Roid Rage! She-Ra's BF Bulks Up

The girly-man toy with the beating heart gets a macho makeover

When playing with He-Man and his Masters of the Universe menagerie, guy code required us to pretend the Princess of Power toys didn't exist. Sure, they told us She-Ra was He-Man's twin sister. But the Barbie-esque toys, with their comb-able hair and frilly gowns, were just too damn girly to accept as canon. Of course, when our female cousins would come over to play, their She-Ra dolls became cannon fodder for Skeletor. So in a way, they served a purpose.

Then Filmation canceled the He-Man cartoon, but not before they'd spun-off a new She-Ra animated series. This, alas, became the only way we He-Fans could get our fix, as twin bro would occasionally cameo. Just as Masters of the Universe had its token girl in Teela, Princess of Power's obligatory dude was Bow. An androgynous boy-band type, he had the lamest action feature ever. Press a button on his back, and his heart (fully displayed, unprotected, in the middle of his chest armor) would “beat” for She-Ra.

But absence can make even a pathetically beating plastic heart grow fonder, and Mattel has revamped Bow to appeal to male collectors. This means huge muscles and a removable heart! Yes, Bow's romantic chest décor can now be taken off if you so choose, to make him a more-manly killing machine. Which, considering he now looks like a spandex-clad Cary Elwes on steroids, he probably needs to be. Though we think his enemies might die laughing first.

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