MOTU GIANTS

Question: What's better than an original Masters of the Universe figure? Answer: A giant one! A foot high piece of pure MOTU nostalgia to be precise. During the lifetime of the Classics line, a set of six giant figures was released for collectors by Mattel: Skeletor, Beast Man, Zodac, He-Man, Man-at-Arms and Stratos.

The figures are scaled up versions of the original toys and are therefore almost exact replicas. The card art was also styled on the classic exploding rock image on the front. Images of selected MOTU figures were printed on the back, just as they were in the 1980s. Seeing the pictures again at this scale is a treat.

These giants are probably best kept in their packaging as display pieces, although I suspect quite a few have been opened so childhood battles can be recreated! I'm going to endeavour to resist the temptation, particularly as they're no longer available to buy. Here are some images for you to enjoy.

Skeletor with his funny face-paint colours, Beast Man with his look of astonishment - what's not to love? And the brilliant Zodac, who remains one of the best MOTU characters, with his classic blaster - the first character in the MOTU world to be given that kind of weapon. How did these figures ever manage to stand upright?

Here you can see the vintage inspired packaging with the characters' titles and the Figure twists for a POWER PUNCH! tagline. The reproduced images of the early MOTU figures look fabulous on the back of the packaging. Unfortunately Mattel didn't get around to producing all of the original line's first wave.

Giant He-Man's head is fractionally less defined than the vintage He-Man's, and his slightly too blond hairstyle isn't exactly right, but the differences are pretty minimal. Man-at-Arms and Stratos are faithful recreations, although there's a touch more functionality to Stratos's wings than on the figure from the vintage line.

Here are the heroic warriors in their packaging, and a different selection of characters on the card art - this time including Battle Cat. It's interesting that Mattel went with the blue wings for Stratos. I always thought this colour was a variant, but it seems that it was as broadly available as the red wings version in the 1980s.

And here's a rather large image which shows Giant He-Man next to Vintage He-Man. The giants really are big! I'm glad Mattel experimented with these figures. Indications are that they didn't sell as well as they deserved, and a big factor was certainly the high price Mattel put on them. I hope the fans who wanted them managed to get hold of the six giants before the Matty Collector shop shut down.