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Mattel Masters of the Universe Origins Sketchbook Series Skeletor
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00:16This guy can never seem to stay in line. Good thing Mark Taylor can stay in his.
00:20Here's your look at the Mattel Mass Universe concept series, Skeletor, Evil Lord of Destruction.
00:31Master Universe presents Sketchbook Series, featuring figures inspired by the original concept drawings of your fan favorite characters before they
00:38evolved into the final forms of Eternia's greatest heroes and villains.
00:42I wonder how much time it took from Shade and the cheekbones.
00:44But we're going to be spending more time, though, looking at the figure that's based on it.
00:47Before we get a closer look at the concept series, Skeletor, first let's perhaps grab the tape measure and get
00:52things underway by clocking in the figure's height.
00:54If I'm looking at this correctly, and by now I'd like to think that I am,
00:57the figure of Skeletor seems to stand about six inches in height, working out to be a figure that's about
01:0315 and a half centimeters tall.
01:05I know I haven't looked at them all, but here's a couple of concept series figures to wet your whistle
01:09with.
01:10Concept series He-Man, for example.
01:11Now, while still having similar styles of bodies, couldn't help but really notice, I'm sure you probably couldn't help but
01:16notice either,
01:17that Skeletor has quite a large head.
01:19Maybe not as big of a head as concept series Many Faces.
01:22Here's also what the figure looks like with the concept series Hordak, concept series Grizzlor.
01:27And here's what Skeletor originally looked like.
01:29Here's what he eventually looked like, at least in the origins.
01:32Of course, with these figures, you get yourself a paper pamphlet.
01:35The pamphlet this time around isn't there to show you necessarily that you can swap out the parts for Skeletor,
01:40but it shows you more so the fact that the Havoc staff does have a removable head that is attached
01:45by a cord.
01:45The original drawing, though, of concept series Skeletor by Mark Taylor does actually have the Havoc staff with a cord
01:51attaching the two.
01:52We're going to show that right now.
01:54The Havoc staff, I will say, is a lot larger than the Origins Havoc staff.
01:58I just happen to have a copy of that right here.
02:00Not only is it a lot longer of a staff, but the actual ran head is considerably bigger, too.
02:05The concept, well, the color of the concept is clearly a lot lighter of a color as well.
02:09It seems more like a grape purple, more like than the darker purple that we would get with the original
02:15Origins, or vintage for that matter.
02:17What's interesting, though, about the Havoc staff is, much like the sketch, you can actually take the top of the
02:22head and extend it out.
02:24This, I guess, would serve as maybe like a ball and chain for Skeletor to swing this around his cronies.
02:30To put this back, though, in place, you just take sort of like the top of it and you kind
02:34of twist the bottom.
02:35And just keep continuing to twist until eventually the head goes back in place.
02:40It goes in place okay.
02:42I will say, though, it does feel like at times it sits really loose.
02:45And I guess there's really no way around that.
02:47In order for this to have a drawn-out cord, it has to unfortunately be a little loose in the
02:51top of the head.
02:52This can fit into his hands, although Concept Series Skeletor only has really one gripping hand.
02:58The other hand is just a regular flat hand.
03:01Based at least on the images that we've seen, it does look like the Havoc staff is a color different
03:05than the rest of Skeletor's armor.
03:07So I don't think it's necessarily wrong the fact that this is as light of a purple as it is.
03:11I wish that maybe it was just a little bit of a darker color because it does seem like it
03:15doesn't really belong to this particular Skeletor.
03:17That said, though, let's go ahead and just remove that right now.
03:20We'll come back to that in a second.
03:21And getting then a closer look at Concept Series Skeletor, I would say of all the concept figures, this was
03:26the one I was most interested in.
03:28I will say it looks very much like the concept sketch that Taylor first drew of the character.
03:33Right down to the fact that, in fact, actually, that he does have this large head.
03:37Now, it's hard to really translate that in a sketch because I would think that, like, even though the head
03:42is large in the original drawing,
03:44I feel like, though, that maybe the head is still a little bit too big.
03:48I do like that he's sort of got, like, a green goblin point on the back of his hood.
03:51It's, again, very much looks like Skeletor from the original drawing.
03:54It kind of does, even, in fact, look a little bit like Langella's Skeletor from the 87 live-action film.
04:01I thought initially, though, that they may have used the same armor from the previous Skeletor.
04:06And yet, though, I mean, obviously, the dead giveaway it isn't is the fact of the way they fanned out
04:10the sides of his shoulders.
04:11But also, too, looking at the marker on the front, it's very much different here on the original Skeletor from
04:16Origins.
04:17It's much closer kind of bat design here on the Concept Series.
04:20Plus, too, though, he's also got a different style of amulet there on the skull and crossbones.
04:25So it's a completely new tooled head, obviously.
04:28Newly tooled hood as well.
04:29And then the armor that Skeletor is also wearing is completely different as well.
04:34Earlier, Skeletors would actually have it be strapped onto the back.
04:37And, of course, would have the strap ties there on the sides as well.
04:40This Skeletor actually just only has this attached on the back.
04:43So you just attach it, or detach it that way if you wanted to completely remove it.
04:47It does seem, though, like despite having different styles of arms,
04:51it is probably using, yeah, the same style of body as Origins, just a little bit lighter of a color.
04:56Something, though, that they've also sculpted differently, though, is Skeletor's arms.
05:00Now they've got these gauntlets here.
05:03Different sculpt, same color, though, because, again, they would have just only molded this in the same coloring of plastic.
05:08He's got a different loincloth also here in the front.
05:11I kept it really close here just so I'd be able to keep constantly bringing it back in.
05:15Loincloth is very different here than the Origins.
05:17I do actually really like that kind of, what is that, like an eagle?
05:21Or, no, it's probably, I don't know, it kind of looks a bit more like an eagle and less like
05:25a snake.
05:26Initially, when I first got this guy out of the packaging, I thought, oh, that's a snake.
05:29And yet, though, a closer inspection definitely does seem like it's more of an eagle.
05:34I like the sculpt of these.
05:35I would really like to see maybe, in fact, this armor be used again for another Skeletor for a future
05:39release.
05:40Boots are also something that's very different, too, than the original Skeletor.
05:43Skeletor would have had, like, monster feet.
05:44This Skeletor still sort of retains the same idea of monster feet, but with completely different guards on the front.
05:50Some nice uses, though, of yellow here, a nice trimming, though, of purple there along the top.
05:55Match that, of the coloring on the top of his armor, is, again, very much exact to the way it
06:00was initially drawn by Mark.
06:02For Skeletor's articulation, despite having really this large head,
06:06now, you're probably also wondering, too, does the head be removable?
06:09Well, it looks, perhaps, like they probably have glued the inside of it.
06:12So, while maybe you'd be able to peel this completely off, it's not intended initially when you get this figure
06:18first out of the packaging.
06:20Snap that back in place.
06:21Because the head is a little bit larger, it does limit some of the possibility that you can actually do
06:25with the figure's head moving it up and down.
06:27Concept series Skeletor, though, can easily rotate his head all the way around.
06:30You can also rock it back and forth, yeah, all up and down as well.
06:34His arms do rotate.
06:36I've noticed, though, that the arms for Skeletor are a little tight, especially turning it all the way around.
06:42Despite saying that, though, I still manage to do that.
06:44His arms hinge out, yeah, they do, at 90 degrees.
06:47He does have, like with every other Master's figure, a swivel only in the forearm,
06:52but there's also a hinge right there, so he can also bend the elbow back and forth, too.
06:56Hands do rotate all the same as all the other Master's figures.
06:59Of course, he does have the waist swivel.
07:01Leg split.
07:02There's the ball joints.
07:03Right there.
07:03Where?
07:04Right there.
07:05There's ball joints.
07:06You can move the legs forward and back.
07:07There's a swivel there, mildly at the top of the thigh.
07:10Bend the knee.
07:11There's also a swivel where the boot essentially is detached,
07:14so this is a separate piece that would slide really over the top of the calf.
07:18Then Skeletor would have then hinges back and forth for his feet.
07:21You can also rock them back and forth as well.
07:24Yeah, yeah.
07:25I think, really, of all the Concept series figures,
07:28Concept Skeletor was the one I was the most interested in.
07:31Now seeing him, though, in hand, seeing now him in plastic,
07:34he is by far the best Concept series figure that we've gotten so far.
07:39Yes, there are a few that I still have yet to pick up.
07:42Spikeor, I think, is one.
07:43What's the other one?
07:44Cyclone.
07:45Cyclone, I think, is another Concept series figure I still haven't yet picked up.
07:48I like this.
07:49I like this line.
07:50I mean, yes, it isn't really the way that the toy would eventually look.
07:54And again, like the closest thing I have right now, here's the Origins Skeletor.
07:58But there's something magical, though, about Concept Skeletor.
08:02The design elements are very much the way they looked on the initial drawing.
08:06Having, again, like a Havoc staff with a removable head would all be things that the original drawing
08:10that Mark Taylor would have had would have had as well.
08:13The down, unfortunately, the downside of having a rotating head for the Havoc staff,
08:17if I can just get this back the way I found this, is that, yeah, turning it eventually
08:22when the head gets back in place, sometimes also when you're turning this, you feel like
08:27you're going the wrong way.
08:28Then you have to kind of turn it the opposite way.
08:29And then it sort of then gets hung up like it doesn't want to go any further.
08:34I don't know if it's maybe just the way it's designed that sometimes it gets hung up on
08:38the knot, for example, but you kind of have to get past that point for the Havoc staff
08:43to go back in place.
08:44It sits, unfortunately, though, loose.
08:46And just that's, unfortunately, one of the things I have to go with the fact that this
08:49is a one that is attached by a cord.
08:51It's a cool-looking Havoc staff.
08:53The coloring is also very much different than the original Havoc staffs that we get from
08:56Origin Skeletor.
08:57All in all, though, a great-looking figure if you have the chance to grab one for yourself.
09:02You know, in a sea of very similar Skeletor's concept, Skeletor seems like a breath of fresh
09:07air.
09:07He lacks maybe some of the colors that would eventually make their way to the vintage toy or the subsequent
09:12origins that would follow afterwards.
09:14But there's something interesting about this character that I feel like never really
09:19translated to the full extent of what we would get from the 80s toy.
09:22I like this look of Skeletor with a chalk-white face.
09:25I get maybe from the standpoint of a kid's toy, you'd want to pack a little bit more color
09:29to that.
09:30I like the head sculpt on this one quite a lot.
09:32It's large, yes.
09:33I feel like maybe it's too large for the rest of his body.
09:36But again, if you look back on the original Mark Taylor designs, it's not that far off,
09:41really, couple that with the additional yellow that he put in the armor and, of course, into
09:45the gauntlets as well.
09:46And in addition to that, obviously, the Havoc staff that has the removable ram head.
09:51I think those are all nice touches that are translated really well here to plastic.
09:55What's interesting also about concept Skeletor is that the back of the packaging does actually
10:00have him depicted fighting alongside Evil Lin.
10:02Evil Lin doesn't look that much different, really, than what we would get with the normal
10:07designs of Lin, but they're also, funny enough, fighting a character, a shadowy character
10:11all in armor, and they're also battling against Hordak.
10:14Now, that Hordak isn't the same Hordak as the concept Hordak, so I'm curious as to where
10:19the design of that one came from and if we would ever get a figure of him as well.
10:23Yeah, concept Skeletor.
10:25If you've been on the fence as to whether you want to really get into this line, maybe
10:28you thought to yourself, you know, I'm fine just with Origins, or I'm fine even with
10:32the original vintage toys.
10:33Anyways, I think if you had to test the waters with any of the characters, test it with Skeletor.
10:38You might be happy with having this guy on the shelf.
10:41What do you guys think of concept Skeletor?
10:43Let me know down below.
10:44Have you guys had a chance to pick this one up, or is this one that's on your radar?
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