Masters of the Universe Classics - Snake Armor He-Man & Battle Armor King Hssss Review !!!

This two pack came along in the same package with Ninjor/ Ninja Warrior last month in February . I'm going to refer to King Hssss as King Hiss throughout this article / review , which is the original spelling of his name anyway .  I never liked the new spelling of his name and still does not like it . Since there are two figures in this review, I'm going to review them both individually . First I'll review over He-Man than King Hiss . Before moving on to the figures individually, let's have a look at all of the packaging and character bio notable tidbits of information .

The packaging alone itself is worth discussing . I love the above diorama insert , it makes a nice background piece not just for MOTUC figures but any action figures . As for notable information from the bios, first up is He-Man . It is noted that He-Man's snake armor is an upgrade over his original to battle the Snake Men . He-Man's description has also been changed from "the most powerful man in the universe " to the "most powerful snake hunter in the universe . Snake Man-At-arms is also mentioned as He-Man refuses to hurt his friend , and that Snake MAA weapon is powerful enough to disrupt the power of Grayskull itself . As for Hiss's bio , some interesting things mentioned are his battle with Zodak , the Second Ultimate Battleground, and the Spell of Seperation used by Orko to defeat the Snake Men . Now on to the figures themselves .

First up is He-Man . Even though He-Man appeared in this snake armor in episodes of the Mike Young Productions Masters of the Universe cartoon , the design is based off the original Snake Armor He-Man figure from the 200X series . Plus you can easily tell the Horsemen did not use the cartoon as reference for the MOTUC Snake Armor He-Man in the comparison pic below .

As you can see the hair is not the same , the right shoulder pad also has a different shape, and the cross logo is not centered on the cartoon like it is on the toy . So it is very obvious that the Horsemen used the original SA He-Man as reference when designing the MOTUC version . Plus it is mentioned in previous media that the head is based off of the design of the original toy .

Even though a shield is mentioned in He-Man's bio, one does not come for the He-Man figure . The accessories that He-Man comes with are his 200X version power sword and a pincher .The pincher easily fits into an insert on his right arm gauntlet piece . The armor itself is made out of a rubbery plastic instead of a hard plastic . I feel that if it were made of hard plastic, that the hard plastic might provide more of a shine to the armor than soft plastic . Also it is nice to have the 200X sword as it finally makes its first appearance in the MOTUC line . Plus the sword can fit into either hand . I also like how the armor itself is different shades of grey. Some parts are dark grey and other parts light grey . These mixtures of different shades of grey adds an impressive look to the figure in my opinion . It's also interesting to see that He-Man is wearing a different color for his boots, green instead of his normal red or reddish brown boots . This is definitely a completely different look for He-Man than his original attire .

It is also nice to know that if you do not wish to display He-Man holding the sword, it can easily be placed into the socket on the back of his armor . Now on to the King Hiss .

As you can see, unlike He-Man , the design for this particular King Hiss figure was indeed based on the Mike Young cartoon version , and not on the 200X Hssss figure . Just take a look at the comparison shot above. The 200X toy has a similar look, but the Mike Young cartoon company altered the looks just a little by making his skin green, and giving him red eyes with no pupils . King Hiss comes with the same staff and shield that the original MOTUC Hiss comes with , except the colors are different this time .

As for the pic above with the staffs , the green staff belongs to the original MOTUC Hiss and the yellowish brownish one comes with this current figure . In the above pic with the shields, the red shield belongs to the original Hiss figure and the reddish brown to the Snake Armor Hiss . Hopefully these comparison pics will give you an idea of which colors look the best for his weapons .
Now it's time for some comparison shots of the two King Hiss figures in the MOTUC line .

I love both designs by the way and can not make up my mind on which design I like the best. I do think however I prefer the head / face of the newer Hiss figure over the older one . The newer face looks more sinister and wicked in my opinion . Also worth noting is that this newer Hiss did not come with the snake body this time around. If you look at Pixel Dan's review of this two pack , it is stated that the missing snake body may be packaged with a future figure real soon . So be on the look out for it when it arrives .
Another luxury of having both MOTUC King Hiss figures is that you can intermingle his torso parts .  Below is a look at two mix and match pics of both figures .

In the two pics above , the first pic is original Hiss upper body attached to newer Hiss lower body . The second pic is the newer Hiss figure upper body attached to the original Hiss lower body . I like the look of the second pic the best. The first pic just does not look right because of the leg and body proportions and the colors not matching . I like the look of the second pic so much that I was considering displaying King Hiss this way . As the above pictures illustrate, mixing and matching parts is one of several luxuries of owning Masters of the Universe Classics figures .
                                                   FINAL    THOUGHTS  
( 1 ) ARTICULATION - Both figures have the same basic articulation as any other MOTUC figure .

( 2 ) STANDING  ABILITY  -  Once you get their knees in the proper stance , both figures stand well without any balance issues .

( 3 ) WHAT  I  LIKE  BEST  ABOUT  THESE  FIGURES ? - Snake Armor He-Man - the new head, the inclusion of the 200X power sword , the flexibility of the pincher  and the different shades of grey for the armor . Battle Armor King Hssss - the 200X cartoon head , and the ability to mix and match his parts with the older King Hiss figure .

( 4 ) WHAT  I  LIKE  LEAST  ABOUT  THESE  FIGURES ? - Snake Armor He-Man - There is nothing that I dislike about this figure, he is totally cool . King Hiss - I do not like the idea of a fighter wearing sandals . I feel like he should have regular boots just like the original. I understand the reason as Mattel at the time was trying to give this version of Hiss an Egyptian look of a pharaoh . It still looks cool no matter what it's just that the concept of going out on a battlefield in sandals is what gets me .

( 5 ) WHAT  COULD  HAVE  BEEN  DONE  TO  IMPROVE  THE  FIGURES ? - Snake Armor He-Man - a button that you could press to make the pincher open and close would have been nice. Similar to Clamp Champ's feature from the 1980s .Battle Armor Hssss - being able to display his human half over his snake half , like with the original King Hiss toy from the 1980s .

( 6 ) GRADING  SCALE  -  Snake Armor He-Man - A perfect 10 . I can not find any flaws with this figure . Ditto for Battle Armor King Hssss, despite me complaining about the sandals, both figures look very cool and well designed .

( 7 ) FINAL  ANALYSIS  -  I'm a big fan of collecting two packs but not a big fan of variants . I do not like having multiple action figures of the same character . Ten different He-Mans , ten different Skeletors, etc. is too much for me, I'd rather have brand new characters / figures over variants any day. However I'll take an exception in this case . These variants of He-Man and King Hiss are so cool you'll probably hardly notice that they are variants once you have them in your hands .