Ever decide that you are firmly and resolutely not going to get into a new line but then you end up getting into a new line? Crazy talk, I know.
Truthfully, I was not at all interested in these new Masterverse figures when the promo pictures showed up. They looked weird. The proportions looked off with monkey arms, the muscles weren’t impressive and the heads looked like they were about three sizes too small.
THEN PEOPLE GOT THEM IN HAND DAMMIT. DAMMIT. DAMMIT ALLLLL.
So anyway, I kind of started looking at pictures and started thinking more and more about double-jointed Masters of the Universe figures that weren’t toooo far off from classic designs. I don’t have the rest in hand, but I have to say the heads themselves still aren’t winning me over. But I think once I give He-Man and Skeletor something Earl Norem-inspired then they won’t be too bad. So yeah, I have both wave and two preordered, but I ordered Skelegodetor off of target because the page was like…just sitting there, man. And it had one of those red “Ship It” buttons, which is consenting adult code for “buy me, muddatrucker.”
I have willpower, but I mainly use it to only eat one M&M before I close the bag.
I’m still not quite sold on the look of this figure for Skeletor himself, but as a toy and as a teaser for what the line will be like, I have to admit it is pretty nifty.
This take on Skeletor has some Skeletorish hallmarks but it’s run through a slightly different filter than what we’re used to. I’m not sure if I like the idea of Skeletor completely altering his appearance when he gets powered up. I did like the gold armor he conjured up in the live action movie, but that was more of a sideways shift than this. Stuff going on here makes me stop and wonder why he’s doing this or that. Which I guess is ok, but it doesn’t insta-sell me on the look for a powered up Skeletor.
BUT as far as a fun looking toy that can easily double as either Skeletor or just a demon creature that can fight other figures, it is one of the better Mattel figures I have bought in some time. The modern articulation is pulled off quite well. There is a certain amount of softness to the joints, which means the sheer weight of him makes certain poses a little more difficult—especially in the ankle region. I really had to make sure they were angled just right to hold him up in certain shots, but in less extreme angles he’s fine.
There’s a very nice range of motion in the joints, and he gets a very decent split. The shoulderpiece and peepee flap are decently rubbery and don’t impede much of his arm or leg motion.
His shoulder joints were very tight, as if there wasn’t enough clearance, but I was able to get them maneuvered down. I would love a bit more motion with the head. It feels like he should really get a good wobble going, but at most he can get minimal forward and backward along with a good swivel.
There’s a torso wobble that could also stand a bit more clearance, and he has a waist twist.
The ecto-neck is translucent which works well for letting light shine through it. There’s a non-translucent green neck underneath where the head attaches by a ball-joint. The head could stand to be slightly larger. I think going for a stylized animated feel with the smaller heads is not the best course, but that’s just personal bias.
The paint is interesting. The figure itself seems to be molded in a violet color, but it has a gray drybrush-type paintjob all over that allows some of the undertone to peek through. It could look sloppy, but the way it’s done gives it a very interesting look to it, with a strange sense of depth to the tones. Other than that, I like the glowy green accents on his armor and his chest symbol, and the eyes on his kneeskulls.
Skeletor comes with a fabric cape. I am quite happy about this, because I’ve long come to the conclusion that plastic capes are a tool of the devil that were created to keep toys from being fun. This one attaches to a strap across his back and actually stays put, but it’s easily removable if you want him to be capeless. There are two dangly cape ornaments that are slightly weighted, which do a good job at giving the cape a realistic drape.
The figure comes with two sets of hands, one gripping and one expressive. He comes with a powered-up effect that slips over either of his grip hands, and finally He-man’s Power Sword, which I’m assuming is the source of this powered up form.
I figured that out using science.
The Power Sword is a brand new design. I don’t hate it, but after years of chunkier power swords this one feels very slight. It doesn’t help that it looks very small in his hand, but Skeletor is oversized anyway so that’s skewing my perception. I’ll be able to form a better opinion once I have He-man in hand.
For a figure I thought I was going to skip in a line that I wasn’t going to collect, I have to admit I really like this figure, even if what and how I’ll be using it is currently up for debate. But I am definitely more interested in getting the rest of the line in hand to see how deep I want to go into YET ANOTHER Masters of the Universe line.
