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.