Whiplash Evil Tail-Thrashing Warrior! He-Man and the Masters of the Universe Cartoon Collection Basic Figure Item No.: Asst. HYD16 No. JBM95 Manufacturer: Mattel Includes: Rocket launcher, mini-comic Action Feature: n/a Retail: $19.99 Availability: July 2025 Other: Tail does not actually thrash
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When He-Man and the Masters of the Universe Cartoon Collection comes along, you must Whiplash. If you love the cartoon, you'll remember he didn't show up until the second season and was voiced by John Erwin - the same guy who did He-Man. And Morris the Cat.

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The original toy was a scalier, gnarlier fellow with bigger eyebrows and a big spear. Filmation took the design and smoothed him out, retaining the big green tail and the pointy crest and ears. Rather than have the buggy lizard feet, he now has three-toed foot boots. In other words, he looks a lot like the cartoon now - the chest may be a little less broad, but everything else is where it should be.

Articulation is standard, and has a good range of movement. If you've played with any of the others, he's on par with them. The only thing he can't do well is occupy a vehicle. Once assembled, his massive tail prevents him from fitting in most seats.

The head largely hews to the cartoon, with three raised bumps on each side of the head and yellow lizard eyes. Mattel's sculptors decided to give him more of a double chin, and I guess that's one way to interpret the 2D drawings on the show. I always just saw him as having a pronounced jaw, not quite as corpulent as this release. The rest of the face seems on point, though, so maybe they found some design document or just decided this looked better. I'd be fine either way - he looks close enough to how I think most fans will remember him.

The colors are a little more saturated - as is consistent with the line - and the figure's torso is a little less reptilian than the actual hand-drawn animation cels. The TV show had him as a slightly more banded torso, which was closer in line with the original action figure. Still, I'd say it's good enough.

The special accessory is a rocket launcher, and that's kind of unusual for this toy line. Some figures had a gun of some sort in the original toy line, but as far as the cartoon collection goes they're a rarity. I kind of miss the artifacts we got with other figures, but at least it's not like I'm overwhelmed with Eternian bazookas.

Whiplash also includes a rubbery tail that plugs into his back. It doesn't have any action feature, but it does look good and serves as a balancing aid. It takes a little force to get it installed, and it doesn't seem to come out.

Even though it feels like an interpretation in the wrong direction, Whiplash does look very close to the cartoon. The colors and personality fit, and it looks great as part of the greater collection of figures. I'd go as far as to say the Cartoon Collection line is really impressive when you get them all set up on a shelf (or playset) together, which has made me almost wish I skipped out on all the toy versions of these guys. Mattel has been doing well making little sub-collections in this brand, rewarding those who might not necessarily have the completist bug with a buffet of varieties of most characters. I doubt we're going to see them go back and do more mini-comic deco figures, but between the cartoons and toy colorways it's a pretty robust line as it is. I still wouldn't mind seeing Roboto, the Sorceress, or some other non-cartoon characters "tooned" up in this format some day. Who wouldn't mind Stinkor or Scare Glow getting a "what if?" cartoon face lift?

I wouldn't necessarily recommend this figure as a one-off, but if you collect Skeletor and his Evil Warriors? It's good.

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