Mondo is known for delivering some of the most amazing and detailed Masters of the Universe toys at a premium price point. Well, it looks like Mondo has another expensive yet gorgeous MOTU toy headed our way. Mondo rolled out their new Masters of the Universe: Skeletor Deluxe 1/6 scale figure on June 20, 2023! This is a Timed Edition figure. Therefore, this new Skeletor figure will only be available from June 20th through June 30th.
All right, let’s dig into this incredible Skeletor figure and check out what this toy delivers and if it is worth buying or not.
Body
Skeletor clocks in at a frightening 12 inches tall and a beefy 6 pounds! The Mondo Skeletor is one big boy, no doubt about it. This is roughly double the size of a Masterverse MOTU figure. This is a toy that will command a presence on your toy shelf as it will tower over all of your Masters of the Universe action figures.
The Mondo Skeletor boasts over 30 points of articulation. You will certainly be able to display your Mondo Skeletor in whatever badass pose you desire.
Now, this is not the first 1/6 scale Skeletor from Mondo. Mondo did release a 1/6 scale Skeletor from Mondo Toys back in November 2018. The 2018 Mondo Skeletor was also 12 inches tall. Mondo then delivered the Master of the Universe Revelation Skeletor 1/6 scale figure SDCC exclusive from 2022. The 2022 Mondo Skeletor was also 12 inches tall but at 4 pounds he was lighter than the new 2023 Mondo Skeletor which weighs 6 pounds.
However, there do appear to be some differences between the bodies of the 2022 Mondo Skeletor and the new 2023 Mondo Skeletor. The main difference is the forearms of the two figures. The 2022 Mondo Skeletor had large forearm frills. The other noticeable difference is that the 2022 Mondo Skeletor had a much more cartoon-animated style paint scheme with dark purple to set off the details on the body compared to the uni-color paint scheme of the new 2023 Mondo Skeletor.
The bodies of the 2018 Mondo Skeletor and the new 2023 Mondo Skeletor also have some differences. The two bodies have different paint schemes. The 2018 Mondo Skeletor looks like it is a darker blue and has far more dark blue/purple shadowing on the figure which gives his body more texture and depth. On the other hand, the 2023 Mondo Skeletor appears to be a lighter blue and has no dark blue/purple shadowing on it at all.
It also appears that the 2023 Mondo Skeletor has different elbow joints than the 2018 Mondo Skeletor. I like the new elbow joints on the 2023 Mondo Skeletor much more as they do a better job of hiding the joints.
Another difference is that the 2018 Mondo Skeletor has three toes while the 2023 Mondo Skeletor gets a full complement of five toes. The vintage MOTU Skeletor, MOTU Classics Skeletor, MOTU Origins Skeletor, and Masterverse Revelation Skeletor all had three toes. On the other hand, the 200x MOTU Skeletor, the MOTU Masterverse New Eternia Skeletor, and the 2022 Mondo Skeletor all had five toes.
So, your preference between the 2018 Mondo Skeletor and the 2023 Mondo Skeletor is going to mainly rest on which paint scheme you like more and if you prefer your Skeletor to come with three toes or five. Personally, I like the look of both figures. I do not really have a preference here.
The body of the Mondo Skeletor has a nice simple purple belt that is sculpted at the waistline. This belt matches both the Battle Armor and his Dragon Blaster Armor.
The body of the Mondo Skeletor also has a cool furry black loincloth. I am thrilled that the loincloth is furry rather than molded plastic. The fur helps to give this massive action figure a premium look.
Regular Mode
The Regular mode comes with a beautifully detailed chest harness that has that classic Skeletor look. Seriously, the amount of intricate detail that is lovingly sculpted into this harness is incredible. The chest harness is predominantly purple with some bold and a bit of silver and red that adds a vibrant pop of color.
The Regular mode also comes with an amazing belt and waist armor piece that fits over the simple belt that is part of the figure’s sculpt at the waist. The color scheme is mostly purple with a bit of gold and silver. The design perfectly complements the design of the chest harness. I particularly love the belt. It has nice metallic paint and a cool-looking evil bird-face belt buckle. It is so badass and has that classic MOTU design language.
The Regular mode also has forearm armor and shin armor. The forearm armor is mostly purple with a bit of black and gold. I love the detail that Mondo puts into the forearm armor. It is so impressive.
The shin armor is equally wonderful and follows the same purple, black, and gold color scheme and general design language of the forearm armor. What is great about the forearm armor and the shin armor is that they look perfect with all three modes for the Mondo Skeletor. It does not matter if you have Skeletor in his traditional chest harness, his battle damage chest armor, or his dragon blaster chest armor. The design of the forearm armor and shin armor meshes brilliantly with all three distinct modes for Mondo Skeletor.
The Regular mode is finished off with a gorgeous fabric cape with a wired frame and a fabric hood. And, yes, you can have Skeletor sport the fabric hood with the fabric cape off. Love it. The fabric cape looks amazing. I love that Mondo included a wired frame for the cape. This will allow collectors to pose the cape in a dramatic style. This will definitely make Skeletor an even more dynamic-looking figure on your toy shelf.
Battle Armor Mode
Collectors will also be able to display the Mondo Skeletor in his badass Battle Armor mode. First, there is an amazingly detailed chest armor based on the vintage Battle Armor Skeletor. Again, it cannot be overstated the amount of jaw-dropping detail that Mondo has crafted into the chest armor. The color scheme is metallic purple, black, gold, and silver with a nice pop of red in the form of a red jewel. I love the glorious design of the chest armor and all of the various leather straps that hold his best armor in place. I also dig the addition of a small skull in the center of the chest armor just below the bat insignia.
In order to simulate the vintage figure’s battle damage action feature, Mondo has gone with two metal bat insignias that can attach to the chest armor via a magnet in the chest armor. One bat logo is undamaged and the other bat log is damaged. Collectors can easily swap which magnetic bat logo they want to display on the chest armor. It is a nice design and I appreciate how simple it is to swap the two bat logos. It is much easier than the battle damage feature on the MOTU Origins figures! There is no having to take off the chest armor and then pop out the logo and put in a different one!
Dragon Blaster Mode
Now, the Battle Armor mode is incredible looking. But, the Battle Armor mode pales in comparison to the glorious Dragon Blaster mode! Again, Mondo does an excellent job delivering an updated and far more detailed version of the vintage Dragon Blaster Skeletor. The chest armor is a detailed refresh of the vintage Dragon Blaster chest armor. The color scheme is a nice metallic magenta with red and silver. It is a cool sleek looking chest armor.
The Dragon Blaster mode also comes with a chain with a lock on one end and a wrist gauntlet on the other end. The lock is green and the wrist gauntlet is green with pops of silver. The green color is close to the color of green on the vintage Dragon Blaster Skeletor. The addition of the silver rivets on the gauntlet makes it look more substantial and is a nice addition.
Of course, the real star of the show for the Dragon Blaster mode is the wicked-looking dragon figure! Mondo really went above and beyond expectations by not just including a dragon, but by making the dragon figure fully articulated! This is the first time that collectors are finally going to get a fully articulated dragon! I love it! What is even more impressive is that Mondo still was able to make the articulated dragon figure fit seamlessly on Skeletor’s shoulder and back.
The dragon figure has a wonderfully detailed sculpt. His reptilian skin has a lot of texture. The face sculpt is just mean-looking and I like his nasty-looking teeth. The paint scheme is well done with red for most of the body and more of a magenta color along the middle of his back. The dragon figure also has a green color with metal studs on it to match Skeletor’s wrist gauntlet.
But, that is still not all you get with the Dragon mode! The cherry on top to finish off this look with perfection is some green dragon smoke blast. This is a nice nod to the vintage Dragon Blaster Skeletor’s action feature of a dragon that squirted water. The smoke blast accessory is in a nice translucent green. Adding this smoke blast accessory to the dragon’s mouth will make displaying Skeletor in his Dragon Blaster mode one of the most dynamic looks possible.
Heads
You are going to get plenty of choices when it comes to which head you want to place on your Mondo Skeletor! Mondo created four different head sculpts. There is a vintage Skeletor head with no articulated jaw. This one is probably my favorite. Then you have a classic Skeletor head, an Alcala Skeletor head, and a Mondo Skeletor redux head which all have an articulated jaw. I love that these three skulls have articulated jaws. It is always better to be able to display your Skeletor in the middle of an evil cackle!
The sculpts for all four heads are beautiful and packed full of detail. As much as I love the vintage Skeletor head, I also appreciate that Mondo chose to honor Alfredo Alcala with a Skeletor head. Alcala was an artist on many of the vintage MOTU mini-comics and this is how he drew Skeletor’s head despite the fact that the vintage Skeletor had a different head.
Hands
Mondo is also giving us four different sets of hands that range from open to closed fists. I like that we are getting numerous options in order to give us more creativity on how to display this Mondo Skeletor.
Weapons and Accessories
Mondo is also delivering various weapons and accessories that can be combined with any of the aforementioned modes. First, there is a PVC hood that you can use instead of the fabric hood. I love that Mondo is giving us this option. The PVC hood helps to give the Mondo Skeletor a more vintage look. I also think that the PVC hood is a better match for the Battle Armor mode and the Dragon Blaster mode. But, your taste may vary so now we have options!
We also get a power sword which is a nice metallic purple with a brown handle. This power sword is nothing you have not seen before, but it looks very nice.
Next is a Havoc Staff. Naturally. The Havoc Staff is in a metallic purple with brown accents and a cool gold ball at the base of the staff. The detail in the sculpt for the ram’s head is phenomenal. This is an evil-looking Havoc Staff.
Mondo also includes a battleaxe. I love the color scheme of this weapon. The edges of the blades are purple while the rest of the blades are a nice pewter color. I like the white ornamental orb atop the battleaxe. The detailing in the sculpt is impressive. I actually think the battleaxe looks cooler than the power sword.
Now, all the weapons and accessories are cool, but the pièce de résistance for me is the Terror Claws with wrist bracers. Yes! Now we may not be getting the full Terror Claws mode complete with the Terror Claws chest armor. But, at least we are getting the Terror Claws and wrist bracers! What a brilliant addition to the Mondo Skeletor. The Terror Claws are dramatic and immediately make Skeletor look like one of the most imposing figures on your toy shelf! I also appreciate that Mondo designed the Terror Claws to look like the Terror Claws from the vintage mini-comic rather than the design from the vintage Terror Claws Skeletor action figure.
Exclusives
The items listed above that will be exclusive to this Timed Edition includes
Battle Armor
Bat Emblem with damage
Bat Emblem without damage
Dragon Armor
Dragon
Chain with lock and wrist gauntlet
Smoke blast
Terror Claws
Alcala Skull head
Skeletor Mondo Skull Redux head
Fabric Cape with wire and fabric hood
Price and Availability
Look, I think we can all agree on how amazing the Monod Skeletor looks and how impressive the insane amount of accessories and weapons that accompany this action figure is. But, the real discussion of the Mondo Skeletor comes down to the price. The Mondo Skeletor is being offered at an eye-watering $260 price tag. Now, if you purchase the figure through Sezzle then there is an option to break the $260 price tag into 4 interest-free payments of $65. At any rate, paying $260 for any action figure no matter how large or how many accessories it may come with is a massive ask from most people. The Mondo Skeletor is insanely expensive. There is no debating that fact.
Let’s compare this to what else $260 could get me in the world of MOTU. I could purchase both the Castle Grayskull playset and the Snake Mountain playset for just $160 and still have $100 left over to purchase a MOTU Origins Wind Raider, a MOTU Origins Land Shark, and a MOTU Origins Sky Sled and Prince Adam figure and still have $25 left over to buy a random MOTU Origins action figure. Both MOTU Origins playsets are huge and offer tons of playability and display options at a much lower price point than the Mondo Skeletor.
Yet, when I look at this phenomenal action figure and its dragon figure and all of the beautiful accessories, the collector in me still desperately wants this Mondo Skeletor! Look, if you have the income to provide for yourself and your family and still have the discretionary funds to purchase this Mondo Skeletor then mazal tov. Go forth and get this toy and enjoy.
However, the fact remains that most people do not have unlimited discretionary funds and have to carefully decide which toy to add to their collection and which toy to skip. There are a ridiculous number of cool toys for sale and most of us cannot afford to add all of them to our collections!
I have an extremely hard time ever saying that a $260 toy is worth the price tag and encouraging people to purchase said toy. However, I do know that I would not bother waiting for Mondo to release this Skeletor figure without the Timed Edition exclusive items. When Mondo did this with the Deluze 1/6 scale He-Man the price difference was tiny. The Timed Edition cost $260 and the later offered edition without all of the extra accessories and weapons cost $235. All of the exclusive items make it far worth purchasing this Mondo Skeletor Timed Edition at the $260 price point versus buying the stripped-down version at $235.
Verdict
Personally, I am still undecided if I am going to pull the trigger on purchasing this Mondo Skeletor. My plan is to take the entire ten days that this Timed Edition figure is up for pre-order to debate if I want to purchase it or not. Hopefully, by June 30, 2023, I will have come to a conclusion on if I am going to buy this figure or not!
