Friday, August 29, 2014

Action Figure Friday- MOTU Classics Intergalactic Skeletor!

I have been waiting for this guy for a while! The "New Adventures of He-Man" versions of Skeletor have been some of my favorite design for the menacing bonehead. This Classics version of Intergalactic Skeletor is based off of his first design in the 1989 He-Man toy line. So, like with most of the Masters of the Universe Classics toys, there are good and bad qualities. I am pretty impressed with this one, but do have a few complaints. Lets start with the good. The sculpt on this toy is downright amazing! I cannot say enough about the sculpting on this guy. All of the cybernetic hoses, pumps, and robot pieces sculpted fit so well with the look of a Skeletor that had to use a cybernetic virus to keep himself alive. There are a lot of newly sculpted pieces that really can't be used with any other action figure from the MOTU Classics line which makes him rather unique. Skelly here comes with his newly updated havoc staff that resembles the 1989 "He-Man" Skeletor version very well. Much like the sculpt on the action figure, the sculpt on this piece is fantastic. Lastly, he also comes with a removable helmet that is a beautiful update of the original and is a nice shining piece for this toy. The paint application on all of the sculpt is beautiful. There was a lot of thought that went into the design which kills me when looking at some of the thoughtless problems with this toy. 







Ok, so the main complaint I have for this guy is his neck. Instead of using a new torso for the buck, Mattel used an over armor piece to act as his skin. This is bad in two ways. One, the over piece makes Skeletor look way to big and bulky, and two is that his neck is so thick, it hinders the up and down movement of his head. Since he is no longer able to look up and down, he is constantly looking down. This only works if he is up higher than everybody else and is purposefully looking menacing down at everyone else. 



The next few complaints are minor to the first one. For my minor complaints, the first is that the over body piece is glued at the tabs. In the past, we've been able to take off the body armor or over piece, except on this one. Unless you want to destroy your armor trying to take it off of your Skeletor, it is basically glued into place. I'm not sure exactly why this was a must have decision. The only thing that I can think of is that the tabs don't hold well and had to be glued. The buck could have been changed and that would have fixed this and the first complaint. But, what do I know? Now the second thing is that his shoulders are swapped. They are essentially backwards. It just looks funny and this shouldn't be a problem by now. You wouldn't notice till you really look, but once you see it, its a bit distracting. The third complaint is that his hands are a bit soft, so he has a bit of a hard time holding his staff. This could be a safety fix, and if it is I can live with this complaint. Lastly, his staff does not have the same metallic sheen that his helmet has. Its not a big deal, but it stands out a bit and would have would have been a quick fix. I know its a bit late, but I kind of wish that these things could be straightened up before these go out to ship. For this line being out for many years now and the money that we as collectors pay for these pieces, some of these problems should not be occurring. And that's all for the complaints. 

Now Intergalactic Skeletor also came with a bonus piece. It is the battle damaged head of Faker. Now if I had the battle armor Faker, I'd have a blast with this head! Alas, though, I do not. So I have my extra head in lock up in the Classics Castle Grayskull. I do focus on the complaints sometimes when I look at my new Skeletor. Again, that is due to the cost I am paying for the toys and seeing the silly mistakes that should have been fixed before hand. I will have to say that the overall look and sculpt of this guy is some of the best for what we have seen so far in the Classics line. He is a perfect update to the 1989 "He-Man" Skeletor and really stands out among the Space Mutants of the MOTUC toy line. Now, I doubt that we will get so lucky to really have any more New Adventures characters in the Classics line. It seems that this might be the last year for these Classics run toys. Now, that might mean that they will be released under another name, but I am seriously doubting that we will see too many more of the New Adventures characters. With that being said, I'm a bit bummed because my favorite version of New Adventures Skeletor will probably not be made in the Classics toys. My favorite: Battle Blade Skeletor. Well, I am happy to have this one. Intergalactic Skeletor went on sale with mattycollector.com on August 15th. He is still available on mattycollector.com after almost two weeks. That's usually not a good sign. You can also find his on amazon.com.  


Recently, I was being filmed for a convention documentary called, Unconventional. You can see it here. While you are at it, you should check out Johnathan Paul's other video work here. 


Just to let you know all know, I am taking commissions. If you would like to commission me for original artwork, head over to the commissions tab in store to see how. 

I have posted some new shirt designs in my Cafepress store. Head over to my Cafepress store and get a shirt or a couple! 

I have opened a storenvy.com shop to sell my toys. Here's the link: http://taylorlymbery.storenvy.com/

If you have not heard about the Podcast called, "Talking Toys with Taylor and Jeff", then it's time I let you know! Jeff and I are on the show where we talk about toys! (Go figure, I mean Go action figure!) Seems simple enough. We pick out a toy line to discuss in each show. We share our childhood memories, our favorite five, and talk about the one toy in the line that got away. Jeff talks about how he cherished his toys and I talk about how they ended up in the garden! The other show is The pilot episode, where Jeff and Cory break down the Pilot Episode in TV series. The shows are great! If you are interested in what we got, go to Marvindogmedia.com  and give us a listen. You can subscribe to the shows on itunes and get up to date info on upcoming shows on facebook:

If you like what we have, be sure to tell your friends! We need your word of mouth to help us keep making shows!