On March 20, 2023, Mattel dropped the mother load of all Masters of the Universe unveilings that I have ever seen. Basically, we got the reveal of every single MOTU figure and playlet for the entire year of 2023. It was insane! It was also a ton of content to go through and examine. So, I figured I would take some time and just touch on each figure separately and give my thoughts.
This is a ton of product and collectors are going to have to be picky about what they decide to purchase since buying everything would entail dropping a ton of money. Let’s kick things off by looking at the MOTU Origins Point Dread and Talon Fighter playset and see if it is worth buying.
Sculpt
The MOTU Origins Talon Fighter looks amazing. The sculpt is nearly identical to the vintage 1982 MOTU Talon Fighter. If you love the look of the vintage Talon Fighter then you are going to love the faithful sculpt of the Origins Talon Fighter. I love that Mattel stayed true to the vintage sculpt rather than going off in a different direction.
To me, the MOTU Origins line has always been about remaining faithful to the vintage design while plussing up the toy with a few subtle modern tweaks that make it a superior product. The MOTU Origins Talon Fighter definitely fits that definition.
I love the mixture of the organic design of the bird in the front half and bottom of the Talon Fighter that melds with the angular Sci-Fi design of the back half of the Talon Fighter. This makes the Talon Fighter one of the more unique vehicles.
I am also happy that the trademark handle at the bottom of the Talon Fighter remains with the Origins version. The handle always made it easier and fun to fly the Talon Fighter around your room without having to have your hand covering up the vehicle itself.
There is one design difference between the vintage Talon Fighter and the new Origins Talon Fighter is the wing design. The vintage Talon Fighter had wider plates comprising the three rows in the wings. The Origins Talon Fighter has more narrow plates compromising the three rows in the wings. The result is that the vintage Talon Fighter has four wide panels in the three rows in the rings. The Origins Talon Fighter has five narrow plates in the first two rows and six narrow plates in the third row. It is not a massive difference, but I actually like the more narrow plates in the wings of the Origins Talon Fighter.
The Origins Point Dread sculpt appears to be nearly identical to the vintage Point Dread. The only difference I can tell is that the Origins Point Dread looks “rockier” and rougher than the more smooth and rounder-edged sculpt of the vintage Point Dread. Otherwise, the Origins Point Dread is a faithful reproduction of the vintage version and looks absolutely fantastic.
Paint
The general paint scheme for the MOTU Origins Talon Fighter appears to be almost the same as the vintage Talon Fighter. I am glad for this fact since the color scheme for the Talon Fighter has always been a fantastic one. There was no need to make a major deviation.
The only difference that I can see is that The bird half of the Origins Talon Fighter looks to be a lighter shade of orange compared to the vintage Talon Fighter. Also, the darker orange shadowing on top of the bird half of the Origins Talon Fighter appears to be lighter than the dark orange shadowing on the vintage Talon Fighter. It also looks like the MOTU Origins Talon Fighter uses a slightly lighter shade of red for the wings and the legs of the vehicle compared to the vintage Talon Fighter.
The Origins Point Dread does seem to have a much brighter green paint color compared to the darker green of the vintage Point Dread. The shadowing on the Origins Point Dread seems lighter than the shadowing on the vintage Point Dread. All in all, the Origins Point Dread has a great paint job and will match perfectly with the Origins Castle Grayskull.
Upgrades
In the spirit of the MOTU Origins line, Mattel did deliver a few subtle yet greatly appreciated upgrades over the vintage Talon Fighter. First and foremost, the Origins Talon Fighter has plastic windows! Yes! This is a huge upgrade over the vintage version.
Another upgrade is the addition of the twin guns attachment. I love it when Mattel throws extra accessories in with the Origins toys. The twin gun attachment looks fantastic. The silver paint is a nice contrast to the rest of the Talon Fighter and helps the twin guns to stand out. The twin guns’ sculpt has a similar design language to the Talon Fighter’s blue hatch. Mattel decided to pair the twin guns’ design language with part of the Talon Fighter. This was an excellent design decision. This helps the twin guns attachment to look like an accessory that would have come with the vintage toy rather than a disjointed modern add-on.
Another fun feature of the twin guns attachment is that it can attach to the roof of the Talon Fighter or it can be attached to the top of Dead Point. Versatile playability. I love it.
The last upgrade that Mattel delivers with the Origins Talon Fighter are the two handles that have been added to the interior of the Origins Talon Fighter. This is an excellent subtle addition! It is cool that the MOTU Origins figure inside the Talon Fighter now has flying control handles to grab onto.
Mattel also delivered a nice upgrade to the Origins Point Dread. The vintage Point Dread featured a control console inside of Point Dread that was constructed from cardboard. Mattel spruced things up a bit by giving the Origins Point Dread a plastic console instead. This is a small but greatly appreciated upgrade.
Extras
The Origins Talon Fighter and Point Dread playset comes loaded with extras. The playset comes with three different attachments. The first is the blue radar dish attachment. The second is the silver twin guns attachment. Both will be able to attach to the Talon Fighter as well as Point Dread. The third is the wood perch that attaches to the Point Dread and then the Talon Fighter can attach to the wood perch.
Point Dread has a removable top that allows it to fit seamlessly on top of Castle Grayskull’s right turret.
Lastly, the playset comes with tons of stickers that are all authentic to the stickers that came with the vintage playset. I love that Mattel did not mess around with the stickers. We get tons of stickers for both the Talon Fighter and Point Dread. The stickers are wonderfully faithful to the vintage versions.
Price and Availability
The Origins Talon Fighter and Point Dread playset comes with a $44.99. It is available for pre-order on all your preferred toy websites like Entertainment Earth and Big Bad Toy Store. I will say that this item has already sold out at Big Bad Toy Store. I think that this toy is going to be a hot item and that all of the pre-orders will sell out. Hopefully, Mattel made enough for everyone who wants one to be able to get this playset.
Verdict
Buy, buy, buy!!! Look, $44.99 is not cheap. I am not going to pretend otherwise. However, you get an insane amount of product in exchange for the $44.99 price tag. This playset gives you a phenomenal looking Talon Fighter which will be just as fun to play with as it will be as a display item. You also get three different attachments. On top of that, you also get Point Dread. The top of Point Dread can attach to your Castle Grayskull. Point Dread itself has a cool command console and makes for a wonderful outpost base for the Castle Grayskull for your display.
I think Mattel is delivering a ton in this playset for the money. I definitely think the consumer is going to get their money’s worth with the purchase of the MOTU Origins Talon Fighter and Point Dread playset. Personally, I already pre-ordered this awesome playset and cannot wait to review it when it arrives.
