Review: Mondo Masters of the Universe Faker Exclusive Figure

The original Masters of the Universe action figure named Faker may just be one of the laziest character creations ever. Take main hero He-Man, paint him blue, give him arch-enemy Skeletor’s armor in orange, and call him an evil robotic impostor. Never mind that a bright blue robot could never conceivably be mistaken for a human, and he doesn’t even get the clothes right. Even the ’80s Filmation cartoon, also notorious for recycling images, made Faker flesh-colored to better impersonate He-Man. But ever revival of the Masters of the Universe toy line since has used him as an easy exclusive/repaint early in the line. Once He-Man and Skeletor have been sculpted, he’s a simple extra to make. Mondo Toys is but the latest…and also the fanciest company to have done so.

Faker is officially a Previews exclusive, for order at select comic stores and online retailers. But to obtain the only originally sculpted piece, paying the extra $5 to order the Mondo exclusive is worthwhile. That gets you a “Terminator” style head, with chunks of fake flesh removed to reveal hints of the robot skull beneath.

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Packaging, as with all the Mondo MOTU, is so nice nobody will likely want to throw it out. An outer sleeve depicts Snake Mountain in Mondo poster style artwork. The inner box includes unique artwork of the character on back and front, and a magnet-sealed flap opens to reveal the figure and a brief character biography. As with prior figures, Mondo’s Masters seem to mostly use the “Classics” canon created for Mattel and Super7’s most recent shared collector line. It is the longest running He-Man toy line ever, after all, at 12 years now and counting.

Faker is held in place with multiple plastic trays and some small bits of tape — it’s easy enough to open him up in a way that allows replacement and resealing. He sports the same base body as the other Mondo Masters, with the chest reel-to-reel computer image seemingly a waterslide decal. Or at least some sort of print more permanent than a basic sticker. His weapons include He-Man’s ax and shield in orange deco, as well as the Webstor/Castle Grayskull laser machine gun. His power sword and sheath are Skeletor versions, with ram-stone pommel and snake-head sheath. Alternate hands fit each different weapon, naturally.

Of course all these figures come with the same Mondo figure stand, and in addition to the exclusive head, Faker can don a blue He-Man head or a vintage ’80s-style sculpt. (The latter makes him look like he’s wearing an old Halloween mask more than anything else.) He wears the same pleather shorts and plastic belt as He-Man, though the classic Masters furry shorts are sculpted underneath. They seem tough to remove at first, but when I tried to pose his mid-torso joint, the figure popped apart easily at the waist. At which point the soft goods shorts can just slide off.

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This leads to what some will consider a weakness: the figure’s interchangeable parts come off super-easily. Hands and head practically slide off, while the torso pops apart almost too easily at the waist. And then there’s the shield. Aside from the main shield bit, it has three parts: the handle, and two connectors. And it’s those two connectors which are a pain. Try to push them into the shield, and they’re likely to pop out of the handle, and vice versa. Try to pose Faker’s arm at all once the shield is attached, and the whole thing may fall apart. It might be wise to judiciously use glue here. After all, the hand does pop off with ease. Glue the rest of the assembly to it and it might hold. “Playing” with this figure much once a pose is chosen…well, that may not be wise.

The sheath that attaches to Faker’s back harness also does so with two clips that pop out with ease. So once a fit is made, this also could be worth gluing, depending on how you want to display Faker.

Detail and paint are phenomenal, with armor details all popping and an airbrush-like finish highlighting his muscles. The body, used by all Mondo MOTU thus far, is similar in articulation to Classics, with the major differences being a mid-torso ball instead of ab crunch, double hinge knees, and hinge/swivel elbows. As with He-Man, his boots have a soft furry trim on top.

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Faker is the sort of character most likely to appeal to completists. He’s never been a key player, and the sculpt is 95 per cent re-use. But with Mondo already planning at least three more characters, completion might be a goal down the line, at which point Faker will get tougher to obtain. He’s not really meant for play, without some gluing at least. As a shelf display piece, however, he’s a twisted enough take on a classic hero to really catch the eye. Plus, at $165, he’s less than half the price of a replica Baby Yoda.

Check out a full gallery below. Then let us know in comments if you think this “impostor” is the real deal.