The Dark Soldier is the latest offering from Joe Amaro’s Warlords of the Universe line of custom add-on action figure parts. This particular head sculpt will help industrous Masters of the Universe Classics collectors to create troops similar in style to Skeletor’s minions in the 1987 live action film.
The 1987 movie is one of those segments of the Masters of the Universe property that is loved by some fans and reviled by others. Now that I think about it, it seems like every subset era of the MOTU property has its vocal fans and detractors.
I’m not a huge fan of the film, but there is a lot to like and one bright spot for me is that Skeletor had his own cool version of Stormtroopers clad in all-black uniforms with gloss-black armor. There are a few variations of the trooper in the movie, and this Dark Soldier head sculpt bears close resemblance to the version most prevalent in the film.
The head itself cost $13 apiece and came pre-painted in a black satin finish. I painted mine with a gloss coat to match the glossy armor paint job on my base figure. Below is a picture of the helmet as-is on the left compared to one repainted gloss black.
The sculpt is cast in a solid plastic that holds the details of the sharp sculpt well. The heads pop on the existing MOTUC neck pegs with little to no effort and hold their articulation fine.
You need to furnish your own base body to complete the Dark Soldier. Joe suggests a combination of Standor’s armor and the Faceless One’s body.
While this doesn’t create an exact match for the screen armor, it does make for a very cool-looking soldier that has the same feel as those troops. It’s also nice because it shows off how cool the Standor armor sculpt is and finds use for your clearance Faceless One figures.
I followed Joe’s recipe, but you could use any number of MOTUC armor parts to create your own variation. A cool one might be a complete repaint of a palace guard, or I was thinking about Count Marzo’s skirt with Chief Carnivus’ chest armor might make a nice combo.
I also equipped one of the soldiers with Marlena’s rifle since that rifle looks to be inspired by the rifles used in the film. I now want another one for my second guard, but an extra Vykron Tank Armor rifle l will serve in its stead for now.
The only downside on these is now I want about four more to take on my palace guards, snake men, skeleton warriors, and Horde Troopers in an army-builder battle royale!
Unfortunately, Joe is sold out of these for now, though there may be the possibility of more. Check out a survey on WarlordsoftheUniverse.com to let them know if you want some Dark Soldiers of your own!
I can’t recommend these high-quality sculpts enough. They also made for a fun, entry-level skill custom project. Mattel should be pleased because Joe sold me two more Standor figures than I ever thought I would buy!
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