Mattel Masters of the Universe Origins x Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Turtles of Grayskull Skeletor Action Figure Mattel, 2024
Day #2,770: October 17, 2024
Skeletor Evil Samurai of Destruction!
Masters of the Universe Origins Action Figure
Item No.: Asst. HPR00 No. HTH14 Manufacturer:Mattel Includes:Mutagen, kusarigama, greaves, cape, and a comic Action Feature:n/a Retail:$19.99 Availability:May 2024 Other: Some new parts, with Beast Man's skirt
If you're dealing with toys from Eternia, if there's a He-Man there's going to be a Skeletor. Turtles of Grayskull waited for wave four to do the heavy-hitters, which is probably a good idea - these guys will sell. He-Man is in some roughed-up drifter disguise, whereas Skeletor seemed to have studied the blade and said "no, I want to borrow from Shredder's tailor." The Samurai-inspired outfit looks like something from the late 1980s or early 1990s, and on a simpler figure seems like something we could have had as kids. As a super-articulated figure, though, it's a bit fancier - but it's worth noting just because it looks like the green trim can glow in the dark doesn't mean that it can.
The kusarigama are a bit like Mikey's nunchucks, in that they are a plastic chain that isn't just one solid piece. Each one has a bladed element and a face that looks like the ram skull on the Havoc Staff, giving it a lot of personality compared to a sword or a shield. It's an interesting and weird spin on both brands' melee weapon legacies, and it makes little sense with the samurai armor but feudal Japan, high science, and sorcery from Eternia shouldn't go well together either.
The set is rounded out by a vial of mutagen, this time represented as a blue tube with a couple of silver caps. This is going to be the part kids lose - it's tiny, and there's nowhere else to store it on this figure. If he isn't holding it, it's going to roll under a couch for one thousand years. Be careful with this one.
His feet are un-booted, an odd choice given he has the classic three-toed models. I'm not crazy about molded-in-plastic silver color, as in this case it looks a little muted. The same happened with Mekaneck's boots, and the silver paint on the figure's covered bracelets does look a bit more vibrant.
When it comes to nostalgia properties, sometimes you get a revival, sometimes you get a continuation, and sometimes you get a wake. Seeing the return of your favorites can eventually lead to monotony, but somehow Mattel managed to force Masters of the Universe along a path that remains active and vibrant, seemingly selling of its own merits rather than "I had this as a kid." Heck, even kids might like these - they're colorful and weird, a little more expensive than Playmates' surprisingly cheap kid-targeted figures but still pretty good for the money.
I think this is a fun figure that would make total sense in the 1990s, as a hypothetical He-Man in 1990 would have to compete with the turtles head-on. It's surreal that the two brands joined together, but it seems Mirage Studios and the subsequent Nickelodeon overlords haven't met a licensing partner they couldn't work something out. After all, we saw crossovers with WWE, Ghostbusters, Transformers, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, and others - could G.I. Joe, Spawn, or Street Fighter II be far behind? The downside is that anyone who collects a single format isn't getting quite the deep bench of toys we got in the old days, but every new crossover is a new place for fans to start over - a new #1, if you will - so even for collecting, Turtles remains surprisingly welcoming after nearly 40 years. Even to Skeletor. For $20 or so, I like this figure enough to say give him a look - if you like weird figures, the quality is solid and the accessories are entertaining.
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