The Masterverse New Eternia Skelcon was released at the end of 2024, but I found mine at retail at a toy shop local to me just last month, so I'm just now getting around to him. It's pretty cool to have a new army builder for Masterverse. Who doesn't love the Skelcons, right? Originally appearing in the Masters of the Universe picture books from Ladybird released in the UK in the 1980s, the Skelcons made their way into the 2012 DC Comics series, the Masters of the Universe Classics toyline (paired with the Roton), and Netflix's Masters of the Universe: Revelation. I love these weird, creepy guys and I'm pretty sure that this version of the creature is the creepiest yet. This guy seemed to be exclusive to specialty market retailers and e-tailers and, surprisingly, you can still find them available. Ready to check out Skeletor's malicious foot soldiers from the Dimension of Infinita? Then join me after the break...
The Facts:
Height: 7 3/8ths inches
Articulation: Swivel/hinge ankles, boot swivels, double hinged knees, thigh swivels, balljointed hips, swivel waist, balljointed mid-torso, swivel/hinge shoulders, bicep swivels, double hinged elbows, swivel/hinge wrists, hinged neck, a balljointed head, and a hinged lower jaw.
Accessories: 4 interchangeable hands, armor, spear, axe, knife, sheath, and shield.
Original Retail Price: $23 dollars
Year of Release: 2024
The Positives:
* The Skelcons absolutely are identifiable as Skeletor's minions since they're wearing similar outfits in similar colors. Heck, they have blue skin, too, along with demonic looking clawed feet and the ridges/ fins on the forearms. The original Skelcons were just wearing furry tunics and matching hoods but the New Eternia versions gives them a slightly more complex outfit. There are some armored plates on the shins and crotch, studded leather straps to hold the chest gear in place, and a mixture of armored plates and... maybe fur... that protect the chest.. The chest armor does come off easily if you're into swapping things around, and it has multiple paint applications on it, including silver paint hits for the metal studs on the straps.
* The portrait is really terrifying. Ever since I became aware of the Skelcons in the mid to late 2000s, the shape of the Skelcons's head has always reminded me of the creature on the cover of
Stephen King's 1978 novel The Stand. That just makes this guy even cooler in my book. The birdlike Skelcon skull is excellent with glowing red eye sockets, horns coming from the hood, and a paintjob to bring out the detail and make this creature look like something ancient and evil.
* The lower jaw opens, too. Seeing those teeth in there is really terrifying. Personally, I think this might be the most frightening Masters of the Universe Classics figure to date.
(Just a note: The Skelcon's hood does seem to be a completely separate piece, but I don't know of any way to remove it unless you were risking bending or tearing off the horns.)
* Check out what's in this guy's mouth. Little tiny skulls and wailing faces. Are these like the souls of the beings he's devoured, somehow being absorbed into his body and giving him energy? That is a terrifying detail and, darn, I love it so very much. Nice work on this by Mattel's MOTU team.
* Mattel hasn't really changed the Masterverse up since the line began, so if you've played with any of the figures in the line you pretty much know what to expect here. These are toys first and foremost, so they're sturdy and well made. The Skelcon has double jointed knees and elbows and most everything has a good range of motion to it, so you'll be pretty happy. It's not as smooth as high end import figures or even Hasbro's current offering from Marvel Legends and the line but it's just fine and fitting for this price point. That extra opening mouth just makes this guy even more fun.
* Mattel has been really good about throwing in extra hands with these releases and the Skelcon comes with both a pair of fists and a pair of gripping hands for holding his weapons.
* The Skelcon comes not only with a nice selection of weapons but they're weapons with paint applications, too. I love this cool spear, especially that bone spearhead. Maybe it's the tooth from some giant creature?
* And a bone axe? Also very, very cool. It's even got something like scrimshaw on the sides of it. These are some of the best accessories in this line to date.
* We've seen this shield before many times but it's still a great, plain shield with a wrist strap and a handle on the back.
* The blade of the Skelcon's dagger is made from stone, not bone, but the quillons are made from sharpened bone as it the pommel. The handcrafted feel of this is pretty cool, making it seem like these guys are relics of a more ancient time.
* There is a small sheath that can fit on to the side of the Skelcon's armor, allowing him to to tote the dagger around. It's easy to pop on and take off, giving you a bit of flexibility in displaying an army of these guys.
* There's also a loop on the back of the armor so the figure can tote around the axe or the spear.
The Negatives:
* You know what? It's kind of weird the claws on his feet aren't black, isn't it? You'd expect those long nails to be black rather than just blue. Definitely needed a paint hit there.
The Skelcon is a very cool figure who is just a lot of fun. I'm really a fan of that headsculpt with the opening mouth and weird little skulls and faces inside. Incredible! Nice accessories, too. He's a Great and a 1/2 figure and one of my favorite Masterverse figures from last year's releases. I wish I'd gotten around to reviewing him earlier! Some of the depictions of the Skelcons show them with wings, so I wonder if Mattel will ever release a winged version of these guys? That wouldn't be a bad release to have in Masterverse.
This is the first Skelcon I've reviewed on the site. For more Masterverse reviews check out the following:
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They're so hard to find here in UK now which is ironic since they originated in our Ladybird books here. I got two when it was first released. I love it.
ReplyDeleteThe toe claws are usually just blue (they just have regular feet in the Ladybird books, not even Skeletor's demon toes) though the Classics figure has them a darker colour. Easy enough to add if you want to though. Mattel already gave quite a lot of paint apps and washes to this figure and it's weapons. :)
I kept thinking the Skelcons looked familiar! Thanks for mentioning the original Ladybird books, which I collected!
DeleteIs cool. :) And yeah classic books. :)
DeleteI'm glad you got ahold of some. They are pretty nice looking. I've picked up a couple of the Ladybird books over the years, though I wasn't aware of them until during the MOTUC era when Classics borrowed some elements of them here and there.
DeleteOne references the classic King opus, the other the much-missed hardback classics of my early teens. Both are therefore individuals of extremely good taste
ReplyDeleteThat cover for the uncut version of the Stand is seared into my mind as my Dad had it when I was a kid and kept it on his nightstand while he was reading it. I just remember seeing it over and over. That copy is mine now and I was thrilled when I finally read it for my self (probably around 2008 or 2009, in my mid 20s). Have you read Fairy Tale? It's just from the past few years and is more of a homage to the works of Edgar Rice Burroughs, but it's quite fun with an excellent dog character.
DeleteThese minions of Skeletor are bad ass. An army of them would be pretty cool.
ReplyDeleteThat would be quite frightening. I wonder if we'll see them in the upcoming MOTU movie?
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ReplyDeleteI get mine from The Whole Shebang. You gotta be quick and pre-order with some though as they can sell out quick.
DeleteLast year though I had a weird but pleasant bit where I received a wave of figures far earlier here in UK than the US did. I got the wave 13 of Thunder Punch He-Man, Leech, Emperor Hordak and Sy-Klone in May which weren't due til July. :O Odder still was that the box they were sent in from Whole Shebang had Entertainment Earth (the US site) on it. :P How I ended up with a wave of US release figures here in UK a couple months before my US collector pals I do not know but it was a nice switch-around for once. :)
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