Masters of the Universe Classics Feature

Intergalactic Skeletor is the quarterly bonus figure for Club Eternia released this month, and he arrives amidst a hail of controversy regarding fat-armor syndrome and backward shoulders. Fortunately, there is a pretty decent figure here despite the issues. Let’s take a closer look at the New Adventures of He-Man version of Skeletor, Intergalactic Skeletor!

Skeletor™ Bio
Real Name: Keldor™ of the House of Miro
Wounded by Hordak’s final buzz saw attack at the end of the Second Ultimate Battleground, the victorious Skeletor mended his body with a techno virus from Preternia. Having learned of the might of the Horde Empire, he abandoned Eternia in search of a grander prize – the entire Universe! Finding a Laser Gate at the far end of his own galaxy, he passed through it to the Tri Solar System just above the planet Denebria. It was here he recruited the Horde’s Mutant Army in a plan to lead them in mutiny against the Empire. But Skeletor was followed by He-Man, She-Ra and many of the Masters of the Universe who had themselves allied with the Galactic Protectors. Skeletor now fights a new intergalactic battle; to rule the universe and to destroy He-Man once and for all!

One aspect of the classics bios I really like is how they pull all the disparate MOTU elements together into one big universe. Skeletor and He-Man go to the future in the The New Adventures of He-Man cartoon, but I prefer this idea of He-Man just going out into space, and Skeletor making a move to take the Horde Empire.

Accessories

Skeletor comes with a removable helmet, a staff, and a new battle-damaged head sculpt for your Faker figure.

The staff is a great, sharp sculpt cast in a stiff plastic, so there is no warping. It is plain plastic and could use some weathering or metallic highlight paints, though.

The helmet is also chock full of detail and is cast is a softer plastic. It’s removable, so it can get knocked askew every now and again, but that’s preferable to having it glued down because we can see the whole techno-infused head sculpt.

The Faker head sculpt is something fans have been looking for for a while now and has a cool Terminator-style metal skull beneath the battle-damaged face. It’s a fun little add-on and I really enjoy having alternate head sculpts for my figures, especially figures like Faker that already have variants without variant head sculpts.

The only critique I have is that I wish the hair color matched the original Faker figure.

Sculpt

The sculpt is so great on this figure. All of the techno-enhancements Skeletor used to repair himself look painfully inserted into his flesh.

The only issue I have has been covered extensively online — the chest piece is an overlay that is rather thick. This technique works well for armor, but gives a bloated appearance when it’s supposed to be the body.

Fortunately it is not as objectionable in person as I had thought it would be. The peek-a-boo belly button is still a little annoying.

As far as the reversed shoulders go, these are tough to notice due to the design, but, good grief, Mattel needs to get it together on this issue. How many times do they have to do this to figure it out?

The forearms look like the same ones used by Horde Prime, but they don’t seem to be removable. Maybe I wasn’t pulling it hard enough, but I did treat them gingerly because they are cast in a particularly soft plastic.

Articulation

Skeletor has the standard MOTUC articulation except his ab crunch does not have any forward motion due to the armor, and he doesn’t seem to have any kind of ankle rocker. The torso is cast in soft plastic, so the hip articulation is good.

Paint

Paint is good with sharp lines and nice shading except for the previously mentioned plain accessory.

Overall

I think this figure benefits from the astounding amount of online sturm and drang surrounding it. Once he was finally in hand, my first impression was that he really isn’t that bad. I actually like the figure quite a bit, and that has to do with the interesting sculpt, especially the ultra-creepy skull.