Toy Review: Mattel’s Next Era Begins With ‘Masters Of The Universe Chronicles’ He-Man

Mattel is one of the oldest and best known toy companies in the world. They own some of the biggest brands in toys — like Barbie and Hot Wheels — and license even more. One of their top brands is going through a renaissance, and Masters of the Universe Chronicles is at the center of that. 

We’ve already talked a lot about He-Man and the Masters of the Universe already in June. And there’s a few things still coming. But after taking a look at the ‘Kid Core’ He-Man figure the week of the movie release, we were able to get our hands on the Chronicles version of He-Man, and we’re excited to talk about it.

Mattel is no stranger to collector oriented toy lines. From 2008 to 2016, they released Masters of the Universe Classics (before turning the line over to Super7), then from 2020 to now, they’ve released Masterverse. Both lines were roughly 7 inches tall (or a 1:10 scale). 

Classics was an online exclusive line that served to release highly detailed “definitive” versions of each character (or in the case of the main characters specific designs), ran in limited quantities and is extremely pricey in the aftermarket. Masterverse had two subdivisions — adapting various He-Man media into highly articulated figures (such as the three Netflix MOTU series, the original She-Ra cartoon and the 1987 film), and “New Eternia” which allowed from updates and re-designs of classic characters and designs from across the He-Man multiverse. Mattel has said that the Masterverse line isn’t cancelled, but it appears that the company isn’t going to be releasing anything further from the line after the currently announced waves release.

Meanwhile, Chronicles debuted earlier this year with a Scare Glow redesign and the new movie line. Using a 6 inch (1:12) scale to match Hasbro’s collector lines, this line is off to a great start already. It’s also clearly the basis for what we’re going to see Mattel do to stay in competition with Hasbro’s wildly popular superhero lines.

So with all that history, does this figure speak for itself?

It absolutely does.

First of all, getting it out of the way first, the accessories are extremely limited, which is a strike against it. The only thing the figure includes outside of He-Man’s sword is an extra set of hands. A second head sculpt, with a non-neutral expression, would go a long way, as would an axe or shield.

I mostly really like the design. Just like the Kid Core figure, it’s a great likeness of Nicholas Galitzine. He’s not completely pulled off the screen, but it’s also clearly him. Most of the armor looks really good, particularly his loincloth and bracers. The chest plate seems weirdly broad, but it’s not any worse than looking “off.”

But where it excelled was the posing. This is simply a blast to play with. I had a ton of fun just finding different ways to pose and stand the figure, made even better with my stands. This is absolutely an area where a non-neutral head would have been great, as an angry or yelling face would have made some of the action poses look even better. There wasn’t anything I attempted that didn’t work, which was really encouraging for the next several years of Mattel figures.

As-is, I loved having this figure in hand, and I’m definitely going to look for others (particularly Trap-Jaw) in this line.

As a movie tie-in, this is a great toy. But it’s even better as a glimpse at what’s next.