Masters of the Universe New Eternia Jitsu review

Jitsu was always one of the cooler members of Skeletor’s crew from the original Masters of the Universe cartoon. I loved that he had a direct rival in Fisto for a clash of metal hand dudes.

He had a pretty awesome figure in the Masters of the Universe Classics line. In that bio, he was the one that assumed command of Skeletor’s forces when he ventured off into the New Adventures of He-Man era. Mattel has given us another update with the New Eternia Jitsu in the Masterverse line. The great part of the New Eternia looks is that they give the characters a unique presentation that stands out from the original design yet you can still revert to that look if you don’t love the tweaks.

Jistu is no different so I was excited to check him out. Let’s not offer our palms up for any hi-fives, but it’s time to see if Jitsu brings it or needs to get chopped back down to size.

Packaging:  The Masterverse Revelation line certainly stands out on the shelf with its dark blue color scheme and unique showcase of the figures.

Another cool aspect of the packaging is Mattel puts in the extra effort to include two different drawings. The one on the side showcases Jitsu’s New Eternia design with his classic portrayal in the background. His new look is also the dominant one on the rear package as well.

Jitsu’s bio reveals he was recruited by Prince Adam and became an ally to He-Man instead of an enemy. That’s a very different New Eternia storyline element though I’m not entirely sure if that’s the role I’ll have him in my collection.

Likeness: Jitsu had the kind of design that’s pretty hard to improve upon. Most of the New Eternia figures have been plussed up with some interesting new design elements to offer an entirely fresh take on a character. With Jitsu most of the work comes with the portrait.

Instead of the intense ‘I’m going to destroy you and club you with my golden hand,” he’s got much more of a calm, peaceful expression. He’s got some years to him as evidenced by the bags under his eyes and wrinkles across his forehead. That definitely adds a bit of character to him.

Jitsu’s ornate armor carries over from all iterations of the figure with the two birds meeting to grab the sword hilts on their respective sides. The sculpted detail here is really nicely done.

Unlike his rival Fisto, Jitsu’s golden hand is done with a vac metal making it shinier and subconsciously creating that visual that it’s more valuable. Maybe the expenses to keep it polished is what led him to getting imprisoned?

A new element is the samurai skirt. It’s got a rope belt with impressive sculpting for the plating and trim. His scabbard is on the wrong side though as it’d be pretty impossible for him to grab his long katana with his left hand.

That’s even shown to be tricky with the rear portrait. He retains the brown loincloth and matching furry boots. Again, this wasn’t a massive design shift with more tweaks than anything else.

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Paint:  Shoddy paintwork is simply something Mattel doesn’t do with its Masterverse line. At best, there’s some occasional fuzziness but nothing egregious.

That’s the case with Jitsu as well. He’s got the minor fade of the gold creeping into the orange red outfit but overall, the colors are sharp and don’t dip into each other. It’s nice to have a line that’s just so consistently solid with the paint.

Scale: The New Eternia figures are on a 7″ scale. Most of the figures are the same scale to each other save for Skeletor’s more monstrous allies. Jitsu is right along the average for the Evil Minions like Trap Jaw and Evil-Lyn.

Articulation: Jitsu has 30 points of articulation. He needs all of it as a hand-to-hand combatant, Jitsu is more prone to requiring wide sweeping chops and balance for kicking poses.

I haven’t had too many issues with the articulation setup of the Masterverse figures. The most common problem is the weak foot/ankle connection on the left leg. That wasn’t a problem with Jitsu thankfully.

Masterverse New Eternia Jitsu has:

• neck
• ball-jointed shoulders
• bicep
• elbow (double-jointed)
• wrist
• wrist hinge
• torso
• waist
• hip
• thigh
• knee (double-jointed)
• ankle

Accessories: As the norm for New Eternia figures, Jitsu has a solid amount of accessories.

First up is his oni mask. The sculpted details on it from the nose and sinister looking teeth make this a great additional piece. This seems better suited for Jitsu as a villain than as a hero. I do wish it had some more paint detail beyond the gold teeth. Some black in the mix would have pushed it over the top.

He’s also got an open left hand in case he just wants to battle it out with his hands.

The “last” accessory is his long katana. Ideally the blade would be silver instead of orange red like the hilt.

There is some gold accents on the hilt so it’s not completely monochrome. It’s not a short blade and gives Jitsu the option to keep his opponents at a distance.

You can also take off the skirt piece for a classic look if you’d like to count that as another accessory.

Worth it?  I was able to get Jitsu on sale for $13.99.  The normal price point is $21.99, which isn’t a bad value. Still, getting a quality figure for under $15 is a great deal.

Rating: 9.5 out of 10

Jitsu is another great addition to the New Eternia line. The lack of more intricate paintwork hurts him more than the norm. Likely due to the shade of orange. He’s sitting in stores longer than I would expect but don’t miss out on Jitsu.

Where to get it?  I got Jitsu at Target where he’s a bit of a common figure at my local stores. You can also grab him on Amazon.

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