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  Beast Man is sculpted by the much loved Four Horseman, and it's easy to see why they're so popular. This figure uses what will become the basic furry body for other figures in the line, but with a number of unique extra pieces on the upper body. This basic buck is a great sculpt to use over and over again because the proportions look perfect and the details in the muscles and fur are splendid. It's almost like you can see every piece of fur and it all bunches up and has the appearance of naturally hanging from the body. His hands and feet are full of wrinkles, crack, and long nails. I appreciate the fact that he has one totally open hand and the other is posed to grab his accessory. For some reason I don't think a fisted hand would have looked as good on this figure, and so far, Mattel has totally avoided fisted hands in the MotUC line. The costume on Beast Man is equally detailed and crisply sculpted. The armor plates on his arms, the leather straps holding them on, and the spikes protruding from various sections all have perfect textures to convey the material they're made out of. His "mane", I guess you would call it, looks shaggy and dangerously unkempt while the symbol hanging from within it has nice sharp edges and clean sculpt lines. His chest piece looks good but it doesn't fit very well and won't ever sit naturally on his shoulders, making it lopsided and visually distracting. Beast Man's accessory is pretty simple, and it only looks okay, not super. This face sculpt is about as good as one could ask for; he has tight details in the eyes and mouth as well as all the flourishes that the Four Horseman love to include. The expression is a ferocious beastly growl that suits the character and his name quite well. In the end, this is a classically styled sculpt that brings up memories of the old Beast Man (for those of you who had him (not me)) but modernizes the figure to appease today's picky collector market.  

Sculpt Score: 9 / 10

 Beast Man is painted and colored quite well. His applications are surprisingly good across the board, but then again, with a figure that costs nearly $30 (or more if you waited too long like me) this level of quality should be expected. Details on his body, such as his nails are painted cleanly, with no bleeding and full coverage. The ovals on his belt don't suffer from sloppy work like He-Man's and look a lot better for it. His chest and hand emblems are both crisply applied too. There is a great textured brush effect on all of Beast Man's armor, wristlets, and spikes that's really just outstanding. It all looks rustic and old while being battle ready and battle scarred. Beast Man's face turned out top-notch as well, and he requires a lot of complicated color applications here. His teeth and eyes look great and the blue line on his lip is very thin and straight. There is a little bit of a black wash on his scalp that I don't like--it makes his head look dirty, so I don't know what they were going for here. I love the colors of this figure, although I wish the contrast between the orange and red could've been brought out some more. The blue is a nice shade, while the red armor and brown spikes are a great mix. His accessory is just molded in a simple matte black; it could have used sprucing up. I do thankfully like the shade of orange he's molded in, because that's all his lower body has to offer. This figure looks good from far away or up close and will definitely stand out in your display because of his great colors and sharp details. 

Paint Score: 9 / 10

 Articulation is definitely this figure's main, and only, major downfall. To be fair, he has a lot of different points and should be able to find a lot of unique, character fitting poses. The problem is that for some reason, this particular Beast Man's leg joints are ridiculously loose. His ankles and knees will only hold a pose when you've found a perfect, star aligned pose. It took 5 or 6 tries with most every photo you see here to get one with Beast Man actually standing up. Half of the images I got were with him in mid-fall or already on the ground. This really limits the amount of posing options you're going to have with him, and that's where all the fun is for a collector's toy. His hip joints are also slightly limited by his loincloth, although not as bad as other figures. His ab crunch is also restricted by his chestpiece. Another positive note is that all the points look reasonably good with the sculpt. These ball hips would appear terrible, but they're well hidden behind his fur. He really looks good in neutral or exaggerated positions.  

Articulation Score: 5 / 10

 

 If the Masters of the Universe Classics line has capitalized on one thing, it's nostalgia. Beast Man elicits these warm fuzzy feelings in many a collector who can instantly travel back to their childhood without giving up the conveniences of modern figures. His classic stylings and updated articulation, sculpt, and paint are a deadly combination in the fun department. He's a big figure that includes a cool accessory and a great design. A furry orange guy loaded down with more furry armor and a giant whip--what's not to love> His articulation issues also hold back the amount of fun you're going to have with him, because he's hard to pose and actually becomes frustrating very quickly.

Fun Score: 8 / 10

 It's hard think Beast Man is set at a fair price when that price is essentially twice as much as other figures of the same size and quality. This feels a lot like a 7" figure with a great sculpt and paint job that goes for about $15 when offered by Neca or Mezco, but to get Beast Man at your door would have cost $28 at the least, and way more now that he's sold out. This is an unreasonable price despite the otherwise high quality of the figure. He does include a nice accessory and comes in attractive packaging that features images of other figures, artwork, and a biography. The weak articulation is another knock on the value of this toy; it's hard to accept clearly deficient joints when you have paid this much. What needs to be considered with Beast Man is just how much you love Masters of the Universe and how willing you are to spend the necessary funds to quench your desire for some nostalgia.    

Value Score: 6 / 10 

Summary

 9 - Great classic style, good proportions, perfect details, nice facial expression, chestpiece is wonky, classic style.  

 9 - Some great color choices individually but orange and red need more contrast, perfect clean applications, no slop or mess, super job on his face. 

 5 - Leg joints are way too loose to accomplish anything, good looking points, some restricted spots, a lot of different points. 

 8 - Enjoyable design and story, cool accessory and armor, brings up great feelings of nostalgia, articulation problems are frustrating.   

 6 - Good size, durability, sculpt and paint, weak articulation is a frustrating factor, comes with one accessory but just one, good packaging, is a great character that people love and feel pretty attached to. 

Overall Score: 76 / 100 - This is a Good Toy - P.S. I'm implementing a slight reviewer's curve into reviews from here on out, it will only adjust scores by a point or two if I feel like a toy doesn't totally match up to my originally holed scaling. 

Beast Man nearly misses being a great action figure because of literally weak articulation and a high cost, even though he has an amazing sculpt and paintjob. 

P.S. This could be the figure I'm giving away this month, just leave a comment for a chance to win (if it's the one).

-The Articulated One