Mattel’s Masters of the Universe Origins line continues to reach the hearts of those of us that grew up in the 80’s and had these characters back when this was first introduced, as well as bringing in new fans and introducing a new generation to one of the 80’s best franchises. Among many toy releases in the 1980’s, Flying Fists He-Man and Terror Claws Skeletor variant were two of the most memorable.
Terror Claws Skeletor is given the modern day treatment with updated articulation, and includes a mini-comic, alternate head, alternate hand, power sword, staff, terror claws and a dragon snapping weapon.
Thank you to Mattel for sending along their Masters of the Universe Origins Terror Claws Skeletor Figure for review.
Availability: February 2022
Terror Claws Skeletor is packaged on a blister card with retro inspired artwork from the 1980’s, additional artwork on the back, and a look at more figures that are new for 2022. There’s also instructions on how to use him and get the action feature to work.
Terror Claws Skeletor was originally offered in 1985 as a variant and to keep Skeletor on the toy shelves, and this new release is modernized with the updating articulation while keeping the retro action feature alive to this day. He includes some shared parts with other Origins figures, including the heads, arms, legs, hands and boots, and given a newly tooled torso unique to him as it is battle armored with the mechanism inside. The armor is painted in metallic purple, which is all shiny and a key focal point to the figure. There is also a skull on his chest with red eyes and nose. On the back is the part you hold to turn and twist Skeletor, and you’re going to also need to grab his legs to get this feature to work as this is manually accomplished. This feature allows his arms to swing, and when he’s holding onto the Sword, Staff, Claws or snapping Dragon, it can spin with him and knock out Horde Troopers as shown in the mini-comic. This action feature is something that you don’t see anymore, so it’s a nice homage to the figure that they kept it rather than excluding it like they did with the MOTU Classics release in 2015.
The body of Skeletor is painted in the same shade of blue as we’ve seen with other Skeletor figures so far, a red belt and a black lion cloth, purple boots, and a purple hood that is a different shade than previously offered. The facial deco and attention to detail on both the head sculpts are nicely done and in yellow, with green on the sides, red eyes and black details.
Since the action feature is a key component here, the arms and legs cannot be removed like other Origins figures and for this release, you can’t swap out most of the parts with other figures. What does come off easily is the head, hands and boots, so you can swap out those parts at least with another figure. The accessories can also be used for another figure as the hands are the same as He-Man’s, Man-At-Arms, etc., so there is that option too.
Skeletor includes two alternate heads (modern and 80’s toy head), a full sword, a staff, an alternate left hand, Terror Claws and a snapping Dragon. The Power Sword can’t be lifted above his head like on other Origins Skeletor figures, due to the mechanical feature limiting that option, but the shoulders raise up from the sides, and the elbows do raise up so there is that. He also comes with a mini-comic and instructions of which parts are removable. A detailed look at the mini-comic are in the video above.
His articulation includes a ball jointed head, hinged-swivel shoulders, hinge-swivel elbows, hinged-swivel wrists, swivel waist, ball jointed hips, hinged-swivel knees, swivel boots, hinged and rocker ankles.
The new armor on him is amazing detailed, even more so than the Classics version that he is compared with above. The Classics version did not have this action feature, as they didn’t do that in the 7″ line, and i’m guessing if Terror Claws Skeletor makes it into Masterverse, he won’t have an action feature there either. The Origins release is perfect to keep this feature, given the scale and modern day update to the vintage toy. You’ll also notice that the shiny deco was not offered on the Classics version, and looking back is something that I wish he had.
Overall, Terror Claws Skeletor fits in perfectly with the Masters of the Universe: Origins line, while paying a homage to the 1985 release. The accessories and action feature is the primary attraction that fans will have to this release, and even if you didn’t own Teror Claws Skeletor back in the 80’s, this is a great figure to own. It’s a highly recommend purchase, so make sure to add this one to your growing collection.
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