Action Figures & Their Beers -- Winging It

by Beedo Sookcool
on 2025-12-03, 06:51:16

WING MAN SESSION I.P.A.

Back in the early, early developmental stages of Masters of the Universe, before that brand name had even coalesced, the team at Mattel were trying to come up with character ideas and names for this brash new line, which at the time, was going by the name “Lords of Power.” And one idea that – thankfully – got dropped in the early stages was putting “Man” in everyone’s name. Sure, you had He-Man and Man-At-Arms and Beast-Man and Mer-Man, but Skeletor was originally called D-Man (as in “demon”), the villain Mer-Man was originally a heroic character called (ick) Sea-Man, and the Heroic Warrior, Stratos, was Wing-Man, a villain who “soars through the skies on wings of wickedness.”

Brewdog created this “Session IPA” with a lower ABV (4.3%) and – thankfully – less in the way of face-puckering hops. But it’s still got enough face-puckering hops in it. Which is to say, too much for my liking. I bought a 4-Pack of this beer solely for this review, and will likely never buy any more. It’s not terrible, in fact, it’s not even bad as far as IPAs go. It’s got a sweet, citrus-y tang to it, but not the sour punch of grapefruit the IPA cultists rave about. But that resinous aftertaste . . . it’s just not my bag, baby.

There’s not much in the way of advertising copy on the 4-pack’s cardboard sleeve or on the cans themselves. You get the taglines “The eagle has landed” and “Good people drink good beer.” They reiterate, like with Lost Lager, that this brew is made by a carbon-negative company, which is great. And then lots of international text and symbols for the global market. No details on what kind of malt or hops used, or tasting notes, just “Store cold. Drink fresh.” And you know, that makes me wonder: if I stored this for several months, like I inadvertently did with Ringwood’s Forty-Niner . . . would it mellow to the point where the bitterness just goes away, and I’d really enjoy it? So I think I’ll try that.

So to go along with this beer, we’ve got the MOTU Classics “Mini-Comics” Stratos, part of an obscenely limited 2017 Power-Con exclusive 3-Pack that was expensive even before scalper prices kicked in. This version of Stratos came from a time when they were still trying to nail down details as they were writing and drawing the mini-comics to go with the earliest wave of figures. So at one point, he was drawn attacking Castle Grayskull as one of Skeletor’s goons, in keeping with his early villain profile, when he was known as “Wing Man.”

Oh, and instead of the usual grey-furred flying monkey guy with red wings and a blue jetpack, he was what the pantyhose industry would call . . . “nude-coloured.” With matching “nude” fur. Plus a red feathered collar & snazzy belt overlay, blue wings, and no jetpack.

Drink this if you also like: IPAs, session ales, and juice-bombs, brah.