HE-MAN VS. SKELETOR

Manufacturer: MFA2000

Sculptor: Nimanjab

Material: Resin

Scale:  1/6

The IMDB says about He-Man: “The most powerful man in the universe, He-Man, goes against the evil forces of Skeletor to save the planet Eternia and to protect the secrets of Castle Grayskull.”

Unfortunately that’s about all I know of He-Man other than he fought Skeletor and they both rode around on big cats. I had seen the toys and knew the characters existed but I could not tell you any more than that. By the time this cartoon was on the air in 1983 I was well past the age of being interested in it or any other cartoons of that time. Despite that, when I was contacted to do this piece for a private collector I figured ”why not, it would be fun”. Man, was I wrong…….

The good stuff first. The pose of this kit is dynamic and the sculpting is good. The figures are nicely detailed and while a bit stiff in their motion, they present an exciting moment in battle between two foes. I like the fact that the composition of the diorama presents the good guy towering over the bad guy. The base is a really cool swamp landscape that lends itself to customizing if so inclined. When completed the diorama creates an exciting vignette and would certainly be the centerpiece of anyone’s He-Man collection – if not just for the sheer magnitude alone.

The bad stuff. This kit is huge! But I knew that going into it so that’s fine. The base was around 30” wide and at its tallest point, He-Man’s blade, it was couple feet tall. That can be a challenge to a limited workspace. There were around 45-50 pieces to be assembled – a few more than I expected. The engineering of the piece was somewhat baffling in particular areas. For example, the cats were cast in two, hollow halves that had to be assembled, then the solid cast heads, legs and tails had to be attached. It would have made things a lot easier had it been a single, hollow cast body. The body halves did not match up well at all. Most parts were not keyed. All the swords, Skeletor’s staff handle and He-Man’s axe handle were all badly warped. And to top it all off, the casting it was awful – some of the worst I have ever dealt with. There was an excessive amount of over-pour that  required hours of grinding and test fitting which unnecessarily complicated assembly. The gigantic base pieces had spots so thin and fragile you could see light thru them. I had to back pour and patch numerous places. This quality of casting in today’s hobby is unacceptable. With countless air bubbles, flash, gaps and ill fitting parts, this kit was an absolute nightmare to assemble.  I do not know who handled the casting duties on this particular kit but whoever it was should not be allowed to continue to practice the craft.

I’d like to give these kit high marks because the finished diorama is very impressive. However the hassles of construction have left such a bad memory that I cannot recommend it. The difficulty in getting from point A to point B just isn’t worth it. There are so many kits out there that I could build again and again, enjoying them each time. This is not one of them.