He-Man and Skeletor Variant Discussion (Battle Armor, Thunder Punch, etc; all brands)

[chuc98]

I have no problem with variants that have been mentioned. There's no reason why they can't be mixed into yearly releases. I'd love to see a Classics version of BA He-Man and Skeletor as well as Thunder Punch He-Man and Dragon Blaster Skeletor! Those would all be awesome! Great variants like these SHOULD NOT be left out.

[BlueStreak]

While I'm not opposed to He-Man and Skeletor variants, I want them as additional monthly figures - that way they don't get in the way of the normal monthly release.

[Alexx]

I was going to make a post about this as well! I wanted to discuss what we thought about taking up spaces with more He-Man and Skeletor. Sounds like some good ideas from phantom1592! I agree, I think the two need to come around every so often. Also, like he said, for some folks, BA He-Man was thier first He-Man.

Personally, I think that BA He-Man and Skeletor should be a special two pack off to the side, so that they don't take up space. I'd totally get that! It would be good to put in early on as well, when He-Man and Skeletor run out.

I would still love to see Dragon Blaster Skelly, though, since he was the one I got after wrecking my original Skelly. However, I think DB Skelly and Thunder Punch He-Man are different enough for thier own spaces, but further down the line to revive the two.

[capitalzero]

Two-Thousand-And-Ecks

oh, and Battle Armor.

BA He-Man and Skeletor were MY He-Man and Skeletor (as I could never find the originals).

[blindell]

I'd love to see Dragon Blaster Skeletor, with a removable dragon, to give us an extra character.

Same here. I really liked this figure.

[Eterniandreams]

He-man Variant:
Battle armor he-man, armor removable like fisto armor.

Skeletor Variant:
Keldor

[Ryuijirou]

If we are going to get variants of Skeletor and He-Man, I´m hoping for Dragon Blaster Skeletor and Battle Armor He-Man!

[darkluke74]

the only variants of he-man and skeletor I would interested in, are the BA versions.

[He-Man54]

I think that BA He-Man and Skelly are popular enough to warrant their own special release figures, whether as a 2-pack or bonus figure or whatever.

What I would like to see is something that was mentioned a while back. Make the different He-Man and Skelly armors removeable and instead of a "whole" figure taking up a monthly spot, sell just the armors(weapons included) as accessory packs in addition to the respective month's figure.

For example:

June: Man-At-Arms figure, bonus armor pack: Thunderpunch He-Man & Dragon Blaster Skelly

July: Triklops figure, bonus pack: Flying Fists He-Man and Terror Claws Skelly

This way we essentially get three figures a month and we don't have 8,000 He-Man and Skelly variants sitting on "toy shelves everywhere"(pun intended).

[MegaGearMax]

No variants unless they are the main He-Man and Skeletor in a particular era (i.e., NA He-Man and Skeletor or 200X He-Man and Skeletor).

Leave the variants as some bonus figures from Mattycollector. Don't have an actual monthly slot dedicated to a variant.

[Motorthing]

I too vote "NO" on variants for now - this line is only just underway and there are a ton of deserving characters to do so,..... lets get them done and have variants as con exclusives and whatnot. Variants helped crash 200x and I really don't want that to happen here.

I do like BA He-man though, he was the only original figure I kept when I got all grown up and binned my childhood - and the thousands of pounds it would now represent!

[Heidi]

What, no love for the SB - variants?

[Baena]

I'm down with the He-Man and Skeletor variants.

My favorite idea is still battle armor packs, but I believe TG shot that idea down stating that variants are good ideas for exclusives and full figures vs. the accessory packs.

I agree with him that they make the best exclusives. And I'd rather they be that, instead of monthly slot figures. But if a new He-Man or Skeletor variant will help the line, then I'll trust that judgement. (Looking at what happened to the stactions, BA He-Man and classic He-Man were good sellers, even if it was there in the bitter end.)

I'd like to see of course the BA versions of both.
Most of the classic variants were pretty cool when it boils down to it.
As to the newer 200X variants? I'd have to say that the only one that really strikes my fancy would be a Snake Armor He-Man, with a possible pack-in KG head? A good Skeletor Variant would be a Keldor treatment like the old SDCC exclusive... Give him a cape and some new armor and maybe boots instead of the reptilian feet (same with the hands, swap the reptilian hands with Human hands and gauntlets)? And of course some cool new heads! Could be really cool!

Heck, maybe someday we could see the fabled Horde armor He-Man at some point in this line?

The only variants I would see as monthly figures would be NA He-Man and Skeletor, and possibly the BA variants. (They seem the most popular and could probably hold their own really well.)

[Alexx]

I think that BA He-Man and Skelly are popular enough to warrant their own special release figures, whether as a 2-pack or bonus figure or whatever.

What I would like to see is something that was mentioned a while back. Make the different He-Man and Skelly armors removeable and instead of a "whole" figure taking up a monthly spot, sell just the armors(weapons included) as accessory packs in addition to the respective month's figure.

For example:

June: Man-At-Arms figure, bonus armor pack: Thunderpunch He-Man & Dragon Blaster Skelly

July: Triklops figure, bonus pack: Flying Fists He-Man and Terror Claws Skelly

This way we essentially get three figures a month and we don't have 8,000 He-Man and Skelly variants sitting on "toy shelves everywhere"(pun intended).

I really like the idea of accessory packs to make the BA versions, but I'm not keen on the armor addition removing the chest joint. Also, the torso is so big that the snap on armor might end up being really huge...I just don't know if armor is going to work. I think I'd rather just have a new torso made, with the articulation intact. That takes up tooling costs, of course, but that's why I think those two would make a good two pack!

If they did throw out the armor as accessory packs, though, I think it would be better to use them similarly to the way that build-a-figures are used. The parts are there to get you to buy more than you usually would to build something, so I think the armors should just be packed with other figures as incentive to get them as well. You could pack the BA He-Man armor with Man-At-Arms, since you could say that he built it. Then you could package Skelly's armor with...oh heck, I dunno, Trapjaw or Triklops. Anyone that you could loosly connect it with. It doesn't matter much; it doesn't even have to be mentioned on the package as part of a story or anything.

[Greyskull]

All the variants from the original line!

[Matt79]

Yes, I also want all the Variants from the original line + New Adventures. Maybe I'm in the minority but I'd like to have one He-Man and one Skeletor variant every year, even if they are released as normal monthly figures. I don't like the idea of additional armor packs. As a MOC collector I want individual figures instead. A BA-He-Man/BA-Skeletor two pack would be great.

I'm a little bit surprised, that nobody mentioned Terror Claw Skeletor. That's one of my favorites.

[Eric]

Variants were never a bad thing until Batman: The Animated Series went so crazy with the many different versions of Batman, inspiring all other lines to do the same thing with their lead characters. And of course, 200X made them hated by many MOTU fans because of SB He-Man and SB Skeletor indirectly murdering the line.

But if we get them the way we got them back in the day, they're fine by me, and I definitely want Battle Armor He-Man and Skeletor, as well as Thunderpunch He-Man and Terror Claws Skeletor.

Edit - I just saw your post, Matt79. Terror Claws Skeletor was one of my favorites, too. He got more use than regular Skeletor after I got him.

[blindell]

But if we get them the way we got them back in the day, they're fine by me, and I definitely want Battle Armor He-Man and Skeletor, as well as Thunderpunch He-Man and Terror Claws Skeletor.

Same here. Do it right, and everyone wins that way.

[Orko's Magic Hat]

I'd only want He-Man/Skele varients IF they were released ADDITIONALLY to the one figure per month, If they took the place of some other characters, then I won't be pleased.

Maybe Mattel could release a He-Man/Skele Battle Armor 2-Pack next Xmas? hint, hint.

[davidlogan]

I would like all the varients from the original line.

Don't care much for any of the ones from new line. Ice Armor (he-man and Skeletor) and Snake Armor He-man would be cool, but not high on my want list.

I'm looking forward to Thunder Punch He-man and Dragon Blaster Skeletor.

[Uki]

I like the idea of a yearly HM/Skeletor 2-Pack. Pack the two corresponding variants of He-Man and ol' Bonehead together and make it an annula offering. The same could be done for She-Ra and Hordak as well. I would love to have every variant of them (at least from the classic line, and maybe some of the 200X) but I don't want monthly sots taken up by them so early in the line. Mattel should always have a He-Man and Skeletor available, and SR and Hordak too, after their debut.

[bamf1980]

Ok, so I was one of those that was fortunate enough to pick up He-Man and Beastman with my Skeletor in the great shopping cart glitch of '09.

Even so, I can't help but wonder if/when He-Man and Skeletor will resurface.

Then I got to thinking about my childhood experience with the original MOTU. I think the likely thing to occur will be that the next time we see He-Man and Skeletor, they will be wearing their original BATTLE ARMOR.

I don't know about you guys, but the Battle Armor played a bigger part of my childhood than the classic looks did. I think probably because I broke the originals..

I have no doubt that the classic looks will return (possible packaged with Battle Cat and Panthor), but I think we'll see the original variants first.

[Evil Ed]

- Savage He-Man (Wonderbread)
- Battle Armor He-Man
- Flying Fists He-Man
- New Adventures He-Man (but with muscles so he fits in with MotUC!)
- regular He-Man with 2002-colors

- regular Skeletor with blue accessories and Alcala-head (!!!)
- Battle Armor Skeletor
- Dragonblaster Skeletor
- Terror-Claws Skeletor
- New Adventures Skeletor (but with muscles so he fits in with MotUC!)

- Hurricane Hordak
- Buzz-Saw Hordak (only if representing it's action-feature without actually shooting the saw)


edDy

[miscus555]

I was thinking........In the near future, we will probably get a BA Skelly and BA Heman. The facts right now are we only get 1 new figure per month, already have He-Man and Skeletor, and will definitly see a re-release of the original two.

when the new battle versions come around, what would you rather have mattel do??

-have mattel give us all new versions of He-Man and Skeletor within the normal monthly schedule at $20 a pop. if you were to get it this way, all versions of HM and Skelly (BA's, TC, DB, TP, FF, LL's) would use up 8 months.

-Have mattel give us all new versions of He-Man and Skeletor within the normal monthly schedule at $20 a pop but also sell a 2nd figure within the same month a Skelly or HM is being sold so fans can get something "newer" instead of a variant of HM or Skelly using up the month.

-Have Mattel give us a new "base" version of He-Man and Skeletor and make it deluxe at say a $30 price point, each figure will include "snap on" armor and parts to complete all the versions. so for example, one new version of skeletor will come with battle armor parts, laser light, terror claws, dragon blaster, etc. this would include all variations of armor, capes, etc. This would take up 2 months of the schedule and all versions of He-Man and Skeletor would be finished. Mattel then can sell the original re-releases of He-man and Skeletor and if fans want, they can buy extra HM/Skellys to make single versions of the different variants.

[MegaGearMax]

I was thinking........In the near future, we will probably get a BA Skelly and BA Heman. The facts right now are we only get 1 new figure per month, already have He-Man and Skeletor, and will definitly see a re-release of the original two.

when the new battle versions come around, what would you rather have mattel do??

-have mattel give us all new versions of He-Man and Skeletor within the normal monthly schedule at $20 a pop. if you were to get it this way, all versions of HM and Skelly (BA's, TC, DB, TP, FF, LL's) would use up 8 months.

Definitely not. People don't want slots being taken up by new versions of old characters.

-Have mattel give us all new versions of He-Man and Skeletor within the normal monthly schedule at $20 a pop but also sell a 2nd figure within the same month a Skelly or HM is being sold so fans can get something "newer" instead of a variant of HM or Skelly using up the month.

I think this is best, especially with the fans' reactions to alternate versions of He-Man, Skeletor, Hordak, She-Ra and Catra. It doesn't stop the monthly figures, being more of an option.

-Have Mattel give us a new "base" version of He-Man and Skeletor and make it deluxe at say a $30 price point, each figure will include "snap on" armor and parts to complete all the versions. so for example, one new version of skeletor will come with battle armor parts, laser light, terror claws, dragon blaster, etc. this would include all variations of armor, capes, etc. This would take up 2 months of the schedule and all versions of He-Man and Skeletor would be finished. Mattel then can sell the original re-releases of He-man and Skeletor and if fans want, they can buy extra HM/Skellys to make single versions of the different variants.

Some versions of He-Man and Skeletor can't be snapped on since they are so different...NA, 200X, Snake Armor He-Man are examples.