Whenever MOTU is revived in toy form, there are a handful of questions you can count on hearing repeatedly. One of the foremost: Do you think we'll get a Grayskull? Whereas this seemed like a pipe dream in a line structured the way MOTU Classics was, we even managed it there. But with Mattel making a major push to return the brand to prominence by blitzing the retail aisles? It was a no-brainer! Still, with the chaos of the past year, the tedium of trying to order online via some of Mattel's retail partners, and, let's face it, Mattel's knack for generally finding a way to muck things up, finding this thing has been a good bit tougher for many people than it really should be. When you get down to it, many of us collectors already have a Grayskull or two in our collections that would work perfectly well with the Origins figures, so is this new version worth the trouble? Read on...
The fortress of mystery and power has an absolutely iconic facade, and each version has tried to capture its mystique in its own way. Many of us were hoping for a design that hearkened back to the Alcala art, and were promptly disappointed when the final design was revealed. I saw several describing it as having a Playskool quality, and honestly, I can see what they mean. This iteration of Grayskull has a more symmetrical, almost friendly look compared to the haunted, crumbling ruin of the vintage version. That said, it's not bad... it just takes some getting used to. The sculpt has some nice detailing that is right in line with the figures that are meant to inhabit the castle, and this even extends to the interior: The floors actually have sculpted floorboards and nails, with some nice wood grain detailing. The bottom floor has sculpted bricks, as well. No matter how much I love my vintage Grayskull, this is an objective improvement. Assembly is very easy, and you'll have the whole thing together within minutes.
The paint apps are simple and sloppy. This isn't much of an issue when it comes to the nose and eye sockets, as the paint masking doesn't need to be precise; the paint apps on the vintage Grayskull facades were all over the place, so the bar is set pretty low on that score. The wooden roofs actually get some brown paint apps, but they don't cover the entire area. It looks worse than leaving them unpainted, frankly. There are also some odd light green highlights on the facade that don't seem to be there for any reason other than to look strange. These are easy issues to fix, thankfully. There are a few paint apps on the computer, which are much neater. That's right, the computer is an actual piece of plastic, rather than a piece of cardboard. The hanging banners are actual fabric, and the double-sided flag is a pair of stickers that are applied on either side of a plastic flag. This is much sturdier than just wrapping a sticker around a plastic rod, as with the vintage version. Other accessories include the throne, laser turret, combat trainer, ladder, and two weapons racks. There are pegs on some of the floor sections to attach the flag, turret, and trainer, and the throne snaps easily into place on the main floor. It's cool to have a pair of weapons racks, but unfortunately, Mattel didn't include enough weapons to fill even one of them. I suppose they want us to use some of the weapons we already have to fill them out. There are notches into which the ladder can fit, which makes for much sturdier play. There is also a sticker sheet, which features art that is clearly inspired by the vintage playset without copying it exactly. They're nice enough, but some of them lack the cool psychedelic quality of the vintage ones.
One "accessory" deserves its own paragraph. The Sorceress is included in her all-white incarnation as seen in the Temple of Darkness minicomic. I've seen a lot of grumbling about this, but as this is my preferred version of the Sorceress, I'm quite happy with her inclusion! Her sculpt is exactly what can reasonably be expected from a Sorceress figure in this line, adhering very closely to the vintage figure, with slightly sharper detail in a few spots. The falcon headpiece is the standout here, with some nice texture work on the feathers. Her wings, molded in translucent plastic, are separate pieces on hinges, independent of her arms. Considering the monstrosities we ended up with on the MOTU Classics Sorceress, it's nice to see this issue handled so well here. The paint apps are minimal, but neat. The face is pretty much perfect, though there is a tiny bit of slop around the edge of the headpiece. Still, this is well within the bounds of what I consider acceptable for a mass-produced retail toy. The line's standard articulation is present, with swivel & hinge shoulders, elbows, wrists, hips, knees, and ankles, swivels at the waist and boot tops, and a ball-jointed head. The head's range of motion is severely impaired by the falcon headdress, which is unfortunate, but not surprising.
Unfortunately, I did run into a couple of significant quality control issues with the figure. First, when I removed the Sorceress from the packaging, she couldn't keep her legs together! Now calm down, this isn't a judgement on her character, but an issue with the figure's construction. I finagled the hips for a minute and managed to get them to click into a better position, but whenever I adjust her pose, they lock back into the splayed position. I'll have to heat & disassemble the hips to figure out what the problem is. The other QC issue will be tougher to fix. There's a little piece of excess plastic stuck to the front of the figure's abdomen. I've seen this sort of thing before; it likely happened when the pieces were removed from the mold at the factory. The sprue has a bit of melted plastic on the tip when it's removed from the mold along with the pieces, and sometimes some of this sticks to one of them. This one went unnoticed, and it's stuck quite firmly to the figure. It won't be easy to remove it without damaging the figure. This really shouldn't have made it past QC.
The castle has a few cool action features. There is the trap door, of course, which has a much simpler mechanism than its vintage counterpart. It works well, and my little niece and I have had no issues with it functioning as it should. Unfortunately, this can not be said for the elevator. This damn thing works about as well as a submarine with a screen door. It constantly hitches when going up, and does it even worse when descending. All play involving the elevator stopped pretty early on, as my little niece got sick of struggling with it. I've checked to make sure it's assembled properly, and it is. It's just lousy. Thankfully, the jaw bridge works perfectly. Inserting the Sword of Power (or anything that fits into the slot, really) triggers a spring-loaded mechanism that unlocks the bridge, allowing entry into the castle. This is a fun feature that my niece loves playing with, and so far it has held up over dozens and dozens of uses without any issues.
Conversely, there are still a few things the vintage castle has over the new kid. Most obviously, the plastic quality of the new castle is simply not as good. You can feel how flimsy some of the parts are, and the middle floors are already sagging slightly. The vintage castle had a little lever on the inside of the jaw bridge, which was very handy for closing it without having to reach around to the front of the castle. This is totally absent on the new version. The vintage castle also included enough weapons to actually fill the damn weapons rack. Items like the space suit are missing from the new version (unless you lucked out on the Power Con exclusives, but I'm not about to open that can of worms here), but as it was just a piece of cardboard with the '80s Grayskull, I think we can consider that a wash. Bringing aesthetics back into it, the facade and sticker art looked much cooler. Like I said earlier, the new castle's facade doesn't look bad at all, it's just that the vintage one looked about a billion times more foreboding.
With all that said, I still recommend hunting down an Origins Grayskull if you have the slightest urge to own one. The vintage one is still cooler, but the new one is no slouch, and it does have quite a few features that are objective improvements. If you have any children in the family, you can let them play with it without constantly suffering from a clinched sphincter over worrying that they'll break your badass vintage Grayskull. So, it's got that going for it! It also has a very cool pack-in figure, whether or not it's your preferred version. The price is also quite reasonable; I expected we'd be shelling out at least $100 for a Grayskull in this line. Playsets in toylines are a rarity these days; reasonably priced ones are damn near nonexistent! It's also worth mentioning the beautiful box art, which pays homage to the Rudy Obrero original while remaining its own thing. The side panels also recreate the photos on the sides of the vintage box. It feels weird to be touting packaging as a reason to shell out $75 for a toy, but here we are! When you get right down to it, any Grayskull is a good Grayskull. The Origins Castle Grayskull may not be the coolest one ever made, but it's still pretty damn cool. They're currently popping up with increasing frequency at Walmarts across the country, so if you haven't seen one yet, remain vigilant, and your luck is bound to change. If you don't want to hunt for it-- and I really don't blame you if you're in that camp-- BBTS is always an option! That's it for today, but keep scrolling for plenty more photos, and be sure to cross the jawbridge next week for more! Until then, stay safe out there, and happy hunting!
(And yeah, the interior of my vintage castle is dusty as hell. Cut me some slack, I never look inside the thing anymore!)
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