DC WARRIOR BEASTS: This is arguably the most sought after series that most collectors of
MOTU and fantasy action figures alike desire to have more than any other! These figures were available in 1983 - 1984 and originally less than $3 each back when they were on the shelves and as I speak they go more than triple than that on the secondary & third marketplaces! Despite their insane value, these figures still might be considered "obscure" by many. Anybody whom was around and collected
MOTU in the 80s would know of these supposed knockoffs/bootlegs. I beg the differ that these aren't actually knockoffs, in fact they really have their own personalty and overall near original design about them. They surely are not made like the Masters as they are made of a different plastic and they don't have the rubber-band hips as they have ball-jointed hips. They have neck, shoulder and waist cuts sure but once you hold a
MOTU figure and then you hold a
DC Warrior Beast then you'll know there is clearly a difference much like the same when you compare
G.I. Joes and
US Forces. Another huge factor is that they were a very short licence by
DC Comics The DC Warrior Beasts are sometimes thought to be the villains for the
Lost World of the Warlord line by
REMCO (no, I do not have any of these figures) thus bringing about a radical crossover line which was a work by DC comic icon Mike Grell! So see, IMO are these guys are in no shape or form bootlegs
But you gotta keep in mind their was some other original characters in the series that came out of the imagination of
REMCO! The sculpting is quite good and quite frankly purely fantastic! The paint is also good but more on that in a bit. I really like the color schemes as well. Like My Masters, Used to have more of these guys that I broke
I have misplaced their accessories and they are worn from play & age. Off to the showcase
CRAVEN: Part of the
DC Comics side,
Craven is a anthropomorphic avian-reptilian humanoid. He is one of the most hardest figures to find & one of the most expensive characters of the whole series and try finding one in decent shape!
NOTE: I always thought his color scheme made him look a Robin, the everyday bird you see outside
HYDRAZ: Like many of these characters, I believe that they were inspirations for some
MOTU,
TMNT among other lines of the future.
Hydraz is like a humanoid Hyrdra Draconian and I believe he/they may have given rise to
Mattel an idea or two to make their great
Two-Badd character from
MOTU SNAKEMAN: Yep, possibly another inspiration for
Mattel with their Snake Men because they didn't arrive till about a year later after his release in 83? Then again it just could be that it seems like every major toy series or franchise has to have a snake character or element thrown in there one way or another...I mean let's face it, snakes and reptilians are everywhere you look...what an obsession! Unfortunately his tail broke but I think he still looks good. Sometime his name is also spelled
Snake Man.
SKULLMAN: He had two variants, one with the hood and one without it. The hooded one's name was originally
Skull Face but since collectors & fans of
Skeletor said that he is a rip-off of the old bone head,
REMCO changed his name to
Skullman or
Skull Man plus changing his head sculpt entirely. Honestly I think
MOTU's Scare Glow was an inspiration of this version of this character without being glow in the dark mind you. Mine has a mark on his head, I don't recall how it got there but I cannot remove it. Now, many collectors think that
Skull Man is
THE Holy Grail of action figures of this kind and is truly one of the most difficult figures ever to obtain not to mention in good condition
NOTE: He wasn't really easy to find in My storage so I worked rather hard to showcase him here because he is so special
Bonus REMCO Entry!Crossbones of Pirates of The Galaxseas: The Legend of Tresure Island: I only got one figure from the series and that was
Crossbones. I can picture it right now when My Grandma took Me to that great Woolworth that I always talk about and them figures on their big display shelf :bounce: Why I only wanted him I have no clue, just foolishness I guess
So he is from just out of the minds of
REMCO and he is pretty much in scale with his
DC Warrior Beasts counter parts. His head sculpt resemble's
Skull Man's slightly but his body is completely a new sculpt and seriously reminds Me of them red/skinned skeletons in the awesome Castlevania video games that would come out years later. His attire is of a cloth-vinyl and his gun is really good...yes I got his gun
I have always loved this character!
SUPER BONUS ENTRY #1! Weaponsmaster from the
Defender of the Planets by
Sparkle Toy Inc. in 1985! I had no clue about him nor his series back in the day till I found him at a yard sale in the early 90s! He clearly looks very
MOTU inspired but his quality is quite unique compared to them as his more plastic feeling. He is a great figure to have in any collection of fantasy!
SUPER BONUS ENTRY #2!Battle Rhino: Yes, this animal is called
Battle Rhino and he is made by
Imperial-DorMei in 1984. This creature is hard rubber AND is one of My most favorite beast figures. I usually display him with the
Warrior Beasts NOTE: I featured some other great monsters earlier on made by
Imperial so if you haven't seen them then please check them out in previous entries or even if you have you could do it again
SUPER BONUS GALLERIES & MORE!CopyrightsDC Comic Warrior Beasts blister card: This was not My original pic, I just edited it for this special showcase!
Kenner's DC Super Powers Superman (previously featured with
REMCO's DC Warrior Beasts!BA Skeletor and
Skull ManBeast Warriors group shot with
Battle Rhino!Weaponsmaster meets the
MOTU!Mattel vs. REMCO vs. Sparkle Toy vs. SOMA: See what I was talking about when I previously featured the
Monsters by
SOMA? The
Avian-Man fits in just right!
Official vs. Unofficial: AKA Mattel and
Hasbro vs.
REMCO WOW there it is...finally
Now one more thing, over the years especially during the time when Matty Collector existed there was some demand for
Mattel to get the rights and make classics versions of the
DC Warrior Beasts and even
Olmec's Sun-Man (no I never got him or his series...would love to though). I had spoke to many of the forum members (that I have lost contact with since then) and there was plenty of support back then but unfortunately
Mattel never made any effort about the fan demand whatsoever and woefully these lines still remain to be remastered due to their darn frustrating frugalness and unreasonably questionable decisions
However, there has been some nice customs over the past decade or so that are truly OOAK of the
DC Warrior Beasts,
Weaponsmaster and even
Sun-Man by some really skilled customizers and even Zoloworld has taken on their take of replicating the figures in their original design & scale plus some newer additions from their own creations
So, I hope you guys have enjoyed this really big (actually it became much larger than I had originally planned) showcase of
Masters of the Universe by
Mattel and
REMCO's DC Warrior Beasts I have more great 80s greatness to showcase here soon (but man I must say I cannot wait to get to the 90s) and we shall see what I plan on presenting next! I am saying this because very recently I have found a ton of great stuff(some that I didn't expect) that I am going to showcase that consist from very well known franchises to super rarities that many has either been forgotten about or have never seen before
Now it is possible that some of these figures that you have just witness may make cameo appearances with future entries plus there maybe a
MOTU bonus section if things work out or they just may have a "guest" showcase. As always if you are just now checking this section out now please scroll back or go back to the previous pages and check out everything that you may have missed because I have featured some great, rare and obscure 80s goodness
Until the next update/showcase, I'll see you around