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!
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!
The Eternia Towers. As a child I only dreamed of this set. I knew of it from the toy catalogue in 1987? and also from the mini-comics. (Here is a picture below.). In person I have only seen this toy one time, at the Toy Federation in Greer, SC. And it is truly a marvel. HUGE! Which is why the size of this set is a little bit of a downer.
Now I am NOT building the tower yet. I figure I would wait until I got all three pieces. Surely Grayskull Tower and Viper Tower will come out before Christmas this year. Just up front, this set looks to be smaller than the vintage set was.
Instead I was super excited that we finally got the Attak Trak! I don’t have much of a nostalgia connection to the tower. But the Attak Trak, now we are talking! I might have skipped this set if it weren’t for that specific vehicle.
But first, the packaging. This is one of the best boxes in awhile. (Pictured at the top). It features the Eternia Tower prominently, and shows off the mini figures with an illustrated vibe. You also can see the Attak Trak. Important…it also shows paintings of Grayskull Tower and Viper Tower, as well as Castle Grayskull and Snake Mountain. Eternia Tower is supposed to be a place of balance between good and evil. (I think this is the original lore anyway.). I heard sometime awhile back that the intention was to create a Grayskull 2.0. This set was to feature a piece of Grayskull and Snake Mountain, both of which were out of production but demand was expected to go up with the movie and all in 1987. The Eternia Tower story was to launch off new property, He-Ro and the Masters of Preternia, or something like that.
The sides and the back of the box are terrific, featuring retro blueprint types of designs in red. I can’t express how great I thought this was! And this box is much smaller than Grayskulls or Snake Mountains. Of course, this set is alot less pieces though.
Now for the figures.
We got Battle Armor He-Man. This is the same as the one we got before (I am going to show comparisons on all of the duplicates.). The only difference is this armor has the one scratch on it.
We got Webstor. This is the same Webstor from Snake Mountain, but with a darker color scheme (hard to tell in the photo) and also a larger lazer.
I couldn’t help but do an Erle Norem reference. We get Buzz Off. I prefer Buzz Off without the helmet. It seems I lost it when I was a kid, and kind of forgot about it until I was an adult. But he came with it, and his little axe also. This is the first Buzz Off we have had, and so Clawful and Whiplash couldn’t be too far behind soon… (They use the same chest piece and monster legs.)
And finally, Ninjor. This guy is a walking weapons rack! He comes with a bow and arrow, a katana, and nunchuks. Admittedly, this character wasn’t one I had as a kid. I have expressed that I had about 80% of Masters of the Universe stuff as a child. But Ninjor just wasn’t one of them. I don’t know much about the character either. I remember Jitsu quite well, and am surprised that we haven’t seen him yet to balance out Fisto.
I went ahead and built the weapons rack/computer system.
We have been given so many different weapon racks. But this one is different. the computer on one side…I just am not familiar enough with the Eternia Tower set to know if this was part of the original toy. I like how the graphics on there show the three towers. I almost think of it as a charging station for the Attak Trak. The weapons are in bright orange, and frankly I don’t really like that.
Here is some comparisons with other weapons racks we have from this line.
Here is a comparison with a Skeletor Head computer.
All of this is pretty consistent. On to the Attak Trak!
As a child, this was my FAVORITE vehicle. It ate the C batteries…that was the problem. But I loved it from the cartoon (which was more of a big talking van) and I loved the toy with the awesome treads to run stuff over.
Those blue things on the side were always a puzzle to me. Were they supposed to be guns? I never could tell, and really almost can’t tell now. It has a rocket design on it, so maybe a missle launcher?
They included nice vintage printed blocks to go where the stickers would be, just like they did with the Battle Ram.
On the vintage toy, figures could grab the handle basically with the same design as the battle ram. Here we don’t get that option. It just has some studs that stick off to the side and nothing for the figures to grab. The wheels work exactly like the vintage toy. Which is super fantastic. You have to push it yourself, of course. But it is a genius design.
In Masters of the Universe Classics, we got a few vehicles. Roton, Battle Ram, Wind Raider. But they skipped the Attak Trak. And that was actually truly shameful. I don’t even think we have had any Attak Trak re-dos or analogues since the 1980s. I don’t own a single Masters of the Universe Origins figure. But if they come out with a new Attak Trak, I bet I am the first to get it!
And now you know how this story will play out…
Here is a bug theme setup, Buzz Off vs. Monstroid.
Well, I rate the Attak Trak a solid 5/5. I think it is weak to give us another Battle Armor He-Man and another Webstor. Ninjor is cool, but doesn’t really belong in my head. Buzz off is terrific.
They need to give us more mini figures. You all know what. I really want. It is that Battle for Eternia II set. But no one has it. So….
spartannerd 