TNI Toy Review: MOTU Snake Armor He-Man

... Apart from the pointless variants of He-Man and Skeletor, which just needed He-Man in Dining Robes and Skeletor with Snake Mountain Jammies to place MOTU in the legendary league of Batman - Endless Knights.

The appeal of this figure lies in the fact that it actually appeared in the cartoon in the Snakemen story arc, as compared to the other versions of He-Man.

Perhaps Mattel could've pick up a thing or two about cartoon/anime-accurate renditions of characters from Japanese companies, i.e., Takara, as in the case of Transformers. We could go on and argue about points such as the biggest market for their toys are kids, not collectors, the need to re-use existing molds to maximize profits, but then this review would never start.

Kudos to the Four Horsemen for pulling off an excellent sculpt. Decked in his armor, He-Man looks menacing and ready to take on legions of Snakemen, gripping his Power... no, SWORD OF EPIC PROPORTIONS! (More on this later)

Intricate detailing on the armor (note chain mail), a strong sense of anatomical proportion and a new steely countenance makes this figure a winner. The new face sculpt and the addition of elbow joints is indeed a marked improvement on the first version of He-Man as seen here.

The addition of elbow joints allow for more dynamic poses like this.

However, it would've been great if He-Man could grip the Power Sword with both hands, ala superposeable Aragorn from Lord of the Rings.

Then again, the ball-jointed shoulders and hips, with elbow joints provide sufficient posing options, bearing in mind that MOTU is a line more celebrated for its sculpts than poseability.

A pincer-like weapon thrusts forward upon pressing the button on his forearm, which comes in handy during close combat, when he's lost possession of his Power Sword. Otherwise, this feature is present more for aesthetic purposes, rather than playability.

The Power Sword, henceforth termed the SWORD OF EPIC PROPORTIONS (SEP), is the main highlight of this figure. It looks magnificent and intimidating, but it brings doubts as to whether He-Man would be able to fight with such an unwieldy weapon.

SEP is huge, but honestly, I've seen bigger.

As seen in the pictures, should you wish to hoist the SEP above knee level, you'll have to adjust the left leg for the figure to balance on its heel.

Not much of an issue, as it looks like He-Man's in an en garde stance, about to perform some fancy footwork to accompany his dazzling swordplay.

SEP splits in the middle to reveal a green energy projectile. I've to admit I have not seen the animation, so I don't know whether this feature is actually show accurate, but its fun and looks good nevertheless. You can get quite good distance on the projectile, but thankfully not enough force to blind someone.

I don't fancy the usual 'Made in China, TM Mattel' inscription on the SEP, as it takes away from its appearance. It would have been ideal to include this on He-Man's lower back or somewhere less conspicuous.

Snake Armor He-Man is a must-get figure for MOTU collectors because of its excellent sculpt, fun play features and relevance to the cartoon. It's also a figure that future MOTU sculpts could have built on, had the line not seen its untimely demise.