The much anticipated Bubble Power She-Ra has finally arrived in the dungeon so all the speculation about this figure can finally be put to bed.

Bubble Power She-Ra in package.

Bubble Power She-Ra or She-Ra 2.0 as many He-Fans and She-Ravers have dubbed her has been highly anticipated for a number of reasons. First and foremost, her re-design which makes her more able to correctly mount Swiftwind, she’s also the first figure in the line to use the complete New Female Buck (Standard Female Body foe the line), she sports new detailing and a more form fitting tunic under her rather garish Bubble Power Armor and finally between her and She-Ra 1.0 a collector can easily make an “Ultimate She-Ra” which has the Style Guide Head and Bubble’s Body. In the pics below you’ll see a comparison of all three figures of Princess Adora that have been made to date. She-Ra 2.0 being on the far right.

Evolution of a Princess

As you can see the improvements are subtle to say the least, some details on the boots and gauntlets and some alteration on her main dress but little else appears to have changed at a glance. As we delve a little though you can see that great pains were taken to allow the Tiara to fit on her head in the vintage or later corrected mask style without the unsightly hole in her forehead.

Who's That Girl?

That alone will be enough for some She-Ravers to put this figure on their Must Have list. Still, with all the hullabaloo about her new body, I’m baffled that one of her hand’s grip couldn’t have been changed to a more thrusting pose so that she could finally truly hold her sword aloft. Maybe on She-Ra 3.0? Also, She-Ra now has the option of a Gold or Red cape depending on the occasion.

Bubble Power Barbie...er...She-Ra comes with lots of accessories!

As you can see she comes with a ton of accessories including a more vintage style sword that mirrors Catra’s rather than her Power Sword. Also, since the little white wheel on her Bubble Cannon turns I’m pretty sure that if you fill that reservoir with bubble solution you’ll be able to blow bubbles, probably not as effectively as the original but bubbles none the less. Below you’ll see an “Ultimate She-Ra” I built from both Bubbles and She-Ra 1.0 and I have to say it’s a very nice figure, the added details on the arms and legs really add to it and I think little touches like these are a nice compromise for those yearning for the good ol’ 200X days.

Ultimate She-Ra!

Finally, the $20.00 plus Shipping Question: Can she sit on Swiftwind better? As you can see below she definitely can, but here’s the rub; with a hobby knife I put a small slit on each side of She-Ra 1.0’s dress a little below the hip and after that she was able to fit just fine on Swiftwind. Imagine my surprise when I learned that after all the talk about the new female buck and all the corrections that were made yadda yadda yadda when I got Bubble Power She-Ra out of the package what major innovations did I find? None…well…except for a small slit on each side of She-Ras dress a little below the hip. So I basically paid about $28.00 for a figure that would solve a problem I’d already solved the exact same way with a $3.00 hobby knife.  A costly lesson indeed…but then again..BUBBLES!

Give yourself a pat on the back Matty...she's sitting correctly.

Now for some thoughts on the newest official faction of MOTUC: The Galactic Protectors. As you probably already know this heroic faction will consist of characters seen originally in the vintage line simply titled He-Man and the cartoon series The New Adventures of He-Man often called NA for short.  When it comes to Masters of the Universe I may not be the worlds biggest fan but I feel safe saying I’m the biggest fan three zipcodes in any direction, however in regards to the original NA figures and series I have to admit I am not a fan.  I have purchased three figures total from the line and barely made it ten minutes into the pilot episode.  Something/everything about just isn’t MOTU enough for me.  I am not alone.  The line died a quick death at retail and cartoon was quickly canceled leading to what He-Fans call The Dark Times where nothing happened with the He-Man property for about two decades. Having said all that, I still think it’s somewhat admirable that MOTUC is including the ugliest stepchild of the line in their family photo.  It was wise to ease fans into it with Optikk, but even as he was first announced rumors ran amok across the internet about what his arrival heralded.  Visions of not that interesting looking humans filling up the Club Eternia roster were common.  Then what?  Meteorbs?!!!  Terrifying thoughts indeed.  Luckily Optikk was a solid figure, the forthcoming Slush Head has a similar 50’s B-Movie charm but as I said in the beginning, this is about The Galactic Protectors.  Now to be fair, Icarius (or Flipshot as he was originally called) did “Sell Out” after about a week, well as much as any MOTUC figure has sold out yet continues to pop up in random sales (don’t forget the Black Friday-Cyber Monday sale kids!).  I think the biggest complaint going around the message boards was that people just didn’t know where to put him in displays with the other MOTUC figures.  He just didn’t fit in.  To be more on point someone on the Matty Boards said “He would be a great figure…in a Captain Power line.” which sums it all up really.  The root problem with The Galactic Defenders is that they’ve been done before, often and much better.  Look at Captain Power, Centurions and even GI Joe and you’ll see much better takes on basically the same characters who so far have been endowed with all the personality of a turnip.  The bad news is, very few figures are left from the vintage Masters of the Universe line that don’t require nearly 100% new sculpts so it would seem that whether collectors like them or not The Galactic Protectors are here to stay.  Hopefully they’ll be spaced out enough that their sales won’t dramatically effect the overall line.  Although, I could be way off base.  Maybe there’s a silent mass of people with money to burn just dying to get their hands on a Vizar figure.

The Galactic Protectors want you...to buy them...please?

 

About the Author: Review-Or Review-Or has been collecting Masters of the Universe action figures since they first became available in the early 80's. He's stuck with He-Man through his lowest points (MeteOrbs, New Adventures, Disco Skeletor, Smash Blade He-Man etc.) and he's happily reaping the rewards of the new golden age in MOTU collecting: Masters of the Universe Classics! When he's not in his dungeon writing about the latest MOTUC news, he's more than likely taking a figure out of the package and finding some cool way to display it! In his off time this mysterious contributor to AFHUB.COM enjoys counting calories and revising his ever-expanding Enemies List!

 

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