This time around, the reveal wasn’t at Nuremberg Toy Fair, though I’m pretty sure the toys are all on display there in the walled off area that normal people cannot penetrate, but comes via Gerrard Hall at the US magazine Entertainment Weekly.
In the comments, two people are complaining about the supposedly too high prices, which makes me wonder if they honestly have no clue what action figures cost these days (which is possible, if they don’t normally buy toys) or if they would say the same about LEGO sets, which can be hugely expensive, or modern Star Wars figures, which I find overpriced compared to what they offer.
So what do I think about this first wave of Masters of the Universe movie figures? Well, I’m glad you asked (or not), cause here are my thoughts. Continue reading →
It’s been four days since we saw the first trailer for the upcoming Masters of the Universe movie (for my thoughts on the trailer, go here) and I’m still working on a massive round-up post of reactions to the trailer, interrupted by the unfortunate necessity of having to work, when Mattel dropped the next bombshell.
Because folks, we’ve got our first look at the Masters of the Universe movie tie-in toys. Which honestly wasn’t something I was expecting quite so soon.
The 2026 Nuremberg Toy Fair, the world’s biggest toy fair, opened today. It was pretty clear that the tie-in toys for the Masters of the Universe live action movie would be displayed there, though personally I didn’t expect that we would get to see them.
Because Nuremberg Toy Fair is strictly an industry event and not open to the public. As a regular person, you can’t get in at all. You need to be a toy industry professional, retail buyer or journalist to even get through the gates. In the past couple of years, they’ve also started admitting some YouTubers and other influencers. I’ve been wanting to go to Nuremberg Toy Fair for more than forty years now. So far, it’s a pipe dream and I have even considered offering my services to their interpreter pool (most major trade fairs have one).
What is more, the big toy companies have walled off their exhibition space at Nuremberg Toy Fair, which is another gate you have to pass. And even if you get in, you can’t take photos and need to sign a non-disclosure agreement that you won’t leak anything.
So in short, I knew that the Masters of the Universe movie toys would be on display at Nuremberg Toy Fair and I also knew that we wouldn’t see any of them, unless some clueless (American) ToyTuber or influencer leaked something. Because the German influencers know better than to do that.
So imagine my surprise, when I opened Instagram and – voilá – there were movie toys.
Apparently, Mattel had a big public presentation at their booth and even got in a celebrity, British German singer/actor/presenter Ross Antony, to host it. If you’ve lived in Germany sometime in the past twenty-five years, you know who Ross Antony is, even if his music and his TV exploits in shows like I’m a Celebrity – Get Me Out Of Here isn’t your thing at all.
One thing I didn’t know until last year is that Ross Antony is also a huge Masters of the Universe and Princess of Power fan. He’s got an amazing She-Ra collection and frequents the toy cons – in fact, I think I saw him at Toyplosion, but couldn’t place him him beyond “I’ve seen this guy before” – and Masters of the Universe cons. So in short, he’s exactly the right person for a presentation of the new Masters of the Universe movie toys.
I first saw the news on the Instagram account of the German fansite Planet Eternia, several members of which regularly attend Nuremberg Toy Fair and are let into the hallowed hall of the Mattel booth, because they know to keep their mouths shut.
The two figures are Duncan a.k.a. Man-at-Arms as portrayed by Idris Elba and Evil-Lyn as portrayed by Alison Brie. The line is called Masters of the Universe Chronicles and it appears to be basically a rebrand of 7-inch Masterverse toyline, so the movie figures will fit in nicely with your other Masterverse and Classics figures.
ETA: People who’ve been to the presentation have said that the movie figures are a little smaller than the regular Masterverse figures, but I hope they still fit. Honestly, it’s freaking annoying that supposedly 1:12 scale action figures all scale differently.
ETA: Pixel Dan shares his thoughts on the new figures and said that according to Ace of Ramen Toys, who sent him the pictures, the movie figures are smaller than the regular Masterverse figures.
ETA: Planet Eternia now has a news article about the toy reveals up and they also say these are smaller than Masterverse and closer to Marvel Legends or Star Wars Black Series. Which would be annoying, though I have to see them side by side first. Nonetheless, I really wish they would settle on one scale rather than have so many different ones. I also want the Masters of the Universe movie figures to fit in with my other Masters of the Universe figures rather than Marvel Legends or Star Wars figures.
Both Duncan and Lyn look good. Duncan looks a lot like what we saw in the trailer. He’s got his mace and a blaster and his armour looks somewhat battered, as if he’s been through wars – and he has. There’s also something else hanging from his belt, which might be a tool as a reference to the fact that he is an engineer in addition to a soldier.
As for Lyn, we only got a very brief glimpse of her in the trailer, so the action figure reveal is actually our best look at her costume. It’s a black bodysuit with thigh high boots and a blue cape. If you look at some close-up photos, you can see that her outfit looks almost Giger-esque and that she has several rings. She has short white hair under her iconic helmet, which has some beautiful detailing, and she’s got the movie version of her iconic staff with a translucent orb, which looks great. Her skin BTW is pale like in pretty much every cartoon version and not yellow as with the vintage action figure. I’m not quite sure about that face sculpt, though it does look like Alison Brie. However, it’s the kind of face she made a lot in Mad Men – which is my main exposure to her acting work – whenever her pathetic husband Pete came home late from the office again, because he was chasing after Peggy. Or maybe she’s wrinkling her nose, because Panthor just took a dump in the throne room of Snake Mountain – again. Or maybe she just happened to get a whiff of Stinkor’s unmistakable smell.
We also get a glimpse at the back of the package, where we see the cross sell for what I assume is the first wave of figures featuring He-Man (well, there obviously was going to be a He-Man figure), Man-at-Arms and Tri-Klops, whom we haven’t seen at all in the trailer, though we know he’s in the movie. Tri-Klops’ costume seems to be very close to his traditional look, except that he’s wearing pants now, whereas traditionally he only has the leather kilt. He has his iconic visor and a very big rifle. Tri-Klops as a sniper of course makes sense for the man who sees everything. Tri-Klops is also black now, but that doesn’t matter one bit. In some ways, he reminds me a bit of the New Adventures character Vizar.
He-Man looks spot on, the face sculpt – often a problem with He-Man figures – is great and of course he comes with the Power Sword. I can’t tell whether he has the shield or the battle axe as well, though I hope he does. I do hope we’ll get a Prince Adam with the pink shirt from the trailer somewhere down the line as well.
It’s interesting that Skeletor does not appear to be in the first wave and neither is Lyn. Cause come on, you know that they’ll make a Skeletor figure. I also really want a movie Teela, though she may well be in the second wave along with Lyn and Skeletor. Of course, I want more movie figures, but Teela is a must-have.
ETA: The German movie channel Das Filmkästchen (The Film Box) also weighs in one the Masters of the Universe toy reveals. So far, he has been quite critical of the trailer, because apparently he’d prefer something that’s a mix of Lord of the Rings and the German Masters of the Universe audio dramas of the 1980s. He also thinks Nicholas Galitzine is too skinny and too young looking as He-Man. That said, he mostly likes the figures, though he isn’t too happy with the more military look of Tri-Klops, since he prefers him as a more mystical and mysterious character. I guess this goes back to the German audio dramas, who used to refer to Tri-Klops as “the uncanny radar man”.
Among other things, He-Man.org also has a photo of the back of the Man-at-Arms packaging. In addition to the cross sell, where we see He-Man and Tri-Klops, there’s also a bio and it’s very interesting. Since Mattel didn’t bother to cover it up, which they have done in the past, where they didn’t want the packaging to reveal something, I’ll just quote it below:
Just as Eternos fell, so too fell the Commander of the King’s Royal Guard. With the return of He-Man, however, Duncan fights to save Eternia from Skeletor. Alongside the Masters of the Universe, the king’s Man-at-Arms will find the redemption he seeks.
In many ways, this confirms what we saw in the trailer. The Evil Forces of Skeletor have conquered Eternos and the Royal Palace, while Queen Marlena sends Adam to Earth for his own safety along with the Power Sword, because if there’s two things on Eternia you don’t want Skeletor to get his hands on, it’s the crown prince and the Sword of Power.
What’s interesting is that Duncan apparently blames himself for Skeletor conquering Eternos. This isn’t out of character for him at all – Duncan does tend to blame himself, when things go catastrophically wrong, whereupon he exiles himself into the Eternian wilderness. We’ve seen this in Masters of the Universe Revelation and also in issue 2 of Masterverse anthology comic mini-series, which features a disgraced and depressed Duncan working as a hardboiled detective with Lyn as his beautiful assistant (and honestly, I would have read a whole comic series just about those two investigating cases on the mean streets of Eternos). Teela also does this, by the way. In the Filmation episode “Teela’s Quest”, she activates Duncan’s new teleporter, sets the coordinates wrong and teleports Duncan to places unknown and promptly decides to resign from her post and exile herself to the wastelands and no one – not Randor, not Marlena and not Adam – can convince her otherwise.
So Duncan feeling guilty and depressed about Skeletor conquering Eternos is in character, though somehow I expected him to lead the resistance against Skeletor, while Adam is stuck on Earth. It also makes me wonder even more what happened to Randor. Is he dead or is he in the dungeon? And if not Duncan, then who is leading the resistance? Teela is too young, obviously, so is Fisto leading the resistance? Ram-Man? Mekaneck? Cringer?
I suspect that the full presentation featuring Ross Antony will eventually pop up online somewhere and we may also see more movie figures, especially since showing off Man-at-Arms and Evil-Lyn rather than He-Man and Skeletor is an unexpected choice.
I’m also pretty sure that the more collector focussed Masters of the Universe Chronicles line won’t be the only movie toyline. There will also be a more kid-focussed toyline, hopefully one that matches Masters of the Universe Origins in scale and style.
There’s a presenter whose name I didn’t catch, the Mattel head of distribution for Germany and the aforementioned Ross Antony. You can tell this is an industry event, because everybody is dressed in business attire rather than geeky t-shirts. There’s a lot of marketing speak in the presentation, basically that Masters of the Universe has been going strong for more than forty years now and never really went away (I guess we’ll just forget the wilderness years of the 1990s), the it’s one of Mattel‘s biggest lines for adult collectors/kidults, that adults collecting/playing with toys is no longer shameful, but celebrated now, that the kidult market is resilient (i.e. adult collectors keep buying toys even when prices rise and times are not so great), but that they also want to bring in new fans via the movie, that we need heroes and values right now in our difficult times and that the movie also has a diverse cast, which will bring in even more new fans. And yes, it’s totally marketing speak, but that’s what I’d expect from a presentation at Nuremberg Toy Fair.
Ross Antony, meanwhile, totally geeks out, which is a joy to behold and I actually like him a lot more now than I ever did before. Not that I ever disliked him. Ross Antony is clearly talented and has a good voice, but I have to admit that I never much cared for his music. He started out doing musicals and then joined a casting show band called Bro’Sis (see one of their videos here) and later on mostly sang Schlager (here he is singing “Eine neue Liebe ist wie ein neues Leben”). And if you’re German and my age, Schlager is your parents’ and grandparents’ music (and whenever people my age sang Schlager, I assumed it was under duress and just for the money), while my friends and I mostly viewed the casting show bands of the late 1990s and 2000s as “music for stupid kiddies”. Yes, we were snobs, but then you’re never more snobbish about music than when you’re in your late teens and twenties. Though it’s notable that quite a few of the people who got their start via those casting shows did go on to have lasting careers. So in short, Ross Antony’s music isn’t for me and that’s okay, but he is a fan and we could probably spend hours geeking out about toys and Masters of the Universe.
When the case with the figures is finally unveiled, Evil-Lyn has decided to fall over at exactly the wrong time – a common problem particularly with female action figures – so they have to open the case to set her on her feet again. I have to admit that I laughed at that bit.
A few days ago, I was chatting with a friend and we were talking about the fact that the first trailer for the Masters of the Universe live action film was overdue, considering we’re less than six months out from the release date.
Meanwhile, Avengers: Doomsday, which releases in December 2026, is getting a battery of bizarre teasers which only confirm that everyone and their sister is in this movie and that both Thor and Steve Rogers have just announced their candidacy for the Jonathan and Martha Kent Fictional Parent of the Year Award.
At the time, I thought, “One day, I will wake up or come home from somewhere and open social media and there will be a trailer.
Well, that day was today. So here is the trailer. Or rather, it’s a trailer for the actual trailer (cause that’s apparently a thing now), which is coming tomorrow:
So what does Cora think of the teaser trailer for the Masters of the Universe live action movie?
Well, I’m glad you asked (or not), because here are my thoughts: Continue reading →
I sort of stumbled into Mythic Legions collecting last year, when I bought a bunch of skeleton warriors for my Masters of the Universe, Conan and other action figures to fight. You can see them here in my Halloween post.
I got the skeletons from a collectibles shop that was having a sale and while I was at it, I also got a knight, the noble paladin Sir Gideon Heavensbrand. He’s a gorgeous figure and I liked him a lot and so over the next few months other Mythic Legions figures joined my collection.
One of them was the evil lady knight Lady Avarona. I got her for a really good price and initially bought her to play the villainous girlfriend of the Masters of the Universe villain Count Marzo, because their dark red and black colour scheme. But even though Mythic Legions and Masters of the Universe Classics and Masterverse figures do work well together, the female Mythic Legions characters are quite a bit smaller than the male figures and as a result Lady Avarona looked like a teenager next to Marzo, which would not be entirely out of character for him, since Marzo does use kids to do his evil bidding, but it also felt wrong. So I put her next to Gideon Heavensbrand on the shelf.
Now my Lady Avarona figure has somewhat weak ankles and tends to fall over. And one day she knocked Gideon over as well as and I found her lying on top of him in a rather compromising position. This planted the story seed that these two are having a very inappropriate affair, even though they fight on different sides. And yes, you will see more of that particular romantic drama eventually.
Before deciding what to buy, I watched some YouTube videos reviewing the figures and noticed that people kept recommending that Attila Leossyr and Gorgo Aetherblade Two-Pack. So when I saw it offered at a German online marketplace for a good price, I snapped it up. And because it’s a special set, I reviewed it for File 770 and I had a lot of fun with the figures.
As I said in the review, at the time I took the photos, I didn’t have any of Attila’s minions and only one of Gorgo Aetherblade’s, because the respective figures were mostly released years ago and are very expensive by now. Some have upcoming re-releases, but those are still some time away. Sir Gideon fares a bit better, because many of his noble knights were released fairly recently and are still available for normal prices.
I have had some new arrivals, since I wrote that review, so enjoy some quick dining table photos:
First of all, I got another knight for Sir Gideon and the Order of Eathyron, because those knights are just amazing figures. I’m not quite sure why a fantasy world that does not have Christianity (The Order of Eathyron is a religious order of knights, but their god is a crowned eagle) has Templars, but if they look this great, who cares? And yes, I love it that the newest addition Sir Elijah is a knight of colour.
The Order of Eathyron as represented by Sir Enoch, Sir Gideon Heavensbrand and Sir Elijah
“Forward brethren! Smite the undead and all evil doers! And screw Attila Leossyr!”
“Don’t you think making that your battle cry is taking your rivalry with the King a tad far, Gideon?”
***
Then I got really lucky, when I saw that Comic Cave, a collectibles shop in Hamburg from whom I occasionally buy, still had some older Mythic Legions figures in stock, including one of Attila Leossyr’s minions, namely Magnus, a knight who is billed as a deputy commander of the Red Shield division of the Army of Leodysseus. Apparently, the Army of Leodysseus organises its regiments by the colour of their shields, because there also are Blue Shields, none of which I have. Magnus looks awesome, so of course I got him.
Magnus, deputy commander of the Red Shield division of the Army of Leodysseus
If you’re thinking, “Wait a minute, that guy looks a tad familiar”, well, you’re right. Because he looks a lot like Malcolm a.k.a. Fisto from Masters of the Universe. This isn’t an accident either, since Four Horsemen Studios, the company which makes the Mythic Legions figures, also designed the Masters of the Universe 200X and Classics toylines for Mattel.
For proof, here is the Mythic Legions Magnus posing with the Masters of the Universe Classics Fisto:
Fisto and Magnus side by side
“Hello there. My name’s Malcolm a.k.a. Fisto of the Masters of the Universe. Love the beard.”
“Thank you. I’m Magnus, deputy commander of the Red Shield division of the Army of Leodysseus. Cool first you have there, friend.”
***
Finally, here is Magnus with his King:
Magnus and Attila Leossyr
“So let Gideon Heavensbrand and his knights crawl back to their castle. Who needs them? We are the Army of Leodysseus and we shall win this war, with or without the Order of Eathyron.”
“With all due respect, Sire, we are an army of two, because the monstrous Legions of Arethyr have eaten the rest of our soldiers. If we want to defeat the Forces of Darkness, we need Sir Gideon and the knights of Eathyron.”
“Shut up, Magnus! Don’t distract me with a reality check.”
***
Finally, there is this guy:
The Unknown One
This monster is called The Unknown One and apparently was a con exclusive. I got mine loose and initially assumed that he was one of Gorgo Aetherblade’s minions, because he looks suitably monstrous. However, according to his official bio, he isn’t a part of any faction, but a monster that prowls the battlefields and preys on warriors of all sides. He’s definitely cool, though.
And here he is, battling Magnus:
Magnus versus the Unknown One
“Have at thee, vile monster of Arethyr! Tell Gorgo his evil legions may have captured and eaten our soldiers, but they will never have Magnus of the Red Shield.”
“Arethyr? You think I serve Arethyr?”
“You’re a demonic monster. Whom else would you serve?”
“I only serve A’death, true lord of the cosmos.”
“Another evil faction leader? Weren’t four horsemen enough?”
***
That’s it for today. You will eventually see more of these guys and of course my Masters of the Universe figures in upcoming toy photo stories.
Here is my much delayed review of issue 2 of Masters of the Universe: The Sword of Flaws by Tim Seeley and Freddie Williams II with colours by Andrew Dalhouse. For my take on issue 1, go here.
In the past week, North Germany has been blessed – or cursed, depending on your POV – with an unusual amount of snow. You already saw some of it in my post about my road trip to Hildesheim, but this weekend, we not only got an extra dose of snow, but also a veritable blizzard.
The weather service had forecast a snow storm for Friday and urged people to stay at home if at all possible. Schools were closed in Bremen, Hamburg and Lower Saxony to the usual cries of “But I have to work. Who shall take care of my child?” Oddly enough, you never heard these complaints back in the 1980s, when the schools were closed because of snow approx. one or two days every winter, even though there were a lot of families where both parents were working or single parent families back then as well. Continue reading →
In my New Year’s post, I mentioned that I may have a road trip report for you soon and here it is. Because on Sunday, when 2026 was only four days old, I went on the first road trip of the year.
Though this particular trip was still planned in 2025. For you see, I have a toy collector pal named Michael. He lives about 150 kilometers away in a village near Hildesheim. I wanted to buy some Masters of the Universe Classics figures from him, so we agreed that I’d come to pick them up on Sunday, January 4.
Of course, at the time the weather was nice and clear and there was no snow. But then, it started to snow on Friday afternoon and just kept going intermittently through Friday night and Saturday. And according to the weather report, the snow would stick around at least until following weekend. What is more, North Germany is having veritable snow storm this weekend that’s so dangerous that people are being urged to stay at home if possible, though we didn’t know that at the time. Nonetheless, we agree to wait what the weather and traffic conditions would be like on Sunday and then I would decide whether to drive to Hildesheim on Sunday or reschedule.
On Sunday morning, I woke up, looked out of the front door and saw that not only was the snow that had fallen on Friday and Saturday was still there, but that there was even more of it, which had fallen overnight. I guess we had about ten to fifteen centimeters of snow, which is a lot by North German standards. And indeed, North Germany got the brunt of the current snowfall, which is very unusual.
On Friday and Saturday, the snowfall had caused lots of traffic accidents in North Germany and several Autobahnen and Bundesstraßen were clogged with traffic or closed altogether as a result. So I checked the traffic reports and saw that while several train and bus services had been cancelled because of the snow, the streets were clear. I deliberated for a few moments – Do I really want to drive in the snow? Though it would be a lovely road trip. – and then decided, “Screw it! I’ll go.”
Now Autobahnen and Bundesstraßen have priority, when clearing the roads with snow ploughs (and the snow is mostly cleared during the night). Besides, my car has a four-wheel drive, if necessary. So I messaged Michael that I’m coming to pick up the figures and embarked on my road trip to Hildesheim.
Of course, more snow had fallen overnight. So I looked out of the front door and wondered whether to shovel the driveway before leaving. Cause in Germany, you are required to remove snow from your driveway, the path to your front door and the sidewalk, lest someone slip and fall. However, clearing the driveway would take time and there would only be more snow. Besides, it was Sunday and there would be no mail delivery, I wasn’t expcting visitors and no one would have any reason to walk up to my front door. So I decided to shovel the driveway on Monday morning, if necessary. Continue reading →
As promised, I am working on a post about a snowy road trip I took this weekend, but first have this toy photo story, which I created as I am waiting to be snowed in by the blizzard that’s rolling in from the East.
sending...