Rant Review: Masters of the Universe: Skeletor 1,000 (-1) Piece Jigsaw Puzzle (Mondo, Art by Florian Bertmer)

This puzzle was released by Mondo several years ago alongside their 1/6 scale Skeletor figure and features the art used on the figure's packaging. I was interested in it, but like everything Mondo produces, it was overpriced, so I figured I'd wait and see if I saw one at a significant discount. That day turned out to be last week, when I came across a new copy of it for around $17 shipped. The box has a nice matte texture, with bold colors that pop nicely against the black background. The art is quite nice, using the design of Mondo's figure, with a skull design based closely on the iconic rendering of the Lord of Destruction by legendary artist Alfredo Alcala. 

This puzzle was much more difficult than I expected. After the edges were done, I began working on Skeletor's head and the ram skull atop the Havoc Staff, both of which went together quickly. From there, I did the purple sky, then the smoke, then the ground and Skeletor's body, saving the awful expanse of purple for last. Each area was significantly tougher than the preceding ones. Neither the cross-hatching in the art nor the gradient in the purple area helped as much as I expected. It's not a crazy photomosaic level of difficulty, but it took a fair bit longer to complete than I expected when I started it.

As I worked on that final purple section, it had become clear that I was missing a piece. I've only had missing pieces with new puzzles twice before, and both of those were bargain puzzles I got for around $5. For what Mondo charged for this, I was pretty surprised at such lax quality control. The pieces are paper-backed, have a very glossy finish, and multiple pieces had minor damage simply from being jostled around within the sealed box. The fit was so loose that simply moving the board would make some of them begin separating. This is one of the loosest-fitting puzzles I've ever done! Needless to say, I won't be keeping an eye out for a similar deal on the He-Man puzzle they released alongside this one. I feel bad for anyone who paid full price for one of these! All that said, I do like the art, and I'll probably tape the back of this so I can frame & hang it on my Skeletor wall once I move.