Mer Man vintage figure review thread

[Spacedust]

No vintage figure review last week as I couldn't get on-line; my internet time is limited at the moment. But lets get one started this week as we look at that underwater warlord, MER MAN.

Alongside Beast Man, Mer Man was the earliest addition to Skeletor's band of Evil Warriors.

Mer Man looks pretty good. His armor and sword are an original sculpt (the only time both were used for the original line, neither being recycled). His face always looked a bit cat like to me, I always wished it looked more like the Filmation version's face. The box art version looked different still. (I also wished the actual figure had the yellow gloves and leg cuffs of the box art version). The head itself was later recycled for Stinkor.

Mer Man was illustrated to be different colours in different sources. The mini-comics and such portrayed him as green, whereas the Filmation rendition had him as blue. The figure itself was sort of mid-way between.

There are two versions of Mer Man. One has the belt and trunks all in orange, whereas others have the belt section painted light green. The green belt version is later, although some sources suggest the other way around.

As I've mentioned in a previous thread, I remember when I was about 5 years old asking my mother why Mer Man wasn't called 'Sea Man'. Oh such innocence!!

Mer Man appeared occasionally in the Filmation cartoon series, being featured in a number of early episodes, and getting his own episode occasionally afterwards. Although later he descended into the generic "bumbling villain", some of his appearances showed him to be quite cold-hearted and a formidable opponent (see "Teela's Quest", "Search for the VHO", "City Beneath the Sea"). Oh, just noticed there doesn't seem to be a review thread for 'VHO, have to fill that in sometime.
Anyway, it was great that Mer Man got these showcase episodes,

Mer Man received a reasonable 200x revamp. The Four Horseman said that they tried to give him a face sculpt nearer to the original box art appearance. It was okay, but I still longed for one more in the vein of the Filmation version. As well as an updated-but-basically-the-same sword, they also gave him a trident. I really liked this, as I had been drawing Mer Man with a trident for years beforehand. It really suits the character, as he is basically the lord of under the ocean, where Skeletor's clutches don't reach, and the trident makes him seem more powerful.
They made his armor and weapons dirty gold coloured, which was okay, but (like many 200x revamps) I missed the bold, bright colours of the originals.

All-in-all, Mer Man is one of the key characters of MOTU, and as a villain I really like him. I'll give him a worthy 9 out of 10.

So those are my thoughts on ol' fish features.
Now I'd like to hear your comments, thoughts, memories, and all things Mer Man. And as always, don't forget to rate the vintage figure in the poll!

[krugos]

There is only one dissapointment about this figure and it was that it didn't have the yellow gloves painted as in the back of the card... and this very issue happened again with the 2002 figure, so I was let down twice, as a kid and as an adult, by this figure Because of that I'll give it a 9 instead of a 10.

Gloves appart, I loved the figure, I think I've always liked aquatic beings. I also liked his armor and sword and used to think it was a big piece corn or something (why would Mer Man carry a giant piece of corn beats me) , and I don't know if his chest piece came incomplete or I lost the small part at the belt level when the figure was new, because all my memories are from the figure missing that part. With that part missing it had a little hole where it was supposed to be attached, there was one episode when Mer Man puts some sort of red gem into his belt or armor, don't remember (I think it is the episode when Man At Arms adopts Teela and we learn she's the Sorceress daughter), well I used to think the little hole in Mer Man's armor was to place this gem and that the tiny thing would actually be produced... to quote a line from Spacedust's review "Oh such innocence!!"

Great memories with this character, 9 out of 10 points from me.

[motu77]

I'll give him an 8.

[He-Fan]

Chris here...

Mer-Man was one of those characters as a kid that I very badly wanted but could never find, having come into collecting the line at a very late stage (summer 1988). Believe it or not, having also come into the cartoon quite late when Children's ITV were showing season 2, my very first exposure to Mer-Man was in the He-Man Ladybird book "A Trap for He-Man", and then again in "Skeletor's Ice Attack", the first two He-Man Ladybird books I had! Both came with a read-along tape, and the narrator gave Mer-Man such a dramatic voice (as well as such a cool "vibe" with his undersea kingdom), from then on he became one of my very favourite characters!

I finally got a classic Mer-Man figure as a gift in 2005, but to this day I've never owned his famous "corn on the cob" sword!

Just to add on a semi-related note, the 200X revamped Mer-Man figure is easily one of my very favourites from the line, and the first new MOTU figure I purchased off the shelf (having previously had He-Man & Skeletor for my birthday)! I can still remember the day I got him, from Toys 'R' Us, and then came home to watch "The Courage of Adam" on Toonami - happy memories, just like old times!

Take care...

[TriKlops1971]

The only reason I didn't give the classic Mer-Man a 10 was because the figure's sword didn't fit very well in it's hand. The weapon's hilt was too thick and kept slipping out. Other than that, I thought the figure was a good representation of the character that inspired it.

I think that Mer-Man's character had a lot of depth (no pun intended) which made him so attractive to a lot of fans. I also thought he and Beast-Man complemented each other perfectly. Kind of a scary team-up when you think about it. One controls the creatures on land, the other the creatures of the sea. If Filmation had really played on this concept and created an episode in which Mer-Man and Beast-Man pooled their resources and made a unified attack upon the forces of goodness, it might have been one of the best of the series.

[suckator]

I agree that Mer-man is awesome for all of the reasons stated above. Wish his gloves and boots were painted though! Still a 10!

[Bowhead Whale]

Mer-Man is cute. I gave him a 6. Although, even if I never had this figure, it's not the first time I hear that his sword doesn't fit his hand very well. Plus, I think I would have made his ears further apart from each other, with a wider forehead. This way, he would have looked more "fish-like". This way, his ears look like those of a furry mammal (no wonder the company used the same mold to create Stinkor). Anyway, the character itself is interesting, though. This green fish-man reminds me of the fish-men of a 1960's movie my mother shown me when I was a kid. Yup! Interesting character.

[suckator]

I think the orange belt version may be later. Rather - he could be found with the orange belt later on because of this picture of him with the stench of evil comic. This doesn't really say which came first though. He may also have had the green belt later on too.


Carded Mer-Man

[Orko's Magic Hat]

Mer-Man is one of my favourites, I didn't get Mer-Man until 1990 when I swapped my friend some GI Joes for a 95% complete Mer-Man (no belt).

I really like undersea creatures anyway and Mer-Man fits the bill 100%, I also like the figures face more than the Filmation "fish-face". And of course he came with one of the greatest weapons in MOTU - the corn-on-the-cob sword!

I also like the new 4HM Mer-Man, but would have prefered classic colours.

Figure rating ~ 8/10

[danbrenus]

Wish his gloves and boots were painted though! Still a 10![/QUOTE]

Same for me.10.

[Man-E-Toys]

merman gets a 6 from me. i was just never really a fan of the character or figure. nothing about him popped out for me.