Moss Man vintage figure review

[Spacedust]

A much quieter week on last week's thread on the Dragon Walker, which is maybe understandable, as I know I myself can't find quite so much to say about the vehicles as the regular figures.

Anyway, it's back to the figures this week, and in keeping with the green colour theme, let's take a look at that flocked master of camouflage, who suspiciously resembles Beast Man, it is, of course, MOSS MAN.

Moss Man was released as part of the fourth wave of figures. Covered in green flocking, he was billed as the 'Heroic Spy & Master of Camouflage', although on most of the back-of-box listings this was abbreviated to simply 'Heroic Master of Camouflage'.
An eco-friendly man-creature of the wild, Moss Man roamed the woods and forests and countrysides of Eternia looking after the plant-life. His green appearance allowed him to blend in with foliage, which made him a good spy. In some versions, he was said to have become the head gardener at the Royal Palace.

Moss Man's entire body and head was recycled from Beast Man. On Beast Man the head looked like it was giving a savage growl, but on Moss Man it looked rather like he is in the middle of a rendition of "'O Sole Mio". The figure comes armed with a brown version of the Grayskull mace.

Just as the third wave had given spring-loaded-arm counterparts with Fisto and Jitsu, the fourth wave gave us scented counterparts, with Moss Man and Stinkor. Whereas Stinkor was famous for smelling bad, Mossy was pine scented but this wasn't made as much of a selling point, and many young owners did not actually realise that Moss Man was scented until they ripped him out of the packaging.
The mini-comic "The Stench of Evil" served as an introductory showcase for both Moss Man and Stinkor, although beyond that - as with Fisto and Jitsu - Mossy and Stinkor's counterpart status was seldom played upon in other media.

Terribly unfunny story: as a kid, I used to go to a dentist called Mr. Moss. I had much mirth about him really being Moss Man (strange what seems funny as a kid), and later on he caught on and joked about it.

I remember a local kid, Steven Wozniak, who was always rather creative with the truth, one day spun me a yarn about how he had been playing with his Moss Man and left him on the lawn, and it was so camouflaged that his Dad mowed over it. Yeah right!!

I never got around to buying a Moss Man originally, being drawn towards the foul smelling Stinkor instead. But he was one of the very first figures that I got second hand, not long after the toy-line had left the shelves. A neighbour knew that I still liked MOTU, and picked me up a mint Moss Man at a local boot sale.

Since then I have got numerous examples of Moss Man, in both soft and hard head versions.

About a year ago now, I was working with a guy named Matt Moss. He was looking through my home-made figure guide, and remembered there was a figure called Moss Man. He asked if I had a spare, and I dug one out as a leaving gift (cheap, but he liked it!), although I was short on proper coloured maces, so gave him a regular Grayskull grey one.

Moss Man appeared in a few later second season episodes of the Filmation cartoon series, and was a regular in the U.K. Marvel comics.

There wasn't a 'proper' 200x Moss Man figure, but there was an Exclusive, using the traditional flocking of Beast Man's mold. (This revamp used a bronze version of 200x Mekaneck's periscope-weapon-thingy). It was rumoured that there would be a 'proper' new version of Moss Man to follow, but the line was halted before it ever emerged.

Moss Man was also introduced in the Mike Young Productions cartoon, in the episode "Orko's Garden". In an actually quite logical move, he was seen as the nemesis of Evilseed, revamped from his original one-off appearance in the Filmation series.
This cartoon version of Moss Man gave us some idea what a 'proper' new figure of the character may have looked like. I really liked the background that was given to the revamped Mossy, with him being some kind of urban legend of the countryside, though wasn't so keen that he was presented almost as some kind of God, with huge powers including being able to cover masses of land at high speed as he 'grew'. I liked the urban legend thing, but felt the extreme powers should have been reined in a bit.

All-in-all, which I quite like Moss Man, he was never an all-time favourite with me, just kind of 'being there'. In terms of the vintage figure, I'll give it an average 7 out of 10. The flocking is nice, although they really cheaped out by simply recycling Beast Man's body. But hey, it kinda makes sense, as Moss Man promotes recycling!

So those are my rambles on Moss Man.
I'd really like to hear your own thoughts, comments, memories, criticisms, and anything else remotely Moss Man-related. And as always, whether you post your thoughts or not, don't forget to rate the vintage figure in the poll!

[galaxy warrior]

mossman's scent like stinkors is permafroze in my mind i'll just catch a wiff of something near to it and go back to be a kid instantly..."i smell mossman" definatly one of my longest standing favs.

[PowerofGrayskull]

I too love the moss man smell, sweet childhood

[Binx4life]

I remember the X-mas that I got Mossman. And, like the the rest, I loved his scent. There was nothing else like it, which makes him so unique.

[faker32828]

Moss Man is a so so figure IN THE LINE, but he is also a greta example of what made the line really cool after they dropped the barbarian theme. A nice line of interesting figures where the gimmicks added to and didn't interfere with the figures, unlike some other lines I like. I think it says alot for the line when a so-so character is a really good figure. it's not a so-so character with a so-so figure. In fact it's actually a pretty good character that just doesn't get alot of use from me.

[Thebigzakbowski]

My personal favorite figure. I wish mine still smelled

[Arkan]

I like him very much, he gets a 8/10 for me.Mine dosn´t smell any more, but he looks cool and very feral at the same time.

[He-Fan]

Chris here...

As a kid I was knocked out by Moss Man's amazing pine scent - I remember how much I loved both him and his mini-comic, the latter of which still smelled of pine for years afterwards!

I really like the character of Moss Man, I think he fits well into the Eternian mythos, and I was really pleased to get his figure in 1989. I think it's a shame that he wasn't better developed in the Filmation cartoon (I actually never knew that Moss Man even appeared in the cartoon until I managed to get all the episodes on VHS in 2000). I have a lot of happy memories of getting and playing with my Moss Man figure, and so this plus the sheer greatness of the figure earns him a 9 out of 10 in my book!

Take care...

[Spacedust]

Moss Man is a so so figure IN THE LINE, but he is also a greta example of what made the line really cool after they dropped the barbarian theme. A nice line of interesting figures where the gimmicks added to and didn't interfere with the figures, unlike some other lines I like. I think it says alot for the line when a so-so character is a really good figure. it's not a so-so character with a so-so figure. In fact it's actually a pretty good character that just doesn't get alot of use from me.

I have to both agree and disagree. I personally think that the line was better with it's barbarian roots, and after it was dropped it did become more gimmicky, sometimes of sacrafice to actual character. Moss Man is mid-range, not over gimmicky, but not one of the line's strongest in terms of character either.

I know the flocking is the big pull design-wise, but I always felt that that he was a bit plain, and maybe could have benefitted from some simple accessory to wear or something.

[Arkan]

I have to both agree and disagree. I personally think that the line was better with it's barbarian roots, and after it was dropped it did become more gimmicky, sometimes of sacrafice to actual character. Moss Man is mid-range, not over gimmicky, but not one of the line's strongest in terms of character either.

I know the flocking is the big pull design-wise, but I always felt that that he was a bit plain, and maybe could have benefitted from some simple accessory to wear or something.

Yes I comlpetely agree. The same I think about Sy Klone.

[Flor2099]

Moss Man was my favorite of all the heroes when I was little.

Vintage gets a 10!

The new one gets a 1. We better get a staction!

[Spacedust]

I'm tempted to start a "Who would win: Beast Man vs. Moss Man" battle scenario thread, but got told off for starting too many polls hehe!

[He-Fan]

Chris here...

Just to add as a random note, in my own experience, second-hand Moss Man figures could also be accurately referred to as "Lint Man"!

Take care...

[misfits1011]

mossman is great...i just bought one since i always wanted my cousins and didn't have my own.

[Spacedust]

I'm tempted to start a "Who would win: Beast Man vs. Moss Man" battle scenario thread, but got told off for starting too many polls hehe!

Duh, I just realised there already is one, and throwing Grizzlor into the mix too! - here

Just to add as a random note, in my own experience, second-hand Moss Man figures could also be accurately referred to as "Lint Man"!

Hehe, I've found this too. The short flocking does mean that many Moss Mans need cleaning up a bit. Not as bad as some Grizzlors though - urgh!

[nutnog]

mossman's scent like stinkors is permafroze in my mind i'll just catch a wiff of something near to it and go back to be a kid instantly..."i smell mossman" definatly one of my longest standing favs.

Same here, when I get a whiff of Mossman or Stinkor, I am instantly transported back in time. What still amazes me is how string the fragrance still is in both figures after all this time.

[braxsis364]

Moss man never apealed to me for some reson and never played with him that much didint understand his powers that much other than diapearing in the foileage ill have to say a 5.

[Faker]

Spacedust On Beast Man the head looked like it was giving a savage growl, but on Moss Man it looked rather like he is in the middle of a rendition of "'O Sole Mio".

I always used Moss Man as a henchman, ignoring his heroic master of pine (Or whatever) tag. I know he's just a fuzzy green Beastman, but I love Beastman and add in the pine scent and flocked green felt and he's a by gosh 8/10 to me.

[TriKlops1971]

I have to agree with SpaceDust. When Mattel started steering the MOTU line away from it's more barbarian roots, the toy line (and the TV series to an extent) got gimmicky almost to the point of cheesy-ness. Characters like Rio Blast and Extendarr are perfect examples of this.

Moss Man was never one of my favorites. I liked the character, and I liked the way Filmation presented him, but he just didn't have the appeal for me that some of the older characters did. I think recycling old characters into new ones (Beast-Man into Moss Man) wasn't the best move Mattel ever made. Sure, it probably saved the company quite a bit of money, but I think it might have tarnished their reputation as a toy manufacturer (at least Fisto and Jitsu had different faces and hand-styles).

I gave Moss Man a 6. I liked the character, but the recycled action figure mold was too obvious. The scent was neat, though. I liked it. It was as close to an air freshener as my old bedroom ever got

[Stampede]

I liked him. I liked his character in the mini-comic because of his sincerity and kindness and I really enjoyed the smell and texture of his figure.

8/10.

[Doomseeker]

I'm a big fan of this figure, but only recently acquired it (took ages to find an example I was happy with) I'd give this figure 7-8 / 10

has anyone tried adding the pine smell back to their Moss man figure??

[Sukey]

Moss Man was one of my favorite figures as a kid. Since I'm a girl I couldn't have MOTU toys when I was little so when ever I went over to my cousin's I always had to play with Moss Man because he was my favorite. I still love Moss Man. I love his "moss", but it's annoying that he is a big lint collector. I gave him a 10.

[KidRandor]

one of my faves. love that pine smell and astroturf texture!

[Bowhead Whale]

A good character. And his moss, with the flock, is very well represented.

[Flint]

I gave good old Mossy an 8. I always liked him and he was one of my faves growing up. The flocking was a good gimick as well as the pine. I remember using the yellow beast man armor from the weapon pack for him.

I really need to get a new one.