The New Adventures of He-Man (Wave 3) – 1991

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After a successful launch of The New Adventures of He-Man toy line in 1989 and the accompanying animated series in September of 1990, all seemed well….until it wasn’t. The futuristic rebooted animated series set out to appeal to a new generation, but just didn’t hit the mark. As a result, the series was cancelled in December of 1990, after just one season and 65 episodes. However, the New He-Man toy line was telling a different story. Due to better than average sales, the line continued into 1991 with a new third wave of toys.

For more information about Mattel’s New Adventures of He-Man line from 1991, see bottom of the page for a complete summary.

Market Value:
Carded $115 – $135
Loose $35 – $55

Artilla: Galactic Guardians
Accessories: Heat Seeking Mini-Missile, Hyper-Blaster
Years Released: 1991
Difficulty to Find: Moderate Difficulty – Takes patience and appears less often
Notes: Artilla (known as Weaponstronic in foreign markets) is the “Primian Protocol Android” who has been reprogrammed for battle action against the Evil Mutants. To unlock his robotic action feature, press a lever to unmask his defense circuitry, the flip out his hyper-blaster. When you move his hand, the heat seeking mini-missile pops out.

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Butthead

Market Value:
Carded $80 – $110
Loose $40 – $60

Butthead: Evil Mutants
Accessories: Space Spear/Battle Blade/Mega Blaster, Helmet
Years Released: 1991
Difficulty to Find: Common – Easily found on the secondary market
Notes: No, this is not half of the MTV Beavis & Butthead duo, but rather Butthead the “Head Butting Denebrian Prizefighter” from He-Man. He comes with a telescoping neck when he head is lowered for headbutting action. Hence the name, Butthead. He also comes with a multi-purpose weapon (Spear/Battle Blade/Blaster) and a removable helmet.

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Quakke

Market Value:
Carded $90 – $120
Loose $45 – $65

Quakke: Evil Mutants
Accessories: Meteor Pieces x 2, Mace Staff
Years Released: 1991
Difficulty to Find: Less Common – Appears often but some hunting needed
Notes: Quakke (with two K’s) also goes by the name of “Earthquake” in foreign markets. He is a “Hard-Headed, Bad-Tempered, Boulder Busting Bandit” from the Denebrian desert. Quakke has a meteor smashing action feature that is activated when you press the lever down and he lifts his meteormace. When you release the lever, the meteor splits in two.

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Spinwit

Market Value:
Carded $80 – $110
Loose $35 – $55

Spinwit: Galactic Guardians
Accessories: Spin Shields x 2, Spear Rocket Trident
Years Released: 1991
Difficulty to Find: Moderate Difficulty – Takes patience and appears less often
Notes: Spinwit (known as Tornado in foreign markets) is described as a “Tough Talking Starpilot” who fights on the side of the Galactic Guardians. When you turn him clockwise, his waist locks into position, then press a button to watch his spin action. Spinwit’s arms raise automatically. He also comes with two spin shields a a spear rocket trident.

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Staghorn

Market Value:
Carded $75 – $100
Loose $30 – $45

Staghorn: Evil Mutants
Accessories: Battle Armor Antlers, Axe Blaster
Years Released: 1991
Difficulty to Find: Less Common – Appears often but some hunting needed
Notes: Staghorn is a mutant tracker from the frozen fog zone of Denebria. He comes with a set of battle armor antlers and an axe blaster. To see his action feature, push up the lever up to lower antlers as a shield, then push the lever down to flip the antlers back upwards.

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Tuskador

Market Value:
Carded $150 – $225
Loose $75 – $100

Tuskador: Galactic Guardians
Accessories: Swiveling Tusks x 2, Mega Blaster
Years Released: 1991
Difficulty to Find: Moderate Difficulty – Takes patience and appears less often
Notes: Tuskador, also known as Insyzor in foreign markets, is a “Mighty and Mysterious Inter-Galactic Trader” from the star system Polarides. He comes with two swiveling tusks and a mega blaster. To see his action feature, move a lever upwards to twist his tusks around, then move the lever down and his tusks open outwards.

The New Adventures of He-Man – Wave 3 (1991): Deluxe Figures

There was only one “Deluxe Figure” released throughout the New Adventures of He-Man toy line by Mattel and that was Sagitar, as part of Wave three in 1991.

Sagitar

Market Value:
Boxed $225 – $300
Loose $50 – $75

Sagitar: Galactic Guardians
Accessories: Lazer Sword, Energy Shield
Years Released: 1991
Difficulty to Find: Less Common – Appears often but some hunting needed
Notes: Sagitar is described as the “galloping battle beast” from the planet Polomar. He was rescued from a life of slavery by He-Man and now carries him into battle. Sagitar has a bendable torso for galloping or battle poses, and can carry a figure on his back when in galloping mode. He also comes with an energy shield and lazer sword.

The New Adventures of He-Man – Wave 3 (1991): Accessories

Mattel released their Electronic He-Man Power Sword in 1989 with Wave One, and gave the same treatment to Skeletor in Wave Three with his Electronic Skull Staff.

Skull Staff

Market Value:
Boxed $175 – $250
Loose $50 – $75

Electronic Skeletor Skull Staff
Accessories: Battle Spike, Four Red Skull Accessory Pieces
Years Released: 1991
Difficulty to Find: Less Common – Appears often but some hunting needed
Notes: Skeletor’s Skull Staff is the latest roleplay item introduced for the New Adventures of He-Man line. It features seven sinister sounds and the evil eyes glow red. The jaws also snap open and closed when it detects motion. There is a blue battle spike on the end of the staff that can launch with the push of a button.

The New Adventures of He-Man – Wave 3 (1991): Playsets

After releasing playsets in each of the last two waves (Starship Eternia & Nordor), Mattel did not release any new playsets for wave three in 1991.

The New Adventures of He-Man – Wave 3 (1991): Vehicles

Mattel released three new vehicles for their New Adventures of He-Man line in 1991, with Battle Bird, Doom Copter & Terrotread. These would be the final vehicles released for the rebooted line.

Battle Bird

Market Value:
Boxed $600 – $750
Loose $80 – $110

Battle Bird: Galactic Guardians
Accessories: Scan Action Neck, Break-Apart Bombs, Foldable Wings, Lasers, Controller
Years Released: 1991
Difficulty to Find: Moderate Difficulty – Takes patience and appears less often
Notes: The Battle Bird is a one-man flying vehicle shaped like a bird of prey with dynamic winged detailing. It’s described as a skimmercraft and a supersonic pursuit jet. The Battle Bird featured claws to capture enemies, Folding Wings, Break-Apart Bombs, and an extended neck that can crane to the sides as “scan action”.

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Doom Copter

Market Value:
Boxed $200 – $275
Loose $50 – $75

Doom Copter: Evil Mutants
Accessories: Rip-Rotor Copter Blade, Skull Shield, Stirrups
Years Released: 1991
Difficulty to Find: Moderate Difficulty – Takes patience and appears less often
Notes: The Doom Copter acts as the main ride for Skeletor, which makes complete sense because it looks just like him. It only fits one figure, which suits Skeletor just fine. The Doom Copter features “guardian grabbing jaws for hand to mouth combat”, a twirling Rip-Rotor copter blade, and the skull shield actually glows in the dark.

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Terrotread

Market Value:
Boxed $130 – $170
Loose $40 – $60

Terrotread: Evil Mutants
Accessories: Removable Maga Blaster, Armored Face Shield, Jointed Robotic Arms
Years Released: 1991
Difficulty to Find: Moderate Difficulty – Takes patience and appears less often
Notes: The Terrotread (or Dread Tread in foreign markets) was made so the Evil Mutants could patrol the tough terrain on Skuldor and battle the Galactic Guardians. It comes with three different attack modes; Low-Riding crater crawler, Evil stalker with robotic arms, and Armored attack tank. The Terrotread seats one figure and has a removable magna blaster.

After a successful launch of The New Adventures of He-Man toy line in 1989 and the accompanying animated series in September of 1990, all seemed well….until it wasn’t. The futuristic rebooted animated series set out to appeal to a new generation, but just didn’t hit the mark. As a result, the series was cancelled in December of 1990, after just one season and 65 episodes. However, the New He-Man toy line was telling a different story. Due to better than average sales, the line continued into 1991 with a new third wave of toys.

Mattel gave us six more standard figures and one deluxe figure for wave three in 1991, which did not include new versions of the main characters, He-Man or Skeletor. For the Galactic Guardians, we got Artilla, Spinwit and Tuskador. For the Evil Mutants, we had Butthead, Quakke and Staghorn. The deluxe figure was Sagitar of the Galactic Guardians. In addition to the figures, we also got a new Electronic Skeletor Skull Staff and three new vehicles Battle Bird, Doom Copter and Terrotread. These would be the last vehicles released for the New Adventures of He-Man toy line.

The packaging for the New Adventures of He-Man line was certainly bright with the dark blue theme, but was kind of generic looking. The new “He-Man” logo sat at the top center of the blister pack card. The figure itself was positioned to the right of the card, while its accessories were to the left side. The name of each character was positioned just above the figure bubble in white letters. As far as the card backs go, each was unique to the character, with a short bio on the character, along with nicely illustrated breakdowns of each action feature. The packaging certainly could have helped the line a bit by leaning into what had already worked in the past, but Mattel was looking to blaze a new trail with this toy line.