Monday, October 22, 2018

The Revenge of 31 Days of Toy Terror: Scareglow from Masters of the Universe Classics by Mattel

    When you look at Scareglow, do you become overly terrified? Maybe your palms get sweaty, your heart beats a bit faster, and you begin to experience uncontrollable feelings of dread. If that's the case, you just might have ostiophobia, an irrational fear of bones. Of course, you may also look at Scareglow and feel an overwhelming sense of awe: Perhaps your heart starts beating faster, you hear some heavy metal music playing as if out of nowhere, and you get a sudden urge to paint Scareglow's visage on the side of a paneled van. That happens simply because Scareglow is straight up rad. Scareglow was the November 2009 release in Mattel's Masters of the Universe Classics and he's making an appearance in this year's The Revenge of 31 Days of Toy Terror both because he's a wicked cool skeleton with a neon green Scythe of Doom and because Masters of the Universe Classics appeared in five separate installments during the first three years of 31 Days of Toy Terror. Today Scareglow, the evil ghost of Skeletor, will have his revenge!



 The Facts:

Height: 6 3/4ths inches

Articulation: Hinged ankles with lateral rockers, boot swivels, hinged knees, swivel thighs, swivel/hinge hips, swivel waist, hinged abdomen, swivel/hinge shoulders, swivel biceps, hinged elbows, swivel wrists, and a double ball jointed head.

Accessories: Scythe of Doom, Castle Grayskull Reliquary, key, and cape.

Original Retail Price: $20 dollars

Year of Release: 2009
 The Positives:

* Perhaps better than any other figure in the line, Scareglow shows off how the Masters of the Universe aesthetic can be manipulated to create so many cool characters. In the vintage line Scareglow (along with King Randor and Clamp Champ) was a fairly simple figure released as a cost cutter later in the line. While he had a new head sculpt and a cloth cape, the rest of the figure was a glow in the dark repaint of one of the standard bodies from early in the line. That's largely what Scareglow is, too: A new headsculpt on a standard body. He looks incredible, though. While he doesn't look accurately like a skeleton there is still something very cool about him. He looks very supernatural but also like one of the David S. Pumpkins skeleton guys.
 * The headsculpt is incredibly cool. There's definitely a Skeletor like vibe her,e but that tends to happens with skulls. While the original packaging's blurb "Evil Ghost of Skeletor" caused some folks to think Scareglow was Skeletor's ghost from the future, it turns out he's just an evil spirit that Skeletor has dominion over in some way. I love the paint on the teeth, the crack in the skull, and the red and yellow in the eye sockets.


 * One of the coolest parts of Scareglow is that he glows in the dark. Like his vintage Scareglow, the spooky specter emits a ghoulish, greenish glow that will fill you with dread. It's a great, strong glow and the black paint applications really help to definite the skeletal look when Scareglow is doing his thing. Nice!


* Masters of the Universe Classics had one of my favorite articulation schemes for years and Scareglow still holds up well. He's durable, well articulated, and super fun to play with. I love this line!


* Scareglow's cape is made from molded plastic. It has a very cool, old school feel to it and reminds me of something that a highwayman might wear. It also has some wear and tear along the bottom where the purple fades into a translucent appearance. Mattel did a great job on this cape.

 * Scareglow includes his Scythe of Doom. I'm not really sure it's a scythe, though; it's more of a halberd. Mattel would later use this halberd with the Weapons Rack accessory set, which is fitting as the vintage Scareglow's halberd was reused from the Weapons Rack too. Scareglow's weapon is molded in green plastic with a glow in the dark blade and spikes.

* Scareglow includes one of my favorite accessories in the line: The Grayskull Reliquary. This tube features an image of Castle Grayskull on top of it, some weathering to show off its age, and a metal chain attached to a cuff. Interestingly, the reliquary is apparently cursed and Scareglow is always doomed to carry it yet can never open it.

* Oh, that's right! It opens! Inside is a key which is used to open a secret door in the side of Castle Grayskull. Mattel wouldn't release Castle Grayskull for four years after the release of Scareglow in 2009 but this was still a cool inclusion and it turned out even better when it ended up actually interacting with the castle once it was released.
Not only is Scareglow one of the coolest Masters of the Universe figures released, he's probably one of my favorite action figures from the past decade or so. Glow in the dark paint, a cursed accessory, a purple cape; this guy has it all! While Scareglow appeared fairly early in the Masters of the Universe Classics toyline he turned out to be one of the strongest figures released in the entire series. He's an Epic figure and still an example of how great this toyline was at one point!



   This is the first action figure of Scareglow that I've reviewed on the site. Since he includes a Castle Grayskull accessory, I will point out other Castle Grayskulls I've reviewed: The green M.U.S.C.L.E. Castle Grayskull minifigure and the Masters of the Universe Classics Castle Grayskull playset.

For more Masters of the Universe Classics figures, check out the following:
Angella
Arrow
Battle Lion
Batros
Beast Man (Blood Red Henchman)
Blade
Blast Attak
"Buzz Saw" Hordak
Callix
Camo Khan
Castaspella
Castle Grayskull
Ceratus
Clamp Champ
Crita
Darius
Despara
Dragstor
End of Wars Weapon Pak
Evil Seed
Extendar
Fang Man
The Fighting Foe Men
Flutterina
Galactic Protector He-Man
Galactic Protector She-Ra
Geldor 
General Sundar
Glimmer
Goat Man
Granamyr (Green Power-Con exclusive)
Gwildor
Heads of Eternia
He-Ro II
Horde Prime
Horde Troopers
Hover Robots
Huntara
Hydron
Icer
Karatti
King Chooblah
King He-Man
Laser Power He-Man & Laser Light Skeletor
Lizard Man
Loo-Kee and Kowl
Lord Dactus
Lord Masque
Mantenna
Mara of Primus
Mermista
Modulok
Multi-Bot
Nepthu
Night Stalker
Ninja Warrior/ Ninjor
Octavia
Oo-Lar
Peekablue
Perfuma
Plundor
Prahvus
Procrustus
Queen Grayskull
Ram-Man
Rokkon & Stonedar
Rotar and Twistoid
Saurod
Scorpia
Sea Hawk
Shokoti
Sir Laser-Lot
Sky High with Jet Sled
Snake Armor He-Man and Battle Armor King Hsss
Snake Face
Spinnerella
Spirit of Grayskull
Spirit of Hordak
Sssqueeze
Stackable Stands
Strobo
Strong-or/ Strongarm
Terror Claws Skeletor & Flying Fists He-Man
Tung Lashor
Two Bad
The Unnamed One 
Vultak

6 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. He has absolutely jumped up in price! Fortunately I picked mine up when he came out, or shortly after. He was actually one of my first MOTUC figures.

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  2. Karg and Scareglow in an '80's metal band. That thought will linger in my head for a long time.

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    Replies
    1. There are just too many good names that these guys could use as well! Heck, imagine them being called The Dark Hemisphere! That's pretty wicked right there.

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  3. I'm imagining a hidden bonus track on their debut entitled "Bonehead" that sums up all their grievances against their boss.

    Not to mention this conversation:

    Evil-Lyn: What exactly do I have to do again for this...'music video' you're making?

    Karg: Just dress the way you usually do.

    Scareglow: And make those menacing spell-casting poses you usually do.

    Evil-Lyn: That's it?

    Karg: It will be more than enough. Believe me.

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    Replies
    1. hahaha. This needs to be an Adult Swim show. I can imagine Beast Man singing like Brak from Space Ghost!

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