King He-Man Heroic Ruler of Future Eternia Masters of the Universe Classics Club Eternia Exclusive Action Figure Item No.: No. Y3197 Manufacturer: Mattel Includes: Power sword, staff, cape, Mini-Comic, bundled with Subternia Map poster Action Feature: n/a Retail: $25.00 Availability: March 2013 Other: Old Man He-Man
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I was immediately delighted at the idea of King He-Man, because I (like many) love the idea of knowing that my childhood heroes grew up to do something with their lives rather than fade away, die, or be killed as a part of some unimportant skirmish. King He-Man comes labeled as a "He-Ro Son of He-Man" figure, which means that this is an era in which The Mighty Spector, Sir Laser-Lot, and Queen Teela which calls into question just who all is the Sorceress and what is her role in future Eternia. Well, we'll find out eventually probably. Mattel described King He-Man as the "Dark Knight Returns" He-Man, the old, haggard last-battle version of the character. His battle-damaged sword has tape wrapped around the handle, rist, and dents while a scarred eye and greying hair indicate that while he may be ruler of Eternia, his best days may be behind him.

The 7-inch figure's build and construction are par for the course, bringing you the kind of articulation and detail you love with great skin tones and bright colors. The figure has a gold torso, which you can see in between the H and the cross on his armor. It's basically a golden tank top, which looks sort of odd as, well, who has one so tight you can see if he's an innie or an outie? Still, it's pretty cool and matches the existing "Powers of Grayskull"-inspired He-Ro from the 1980s line quite nicely.

The figure is as exciting as its accessories. The nasty, rusted Electronic Power Sword looks incredible up close with a damaged wooden handle, all sorts of painted bolts, and dents galore. It's almost comically damaged, at this point I can't help but wonder just how effective a weapon it could be. Still, it looks awesome, and may be one of the best accessories this line will ever see. Had someone custom-made this and sold it to you for $20-$30 as a third-party product, you would probably hem and haw and cave in over the course of fifteen minutes. The king's staff has the classic cross symbol in red plastic, painted with a blue dot in the middle and a gold handle. It's difficult for it to be as awesome as the sword, but as staffs go it looks a little cooler than the other poles we've seen.

Subscription-only figures like Preternia He-Man, Wun-Dar, and Shadow Weaver follow a roller coaster of pricing on the secondary market. Usually the cheapest they get is around $60, but $140 isn't uncommon. Preternia He-Man seems to be getting cheaper by the minute, and right now King He-Man will likely set you back $60-$80. If you don't care about the future era of Eternia this is a skippable release, but I love seeing these new He-Man variations so I would give this one a strong "go get it" rating. I like knowing that one of my TV heroes made it to a ripe old age. Maybe it's a ripe old age of like 40, but well, at least it's still older than I am now.

Oh, and as to the paper bonuses? They're not bad. The Subternia Map is cute but if you aren't a die-hard Masters fan I assume it will end up in a box somewhere to look at every few years. The mini-comic tells the Secret Origin of Skeletor, although it does feel slightly incomplete as it glosses over the involvement of Demo-Man, but it does give us a look at the Son of Skeletor which may be the most ridiculous thing I just gotta have. Near the end, the Faceless One has a vision of the future in which we see Evil-Lyn hand over Skeletor's son to the Mighty Spector for some reason, and later we see a skull-faced warrior with the Havoc Staff and a green mohawk plus mullet. We also get a look at Songster, elementary-school aged versions of numerous characters, and a glimpse into the never-ending racism of Eternia's people. They seriously hate blue skin over there.

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