“Cosmic Lord of Destruction!
Skeletor lives his life with a singular purpose – to control the unlimited powers of the entire universe. Time after time the bane of Eternia was thwarted by He-Man and the heroic warriors. What kind of monster would be unleashed should they be unable to stop the Lord Destruction? Surely a raging storm of horror and terror even the bravest dare not even imagine…” – Box art bio.
Two Skeletors in a Row
But they couldn’t be more different! I got this Skelegod figure straight after the Barbarian Skeletor figure by luck more than anything. Pleased it worked out that way as they are very interesting to compare because they look so different.
This figure is part of the Revelation tie in line for Netflix’s Masters of the Universe Revelation cartoon. Skelegod was the figure I chose to try out the line, but who is he? Spoilers ahead I guess for anybody who hasn’t watched Netflix’s series yet!
Skelegod in a nutshell, is what Skeletor looks like with the power of Grayskull – at least according to the Netflix show. Judging by reviews dating from 2021, this figure must have been released before the show aired as there seemed to be quite a bit of confusion as to what this figure was all about! Having watched the show and with the benefit of hindsight, I feel this is a very cartoon accurate figure of Skelegod.
Boxart
The box art gives a great look at the Skelegod character. Really getting across the size and power of this version of Skeletor!
Apart from Skelegod, the box art doesn’t give much else away. No surprises there I guess, the figure was released before the show came out so I would assume they were keen to avoid any possible spoilers.
Figure Overview
First impressions are that this is a garish but fun figure. Big too!
I had watched the Netflix show before getting this figure so I knew what to expect. I can well imagine somebody looking at this figure before the show was released would have wondered what on Eternia Mattel and the designers were doing with Skeletor.
Anyway, back to first impressions. This figure certainly makes one!
This is a big figure. Mattel billed it as 9 inches tall (see this old product page on the Mattel Creations site) and while I make it closer to 8 inches (or almost 19.5cm) tall, it still has a lot of shelf presence.
I will admit that some of the impact is taken away by having recently looked at the huge New Eternia Beast Man. Still, Skelegod has a beefy frame made even larger by the large shoulder armour.
Size Comparison
Placing Skelegod along side some of the figures I’ve looked at already, it towers over Barbarian Skeletor, the taller Viking He-Man is also dwarfed. The over sized New Eternia Beast Man figure though, gives Skelegod a run for his money. They’re about the same height although I would say Beast Man is probably even beefier overall.
Design
The figure’s design seems pretty cartoon accurate to me, although in the cartoon Skelegod was even bigger. The blues, blacks, purples and lime greens aren’t for the faint of heart and this figure had a somewhat divisive reaction when it was released.
It’s fair to say, if you didn’t like the cartoon designs you are not going to like this figure!
In terms of the figure itself, I think it’s a unique moulding. Certainly much bigger than He-Man and any of the other figures I’ve looked at so far apart from that Beast Man. It’s muscly without being monstrous.
That garish “H” on Skelegod’s chest by the way, is something to do with Skeletor getting the power of Grayskull in the Netflix show!
On the wrists and boots are skull/face designs which are I presume either call backs to Skelegod’s skull or Castle Grayskull. Or maybe both.
Paint Application
Following on from the design of the figure, let’s look at the paint application and get some of the negatives over with!
The body has a darker wash over it and it’s been applied quite messily in places, especially around joints. Added to which, some of the other colours bleed into the wash. The overall feeling is that this is just well, messy.
That’s a bit disappointing for what is meant to be a deluxe figure.
Apart from that, the paint application is mostly restricted to the silver and lime green details on the armour.
I’m pleased to say, the head and face are both done really quite well. As with Skeletor, Skelegod has a skull for a face which is painted a bone white with a slightly darker wash over it. The teeth are a nice bright white, showing that even Skelegods brush their teeth!
The helmet is fantastic. Its large, purple horns curve outwards and forwards and have a detailed, ridged texture. The helmet itself is black and gun metal grey.
While I’m talking about the head area, around the neck is a translucent green collar I guess you could it. This must be meant to emulate the ring of flames that encircled Skelegod’s head in the cartoon. I’m liking it, it’s quite a nice touch.
Articulation
Despite being a larger figure, the standard Masterverse articulation is all present and correct. Double joints at the elbows and knees, ball joint at the neck, joints at the mid-torso and waist, mid-shin and ankle joints and more.
If the Barbarian Skeletor figure had some of the better joints out of the figures I’ve got so far, this Skelegod figure has some of the worst. The wrist joints are extremely loose. Almost as though the removable hands aren’t quite fitting into the wrists properly.
The ankle joints aren’t as bad but are still pretty loose. The figure seems to stand fine but if you’re not careful it will take a dive off of your shelves while your back is turned.
The rest of the joints seem okay allowing you to get some fun poses out of the figure.
Accessories
Out of the box Skelegod comes with a good assortment of accessories:
- Extra pair of gripping hands,
- Power up affect and
- Sword of Power.
This is my first look at the Sword of Power as it appears in the Revelation line. Funny that it’s with a Skeletor/Skelegod figure and not a He-Man figure, but that’s how things worked out with me.
It’s quite distinct from the New Eternia version but it still homages the classic design for the sword. Both designs give the sword a nice long blade which I really like.
The gripping hands hold the sword okay but the grip is actually quite loose, partly caused I think by the hands being so big. The sword doesn’t fall out however and it is held fine. The bigger problem are those loose wrists, you can get the figure to hold the sword up but it takes a bit of patience!
The power up/fire ball accessory is a fun add in. It’s moulded in a translucent lime green and fits over one of the hands. It gives the impression that Skelegod is powering up to lay a powerful spell down on He-Man.
Armour
Various parts of the armour can be removed along with the cape. The wrist guards are the easiest – just take off the hands and they will just slide off.
Ah, yes the wrist guards! These are quite annoying! They sit really quite loosely over the wrists and can even be spun around by flicking them. I took them off when swapping out hands and accessories as they were so annoying. Along with the loose wrist joints, they do form part of a problem area for the figure.
The shoulder armour fits really well fortunately. I’d be tempted to say it might not be intended to be removed, it fits so snugly. It can be done though. First, take off Skelegod’s head. Then finagle off the flame effect plastic. Now the shoulder armour can slide up and over the neck.
It’s interesting this can all be done of course, but I haven’t really got anything that would fit on Skelegod’s mighty shoulders. So part swapping isn’t going to happen for me here. If I try some head swapping, I’ll put that into a separate post.
The chest harness can’t be removed easily. It looks like it could be, it even has the usual loops on the back. However it is plugged and glued into holes on Skelegod’s upper back.
With everything taken off, the neck looks really quite odd! I guess it was moulded to be extra long to account for the plastic flame effect accessory.
The Cape
As I mentioned above, the cape be very simply removed. It clips over the back of the chest harness on the back. The cape itself is really nicely done. Three layers, with the longer one reaching down to Skelegod’s feet. The longer piece also has a lighter purple trim. The middle layer has two longer strips which are are weighted down by diamond-shaped plastic pieces.
The cape is made from a felt-like material which gives it a bit of weight. This does mean the cape keeps getting a bit caught up in itself. Get it nice and straight though and it looks pretty good.
Final Thoughts
Skelegod is another fun over sized figure from the Masterverse line. As I said at the beginning this is my first Revelation figure and although it’s very much not representative of the sub-line, it does provide a taste of the more cartoony design Mattel is going for here.
I do like this figure but it is also the one that I’ve had the most issues with so far. Loose joints and wrist guards, sloppy painting and a penchant for shelf diving means I can’t recommend this figure quite as much as I’d like to.
Where to Buy
Either Mattel massively over produced this figure or folks just didn’t take to it because despite being released back in 2021, it is still very easy to find. The prices for it are really good too.
If you can’t find it on the shelves of your favourite toy or collectibles shop, there are loads of example of the figure on eBay!
