Origins from my Kids' Perspective

[no_towel_lint]

My son and daughter (ages 11 and 8) have loved MOTU ever since I introduced them to the MYP show 5 years ago. They really wanted MOTU toys, so over time they've amassed a large collection of 200x toys (figures and vehicles) that I've acquired from eBay for Christmases and Birthdays. It's been great watching them spend hours upon hours playing with those together. They've now also seen every episode of the original He-Man and She-Ra shows and they were super excited to get Origins for Christmas. Now that they've been playing with them for a month, I asked for their thoughts on this line and here's what they said:

PROS
- Their favorite thing is the articulation versus what exists on the 200x line.
- They like that Origins figures don't have action features because they have better control over the movement (they particularly disliked Skeletor's in the 200x line)
- They both said they like the brighter colors and that "they look like the old cartoon"
- My son said he likes that everything is just colored plastic instead of paint because his 200x figures now have a lot of chipped paint and he doesn't have to be as careful with these
- They said some figures don't always hold weapons well, but they said that was true in the 200x line also.
- Figures sit better on Battle Cat and Panthor than in the 200x line, and that was apparently a big deal to both of them.
- "If a figure breaks, I can just get another." (we've had a few 200x figures break and replacing them isn't worth the cost)

CONS
- They say Battle Cat and Panthor have a mix of stiff joints and loose joints (that's true of the ones they have).
- They don't care about the swappable limbs; they said they'll never use that feature. (not really a con)
- They think the half sword idea is stupid (so much so that I got them a custom full sword on eBay someone 3D printed)
- They're worried that if they keep taking the saddles off the cats then they won't lock on as well later.
- They like the stand for the Sky Sled but it's too hard to get it off the sled and they're worried about it breaking.

Their Origins toys are their favorite thing they own right now. (For reference, my son's second favorite is Star Wars Black Series and my daughter's second favorite is Spirit Riding Free). It's too bad there wasn't a show launched at the same time as the toy line because I feel like it could have attracted kids to the toy line who weren't already introduced to the property by their parents.

[RiptideOleary]

This is great! I love the origins line, but I'm also in my forties. My son is six and all about thundercats but he does like he-man origins, mostly for the bright colors. It is interesting to get a perspective for toys from the group they are targeted in stores for. I can see now why mattel made some of the decisions they did for origins, like how the customizing feature isn't as advertised because, like you said, kids don't care and probably won't use that feature, but it's there regardless, so that's cool. I'd love to hear more from this age group when the vehicles come out, just curious what they think of the land shark and wind raider. I also completely agree with the kids about battle cat. Good show!

[Spooked]

I really appreciate this post - thank you for taking the time to share your kids' thoughts with us. The longevity of this line really seems to depend on how well kids take to it; I can't see it surviving on collectors' wallets alone.

[Darkkosis]

Thanks for sharing, I always love to see what the kids have to say about the MOTU's toys in general, old and new.
A lot of the adults nowadays forgot that kids' perspectives when they're young and saw the toys as they were, and not something to nitpick on because of the collectible mentality. Back then, kids used to pick what they like and dismiss what they don't like.