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Series: Masters of the Universe X Thundercats
Year: 2025
Prelude: Let’s see: a main hero with a sword and a transformation catchphrase, check! Near-dead looking evil sorcerer dude with blue skin as main villain, check! Giant themed castle as good guy headquarters, check! Eerie evil fortress for the bad guys, check! I think it fits, don’t you? Here is my first foray into the Masters of the Universe X Thundercats crossover, featuring Skell-Ra, the unholy fusion of Skeletor and Mumm-Ra. I’d have gone with Mummitor, though. Let’s say Hooooo!
Skell-Ra: Now Skell-Ra is more or less two figures in one, really. Straight out of the packaging he is Skell-Ra, who is basically Skeletor with some Mumm-Ra bling attached and extra horns on his hood. He’s got Mumm-Ra’s twin-snake symbol on his chest, Mumm-Ra’s yellow fur gaiters on his legs, and carries Mumm-Ra’s double sword, the Sword of Plun-Darr, the evil counterpart to the Sword of Omens. Apart from that, though, he is all Skeletor, really.
Funny thing: despite the MotU X Thundercats line being the same scale as the vintage MotU and Origins line, Skell-Ra himself is Masterverse-scaled. This is, of course, due to the fact that, when hyped up on the powers of the Ancient Spirits of Evil, Mumm-Ra is a pretty big guy and towering over all the other characters. It makes for a Skeletor (or Skell-Ra) who is perfectly fine standing among Masterverse figures, though.
Articulation is standard for a Masterverse figure, meaning pretty good, and Skell-Ra’s cape can swivel outwards, becoming almost wing-like. It’s purple from the front, but red when looked at from the back, which is due to this being two figures in one, as I mentioned above. Skell-Ra can also remove his hood, revealing a naked skull. While Skell-Ra can turn his head, the hood remains static, so it looks a bit weird when he’s looking to the side.
My only real complaint about this figure is that both the skeletal head and the extra horns (which are fastened to the hood, not the head) are a very, very bright yellow. I’d have preferred a slightly more aged and dirty-looking yellow myself, but that is really a small thing. Otherwise, a pretty nice crossover figure in this variant.
Mumm-Ra: If you are not a big fan of the crossover, though, never fear. With a few switched parts Skell-Ra becomes a kick-ass Mumm-Ra figure with no trace of MotU bling to be found. Switch out the head, the loin cloth, and the chest armor, add some stylish bandages, turn the cape around, and suddenly Skeletor is gone and you have Mumm-Ra as he ever-lived and breathed in the original Thundercats cartoon.
Size and articulation are, naturally, identical to the other variant of the figure. Mumm-Ra now wears a red cape that is purple from the back and I just love that evil-laugh look he has on his face. Fabulous. The whole figure is pretty much 1:1 the character from the 80s TV screen and I was (and still am) a big fan of the old-school Thundercats. So, again, even if you don’t give a whiff about Skeletor or Skell-Ra, this Mumm-Ra here alone is worth the price of admission.
Remarks: Let’s be honest, Thundercats was in many ways a rip-off of Masters of the Universe (which ripped off Conan the Barbarien and other fantasy stuff, too, so it’s okay). The two main bad guys, Skeletor and Mumm-Ra, are already very alike in many ways. Now when I first saw this figure here I wasn’t sure whether it was supposed to be Skeletor stealing the power of the Ancient Spirits of Evil from Mumm-Ra or Mumm-Ra taking over Skeletor’s body (the packaging art is kind of vague on that, too). From the pack-in comic that came with Lion-O, I have to assume it’s the former, but make up your own mind here.
Now I do have a thing for Skeletor figures and Skell-Ra looks pretty good, but the real kicker for me is the Mumm-Ra variant of this figure. I did have some Thundercats action figures way back in the day, but never a Mumm-Ra. So while Skell-Ra is fine, this guy here will remain as Mumm-Ra on my shelves. So if you’re a fan of either Skeletor or Mumm-Ra or just 1980s nostalgia figures in general, this set here is definitely worth a look.
Rating: A-
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