{"id":34360,"date":"2021-05-17T00:00:07","date_gmt":"2021-05-17T04:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.oafe.net\/blog\/?p=34360"},"modified":"2021-08-09T09:21:30","modified_gmt":"2021-08-09T13:21:30","slug":"hot-wheels-character-cars-masters-of-the-universe-series-1-reviews","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.oafe.net\/blog\/2021\/05\/hot-wheels-character-cars-masters-of-the-universe-series-1-reviews\/","title":{"rendered":"Hot Wheels Character Cars Masters of the Universe Series 1 reviews"},"content":{"rendered":"

For their first set of Hot Wheels Character Cars<\/i> in 2021, Mattel has gone back four decades, bringing their push to reinvigorate Masters of the Universe<\/i> to the car aisle.<\/p>\n

Prince Adam uses the Sword of Power to transform into He-Man - the most powerful man in the universe.<\/i><\/p>\n

Shouldn't that be \"the most powerful car<\/b> in the universe\"? Because this is not a man. It would be extra funny to imagine Human Prince Adam holding aloft his magic sword and saying \"by the power of Grayskull,\" only to be morphed into the form of a car like Turbo Teen<\/a>. That would certainly explain why no one can ever recognize him! In the '80s, Adam was the same size<\/a> as He-Man; in the '00s, he was much smaller<\/a>; in the '20s, he's a human instead of a vehicle. It's the perfect disguise!<\/p>\n

He-Man's vehicle mode is, appropriately enough, a muscle car. Oh, come on! That joke is just way too perfect! The car was designed (in May of 2019, according to the signed concept art<\/a>) by Charlie Angulo, a guy who clearly understands the importance of a good pun. The car has a blocky front end, like a Ford Mustang, and chunky off-road tires with shiny copper rims. Most of the car is metal, but you may not notice, because the roof and rear spoiler, the places you're likely to touch it when you pick it up, are plastic.<\/p>\n

The He-Man-inization is great. The upper body of the car is tan, because He-Man is shirtless, and the yellow roof is in exactly the shape of his pageboy haircut. Love it! A grey piece on the hood stands in for He-Man's harness, with the big red air intake as the cross in the center. An orange stripe around the middle of the car is meant to be He-Man's belt, and then beneath that it's brown, with ridges to suggest the fur of his underwear. The weakest part of the whole design is the Power Sword, which is just painted in silver along both sides. Was there really no better way to do that?<\/p>\n

He-Man's primary and most dangerous foe, Skeletor will stop at nothing to seize the throne of Castle Grayskull.<\/i><\/p>\n

The card art for these Masters of the Universe Hot Wheels Character Cars<\/i> is not vintage, so we can't tell you who painted this picture of Skeletor, but it definitely has an Alfredo Alcala<\/a> feel to it. Also, we see here that Skeletor's Spanish name is apparently \"Esqueleto,\" which just means \"skeleton,\" but definitely sounds a lot cooler.<\/p>\n

This vehicle is a stripped-down hot rod - you know, the \"bare bones\" of a car? Yeah. Charlie Angulo strikes again! The front end is narrow, with wide-set black wheels and an exposed engine block, with exhaust pipes that reach out increasingly wider as you move back, easing the transition to the passenger cabin. The rear wheels are larger than the front, but they've all got shiny purple rims.<\/p>\n

The fenders over the rear wheels have a scalloped edge to make them look like the bit of decorative armor over Skeletor's shoulders on the human design. Those and the roof are a dark purple, creating his hood. Yes, the hood is on the roof; that's not confusing or anything. The pale neon yellow of Skeletor's face bones is split between the cab (with the black eyes as windows) and the very front (with the grill as teeth). The original concept<\/a> would have had his chest harness wrapped over top of the blue engine, but that didn't make the final product. Wonder why? We do still get his ram's head staff sticking out of the back, though.<\/p>\n

As a mentor figure to He-Man, this master of weapons often demonstrates that power is not the only path to victory.<\/i><\/p>\n

Ha, \"as a mentor\". We see you, Mattel. Nicely done. (For those who don't get it, Man-At-Arms' name in Spanish [and probably some other languages] is \"Mentor,\" because that's the role he tends to fill. And after all, there's a difference between a \"man-at-arms\" - a normal, albeit well-trained and equipped, soldier - and a \"master-at-arms,\" which is what Duncan's job seems to actually be.)<\/p>\n

This is a massive brute of a vehicle, but does it need to be? Man-At-Arms was all about the technology and the armor, he was never one of the strongest Masters. Like, I could see making Ram-Man or Roboto this size, but Man-At-Arms feels more like a \"rich boy's pickup truck with those needlessly double-wide rear tires and a tall cap over the bed\" kind of guy - you know, something simple with a lot of add-ons. This, meanwhile, is a six-wheeled troop transport or something. Weird!<\/p>\n

Duncan has the same copper wheels as He-Man. The fenders on the left side of the vehicle are yellow, while the ones on the right are green - matching the way Man-At-Arms just has the armor on one side of his body. The front grill matches that big shoop on his chest armor, and the exhaust stack on the side is shaped like his mace. The bottom of the ride is brown, like fur drawers and boots, and a band of blue above that is his belt. The body of the truck is a vibrant green, with some sculpted lines to suggest armor, and the roof plate is baby blue like his helmet. Plus, just like the vintage toy, there's nothing to make his mustache.<\/p>\n

Skeletor's loyal henchman, Beast Man holds power over much of the animal kingdom.<\/i><\/p>\n

Beast-Man's packaging is the one that really makes it clear these character portraits are new pieces rather than vintage art that's been repurposed: there's just something about the style or the pose that just screams \"this was made in the past decade.\" The coloring is modern, too, but that could have just been remastered, you know? This is new. They already have a new background rather than red rocks, was that not enough of an update?<\/p>\n

Now, Beast-Man is a character who makes sense being huge! This car is, in fact, a total beast. It's some kind of rugged off-roader thing, not really shaped like a real vehicle but with an intention that's clear. It has giant, chunky wheels (four of them with copper rims and a fifth in a protective carrier up on the roof) and a high clearance so it doesn't get stuck on a log or whatever. You'd probably want the front to be angled up, rather than down, so it doesn't accidentally dig into the terrain and get you stuck that way, but who's even paying that much attention here? Well, presumably Dwayne Vance, since he designed it, but *shrug*.<\/p>\n

None of the other cars in this series have as distinct a face as Beast-Mobile does. A lot of the toy is orange, to match his fur, but then the front has a pale pink area for his bare skin and blue spots just around the black windshield, like the stripes around his eyes. Plus, the inset grill is chrome silver, making obvious teeth above his orange beard. A ridge along the roof stands in for the bumps on his head. There's a red section meant to be the fur collar he wears (with soft spikes for safety), a yellow belt, and then a lighter blue bit that is both trunks and chest medallion.<\/p>\n

Captain of the Royal Guard, she trains Prince Adam and aids He-Man - unaware that the two are the same.<\/i><\/p>\n

Then she's pretty dumb, since they used to look exactly alike. Of course, if the king and queen of a country hire a very pretty girl to privately \"train\" their wastrel son, they're not actually looking for a tutor, they're buying him a f!ckbuddy so he'll stop staining all the couches and knocking up the maids (it would have cost them a fortune to have the palace wizard working day and night on spells to perform \"ab-Orko-tions,\" if you catch our drift), so brains probably weren't too high on the list of requirements. Or maybe they knew Teela was Sorceress' magical daughter, and wanted<\/b> Adam to couple with her so their kingdoms would be united as one?<\/p>\n

Fittingly, this is the smallest, sleekest car in the line. Teela was one of only two<\/s> three female figures in the vintage line, so of course<\/b> she'd be smaller than all the beefheads around her. This is a low, curving supercar in a line of lumbering trucks and over-tuned ragers. And apparently Eternia is a left-hand drive world, because if you look through the windows to the golden seats inside, you'll be able to see which side the steering wheel is on. That's more detail than expected.<\/p>\n

The Teela car looks classy as hell. The body is a slightly pearly white, with a vac-metallized golden strip all the way around, and a reddish-brown roof that's a reference to the figure's snake headdress - complete with little eye-bumps over the windows! You might expect the roof to be removable, like Raven's<\/a> cloak, but no. The tires are the same color as the roof, with golden rims. Like we said, ultra classy look!<\/p>\n

There are five characters in this series, and they ship in cases of eight - but for once, the girl isn't the shortpacked one! Well, she is, but she's not alone: each case has three He-Men, two Skeletors, then one each of Man-At-Arms, Beast-Man, and Teela. Because if there's one thing Mattel truly accels at, it's terrible casepacks that ruin any chance of their lines having a future that involves anything other than severe pegwarming.<\/p>\n

<i>And now, some more OAFEry:<\/i><\/H5>