A Tale of Two Hordaks (and a Bonus Skeletor)

Masters of the Universe is doing some great things for me lately and I don’t mean the Masterverse figures.

I’ve already mentioned in a previous review how much I love the TMNT/MOTU crossover line and I’m so glad it’s continuing into further waves. One of those most recent releases is Skeletor’s old mentor/rival, Hordak. Hordak’s main mutation in the line is a pair of red translucent bat wings similar to the crest on his armor. The wings have a joint in the middle allowing for some decent articulation and can also be removed at the peg. His face is practically the same as his original figure, but he’s got a great sneer going on. His armor’s a little spikier, too, I guess. He does have a similar cannon that Hordak had in the She-Ra cartoon, but with a more mechanical look with a cable and a few vials of ooze. A translucence green liquid blast effect can be plugged into the end of it.

Unfortunately, just like my thoughts on Shredder, there are not enough changes Hordak gets, looking way too similar to his normal look besides adding those wings. They could have made him more bat-like in his face and arms. I wish there was a swivel joint in the wings that allowed them to swing away from the back. I would have also liked a regular fist to swap out the cannon.

Hordak got some more love in the Cartoon Collection line, Origins-style figures that look almost exactly like the cartoon. I absolutely love this line, the figures are incredible looking, and I’ve been so tempted to get the Prince Adam/Cringer set just because of how cute it is. Hordak finally gets a place in the line and he looks freaking great. He’s got a wonderful expression that I know I’ve seen in practically every episode of She-Ra. One of my biggest problems with the figure is his feet are rounded on the bottom, I’m not sure if that was the packaging’s fault or not, but it makes him extremely difficult to stand up.

He comes with the weirdest accessory, a 20-sided dice called the Time Stop Device that showed up in one episode. Yeah, the Cartoon Collection line does like adding accessories that only make a small appearance in the series. I don’t mind the device, but considering how many shapes he changed into in the show, I wish we could have gotten something like that, in addition to the Device or in place of it.

And it’s not like they couldn’t include more – Let’s take a quick look at Cartoon Collection Skeletor! Another great looking figure, and what does he come with? His Havoc Staff, of course. You can’t do a Skeletor without it! And he also gets his purple power sword. Okay, yeah, that’s fine. And then there’s the two Masks of Power! He gets four accessories, including the one he’s most known for. Hordak couldn’t have gotten a cannon replacement for his arm, the thing that showed up the most in the cartoon and in almost every other version of the figure we’ve gotten lately? Masterverse Hordak has it. Even the TMNT crossover figure got it! They should have just given us a whole other figure that looked like that stupid four-armed unicycle thing.

Anyway, all three of these figures are awesome. There are a few improvements I would have liked to see, but I still love them. Can’t wait to get that Super Shredder figure next.

If you want more cartoon bad guys running around with each other, check out my books Old School Evil and Old School Evil: The Rejects on Amazon, or go to my site www.oldschoolevil.com.