Disco Skeletor joined the 2002 Masters of the Universe relaunch during a period when shelves were over-saturated with repaints of He-Man and Skeletor, and no other supporting characters. With black skin, gold armor, a metallic purple torso, and an orange face, he looked like he was either decked out to look like a carved pumpkin, or a dancefloor king from the ’70s. But it was less the color scheme itself that was the issue, and more what it represented to the line at the time.
Orange Crush?
Mattel bet heavily that kids would mostly just go for variants of the lead hero and his main enemy, and instead found shelves clogged with Spin Blade He-Man and Smash Blade Skeletor, who were slight repaints of the first issues but with an added spinning weapon. As no new characters continued to roll out, more scheduled repaints, like Disco Skeletor, joined the pegs, lingering as fans waited for actual new figures. Mattel even started a mail-away promotion encouraging fans to buy up extras in order to get proofs of purchase for an exclusive Moss Man (who was a Beast Man redeco).
Aggravated fans at the time didn’t want this gaudy Skeletor so much, but as time goes by, weird variants become childhood legends. Mondo Toys is betting at least some of those who grew up annoyed with certain aspects of the 2002 range may feel pangs of nostalgia for this oddball of the line. So now he’s in 1/6 scale for the first time as a Designer Con exclusive available online this Friday, December 15 at noon central time. Limited to a run of 1,000, this Skeletor includes swap-out Terror Claws and a Disco-ized version of the vintage toy head. He comes packaged in a special glittery box.
Say what you will about this version, but there’s no way he’s lingering forever in stock like his original counterpart.
