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Samurai Skeletor- He-Man, Mattel Meat and Potatoes; 5.0 Perks; 4.0 Homer Factor; 4.5					Description; Skeletor channels Akira Kurosawa. The figure is about 7" tall and is festooned is very stylized samurai armor that is constructed of bones rather then bamboo.  The piece comes with stilt-boots, sword, removable helmet, and a hand-held missile-launcher that has a claw on it. Skeletor is painted in an ominous metallick purple with light blue, silver, and bronze high-lights.
	Ah, the true test of a toy-line is HOW MUCH YOU CAN BE THE SNOT OUT OF THE LINE BY MAKING MORE AND MORE AND MORE AND MORE FIGURES THAT HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENS IN THE COMIC.  ... sorry, just had to get that off my chest.  Hey, it's true.  Look at Batman, Spidey, and the X-Men.  FILLED with figures that never really appeared in any story, but popped out of the minds of toy designers and into blister-packs.  When this is done WELL, it can be amazing, like the Batman; Legends of Batman figures.  Case is point is the Egyptian Batman/Catwoman dual-pack.  Sometimes, the ideas are MISERABLE.  The end-run of Batman figures were like watching GI Joe rejected vehicles get slapped on to Batman figures.   Ugh.  Well, now it's He-Man's turn.  Samurai figures?  I didn't realize my relatives lived in Eternia.  Go figure.  Ok, enough griping, are they GOOD?  Well, that's the nice thing about this, the idea may sound STUPID... but if you it looks good... oh my... Meat and potatoes are very good on this piece and a perfect example of the new, top-of-the-line work Mattel is putting into the figures.  The Skeletor is the same as the regular figure, which in of it-self was pretty dang good.  Granted, doesn't have a bagillion different joints, but still it is a very well sculpted figure with an incredibly menacing, frightening face.  Jason Vorhees, watch out. The perks though... ok, so they don't make sense.  Just the same, they're VERY well done over-all.   Like the base-figure, the samurai armor is very, very well sculpted.  No, it's not quite as detailed as Samurai Spawn, but just the same the figure captures wonderful details that add depth and character to the piece.  Perfect example; the shoulder-armor has a HUUUUUUUUGE spider sculpted into it.  Mattel could have just left a plain, painted  spider on.  Instead, the spider is a huge, nasty purple creature with fangs that seems to be ready to pounce off of Skeletor's shoulder.  Naturally Skeletor comes with a stylized samurai sword, removable helmet, cannon, and stilt-boots.  Like the armor, the accessories are beautifully sculpted into a neo-Japanese/techno armor that is very, very ghoulish.  Rather then the long strips of bamboo, the armor is composed of strips of bone.  Even the cannon is very well made and has a nice, giant-lobster look to it.  Oh, the figure comes with a 'chest missile.'  Huh?  No, you read that right.  Whatever.  One gripe?  Ok, why the HECK does he have stilt-boots?  Y'all wandering around a swamp or something?  Very bizarre. Homer factor?  Not bad.  As I've mentioned a few times... oh hell, as I've BEATEN TO DEATH, gimmicky figures tend to hit a nerve for me.  On the other hand, well, anything wielding a biiiiiiiiiig katana gets my vote.  Throw in the fact that Mattel has kicked some SERIOUS bootie with these figures, well, it's kinda hard to hold back. So the final verdict?  Over-all, a very solid piece of plastic.  If you HATE gimmicky figures, though, you will want to pass on this one.  The entire samurai-armor thing is from left field, and the stilt-boots are really, really, really dorky.  Just the same, if you can just leave the silly shoes off and want a pretty scary looking villain, you cannot go wrong with this one.