The Little Differences: Man-At-Arms & Teela (mini-comic) Masters of the Universe Classics Action Figures

Vincent: It's the little differences. I mean, they got the same $#!t over there that we got here, but it's just – it's just there, it's a little different.

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This is the Pre-Filmation Masters of the Universe Classics shelf in my house. The styling of these characters is based on their appearances in the four original Masters of the Universe mini-comics. Every figure on the shelf is a custom bash in one way or another (except for blue Mer-Man).

I've covered He-Man and Beastos in previous blog posts (I have since switched He-Man's boots to the Thunderpunch He-Man's boots) but today I'll tell you how I made mini-comic Man-At-Arms and Teela.

Mini-Comic Man-At-Arms
When Snake Man-At-Arms was announced (see photo below), I was stoked that we would finally be getting a Man-At-Arms with brown trunks and lighter yellow armor which he had in the original mini-comics. (The original release had dark green boots and trunks to match his appearance on the vintage package art.) I would simply swap the head  with a standard non-moustached MAA head and I would have my mini-comic MAA. I bought an extra MAA head from a fellow He-Man.org member and waited for his release.



(Below is how Man-At-Arms appeared in the original mini-comics.)


However, due to protests from fans who felt he was too similar to the original release, and much to the excitement of 200X fans in particular, the original design was altered (see photo below) to give him more of a 200X aesthetic with technology covered limbs, longer fur on his trunks, and one booted foot. For me, the only redeeming quality of the change was an armored-glove left hand. I was not happy because now I would not have my mini-comic Man-At-Arms.

However, thanks to the inspiration of fellow customizers on He-Man.org, I decided to make my mini-comic MAA anyway...and I'm glad I did. I used a standard Man-At-Arms as a base, swapped the trunks, armor, and left hand with Snake Man-At-Arms, and used boots from He-Man. The cherry on top of this custom bash is the air hose and tank on the chest armor which is from the original Man-At-Arms. Thanks again to my fellow customizers on He-Man.org for letting me know it was a removable piece.

Here's a comparison photo of mini-comic MAA and the standard MOTUC MAA. As you can see, the differences are much more apparent when you see them side-by-side.

Yeah, the fur on the trunks is a little too long and the brown of the boots isn't a perfect match with the trunks, but it's close enough. The added metallic deco on the mace and armor makes him stand-out and I really like how he looks.

UPDATE!
With the arrival of the Battle Ram and the Man-At-Arms figure that comes with him, I finally have the base body to create my ultimate Alcala-style Man-At-Arms figure in Classics.


The brown fur on the trunks was lighter on this figure, so I swapped the boots for a pair of Vikor boots to better match. All the other components are the same as I describe above.


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Mini-comic Teela

Teela from the mini-comics is a far easier bash to make as she is a simple head-swap. But to make her even more evocative of her mini-comic appearances, I've outfitted her with new weapons.

The figure is a standard MOTUC Teela with the head from Battleground Teela. Thankfully, the skin tones of both figures are very close. In those original mini-comics, her hair was often blond and flowing and since she often used a gold or silver axe in these stories, I gave her an extra Vikor axe. Her hand fits nicely around the thinner portion of the handle. The shield is from a DC Direct Crisis on Infinite Earths "Weaponer" figure. The gold of the shield is not an exact match but once again, it's close enough and it's a perfect size for her.

All that I need now is a red Beast Man and a "toed" or "Caucasian-colored" Stratos to complete my mini-comic shelf.

If you're curious about the other figures on the shelf, Skeletor is made from a Mo-Larr/Skeletor two-pack body and the Skeletor head that came with Demo-Man. He has the two gray/silver Power Sword halves from King Grayskull. The Goddess features hips from Captain Glenn that I replaced so that she is more poseable. (A manufacturing problem made many of these figures prone to "exploding" when posed.)

Once again, I hope you see that "The Little Differences" can make a big difference in your figures and your collection. Until next time I remain The Insidious One.

P.S. - "Drunk Orko" would like to remind you that you only have until next Monday, August 6th to buy a subscription to the Masters of the Universe Club Eternia 2013. The club makes sure that you never miss a figure by automatically shipping them to your door every month. And as a bonus, you receive an exclusive figure (this year is King He-Man) and a cool poster painted by Masters of the Universe vintage artist Rudy Obrero. We are currently at about 65% of the number of subscriptions needed for Mattel to produce the line. If we don't reach the goal, the 2013 line will not be produced as planned.

2013 is chock full of great figures like Ram Man, Jitsu, King He-Man, and the Fighting Foe Men! You can check out photos of them here at He-Man.org. And if you feel like it's too late for you to start collecting, Mattel has made the "core" characters like He-Man, Skeletor, and She-Ra available every day on Mattycollector.com (some even at reduced prices.) Scott "Toy Guru" Neitlich has promised that 2013 will feature both vintage and Filmation characters so now is the time to climb aboard. Click here to purchase a Club Eternia 2013 Subscription!

To anyone who takes pride in being a "cherry picker" rather than a subscriber, please consider the following points...

• 2013 will have even lower production numbers than 2012 so it will be even harder to get the figures you want on "day of sale."
• Further, if you purchase through a third party vendor or ebay, you can expect to pay immensely inflated prices because the most fan-demanded figures will now be highly sot-after commodities (potentially making the cost of a subscription issue a wash).
• Finally, if we do not reach the goal number of subscriptions, there won't be any cherries for you to pick.