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Coheteboy and I had a chance to chat for a
few minutes at SDCC. He snagged himself one of the much coveted
Keldors, and here's his review!
The San Diego Comic-Con gave Mattel the
opportunity to create two different toy exclusives for visitors of their
booth. One of these is the highly sought after Keldor figure from the
Masters of the Universe line. While all other exclusives were easily
obtainable with a little patience, Mattel's Keldor was a bit of a challenge.
To those who don't recognize Keldor, he is the character that becomes
Skeletor, as seen in the very first episode of the new series.
Keldor, which is limited to approximately 5,000 pieces (2,500 each divided
to Comic-Con and Wizard World), had a severe limit of one per person for the
entire weekend. Seems fair enough since the toy is indeed created in
very small numbers. But instead of allowing a first come first serve
method to sales, Mattel gave each person a raffle ticket. At around
2pm, a representative from Mattel would draw a number. That ticket
number drawn and the 625 tickets following that number were permitted to
make the purchase. Those who won were pleased but those
who came early and waited in line that did not win weren't so happy.
If you didn't win that day, the only thing to do was to return the following
day and try again.
While I didn't win a chance to purchase Keldor on Wednesday of the Con, I
did win it on Thursday. Let me rephrase... I WON the opportunity to
purchase Keldor on Thursday. When making the purchase, a
representative would then stamp the back of your badge with a red Mattel
logo to keep you from getting another. You might also hear an employee
tell you "congratulations!" to which you may reply with
"congratulations for what?? being able to buy your figure?!"
Moving on, the stamp meant that you couldn't even try for a Batman figure at
all. It's either ONE or the OTHER. What good is it to offer two
exclusives if you can only choose one? If Mattel isn't already the top
of your list of most annoying toy companies, this act would certainly push
it up many notches.
If you happen to come across the "Mattel Manifesto" by Eric
Gieling & Russ Kazmierczak, Jr., give it a read. They feel your
pain.
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Packaging - ****
As annoying as it was to get the product, all was forgiven after getting my
grubby hands on it. Each Keldor is contained in a cardboard shipper
box similar to the type used to send out Moss Man. But instead of a
plain white box, we are given some spiffy green-on-black graphics.
This attractive shipper ensures that the product inside stays in terrific
shape. Kudos for that!
The box on the inside is also very similar to the one used for Moss Man.
The window is nice and wide, showing the figure clearly while the backside
of the box provides some detail about the character. What is missing
are details on his accessories and even the action feature, though it's just
a repeat of the original Skeletor.
Sculpting
- ****
Indeed
the figure is just a Skeletor with two extra heads but the sculpt on those
two extra heads are FANTASTIC. Skeletor itself is a four star figure,
and to get a Keldor and acid-burning head is just icing on the cake.
Keldor's head is given a cool stern expression while it is highly contrasted
with the acid-burning head. The acid-burning head is actually one of
my favorites to display since it is so brilliantly sculpted and shows a lot
of life. Again, the Skeletor head and body are identical to the first
released Skeletor, which we have already established as awesome.
Paint - ****
Like last year's He-Man exclusive, Keldor here gets a more detailed paint
job as the regular Skeletor. Not much more to it than that. The
paint ops are excellent on all heads, especially the acid burning version,
highlighting the different layers that the acid burned through. Pretty
gruesome if you think about it. It's amazing what small details can do
and it is especially clear when comparing to the first Skeletor.
In case it isn't clear in the photos, the removable Skeletor head is given a
much darker paint job than the first Skeletor, which is very yellow.
I'm not sure which I prefer, but the grittier look of Keldor's Skeletor head
is more impressive.
Articulation - ***
Being essentially a Skeletor figure, he comes with the same 12 points of
articulation: neck, two in each shoulder, wrists, waist, and two in
each hip. Twelve points is definitely a decent amount of
articulation, but in a world where you can get a figure with 40 points of
articulation at the same price, I can't possibly give all four stars.
Accessories - ****
You can't beat Keldor when it comes to accessories! You've got three,
count 'em, THREE removeable heads! A staff, twin swords and a small
vile full of acid. And let's not forget the removable armor with cloth
cape. The Keldor figure has it all! Even the repeat weapons
(twin swords and staff) seen with the first Skeletor are accented with that
much more detail. You just can't get better than this! I'd
actually pay a few bucks more to get this much detail on all of the Masters
of the Universe figures.
Action Features - ****
Again, since Keldor is the same figure as Skeletor, he comes with the same
action figure. One press of the button and Keldor's arm slashes
forward. It's not a new gimmick but it does work well. Thank
goodness that Keldor's cape covers any sign of the action gimmick.
I'd also chime in and say that having removable heads is like an action
feature, so that's my reasoning behind the four-star score here.
Value - ***1/2
Keldor is actually much pricier than the usual exclusive figure going for
$20. A regular Skeletor cost about $7.99 back in the day and Keldor
does come with a lot more, but a $15 price point would have been much more
reasonable. BUT, it is a really cool figure so no regrets here!
Overall - ****
This is probably one of the best MOTU figures to date. Skeletor was
always one of my favorites so to be able to go from Keldor to Skeletor and
back again was a real treat. Even before a Keldor figure was
announced, I really did wish for a regular Skeletor figure with cape.
Though paying $20 is pretty expensive, I don't regret paying that price to
get one of the coolest MOTU figures ever. Jt's a must for MOTU
collectors. Don't worry about Faker or Moss Man. Invest all your
money on KELDOR!
Where to Buy:
San Diego Comic-Con had it for $20, which should be the same price at the
Wizard World Convention in Chicago coming soon! If you aren't able to
make that, EBAY would be the best bet but with prices reaching as high as
$100. Bidding on a Keldor signed by the Four Horsemen may set you back
a few extra bucks.
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Figures from the collection of
Mark D.
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