Turtles Of Grayskull — A Crossover For Every ’80s Kid: Man-At-Arms Reviewed

by Tony Thornley

It’s a little later than we hoped, but we’re back for the final figure in wave 1 of Mattel’s Turtles of Grayskull. He’s the armorer and head of the Royal Guard of Eternia. He’s also the Ninja Turtles’ first ally on Eternia — Duncan, the Man-At-Arms.

Man-At-Arms is just cool. No matter the design or incarnation, he’s easily one of the best Masters of the Universe characters. Including him in the first wave is pretty much a no-brainer, especially for both story reasons and establishing the design language of the rest of the line.

And right out of the way, I think this is the best designed figure of the entire line so far. While the Turtle and Eternia elements are perfectly blended here, just like on the Turtles, the accessories fit right, the color scheme is firmly Man-At-Arms, and the Turtle elements enhance the figure.

I think the only downside of the design is in his weapon. His armor and shield incorporate the Turtle shell design that we’re going to see more in the line. His weapon though is just his standard mace. It would have been fun to see a ninja spin on his mace (like the upcoming Teela’s sword is actually an oversized sai). That’s not to say a mace isn’t a ninja weapon (as a quick Google confirms), but just giving it a slightly different spin from his standard weapon would have been nice.

The possibility is great. He feels like a modern spin on the classic MOTU figures. That’s true of both the modernization of the sculpt and the articulation. It’s not as articulated as a Marvel Legends or McFarlane DC Multiverse figure, but it’s pretty great.

One other downside is that he’s top heavy to the point of being unable to stand on its own. I was able to for the photos I snapped, but the moment I finished and left the figure alone, it fell. The Turtles and He-Man all did really well on their own, especially in comparison.