Rant Review: Masters of the Universe Origins Ram Man figure

One of the most exciting announcements from last year's Power Con was the debut of the MOTU Origins deluxe line, featuring Ram Man. A mainstay in the MOTU mythos from early in its life, Ram Man's figures have typically been largely defined by their action feature. If ever there was a figure who suited the deluxe line, it was Rammy! The vintage figure really stood out among his plastic brethren, with a unique design, and even a different sculpting style, that made him look almost like a refugee from another toyline. His articulation was further compromised by the toy's action feature, but what an action feature it was! By retracting the feet into the body and pressing the switch on his foot, the figure would ram forward, a function that we '80s kids found a wide variety of uses for! This feature was intact in the 2002 version of the figure, but absent in the action feature-free MOTU Classics version, which gave us our first ever fully articulated Ram Man. This new Origins version looks to split the difference between the two approaches. How does it fare? Read on...

The sculpt is emblematic of the approach of the Origins line in general, as it virtually replicates the vintage design, while slightly improving the level of detail. The sculpt is 100% new, another aspect of the figure's design that undoubtedly earmarked him for inclusion in the higher-priced deluxe line. Every aspect of the burly fan-favorite is here, from his kilt/tunic, his beefy arms, big armor with the chains, and his helmeted head, slightly befuddled expression and all. There are some nice dents and dings sculpted into the helmet, a fun detail that was totally absent on the vintage toy. There does seem to be a bit more of a style cohesion in relation to the rest of the line, however, making the figure look less like he wandered in from another toyline. This is some of the strongest work we've seen from the Origins team so far.

Ram Man's paint apps are bit less neat overall than what I've seen on most of the line so far, with a pretty wide variation in the quality of the paint apps on the face and belt buckle. One of my figures has an open-face helmeted head with a very neat face, while the extra I got for my little niece to play with has very sloppy paint apps on that head, about half of which are barely even filled in. The silver belt buckles suffer from slop and overspray on every example of this figure I've seen. If you're fortunate enough to run across more than one of these at once, I definitely recommend that you take a minute to look over the paint apps and choose the best example.

As Rammy has a unique sculpt, so he also has a unique articulation model. He has the swivel & hinge shoulders, elbows, and wrists and the ball-jointed head that is standard for the line, but it's a different story below the waist. There is no waist swivel, and the only leg articulation present are swivel & hinge knees. This was a necessary compromise due to the action feature, so I doubt anyone is overly surprised about it. Frankly, the knee articulation on its own is so useless that they might as well have not bothered. The action feature itself works a bit differently. After pressing the figure down, you have to press him down again to make him spring up slightly. This is a bit harder to activate than the traditional implementation, and it doesn't work as well in general. I really would have preferred the vintage-style feature instead. It really feels like the design team tried to fix something that wasn't broken.

Rammy is fully loaded with accessories, as we've come to expect from the deluxe line. He has a swappable head, an alternate right hand, and two axes that can fit together. The deluxe wave one minicomic is also included. The alternate head has a face guard that seems to be inspired by the 2002 animated show, which is a nice touch. I've actually found myself keeping that head on the figure more often than not. This is definitely a better option than the unhelmeted head we got with the Classics figure, particularly with the clumsy implementation that version had. I'm glad they went this route instead. The axes can attach at the handles, and while it looks odd and unwieldy, I can't deny that it also looks plenty dangerous! (Though it may be far more dangerous for the wielder than any of his enemies!) This is a pretty robust suite of accessories, especially for a fully tooled figure with an action feature, so I definitely feel that we're getting our money's worth here. 

As an essential supporting cast member, Ram Man is one of those figures pretty much everyone wants in their collection. Mattel did him up right, despite a few issues. The ramming feature isn't implemented as well as it could have been, but let's face it: Most of us who are buying these are just going to have him standing on a shelf, so it's not that big a deal. For those of us with children in the family who will be actually playing with them, well, most of them won't know what the alternative is, so they likely wont be bothered by it. My little niece certainly isn't, and she has loads of fun ramming him into things! Ram Man is one of those iconic MOTU figures and characters who has entered the public consciousness, and this is bound to be one of the more popular figures from a very popular line. Thankfully, he's been done justice, and I'm glad to have him in my collection. That's it for today, but smash your way back Tuesday for the next Masterverse review, or stop by Monday for the next entry in the 007 Re-Read Project! Until then, stay safe out there, and happy hunting!