Thursday, October 21, 2021

31 Days of Toy Terror: Skeletober! Skeletor and Roton from Masters of the Universe Eternia Minis by Mattel

 
   Skeletor is back and this time he's brought a friend! Well, a vehicle. But that vehicle has eyes and patches of reptilian skin so is it sentient? The more I think about it, the creepier Roton gets. I've always loved the Roton, though, and it's one of my two favorite vintage vehicles (Roton and Landshark!) so it's cool to see Mattel bring it into the Eternia Minis line. The Fisher-Price Imaginext line had a space vehicle called the Alpha Blade which seemed heavily inspired by the Roton so if you wanted the Roton to have a heroic counterpart in your Eternia Minis that piece could work. Today we're looking at Skeletor and this evil assault vehicle, though, so let's get in a villainous frame of mind and dive in after the break...


The Facts: Skeletor

Height: 2 1/8ths inches

Articulation: Swivel waist, swivel shoulders, and a swivel head.

Accessories: None


The Facts: Roton

Dimensions: 3 1/2 inches long, 1 5/8ths inches tall

Articulation: 2 rolling wheels and spinning blade

Accessories: 2 laser guns

Non-Scalper Price: $10 dollars

Comparison:

* On the left is the Skeletor from this set while the Eternia Minis series 1 Skeletor is on the right. What's different about these two? Not much. The Roton Skeletor does have darker purple armor and lots of green in his face so he does look more like the vintage toy. He's also sporting full boots (painted on) rather than bare feet. Honestly, that's not a bad little difference as it does make him feel more vintage.

The Positives:

* We've seen this Skeletor before but he still looks pretty cool overall. The color on his armor is darker, a very bold purple. It's almost like the vintage toy. The sculpt is caricatured and fits in well with the rest of the line. 



* I didn't love this face for Skeletor the first time around but now that Mattel added some more green to it I think it looks quite a bit better. The sharp paint details really bring out the sculpt and make for a fairly creepy looking little Skeletor.

*  Most of these little guys have four points of articulation which may not seem like a lot except you gotta consider they're only a little over 2 inches tall. That's not bad for that scale! They're very durable little figures and would probably fit in well with lines like Imaginext and the Hasbro Heroes figures, so if you have a little one who's into MOTU these could be some decent starter toys. They're fun to play with and have a lot of shelf presence! 

 




* I had the Roton as a kid and it's long been one of my two favorite MOTU vehicles. The design is fantastic and Mattel has faithfully captured the vintage design here quite well. 











* The eyes are stickers and they look great. They're very menacing! The teeth on the front are sculpted and definitely look pretty intimidating! 










*  The reptilian skin on the sides has always intrigued me. Is there a creature of sorts underneath all of the armor? There are quite a few stickers on the sides of Roton and they're nicely detailed with a weird mixture of organic and technological details. 


* Not only does Roton's bladed wheel rotate (manually, it doesn't spin on its own like the vintage toy) but there are also two wheels on the bottom to help roll the vehicle along. The Roton has been depicted both rolling across the ground and flying so you've got options for yours, too.




* Besides the giant spinning saw blade there are also two laser cannons mounted on the sides of the Roton. They rotate so the Evil Warriors can better aim at their enemies.



 







The Roton's cannons can pop out, allowing them to be wielded by figures. Skeletor can go all out gangster with two laser blasters! That's a neat feature for sure.











* There's a peg inside so Skeletor (or any other mini) can attach securely to the Roton. He fits in well and while it's undersized that does seem to be a stylistic choice. It works really well for this line and makes it easy to display.








   This set is awesome and so far is probably my favorite of the Eternia Minis vehicle sets, both for the standard line and for the MOTU: Revelation line. This is a Great and a 1/2 set with a lot of play value in the Roton. It just looks so sleek and menacing on the shelf and I love the feature of the removable laser cannons. While Skeletor is just a repaint of a previously released figure I do like his darker, more vintage inspired look. This guy is a lot of fun to mess around with for sure! 



 

 I've reviewed so many toys of Keldor/ Skeletor that he has his own review archive. Check out Snake Mountain for all of my reviews of the Evil Lord of Destruction!

If the Roton is your ride of choice also check out my reviews of the Mega Construx Battle Cat vs Roton set and the series 3 M.U.S.C.L.E. standard Roton and orange Roton!
 
For more Masters of the Universe Eternia Minis check out the following:

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