Toy Review: Masters of the Universe Classics Skeletor

Skeletor, Masters of the Universe’s Overlord of Evil was released in January of this year as part of the Masters of the Universe Classics line. He lasted about a week and half on mattycollector.com. True to their word, Mattel will be re-releasing Skeletor on December 15^th as a bonus figure along with that month’s regular figure, King Randor and December’s other bonus figure, The Green Goddess. So, if you missed out on old skull face the first time, be ready to pick him up in December.

Skeletor’s bio is perhaps the most controversial to date. As with the others, it mixes and matches aspects of all of the previous continuities. The bio alludes to the battle between Keldor and Randor that took place in the pilot of the 2002 series, and Keldor’s subsequent turn to Hordak for assistance as depicted later in that series. The bio describes Hordak fusing Keldor and an extra-dimensional being called Demo-Man to create Skeletor. According to Mattel’s later statements, Demo-Man was an early name for the character that would become Skeletor and it is connected to the earliest descriptions of Skeletor’s origins when he was supposed to have come from another dimension. My theory is that Demo-Man is Scare Glow, or perhaps Scare Glow is another product of this union. Either way, Mattel has indicated that we will find out more about Demo-Man in Scare Glow’s bio.

As with He-Man and Beast Man before him, Skeletor is very much an update of his 1980’s incarnation with added detail and articulation. Like MOTUC He-Man, Skeletor is a high quality figure that is somewhat limited by its slavish need to replicate the 1980’s action figure in almost every detail. For me, this holds the figure back in two areas: the silly “monster feet” and the head sculpt. Other than the fact that the old figure had the three-toed feet, I don’t know why Skeletor can’t have a pair of boots like most of the other figures. As an exercise, switch heads and accessories between Skeletor and Faker and see how much cooler he looks (although Faker has a sick paint job). While I appreciate the paint and detail on Skeletor’s face, I really hate the bonneted appearance of the hood. I would have liked something a little more cowled, with a looser look to it. He should look more like a mysterious sorcerer and less like an old lady on a rainy day. Again, this seems to be an automatic visual reference to the 1980’s figure. I understand that this is Masters of the Universe Classics, but that doesn’t mean that the line exists to recreate the original action figure series. They should feel free to mix it up a bit visually. MOTUC is supposed to encompass the entire history of Masters of the Universe. Personally, I am really looking forward to getting Scare Glow so that I can stick his head on Skeletor’s body, although the resulting figure may end up looking like Bedtime Skeletor.

The Overlord of Evil comes with a ginormous Havoc Staff with lots of nice detail, if monochromatic. He also comes with a full power-sword and half sword that combines with He-Man’s half-sword. Skeletor’s swords are two-toned just like He-Man’s, although this case in purple. The metallic purple looks extremely cool and I would have like to have seen some more of it on Skeletor’s armor. It would have been nice to have the crossbones painted in this metallic color in the same way that they are metallic orange on Faker’s armor (also sick).

The paint on the body and armor is a little underwhelming. You are pretty much getting three colors here: blue, black and purple, although there is a nice wash on the muscles. Where the paint really pops on this figure is in the face. There is a sort of mix of vivid acid green and yellow that really works well with all of the little chips and cracks and organic details sculpted on. One of the reasons that I hate the bonnet so much is that it is really holding back the rest of this amazing detail that you might be able to see otherwise. The face makes this whole figure work. Photos don’t do it justice, you really need to see it.

I’m not aware of any serious quality issues with this figure, although the joints on mine were pretty loose. This seems to be a recurring problem within this line. The reissue should be largely the same as the original, only with a tighter hand grip on the left hand.

Although he’s not may favorite figure in the line, it is great to have this high-quality version of Masters of the Universe’s most iconic villain. Again, this is one of those figures that you have to have in your collection (seriously, he’s management. You can’t have Mer-Man and Beast Man running things). If you came into the line later, or missed out on him in January, you can finally get your hands on Skeletor on December 15^th at mattycollector.com.

Patrick Garone
Staff Reviewer