When the Sketch Book Mark Taylor He-Man figure was announced, I knew for certain I’d be getting the figure. I’m very much a cherry picker of the MOTU Origins line, but I will always be a sucker for anything related to early Mark Taylor concepts. Mark Taylor, for those of you new to this site, was the main designer for the first year of Masters of the Universe toys.
The Sketch Book series is an interesting sub-line within MOTU Origins, consisting of figures based on early concepts for various characters. Under the Sketch Book name, so far we’ve also gotten concept versions of Hordak, Grizzlor, Sy-Klone and Spikor. The He-Man they’ve chosen for this release is mainly inspired by early sketches by Mark Taylor dating from 1980 to early 1981 as he sought to refine the look of the character prior before it was greenlit. Mark’s concept designs are shown below:
(The above images come from The Power and the Honor Foundation)
There are a few other elements included in the Sketch Book He-Man release. One is the orange and gray horned helmeted head from Mark Taylor’s He-Man B-sheet, dating to May 1981:
The other element is the shield from Mark Taylor’s character, Torak (which also shows up in one of the He-Man concepts shown earlier). This illustration dates to 1979 and was the inspiration for He-Man. You can see that some of Mark’s early He-Man concepts, shown earlier, have Torak’s wrist bracers:
Torak, by Mark Taylor. Image via the Power and the Honor Foundation.
So, does the Sketch Book He-Man measure up to Mark’s artwork? Let’s find out!
Packaging
He-Man comes in the now familiar Sketch Book Series window box, with some wonderful illustrations by “FETCH” aka Francisco Etchart. The back of the box also features some great easter eggs, including Mark Taylor’s concept Man-E-Faces design (another figure that will be coming out this year), a “dungeon master” Skeletor concept by Colin Bailey (possibly related to Dragon Blaster Skeletor), the Crimson Countess, created by Danielle Gelehrter, and an early concept by Mark Taylor for Castle Grayskull.
Let’s take a look at the actual figure. It comes with two heads, a removable harness, an axe, a shield, and a removable flexible loincloth that fits over the usual furry He-Man loincloth piece.
While the head with the dark hair is the head that goes with the costume design of this figure, you can also use the blond-haired head (ie the B-sheet head) if you like. The costume details are great, as is are the accessories. However, there are two major problems with the figure.
The most obvious issue is with the head sculpts. If you closely compare with the original artwork, you can see what they were going for, but the final result is just not very good. This figure unfortunately suffers from “Masterverse-itus” – the tendency in the Masterverse line for many heroic male figures to have very cool costumes but poorly sculpted faces. Unfortunately that problem has shown up in this Origins figure. The head with the black hair looks like it could belong to a pre-teen playing dress up. The level of detail is particularly low, and it looks like something you might see on a Playskool toy. The head with the blond hair is more detailed, but it looks ugly – and not in a good, rough and tumble way. I also have another, minor gripe – the center line of his helmet is off center.
I appreciate the effort and expense they took to give us a couple of new He-Man heads, but honestly, they would have been better off taking the standard vintage toy style He-Man head and sculpting the new hair and helmets over that. The standard head is closer to the artwork than either of these heads. I was waiting to pass judgement until I got this in hand, but honestly these faces are a letdown.
Left to right: SDCC He-Man, Lord of Power He-Man, and v1 retail He-Man
The other issue really comes down to lack of foresight. The blond-haired head inspired by the B-sheet doesn’t really go with this body, but it’s just the right head to go on the standard MOTU Origins He-Man figure. The standard Origins He-Man has the same costume, colors and accessories as those seen in Mark’s B-Sheet design. However, because of the pale skin color of this figure, the head doesn’t actually work with the standard He-Man, or any of the other He-Man figures in the Origins line, to my knowledge. Here is the standard He-Man body with the B-sheet style head:
And here is the Lords of Power He-Man body with the B-sheet-style head:
I’ve actually been pretty impressed with the Sketch Book series up to now, but this He-Man is the first real let down. It’s a shame. Do the bad head sculpts totally ruin the figure? No. It looks fine from a couple of feet away, standing on a shelf. But I wish this figure had been given some more thought, care and effort. A figure paying tribute to the great Mark Taylor and the early roots of He-Man should have been better than this.
Lords of Power Skeletor (with custom feet) and Sketch Book Mark Taylor He-Man
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Every once in a while I like to set the research projects aside and just geek out about figures I like. Since 2025 is rapidly coming to close, I thought I would share my top 10 figures that I got in the last year. Crucially, this is NOT a list of newly released figures, just figures that I happened to buy this year that I really hit me where I live. A few of them are new for 2025, but most are older. I’ll do the traditional reverse countdown, but putting these in any kind of order is pretty hard, and somewhat arbitrary at the end of the day.
#10: NECA 200x Mantenna (2006)
I managed to pick up the 200x NECA Mantenna figure this year. I’ve long admired the 200x NECA mini statues or “stactions” (a portmanteau of statue and action figure) as the best things that came out in that era. Sculpted by the Four Horsemen, they represent what the original 200x line could have looked like had the line not been compromised by action features, cost savings, and strange last-minute color changes on the Mattel side.
The first one I picked up was Leech, a few years back at Power-Con, and I’ve long thought that the 200x version of Leech is by far the best look for the character. When I was a kid I got Leech and Mantenna for Christmas, so I’ve always thought of them as a team who would do the dark work of the Evil Horde together. It was only a matter of time before I picked up Leech’s partner in crime.
Like Leech, Mantenna is truly a masterpiece. He was the first rendition of the character to have four separate legs, as originally intended. He is thin and insect-like, with highly textured and shaded skin, and intense, bulbous eyes. This teeth and mandibles are given appropriate aging and weathering. Unlike other versions of the character, this one has bare feet, and he was also given dark webbing between his fingers and toes. Mantenna is NOT a character you want to meet in a dark alley!
#9: Draego-Man
In celebration of the 30th Anniversary of MOTU, Mattel commissioned about a half dozen new characters to be created for a mini anniversary line released in 2012. This one was designed by the Four Horsemen, the team that sculpted all of the figures in this line. Brimming with details and new sculpt work (and cleverly reused existing parts), he was one of the most detailed figures in the line. His face in particular brings to mind the look of some the dragons that appeared in the Filmation series. He came with a flaming sword, but additional accessories, including a flaming shield, unlit sword, and flaming whip were released separately in weapons packs. These accessories were originally intended to ship with Draego-Man but were cut due to cost.
I actually bought him a while back, but had to sell him to raise some money, so I was grateful to be able to get him again this year, and with all of his accessories. It’s kind of a shame the Four Horsemen weren’t given more new character slots to create for that line – I’m sure they would have been more well received than, for instance, Sir Laser-Lot or Mighty Spector.
#8 Sskur’ge Cosmic Legions
I remember seeing this figure a few years back at Power-Con. I instantly locked on to him. I wasn’t a collector of Cosmic Legions, but a big scaly monster with Whiplash’s color scheme and a highly detailed sculpt? What’s not to love there? I am quite limited on the number of brands/lines I collect, but this guy is so cool I finally gave in and picked him up. I had kind of thought he might work in the MOTU Classics line as an extra beast for Skeletor (maybe Whiplash’s giant cousin), but he’s kind of too detailed to fit in with that line. Still, he’s a magnificent beast and I’m happy to having him gracing my shelves. It’s also nice to be able to buy something from the current Four Horsemen ouvre. Their excellent sculpt work is sorely missed in the modern MOTU lines.
#7 Mondo Skeletor
I was able to get Mondo’s 1/6 scale Skeletor figure because a friend of mine (shout out to Shawn!) had an extra and was willing to let it go on very reasonable terms. All the Mondo figures are exquisitely detailed works of art, but I think their Skeletor is definitely among their best, with an excellent sense of the history of the character. I’ve set mine up to resemble his appearance in the first mini comics. Vivid colors, perfect paint work, tons of display options – what’s not to love? I also got He-Man, but it’s Skeletor who really speaks to me. It’s kind of funny, in almost every modern line Skeletor is the better looking figure over He-Man (that’s true of 200x, MOTU Classics, Mondo, and Masterverse). He-Man might be the hardest figure to really capture of any vintage toy.
#6 Vintage Mosquitor
This is not my first vintage Mosquitor of course – I’ve owned others in the past. You know how it goes – sometimes for financial reasons you have to let a figure go. I grabbed him again this year and was reminded what a cool figure this is. I don’t know of any other figure in the vintage line that is so bizarre, so outlandish, so atypical, and yet fits so perfectly into the universe of He-Man. The combination of the gruesome and fun blood-pumping action feature, the very stylized and oversized head, the angular boots, and the strange colors really work, somehow. Sometimes in my head I have internal debates over what might be the coolest figure of the final US MOTU wave. Often Scare Glow wins that contest, but honestly Mosquitor is more creative and probably the cooler design overall.
#5 Snobro Guerrero He-Man
I recently reviewed this custom replica of the original He-Man prototype sculpted by Tony Guerrero. Sculpted and sold in very limited quantities by Snobro, it’s a very faithful replica of that 1981 prototype, even down to the partially rendered fingers and toes. There are a handful of top collectors who own the few original copies that exist. Thanks to Snobro I was able to get the next best thing. One of my regrets is that I was never able to interview Tony Guerrero – he passed away several years before I started this website. It is nice to have such a carefully crafted tribute to his work, though.
#4 Icon Collectibles The Norseman by Frazetta Girls
My favorite non-MOTU line by far is the Frazetta Girls Icon Collectibles line, showcasing 1/12 scale action figures based on Frank Frazetta’s artwork. The Norseman was my favorite of the bunch when it came out. I’ve only shown one of his looks here, but he has the ability change his loincloth and swap his helmet for hair, allowing for two seperate Frazetta characters in one figure. With multiple swords and a fur cape, he’s a striking looking figure that can work as an extra in any fierce display shelf battle.
#3 Mondo Goddess
I don’t own more than a few Mondo figures, so take this with a grain of salt, but I do believe that their Goddess figure is the best of the bunch so far. Jukka and I recently wrote about the character, and I included a review of the figure in that article as well. Although she’s not an exact replica of the original green Sorceress character from He-Man and the Power Sword, she is exceptional nevertheless. The paint and shading on her skin otherworldly, and she’s got a very striking, if slightly evil-looking face. Mondo figures are typically outside of my budget, but I made an exception for this one. I’ve always felt that the green Sorceress (also known as the Green Goddess) has been criminally underrated and underutilized, so it’s nice to see her get her due in the 1/6 scale Mondo line.
#2 Mondo Sky Sled
This website is called Battle Ram: A He-Man Blog. So of course when the Mondo Sky Sled was announced, my ears immediately pricked up. This one would have been tough for me to get on my own, so many thanks to Mondo (facilitated by Oz and Tommy) for sending me a review sample. This is a lovingly and painstakingly designed and crafted tribute to the front half of the Battle Ram, with influences from original concept art by Ted Mayer, the original prototype, the vintage toy, and the Filmation cartoon. Aside from the intricate paint details and weathering, it also features an articulated cannon and articulated controls. I think this is the only possible version of the Sky Sled that could ever top the one that was offered in the MOTU Classics line! It’s a dream come true to own this, truly.
#1 Icon Collectibles Conan (Asia Exclusive) by Frazetta Girls
The man, the myth, the legend! When I heard that we were finally getting an Icon Collectibles Conan Figure, I pretty much jumped for joy. Of any current 1/12 scale action figure line, I think Icon Collectibles is doing the best job in terms anatomy, proportions, sculpted detail, painted detail, and well thought out articulation. Zoom in any any part of the figure or accessories and you’ll find realistic weathering, scars and veins.
In my opinion Conan represents the pinnacle of the line so far. Compared to previous figures in the line, he has a much more muscled upper body, which makes me wish the design team (Eamon O’Donoghue on design, Aaron Doyle on sculpting duties, paint masters by Mat O’Toole) were working on Masters of the Universe as well. Can you imagine a He-Man figure with this kind of anatomy and attention to detail? Personally I think this Conan is a work of art. In fact I like him so much I got this exclusive version as well as the regular version with the curved sword and flat top helmet, so I could display him both with and without a choice of either helmet.
This new Conan figure has double-jointed knees, unlike previous figures in the line. Conan’s elbows are single-jointed (with hidden swivels), which is as it should be for a guy with arms of this size. Double-jointed elbows on beefy arms just never looks good. The great thing about this series of figures is that it features modern articulation that is, and I can’t emphasize this enough, well-hidden. I really can’t stand articulation that interferes with a beautiful sculpt, and the Icon Collectibles team has struck the right balance of lots of articulation that is so well-hidden you can’t even see most of the joints.
While He-Man is not a mere Conan clone, the one influence that the Mattel team were really wearing on their sleeve during the development of Masters of the Universe was Frazetta. This was so pervasive that Rudy Obrero was hired to do the box art precisely because he could do it in the smoky, moody style of Frank Frazetta. I really think of these Icon Collectibles as a sister line to my collection of Masters of the Universe Classics figures. It’s the one line outside of MOTU where I am absolutely all in.
All right, I hope you’ve enjoyed this look at my top ten favorite figures that have found their way onto my shelves this year! I hope you all have a wonderful holiday season and a happy New Year!
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I remember when MOTU Origins first debuted in 2019 – I was very excited for a new retro-style 5.5″ line, but what I really wanted as a return to the simple six points of articulation of the vintage line. I’m a simple man and I’m pleased by simple things.
Of course Mattel already did that back in 2001, when they released the Commemorative Masters of the Universe line. They didn’t get all that deep into the vintage roster and stuck mainly to figures that didn’t have many unique parts on them. And the Commemorative line certainly didn’t explore prototype designs or mini comic looks for the figures. But it was a nice little series of toys. Notoriously though, the face of the He-Man in that line didn’t much resemble the 1980s original figure. His head almost looked like it had been squished in the pantography process.
Commemorative He-Man, 2001
Mattel has recently released the “Retro Punching” He-Man and Skeletor two pack, which once again goes back to the original form factor of the vintage line. This is in celebration of Mattel’s 80th anniversary, so it’s far from clear that this represents a new line of Masters of the Universe figures. I do sincerely hope that we get more of these though! These are apparently considered Origins figures, despite the simplified, vintage bucks.
Here are the official Mattel photos of the packaging. The artwork was done by the excellent team of Axel Giménez (line art) and DC Alonso (colors).
When these figures were announced, Mattel released a photo of the prototypes, which we can compare with the final production figures:
Prototype Retro Punching Skeletor and He-Man
He-Man
Once you open up the external packaging, what you find is a collector-friendly card reminiscent of the 1980s packaging. It’s not an exact reproduction, and it has darker colors and modified graphics. The back of the card features a great scene that fills the whole card, reminiscent of Errol McCarthy’s artwork on the 1983 and later He-Man packaging.
The figure includes a replica of the 1982 mini comic, Battle in the Clouds, written by Don Glut and illustrated by Alfredo Alcala. The back of the comic has Alcala-style cross sell art again by the team of Axel and DC:
The figure itself is an attempt to create a plussed-up version of the vintage He-Man. He has the spring-loaded waist of the original figure, and even has a soft, hollow head as well, although it’s not as squishy as his ’80s counterpart. Unlike the vintage figure, he has some extra paint on his boots, and his bracers are painted orange. His harness and weapons are also cast in a shiny metallic silver plastic.
Compared to previous Origins releases, He-Man gets a new harness, a new vintage toy-accurate axe, a new vintage toy accurate shield, and a re-release of the MOTU Origins half Power Sword. I should note that the shield fits on his arm very loosely and falls off easily.
Retro Punching He-Man accessories (left) vs vintage He-Man accessories (right)
While the Origins line was mainly based on the vintage figures, the Origins He-Man was really more based on a prototype version of He-Man as well as his appearance in the first mini comics. Fans have been waiting a long time for vintage toy-style accessories for He-Man. We’ve got that now for all but the Power Sword. The prototype Retro Punching He-Man image shown at the top of the article actually showed the figure coming with an extra Filmation-style Power Sword, but it wasn’t included in the final product.
So how does Retro Punching He-man stand up to his vintage counterpart? I’ll say it definitely doesn’t knock the vintage He-Man off the throne of Grayskull. While the new figure has some nice extras in terms of paint applications, the head is a little too large with a softer sculpt. It doesn’t have the detail or intensity of expression of the vintage head.
One thing the MOTU Origins team has struggled with, from my perspective, is color, and unfortunately that also applies to the Retro Punching He-Man. The colors of the body and hair are too light and make the figure look washed out. The metallics on the accessories are nice, though. I also appreciate the power punch feature and the soft head. The legs have a more durable ball joint instead of the vintage rubber connectors. That will give him long term stability, but the leg joints seem pretty stiff.
One thing to consider is that the face paint on this He-Man seems to vary from figure to figure. I found four of these sets at Target. Two had misapplied eyebrow paint, and one had some bleed from the white teeth paint going into the corners of the mouth. I picked the best of the group.
Another difference compared to the vintage figure is the harness. It’s a bit larger in front than the vintage version, and it lacks the raised/embossed shape on the front where the cross sits. Also it has four red squares going up the top straps instead of three. Also, as on seemingly every other modern harness, the red squares are true squares, and they lack the angled rhombus shape of the vintage version. No one seems to get that part right.
Skeletor
Skeletor has the same collector-friendly card as He-Man. As before, it’s not an exact reproduction, with darker colors and modified graphics. The back of the card features a great scene that fills the whole card, reminiscent of Errol McCarthy’s artwork on the 1983 and later Skeletor packaging.
The figure includes a replica of the 1982 mini comic, The Vengeance of Skeletor, written by Don Glut and illustrated by Alfredo Alcala. The back of the comic is the same as shown previously.
As with He-Man, Retro Punching Skeletor is a plussed-up version of the vintage toy, complete with spring-loaded waist and squishy head. Unlike the vintage figure, he has some extra paint applications on his chest armor, removable belt, and even on his toes (which should be covered by his boots really, but there you go). Compared to the prototype his paint was dialed back considerably. The prototype was probably over-painted, although I wouldn’t have minded if they had kept the painted bat emblem.
Interestingly they gave him the “orange cheeks” face paint, which was from the first release of Skeletor. That version had purple trunks and half boots. This figure has black trunks and fully-painted boots, however. In fact, the boots are painted a bit differently, with extra paint going up the back of the calf, with some dips inside the calf. The paint follows the sculpt, while the vintage figure’s boot paint went around the leg in a straight line. (I’m referring of course to those versions of Skeletor with fully painted boots – read this article for more information on that).
I’m pretty sure this new Skeletor is reusing accessories from his highly-articulated MOTU Origins counterpart. For the most part that makes sense, since the Origins accessories are nearly identical to the vintage accessories. The exception is once again with the sword, which is based on the Alcala look rather than the vintage toy.
Retro Punching Skeletor (left) vs vintage Skeletor swords
So how does this new Skeletor measure up to the vintage version? Reasonably well, I would say. The face is a bit wider than the vintage version, but it’s not that noticeable. The biggest differences come down again to color – the skin and face coloring look flat and pale compared to the vintage toy. If the Origins design crew at Mattel would pay more attention to their colors, they would save obsessives like me a lot of frustration. Still, despite those flaws, I think Retro Punching Skeletor is a cool-looking figure overall.
Despite my few gripes with this set, I still like it a lot. I really hope we will see more in this vein from Mattel. Imagine a line of these figures that included figures based on original prototypes. Or how about reissues of expensive and hard to find figures like Scare Glow or King Randor? There’s a lot of potential here, and I’d like to see these Retro Punching chaps expanded out into a full new line of toys. Time will tell if that’s in the cards.
Vintage Battle Cat & Vehicles
Since publishing this, it has been requested that I show Retro Punching He-Man riding on Battle Cat and in some vintage vehicles. There was some concern that the new leg articulation might pose a problem. Here he is on vintage Battle Cat, Wind Raider, and Battle Ram. It’s true that the figure doesn’t have quite as much range of motion as the vintage figure with the rubber leg connectors. He does fine on Battle Cat and Battle Ram, but he just barely fits into Wind Raider. He is not able to ride the vintage Dragon Walker, which requires the legs to be at a 90 degree angle to the body.
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As a kind of sequel to my previous article about the Masters of the Universe Power Promo that I wrote last year, I’d like to talk about a similar document I came across, the Masters of the Universe “Power Play” trade ad. Like the Power Promo, it gives a preview of Mattel’s marketing campaign for the first year of the Masters of the Universe line. The point of this information was to assure retailers that if they bought MOTU products for their stores, Mattel would be providing plenty of marketing to help make the line a top seller.
Unfortunately I don’t know where this was actually published – I’m sure it was in some industry magazine (perhaps Playthings Magazine?). The seller doesn’t divulge where these things come from, as they make their living on finding and selling rare vintage ads.
First Page
The first page of the Power Play trade ad shows the cover for DC Comics’ Fate is the Killer, which was released as an insert/preview inside other comics on August 26, 1982. The previously mentioned Power Promo didn’t have any artwork for the DC Comics despite mentioning them, so I’m guessing this “Power Play” trade ad came out a bit later, when some of the early DC Comics artwork had been completed. The colors on this art are a little different than on the actual published comic – the main difference being Skeletor is holding a gray Power Sword. By contrast the published comic showed him with a purple power Sword. This unique version of the cover did appear later in a digital edition of Fate is the Killer.
Second Page
This page is very similar to a page in the Power Promo, except photographs have been replaced by drawings. The ad talks about some of the planned promotions, including TV ads, national print ads, the free mini comics included with figures, something called a “Power Sword National Sweepstakes,” shelf strip marketing, and cash rebates.
There is also an illustration for the Power Sword National Sweepstakes, which appeared on a different page in the Power Promo. The page says that the Sweepstakes was to be promoted in a Sunday comic strip advertisement. However the actual comic strips that came out in 1982 don’t say anything about a Power Sword National Sweepstakes, and instead they give readers the chance to win free copies of the DC Comics MOTU issues, or to even appear in them. Incidentally, no fans appear in the DC Comics MOTU issues to my knowledge.
I think the Power Sword promotion must have been cancelled, since it has never turned up outside of a marketing plan, as far as I know.
Third Page
Most of the third page text content also appears in the Power Promo document mentioned earlier. It covers DC Comics, Halloween costumes by Ben Cooper, and the Western Publishing Pop Up Game. This time a redrawn illustration from the Alcala mini comics is included, as well as an illustration of the MOTU Pop-Up Game. However, the part shown above about Merchandising Displays appeared on a different page in the other promo. It shows an illustration of an end cap display for Masters of the Universe, which also shows how the toys would be arranged in the display
Below is the actual final art by John Youssi for the shelf talker/shelf strip promo that was shown in the third page of the ad (image courtesy of John’s son, Andy Youssi):
Because the art is so wide and short, I’m chopping it up into two pieces to make the art easier to appreciate:
Here are pages 2 and 3 combined:
Fourth Page
This final page is an illustrated version of a toy photograph page that appeared in the Power Promo. I had actually seen this illustrated image years ago out of context, posted to Facebook without explanation. It’s nice to finally learn where it came from! This version includes an inset illustration of the back of the castle, which wasn’t in the photo this was taken from.
I hope you’ve enjoyed this look at the interesting “Power Play” trade ad and Mattel’s marketing strategy for the first year of Masters of the Universe. See you next time!
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