“Evil Ghost of Skeletor!
Fear his glow! The Skeletal specter rules the underworld of Subternia, trapping lost souls inside of their deepest, darkest nightmares. But it has been too long since Scare Glow has tasted true fear. If the daring adventurers wish to pass through his domain, they must pay the price. Fear for Scare Glow to feast upon, or be trapped in Subternia forever…” – Box art bio
Evil Ghost of… Skeletor?
To be honest, I never really understood Scare Glow’s tag line in the vintage MOTU line. So was he a literal ghost of Skeletor or a ghost that works for Skeletor?
All of this is side stepped here, as this version of Scare Glow is based on his treatment in the Netflix Revelation and Revolution cartoons. As the lord of Eternia’s underworld, Scare Glow is a very powerful and intimidating character with his own agenda. Definitely no ghost of Skeletor!
One Scare Glow Not Enough for You?
Mattel released two versions of Scare Glow in, I think, Wave 3 back in 2021. One is the standard retail release which I’ll be looking at here. The other is a San Diego Comic Con exclusive which is pretty much the same figure as the retail version but has a deluxe day glow paint treatment, extra accessories, a wired cape and a very fancy box.
That exclusive has been hard to track down in the UK for a good price so I’ve settled for the retail version. Let’s see how it shapes up.
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Boxart
The retail version of Scare Glow was released as a standard figure and so came in one of the smaller boxes. Still, it has some fantastic art on the side and on the back.
Figure Overview
Underneath the cape and accessories, Scare Glow has the standard Masterverse build. Mattel opted to go with the slimmer and shorter legs so compared to characters like Viking He-Man, this Scare Glow feels a little short. I do think the Lord of Subternia should have been bigger and more imposing!
Articulation
A standard Masterverse body means standard Masterverse articulation:
- Ball joint at the neck allowing you to move the head all the way around and back and forwards.
- Shoulder joints are good and really quite tight. The top of the cape and collar are plastic and partly rest on the shoulders. This tends to ride with the shoulders so there’s no hindrance at all.
- Bicep joints allow you to swivel the arms in and out.
- Double joints at the elbows. A little loose on the right arm on this figure.
- Wrist joints. So you can spin the hands around as well as swivel them in and out.
- Mid-torso ball joint allowing plenty of movement which is good.
- Standard waist joint. I did think the raised belt buckle at the front would be a hindrance but there’s enough clearance for it to be fine.
- The hip joints have a weird ratchet joint which can make it hard to get the legs back to standing straight. I’ve noticed this with some of the earlier figures. On the plus side, the plastic skirt has slits at the sides allowing pretty good leg motion.
- Mid-thigh cuts allowing you to move the legs all the way around.
- Double joints at the knees. These are very tight on this figure.
- Boot cut on both legs.
- And finally the ankle joints. No problem with these, tight enough to help stand the figure while still being able to easily move them.
Design/Paint Application
The design for Scare Glow is pretty simple but quite striking – painted on, creamy white bones on black. It looks really cool and although this Scare Glow figure simply uses the standard Masterverse build, the unique look really makes it stand out.
I’ll come back to the “bones” in a bit but the purple accessories also work well against the black. The purple cape and collar go all the way back to the original vintage figure of course but the bracers, belt and boots feature designs new for the character. They also have a metallic sheen to them which looks really good.
Cape and Cloak
If I’m remembering right, the original Scare Glow’s cape and collar was an all soft goods affair. For this version, the cape itself is made from a felt-like material (similar to that used for Skelegod‘s cape) while the collar is a separate piece moulded in a purple plastic. It’s not totally seamless but the colours match pretty well and the collar has lots of detail moulded in, even down to the texture of the “fabric”.
I’m not totally sold on the felt cape. The material likes to stick to itself which is a bit annoying. However, the ragged edge of the cape is a nice a touch and it’s a good length. You can get some nice poses with it which is fun.
Head Size!
Before moving on, I should mention the size of Scare Glow’s head. It’s really quite small! This does seem to be on par with the rest of the Revelation related figures. They’re based on cartoon designs after all and expecting natural proportions from them is probably wrong headed (sorry!).
However, Scare Glow’s seems particularly small and looks very strange on other figure’s bodies:
The Glow in Scare Glow (or Lack Thereof!)
The vintage Scare Glow had a glow in the dark feature (the clue is in the name after all!) that worked really well. The body of the figure was made from a glow in the dark plastic which had areas painted black in such a way that the unpainted areas looked like bones. The glow was quite effective and I’ve seen photos of the now forty year-old vintage Scare Glow figures still putting out a powerful glow!
This method was repeated for the Classics and Origins versions of Scare Glow but not here. For the Masterverse Revelation version, the figure is made from a black plastic with the “bones” painted on. It does look pretty good but there is a lot less detail overall. The ribs and spine on the torso in particular look a bit too simplistic. There are some nice little touches such as the broken bone in the right arm and the individual finger bones on the hands.
Disappointingly, none of the bones glow! The only part of Scare Glow that glows is the skull head. Admittedly it glows quite well but when the action feature is in the name of the character, it’s still a bit of let down.
So the glow in the dark feature is a bit disappointing. I will give the designers a major point though for the plastic the figure is made from. It’s not simply a solid black colour but rather a smoky translucent plastic. This is most easily seen in the hands where the plastic is thinner.
But I think the rest of the figure might be made of this plastic:
It’s a shame it’s so hard to make out, but I do think the smokey translucency is a great feature.
Accessories
I’ve already talked about the cape and collar above so the only other accessories for Scare Glow are the halberd and an assortment of hands.
Halberd
The halberd is another traditional feature that goes right back to the original Scare Glow figure. It’s very fitting for such a spooky character and brings to mind Death with his scythe.
The halberd here is moulded in a dark green plastic, mostly flat with some details highlighted with a shiny sheen. It’s a good size, standing taller than the figure. It is a shame that it has no glow in the dark feature though.
Hands!
This Scare Glow comes with a choice of hands:
- A pair of gripping hands, one of which is the fun pointy hand!
- A fist.
- Plus one of those weirdly flat hands!
I’m not sure what the open and very flat hand is for, but it does give some more choices for posing.
Final Thoughts
Although I’m not too sure about the choice of material for the cape, I do think this is a great looking version of Scare Glow. The painted on bones lack detail but then the designers were basing it on the look from the Netflix cartoons.
However the big problem is that the only part that glows is the head. So your opinion may well depend on how strongly you feel about this. I know there are some strong opinions among the collectors online!
Where to Buy
The early releases from the Masteverse line – particularly anything related to the Netflix cartoons – all seem to have been produced in large numbers by Mattel. Scare Glow is no different and can still easily be picked up from the likes of eBay for very good prices. So if you like the look of this figure, it shouldn’t be too much trouble to pick one up.
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