Pretty much every action figure line will have some amount of production variants. I’ll define that term this way: a variation in the paint or mold of a figure release, either based on a running change to the same figure at the same factory, or differences due to the same figure being produced at different factories. Because the original Masters of the Universe line was so huge, it was produced in many factories all over the world, leading to many hundreds of production variants that fans are still cataloging to this day.
MOTU Classics had far fewer production variants than the 1980s line. For one thing, the production numbers on the Classics line were far fewer than the vintage line, and for the most part Classics figures seem to have been made at the same factory (as far as I can tell) until Super7 took over towards the end of the line and switched to a different factory.
Still, there were some running changes to a single figure’s paint and/or mold in the Classics line. Some of those changes were publicized as improvements and even used in the marketing of the line, while others were subtle and done pretty quietly.
For the purposes of this article, I’m not going to count the Super7 “Ultimates” re-releases of Skeletor, He-Man, Teela, Faker and Ram Man as production variants. There was a huge time gap between the original release and these Ultimates release, they were made by a different company, with different packaging, different accessories, etc. There are other redecorated re-released that I’m not counting either, such as the Toys “R” Us DCU two packs.
There may be other production variants I am not aware of – these are the ones I have cataloged over the years.
He-Man (Dec. 2008)
He-Man was the first figure sculpted for the MOTU Classics line, before it was actually a line. As the 200x NECA Staction line was petering out, Eric Treadaway of the Four Horsemen decided to try a new approach to He-Man. The concept was to take the bulky, muscular proportions of the vintage MOTU figures and augment them with more sculpted detail, painted detail, and articulation. The legs were lengthened to make them look a bit more realistic, and the size was increased to make them feel as big in the hand of a grownup as the original He-Man felt in the hands of a child.
Prototype
The first image below is the first He-Man prototype, which Mattel quietly put on display at a booth at the 2007 San Diego Comic-Con. Fan reaction was overwhelmingly positive, leading Mattel to greenlight a limited run of figures in this style. The second and third images represent a revised prototype, with a lowered belly button, smoothed over boots, more vivid colors and a few other changes. The final figure would get orange bracers rather than gray. One aspect that stands out is the reddish color around the eyes, which was a feature of the first release MOTU Classics He-Man figure.
Version 1
The Version 1 first release He-Man featured some reddish-brown spray around the eyes, like like the resin prototypes above. Depending on the version you got, this could have been done subtly or sometimes quite dramatically.
The first version had a couple of other idiosyncrasies. Like King Grayskull before him, his shoulders were assembled backwards. I remember back when I first started collecting this line, I had a hard time picking out backwards shoulders, but over the years I’ve gotten pretty good at it. Sadly they were a recurring issue in the MOTU Classics line.
Pictures by The Cult of Vintage
Another idiosyncrasy was in the pelvis – the first release He-Man figure had a wide pelvis piece, giving him a slightly bow-legged appearance. I don’t have a loose version of V1 He-Man to photograph in that way, but I’ll show a close up picture of the difference in the section on Skeletor. The V1 He-Man also had a fairly stiff loincloth.
As I understand it, there were also some early He-Man figures that also had a flesh tone crotch piece, which gave him an unfortunately naked appearance under the loincloth. I don’t have a photo of that, but I heard about it from an old interview with Terry Higuchi, a Mattel designer who worked on the line. I’m not sure if any of these made it into the hands of fans, however.
Version 2
With the Version 2 He-Man, Mattel set about to fix the various issues with Version 1. They discontinued the red airbrushing around the eyes, which many fans didn’t like. They corrected the backwards shoulders, and they also made the pelvis piece narrower. The loincloth was also made more flexible. This version came packaged with a “The Original” burst on the packaging.
I should mention that even though there are only two discrete variants of this figure, there are all kinds of random variations on the figure’s face from. Sometimes the hair piece got glued on too high over the head, showing too much forehead (as in the carded example above). Sometimes the eyebrows were painted on too high as well.
Skeletor (Jan. 2009)
Skeletor had quite a few changes from his first release until he was discontinued. I’ll go over each step in his evolution.
Prototype
On the original resin prototype by the Four Horsemen, there was very little green on the face, just a bit on the lower surfaces of the jaw, teeth and cheekbones, as if it were a green light glowing from beneath his face. There was also a wash in the teeth to bring out the detail, and of course you can see paint deco in the eyes and nose. The prototype was shown in an issue of ToyFare Magazine, and in a Matty Collector ad:
Version 1a
The very first Skeletor figures appeared on the standard MOTU Classics card, with no “The Original” burst. The earliest figures had very unique paint on the face, with some light green airbrushing on the forehead and cheekbones, and a bit of very subtle blackwash on the teeth to bring out the details. It’s a very clean look, but this was quickly changed.
In addition to the face paint, other distinguishing features include the open left hand, and a much wider pelvis piece than was on most figures in the line. As mentioned earlier, this wide pelvis was found on the original He-Man release. It was also on the SDCC King Grayskull exclusive, and on some early versions of Faker as well. Early in 2009 this wide pelvis was modified by Mattel to a narrower design, allowing the legs to be a bit closer together.
Version 1b
The next version is much more common than Version 1a. Really the only difference between this and Version 1a is the face paint, which now has a pale green wash on the forehead and low relief areas of the sculpt. This would be the general way of painting the vast majority of the original Skeletor figures in this line. In my opinion this is the best looking paint job for Skeletor. It brings out the highly detailed sculpt (which is mostly lost in Version 1a) without being too green. You can also see the wash on the teeth that was present in the prototype version.
It’s also possible to find kind of an intermediate version of this figure, with a more airbrushed look like V1a, but with paint coverage more like V1b. This one looks good too:
Version 2a
After the original run of Skeletor figures had sold through, Mattel reissued him again. This time the package had a burst on the front saying “The Original.” The idea was to implement a running change and give Skeletor a closed left hand, which would help him dual wield both his Havoc Staff and his sword. They also wanted to improve the face paint on the figure. However, many figures came out in the burst packaging and still had the open left hand. They did, however, have the updated, narrower pelvis. The greenwash on the face was often slightly more irregular, with a slightly darker green paint used. Some of the paint jobs on these reissues are quite messy, but it’s also possible to find some with clean paint or minimalist green paint as well. There is a ton of variation because this paint application was done by hand at the factory.
Version 2b
This final version of Skeletor is the same as Version 2a, but with a closed left hand. The closed left hand was also used with the “toothless” Skeletor that came with the Mo-Larr set, and in the Toys “R” Us set with Lex Luthor, but I would consider those both to be different releases altogether, rather than production variants.
In any case, the closed hand version of Skeletor often had a slightly messy application of the green on his face paint, but it is possible to find more subtle versions. It can vary a lot from figure to figure. I’ve even located a closed hand version with face paint resembling the original prototype figure (images below). Note the very minimal amount of green paint on the forehead.
One of the first figures I bought as an adult collector, back in 2012 or 2013, was a Version 2b:
V1a, V1b, V2a, V2b heads
Stratos (Feb. 2009)
Below is the resin prototype Stratos figure. Note the forward facing “wings,” red belt, and medium gray color:
Resin Stratos prototype
The actual production figure was made with a darker gray body. Also unfortunately the wings were glued down and facing the back of the arms. This was a factory error, as the wings were supposed to rotate freely. You can see the problem in the Matty Collector ad below, where the forearms are posed at an extreme angle to get the wings facing forward. This was possible to fix with some hot water and determination, however.
An early factory version of Stratos got the color scheme of Beast Man’s belt by mistake. While both characters had blue trunks, Beast Man had a gold belt, while Stratos was supposed to have a red belt. A few gold belt Stratos figures slipped out before the mistake was caught. The gold belt version appears on some cardbacks too (V1 Ram Man and V1 Granamyr, for instance). The picture below seems to show an early sample, since the factory version had the wings glued in place, rotated toward the back of the arms.
Here is a comparison picture of the red and gold belt variants, from the excellent MOTUC Figures site:
For comparison, here is a picture of the standard Stratos figure, with the wing problem fixed by me:
Moss Man (March 2010)
The Four Horsemen played with many different options when it came to Moss Man’s flocking. The picture below shows a subtle, short flocking used on a resin prototype.
The actual figure got longer flocking, with bare areas around the joints. There were two well-known variants of Moss Man. Early versions of the figure had flocked ears on both of the included heads. This was a mistake, and it was quickly fixed. But of course anything that is produced in low numbers becomes more collectible, so the flocked ears version is worth a bit more on the secondary market.
Battle Armor Skeletor (March 2011)
The prototype Battle Armor Skeletor was sculpted by Djordje Djokovic, who also shared the images below. The figure was going to have a cleaner, more vintage toy-like face paint, and also bare feet. Fans requested that the figure get purple feet to represent boots, and Mattel made the change.
Pre-Production Sample
There was a pre-production factory sample of the figure that had some differences compared to the version fans got. It had much messier green paint on the face, reminiscent of some of the previous Skeletor faces. It also had black paint on the battle damage lines on the chest armor. That would be changed to silver paint on the production figure.
Version 1
The production Battle Armor Skeletor figure got a toy-ish interpretation of the paint around the teeth, reminiscent of 1980s Skeletor figures. Early versions had a subtle, airbrushed green around the forehead (sometimes very subtle, as shown in the first image) and the sides of the face.
Image source: Pixel Dan
Version 2
Later versions of the figure had hard lines dividing the yellow face from the green painted areas, indicating the use of a paint mask.
He-Ro (July 2009)
He-Ro’s production variants were very much pre-planned and done for the purpose of marketing. He-Ro came with one of three random gem colors: green, red, or purple. Green was the color he was supposed get in the vintage 1980s line.
Also, the version for Sale at San Diego Comic-Con came with an SDCC logo printed on the chest, under He-Ro’s armor:
Faker (Feb. 2009)
The early versions of Faker had the wide pelvis piece found on the first King Grayskull, He-Man and Skeletor figures. Later versions released on the burst packaging had the narrower pelvis piece.
Version 1Version 2
King Grayskull (July 2008)
King Grayskull prototype
King Grayskull was the first figure released in the line (although He-Man was the first to be sculpted). Released as a con exclusive, he came with a deluxe Castle Grayskull themed box with opening jawbridge and sound effects. The figure itself had the wide pelvis mentioned several times in this article. He also had backwards shoulders. These issues weren’t fixed in the original release. However he was reissued in a new deco and in the standard packaging in 2010, and that version had the fixes. I wouldn’t really call the second version a production variant, given the gap in time and the total revamp to packaging and deco.
However the 2008 King Grayskull did come in a couple of rare variants. Some random boxes came instead with a bronze colored version of the figure, which was meant to represent the statue of the character that appeared in the Mike Young Productions cartoon. There was also a raffle for a very rare transparent blue version of the character, the Spirit of King Grayskull. The “Spirit” version was eventually reissued years later, but with a glow-in-the-dark green deco.
Demo-Man (Dec. 2011)
Demo-Man’s prototype was done in a fairly muted green color. He had a great deal of sculpted and painted detail, and he came with a much loved “Alcala” version of Skeletor’s head as a bonus.
Prototype Demo-Man with bonus prototype “Alcala” Skeletor head
The production figure was done in a much brighter color. However on the old He-Man.org boards it was pointed out that some versions had a bright red tunic, and the others had a dark red tunic.
Photo by T-Man
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Several years back I did a rather brief review of the MOTU Classics Castle Grayskull, in a small series of articles covering a few items from that line. My blog mostly covers the vintage MOTU line, so modern lines like Classics and Origins have never been a focus. However, I think the Classics Castle Grayskull is extraordinary enough to warrant an in-depth look at the history behind its design and development.
The Origins of Masters of the Universe Classics
For some context, I thought it would be worth writing briefly about the origins of the line itself. The Masters of the Universe Classics line began as a pitch from the Four Horsemen to Mattel. I asked them about it in my interview with them for Pixel Dan’s Toy Guide. Here’s an excerpt:
Q: Can you talk about the genesis of the Masters of the Universe Classics line?
A: (Eric Treadaway) We’d wrapped up the 200X version of Masters of the Universe, but we didn’t want to let the property or the toy line just whither on the vine and die, so we started coming up with a new direction to take the line that we could introduce to Mattel, and hopefully they’d like it. We decided that we should try to bring back the proportions and look of the original Masters of the Universe line, but add in the articulation and technical updates of today.
A: (Cornboy) So, on our own time and without Mattel knowing we were doing it, we created a new He-Man action figure prototype that took the classic look and new articulation levels into account. We took it with us to the San Diego Comic Con that year so we could present the idea and the prototype to the managers and designers at Mattel that we worked with at the time at a breakfast meeting that we have with them there every year. We were surprised that while most of the guys at the table loved the idea and the prototype, none were really interested in jumping in with another MotU line so quickly. That is until the manager of Mattel boys toys at the time, David Voss, spoke up and said that he loved it and wanted us to place it into one of the Mattel display cases there at SDCC without saying anything about it just to see what the reaction was. I guess you know by now that the response was overwhelmingly positive, and we released the SDCC exclusive King Grayskull figure the next year and MOTU Classics was off and running.
The prototype shown at SDCC is pictured below. These images were originally posted on the He-Man.org forums – unfortunately I don’t recall who posted them, and those forums are no longer online. I believe the person who posted it had acquired it for their own collection. The version below was later updated for production – the bracers and belt were painted a more classic orange color, with dark red accents, and the Power Sword was redesigned. The neck articulation was also simplified.
The line ran from from late 2008 to late 2020, concluding with the Snake Mountain playset, although the heyday of the line was really from 2008-2015. In 2017 the line transferred over to Super7, which kept it going after Mattel had lost interest in continuing with it. There is actually a nice, highly detailed guide to all the figures, vehicles and playsets of the Classics line created by Wakko, available to download for free here. It’s also covered of course in Pixel Dan’s Toys of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe (Dark Horse). I actually wrote about half of the MOTU Classics section in that book.
MOTU Classics stayed alive for 12 years without any significant entertainment (no movies or TV shows), and was mostly funded by a yearly subscription model and fan enthusiasm. I remember in the years where it looked like the line was in danger of failing, many fans bought multiple subscriptions and put out sub drive podcasts, videos and artwork to keep it going.
Castle Grayskull Preorder
Initially the line was very heavily figure-focused. There was one vehicle released early on (the Wind Raider) which didn’t sell very quickly, and that seemed to make a major playset much less of a possibility. However, after the financial success of Mattel’s Hoverboard prop replica, Scott Neitlich, the brand manager for the line, was able to get the Castle Grayskull greenlit, contingent upon getting at least 5,000 preorders for it to justify the tooling cost of $350,000 (note: these numbers were not revealed to fans at the time – it was just said that the preorder had to meet a minimum threshold to move forward).
The plan to do a Classics Castle Grayskull was first announced at Power-Con, in late September of 2012. No images were available at the time, but they announced a Fall 2012 preorder, with an estimated price of $200. The stated idea was to base the castle on Mark Taylor’s original prototype design. More details were to be revealed at the 2012 New York Comic Con in October.
Image source: The FwooshCastle Grayskull prototype, by Mark Taylor. Image: The Power and the Honor FoundationCastle Grayskull prototype, by Mark Taylor. Image: The Power and the Honor Foundation
The first illustrations for the proposed castle appeared at a Mattel panel at NYCC on October 13, 2012. At this point, the price was revised upward to $250. To support the pitch, the Four Horsemen commissioned their longtime collaborator Nate Baertsch to draw up some concept artwork, which would be shown in order to pitch the playset to fans. His illustrations were intended to communicate the general look of the castle to fans, as well as show off the intended features and accessories:
Showing the scale and features like a removable “pawn” or “crown” and an optional handle on the side wall. Note: Nate’s exterior drawings here were cleaned up by Mattel’s design team and presented blueprint-style for the fans. Key features of the exterior: the ledge and “pawn” or “crown” of the original prototype, but the cleaner teeth design of the vintage toy and its box art. Also it was to have a built-in rocky base.
I’ll just note that later on, some additional concept art by Nate was revealed, showing different angles and all sorts of optional extras for the castle:
Castle with proposed “Spirit of Grayskull” piece. Mattel made something sort of similar for the MOTU Origins line. A view of the interior without second and third floors or elevator, to more clearly show what was featured in the interior walls. Note the two shields next to the entrance, based on the original Alcala comics. Originally the castle was to have a 3d-dungeon grate. Due to the cost of painting it was cut from the playset and a sticker was used instead. Note the reference to Ted Mayer’s concept dungeon playset and the 200x Grayskull jail/cage. I should also mention that the 200x Castle Grayskull was created by Mattel, not the Four Horsemen. Concept interior for the castle. Note that the trap door was supposed to drop figures into the dungeon, not next to it. That didn’t work out due to size limitations, however. The triangular weapons rack was costed out as well. The secret door next to the throne was supposed to open using a candle stand as a lever. The door was kept in the final playset, but without the candle stand lever. This breakaway wall was proposedearly on.A proposed 3-d version of Mark Taylor’s Castle Grayskull moat playmat. Unfortunately this wasn’t feasible.
I’ll also note before this project, Nate had designed two previous versions of the Castle, one for the Millcreek 30th anniversary DVD set case (a 2D illustration pushed out to 3D on the box), and the Icon Heroes Castle Grayskull statue, as well as the artwork for the statue’s packaging:
Icon Heroes Castle Grayskull box art, by Nate Baertsch
As I recall, Nate worked closely with Eric Treadaway of the Four Horsemen on the Icon Heroes project in terms of figuring out the overall look, and that informed the direction they would go with the Classics Castle Grayskull, if one were to be greenlit.
After the three primary blueprints/illustrations were shown at NYCC, the flat illustration showing the castle from the exterior was blown up and printed on foam to help sell the preorder. You can see that in the image and video below:
The preorder window was opened up October 16, 2012, and was to remain open until November 12, 2012, although due to the success in hitting the minimum on time, the preorder was extended through January 4, 2013. The price point of $250 (plus tax and shipping) was controversial at the time, although it seems quite economical in retrospect, compared to more recent Mattel projects like the recent MOTU Origins Eternia playset. Extra perks were offered for those who preordered – they would get a poster of all of the figures produced in the line to date, and would get to vote on which characters would appear on the box art. Rudy Obrero was slated to do the packaging illustration, just as he had done for the original 1982 Castle Grayskull.
After the prototype was shown at NYTF in February 2013 (more on that later), the preorder window was extended again for a short time, for the increased price of $275. Those who purchased the Castle after the preorder deadline could still get one, but at the cost of $300 plus taxes and shipping.
Here’s a few examples of the kinds of things that fans put together to help drive interest in subscriptions for the castle:
Image: Nate BaertschImage: Nate Baertsch
It’sAllTrue.net also had a temporary website (CastleGrayskull.info) up to promote the preorder and track its progress, which is still visible through the Wayback Machine. On this page you can still watch a video featuring Johnny Bilson and Brian Dobson (voice of Skeletor in the 2002 He-Man cartoon) promoting the preorder.
The Matty Collector site featured a meter that tracked progress toward the preorder goal
In the end there were approximately 7,500 castles preordered, which was close to the number of subscribers for the entire yearly line at the time (again, these sales numbers were not revealed until much later, after the line had ended). It was a huge success.
Castle Grayskull Prototype
The Four Horsemen sculpted Castle Grayskull over the course of two weeks during the month of January, 2013. Normally the Four Horsemen had about six or so people working on projects at any one time, but for Castle Grayskull they brought in some outside collaborators and had 16 people working on the project. Eric Treadaway actually documented the process for his son, who was fascinated with the castle at the time, and later posted it as The Twelve Days of Grayskull. His original posts are only available on the Wayback Machine. Most of the images are still visible, although not at the maximum resolution.
Thankfully Israel Ramirez, a long-time friend of the Four Horsemen, archived all of Eric’s original posts, including the full resolution of most of the images, on his Power Lords Return site (he also runs the Adam Power YouTube channel). I’d recommend going through and reading it. I’ll summarize the process here as well.
Frequent Four Horsemen collaborator Joe Amaro created an armature (which appears to be 3D printed), upon which the Castle’s façade and stones would be sculpted. The medium used was castilene clay, a wax-based clay that can be softened by heat and even melted and poured into molds. Eric roughed up the surface of the armature and spread some melted clay over the surface to help his sculptures adhere to the plastic. Fun historical note: the original 1981 Castle Grayskull prototype was also sculpted using castilene clay.
Joe Amaro talks about his work on MOTU Classics Castle Grayskull in the video below, on the Adam Power YouTube channel:
You can see below in Eric’s next series of images the shape of the face being roughed out in clay. It was important to Eric that the face have a great deal of depth, similar to the original toy and the original Mark Taylor Prototype. The most recent official Castle Grayskull from the 200x era was incredibly flat with very little relief to its features. Eric definitely wanted a return to form for the castle!
Images: Eric Treadaway, retrieved from http://www.powerlordsreturn.com/?p=1675200x Castle Grayskull, with its very flat design, created by Mattel’s in-house design team. Image: Yo Joe Outlet Center
In the image below, Eric has further sharpened up the facial features and added the raised detail to the helmet:
In the image below, Eric has cleaned up the sculpt of the facial features (particularly around the eye sockets), and removed the premade ledge from the armature, which would be added back later in clay, made by pouring liquid castilene into a mold.
In the image below, Eric has removed the plastic rock formations at the base and has started replacing them with clay versions. He also continued to add rock textures around the side of the largest tower.
In the images below, Eric worked on continuing the rock textures around the side of the smaller tower. He also started adding some clay over the base piece.
In the images below we can see that Eric has rebuilt the rocks at the base of the taller tower, and continued to add clay to the base of the castle. His vision for the structure, as he describes it in Twelve Days of Grayskull, was that part of the castle is carved directly out of rock, and the rest was built up over time around what was carved.
Here is our first look at the other section of the castle exterior. Most of the clay work on this half was sculpted by Shane Dittsworth, and finished up by Eric Treadaway:
Below we see some continued work on the other section of the castle, along with work on the handle section. Some parts of the armature had to be cut down to make it look right when the castle was closed up.
Beyond Eric’s photos, MTV Geek visited the Four Horsemen studios and took some pictures and videos of the process. Here’s a video still of Eric working on sculpting the castle (unfortunately the videos are no longer available):
Below you can see the mold Shane Dittsworth made from the clay prototype:
During the mold-making process, sadly the clay prototype ended up getting destroyed, but not before the Horsemen had the successful mold they needed to make urethane plastic castings.
On the Adam Power YouTube channel, there is a great video of Shane Dittsworth talking about the difficulty of molding and casting the castle:
And here’s a video showing the molds close up, and one unsuccessful casting:
In the images below you can see a successful casting of the front of the castle:
The Matty Collector Facebook page at the time shared some images from the Four Horsemen of Sherri Lynn Cook working on paint masters for the castle:
From MTV Geek again, more images of the paint masters, WIP:
This image makes me imagine a much larger Castle Grayskull, with towers and walls that stretch for miles in both directions!
Back on the Power Lords YouTube channel, there are archived video segments about the process of painting Castle Grayskull:
A still from the MTV Geek interview with Sherri Lynn Cook. Unfortunately that video is no longer available.
Below are images of painted up castings of the interior elements, also from MTV Geek:
Painted casting of the dungeon entrance. In the original Castle Grayskull, there were no dungeon walls – there was just a sticker of a dungeon grate on the floor. However in the Alcala minicomics there was a dimensional dungeon. The dungeon above was also based on a proposed dungeon playset designed by Ted Mayer. Ted Mayer’s unproduced Dungeon playset concept, via Tomart’s Action Figure DigestCastle Grayskull combat trainer. This is closely based on Mark Taylor’s original concept art.In this photo from the Four Horsemen, you can see sections of the dungeon, Grayskull’s “attic” and the interior floor extension.An assortment of cast and painted thrones, computer sections, elevator poles, robots, orb holder, ladders, platforms and the jaw bridge.Interior platforms, jaw bridge, dudgeon walls, elevator, laser cannon, robot, ladder and jet pack (from the original prototype castle). Fun fact about the ladder – it was made using a combination of real wood twigs and sculpted clay rope ties!If memory serves, Owen “O-Dawg” Oertling did the ladder. Cornboy would have done many of the internal accessories.
Djordje Djokovic, often called the “fifth horseman,” was brought in to sculpt the jaw bridge and the dungeon grate. He recently posted some photos of his work on his Instagram page. His jaw bridge was closely based on the original toy and Rudy Obrero’s box art. The Mark Taylor prototype jaw bridge was quite different – it had a stone texture exterior and a slimmer shape. Originally Djordje’s prototype had a vine crawling across the tongue, but it ended up getting removed from the final playset.
You can see the cast and painted version of the jaw bridge in the images below:
Here are Djordje’s images of his prototype dungeon grate. Sadly, this never made it into the castle. The many paint applications required made it prohibitively expensive:
And here is the cast and painted version:
Prototype Reveal
On February 10, 2013, the prototype paint master for Castle Grayskull was revealed at New York Toy Fair:
Actually, shortly before the actual NYTF reveal, a few low-resolution images of the prototype (unpainted) had leaked to fans. At some point in the development of the castle, Mattel had determined that the castle had to be shrunk down a couple of inches from what was shown to fans to meet the price point of $250. Originally it was going to measure about 24 inches from the base to the top of the tallest tower. In the revised size, 24 inches was the height from the base to the top of the “pawn” piece on the helmet. This had a domino effect, and made it so the entryway only just big enough for a figure to stand on the jaw bridge without hitting his head. Of course the unpainted version didn’t look nearly as cool as the paint master version, so seeing this first was jarring for fans.
The size reduction was quite controversial. Although fans were pretty unanimous in praising the overall appearance of the castle, they were pretty upset about the small entrance in the front. Some images of the NYTF prototype display are shown below:
Images via Figures.comImage from ActionFigurePics.com. Note how He-Man’s head goes right up to the center teeth in the entrance. Image from ActionFigurePics.com
Here is a closeup of the fully painted prototype jaw bridge, with the vine that was later removed:
The NYTF reveal gave fans their first look at the interior of the castle as well. Initially it featured smooth, flat walls inside. Eric had intended to do some kind of sculpted brick walls (as had Mark Taylor and Ted Mayer with the original Castle Grayskull), but it proved to be too difficult to produce that way. It was announced that the flat interior walls would be hollowed out for production, and the interior walls would be a mirror image of the shape of the exterior – just as had been done in the vintage castle.
Nate Baertsch did the artwork for the decals that appeared in the castle. Some of the final decals were a bit different from what was shown at NYTF, in particular the display on the computer screen and the second tapestry hanging on the wall near the space suit.
Illustrations by Nate Baertsch
The size of the entrance was probably the biggest negative reaction from the fans, but second biggest complaint was that there was no way for the Sorceress to sit on the throne due to her tail feathers. In response, Mattel said they would try to make some changes before production, including:
Lowering the base in front of the jaw bridge in order to allow it to sit lower, increasing the size of the entrance
Adding a slot in the throne for the Sorceress’ tail feathers
Adding a slot next to the jaw bridge for the Power Sword to be inserted to unlock the entrance
Adding a key hole to the secret door on the second half of the castle to accommodate the key that came with MOTU Classics Scareglow
A couple of weeks after NYTF, Scott Neitlich also put together a video on the details of the size of the prototype castle:
Pre-Production Model Updates
The updated pre-production model for Castle Grayskull was shown off at San Diego Comic-Con in July of 2013. All of the changes that Mattel had announced were featured in this model.
Image retrieved from He-Man.org. Note that the base piece in front of the jaw bridge has been lowered, increasing the amount of clearance for figures.Image retrieved from He-Man.org. Note that the base piece in front of the jaw bridge has been lowered, increasing the amount of clearance for figures.Note the small hole to the right of the entrance. Inserting the Power Sword in the hole activates a secret mechanism, opening the jaw bridge. Image via The Fwoosh. Note that the walls are the inverse of the sculpt of the exterior. The interior of the tower roof to the left was mistakenly painted brown. This would be corrected in the final production castle. Note also the platform above Skeletor’s head now sits more securely, and has been raised a bit. Image via The Fwoosh. Note the added latches to the side, which were there to prevent the castle from opening when being carried by its handle. Image via The Fwoosh.Note that a slot has been added to the throne, allowing the Sorceress’ tailpiece to be inserted. She still doesn’t sit well due to the rest of her wing pieces, but at least she can sit.
A factory pre-production model of the castle was shown in the August 11, 2013 video below. The castle is a “test shot” produced in random colors, made by the factory to let the customer (Mattel) verify that everything was on spec and working correctly:
And finally, an image originally shared on the He-Man.org forums, featuring the original Castle Grayskull creator Mark Taylor, being shown the new MOTU Classics castle by Emiliano Santalucia (wearing the red shirt):
Image taken by Jukka Issakainen
The castle started shipping in December of 2013, just in time for Christmas. Pixel Dan got a review sample in late November, and he did an exhaustive review of it:
Final Thoughts
In looking at all of the pre-production images and videos that were recorded during the process of making the Classics castle, it makes me wish that this wealth of information had been preserved back when the original Castle Grayskull was produced! We’re lucky that a few snapshots of the prototype survived. Imagine if Mark Taylor had been making a photo diary of his process during the creation of his original prototype!
To date, five official Mattel Castle Grayskulls have been made. In my opinion, only the 1982 original and the 2013 Classics versions have really done justice to the concept. The 200x version has its charms, but it was far too flat, with a very generic evil skull face that looks like something out of Spirit Halloween. The Origins version isn’t bad, but it’s still a significant step down from the 1982 original, with an Imaginext-like interior and a strangely proportioned, low-relief exterior. The Netflix CGI-inspired playset is a radical redesign aimed at children rather than collectors, and it kind of came and went without much of an impact. The original 1982 Grayskull is of course classic. Most of vintage Grayskulls (unlike the example in the picture below) had rather sloppy paint, and because of the $30 price point, a lot of the interior details were a bit flimsy. Still, it’s an absolutely classic design, a true avatar for the imagination.
1982 original (Photo: John Oswald)200x versionMOTU Classics (Photo: The Fwoosh)MOTU Origins“Netflix” version
In my opinion, the 2013 MOTU Classics Castle Grayskull is by far the best modern interpretation of the playset that has been made to date, and the aftermarket prices seem to indicate that most collectors agree. In terms of the fine sculpt work and features, no other modern Castle Grayskull comes close. It’s really a work of art, the combined creation of 16 artists at the top of their game.
Obviously it’s a shame that it had to be reduced in size due to the locked-in preorder cost of $250. I think if it were being made today it probably would have been offered at an even bigger size. Collectors these days are used to paying a premium for large items like this. I can imagine this being made at 30 inches tall today, for something like $500.
Indulge me while I daydream for a moment about a successor to the Classics version – let’s call it Ultimate Castle Grayskull. What would it look like, and what would it include? Visually there are of course a number of different ways it could go. The Classics version was heavily influenced by the Mark Taylor prototype, but with teeth, canon, elevator and other accessories more like the vintage toy. Arguably its nose and lower teeth were influenced by the original Rudy Obrero artwork:
Castle Grayskull box art, Rudy Obrero
Nothing from the Filmation Castle Grayskull ended up in the Classics version:
Filmation Castle Grayskull. Image via Eternian Backgrounds
So, how could all of those things be integrated together? Modular parts. The ledge could be made removable, swappable with a different piece that was flush with the rest of the surface of the short tower. The “pawn” piece could be removable like the Classics version, as could the handle. The teeth could also be made removable – particularly the canine teeth. On the prototype they were quite short and blunt. On the vintage castle they were a bit longer, on the Rudy Obrero artwork they were longer still, and on the Filmation version they were the length of the entire entrance. All of them were quite fat, and only the Filmation version’s teeth came down to sharp points.
Left to right: prototype, box art, vintage toy and Filmation Castle Grayskull teeth
The face itself could also be made modular, with a few different swappable styles. In some versions of the castle the skull face looks like chiseled stone, and in others it looks like an actual bone skull. It would be nice to have options there.
Another possible direction for a new castle: Nate Baertsch’s Castle Grayskull illustration, appearing in the background of the Masterverse 40th Anniversary He-Man packaging artwork. This one has a mix of elements from the original Rudy Obrero box art and the prototype, but with some exaggeratedly-tall towers that give it quite a creepy and mysterious feel.
The height should be something like 30 inches – tall enough to tower over every extant version of the castle. The paint should be generously and carefully applied, with plenty of dark gray shading in the low areas of the sculpture and light green highlights on the most forward surfaces. It would be important this time to have a sculpted 3D dungeon grate, and sculpted areas around the base recalling Mark Taylor’s original playmat, per Nate’s concept art. It would be great to have dungeon walls inside, but they should be removable this time. Original prototype accessories like the triangular weapons rack and the torture rack would be nice, and there should also be included some Filmation accessories, such as the Sorceress’ throne and the various doorways and portals shown in the cartoon:
Filmation Castle Grayskull throne. Image via Jukka Issakainen
However, I don’t think the hypothetical Ultimate Castle Grayskull could surpass the Classics version, unless the original design team were brought back for it again. While Mattel currently makes very nice retail-quality toys using their in-house design team, they don’t deliver the same level of artistry and detail that the Four Horsemen are capable of, in my opinion. In general the best quality toys are made by the smaller boutique studios, these days.
Anyway, all of that is just my daydreaming. I think we were pretty lucky to get what we got. It was probably a flash in the pan, never to be repeated again! I hope you’ve enjoyed this look back at the MOTU Classics Castle Grayskull. I’ve certainly enjoyed rediscovering it and learning more about how it got made. Many thanks to Nate Baertsch for answering some questions I had about his illustrations!
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Believe it or not, it’s been 14 years since the debut of the Masters of the Universe Classics line. Does that make MOTU Classics a “vintage” line? Maybe not quite, but we’re getting there. There’s a scary thought!
I thought it would be fun to post a scan of an article from ToyFare heralding the coming of the MOTU Classics line. It includes commentary from both Mattel (Scott Neitlich, Jim Murphey) and the mega-talented sculptors of that line, the Four Horsemen (Chris Dahlberg, Eric “Cornboy” Mayse, Jim Preziosi and Eric Treadaway). Of note in this article are the very nice hand-painted prototypes of Skeletor, Beast Man and He-Man. It’s nice that just about everything that they’d hope they’d actually get to in Classics was something that actually got made for the line.
Curiously, in the image below the He-Man figure on the left is not original vintage, but rather the 2000 Commemorative release of the toy (photo itself mirror-flipped). This is evident from the “squished” features on his head sculpt.
One nice thing about the old ToyFare magazine was their sense of humor. There’s a great parody Men’s Warehouse ad below:
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