MINI-COMIC STRATOS (MotU Origins)

 Action Figure:  0 out of 4 stars.

Mini-Comics Stratos was, dare I say it, outright the worst figure in all of MotU Origins.  It created the sweet spot as being both a horrible figure and having historical relevance to the end of MotU Origins at retail.  

Hmm, so let's separate the wave placement from the figure's intrinsic value.  Plenty of toy lines have survived weak figure entries.  Perhaps if he'd been released earlier, say, Wave 5 or 6, Mini-Comics Stratos would just be just another shrug in the lineup, but even on his own terms, this Stratos sucks.

Box art blazing bright

 Hope ignites with plastic dreams

Reality sighs

The Positives:  If you like a flying Naked Stratos, here's flying Naked Stratos.  Naked Stratos has wing attachments!  Naked Stratos has a mini-comic!  Naked Stratos stands 5.5 feet tall!  Naked Stratos has 16 points of articulation!  You can pose Naked Stratos!  Naked Stratos was released at retail for $18.99 back in 2022.  The MotU line offered competitive pricing compared to other toy lines (Star Wars Black, G.I. Joe Classified, certainly the money pit Transformers), so the 'value' if you wanted a naked flying man was there.   

So, the redeeming factor for this figure was that it was a MotU Origins figure in general.  That's it. 

Am I being too hard?   Let's look at the downsides to this figure.

Visual Impact:  Stratos was back!  This time he was stripped and he was bare!  He... he was... he was Naked Stratos!  (whomp whomp whomp...)   

Naked Stratos had flesh coloring down to a torso, arms, and legs, creating, well, a naked impression.  It's impossible to ignore.   The original Stratos at least has a decent look with blue, grey, and red.  That Stratos had a dignity to him.  

Among the vibrant, armor-clad heroic warriors of Eternia, oddball villains, freak Evil Warriors, savage, dangerous-looking Snake Men, weird, vile Horde, sexy warrior babes, Naked Stratos was the guy who went to the battle without his clothes.   

In Mattel's defense, I think they had a formula.  Repaints to fill out waves, the cost goes down, and they could provide interesting repaints done in mini-comics, which would please long-time fans, and the repaint could be an eye-catching figure on its own turns.

Frosta vs cool-looking mini-comic villains

The mini-comics from the early days of the toy line featured visuals that were more adult, primitive, and rugged.  Many of these comics displayed wonderfully eerie visuals that contrasted sharply with the cartoon that eventually became the focal point of the franchise. 

So, their marketing formula got lost in the weeds, and no one said, "Wait a minute!  This looks like a naked man."

One common, long-standing fear for kids is the idea of being undressed at school. 

The thought of being exposed, whether in tightie-whities for a boy, bra/panties for a girl, or even less, would be terrifying.  It'd be social destruction.  That your peers would point and laugh at you as you blushed and tried to cover yourself with your hands.  You'd never live it down.  

This action figure embodied the nightmare of being naked at school being naked on the battlefield, a thought that no one wanted to entertain as adventures and playtime began.  It's the opposite of cool.  It created an uncomfortable reality.  "Why is this guy naked, flying around, flashing everyone from above?"

So, Naked Stratos looked unfinished, lacked presence, like an abandoned custom.  Flesh color with wings.  No contrast, no silhouette power.  The figure didn't pop, he didn't provoke.   Naked Stratos had more in common with odd rando off brands than being worthy of the title of "Heroic Warrior."

Negative one star for being a bad repaint

Lore Contribution:  Naked Stratos had a vague mini-comic nod, but no narrative weight. 

"Ugh, I'm so constipated! 

must... find... prune juice."

A Snake Man infiltrator was considered lazy as a toy, but it did at least contribute to lore and play dynamics.  This troop builder highlighted the Snake Man's tactics of infiltration and espionage, showcasing the presence of sleeper agents within Eternia.  The toy itself was one of the worst, but its inclusion could still be justified.  It was cohesive to the Snake Men.

"Skeletor, you think you are the man to rule Eternia?  

I am here to stop your evil schemes once and for all!"

"Beast-Man, why is there a naked man in Snake Mountain?"

"No idea, boss."

"Well, do something about him, you buffoon!"

"Umm, sure thing, right away."

No storytelling could be done with Naked Stratos.  While MotU thrived on rich lore throughout its history, Naked Stratos felt flat and utterly mundane.  In a world filled with theatricality and surrealism, Naked Stratos lacked even the quirky charm of oddball characters like Stinkor.  In essence, Naked Stratos was simply bare.

So, Naked Stratos didn't advance the MotU's narrative, there's no big variant with a story he provided (like even Despara), nor a troop builder, nor a cool alt-outfit, nor even tapped into interesting callbacks.  Naked Stratos was just… there.... and naked... really, really naked. 

Negative one star for providing no narrative hook

Retail Desirability:  In the end, Mattel created a figure that the vast majority of people did not want to buy.  

There were legends of him clogging up the shelves.  Naked Stratos peg warming. 

Thanks to wave 8, a random shopper or someone simply passing by the toy section encountered this figure, which became the visual representation of the MotU Origins line. Many people ended up associating Naked Stratos with MotU. This was not the kind of branding you want. 

While it's one thing for He-Man and Skeletor to be sitting on shelves unsold, they at least carried a lasting pop culture significance and maintained a certain dignity as IP standard bearers.  People could smile and say, "Hey, I remember those characters." 

In contrast, Naked Stratos elicited secondhand embarrassment; potential buyers might wonder what has happened to the He-Man toy line as they consider purchasing a pack of Hot Wheels or a Barbie doll instead.  This made the entire line appear like a joke.

Some may have defended Naked Stratos for being "accurate" to the early, charming mini-comics illustrated by Alfredo Alcala, but this justification was quite flimsy.  Accuracy without charisma and relevance simply became... beige.   

Certainly, his other wave mates didn't help, but there's just something more with Naked Stratos.  I don't think anyone, certainly not a casual buyer, wanted a version of Stratos that looked like a naked man.   

Naked Stratos represented a complete failure of imagination.  It was a filler figure that dropped at a critical point for MotU Creations at retail.  Naked Stratos, point blank, lacked nostalgic value and should have never taken precedence over creativity and the process of reinvention.  

 Desirability and adaptation must be considered with the deepest of deep cuts.  

Negative one star for being unappealing as a toy

Playability/Play Patterns:  The play pattern would be a kid (or adult) holding him and flying around.  

That's not exciting, particularly when all sorts of vehicles could do the same play pattern and had other play features as well, moving parts, launchers, cockpits, levers, capture features, and seat multiple figures. 

Talon Fighter or the Wind Raider for the Heroic Warriors, those vehicles provided a team-based setup, several warriors together, off on a mission, about to be in conflict, going somewhere for some purpose.   Maybe to attack or ambush or rescue or transport or escape.  

With a flying vehicle, who's piloting?  What's the mission?  What's at stake?  Vehicles invited imagination and scenarios.  

"You sure you don't need me to accompany you?"

"Ah, no!  No!  F*ck no!  Err, that is, Stratos, we need you to 

stay back and, umm, guard the king and queen at the palace."

 
With Naked Stratos, he'd fly around on his own, to do what?  It's vague, it's bland.  "Look, it's Naked Stratos!  And he's flying... and he's naked.  And yep, he's still flying."  

Naked Stratos didn’t suggest action, conflict, or transformation in an adventure play session.  Naked Stratos is just, again, naked, and he could fly with his static wings.

Typically, a simple play pattern is to take two figures, mash them together.  Fighting it out.  It's supposed to be sword and sorcery with a splash of retro sci-fi.  There were many better C-Listers out there who looked and interacted with the line better.  

"... but, but, but Stratos shoots laser beams from his hands."  Yeah, that would not be interesting either compared to better figures, their action play patterns.  Pretending Skeletor used his havoc staff to attack, or Orko's unpredictable magic was creating wild card moments, trumped Naked Stratos, and beams from his hands.  

No one wanted Naked Stratos to be the center of their action.  The hero, the ace in the hole, the big wild card character, a powerhouse?  There would be better choices all over the place.  

Naked Stratos had no accessories, no role, no tension.  You couldn't do much with him.  At best, Naked Stratos could be tossed prison cell or as cannon fodder who died at the beginning of an adventure, perhaps left on guard duty because even his friends didn't want to see a naked man on the battlefield.  Or just left in the toybox outright. 

A figure that neither invited play nor rewarded display, that's quite a feat.  

Negative one star for providing no fun play patterns

So, yep, 0 out of 4 stars.  

Bonus, better flying figures:  Buzz-Off equipped translucent wings, flip-up goggles, and a metallic javelin.  He is much more eye-catching as a support flight ally.  

Sorceress equipped with large, colorful falcon wings that evoke mysticism, a regal falcon headdress, and the Staff of Zoar, she looked good, central to Eternia's lore.

Vultak had dark, moody tones, red eyes, and black armor.  He possessed large, sculpted, detachable wings with a feather texture and had a nice, sneering, expressive face. Additionally, he was accompanied by a little Zoontron robot guard.

Naked Stratos, in contrast, had feathered arm wings that weren't impressive. His skin flesh tones overpowered his figure.  His face was stoic with a generic expression and a lackluster chest harness.

Negative one star for being the worst of flying action figures

So, actually, that gets this figure down to -1 out of 4 stars. 

Naked Statos failed on all levels; even as a flying figure, he is the worst in his niche.  It's quite difficult to achieve that as an action figure.  Even poorly designed figures could sometimes contribute something redeeming to a brand.  However, Naked Stratos crossed the line into the realm of anti-figure. 

Naked Stratos was not just bad; he actively detracted from the MotU mythos and the toy line itself.  The inclusion of Naked Stratos made MotU less appealing.

"Whatever you do, ladies, don't look!"