Chronicles Man-at-Arms

Series: Masters of the Universe Chronicles
Year: 2026

Prelude: He has the manliest mustache of all time, he is one of the few men who can wear green and orange together, and he has been a staple in the Masters of the Universe franchise since day one. He is Man-at-Arms and of course he appears in the new live-action movie, meaning we get lots of new toys of him. Here is Chronicles Man-at-Arms. Let’s say go!

Review: Chronicles Man-at-Arms is a Masterverse/Classics-scaled figure, representing the character from the upcoming live-action movie, played by Idris Elba. The face is a pretty good likeness of the actor, mustache included of course. The figure has very nicely translated the cartoon look of Man-at-Arms into something a live-action character can wear. Green undersuit, bronze armor with technological knick-knacks, and the blue helmet and signature mace. Quite evidently, this is Man-at-Arms.

The armor on the figure is very nicely done, not just in terms of details, but also in the way they make it looked aged and worn. The bronze colors is “fading” into green in several places, making it look like this armor has quite mileage. The gauntlets on the arms have sculpted blasters on them, invoking Man-at-Arms’ look from the Filmation cartoon. The chest plate and pauldrons are removeable, though you have to remove the head of the figure to get them off.

For weapons Man-at-Arms carries his trusty mace, a smaller version of which can be found attached to (or rather, sculpted as a part of) his left tasset. I would assume that, in the movie, it will extend into the bigger weapon once he removes it? Just a guess. He also carries a small blaster pistol which can be attached to the right tasset. The problem here is, the pistol’s grip is really too big to fit into either of Man-at-Arms’ open hands, while the blaster itself is too small, looking like a toy if you do manage to somehow jam it into a hand. This one could have been done better. Like many recent MotU figures, Man-at-Arms comes with two pairs of hands, closed fists and open ones to hold the weapons.

So bottom line for this figure: awesome! The only real flaw is the pistol, otherwise I really love this guy. And not just because he looks like Idris Elba, mind you.

Remarks: I obviously haven’t seen the new Masters of the Universe movie yet, seeing as it won’t come out for another few weeks, but there is one thing I am pretty confident of: Sir Idrissa Akuna Elba, Idris Elba for short, will do a great job with whatever material he is given for his role as Man-at-Arms. I’ve seen him star in bad movies, sure, but he’s never looked bad in any movie, good or bad. So I am very much looking forward to his take on Man-at-Arms.

My platonic love for Idris Elba aside, this figure looks awesome. Love the aged look of the armor, great translation of the cartoon look into live-action, and if they’d given him a better blaster, I’d have gone for a straight A, I think. Still, if you are in any way a fan of the Masters of the Universe, you need this Man-at-Arms here. And he looks like Idris Elba, too.

Rating: A- 

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