Tag Archives: Jared Leto

MASTERVERSE “On Pause”- SpartanNerd Rant

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To actually see and hear me ranting, click here!

The NY Toy Fair was this past week, and the big news about Masters of the Universe…most everything is ON PAUSE for 2026, deferred to marketing for the movie. MASTERVERSE is “On Pause”, and almost all of Origins is also…some of them just started like the 200x Cartoon Collection. “On Pause”. Transformers Origins Crossover. “On Pause”. Turtles of Grayskull just ended anyway, but there is a Thundercats thing. “On Pause.”

I found this image at ToyTales.ca.

I really hope the movie does well. The toys they have revealed look cool. They are more in the scale of GI Joe Classified, and they are proportioned similarly as they are based on real human actors. It is a whole new system of articulation also. And there is a kids line coming out called “core” or something like that, not “the first ones” as was going around about a week ago. Both lines look pretty good. There are some things, like Tri-Klops not having a sword and Battle Cat’s armor looking stupid. There are a lot of really cool things like Trap Jaw and Idris Elba Man-At-Arms.

But putting MASTERVERSE “on pause” is a mistake.

We don’t have:

  • a non-Kevin Smith Orko
  • a non=Kevin Smith Battle Cat
  • Tri-Sorceress and He-Man husband and wife 2-pack
  • Sorceress of Havoc (she would be awesome!)
  • Rio Blast
  • Extendar
  • Rokkon
  • Stonedar
  • Zoar
  • Screech
  • King Hiss
  • Tongue Lasher
  • Sssqueeeze
  • Rattlor

Yeah there’s a lot more I could add here. AND I can complain. Why did we get Anti-Eternia He-Man instead of one of the above-listed figures? Why do we have four versions of Beast Man and Mer-Man but no re-issues of Buzz Off or Stratos? Why do we have Motherboard and not a vehicle? Or for that matter the other giant figures? MASTERVERSE had all of this to accomplish, but now it is “on pause.” What about the 1987 movie figures? There was only one short window where we could get Blade, and I missed him. There was a lot more they could have done here.

The SpartanNerd’s collector display shelf.

And there are two competing outcomes.

  • If the movie does well, everything becomes some shade of the Chronicles line. More He-Man and Skeletor variants. More Beast Man and Man-At-Arms variants. More Teela and Evil-Lyn. And some of the characters I listed above…ignored. And the MASTERVERSE style of toy, which was kind of serving in my mind as something evergreen like Hot Wheels or Barbie, is just outright replaced. (This is the best outcome I think. I hope the movie does well.)
  • If the movie tanks. (A very likely scenerio). Masters of the Universe goes back underground like it did after the failure of the 1987 movie. Mattel will not support it…they have a lot invested in the success of the film. As awesome as it looks to me , an enthusiastic fan, the moviegoing regular sheeple will probably not see this so much as better than a Star Wars or Marvel movie, (both of which have been suffering for a while).

Maybe this movie will find some of that Super Mario Bros. movie or Barbie movie magic from recent years, and will knock us all out with its awesome story and special effects. Maybe it will be what the fans have always wanted and the moviegoers didn’t know they needed in their lives. But I am 60% expecting “Rise of the Beasts” or “The Last Jedi.”

“On Pause”

I believe “On Pause” is a soft way of telling us they are killing the line. Someone might say, “They wouldn’t do that! Not with so much more stuff to cover!” But they would…they already have done this…look no further than Masters of the Universe Mega Books, (or Mega Constructs, or just MEGA.). Whatever. That brick shop that was promised has given us some Hot Wheels models. They haven’t done anything with Masters of the Universe in years, and that line was VERY incomplete…they even released the Central Eternia Tower, but never the Viper Tower of the Grayskull Tower. If they can leave ends like that loose, you can bet we won’t get any MASTERVERSE Snake Men.

New Eternia Terror Claws Skeletor-SpartanNerd Unboxing and Review

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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.

PICTURED: New Eternia Battle Armor Skeletor, NE Terror Claws Skeletor, and Masterverse Movie Skeletor. Also notice a rando Mythic Legions skull that has the visor on it. Battle Armor Skeletor is still the winner…I have armed him with an extra Havoc Staff and also with Heatboys Donatello’s camouflage cape. But Movie Skeletor is surely in everyone’s mind. Click to see my movie trailer analysis.

ACCESSORIES

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…an excellent feature update. 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!