The Vintage Collection is a new range of Masters of the Universe figures which harks back to the original toy line. It falls under the Masterverse brand, which is not something I’ve referred to much on Vaults of Grayskull.

A little context is needed. Masterverse is a collection of figures from different iterations of the brand, including the Netflix Revelation and Revolution cartoons. These are not areas of interest for me and do not feature on this site.

I do have a page dedicated to the 40th anniversary He-Man and Skeletor toys. They are based on the Masterverse figure designs. They are essential additions to a Masters of the Universe collection but were sadly limited editions.

The New Eternia retail line was, until this point, the closest that Masterverse came to delivering a new line with roots in the Vintage era. There are some good and even excellent figures but the standard is not consistent.

I decided against collecting New Eternia and hoped for something more closely inspired by the original toy line. The Vintage Collection has now begun and fills the gap. It is starting slowly but may produce some good figures.

SKELETOR

EVIL LORD OF DESTRUCTION

Skeletor is back! It was a shame that Mattel did not produce a retail version of the 40th anniversary figure (like they did with He-Man) but that has been put right with this fantastic 2025 release. He’s the first Vintage Collection toy.

He’s actually better than the anniversary version – which was very good – because the skin colour is restored to the characteristic pale blue of the Vintage toy. The sculpt is pretty much identical to the limited edition figure.

One detail that is preserved from the retail release of He-Man is the texture on the sword grip. (The limited edition toys had metal swords with smooth grips.) The sword design is great because it matches the Series Two artwork.

There have been great Skeletor designs over the years, and it is hard to choose a favourite, but Vintage Collection Skeletor is a contender. Mattel have done a great job with this action figure and restored some faith in the brand.

ZODAC

COSMIC ENFORCER

I’ve always felt that Zodac is one of the most intriguing Masters of the Universe characters – as long as the usual portrayal is ignored. I’ve never been a fan of the neutral position he’s often held. It’s contradictory and vague.

The Vintage Collection does not feature biographies, which is definitely a good thing after the incoherent mess of the Classics narrative, so the question about Zodac’s enigmatic status remains unresolved. This won’t change.

In fact, I think Mattel has played a clever move here. They’ve left the word ‘evil’ out of his title, which appeared in some instances during the Vintage line, but they’ve added a replica version of the Vintage card art to the box.

This shows Zodac attacking the Heroic Warriors, implying an evil nature. This is a better story. As for the toy, he is excellent. The spell effect and the logo on the armour are cast in glow-in-the-dark plastic, which is new for Zodac.

FAKER

EVIL ROBOT OF SKELETOR

Faker is a Masters of the Universe character who is well known but seldom appeared in the early printed media. I reckon the first time he featured in a story was in the first UK MOTU Annual. This was an interesting portrayal.

He was not a robot in that book but purely a magical creation of Skeletor. He was utterly ruthless and even caused fear in Trap Jaw, who attempted to break him out of detention in the story called The Fight For Prison Star.

Despite being released as a figure early in the Vintage line, Faker’s sole minicomic appearance was in The Search for Keldor, which was published as the line was nearing its end. Faker was reissued in toy form at that time.

The Vintage Collection figure is very good. The bronze colour used for his weapons works well. The robot parts, which were only in sticker form previously, are now on a plate embedded in his chest. A great version of Faker.

STRATOS

WINGED WARRIOR

Stratos was one of the first characters to appear in Masters of the Universe lore. It seems he was originally meant to be an evil warrior. This soon changed though, even during the writing of the Series One minicomics.

The arms of the Vintage toy, like all Masters of the Universe figures, did not have elbow joints. This allowed single wing pieces to be used. That was fine then but didn’t work for subsequent incarnations of the character.

This Stratos uses neatly articulated wings that align with the elbow joints. Finally! We now have a system that works very well. The top and bottom parts are different hues though, which seems like an odd design choice.

Both colour schemes are included with this toy, so he can wear red or blue wings and jetpack. Another interesting detail is the blue beard. This is from the earliest Vintage palette, which very few figures were painted with.

TEELA

HEROIC WARRIOR GODDESS

A key theme in the Series Two minicomics was the story about the birth of the young warrior named Teela. It was explained that she was a cloned daughter of the Goddess, or Sorceress, who was also named Teela.

The canon has never been rigid though, and while the warrior has kept her name throughout, the same cannot be said for the Goddess. Whether this Vintage Collection figure resolves the divergent ideas is for fans to decide.

The Vintage Collection figure is a good version of the character but perhaps not quite matching the New Eternia toy, which appears to have a little more detail and better colours, despite also being a Masterverse product.

Nevertheless, as one of the original characters from the 1980s, Teela certainly deserves to appear in the Vintage Collection, and adding no weapons beyond the snake staff and shield is authentic to that era.

MAN-AT-ARMS

HEROIC MASTER OF WEAPONS

It is great to see a version of Man-at-Arms that honours his early minicomic appearances rather than the irritating Filmation cartoon interpretation of the character. There is no slug-like moustache to be seen here!

The references go beyond the minicomics. The ball head on the club goes back to concept art by Mark Taylor. (It ought to have been included as a separate weapon rather than an attachment, but we’ll let that pass.)

Furthermore, the red dots on the helmet match early Vintage toy examples. This feature did not last long. I am fortunate to have one in my collection, and it appears in the Vintage Heroic Warriors section.

It is also good to have armour for his left arm that isn’t too bulky and copes moderately well with the articulation. Understandably, this is hard to solve, but this attempt exceeds the Classics and Origins versions by some margin.