Dragon Blaster Skeletor Revealed

I’m not even gonna bother with the spoiler stuff.

I’m sad to say I’m disappointed. I was expecting something a bit more realistic (and an articulated jaw, which I would have taken over a ball-jointed neck). It’s not that different from the vintage version.

Look, it’s one thing to not go all hog-wild with “anime hyper detail,” but couldn’t we make it at least look a bit less like Goal Eater? Maybe it’ll look better when we get more photos of it. It’s hard to tell how detailed the body is. But I’m not a fan of that head.

I don’t know, maybe I’m being hypocritical what with my support of the style of this line, but I feel like they could have made it a bit more detailed and gotten away with it.

Via He-Man.org, here’s William George’s sketch of the original figure:

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21 Comments

  1. Pixel Dan

    One of the coolest things about this Skeletor figure is the fact that he has the "monster" forearms like Whiplash and Kobra Khan, instead of the finned arms. He also has the full painted books. You put the regular Skeletor armor on this figure, and for the first time you have a truly "vintage styles" Skeletor in Classics. I think that's pretty cool. 🙂

    I'm not terribly fussed about the Dragon head. When I saw the image, the first thought was "That's exactly what I expected it to look like! Cool!" I agree, it could have looked a little more ferocious. And an opening mouth would have made all the difference. But as is, I'm ok with it.

    I'm very curious to see what the body looks like, and how he detaches from Skeletor.

  2. It doesn't even look like it's from the same toyline. It looks like you took your Skeletor toy and glued on a Disney monster toy or something. If you had posted this saying it was a custom you made,I'd 100 % believe that.

  3. dayraven

    seriously, do a google image for dragonblaster skeletor. there is a really sweet custom on figurerealm that pops right up near the top of the search, as well as some great artwork on deviantart that shows just how easy it would be to deviate a little bit from the vintage toy and get a great looking, menacing skeletor w/ a hunched up and pissed off dragon on his back. hell, noisy over at IAT put up a p-shopped image of the dragon head replaced by a draego man head, and the alcala skeletor head on it, and that alone makes the figure 100% more buyable.

  4. Are there really long threads of lots of people arguing that this line should have things like fake dials and cartoonish dragons? (I'm actually asking, because there could be, for all I know. I haven't visited He-Man.org much lately.)

    I think that, for the most part, the line has generally offered a fair amount of increased detail on many figures. This figure strikes me as an exception rather than the rule.

    • Dark Angel

      There are excessively long threads arguing both for and against pretty much every aspect of the line. It is impossible to get a real read on what the majority opinion is at the .org – though, yes, there is a pretty much constant undercurrent of "vintage only" sentiment. I wouldn't call those espousing it the majority, but they NEVER. SHUT. UP. So one gets the impression that the "all-vintage, no Filmation, no POP, no NA, no MYP" mindset is at least common, if nothing else.

    • I'll definitely agree there's a vocal group of fans only want characters from the original line in their original toy look. But that's different from wanting those figures sculpted to look exactly like those vintage figures.

      Why would they want that? They can just get the vintage figures for, in most cases, a fraction of the price.

    • I have often thought the same thing myself — it gets to a point where you have to question why people are collecting classics when they already have the vintage figure…

      As with anything it seems like there is the vocal minority and the silent minority… Of course as mentioned there will be threads that go on for dozens of pages for or against the most insignificant details like a spinning dial. Of course at He-Man.org any intelligent discussion seems to get lost in the shouting going on. Plus they have these odd rules about having threads where you ONLY post if you AGREE with whatever the post is about — so there is no sharing of ideas or opinions. If you AGREED Panthor should NOT be flocked you post in thread A and if you DISAGREED and thought Panthor SHOULD be flocked you post in thread B, etc.

      Once in a great while I'll pop in to lend my opinion if I feel its warranted — but I'm sure it gets deleted or something after because it would hurt the feelings of those who think differently.

      -x

    • ero

      "I have often thought the same thing myself — it gets to a point where you have to question why people are collecting classics when they already have the vintage figure… "

      I often wonder this about the MYP fans collecting MOTUC. I mean, that line's only a decade old and it was sculpted by the 4H. Why are they after new figures of these designs when they can still be had MOC for a reasonable price. It definitely swings both ways.

    • The_Fun_has_been_Doubled

      That's the very same argument the "Pro-Vintage" folks use on fans of 200X when they request Classicized 200X Elements in MOTUC… I just want the coolest MOTU versions of each character… In some cases I understand the need for 2 different figures, but in others having the figures being customizable to create your own version (like Fisto) is super duper cool!
      Hopefully this figure has the normal Skeletor torso so I can swap armors with the Mo-Larr Skeletor and create a 100% Pure vintage Skeletor and use the other torso as the True DB Skeletor!

    • Very true. I loved the MYP series and the figures were great, got most of 'em all — and stactions. Maybe I wasn't all that in love with them to begin with but I don't miss that style at all. I do like the design elements that have been "Classicized" and brought over to this line though. As you mentioned, Fisto is a perfect example of a beautiful marriage between the two. I'd even go as far back as Hordak and say that he was as well.

    • ero

      Not defending any one group at the org, but there’s a HUGE difference between a vintage He-Man and a MOTUC He-Man, namely, a little rubber band that ain’t gonna break when it rots. That’s what appeals to a lot of us at the core.

      Anyway, this dragon hardly looks like the vintage. It just looks like a poor design choice that has most of us puzzled.

  5. doctorkent

    The #%@% fans who wanted "nothing but VINTAGE" have no one to blame but themselves.

    "Make the figures the best design possible" should have been the mantra. Instead we wind up with endless arguments (seriously, the threads are 90 pages long) about the differences between 200X, vintage, etc etc.

    Anyway, Dragon Blaster Skeletor. Could have been better.

  6. FakeEyes22

    Dayraven, that’s the proto with pins in the ankles. Those new reptile boots debuted with Kobra Khan and don’t have pins on the final figure.

    I don’t dislike the dragon head, but I’m confused that it doesn’t seem directly based on the original toy or any artwork, aside from my dumb theory that maybe this dragon and the Terror Claws skull are now the same creature.

    • dayraven

      we'll see. i'd certainly like that to be the case. though, i don't hold out much hope that that's true, nor do i hold out hope that they'll change his left hand to the sword holder hand (the lack of havok staff pack in makes me wonder why the staff hand was used, though again, it could be just for the the proto.)

  7. Maybe someone will take the Transformers route and make an unofficial dragon accessory that's actually awesome.

  8. Monkey boy

    Well. I can’t even enumerate how many fricks I do not give about this figure, one way or another. It sure is a figure. I guess this is why I’m not a motuc subscriber. I don’t get the appeal (I mean I see the nostalgia but at some point I think you gotta draw the line and that’d be approximately 4 points before this figure) but I also don’t really see the affront either (“this is NOT the silly variant skeletor-with-a-dragon figure I was hoping for!”) so I guess hats off if you like it and sorry if you don’t, but to me it’s not much more than a piece of plastic.

  9. Harrig

    I haven't done the maths on this years sub, but next year's seems to be estimated at $500, not including shipping (there is a post on Mattycollector about cosplay for SDCC that mentions it) Does this give us an indication of the price increase we can expect next year if we subscribe, or are there too many variables?

  10. Dead Man Walking

    Looks dorky as fudge. At least an open mouth with attachable flame would have made it a little cooler. I'm so over this line that I don't think I've opened the last 8 or so figures from the subscription. I'll probably open Drago Man at some point, but the rest…meh.

  11. FakeEyes22

    A great bonus of this figure(which I like) is that I got to see a Goal Eater reference in my lifetime.

    Touchdown Terror and Foul Shot are jealous.

    • I was going to use Touchdown Terror as the reference initially, but decided Goal Eater looked more like the actual dragon sculpt.

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