He-Man and the Masters of the Universe Man-at-Arms

Never think while you're hungry. 

Welcome to a review of our He-Man and the Masters of the Universe Modern Edition Man-At-Arms.

We've always loved Man-At-Arms: Strong father figure, keeper of some of the deepest secrets of Castle Grayskull (Including the fact that Teela may be his biological daughter with the Sorceress' - at least that's how the 2002 cartoon put it - could. She could also be Fisto's. In 1983 he just adopted her from the Sorceress); weapon-smith, and; leader of the Palace Guard.

The original Man-At-Arms did not have a bushy mustache - we still remember having that figure as a child and wondering why he looked different in the cartoon - it turns out that Filmation added the mustache as an after-thought to make him look older.

Still he was someone we wanted to grow up to be. Actually more than He-Man.

MORE AFTER THE JUMP
Released by Mattel in 2001, the He-Man and the Master of the Universe Modern Edition Man-at-Arms,  comes with a mace, and a spring-loaded arm-gun that can also be mounted on his back. He also has a push-activated arm-swing that brings his mace up and down. It's activated by that stud in his lower-back.

His chest plate can be removed. It's just clipped together, however because his shoulder pauldron can't be removed, it doesn't really matter.

Man-at-Arms carries a big-stick

WHAT'S TO LIKE ABOUT THE HE-MAN AND THE MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE MODERN EDITION MAN-AT-ARMS?

FIRST: We've always loved the "barbarian meets space-man tech" that. We're particularly fond of this version of Man-at-Arms over the much more articulaed Classics Man-At-Arms because of the styled texture of this particular figure.

The green body-suit Man-at-Arms wears looks like it's capable of modular attachments and probably has hidden components and other secrets including strength enhancement. That modern body-suit is then wrapped in animal hide, and then encased in armor that looks like it has the texture of stone - you can see the chips and layered breaks. The MOTU Modern Edition Man-At-Arms' weapons also seem to have this stony texture which we love.

The stony texture is particularly obvious on his pauldron and on his mace and arm cannon.

We've always wondered if that protective plate up front also serves as a gas mask given that it has what looks like an air-supply attached to it.

Breathe! Breathe! Just Breathe!

SECOND: Now THAT's a mustache! We always thought that both the Classics and 1980s toys looked a bit.... constipated.

THIRD: We've also always wondered why Man-at-arms only covered half his body with armor - while normal Eternian soldiers had full armor. We've always postulated that this is so his weapon arm - with that really cruel looking mace - would be free. Either way, we're really pleased with the fact that despite the arm-swing the arm can still be raised laterally and positioned

MOTU Man-at-Arms

FOURTH: The arm cannon is actually quite cool. The color of the missile leaves much to be desired, and technically it's just held in place by friction rather than any real lock, but it looks great!

The Man-at-Arms is the only Man

WHAT'S NOT TO LIKE ABOUT THE HE-MAN AND THE MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE MODERN EDITION MAN-AT-ARMS?

FIRST: The MOTU Man-at-Arms only has 12 points of articulation. He looks great, but he could definitely be better and is no Classics Man-at-Arms figure.

Big Boooo on that.

SECOND: The peg that holds the arm-cannon onto his bag was so small and flimsy that it broke. For the images where he has it pegged to his back, it's held in place by Blue-tack.

Still. We think he looks great.

The He-Man Masters of the Universe Modern Edition Man-at-Arms is available on Amazon for US$ 15.00 (Roughly PhP 750 plus shipping).