I first discovered this figure at the San Diego Comic con in 2019 and my anticipation has only grown. I finally received Man-at-Arms a little over a year later and I am not disappointed. Mondo with their Masters of the Universe license has done something that I thought only MOTU Classics could do, make these characters look good. Not only has Mondo done this but they have raised the bar of what these characters can achieve.
Once out of the slip cover, the bookcase box can be opened to reveal the figure on the right side and a bio of the figure on the left. Standard on all Mondo MOTU figures. The box’s cover is sealed with magnets and inside utilizes a tray system to hold the figures and accessories in place. On the lower left hand corner is the Mondo sticker indicating that this is the exclusive version of the figure which includes 2 additional pieces. Box artwork is by MOTU artist Emiliano Santalucia.
The figure stands just shy of over 12 inches tall and features about 30 points of articulations. You have full rotation of the head, shoulders, forearms, elbows, wrists, waist, thighs, double joints on the knees, rotation at the boots including boot rockers and feet. He includes 5 pairs of hands which are all fully articulated and his shoulder armor is also articulated creating a fully posable figure.
This figure includes 3 interchangeable heads. I love the sculpt of these heads, showing some pretty cool details. Granted, I was expecting a ponytail on the unhelmeted head but the face of this Man-at-Arms is a straight up warrior that takes nothing from anyone so I understand the shaved hair minus a pony tail. the scar on the sides and the gruff portrait show this Duncan as all business.
The details on Man-at-Arms are amazing from the armor scratches to the nits and bolts that keep this armor on. This MAA has seen some serious action and is willing to see more. Man-at-Arms is built like a tank and is ready to take on evil. The colors are perfect and if there were any paint errors (which there aren’t) it would fit perfectly with the armor’s motif.
The gun on his left arm is pronounced and I like the hand cover. The shoulder armor is articulated and you can adjust it when posing the whole arm. The details on the boot (also articulated) show some great detail like the rivets, bolts and hinges.
You can see that the creators really cared about this character and the little intricate molded details really show the hardwork and thought that was put into this figure.
The figure also includes fabric parts including a faux leather belt piece instead of furry underwear which I’ve always thought was an excellent idea. Faux fur on top of the boots is a nice touch and brings the character back to his barbarian roots.
“I want you to be the best person you can be.” – Duncan
The Helmeted head shows more of that electronic detail and is shaped liked the conquistador helmet that was originally drawn for the character when he first appeared from Mattel.
Man-at-Arms comes with a lot of accessories and included with the 10 different hands, 3 changeable heads comes with a Shield, short sword, Mace, a rifle, pistol (from the ’87 live action movie) holster, arm band and goggles.
I love these goggles for Duncan, it can give off a mad scientist vibe which shows his scientific side but at the same time also gives off a steam punk vibe which booth cool and creepy depending on how you pose him. The googles fit nicely over his head and eyes. I have to say that even though he is jacked and comes with all these different accessories, this is my favorite one.
The thigh holster is a separate piece from the figure and attached to thigh using leather straps. The straps are very durable and can handle a hard pull but as always use caution when dealing with the straps as they can break. I understand the reason why they went this route instead of putting a peg into the leg but I have to admit, it was kind of difficult to attach the holster to the leg. If you have big fingers, I would suggest using tweezers to get the strap into the buckle. The gun seats nicely into the holster and like a real holster the gun will not fall out.
MAA also comes with an insignia plate for his arm. One of the problems I’ve always had with the Mattel figure was that he was armored on only his left side and his right side was plain. I like the fact that they tried to balance the figure with the thigh holster and the insignia. I would’ve like to have seen maybe another gauntlet with a gun and a wrist protector on his right side but I guess Mondo didn’t want to stray far from the original conception.
“DRAW!”
You can get Man-at-Arms into some really good positions but this figure is so massive that even the simplest poses command respect from this figure.
All of the accessories fit nicely when using the correct hand accessory combination. Similar to the heads the hands are swappable using a peg that inserts into the figure.
The shield is a cool unexpected accessory which compliments the figure. He look like he can pretty much go through anything with this shield continuing the “hard as nails” theme.
Originally when Mark Taylor designed Man-at-Arms, his original concept was to have the ball portion of his Mace spring out. There is no spring action on the Mace but the ball does come out and is attached by a real chain, giving you more posing options.
Unfortunately my figure’s right arm is very loose and I had a hard time trying to get the arm to hold th Mace up. the arm couldn’t handle the weight but that could just be on my figure. I’ll try later on to use some methods to tighten up the joints on the arm. The rest of the body’s joints were nice and tight however I do wish the pegs on the hands were a little bit longer to get a tighter fit into the arm.
The full body articulation lets you get this figure into some cool battle poses and the accessories compliment the figure incredibly.
One of the Mondo exclusives include the Snake Man-at Arms head from the 200x series. I have always been against this event even during the 200x years but I will show the head as part of my review.
The sculpt of the head makes me anticipate a Snake man figure from Mondo, just look at all the cool details especially the blood on the teeth.
The Snake head is a cool option for posing your MAA figure if you are a fan of Snake MAA.
The other exclusive is Orko in a jar. Now I know that Brock from Mondo is not really an Orko fan so this might possibly be the only time we will see a Mondo Orko figure. Can you imagine what an Orko Mondo figure would look like, I’m thinking a dark wizard creature.
“GET OUT OF MY LABORATORY!!!'”
Mondo has really stepped up their game with these MOTU figures. They really put in the work on these figures by showing how much they care about what has come before and adding something new to the mix to make it their very own. I have seen various different figures of this character but this is the first time that I have seen a true Man-At-Arms. This Duncan is a tank of a heroic warrior and one that I am proud to display on my shelf. The details in the sculpt are amazing and really elevates this figure into a work of art.
Brock Otterbacher, Hector Arce, Joe Allard, Mike Bonanno, and Ramirez studios take a bow, you all deserve it for creating this art.
I eagerly anticipate seeing my favorite MOTU villain in this line, HORDAK. If this is any indication of where they are taking these characters, then Mondo truly has the Power.
Both Man-At-Arms figures (Exclusive and Regular versions) are now available at Mondoshop.com
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