“Battle Armor He-Man.
Most Powerful Armor in the Universe!
Donning his powerful Battle Armor, General Adam sailed farther than any ship in the Eternos Armada in search of the mythical Isle of Grayskull and the legendary Power Sword. Upon finding the sword, he says “I have the power” and transforms into He-Man, the Most Powerful Man in the Universe.” – Box art bio
A Slightly Battle Worn Take on Battle Armor He-Man
Well! That’s quite a lot to unpack from that box art bio! For all I know this could be explained in a comic or graphic novel but “General Adam”, “Eternos Armada” and “Isle of Grayskull” clearly all point to a very different background to this He-Man!
Whatever the case, this is the first Masterverse He-Man variant I’ve looked at. The figure was released fairly early on in the New Eternia sub-line in 2022, part of Wave 6 of the Masterverse line overall.
As with all of the New Eternia figures I’ve reviewed so far, Battle Armor He-Man features a new twist to the vintage Battle Armor figure while sharing some similarities to the Viking He-Man figure.
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Boxart
Released in the standard size Masterverse box, it comes with fantastic art work showing off an older looking and perhaps battle hardened He-Man.
The back of the box in particular has an awesome piece of art with He-Man framed by a moon. Looking like he’s about to do battle with some beasties, one of which looks like one of Skeletor’s Skeleton Warriors. These haven’t been released so far in the Masterverse line but there is a double pack in the Origins line.
Figure Overview
If you’ve got Viking He-Man, Vykron or the first Revelation He-Man, you’ll be pretty familiar with the basics of Battle Armor He-Man. The figure features the same overall look sharing identical moulds for the legs and arms.
As such, it stands at pretty much the same height as those figures – 17cm/7inches – and has the same overall build.
There are of course a couple of big differences: the Battle Armor and the beard! I’ll cover the armor below but I’ll just mention that the beard is a bit of a surprise. As a beard wearer myself, I’ll admit to a bit of bias but I really do like this look for He-Man.
Articulation
There are no major surprises in the articulation of this figure, just an interesting way to approach the Battle Armor itself. Starting from the top:
- Ball joint at the neck allowing you to move the head all the way around, back and forwards and also side to side. The latter is a little bit restricted by the Battle Armor.
- Shoulder joints are pretty good, you can get the arms up into a “T-pose” even with the pauldron on the left shoulder. The arms can of course be moved backwards and forwards too.
- Bicep cut.
- Double joints at the elbows.
- Wrist joints.
- Mid-torso joint in the Battle Armor itself. This is a surprise and an interesting way of going about it. I’ll cover this more in the “Battle Armor” section below but it’s worth mentioning here that this joint is really good, allowing for a large range of motion.
- Standard waist joint which isn’t hindered at all by the upper leg armour.
- Hip joints which would allow you to move the legs forwards, backwards and out to the side if it wasn’t for the upper leg armour.
- Mid-thigh cuts allowing you to move the legs all the way around.
- Double joints at the knees and these are clear of the leg armour, so no problems here.
- Boot cut on both legs.
- And finally the ankle joints. These are bit tough to move backwards and forwards on my figure but rock easily side to side.
So the full Masterverse articulation is present and correct although a bit hindered by some parts of the armour.
Design/Paint Application
Is a bearded He-Man controversial? There seemed to have been some polarised reactions to it when the figure was released. Either way, I’m firmly in the camp that really likes this bearded look. A closer inspection at the details in the face show that there is also a scar under He-Man’s right eye. Not only is this a nice detail but gives the figure a battle hardened look. The detail in the hair and beard is really good too with a darker wash bringing out those details.
One interesting thing to note before I move on from the beard! The figure has a blonde beard while in the cross sell section on the back of box, it has a brown beard. Clearly there was a small change in direction in between the promo photos and the finished figure.
As with Viking He-man, once you move past the head and face the amount of paint application is predominantly restricted to picking out details. The boots might have a wash on them but as they are a much darker brown than previously its quite hard to tell.
From the waist down, Battle Armor He-Man is identical to Viking He-Man just with a bit of a change up in colours. Both figures make use of what seems to the standard belt design for New Eternia, a leather loin cloth and the same boot design. Even down to Battle Armor He-Man having the same boot knife!
Accessories
Weapons
Again, the accessories are very close to Viking He-Man’s but with small changes in their colours:
- Sword of Power – identical but with a lighter colour for the hilt straps.
- Battle axe – identical apart from a light off white paint added to the handle. Viking He-Man’s axe was unpainted.
- Boot knife – once again identical just with a darker gold hilt.
All of the weapons accessories are moulded in a grey plastic which has a silvery sheen to it. Very similar to Viking He-Man’s but a little lighter in colour overall.
Armour
As well as the Battle Armour, this figure comes with some extra armour accessories:
- Pauldron – this can sit on either shoulder and fits by simply fastening the strap using the peg on the underside. A little fiddly but fits pretty well.
- Upper leg armour / armoured skirt – this fits around He-Man’s waist rather like an extra belt on top of the fitted New Eternia belt and loin cloth. It actually fits well and doesn’t rattle about.
- The shield – fits via a peg on its reverse to a hole in He-Man’s left bracer. It can also be stowed on the back of He-Man via a hole in the Battle Armor.
The armour accessories can hinder the figure’s articulation unfortunately. The shoulder pauldron is best fitted so that the strap sits above the bicep. It then stays in place quite well and the movement in the arm isn’t too restricted at all.
The same can’t said for the armoured skirt. It’s made from quite a rigid plastic and hinders the legs quite a bit which is a shame.
Despite the restrictions on articulation caused by them, I do like the extra armour pieces and they complement the Battle Armor really well. A nice touch is the design on the front of the armoured skirt. Picked out in a nice gold paint, it’s a lion face design that’s very reminiscent of the design on the front of the Central Tower of the Eternia play set.
The Shield – A New Design
The shield is a new design to me and this might be the first figure that used it in the Masterverse line as a whole.
It fits into a peg hole in He-Man’s left bracer which also has a new design. This bracer can’t be removed or swapped out and seems to be glued to the left fore arm. This design does mean the shield can’t be moved to the right hand. It does however leave the left free to hold a weapon.
There’s also another peg hole on the back of the Battle Armor. The shield fits easily into both positions and stays in place quite firmly.
In a nice touch, the shield has a design on it that is a call back to the vintage Dragon Walker vehicle. This had a coat of arms on its side and that design is re-used on the shield here. The application of this design is really good and has a distressed look as though it has seen some battle.
And the Rest…
As with Viking He-Man, this version comes with several hands:
- A pair of gripping hands.
- A right hand in a fist.
- And an open left hand. Still not really sure what the open hand is for! On other figures it can make attaching a shield easier, but on this figure the shield works in a completely different way. Still, it can be used for some fun poses.
The smaller right hand bracer can be removed so that probably counts as an accessory too. Although there is some glue residue left on the wrist so perhaps that wasn’t intentional!
Unlike Viking He-Man, there isn’t an alternative head. You can of course swap in Viking He-Man’s heads for a different look:
Battle Armor!
And finally the Battle Armor itself!
The Mattel designers opted for a quite different approach to this from the vintage or even the Origins versions. In those, there was an action feature where the central chest plate was basically a rotating drum. When tapped it would spin around to reveal a version of the “H” design with a dent in it, giving it a damaged look. Tap it again, and the drum would rotate again. This time to another version of the “H” with two dents in it! You could then manually rotate the drum back to the beginning and back to a pristine “H”.
No such action feature here alas! Instead, the front of the chest area can be removed and the undamaged front plate with the stylised “H” can be swapped out for the damaged version. This has two dents in it, a version with a single dent is not included.
I don’t actually mind the omission of the action feature. As a kid I found it pretty neat but it could be a bit annoying and of course it could break.
Swapping Out the Chest Plates
How the designers went about swapping the armour plates here is a bit novel. The front of the chest armour can be popped off of the figure. The removable chest plate can then be removed from the figure’s torso and replaced with the other chest plate. The chest armour can then be placed back on to the figure.
Unlike other figures that feature chest armour, the Battle Armor actually forms the torso. Although the front of the chest armour comes off, there’s still armour underneath that.
Quite a unique way of going about it and it preserves the mid-torso articulation which is very good. It does however mean the armour has quite a “slimline” look to it. It doesn’t quite look bulky enough for Battle Armor in my opinion.
The overall look though doesn’t actually depart too far from the vintage figure. It still features the overlapping plate design for example.
A Clever Design, But…
Like the weapon accessories, the armour is moulded in a grey plastic with that silvery sheen. It’s quite nice under a good light but otherwise, does look rather flat. It could have done with either a darker wash to bring out the details or perhaps going the other way and adding a much more silvery finish.
I’m also slightly in two minds about the design. Making the whole of the figure’s upper torso the armour is clever and retains the articulation. However, it does result in quite a slim look. Armour that’s actually over the torso would look much more bulky.
This approach also cuts back on the options for parts swapping. There’s no trying out this Battle Armor on Man-At-Arms for example.
Final Thoughts
I have been a bit nit picky but overall I do really like this take on Battle Armor He-Man. Yes I’m biased, but the bearded look really suits He-Man too!
If anything, I wish Mattel had gone further with the battle worn look. A darker wash on the armour perhaps and maybe some more scars!
Where to Buy
I bought this Battle Armor He-Man figure back in autumn 2024. Back then it was readily available both in smaller online shops as well as secondary markets like eBay. Since then in the UK at least, it seems to be getting a bit rare. You best bet is either to keep an eye out for it on eBay or resort to the larger online shops.
Mind you, it does seem to have been superceded by the later Revolution version which arguably did a better job.
