ve been collecting Classics as we have since 2009, you will know that the first He-Man and Skeletor figures also had different facial deco on their heads, that was ultimately changed when they too were first reissued from Mattel. The new Teela figure helps fans complete a core member of the Masters of the Universe, and she is also a great figure that every fan should own. The outfit appears to have the same off-white and gold deco, and the only changes that we can tell were the boots, hair, and facial deco as mentioned above. Included are all four head sculpts that were previously offered, her sword, spear, shield, and staff.
Ram Man is offered in his mini-comic appearance, with the orange deco on his shirt. This mold was unique to Ram Man right up until Tuskador saw release in 2016, as both figures shared some parts. This was also quite an expensive figure for Mattel to produce from what we heard. Rather than just a straight reissue, Super 7 made the right call to offer Ram Man in his mini-comic colors, and to keep the exclusivity of the 2013 Ram Man figure separate from this release. Ram Man is also sculpted in his body armor, with red springs, dark brown boots, and silver bracelets on his wrists. Included are two head sculpts, and a axe, just like the original figure had.
Faker is also reissued once again for fans that may have missed out on him the first few times he was released. This particular release also comes with three different head sculpts, and only the toy accurate head sculpt is new to the figure. This particular head sculpt was offered to just He-Man, and is now also given to Faker. Some of the paint apps on this Faker figure are also unique to this release, such as the belt and wrists only featuring black deco, as opposed to some silver highlights in that part of the sculpt, and a different shade of purple in the boots. The orange deco in the chest armor might also have a different shade, but as the figure is packed away in storage at the moment, we aren’t able to double check that. Included with Faker are three head sculpts, which include the regular head, robotic, and toy accurate head that is new to the character in this release. Also included is a half power sword, two full power swords, a shield, and his battle axe.
Overall, Super 7 is off to an excellent start on their Masters of the Universe Classics action figures, and the Ultimate Edition figures live up to the namesake. There is something new on these releases that fans will love, as we’ve mentioned in the review above. As we did not order He-Man and Skeletor (as we already own the originals and reissues of the figures), it was unnecessary for us to spend the money. So we don’t have additional information on the differences in paint applications on those two (if any), aside from the news on the updated bio’s and packaging.
Purchase:
