The original Masters of the Universe toy line was based on fantasy archetypes, but as it progressed, each figure tended to come with an action feature, above and beyond the spring-loaded waist. New figures would either do something completely different, or be the reverse-image version of a pre-existing counterpart on the opposing force. If a good guy has a swinging metal fist, a bad guy has a swinging metal karate chop hand, and so forth.
Let’s Gush
Water squirting entered the line first with Kobra Khan, a human-spitting cobra hyrid, and then with Dragon Blaster Skeletor. The good guys now needed a water-squirter, but reptile venom just seems too evil. The obvious answer in the animal kingdom was an elephant — and thus Snout Spout came to be. An orange-skinned muscleman with a robot elephant head, Snout Spout was positioned as a fireman, which makes him a quintessential hero archetype, even if cyborg elephants are much rarer in fantasy than snake men.
[On a side note: one shouldn’t read anything political into Snout Spout, who was invented in the ’80s. Nonetheless, fans of a certain orange protagonist in the elephant party may appreciate the synergy. Masters of the Universe really ought to do a donkey guy at some point, also marketable to politics nerds who might not otherwise care any less about He-Man. But anyway…]
Snout Spout never got an action figure in the 2002 figure line, but he did get a micro-statue by NECA, which reinvented him from a generic muscular human bod with ele-head to a more robotic, intimidating sci-fi creation. The color scheme remained, but his body looked more like Shaquille O’Neal‘s Steel armor. His next figure, as part of the Classics line, ignored the changes and went back to the more basic muscle body, along with a bendy-flexible trunk (as opposed to the loose but not poseable rubbery original) that was notorious for breakages. Origins somewhat reproduced the original, but stored the water in his backpack rather than inside his torso.
Hybrid Vigor
The Masterverse version, a Mattel Creations exclusive, splits the difference. The New Eternia line generally features looks inspired by original concept art, but here it seems to be a mix of all prior versions. His physique is that of a muscular human, but larger. His head is closer to the 2002 intimidating robot look than the ’80s/Classics metal mask with cartoon eyes.
As for the trunk, it’s fully articulated with a disc and ball joint at every link, and a full ball joint attaching it to the mask. It’s probably the most versatile nose in action figure history. And even though he does not squirt water, he retains the head-to-backpack hose from the Origins figure.
He may seem pricey at $33, but at least the figure is nearly all new — the only obvious recycled parts are the shoulder pads from Vykron’s Tank Top armor. At first, the one sent seemed to have no abs, but it turns out his lower torso part was just turned sideways. Easy fix.
There’s an articulation change, too — his elbows are disc-and-pin, rather than the double hinge of nearly all other male Masterverse figures. That makes for a superior aesthetic look, though it gives him less range of motion, and the pins feel a little weak, so take care when posing him at first. Then again, with bodybuilder physiques, how big does the range of motion need to be? His tusks and ears are also articulated, if limited in range.
Living in a Box
The figure comes in a brown, cardboard box, similar to those other Mattel Creations have come in, with ’90s style abstract shapes decorating, and a joke about dramatic music. Inside, it comes in the packaging that’s now becoming standard for online exclusive Masterverse, with artwork all over the outside, and a tucked-in flap opening. Open the flap, and the trifold, double-sided cardboard backdrop comes out first. It has a picture of the character in question on one side, and a backdrop for him (without him in the pic) in the other, showing him to be possibly in King Hiss’ throne room, perhaps in Preternia, judging by the Pterodactyls (who do not yet appear to be Turbodactyls).
Take that out, and the figure is packed similar to the way Hasbro’s been doing G.I. Joes lately in plastic-free packaging. The character’s tied down with string, and his accessories come in a cardboard “foot locker” below, wrapped in tissue paper.
The backpack clips on to his shoulder harness, and features several painted-on water level measurements; a nice detail.
As is also evident from the image, his eyes are light-piped through the back of his head.
Hefty Heffalump
It doesn’t necessarily show in the pictures, but Snout Spout looms large compared to other Masterverse figures, finally sporting the kind of bulk an elephant-based character should. His strapping chest and single-hinge arms keep him from holding the ax double-handed as seen in some of the artwork, but that’s not really in an issue, since no previous version could do that either.
The water blast effect contours at the end to sit nicely against a foe’s face. It’s not very big — perhaps something splashier would have been even cooler — but it works for close-quarters battle set-ups. We seem to have collectively decided that figures not aimed at kids don’t get to do cool wacky stuff like spray water, but granted that restriction, making the trunk multi segmented for lots of nose-pose is a winning choice. Maybe a future accessory set could add bigger hydro-blasts.
Ol’ Spouty went from one of the goofiest characters to one of the most intimidating, and didn’t even need the Sword of Grayskull to do it. Lack of gimmick aside, this is what you want a cyborg elephant guy to be. As of this writing he’s still available at Mattel Creations, and recommended — Masterverse doesn’t seme top be scratching the same itch as Origins, so if you want it to keep going, support the unique, deluxe figures like this one.
Need to see more? We have many more images below.
