Any time a new Masters of the Universe toy line debuts, Trap Jaw is the real test of its quality. One of the first figures in the vintage series to feature a gimmick above and beyond the power-punch waist, Trap Jaw is a somewhat horrific creation. He’s a mildly zombified pirate cyborg amputee with his lower jaw ripped off and replaced with metal, who can switch out appendages with weapons like a more lethal Captain Hook. The 2002 line went full body horror on him, as have some statues, with Origins reining it back in. Mondo Toys mostly confines the horror to the headsculpt, but they’ve gone above and beyond on the detail with his outfit. Given recent changes at the company, this may be one of the last figures they send to reviewers; if so, it’s one hell of a grand finale.
Lost and Found
Let’s take a moment to praise Mondo’s customer service. After UPS claimed they never received the package (its delivery is still listed as pending), Mondo sent a replacement right away. No fuss, no muss. They’ve always been great to deal with, and continue to be so.
Presumably to cut costs, the figures no longer come with sleeves depicting their home bases, but the boxes still have magnetic flaps that open to show the figure inside a window. Or sort-of, because Trap Jaw comes so wrapped tightly in sheets to keep his paint from scratching in transit that you really can’t see him unless you open the figure and pull the sheets out. Mondo’s mostly-collector-friendly packaging (you do have to carefully remove a couple of pieces of tape) allows for this to happen, but to those who want him mint and sealed, be forewarned, you will be looking at a mummy.
Typos Have the Power!
Oh, and about that copy on the back with Trap Jaw’s bio — nerd points removed for spelling it “Grey Skull.” In actuality, Donald F. Glut named Castle Grayskull after his wife’s last name, Gray; in current canon, it’s named after King D’vann Grayskull. In neither case is this version right! Nonetheless, the bio reveals to any casuals not up on post-Filmation MOTU that Trap Jaw was previously named Kronis, only finding his current form after Keldor/Skeletor soundly defeated him and tore his mouth apart.
Trap Jaw appears to be an entirely original sculpt, save maybe the crotch and abs. The mechanical arm and its harness are removable, to swap out for a pre-cyborg arm and display him as Kronis. Impressively, the Kronis arm isn’t just all new, but also distinctly different from his left arm, with additional armor. Masters of the Universe Classics taught us that Trap Jaw’s body could and would be infinitely reused for space-based figures, but it’s distinct enough here that such recycling seems unlikely. The arm pops out easily, while the harness connects with two tuning-fork shaped ball and socket fasteners.
It may seem churlish to complain that Kronis doesn’t have a blaster — his only hand-held weapon is a spiked club — but that’s where accessories from previous figures can come into play. A warning about that club, and some other parts, though: they are sharp and hard. This is very much a “not safety approved for little kids to play with” collectible, as I stabbed myself accidentally with his grappling hook and lower-jaw teeth. The sharpness probably means they’re brittle, too, so take care.
Doubleheader
In addition to the Kronis head, Trap Jaw comes with two heads that are basically the same except for the metal jaw. One is more rounded like the classic toy, while another is bigger, sharper, and chompier like in the Revelation cartoon. Underneath, his skin looks putrefying while his regular mouth looks like it’s been viciously ripped apart. This figure does not play mild. Both Trap Jaw helmets still feature the zipline loop — Kronis’ has a spike that makes him look more like a WWI German — but this figure is way too heavy to be trying anything like that out for reals. Because of the heads’ size and shape, he also doesn’t have a lot of neck movement, and can’t look up very easily.
Trap Jaw has the furry shorts of most Masters, but a samurai-style codpiece over top of them. His pirate belt features notches in groups of five that may indicate a body count (again, this figure goes hard), and his metallic boots feature tarnishes and faux paint wear, as do his jaw and metal arm. The included stand is a crotch underhook, and it fits completely and unobtrusively under the samurai codpiece.
One frustration with the original Trap Jaw figure was that his belt had clips for two of his arm extensions — the gun and the claw — but not one for the hook. No such issue here. This figure has loops for every accessory arm to hook onto, which they do with a satisfying pop. One is on his back, and the rest on his belt, to hold the redesigned classic claw, classic gun, classic hook, crossbow, grappling hook, and flyswatter.
Pretty Fly for an Evil Guy
Yes, flyswatter. Somehow Mondo have made the goofiest Filmation accessory look semi-cool.
As for the others, the grappling hook has a line of string attaching the hook to the shooter. It’s not really long enough for him to climb a cliff, but it can certainly cause havoc for opponents. The clamp opens and closes, allowing him to grab opponents. The arm has a moving piston at the elbow and swivel-arm battle grip.
Not that he needs Kronis’ club, but he can hold if you want, with alternate “holding” hands that can swap out for fists. It’s doubtful many collectors will choose to display him as Kronis unless they buy two, because Trap Jaw is so, so good. Just look at all the paint “tarnish” deco hits, and even gun-metal “scorch” fades.
Everybody’s Got a Price
Trap Jaw’s currently going for around $370-$450 on eBay — the fact that there’s a red Filmation-style variant undoubtedly brings the price down just a touch. That version doesn’t include the Kronis parts or the samurai codpiece, but does come with a more vintage toy/cartoon head and alternate, simpler robot arm as well as this toy’s version in red. You decide whether it’s worth the money, but I’ll say this much: it’s the best Mondo Masters of the Universe figure so far and a real work of figure art to display.
Take a look at even more photos down below.
