MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE CLASSICS - Man-E-Faces

Man-E-faces was one of my favorite heroic warriors when I was a kid . He is also the very first action figure to be reviewed here on this blog. The reason he was one of my favorites is because his extra faces gave him different abilities beyond his human attributes. When he became a monster, he gained super strength. When he becomes a robot, his intelligence sky rockets to genius levels. I always felt that the old vintage figure was fun to play with but was also top heavy, meaning that the added girth of weight from chest on up made it kind of difficult to stand him up without falling. There is no issue whatsoever with top heaviness with the MOTUC version of Man-E as you can see in the pic he stands very well without any balance issues.

Also unlike the vintage 1980's figure or even the most recent 2000x version, MOTUC Man-E-Faces comes with six different faces instead of just three. In addition to the human , robot, and monster guises are the faces of He-Man , Skeletor , and Orko. I've done a side by side comparison of Man-E's face and He-Man's face. As I mentioned in the comparison one could just imagine that the He-Man face is Man-E's without his red mask.

And here are up close shots of the other heads.

Now on to my thoughts on how Man-E-Faces stands out category wise.

(1) ARTICULATION - The standard MOTUC articulation . Would've been extra cool if all of his heads could move up and down.

(2) STANDABILITY - Man-E stands fine without any balance issues. 

(3) WHAT DO I LIKE BEST ABOUT THIS FIGURE ? The extra faces. 

(4) WHAT DO I LIKE THE LEAST ABOUT THIS FIGURE? I have no complaints at all about Man-E-Faces.

(5) WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN DONE TO MAKE THIS FIGURE BETTER ? Everyone else's face from the world of MOTU. But that would be asking Mattel to do too much, LOL. 

And finally, here's a pic of Man-E's bio....

As for his bio, it seems as if it is based on events that occurred in the mini comic that came with the vintage 1980's figure. My assumption is since Skeletor gave Man-E-Faces this magical potion, that Man-E's face changing powers is due to magic and not science, making Man-E-Faces a super hero powered by magic. Back to the figure itself, other than the extra faces the only other accessory to come with Man-E is his laser pistol. This time it is orange instead of red, but it still looks cool with more realistic details. OVERALL on a GRADING SCALE of 1-10 I give Man-E-Faces a 9. The only thing keeping him from getting a perfect 10 is the lack of up and down head movement. However this is not a major negative, still a great figure to add to your collection.

WWE Elite Collection Series 22 - TENSAI

I think the WWE Mattel figures are some of the coolest action figures ever made. In my opinion, they look superior to the Jakks Pacific WWE figures. It also seems that not too many toy reviewers review these figures. I will be reviewing a lot of WWE Mattel figures and Tensai becomes the first WWE Mattel action figure that I review. In real life, he began his WWE career as Prince Albert . I know this from formerly watching pro wrestling, but I lost interest in it after watching a documentary questioning its realism .  For those of you whom may not know, the Elite series contains the figures with the most articulation.

Even though the bio on the back of the packaging makes no mention of Tensai's days as Prince Albert, if you don't take my word for it then do a Google or Wikipedia check on him, it's true. As for the figure itself, it is very well sculpted, very detailed and comes with two accessories. One accessory I like and the other not so much. The accessory that I like is the helmet. The fun part about this is that you can put it on other figures that have a similar head size. Customizers may also enjoy using it for custom made figures or characters.
 The robe on the other hand looks good although I am not a fan of the plastic clothing. The plastic restricts arm movement, therefor I prefer the clothing to be made of cloth or a softer plastic.

As you can see you have several options on how you want Tensai displayed. With or without his helmet, with or without his robe, etc . The figure as I mentioned earlier is very detailed. The tattoos and ear rings under his bottom lip are nicely done.
One of the main characteristics I love about the WWE Mattel figures is that unlike most other action figure lines these figures use different body parts for almost every character. Mattel pays great attention to how the wrestlers look in real life, and they implement these characteristics into the toys. You will not find too many of these figures sharing the same body parts, with the exception of most of the WWE Divas. Even though the WWE Mattel figures are in 6 " scale, as you can see above Tensai is around 7 inches tall. This is because he is one of the bigger than normal wrestlers. I love how Mattel stays true to the real heights and body styles of all the wrestlers, both male and female.
My favorite accessory that Tensai comes with is his helmet. And the pics below illustrate the reason why.

As you can see you can easily place his helmet on other figures of similar stature.
                                                FINAL   THOUGHTS
(1) ARTICULATION - The articulation is excellent with the exception of the head movement being somewhat restricted when trying to maneuver up and down.
(2) STANDABILITY - There are no balance issues. Surprisingly the extra body girth does not make him top heavy, he stands up very well.
(3) WHAT I LIKE BEST ABOUT THE TENSAI ACTION FIGURE? The tattoos are nicely done. The figure itself is cool but what really allured me to purchase Tensai is the helmet.
(4) WHAT I LIKE LEAST ABOUT THE TENSAI ACTION FIGURE ? There's nothing I dislike about the figure although it could have been better with looser head movement .
(5) WHAT COULD HAVE MADE THE FIGURE BETTER ? Looser restriction on head movement. Some hand articulation would be nice also. This does not just apply to Tensai but ALL WWE Mattel figures. With articulated fingers it would be easier to pose a lot of these guys ( and gals ) performing their finishing maneuvers.
(6) GRADING SCALE - On a scale of 1-10 I give this action figure a 9.0 . The minuses being for somewhat limited up and down head movement and non-articulated fingers. However as I already mentioned the non-articulated fingers apply to all the WWE Mattel figures, not just Tensai.
(7) FINAL  ANALYSIS - Overall I am pleased with the Tensai action figure. For those old school collectors that want an action figure of Prince Albert, all you have to do is purchase Tensai. He looks the same back then as he does now, with the exception of a few new tattoos. He may not have the same name anymore but visually anyone can see that it is definitely the same guy.

Masters of the Universe Classics - Clawful

I remember the first time I saw Clawful . Not as an action figure, but as a cartoon character. I first saw him on the old Filmation MOTU series. When the toy came out it looked very much different from that Filmation version. Just about everything was different. The armor, the size of the claws,etc. I remember not being disappointed with the vintage figure despite the fact it looked nothing like the cartoon. I was pleased with the figure along with his claw snapping action feature. That was then as a kid. Today as an adult I have the same admiration for MOTUC Clawful.

From now on I may start making two profile pics of every figure. One pic showing them without weapons and the other pic with their weapons, like I did with Clawful here. This'll give everyone an insight on to rather figures look better being posed with or without their weapons or accessories.
Back to the figure, I was kind of wishing that his stature would be similar to the early 2000's version of the character. I feel that his arms need to be bigger and wider to match his claws, especially his right claw. Remember the 1980's version of Fisto and Jitsu had larger arms than most of the other MOTU figures because it just would not look right if they had normal sized arms to match those big hands. The feeling is mutual with Clawful.
Speaking of Clawful's right claw, it still has snapping action, just like the vintage figure. However, unlike the vintage figure you can maneuver the right claw piece in a circular motion, allowing you to pose him in various attack poses, as shown in the pics below with Snout Spout and Man-E-Faces .

The above pic looks as if Clawful could crush the bones in Man-E-faces' wrist, possibly breaking it. One of the most fun things to do with MOTU Classics is posing them in fight / battle poses.
Even though most of Clawful's look is based on his vintage figure, some tidbits from the early 2000's version were implemented as well. As you can see the red skin blends in with his tan skin tone, along with the crab like shell on his back as shown in the pic below. I love the inclusion of the shell, it makes him look more crablike compared to not having it.

As for Clawful's bio, I love it as well. My favorite bits of information from it is the mentioning of him saving Beast Man's life from some kind of sea monster and that Evil Lyn had a magic spell placed on him to increase his intelligence. I like this information because it kinds of connects the Filmation MOTU series with the Mike Young Productions MOTU series.
You see, for those of you whom may not know, Clawful was portrayed as a simpleton in the Mike Young toon, whereas in Filmation he was cunning and clever.

                                                         FINAL  THOUGHTS
(1) ARTICULATION - Clawful has the basic MOTUC articulation. Not to mention that his right claw now swivels, which in my opinion is a plus from the original vintage figure.
(2) STANDABILITY - The figure stands well with no balance issues. The right claw does not make him top heavy.
(3) WHAT I LIKE BEST ABOUT CLAWFUL ? - The right claw now swivels, allowing various posing options.
(4) WHAT I LIKE LEAST ABOUT CLAWFUL ? - My only complaint about this figure is the same one I had about the 1980's vintage one. Which is " I wish that his left claw was articulated too ". Sigh. Oh well, as they say, can't win them all.
(5) WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN DONE TO MAKE CLAWFUL BETTER ? Very simple.A left articulated claw.
(6) GRADING SCALE - On a scale of 1-10 I give Clawful a 9.0. My only gripes being that I wish his upper body was a little more buff like to match his early 2000's look, and the left claw still not being articulated. Other than that he is a great action figure.
(7) FINAL  ANALYSIS - Overall the negatives do not take away from the positives of the coolness of this figure. I think it looks cool and is one of the very few MOTU Classic figures to have their old action feature work the same way today as it did back then . The snapping claw action adds to the cool factor of the figure. If you don't have Clawful, I recommend you head on over to Red Lobster ( UHH ) I mean E-Bay or Amazon ,etc .  for a fresh catch . Fisherman puns intended .