Written by Adam McCombs
Skeletor is the latest figure to get a release in the interesting subline of MOTU Origins, the Sketchbook Series. The line draws on concept art to create some unique versions of our favorite characters, and is an approach I’ve been championing from the beginning of MOTU Origins. I thought I’d do a short review of the figure, as this series is the only one that I regularly collect within the Origins line.
Sketchbook Skeletor is based on Mark Taylor’s original B-sheet design for the Skeletor, or “D-Man,” as he was called at the time. In the original design, the head of Skeletor’s staff would have separated from the handle, attached by a stick, so it could be used as a flail. Skeletor originally also had a face that had rotting flesh, as opposed to a fully skull face. He also featured rotting flesh at the wrists, some of which is shown drooping down, revealing his radius and ulna bones.
The new Origins Sketchbook Skeletor is slavish about some details, while glossing over others. While it’s a pretty literal interpretation of Mark’s marker colors on the artwork (which were always a bit stylized and sometimes hard to interpret), the designers of this figure have interpreted the rotting flesh of the forearms as being some kind of fleshtone bracers or arm decoration. That’s a shame, because it would have been cool to have fully committed to Mark’s vision there. The overall silhouette of the drooping arm flesh would later be redesigned as fins, but in this iteration De-Man was a true zombified corpse.
Of course the bare-fived toed feet and the yellow bats on the shin guards are a nice touch here. This is actually the second version of the original “De-Man” design. The first was actually the 2020 Lords of Power Skeletor, based on Tony Guerrero’s prototype interpretation of Mark’s design. Comparing them both below, you can see the drastic differences in the color shades, and in the size of the head. The Sketchbook Skeletor sports a huge noggin, which would be my other criticism of the figure. Unfortunately the color difference makes it hard to use him as a base for an Alcala-style Skeletor, due to the coloring of the hood.
Still, overall it’s a pretty cool figure. If they keep pumping out figures based on Mark Taylor’s concept designs, I’ll keep buying them. Speaking of which, Mark Taylor’s early, pre-Masters of the Universe Man-At-Arms figure is next for the Sketchbook line, but there’s no word yet on when it will be released.
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