Written by Adam McCombs
Thanks to a deal I got from a good friend, I was able to get my hands on Mondo’s 1/6 scale He-Man and Skeletor recently, in anticipation of doing a review/article about the Mondo Sky Sled. I thought I’d start things off with everyone’s favorite Lord of Destruction, Skeletor.
I got the standard version rather than the more pricey timed edition (which came with accessories to recreate Battle Armor, Dragon Blaster and Terror Claws Skeletor). That was really fine by me, as my favorite look for Skeletor is the 1982 original.
The box (shown on the opening image of this article) features some fantastic artwork by Florian Bertmer, which is referencing a panel from the 1982 Vengeance of Skeletor minicomic, illustrated by Alfredo Alcala.
Inside the box, you get the usual adult collector friendly packaging, with everything protected between layers of clear plastic, and thankfully no rubber bands. For a non-deluxe figure (in Mondo speak, the deluxe versions are called “Timed Edition,” meaning they are available for pre-order for a limited time), it feels quite deluxe. Included are two separate heads, his Havoc Staff, Power Sword, and an axe from his appearance in the Filmation episode, Diamond Ray of Disappearance. He also includes six extra hands. The airbrushing and other paintwork on my example are nearly flawless. The sculpt work is top notch.
The figure was designed by Emiliano Santalucia (his work at The Power and the Honor Foundation is referenced constantly in this blog) and meticulously sculpted by Tommy Hodges. You can see concept art for the deluxe version of the figure in the image below:
Because of Emiliano’s deep expertise with the history of Masters of the Universe, he incorporates just the right references from the pieces of Skeletor’s long history, starting with the original Mark Taylor concept design, as shown below.
From Mark’s original concept, the Mondo version takes the following elements:
- Bare feet with five toes
- Shin guards with bat wing symbols
- Long baltea skirt with oversized bird emblem at belt
- The overall shape of the chest harness
- The shape and scale of the Havoc Staff
Of course, all of these elements are tweaked and enhanced with extra detail, lending them a sense of greater realism. I always think of the Mondo Masters of the Universe designs as “movie-ready” interpretations of these characters. The head (which is a separate piece from the hood) in particular has a horror movie feel to it, while retaining the yellow and green color scheme of the original face.
Skeletor’s Power Sword is based on the shape it had in the original four minicomics illustrated by Alfredo Alcala. While I don’t know of any surviving concept art for this sword, it was designed by Mark Taylor, so this is really another Mark Taylor element.
As mentioned previously, the axe (which wasn’t included with the original 1982 figure) is a reference to the classic He-Man and the Masters of the Universe episode, “Diamond Ray of Disappearance.” This was kind of a substitute Havoc Staff, which hadn’t yet been designed for animation (for more on this, see James Eatock’s excellent episode commentary). This is actually a repaint – Mondo’s 2019 version of Skeletor had this as well.
There are also a couple of references to the 200x version of Skeletor as designed by the Four Horsemen. One appears around the back of the figure, where there is a spine design on the armor:
Compare that with the 2002 Skeletor figure armor at the same location:
Mondo Skeletor’s removable wrist bracers also appear to be a nod to the 200x figure, although they’ve been tweaked stylistically to fit in with the rest of the Mondo Skeletor figure design.
Now, I was able to get my hands on a loose “Alcala” head from the Timed Edition of the figure. I wasn’t sold on it at first, but once I removed the wrist bracers and gave him He-Man’s version of the Power Sword, I found my personal preferred display option. I wouldn’t have minded just a bit of subtle green spray around the edges of the face, I think that would have made it just a bit more dynamic looking.
Of course, the extra head is kind of just for fun – it’s a very close recreation of the original 1982 head, and not detailed enough at this scale to look right with the figure. This one came with Mondo’s 2019 Skeletor as well.
Mondo’s Skeletor figure is one of my all time favorite interpretations of the character. Many thanks to Shawn for making this possible for me!
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