“Masters of the Universe” Mattel Barbie Teela and He-Man Action Figure – Review

With the live-action Masters of the Universe film currently playing in theaters, of course, such brand recognition opened the doors for a whole lot of merchandise. In this post, I will be sharing my opinions about the He-Man “Masters of the Universe” Chronicles action figure and the Barbie Signature Teela doll from Mattel.

I was provided with the Mattel Barbie Signature Teela doll and the He-Man action figure for free for review. The opinions I have shared are my own.

For those wondering, yes, I watched the Masters of the Universe movie, and yes, I ended up enjoying it. Nicholas Galitzine was well-cast as Adam Glenn/He-Man. And I liked how the narrative kept the humor and camp from the original animated series. You can read my review here.

Being entertained by the film heightened my excitement as I waited for the latest merchandise to be delivered to my doorstep.

I was anticipating an action figure from the merch line. However, I did let out a fangirl scream when I noticed the delivered box included the Barbie Signature Teela doll. That was such a pleasant surprise, especially because she looks gorgeous. So, yeah, let’s begin by talking about her.

Mattel Barbie Signature “Masters of the Universe” Teela Doll

Designed by Stone Procaccino, this doll features a new face sculpt inspired by the likeness of actress Camila Mendes, who plays Teela in the movie. While not a twin, I will say that the likeness is indeed there. The doll gives a heightened supermodel-esque visual.

The doll is housed in a box measuring approximately 13×9 inches. Designed by Laydiana Chiv, the front of the box features an open window to keep the doll fully on in-box display. You will find the Barbie Signature and the Masters of the Universe branding at the bottom. The background has Castle Greyskull and other landscape choices to help create a nice look at Eternia behind the doll.

On the left and the back of the box is an artistic representation of Teela from the movie. The back also has a short character description about the Heroic Warrior. Again, the image is of Mendes as Teela, but heightened.

As for the doll itself, it measures an estimated 11.5 inches tall. The ‘Superhero’ body type means this doll has some muscle definition in her arms. The Teela doll comes wearing her white bodysuit and armor pieces inspired by the film. I liked how the golden-copper armor pieces are actual fabric instead of simply being printed onto the white bodysuit or being made of plastic. Actual fabric pieces always help add to the doll’s overall quality. I really appreciated the golden pieces of fabric inside Teela’s popped collar.

The golden armor fabric can be seen around Teela’s torso and running on the sides of her legs. It’s a shiny fabric, which adds to the cool factor.

The hair feels nice and has been styled to match Teela’s middle part in the film. It wasn’t my favorite hairstyle on Teela, but I can understand why the doll opted for the hairstyle the character kept for the majority of the movie.

The facial features are printed well. I didn’t find any issues in the printing of the eyes or how symmetrical everything looked. The face sculpt did a good job of giving this Teela doll some appealing cheekbones.

As for the plastic pieces, the bracers are, of course, plastic, and so are her warrior boots. There are also two plastic armor pieces on the sides of her thighs, with the left one meant to sheath her well-detailed plastic sword. The estimated 5-inch sword doesn’t fall out from inside the left strap. So, that’s good. Having said that, it’s not easy for Teela to hold the sword. But that’s nothing a piece of elastic or a gluedrop can’t fix.

Talking about the articulation, this doll can move her head, shoulders, elbows, wrists, hips, and knees. It’s not one of the hightest-level of articulation that we can see in most Made-to-Move Barbie bodies, but it gets the job done to help Teela strike some battle-ready poses.

She also comes with a plastic stand to help keep her upright. And yes, the doll is accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity.

Whether you are a fan of the Masters of the Universe movie or not, I would recommend getting the Barbie Signature Teela doll as a collector.

Mattel “Masters of the Universe Chronicles” He-Man Figure

Coming to the He-Man action figure, it comes neatly packaged in a cardboard box featuring imagery of He-Man and Skeletor from the movie. The back of the box has the action figure striking a couple of poses, with the top right corner having a small character description about the Most Powerful Man in the Universe.

On the bottom right part of the back of the box, you will get to see Man-at-Arms and Tri-Klops being advertised as part of the current action figure line. Having the third character be an image of He-Man didn’t make sense to me, though. I would have preferred his image to be swapped with another character.

Featuring an open window, you can clearly see the action figure being inspired by Galitzine. It’s not perfect. But for a mid-range-priced figure, you can tell it’s meant to be Galitzine. The background has imagery of Castle Greyskull. The accessories include the Sword of Power and two extra fists, if you want your figure to throw some punches.

Standing an estimated 7 inches tall, the He-Man figure comes wearing his chest armor, skirt, bracers, and boots. I really liked the translucent red detail in the center of the chest plate. The back of the chest piece lets you holster the sword. You can take away the chest piece by popping off He-Man’s head if you really want your figure to show off his muscular torso in all its glory. The skirt, bracers, and boots are part of the mold.

There’s a good amount of detail on the armor pieces, which I liked. You can see the plastic “stitching” on the skirt and the boots.

This figure has a lot of articulation. You can move the head and neck, the shoulders, arms, elbows, wrists, chest, hips, knees, and ankles. And while that offers a lot of freedom to strike some cool poses, the sheer amount of muscles does create some hindrance, especially with the elbow articulation. He-Man’s biceps are just too big!

The hair also stops the full range of motion for the neck. The plastic skirt also hinders full leg movement. However, you will still get enough room to make the figure do what you want it to, even if you can’t hit the 100% mark. It’s not a deal breaker, but still something to keep in mind.

A gripe for me would be the so-called butterfly joint. It’s there, but it doesn’t give the range of motion one would expect from an “actual” butterfly joint in action figures. I also felt the designers could have done a better job of filling in the abdomen and the chest area to cover the gaps that appear when moving those joints.

The Mattel He-Man figure is a good one. However, I do think it’s more of a playable action figure than one meant for in-box collectors.

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What did you think of the Masters of the Universe Barbie Signature Teela and He-Man action figure from Mattel?

You can learn about more Masters of the Universe merch here.

Feel free to share your thoughts with us.

Author: Farid-ul-Haq

Farid has a Double Masters in Psychology and Biotechnology as well as an M.Phil in Molecular Genetics. He is the author of numerous books including Missing in Somerville, and The Game Master of Somerville. He gives us insight into comics, books, TV shows, anime/manga, video games, and movies.

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