Hot Wheels Monster Trucks: Masters of the Universe - Skeletor

 

Mattel comes up with some clever uses of the Hot Wheels brand. I think they hit a home run with their Monster Trucks line as what kid doesn't like large wheeled, car crushing trucks? I've noticed several pop culture brands have started to pop up over the years in this series so I wasn't shocked when I first discovered that Masters of the Universe was being used.

Skeletor here is part of a random 2022 wave of trucks, not part of it's own MOTU series. The back of the packaging does show the other vehicles in this particular wave. The top right corner of the card back also lists some of the characters of this release, such as name, truck type, strength and crash attack. This really has a strong Transformers Tech Spec vibe.

The trucks are all plastic, no die-cast unfortunately. It appears all of the various pieces are molded in different color plastic, no paint apps. Skeletor's yellow skeleton face has a menacing look, especially with the exhaust pipes coming out of his mouth. If you look carefully, you may notice the eyes are cast in a red translucent plastic. If you shine a light in the eyes you do get a faint glow. The back of the truck features Skeletor's Ram Staff with a ball & chain attached to the end. The tires are a soft plastic and are on axles that allow the wheels to move. A small hard plastic "car" comes packaged in with Skeletor for the truck to crush. It's small and cheap and I didn't care for it much so I didn't bother photographing it. Overall this is fun little piece and a nice oddity for anyone's Masters of the Universe collection.

Hot Wheels Monster Trucks: Masters of the Universe - Battle Cat

 

I'm still waiting for He-Man to receive the Hot Wheels monster truck treatment like his arch nemesis Skeletor, so for the time being we'll just have to settle for his trusty companion, Battle Cat.

The cab of the truck is cast in a green plastic with the rest a separate maroon piece that resembles the helmet of Battle Cat himself. Paint apps are limited outside the orange tiger stripes applied to the cat body. The eyes underneath the maroon piece have been painted, as are the tail lights red on the rear of the truck. The vehicle body sits on a series of plastic bars that completes the vehicle frame underneath. A chromed engine rests in the back of the truck, viewable from all sides. Like all of the monster trucks in the line, the front wheels have a loose axel that allows the wheels to move independently up and down...perfect for crushing cars...or maybe even evil henchmen? Overall this is another fun Masters of the Universe themed vehicle / monster truck.

Masters of the Universe Origins: Roboto

It's no secret that I'm a fan of robots so when I first learned of Roboto as a kid in the 80's I was instantly a fan. Mattel has faithfully recreated this heroic mechanized warrior for the Origins line. The packaging is your standard Masters of the Universe design complete with exploding red lava rocks in the background. The yellow starburst talks about "Retro Play" which I assume is referencing the toy's gimmick...which happens to be listed on the other side of the blister bubble. 

The card back features some gorgeous artwork across the top, while the left side demonstrates the gimmicks. In the center is a cross sell featuring other figures released in this 2021 wave.

The original Masters of the Universe line was known for re-using body parts to create new characters, however Roboto has a lot of original parts, including the chest. Cast in translucent clear plastic, you can see the gears inside the chest. When I first saw pictures of this I was glad to see the gears were intact, but I had wondered if it would impede the removable head and limbs that the Origin figures feature. Surprisingly this feature on this version of Roboto is still intact! Roboto has so much cool stuff going for him, from the circuitry molded into his arms, the removable weaponry to the head sculpt. 

While you can swap the hands on any Origins figure, Roboto takes this one step farther with detachable weaponry. Out of the package he comes with his battle axe already attached, but if that type of bladed weapon isn't your cup of tea you can switch it out for a claw or a laser gun.

I found this figure to be a lot of fun, a highlight of his wave. He seems to also be a fan favorite and I can see why. Now I'm eagerly awaiting to see if he'll get a figure in the new Masterverse series.

Masters of the Universe Origins: Stratos

 

I don't recall the time period in 2021 that Stratos was released in the Masters of the Universe Origins series, but he was another of the "core" characters from the MOTU world that I remember as a kid. It wasn't until the Mike Young Productions cartoon series and accompanying 200X toy line that I came to really appreciate the character.

Like with all of the Origins releases thus far, he comes packaged on the iconic MOTU card with the exploding red rocks in the back ground. He comes packaged with the "Sneak Attack" mini comic that all the figures in his wave had. The back of the card has some beautiful artwork across the top, while the rest of the back showcases the features of the toy along with a cross sell for additional figures.

The Origins line seems to be performing well at retail for Mattel so I wonder if any of the other Bird People will ever see action figure form as depicted in the beautiful card art?

Stratos, the winged warrior, sports the original color scheme from the 80's. There is a comic version that has since been released that sports a different color, but I just haven't been compelled to pick up that version since this is the one I'm more familiar with. The original toy used the Beast Man body, but I'm not sure if that carried over to the Origins figure. Regardless, Stratos still has his hairy chest he's known for. His removable red jet pack makes a return and looks nice. I wish the engines on his back had some paint detail. His blue wings come unattached in the package, but easily attach to his wrists. If you prefer red wings, you can swap them out from the Masters of the WWE Universe Rey Mysterio figure.

Articulation is standard and the limbs and head are removable which is par for the course for the Origins series. If you are fan of MOTU or Stratos in general, I can see no reason why you wouldn't enjoy this modern update of the character.

Masters of the Universe Origins: Tri-Klops

COVID was devastating on so many levels in 2020 and 2021. Even the toy industry wasn't able to escape unscathed as distribution channels all but shut down at times. Tri-Klops, part of the Masters of the Universe Origins line was released at the height of these issues in 2021 and as a result became incredibly tough to find. Fast forward to today and this figure can command some high prices on the secondary market. Honestly, I was unaware of this side effect until I started prepping this post. I had good luck for while at least, finding most of the figures at my local Walmart though I can't exactly pinpoint where or when I grabbed Tri-Klops.

The evil three eyed minion of Skeletor comes packaged in the familiar Masters of the Universe retro styled packaging. Being released in 2021, it has the "New for 2021" bit in the top left corner. The back of the packaging contains some beautiful artwork across the top, while the lower half shows off the features of the figure along with a cross sell of additional figures in that wave.

Tri-Klops wasn't one of my favorite henchmen of Skeletor, but his Origins figure does a great job at capturing the look of the vintage figure and bringing it into the modern here and now. He has his classic rotating visor with three different eyes and classic green armor. His loin cloth and boots are painted black to match his original look.

In the accessory department he only comes with one item, his classic green sword. This sword is cast in a softer, more pliable plastic and it can be sheathed on his back. Like with all Origins figures, the head and limbs are removable just in case you want to swap parts and create your own character. The figure has your standard points of articulation. I believe I counted 14 points total.

Just like on the vintage figure, you can rotate his visor to display anyone of his three eyes. I wasn't a huge fan of the Filmation animated series as a kid, but I do remember Tri-Klops having displaying different abilities depending on which eye was front and center. I think his "angry eye" looks the best as it makes him look more menacing.

Tri-Klops is a solid addition to any Masters of the Universe Origins collection, however unless you absolutely must round out your cast of evil doers I would say pass, especially at the inflated secondary market prices. Then again, I've never been a huge fan of the character...well that is until I saw how crazy he was in the Netflix Masterverse show!

Masters of the Universe: Eternia Minis (Wave 3)

  

 

When the Masters of the Universe: Eternia Minis first debuted, they came blind packaged in small plastic Castle Grayskull packaging. Wave 2 used Snake Mountain packaging, but all subsequent waves moved to a more traditional (small) blister card packaging. 

Wave 3 was released in 2021 and consisted for 7 figures. The two that I didn't purchase were the black/red repaints of Ram Man and Teela, released as "Anti-Eternia" versions of themselves. I wasn't too keen on these so I passed them up.

We'll start off with Battle Armor He-man. Like with most of the variants to He-Man in other MOTU lines, this mini version is basically the same as the original version sans the battle armor. He comes packaged with the same Power Sword and battle axe as before. The molded piece of armor is quite detailed and features the familiar logo on the chest, however this version (obviously) doesn't have the same battle damage gimmick as say the original 80's figure or even the deluxe Origins figure.

Like with the above He-Man, Battle Armor Skeletor is also pretty much the same figure from wave 1, just with the addition of his black armor. He comes with his part of the Power Sword and his iconic Havoc staff. The pink w/ green outline bat symbol is present on the armor chest piece.

Stratos looks like...well a smaller version of himself. The little figure has a fair amount of detail, complete with his beard and hairy chest. Sadly his soft plastic wings were warped inside the blister bubble, but if you're an action figure collector then you know how to straighten out soft plastic accessories as such. This non-removable jet pack looks fantastic and helps complete Stratos' look.

Harkening back to the original 80's toy line, Evil-Lyn has her pale yellow skin hue. I prefer her appearance in the 200x show/toy line, but overall I don't really care. This figure is probably one of my least favorites in the Eternia Mini series. It's a dainty figure overall, but I think it's her face sculpt that keeps this figure from standing on the same level as others. Unless you're a huge Evil-Lyn fan, this one is an easy pass.

Growing up my main exposure to Masters of the Universe was through my older brother and our oldest cousin, so a character like Ninjor is practically new to me. I love the character and his look, so I was happy to see him added to the Eternia Mini ranks. He sports the same overall design as his 80's or Origins counterpart, which is a black garb with red gloves and boots. He comes packaged with a simple gray sword that he can easily wield in either hand.

I'm one that loves to display my toys, even though rarely does anyone outside my immediate family see my collection. That said, space is always at a premium so these small figures are awesome as they retain the look of their larger brethren, but take up way less space in your collection. I'm glad Mattel moved away from the blind packaging (even though they were coded) because as I mentioned earlier, I opted to skip on a few of the releases and being blister packaged made it easy to do so. This series would go on for a few more waves, even adding in small vehicles and adopting whatever the current animated show was. Perhaps I'll get to some of those in the near future?