i had a mustache, but teela said it tickled.


I received my MOTUC Man-At-Arms this week. As impressed as I was by Hordak, MAA is even better. Of course, Duncan was always one of the better figures in any incarnation, due to the armor and the colors used on the toys. Like Mer-Man, the contrast is quite striking, and makes you pay more attention to the figure than you would otherwise, so you notice more things about the figure in turn. Like his finely detailed and well-painted armor, or the intricate detailing on the helmet on both heads.



Yes, you get two heads with this figure, one clean-shaven to represent the original figure's appearance, and one with a 'stache, to represent either his Filmation or MYP/200x appearance. Duncan also features more accessories than any other figure thus far, befitting his status as Eternia's master of weapons- his classic mace, a small laser pistol, and two swords. One is a regular-issue Eternian sword, and the other is a new version of the sword He-Man carried in the 200x line, now retconned into the Classic continuity as an electronic replacement for the real Power Sword, which Skeletor apparently has both halves of.

Unfortunately, this is the first figure I have a bit of a quality issue with. The little piece of armor on the figure's left forearm REFUSES to stay in place. Since there's already a little piece of armor there in the figure's sculpt anyway, I just took it off and left it in the box, and Duncan looks OK without it. And I would really have liked a new version of that cannon he carried in the 200x line, but I suppose I could make the one included with that figure fit on this new figure's hand.

Man-At-Arms is kind of a curious presence in my collection. I never owned the original version until I was an adult. I just never wanted this figure as a kid, especially when you could get a robot with different weapons attachments, a monster with three different faces, or anthropomorphic bad guys based on snakes or spiders. In that company, MAA just can't hold a candle. He was one of the first eight figures, so I suppose if you were buying them then, MAA would be a pretty great figure. MAA was one of my favorite characters in the 200x days, since his sculpt was one of the best of the entire line (which you can appreciate here at the new he-man.org.) This is, like most of the recent Classics figures, the best of both incarnations of the line, and undoubtedly a necessary purchase for your collection. Duncan sold out on mattycollector.com in 45 minutes, a new record. It seems amazing that you could sell 15,000 action figures in that amount of time, but hey, it's happening. Of course, most are on ebay, for between $25-40. Again, not exactly crazy profit. You think the resellers would just give up at this point, since the crazy money days are long past. I humbly suggest just getting it from a reseller instead of waiting for a rerelease that might not happen, if you don't have one already.

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