Review – Dokurocks “Skulletor”

Manufacturer: Skull Toys * Year: 2009

So when I mentioned that coloring a toy blue and purple with a yellow skull screams Skeletor (in this Masters of the Universe Skeletor review) I also pointed at the Dokurocks “Skulletor” toy at Super 7. Well, it’s time I rip open the package and examine this Japanese vinyl toy. And since this is my first Skull Toys purchase we have to ask ourselves if the toy is so cool that I’ll buy more from the company . . . or is it destined to be unloved?

The Packaging Isn’t Even Worth Mentioning

Bag and header card packaging is never really exciting, but this is one of the weakest header card designs I’ve ever seen. Where’s the artwork? Where’s the fantastic logo? Why can’t I stop asking questions? I tossed the packaging away before I even had the first photo taken of the loose toy; more trash for the landfill!

Let’s Get This Out of the Way . . .

Articulation fanatics had better run for the hills, because Skulletor here has only a single point of articulation — the waist — and it exists only because the toy was molded in two pieces. The waist doesn’t even work all that great as an articulation point; you can twist the torso left or right, but anything outside of the “stare dead ahead” position looks a little weird since the body isn’t a perfect cylinder. Fortunately, Skulletor isn’t as much a “pose in attack crouch” toy as it is a “what in the hell is that?” toy. You see, Skulletor isn’t a toy I’ll play with . . . but it is a toy that I’ll display.

And that kinda sucks. I love the look of this toy, but if it had at least been given arm articulation I would be able to say I love playing with the toy. As it exists, though, it’s neat to look at but not so much fun to play with. I hope Skull Toys gets to work improving their basic Dokurocks toy design, because without the arm articulation this is a toy I can’t recommend that everyone rush out and grab.

Cool Sculpt, Though

Once you get past the articulation problem and start looking closely at the toy’s actual sculpt I think you’ll agree with me that the design itself if frighteningly fantastic. After all, how can you go wrong when your basic design involved three skulls on top of a body that’s sporting two weird arms, skulls for knees, and claws or teeth — I can’t decide which its meant to be — on the torso? You can’t. And at about 4.5-inches tall the sculpt is kinda tiny — especially those knee skulls — which means what we get here is a bizarrely-odd blending of smooth, crisp lines with a slightly rough appearance.

Rough and smooth? Yeah. Look at the photo below and notice how irregular bits of the feet are and how that blends into the smooth, heavily-sanded bits of the legs. There’s no real jagged areas on the toy, but there are definitely areas where you can tell more time was spent than other spots. It’s hardly even noticeable unless you stare, and from display distance the effect completely vanishes. And in case you think I’m complaining, I am not. I just thought it was a little unusual for bits of the toy to be perfectly smooth while other bits aren’t . . . but the effect works.

Simple Sprays

The toy’s paint apps are very simple — light blue plastic with bursts of darker blue and black on the feet, torso, hands, and head with yellow spray on the skulls — but it brings out the Skeletor-effect perfectly. The red painted sockets on the skulls are a great touch, and probably took the most effort to paint, and those red spots appear to be the only areas where a brush was used. I would have liked to have seen a wash applied to the toy to help the details pop more, but that would have likely massively increased the cost and this toy is already costly enough; $45 at the Super7 store.

Overall the paint is great, but I have to admit that it’s more the coloring and connection to Skeletor that I love than the actual craftsmanship. Sure it’s a finer spray effect than I can do, but I don’t have an airbrush or experience with an airbrush so of course I couldn’t do work this fine. It’s an effective paint job, but honestly it’s nothing spectacular.

Closing Thoughts

My first toy from Skull Toys, this Skulletor wouldn’t have even been added to my collection if it wasn’t for the colors. And now that I own it there’s nothing here that makes me think I need any other releases from Skull Toys. I wanted to go bananas for this toy — photos of the Dokurocks toys online always look neat — but in person this Japanese vinyl toy isn’t as great as I had hoped.

Unless you’re a hardcore Masters of the Universe fan I think you can safely skip this toy. $45, 4.5-inches, a single point of articulation, and forgettable packaging all come together to make this a toy I’ll display with my collection but I probably won’t take down off of the shelf very often. It’s a decent enough toy, but it’s not so incredible that I’m going to insist that you buy one today.

Philip Reed still wants to see someone host a Skeletor-themed toy show. Imagine dozens of artists working to customize all kinds of toys to give them the Skeletor look. And just imagine what a Terminator would look like after it was decked out in blue and purple and given a yellow head.