Mattel Masters of the Universe Classics Prince Fabulous

Don't get me started on MattyCollector. Don't get me started on Mattel, Scott Nietlich, or the overall mishandling of the Masters of the Universe Classics line. What should have been an astoundingly successful line was instead turned into a niche line for only the most serious of collectors. Cherry pickers and frugal shoppers need not apply. I started off with a lot of excitement for the figures, but bowed out after a year and a half and only a few figures bought. There is one rule I'm very particular about and never break.. I don't fight people to take my money. That's why I was thrilled to hear that a lot of "sold out" Masters of the Universe Classics figures were released to Big Lots and being sold for $10 each. I absolutely don't mind swinging by a store and buying a figure at a good price off of a shelf, so it was an instant win.

A San Diego Comic Convention (SDCC) exclusive product that was later sold on MattyCollector, Orko was a very controversial figure. Why was he controversial? Because he had an accessory that was ridiculous. Tucked down in the bottom of the box, out of sight, was Prince Adam, Orko's biggest accessory. He also had a wand, a stand, and a book he can't even hold, but it was Prince Adam that most people bought the package for. It was thought that Prince Adam being the secondary "accessory" would be funny, but I didn't hear many people laughing. My wife, on watching me grab it off the shelf, asked my why they accidentally put a second figure in the package. That's just not how you expand a line.

This figure is not Prince Adam. Prince Adam came with two heads, one more like He-Man and one with a smirk on it that was supposed to be in his "camouflage" mode. Basically, it was two He-Man heads. That didn't really work well for me as a kid, and it still doesn't now. Superman can get away with taking off his glasses because he's done that for 70 years. Prince Adam can't be huge and muscular and just take off his shirt and gain a tan to become He-Man. It's way too obvious. For me, I needed something different. Something more believable. I needed Prince Fabulous.

This is the head of Mo-Larr, Eternian dentist.. another faux pas in a line of faux paseses with the line. Based off of a Robot Chicken sketch, Mo-Larr was another SDCC exclusive that was packaged with a Skeletor missing a tooth. It was also available at Big Lots and also cheap, which is why I picked it up. Sitting in a hotel room with my wife, looking at both Mo-Larr and Prince Adam, the solution came to me. Decapitating them both and stitching the heads back onto different bodies, I finally had my He-Man dentist that I always dreamed of. Wait, that's wrong. Actually, I was stuck with a He-Man dentist and blessed with my long-dreamed-of Prince Fabulous!

Prince Fabulous is a bit flamboyant, I'm not going to lie. His tights clash with his vest, his shirt is about three sizes too small, and his pink swords are... unique. He's also got great hair and a killer smile, so that counts for something. Overall, the body is pretty bland. The vest is unique, but the rest of it is paint disguising a very standard Masters of the Universe Classics body. That's not to say that it's a bad body, but the idea that every humanoid on Eternia has exactly the same shirt size still cracks me up.

Still, the articulation is great and the figures are solid and durable, which is a definite plus. At $10, this is probably the highest quality figure you're ever going to get, but at $30 it's definitely not (the usual selling price plus the required, very slow shipping). There are better toys at lower prices. That said, Prince Fabulous does show one of the benefits of having interchangeable parts. It gives me a toy that is uniquely mine.

I doubt there is a Big Lots anywhere that still offers these figures, and the prices have creeped back up on Ebay and online stores, unfortunately. It's one of those times where you discover an unexpected deal and you have to decide whether it is worth jumping on or not. There are so many times I've missed out I couldn't even count them, but this is one time where it worked out. Oddly enough, it's also the only time I've enjoyed buying a Master of the Universe figure in over twenty years. That, my friends, is truly sad.