You know, I really do love toys that glow in the dark.
The Masters of the Universe Origins line is breaking with the expected by releasing a character that came much later in the original line in the second actual wave, before a lot of what you might think of as more typical choices.
I never had Scareglow as a kid. That entire wave, including Ninjor and Clamp Champ, was completely absent from my stores, a trend that carried over with the wave after that one. By then the line was hitting the dreaded markdowns, which meant that the line itself was winding down. I didn’t mind it much since I was able to get six figures for six dollars at my local Kmart (that might not sound like a huge deal now, but at the time it was mind-altering), but those would be the last six MotU figures I was able to get my hands on. Which meant no glow in the dark skeleton ghost for me.
Masters of the Universe Classics made up for that, and now Masters of the Universe Origins is picking up the slack as well. I’d pick up a vintage one off of eBay, but the prices are as terrifying as Scareglow himself is purported to be. Maybe one day when I have a spare 300 dollars or so. Yeesh.
I am genuinely enjoying this line despite the fact that I already have everything in Classics versions. If you go into it with a “these are not those” attitude, then it’s like this strange refresher course on everything MotU. Especially for characters where I already have the vintage AND the classics version. You’d think “ok, that’s enough” but apparently there’s never enough.
Never!!
Like both of the previous lines, there is a very familiar base body system in place. Most everybody on Eternia goes to the same gym and has a lot of the same fashion choices, so you know you’re going to get that muscled body with the added articulation and some variation of either the evil or heroic boot. And I have no issue with that. The stumpy 80s proportions are carried over, and the articulation, while not mind-blowing—works well in context of that body. There’s not much else to say in that regard. The ball jointed head gives you more wiggle room than the old bodies and even though you only get around 90 degrees on the elbows and knees, it’s still a nice inclusion. The ankles might be the best part, allowing for wide stances that don’t require you to balance them on the sides of their feet.
Scareglow comes with his signature long green…halberd, I believe it’s called? It’s always felt like it’s the exact type of weapon someone named Scareglow would choose. The weapons tend to fit a little loosely in the fists on some of the characters, but it felt a little tighter here. I don’t know if it’s a case by case basis or if Scareglow just got lucky. With one grip and one clawed hand you can get some decent two-handed approximations going.
Vintage Scareglow came with a fabric cape, but they’ve opted to give him a sculpted one here. I kind of wish there was an option for both. I don’t mind the sculpted one, it’s a nicely done cape with some decent texturing and it is actually a softer material, but my personal choice for capes is always going to skew toward fabric. Still, this one isn’t bad, and could be a lot worse.
The strongest aspect of the figure is his glow, which is appropriate given his name. Hit him with a powerful flashlight for a little bit and he really starts to shine. He also holds the glow very well; it took quite a while for him to go fully dark after I poured the light on him for some of these shots.
Overall I’ve been pretty happy with these figures, and Scareglow continues the trend. It’s kind of familiar, except not, with a little old and new tossed together to make something that feels nostalgic but is also newish…while not being overly new. I don’t know, it’s weird, but I like it. Scareglow wasn’t the only one I recently received, so more will be coming up soon.
