Skeletor [Mighty Masters]

Skeletor is a lot of things. Originally an evil demon before his origin was later rewritten into him being the former Keldor, who had been transformed into Skeletor, a skull-faced man. I've made countless jokes before about He-Man fighting an army of Halloween decorations, but the thing with Skeletor is... he was actually inspired by a haunted house prop.

Mark Davis has said that when he was designing Skeletor, he took inspiration from a neon-painted skeleton that scared the crap out of him as a kid in the Laugh in the Dark haunted house. Turns out, that skeleton was a little scarier than anyone knew. The same prop was later discovered not to be a dummy, but an actual corpse that had somehow found its way there. This was discovered when an episode of The Six Million Dollar Man was being filmed and the crew accidentally broke its arm off. Turns out, it was the body of Elmer McCurdy, a Wild West bandit whose corpse became a sideshow attraction that eventually found its way into that haunted house. Skeletor doesn’t just look spooky, he’s tied to a legitimately spooky true story.

This Mighty Masters figure of him is great and, just like the others, is a nice little replica of his original toy. He has the same swinging waist gimmick He-Man has and comes with his trademark Havok Staff to swing around while using it. It’s an extremely likable mini figure of Skeletor and... you know what? I always liked his demon origin better. You didn’t ask, and that was abrupt, but thug life.

I’ve always been a fan of Skeletor’s armor. Faker uses it in orange colors, and it looks fabulous. This is a great little figure to keep you company at your desk or even carry around in a cargo pocket. Just the right size and neatness.

Unfortunately, it’s also the last of the Mighty Masters for the time being. I really hope Mattel continues making these and that there are future series with more Heroic and Evil Warriors. I’ve heard talk of 3D prints of Castle Grayskull out there that are in scale with this... and honestly, that’s awesome.