Review – Masters of the Universe Classics Beast Man

Line: Masters of the Universe * Manufacturer: Mattel * Year: 2008 * Ages: 15+

“After being banished from his home in the Vine Jungle, the Beast Man named Raqquill Rqazz joined up with a young alchemist named Keldor during a skirmish in the Beserker Islands. Like others of his race, Rqazz has the ability to control beasts and monsters. He currently uses his particular talent as chief henchman to Skeletor, the Overlord of Evil . . .”
— from back of the card

As a child, way back in the glorious eighties, I didn’t own many Masters of the Universe figures. I was more of a Star Wars, Transformers, and G.I. Joe kid, with the bulk of my allowance going to those lines. I did get the chance to play with several Masters of the Universe toys, though, since I was fortunate enough to spend most of my childhood on an Air Force base where there were always kids with toys. We used to have a lot of fun in the grass, under the trees, and (most of the time, since it was North Dakota) digging into frozen snowbanks.

And even though I didn’t own many of the toys in the line, they were so memorable — and I had so many opportunities to play with them — that even today I can name many of the different figures, vehicles, and playsets. It was a great line and it looks like, with their Matty Collector site, Mattel might have discovered the secret to recreating the line for today’s toy collector.

Beast Man

According to Roger Sweet and David Wecker’s book, Mastering the Universe, He-Man and the Rise and Fall of a Billion-Dollar Idea:

“Mark (Taylor) came up with Beast Man, who he styled as a kid of evil twin to Chewbacca in Star Wars.”

I can see that and, if the book is to be believed about Mattel’s jealously of Kenner’s Star Wars toy line, I can completely understand why they would try to mimic a popular Star Wars character in their (then) unproven, completely unknown Masters of the Universe toy series. Well, their decision turned out to be an excellent one, since Beast Man proved quite popular with fans of the series. Hell, even I loved Beast Man.

And when Matty Collector released its first few Masters of the Universe toys, they decided to release the popular Beast Man before the key villain, Skeletor. I guess someone at Mattel thought Beast Man was a great figure to test the line. Now that I’ve managed to place my hands on Beast Man — thanks to a very lucky find on eBay — I can safely say that the action figure looks and feels great; Mattel made the right choice.

Beast Man, just to put this out there right away, looks great. His bestial, animal-like face and form comes across beautifully, with the sculpted mane-like design on the chest armor — which looks so much like it’s part of the actual figure that I haven’t even tried to remove it — really improving the overall look of the figure. I have to disagree with Corey (from Articulated Discussion) who, in his review of Beast Man, says:

“His chest piece looks good but it doesn’t fit very well and won’t ever sit naturally on his shoulders, making it lopsided and visually distracting.”

As you can see in the photos here — and in Corey’s photos in his review — the chest piece may not always sit perfectly on the figure but it still looks great. The simple addition gives the figure more depth while the gem on the chest piece, and especially its bright blue color which goes well with the eyes and fuzzy briefs, gives Beast Man that extra splash of color that makes him pop off of my display shelf.

And taking a close look at Beast Man’s face — compare the animated shot above to the close shot of the action figure, below — you can see why I used the word “beautiful” to describe the sculpting of the toy. If anything, the action figure’s sculpting is so good that it actually makes the animated Beast Man look bad. It’s too bad that Hasbro hasn’t managed to pull off the same stunt with many of their Transformers toys (though, to be fair, the new 25th Anniversary line is getting there).

The Bad

There are days when I feel like all I ever do is complain, even about great toys like Beast Man. Hey, if things were perfect then I wouldn’t have to complain and, besides, for those of you who missed Beast Man — and there appear to be many of you — taking a look at the negatives makes the loss easier to accept.

Weak in the Knees – First off, Beast Man has articulation issues. Not so much in terms of “points of articulation,” which is just fine, but in terms of “strength of the joints.” Beast Man’s knee and hip joints are just a tad weak, which means that he sometimes collapses under his own weight. Beast Man’s not nearly as bad as some toys, but it appears that my toy isn’t just a fluke, since Corey’s review at Articulated Discussion mentions:

“. . . this particular Beast Man’s leg joints are ridiculously loose. His ankles and knees will only hold a pose when you’ve found a perfect, star aligned pose. It took 5 or 6 tries with most every photo you see here to get one with Beast Man actually standing up.”

That pretty well matches my own experience with the figure. I’m really hoping that my Skeletor (who arrived last week, but I haven’t released him from his package yet) doesn’t have the same problem.

Value for the Dollar – Beast Man’s other negative has to be his cost. When released, Beast Man was priced at $20 which, after shipping, actually came in closer to $28 or $30. When you compare him to Mattel’s DC Universe Classics action figures, that’s a bit high. And since Mattel is releasing a single figure at a time, which kinda makes sense but is frustrating, you can’t even combine shipping on multiple figures to save some bucks. I’ve seen some chatter about ideas to create “subscriptions” so that people can save on shipping, but not many collectors are going to be happy with waiting an entire year for all of their figures to be delivered. Mattel needs to put some thought and effort into the distribution system and pricing.

Closing Thoughts

Despite the high price and weak joints, Beast Man is excellent. His sculpting, by Four Horsemen, is quite impressive and overall he looks great on the shelf. As my first toy in the Masters of the Universe Classics line, I’m very happy and look forward to seeing more releases. (And, after wrapping up this review, I’m gonna have to open up my Skeletor . . . watch out, Beast Man, the boss is coming.)

Don’t miss Poe Ghostal’s Beast Man review for another opinion on this sold-out action figure. (The summary, for those of you too lazy to read another review of the same toy, can be given with this: 4.5 out of 5 stars.)

Philip Reed is going to be at the New York Toy Fair when the next Masters of the Universe Classics figure goes on sale. How’s he going to duck out of the con long enough to place an order?