I was gifted Terror Claws Skeletor…a version of Skeletor I never had as a kid. (I didn’t care for the generation that was Flying Fist He-Man and Terror Claws Skeletor, and I believe this was He-Man’s fault). But I remember the Terror Claws from the mini comics, and I really like mini comics. (Versions of Skeletor I had were OG, Battle Armor, and Dragon Blaster).
Keep reading to find out my opinion on this Masterverse re-imagined version.
PACKAGING
Terror Claws Skeletor comes in the typical Masterverse package. It has a nice window where you can see the figure inside with some accessories…in this case part of his claw. You can see that he is wearing a helmet with a visor also, which looks kind of Judge Dredd-ish. The art is very nice, showing Terror Claws Skeletor fighting the fully transformed King Hiss.
If you angle the box to the side you can see a continuation of the main image…Cobra Kahn is standing in the background, with Viper Tower looming overhead.
The other side of the box has the library image for those who keep the packaging. I will be cutting this up and adding it to my YouTube video backdrops. But you can see him full on battle posed, and his profile picture at the top.
The back features a photoshopped image of the toy. This bio says that he invented the Terror Claws to go Mano-e-mano with He-Man. (I paraphrased that!). You get some images of the figure with the claws, a back of armor shot where we can see the Dr. Octopus arms, and a mugshot of the helmet with the visor.
There is cross sell on the bottom, showing Terror Claws for one thing, Ninjor…a character that I wasn’t aware of as a child and honestly one of my least favorite Masters characters, and then the newest version of She-Ra.
FIGURE REVIEW
What do you get in the package?
Terror Claws Skeletor figure
Pair of Terror Claws
Pair of alternate hands
Not much to list here. Normally I would complain, but this is Terror Claws Skeletor…his whole jam IS accessories.
This Skeletor has all of the articulation of any Masterverse figure. But this one has a posable jaw, which not every Skeletor gets.
His sculpt and paint are very good. There are dragon details at the top of each terror claw, as well as the classic skull on his armor, but this time kind of cybernetic looking. The armor is what some people like to compare to a crop-top or sports bra…and I agree with joking about that! But it looks like the vintage design. The helmet is kind of a football helmet with spikes running up the mohawk. His feet have metal boots covering monster feet. There is this glossy blue, purple, and silver paint all over the figure, with the same pale blue that BA Skeletor has. I think the paint is one of the best features of this figure. The red belt also compliments red evil eyes that always work for Skeletor.
The visor on the helmet is removable (the helmet is not). This is kind of a sunglasses design…your best bet is to wedge your fingernail at the seam between the helmet and glasses at the top. You can then use the glasses on other figures.
Like I said…that is what this figure is about. Those gigantic claws. This time we have mechanical arms attached to them. These run from the same kind of sockets that we have on the back of New Etheria Hordak (they are for wings). I don’t believe that was a part of the vintage design. What Mattel is doing is updating this Skeletor to have a more techno look, which also tracks well with the old Mini Comics, where the dinosaurs had a “techno virus,” an idea that also was kind of used in the most recent Kevin Smith cartoon series.
PICTURED: New Eternia Battle Armor He-Man vs. New Eternia Terror Claws Skeletor. Skeletor is meant to go up against Flying Fist He-Man…a figure I do not want.PICTURED: New Eternia Clawful and New Eternia Terror Claws Skeletor. You can see some shared design aesthetics, for instance Clawful’s new shell on his back and metal boots over monster feet are similar updates to what is going on with Terror Claws Skeletor.PICTURED: New Eternia Fisto fights New Eternia Terror Claws Skeletor. My complaint about Fisto is that his fist isn’t large enough. It should be as large as Terror Claws Skeletor’s mechanical hands. So Skeletor wins.
SPARTANNERD RATING OF NEW ETERNIA TERROR CLAWS SKELETOR
PICTURED: New Eternia Terror Claws Skeletor and New Eternia Evil Lyn. These two look like they belong together, sharing somewhat of a color scheme. I have Skeletor showing Evil Lyn the Star Seed, which he is able to hold no problem with his metal hands. (It is a spherical polished blue quartz from a rock store at a mall somewhere)
I don’t see any reason to downgrade this figure. His paint is especially good, but his terror claws gimmick has been generously updated, and we also have an articulated jaw and sunglasses style visor that we can use on other figures…this is a home run. Plus, I haven’t had any trouble getting him to stand, and you know these claws would normally present a challenge of balance. But not this time. I think it is because the Masterverse line of figures has reached a point where stupid problems like that just don’t come up as much.
Near the end of the line last year, I had a lot of complaints because it seemed that Mattel was cutting paint. They didn’t on this, and I appreciate it very much. Sculpt, Paint, Accessories, Articulation…all points that I am awarding. And I am giving this the feels point because I am very grateful for it as a gift. I didn’t have him as a kid and wouldn’t have gotten him, but I’m glad to have it now…so I award him a 5/5! Do you agree or disagree, Hub City Geeks? Let me know in the comments!
Who? I kept getting e-mails from Mattel Creations about this “exclusive” Club Grayskull figure. But then I was like…”Why would I get this? Who even is Sharella?”
The story continues. In December I went to some different nerdy stores, and one of them had Sharella for sale to a good cause. (The overpriced-ness caught me first, until I saw the tiny words “for charity”). Anyway, this was my actual first in-person look at Sharella, and I was like “NOPE, she’s wayyy to small.” To be fair, all of Mattel’s photos don’t give us references for how big she actually is. Then, for Christmas I was gifted some Origins figures, including Cartoon Collection Catra, and my attitude about Origins began to shift a little. And then after Christmas, the end-of-the-year sales…Sharella was only $12. I was ordering Turtles of Grayskull Skele-Shredder anyway, (to go with Stealth Ninja He-Man,) so I tacked on the purchase of Sharella.
Sharella came in this excellent window box, where you can see her prominently. It has a stiff bubble, surrounded by a sort-of crystal skull motif. Her byline, which I just now noticed all this time later, is “Heroic Tribal Chieftress!” The words Masters of the Universe The Powers of Grayskull are a prominent title feature. For anyone who doesn’t know (most of my readers and viewers probably will,) Powers of Grayskull was the failed-to-launch sequel series to the original vintage He-Man and She-Ra lines. You might remember dinosaur vehicles (as a kid I had Tyrantisaurus and Bionatops, these were to be part of that line)…There was a whole plan to make a new He-Man line based around the most powerful wizard in the universe, He-Ro. This line was far enough along for promotional material to be published in catalogs, and ever since people have been asking about it. Mattel has milked this demand, making a few He-Ro figures as well as his mentor Eldor. Sharella seems to be entirely new, however. So now Mattel is leaning into creating a new story for apparently adult collectors. (Club Grayskull is a subscription…you won’t find Sharella on the shelf at Walmart or Target.)
The back shows an awesome scene.
Now this is a great piece of art by Axel Giminez, one of those Masters of the Universe Classics era artists. Sharella looks muscular and powerful. She is aiming at a moving target, The Great Black Wizard. This, as well as the snake boss on the ground level, is a completely new character. So Sharella is kind of like Teela, The Great Black Wizard is kind of like Skeletor, and the snake pharaoh guy is kind of like King Hiss. The setting here appears to be either Snake Mountain or the Fright Zone.
Right now as I type this, The Great Black Wizard is on sale at Club Grayskull. He looks awesome! But I believe he serves the same purpose as Skele-Shredder, so I won’t be picking him up.
The sides of the box also feature beautiful illustrations.
FIGURE REVIEW
What do you get in the box?
Mini Comic “She-Warrior”
Sharella figure
belt with attached quiver
bow
arrow
Right away I had a problem. The mini comic was packed in plastic, of course. Nonetheless, the corner was stuck in the little slot you can see on the energy burst in the photo of Sharella below. It is permanently bent…I have had it under weight to try and fix it. Nope. Such is the way of comics. If I was a Mint-on-card collector, this wouldn’t matter though would it? I would never know. But as someone who opens up his stuff, this gets to be a downside for me.
As soon as I removed the figure from the blister I dropped the arrow and actually wasn’t even aware. After posing her for a little while that was when I realized it had fallen in the floor.
Upon trying to take her head off and swap it with Catra for the first time, her torso came apart, and so I went ahead and set her out like this for the “what do you get in the box” photo. She comes apart very easily, but not too easily. I am not complaining.
Sharella can be posed any way you would like that a typical Origins female can do…in other words exactly the same as Catra. Ball joint head, swivel shoulders, bicep cuts, elbow hinges, swivel wrists, torso twist, ball-on-peg hips, hinged knees (which are unsightly), boot cut, rocker ankles.
Her sculpt is nice, and as a a mostly bare female figure you can see her lack of ab muscles (as opposed to her artwork.). Just a regular skinny belly. I know someone is wondering… is the top removable? Yes 🙂 (She is more modest than the above Teela…it says ages 8+ people). It is hard to get the rubbery piece off, and even harder to get back on. You have to remove her head and her arms, as well as have the torso off of the waist.
Vikor has really big bicep muscles, and this keeps him from gripping her good. He has a horned helmet also mucking up the image. I had the most trouble catching this shot before he fell over.The Legendary Barbarian isn’t quite as Arnold-ish. He can’t hold her as high up as she needs to be, and do you notice that I have wedged her foot against his boot? I wonder if there is a barefoot Origins female out there to swap Sharella’s legs with.
ACCESSORIES
Oh boy. Here is the big problem.
The bow looks good, but just like every other archer character I have, she can’t look right knocking an arrow.
PICTURED: Origins Sharella, Mythic Legions Xylernian Guard, and Super7 Ultimates! Thulsa Doom. I have a few others, but none of can pose with a bow and arrow correctly. I took a box cutter to Xylerian guard’s fingers, but his arrow isn’t long enough. Thulsa Doom is the same body sculpt as Vikor underneath that costume. (Super7 Ultimates! are actually MOTUC 5.0 figures). So his biceps keep it from happening.
I already mentioned how I just about lost that arrow. It is very thin…think about that thin plastic they use to strap figures into packages. The kind of stuff you hand a price tag on a piece of clothes with. Super thin stuff. As such, it is bent and there won’t be any repairing that. It came out of the box that way, and using a hair dryer won’t do anything but make it gummy and even more floppy.
All of Mattel’s promotional material show her aiming the bow and arrow and looking good doing it. I would rather have a bow-and-arrow sculpted and painted together, pre-posed, out of stiffer plastic than this. That is what I would rather have. They could have given us that AND a non-posed bow. But this is what we got.
Besides this, Sharella could really use a spear. How hard would that have been to include?
Sharella looks great, and this is her main job. She is a good bit shorter than any of my other female barbarians…actually even shorter than GI Joe Classified Shooter. But as a female figure in Origins scale, she does this job well.
I wish she came with more accessories, but she comes with what is apparently “on par” with other Origins figures. Her packaging looks great and kind of offsets her low accessory count. (But how hard would it have been to give her a spear?)
BUT…the difficulty of getting her into archery poses is a problem. I mean…this is WHO SHE IS. All of Mattel’s promotional photos show her knocking an arrow and aiming. Sadly, this doesn’t really work. The bow is sculpted and painted well, but the action doesn’t work, and this is where a point has to be taken off.
The SpartanNerd rates Mattel Creations Origins Sharella 4/5. I expect one day we might have a Masterverse figure of this, and I will definitely get that if they release it. Hopefully they learn from their missteps about the bow and arrow system.
As a longtime G.I. Joe fan and now the owner of a real-life German Shepherd, this Classified called my name throughout December. Between nostalgia from the G.I. Joe movie and modern Classified Series design, Law and Order was exactly what the SpartanNerd wanted with some of his Christmas money.
(What I really spent it on was Heatboys TMNT Donatello…you’ll have to wait for that review to drop…let’s just say SOLID 5/5!)
Packaging
Law and Order came in the typical GI Joe Classified Series window box. The last two Classifieds I reviewed came in that dumb windowless box. But I’m not sure they could sell this figure without such a good window where you can especially see the K9 dog.
The side has artwork similar to other GI Joe Classified series figures. I will be removing this and adding it to my diorama.
The back features a photoshop scene from the 1987 GI Joe movie. Law was one of Beach Head’s new recruits in training. Beach Head sent him in to a mockup town to find a bomb. But what Beach Head didn’t know was that Law was going to cheat, calling in Order to help. Order finds the bomb right away and brings it to Beach Head, but wants to play tug-of-war with it. Law gets it away and throws it, where it explodes away from the town. And then Beach Head says a famous line, (but doesn’t cuss this time), “I hope you both get fleas!”
Too bad the figure didn’t come with a bomb accessory. I kind of hoped that I just couldn’t see it in the package, but nope. There would be no hiding it with this window, and there was no surprise bomb this time. (Jokey Smurf reference!)
Of course, the other side of the box is useless, containing the coded bio symbols and a QR code that links to Hasbro’s main site.
What Do You Get in the Box?
Law action figure
German Shepherd K9 figure “Order”
Order has a K9 helmet and, collar, and harness
Multiple interchangeable hands
Alternate snarling dog head
Removable hat
Handcuffs
Nightstick (tonfa)
Uzi submachine gun
Pistol
Dagger
I mention the K9 helmet, as it wasn’t clear that it was removable. (for all we know it could be hard-sculpted on.)
Articulation
Law
Law features the standard G.I. Joe Classified articulation we’ve come to expect: excellent range of motion at the head, shoulders, elbows, wrists, torso, hips, knees, and ankles.
His removable hat fits well, and his tactical vest appears removable with some effort, but I don’t feel the need to take it off. (There might be a glued seam under one arm. Sculpted details like the flashlight and body cam add realism, making Law feel like a true modern military police officer.
Order
Order can rotate his head and has a slight up and down on his neck joint. He has jointed knees and elbows, as well as ankles on some kind of joint that can be angled in any direction. His tail is also on a ball joint. His front and back legs have “splay” and he can stand very well. There is also a mid-body articulation (do we call this a “torso” on a dog?)
The mouth does not close—Order always has his tongue out in the default head sculpt—You can swap the head for a more menacing “snarling” look.
Accessories
We have a lot of similarities…We can remove our helmets, and have large scary pets! PICTURED: Masterverse New Eternia Battle Armor Skeletor and Panthor, and GI Joe Classified Series Law and Order. Both are posing with their helmet and pet.
The Uzi machine gun is painted green-on-black, and looks like real guns I have likely seen at shows or just around my son who was in the army. I don’t know hardly anything about guns, but this one looks very realistic.
PICTURED: Law leads some NPC GI Joes and Tunnel Rat, while busting Cold Slither. Notice Zartan is escaping! All GI Joe Classified Series figures.
Be careful with these handcuffs. They are made of the thinnest plastic. Honestly they feel like that plastic that Hasbro uses to tie figures into a blister card. Flimsy stuff. There isn’t a way to unlock them…they are permanently closed. If you want to put them on a figure you have to remove their hands.
My son says he believes this pistol is not styled after a real pistol. I tend to believe him…
The knightstick is a nice piece, but I wish the flashlight wasn’t permanently attached to the belt. I know some real police, and these flashlights are also meant to be used as nightsticks if necessary.
The dagger…I never could find a place on the figure where this dagger was supposed to sheath to. This was some kind of oversight at the Hasbro I believe.
No problem removing his helmet. It comes right off past the ears with a little force. BUT, in order to remove the harness…this is where there is a problem. There is no buckle or snap on this harness, instead you have to remove the head and neck (the neck doesn’t come off easy), and the two back legs.
It works, but it feels wrong—especially for younger collectors or anyone sensitive to pulling apart a dog figure. But he looks great without it on, and I prefer him not to wear it, though I know he is supposed to.
Order is of a similar scale to Mythic Legions Belualyth’s Chimera skeleton pet, Super7 Ultimates! Snake Eyes Timber wolf companion, GI Joe Classified Series Gnawgahyde’s Porkbelly warthog is bigger, but I believe this is accurate. (In a fight, my money is on the Warthog)
SpartanNerd Rating of GI Joe Classified Series Law and Order
Such a good boy…he has Cobra Commander’s gun!
I am rating GI Joe Classified Series Law and Order a 5/5. I award points for sculpt, paint, articulation, accessories, and “feels.” The set gets all of these, especially the feels point because I also now have a German Shepherd, but also because of my love for the 1980’s GI Joe movie. I believe I will be completing the “team” of Beach Head’s recruits, because now all I need are Beach Head, Jinx, Big Lob, and Lt. Falcon.
I rate GI Joe Classified Series Law and Order a 5/5. Do you agree or disagree? Do you have a German Shepherd of your own?
Let me know in the comments, and don’t forget to like, subscribe, and check out more GI Joe Classified Series reviews on SpartanNerd.com.
I wasn’t collecting Origins. But I have been gifted several recently. And they are honestly great. Perfect upgrades over the vintage figures actually. And that is really saying something. But at generally $20 each, you really feel the pain since the 1980s, when they were worth $5.00 each. (That means, in 40 something years, $20 now is what $5 was worth. Makes you think…Maybe Back to the Future 2 was correct in their predictions about the future!)
But before all of this new stuff that I have, I thought about getting this as my first Origins figures. The reason…Cringer is a rare figure. Mattel hasn’t made many figures of him. He is a Filmation property, and I think in the 1980’s there was a feeling that taking the saddle and the helmet off of the Battle Cat was close enough to having Cringer.
It became apparent during the Masters of the Universe Classics line that adults really DID want an actual Cringer. So they made him the pack-in with Queen Marlena/Captain Glenn. (There is a visual guide on the internet). This was a non-articulated figure. But it was the first one! (I didn’t get it, but knew about it).
Anyways, the Origins Cringer that was released last year as a Target Exclusive (I think) was readily available. But I hesitated. I really just wanted to put my money into more Mythic Legions or Masterverse figures. But then…I was gifted some for Christmas and they are so nice I wanted it again…only to find…them NOWHERE! Not online. Sold Out. I visited Target, where they still had Moss Man on the shelf. No Cringer and Prince Adam. But at the Toy Federation in Greer, SC, I found one. Keep reading to see my feelings about this figure set.
PACKAGING
Adam and Cringer came in a nice window box with artwork all around (See the top image). You can see the figures and accessories inside with no problem. The top features Adam reclining on a rock with Cringer as his pillow. Classic! Looking on are some evil warriors, Evil-Lyn, Skeletor, and Tri-Klops. There is Eternia jungle swag all around the window.
The side features Imp also spying.
The He-Man and the Masters of the Universe logo is prominent. This was the Filmation Cartoon’s title, so does Imp belong here?
The other side features Pookie, the little creature from the He-Man and She-Ra Christmas Special that Teela takes up with.
All of this is very cartoon-retro, as it claims to be. Very nice. But the back is where this package really shines.
Oh yeah! Now this doesn’t look like the animation…I mean the castle and the lightning does, but Adam and Cringer are more detailed and shaded, and Adam is stoic and serious unlike the toy.
What I wish they would do is just give us the image of the castle…that would be the perfect size to pose Origins or any other figures in front of. Just think…if a casual collector picked this up on a whim, then they would get a lot of mileage out of that package if they would do that.
I really like the back of this package, and love the new art. But I think there is potential for more here that Mattel missed out on.
FIGURE REVIEW
What do you get in the package???
Prince Adam figure
Cringer figure
Power Sword
Alternate head for Cringer
Alternate head for Prince Adam
Is this $30 worth of paint and plastic?
Sometimes I think Mattel believes that Prince Adam won’t sell unless he has some other incentive. But I think this is a very good Prince Adam figure. The alternate head we get is more of the “laughing Prince Adam” head that was a meme a few years ago.
Like I mentioned above, Cringer doesn’t have many figures, and I feel like this Cringer will work great with Masterverse. What we don’t have in Masterverse is a good Prince Adam. My thought is that this Cringer is in scale with the Cartoon Collection…and this is also in scale with Masterverse because Cringer is a little wimp kitty, but Battle Cat is huge and fierce. Anybody agree with this logic?
Origins figures start at around $20, so at $30 for this set that seems like a good value.
PICTURED: Origins Cartoon Collection Faker attacks Cartoon Collection Prince Adam while Cringer covers his eyes. If anyone saw this…would they put two-and-two together to discover Adam’s secret?
Articulation…this is a big draw, especially for Cringer. The first thing I did was have him hide his eyes, and he can do this classic cartoon move very well. He has the same exact articulation as Masterverse Panther and Classics Battle Cat, only in a smaller Origins format. (Hips, knees, ankles, paws, shoulders, tail, torso, neck, and head. No articulated mouth)
Prince Adam’s articulation is hindered by his vest…he can’t move his arms as much as he could. BUT he has one thing going on that neither Faker (pictured above) nor Stealth Ninja He-Man has, and that is the ability to raise the magic sword aloft. In other words, Adam’s wrist can swing out forward to hold the sword up. (Or to chop down also)
PICTURED: Origins Cartoon Colleciton Cringer and Prince Adam transforming into Masters of the Universe Classics Battle Cat and Masterverse 40th Anniversary He-Man.
ACCESSORIES:
The only thing we really have is the Power Sword. All of Adam’s joints are swappable as expected. I’m not sure about Cringer’s. The heads interchange easily.
I discovered that the vest has a nifty design. There is a hidden “buckle” imprinted on the inside, where you can snap it together at the belt. My vintage Prince Adam always has problems with his vest, up until the point that I put a hair tie around him to secure it.
PICTURED: Origins Cartoon Collection Prince Adam and vintage Prince Adam. Also vintage Battle Cat.
You can see in the picture above what I am talking about.
So the colors match pretty good except for the vest. The other obvious difference is the head sculpt of the vintage toy is actually the same as vintage He-Man’s sculpt.
SPARTANNERD RATING
As a set this is a 5/5. Especially because of Cringer. If it was only Prince Adam, I would take off for there not being more accessories. But he comes as a set, and I love it!
Do you agree or disagree? Let me know in the comments!
I have a long-form video review HERE. You can find links to every figure reviewed on the SpartanNerd home page, or in the description of the YouTube video linked above.
I am only awarding to figures that I got in 2025. This isn’t necessarily figures that came out in 2025, but that happens to be the case for some of these. The featured image shows Masters of the Universe Classics Vikor and Mythic Legions Legendary Barbarian. Neither were the winners of 2025, I just wanted to use their picture!
GI JOE CLASSIFIED FIGURE OF THE YEAR
I decided that Panthor and Gnawgahyde were candidates. But it isn’t really fair to put Panthor in the pool…I might feel differently also if he was flocked. Gnawgahyde on the other hand is incredible, with that true-to-life accurate sniper rifle and his two pets, Porkbelly and Yobbo. That’s why Gnawgahyde is the GI Joe Classified Figure of the year.
MASTERVERSE FIGURE OF THE YEAR
New Eternia Battle Armor Skeletor is the SpartanNerd MASTERVERSE Figure of the Year. Mattel learned their lesson from the two Battle Armor He-Man figures that we received already…they were lackluster and apparently haven’t sold very well. Skeletor is the opposite of that in every way. A true update, giving him the best axe in MASTERVERSE, a removable helmet, and spikes on his shoulders. He has a chain-mail piece sculpted on his cranium, and also hip armor. You can swap his chest plate quickly and easily…another improvement on the other two. I really considered Roboto, but for my 2025 tastes, I like barbarians and skeletons more than robots (does that make sense?).
LADIES CATEGORY FIGURE OF THE YEAR
I did a ladies category this year, and New Eternia Evil-Lyn was a leading candidate. But she didn’t win. I do love her paint and sculpt. Other nominees were GI Joe Classified Shooter, New Eternia Teela, and the ladies category winner of the year (keep reading!). The lack of paint on Shooter’s weapons brought her down, and the “eye roll” of Teela is what knocked her out. (The others in my comic here are Movie Evil-Lyn and Revlation Evil-Lyn, both acquisitions from previous years)I used an app called Comic Life to make these comics.Skeletor’s Throne has three different colors of fire in its LED set. I liked the green for the Snake Mountain throne room the best.Belualyth the Beastmaster is the Mythic Legions figure of the year. Incredible sculpting and paint details, plus a skeletal snake, vulture, and chimera, which I think is a cow and a big cat crossed with a snake. She is my kind of character! I always play black in Magic the Gathering, I have a collection of skeleton action figures, and this year I also picked up a lot of ladies. (action figure ladies…). That’s why Belualyth is also the ladies category winner of the year.My mom gave me that miniature Lowe’s bucket. Remember Robbies Ribs from the 1987 Masters of the Universe Movie?If you don’t know Carolina Mustard-style Barbecue, you should look that up. Even better, try some!
So there you have it!
SPARTANNERD FIGURE OF THE YEAR!
Do you agree or disagree, Hub City Geeks? Let me know in the comments! What was your greatest action figure of the year?
See a video review of my new Origins collection HERE.
I’ve kind of just skipped collecting these, focusing on Masterverse and Mythic Legions. Mattel has done a good job of updating all of their vintage designs, and finding space to make new characters, offer crossovers, and also make concepts come to life.
I was gifted these, and won’t offer a rating. I don’t think it is fair for me to judge the things I usually judge: Paint, Sculpt, Articulation, Accessories, and what it means to me personally. In the case of all three of these, they mean so much that I couldn’t offer more than a perfect score. As Origins figures, generally aimed at the children’s market, the sculpt and paint, etc aims for a lower target than adult collector toys.
Nevertheless, I am going to review them and talk about what this origins line is about.
First I was gifted Turtles of Grayskull Stealth Ninja He-Man.
STEALTH NINJA HE-MAN
My first Origins figure, but unfortunately the blister was loose from the card…Amazon’s carelessness I’m sure. But this is a good package featuring Masters of the Universe style font, and green exploding rocks, with some of the characters from the story that Mattel and Nickelodeon have come up with. (Also conspicuous the Masters and the Turtles logos on the bottom)
I mentioned that I passed on all of the origins at first. And the reason is that the very first wave that they released had this “play dough” color scheme. It was like I was looking at a vintage figure, but seeing something updated about the colors in a negative way. I was excited that the figures were in scale and went with the vintage line, so they could go with castles and vehicles, etc. But there was this “baby toy” color scheme.
When they announced the crossover, I saw it and immediately said I would get them all. The appeal to me was the wackiness, and if the colors were too bright, that was fine for Ninja Turtles, soo…But I wound up not getting them. These figures are around $20 each, and it was kind of like get a couple of Mythic Legions that I really wanted, or pay out for a full wave of TMNT as I found them at Walmart or somewhere, knowing I wouldn’t like all of them anyway. BUT, I did collect the full run with alternate covers of the Dark Horse crossover comic. Freddie Williams II is an awesome artists, and I really enjoyed his work on the Injustice crossover and the Thundercats crossover. (That Thundercats crossover story is dumb, though).
On the back, at the top you get a comic image of He-Man vs. Skele-Shredder. (I just ordered that guy today!). You can see the only action feature here, which is the shroud that he is wearing. You can place the sword in the slot on the back. There is a cross-sell of April O’Neil, which is the Sorceress, Hordak, which is just a battier version apparently, Stealth Ninja Leonardo (wasn’t he a stealth ninja anyway?) and the this figure, Stealth Ninja He-Man.
I had a question when I reviewed the Masterverse Mantenna…could the origins legs swap with it. The answer is NO. We get this little instruction card that tells us exactly what parts are removable. You can swap the waist with the legs attached, and change the feet with different feet. Also the arms and the head. but the legs are not meant to be swapped. Also, they are too small for Mantenna. It nerves me out to pop the torso off from the waist…the arms, the boots, and of course the head all seem right. But it feels like I am breaking something.
We have this mini comic…this is not the same story as Dark Horse put out. This comic is shorter than the vintage mini comics, but the art is cool. And this seems to be the ending of the crossover story. Stealth Ninja He-Man wears this shroud to change his appearance magically, so he only appeared to be mutated. (The first wave had Mutagen Ooze He-Man or something like that.)
The back of the comic has the same cross-sell images.
I set up all those comics I have to prove it!
This is Stealth Ninja He-Man right out of the package. There was a mask in there that I wasn’t sure what it was until I looked at it good, and so I removed the top of the shroud and fit it over his face, then put the shroud back on. (The shroud has two pieces…a cowl and a cape)
Other updates on the design, He-Man has exposed toes on his right foot. He has a leg grieve, an arm bracer, and a shoulder cauldron, all with turtle shell designs. There is a belt with armor similar to what Skeletor wears.
The sword in the slot on the back of the cowl.
I still have my vintage Buzz-Off figure, and wanted to show this off, along with my vintage Castle Grayskull door. The proportions between the vintage and the origins are practically the same. One thing I have complained about especially with the female Origins figures is the knees. With the Turtles of Grayskull line, it looks like they improved the knees. The arms do seem like they might be slightly longer, but this might be an illusion because they actually have modern articulation. Notice that He-Man’s sword is of the Alfredo Alcala design, rather than a Filmation or vintage toy design. I still have my He-Man who has a vintage Battle Axe, but I wonder if that Battle Axe is newer because it shows no signs of wear.
Here is Stealth Ninja He-Man next to Masterverse Battle Armor He-Man, so you can see the difference in scale. If you watch the video version, you can see me swap the cowl and put it on He-Man…it looks great!
Now if you take all this armor off, you have what is essentially an updated vintage He-Man, with exposed toes on one foot. And as I pointed out in the video, how many vintage He-Man figures have the paint rubbed off at the end of the boot? So this doesn’t even look wrong.
One more thing. Opening this. Holding it in hand and messing with it…this created an emotion in me that is hard to describe. I know it is a wave of nostalgia. It was like I was a kid opening a new figure all over again. Once I went to the Retro Toy Con in Greenville, SC, and they had the voice of April O’Neil announcing all of the events. Hearing her was great! Opening this toy created the same feeling for me.
CARTOON COLLECTION CATRA AND FAKER
These two are from the Cartoon Collection, evident by the Filmation rainbow colored logo. At the top you can see the specter of Hordak staring down at them. On the right side of the box there is a foil 40th Anniversary sticker for She-Ra. The background is Castle Grayskull, apparently on fire!
The back features a comic image representing the vintage cartoon episode they are from. “Magicats” and “The Shaping Staff.” Both have cross-sell featuring themselves and Leech. Neither figure really has an action feature, but Catra’s package highlights that you get her cat form, and Faker’s highlights that you can swap his head from the one with evil white eyes to a regular He-Man head.
Faker is especially notable, because usually Faker is a blue version of He-Man usually with Skeletor’s armor in orange or pink, but in the Filmation Cartoon they evidently didn’t know this, so they made him look exactly like He-Man except for the eyes. So with this figure and that swappable head, you really have a Cartoon Collection He-Man also, right?
Somehow I don’t have a photo, but they both came with a mini-comic that kind of ends with the evil warriors telling Skeletor that “Loyalty is for Losers.” Very entertaining, especially since the vintage cartoon always ended with a moral lesson!
Here is a side-by-side comparison of Stealth Ninja He-Man and Cartoon Collection Faker. you can see the cartoon collection design has some updated features. It is a “flatter” sculpt, and feels less “chunky” in your hand. I don’t experience the same “nostalgia” sensation opening and holding this, and I think it is because it “feels different” in hand, if that makes sense. It is designed like this because it is a reproduction of the cartoon rather than the vintage toy. So this head sculpt is different also. But if Stealth Ninja He-Man’s boots are bothering you, you could switch Faker’s out.
Here is a swap. I swapped the waist. Now Faker seems a little more vintage because he has Skeletor’s belt on, even if it is a shade of chrome.
Here is Catra standing on 200x He-Man. I wanted you to see a comparison with 200x She-Ra, but didn’t want to take the She-Ra off of the wall.
Catra has a mask, and if I remember correctly (I didn’t watch She-Ra much as a kid,) she would put on the mask and change into the cat.
That cat is a non-articulated rubber piece but is nicely painted and is the same armor that Catra is wearing, but with some dinosaur spikes.
The vintage Catra was a doll. So I never played with one, and in fact might not have seen one. My cousins (both girls of a similar age) had She-Ra figures but we rarely got together with our toys. I do remember playing with them a little, but not enough to speak with knowledge about Catra. I find the tagline “Jealous Beauty” to be hilarious…it is like…we can’t have Hordak as the villain of this toyline. It has to be another lady, and instead of EVIL…she is just “jealous.” Sounds like the kind of problem that female children have a lot. (I work in middle school…I know this well.)
You can remove Catra’s head and her cape comes right off, so that can go on another figure. (Check out Count Chocula). Otherwise, she didn’t come with a weapon.
Here she is standing next to Masters of the Universe Classics Despara.
This photo is from an upcoming video…you get rewarded by reading the blog! The video is “The Best of 2025” and this is a photo of the ladies category. PICTURED: Masterverse New Eternia Teela, GI Joe Classified Series Shooter, Mythic Legions Belualyth, all in front of some of my Batman/Catwoman comics. This is a good Christmas story also, so get to reading Hub-City Geeks!
Here you can see that she is much shorter than other lady action figures I have collected this year.
THE FUTURE
Well I already decided to order Skele-Shredder and Origins Sharella. So now they are on the way! Is this the new rabbit hole for the SpartanNerd…probably not. I’ve had my eye on Sharella for a little while, and actually saw one in a store…she was much shorter than I expected, and there was serious markup on the figure. (I got it today from Mattel Creations sale for $12. It was on the shelf at that prestigious store in Spartanburg for $45). Playing with Catra convinced me to go ahead and get it, and Skele-Shredder will be a great nemesis for He-Man.
Do you have Origins figures, Hub-City Geeks? Let me know in the comments!
spartannerd 