Disapointments with the Origins line

[Darkkosis]

But even then, while I agree with the MOTUC QC assessment, if you think about it, those figures turned out fantastic, QC notwithstanding, for the money we paid for them. They were only $22 - $24 for most of the run, at the end of the day. That kind of money, for an online only line, was and still is, amazing value for what we got.

At the end of the day, all lines suffer from QC issues, including high end stuff like Hot Toys, X-Plus and Soul of Chogokin.

For me, the MOTUC figures after shipping and taxes ended up costing me on average $33-$35 per figure and that's before S7's takeover. Digital River wasn't cheap if I remember correctly! While now I only pay the sales tax on those Origins figures and the shipping is free even when I get it online.
MOTUC were premium collectibles at least within Mattel's standards, Origins are a mass produced toy line for people to have fun with, so the expectations should be a lot lower, that being said, if Origins to succeed, it also needs to be a little more attractive on the quality side as well.

[ManKindRam]

For me....they're just not what I want. That seems to urk a lot of my MOTU friends and I have my toys from the 80s and the head sculpts look better then these. MOTUC was what I had always wanted after Marvel Legends came out.....Huge, nicely detailed, NEW reditions. I'm a huge WWE/WWF collector and when Jakks started including the LJN styled figures of Attitude error wrestlers I thought they were horrible. I'm happy though that so many like Origins. I have plenty of other things to spend my money on.

[Durendal]

For me....they're just not what I want. That seems to urk a lot of my MOTU friends and I have my toys from the 80s and the head sculpts look better then these. MOTUC was what I had always wanted after Marvel Legends came out.....Huge, nicely detailed, NEW reditions. I'm a huge WWE/WWF collector and when Jakks started including the LJN styled figures of Attitude error wrestlers I thought they were horrible. I'm happy though that so many like Origins. I have plenty of other things to spend my money on.

Mostly agreed. While NA, 200x, Classics and MegaConstrux all took a different spin on MOTU, I see Origins as a straight up refresh of Vintage (and maybe a continuation if it lasts long enough) - same packaging, same logo, same scale, mini-comics, and virtually identical proportions, designs, and sculpt style. It's a "greatest hits" approach to toy making. They're perfectly ok for what they are, but to me as a retread of what we had before as kids I don't feel that they're terribly inspiring. Aside from added articulation they bring nothing new to the table. I want to collect them to a degree, but can't be bothered if it's a hassle (which it has been so far). They're not worth obsessing over the way Classics were.

[SuperMario]

I actually have a difficult time getting my figures to sit down. It's like the hip joints just don't allow for any forward, backward, or rotational movement outside of just doing a side split.

Also, I really, really don't like the head sculpt on He-man. Vintage is the only one I really want. Additional facial expressions aren't needed for my enjoyment.

[Brasco]

I actually have a difficult time getting my figures to sit down. It's like the hip joints just don't allow for any forward, backward, or rotational movement outside of just doing a side split.

Also, I really, really don't like the head sculpt on He-man. Vintage is the only one I really want. Additional facial expressions aren't needed for my enjoyment.

Same for me with the vintage head. Going to have to buy quite a few to swap all the heads out. Maybe more if they release the other He-man variants.

[Durendal]

I actually have a difficult time getting my figures to sit down. It's like the hip joints just don't allow for any forward, backward, or rotational movement outside of just doing a side split.

Also, I really, really don't like the head sculpt on He-man. Vintage is the only one I really want. Additional facial expressions aren't needed for my enjoyment.

The vintage head sculpt is great (no doubt why we all love it so much), but it does make him look kind of old, which might explain why Mattel wanted the new "main" head sculpt to look more youthful.

[Bolingbroke]

Knowing how cynical toy companies are, the only reason they gave him a crappy face only to later give us a vintage one in a different release was to get suckers like me to buy two instead of one. Only thing is, I’m over that kind of BS. It was bad enough having to buy the Oo-Larr exclusive in MOTUC for some decent heads to replace the regular one. Not doing it again with Origins. Those who like the Spiccoli head, great. Those who buy the BA He Man for the vintage head great. But as for me, no thank you.

[Durendal]

Knowing how cynical toy companies are, the only reason they gave him a crappy face only to later give us a vintage one in a different release was to get suckers like me to buy two instead of one. Only thing is, I’m over that kind of BS. It was bad enough having to buy the Oo-Larr exclusive in MOTUC for some decent heads to replace the regular one. Not doing it again with Origins. Those who like the Spiccoli head, great. Those who buy the BA He Man for the vintage head great. But as for me, no thank you.

But isn't it a good thing that we get different heads so that we have multiple display options? One of frankly many things that irked me about vintage as a kid was that every He-Man and Skeletor variant that was released had the exact same head as before.

[Smitty.81]

I may get hell for this but I hate the vintage He-Man head, and I would hate a cartoon head even more. And I don't mind if Skeletor's face does not look like a skull. I'm fine with a Langella-esque "mask" look as it makes seem as if he's just disfigured and the name Skeletor more of an insult.

[Bolingbroke]

I may get hell for this but I hate the vintage He-Man head, and I would hate a cartoon head even more. And I don't mind if Skeletor's face does not look like a skull. I'm fine with a Langella-esque "mask" look as it makes seem as if he's just disfigured and the name Skeletor more of an insult.

That’s a ... peculiar opinion I must say. It’s almost like being a TMNT fan but preferring it if they had chihuahua heads instead of turtle.

The classic He Man head is ... manly, which was the whole point about He Man in his original barbarian incarnation, which happens to be the one I like the most (the only one I like, really).

[felgekarp]

I may get hell for this but I hate the vintage He-Man head, and I would hate a cartoon head even more. And I don't mind if Skeletor's face does not look like a skull. I'm fine with a Langella-esque "mask" look as it makes seem as if he's just disfigured and the name Skeletor more of an insult.

I don’t even like He-Man or Skeletor period, they’re some of my least wanted figures in any motu line, which is probably why what their heads look like is not an issue for me.

[Smitty.81]

That’s a ... peculiar opinion I must say. It’s almost like being a TMNT fan but preferring it if they had chihuahua heads instead of turtle.

The classic He Man head is ... manly, which was the whole point about He Man in his original barbarian incarnation, which happens to be the one I like the most (the only one I like, really).

I'm not sure that analogy is 100% accurate. The thing with the vintage head is that I never really liked it. That head is a product of it's time and a result of Mattel not being able to get it exactly how they wanted it. The new head is not prefect either but I think it's closed to that barbarian look that He-Man should have.

[Durendal]

I'm not sure that analogy is 100% accurate. The thing with the vintage head is that I never really liked it. That head is a product of it's time and a result of Mattel not being able to get it exactly how they wanted it. The new head is not prefect either but I think it's closed to that barbarian look that He-Man should have.

I generally like the vintage head, mainly for the chiseled facial features and intense expression, but you make a strong point. His hair should have been longer and looked more like how it did in the original mini-comics. The hair on the vintage figure had too much of a cheesy 70's shag thing going on...

[MossMan710179]

I actually have a difficult time getting my figures to sit down.

These are "action" figures, not "casual" figures ...

[ToxicShlock]

I am sort of odd cat when it came to vintage, in that I have never gone back to buy more than what I had in childhood. Loved those figures, have most of them and the original playsets to this day - including Eternia! But have never gone back to ebay anything vintage I was missing since we have had (to me) amazing offerings of new design moving things forward with 200x, then Classics, which I subscribed to, bought heavily and retro snagged as much as I could that I wanted, before this last 2 years of insane collector inflation on them.

Origins is neat in that it's a call back to Vintage again, in form - but with improved function. However, where there are some serious improvements noticed with the (what I still think is an amazing design in figure engineering) super posable buck, swappable parts, vehicles so far like SkySled larger with more detail - there is some paint app cheapness and soft/sloppy sculpts on a few figures (BA Skeletor - wave 1 skeletor - Ill say even Scareglow's head!). Overall, Origins are very fun figures to have in hand, but these odd steps at least on Skeletor in particular need some focus from Mattel to remedy in future skeletor versions.

There is some stuff going on in design that is a step back in detail from vintage, specifically some of the head sculpts and paint apps. I will always love vintage He-Man head, but I actually now very much dig the Alcala style/Spicoli head. Look below at my original Scareglow and 82 dated skeletor - other than their childhood wear, they almost have more detail in the sculpt and certainly more care in the original paint application.
Scareglow's softer looking sculpt, and lack of yellow pins are very noticablly absent when you line him up to the original - which really had an impressively grim look to him!



Overall - I have classics, and they are amazing. I am happily collecting the "toyetic", more kid friendly - definite nod toward vintage Origins, and super digging it overall - cept those Skeletor heads...man...I just can not accept them, have popped on my extra MOTUC skeletor heads and that has made them really pop, as I love their bucks.
I see two different toylines, one for fantastic display - and the other I can collect, the packaging is steller looking for MIB vintage vibes, but I can hand them out to my kids/nephews (and nieces!) and everyone is going to have a good time, the figures are built tough to last that imaginative play session from the kiddos - I love em both for what they offer:

[Bolingbroke]

Everything is a product of its time isn’t it - that’s why 50s Superman wore his undies over his pants and contemporary Supes doesn’t, or why the original M from Bond was a guy and now is a woman (is it still a woman, haven’t watched Bond in years?).

[Night Stalker]

Call me crazy, but every time I see the new He-Man sculpt, I see Dee Dee Ramone.

My main gripe with the new sculpt is that I just see a dumb, vaguely angered blonde. The original face sculpt conveyed a sense of intelligence and compassion in a way that the new one doesn't. The OG sculpt showed a "noble savage," a guy with gritted teeth ready to fight someone, then educate them about the poor choices they made in life. The new sculpt looks like a PO'd frat boy who just had his BMW repossessed by his father because he's flunking Political Science.

[Smitty.81]

Call me crazy, but every time I see the new He-Man sculpt, I see Dee Dee Ramone.

My main gripe with the new sculpt is that I just see a dumb, vaguely angered blonde. The original face sculpt conveyed a sense of intelligence and compassion in a way that the new one doesn't. The OG sculpt showed a "noble savage," a guy with gritted teeth ready to fight someone, then educate them about the poor choices they made in life. The new sculpt looks like a PO'd frat boy who just had his BMW repossessed by his father because he's flunking Political Science.

I guess it's a matter of perspective, because for me the vintage head is the one that looks kind of of "duh" especially from the profile.

[whakojacko]

Wow... The Origins Wave 1 head sculpt is probably my second favorite next to the original. And by original, I don’t mean the Commemorative head either. I don’t even mean the Battle Armor secondary head. Something seems off with both IMO. I’m not super pleased with anything that came between 1982 He-Man and 2020 He-Man, including the New Adventures, Classics, 200x... Super 7 Vintage is meh/ok.

[Baba1983]

Wow... The Origins Wave 1 head sculpt is probably my second favorite next to the original. And by original, I don’t mean the Commemorative head either. I don’t even mean the Battle Armor secondary head. Something seems off with both IMO. I’m not super pleased with anything that came between 1982 He-Man and 2020 He-Man, including the New Adventures, Classics, 200x... Super 7 Vintage is meh/ok.

Show us please

[whakojacko]

Show us please

Um... what is it that I’m supposed to be showing everyone?

[Darkkosis]

IMHO Origins He-Man's first wave head resembles this long-haired He-Man in the earlier comics especially when you hold him in hand:
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[ToxicShlock]

For those MOTU collectors who may have some spare Classics heads lying in a box somewhere, I am finding them very useful for the origins line.
My main beef is with Skeletor's constantly disappointing head sculpts/paint ups from the Origins team, I love the bucks - so I upgraded:



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[QUOTE=Darkkosis;3910656]IMHO Origins He-Man's first wave head resembles this long-haired He-Man in the earlier comics especially when you hold him in hand:
Totally agree with this, and it was on that realization that I really started to dig the new He-Man head. If you scope out the Origins He-Man axe/shield design of those early ALCALA mini comics -straight from the comic page!

[Despondor]

[QUOTE=ToxicShlock;3910768]For those MOTU collectors who may have some spare Classics heads lying in a box somewhere, I am finding them very useful for the origins line.
My main beef is with Skeletor's constantly disappointing head sculpts/paint ups from the Origins team, I love the bucks - so I upgraded:

https://i.redd.it/43hnq9nlj6c61.jpg

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Did you have to do any shaving or cutting (or heating / boiling) to get the Classics heads to fit on the Origins bucks? I tried to put a Classics head on an Origins body a few days ago, but gave up out of fear of breaking the neck joint.

[ToxicShlock]

Did you have to do any shaving or cutting (or heating / boiling) to get the Classics heads to fit on the Origins bucks? I tried to put a Classics head on an Origins body a few days ago, but gave up out of fear of breaking the neck joint.

I do, right now the Skeletor origins bucks are easily had and cheap - so I bought extras and use a sheet metal file set (you can get a set for <$20 at harbor freight or lowes, etc) and file down lightly the top of the origins ball pin, and the sides. The larger sheet metal files actually make quick work, and if you are slow and careful you can get it to a great medium spot where classic heads will pop on, and Origins heads still work well with plenty of resistance.

I have done this on about 10 bucks, with 1 ruined where I went too far - so certainly take your time and test very often. You will only need a few pases on each side (front/back/left/right - test) and and you will quickly have a compatible fitting.

I dont use heating methods as I wish to keep the paint on the (now very expensive) classics heads safe and undamaged!