Topless Toy Chest: Masters of the Universe Hover Robots (Convention Exclusive)

In the current Masters of the Universe line, one of the ways used to maximize tooling budgets has been to release two-packs of “army builders,” allowing for some unique sculpt pieces to be used for two figures rather than one, and letting collectors build up larger infantries if they wished. Thus far, all of the faction leaders from the vintage Masters line have had such a pack – He-Man got Eternian Palace Guards, King Hiss got Snake Warriors, Hordak got Horde Troopers…and Skeletor, until now, had nothing. But with every available slot in the regular monthly subscription already filled, the only way to get to his army was with a traveling convention exclusive, which will be available at Comic-Con and other shows, and was briefly made available to subscribers this week. Was it worth it?

Mattel has apparently trademarked “hover robots”

The reason these guys exist as characters is all thanks to the tough restrictions kids’ cartoons were under in the ’80s. Taking a lot of flack for being perceived as overblown toy commercials, Filmation cartoons tried to feature overt morals every episode, and restrain what could and could not be shown. So He-Man, most powerful man in the universe wielding a magic sword, could never use his sword to do anything but deflect attacks, and was not allowed to punch people. However…nobody cared if he smashed up robots. He could only use grappling moves on Skeletor, but the ‘bots could get bashed to bits, and they often did.

The price is a bit of a killer here. $35 for an exclusive figure at a convention is one thing, but mail-order them as I did, and you get hit with an extra $15 in shipping and taxes, which means in the end you are paying more than $15 for each individual robot. You’d call that a rip-off if you saw one single-carded in a store for that price, but then, most decent figures are these days.

The biography, for once, does a credible job of ret-conning, explaining away the genericness of Filmation designs for both Skeletor and Hordak’s armies by suggesting Skeletor was in fact ripping his old boss off, and these are Horde Troopers 2.0.

Now, please explain how they can be both mindless and evil.

Bonus topicality! Drones!

The robots are more articulated than you’d expect: their heads rotate, they have ball-jointed shoulders and elbows, and cut-wrist joints that allow for hands to be popped off and interchanged. You can’t really tell in the photos, but the “electric” stickers on their chests are lenticular, and give the illusion of a 3D energy bolt running through their bodies.

Included with the figures are alternate hands – either claws or The Black Hole Maximilian style spinning drills – along with a sticker sheet loaded with battle-damage effects, and the standard flying bases used for figures like Orko and Kowl.

You can tell here how they measure up to He-Man, who can of course line them up and knock them down as seen on TV. They are far from his most threatening foes, but have strength in numbers.

Here’s a look at them with battle damage added. As you can see, the robots will balance without the stands – and the stickers are the clear plastic kind that makes for smoothness and longevity. There are also more than I think you’re expected to use – they’ll presumably work on other figures or vehicles too.

There’s quite a distinct difference between Filmation-based figures in this line and classic toy updates. Despite what Mattel will tell you about a Classicizer machine, the Filmation figures are distinctly cartoony. That works better for simple characters like these robots, who would be mass-produced and not super-detailed anyway, versus someone like Lizard Man, whom you’d expect to have more scales.

You can see how these guys can be fun for dioramas, but unless you’re already a fan of the line, I can’t entirely endorse the mail-order price. If you can grab them at a convention, though? Not a terrible deal.