The back of the package shows off other figures in the line (all Horde members of course), and gives us a brand new bio for Mosquitor. I’ve never been too fond of the “real names” Mattel gives these characters, outside of the pre-established “real names”, but I feel like they’ve been getting especially goofy lately. “Bliddeon Black” might be one of the least intimidating names I’ve ever heard, and that’s saying something considering that “Mosquitor” is also kind of a ridiculous name, and that’s the one he goes by regularly. Oh well, the “real names” and bios don’t ruin the figure at all, but it’s fun to comment on them.

SCULPT – Mosquitor comes on the standard Masters of the Universe Classics style “buck” body, with a cool mix of parts being used, both old and new. The Torso and upper legs are the regular bare male body parts, with a new armor piece sitting over the torso. It’s very detailed and looks like Mosquitor. It has these two insect-like arms on the back, similar to what we’ve seen with Buzz Off and Webstor.

His vintage figure’s action feature is absent here. Instead of being able to “pump blood” and see it through Mosquitor’s chest, Mattel opted for a clear red chest plate sitting over this muscly area that almost looks like heart tissue. You can see the veins running from the center outward, and the clear red plate over it gives the illusion that it’s filled with blood. This was similarly done with the Mosquitor 200X staction figure from NECA, and works great here.

Mosquitor also features a new loincloth piece with a distinctive belt that harkens back to the original figure. His lower legs and feet are all new as well, and are great representations of the vintage figure’s. They’re these big, blocky robot looking boots that have great detail sculpted into them.

I’m a really big fan of his head sculpt. The Four Horsemen did a fantastic job at making it look like Mosquitor is wearing a helmet, as opposed to just having some mechanical head. You can see the skin wrinkles around his eyes, and on the back of his neck and a bit under his chin. There’s a good amount of depth in the sculpt to really make it clear that the helmet is sitting on top of what I’m assuming is a mosquito-like head. The helmet itself is what I would call a perfect “Classicsized” recreation of the vintage figure’s head, and has his sucker sticking out near the front, which is how he drinks his vitcims’ blood.

PAINT – Mosquitor has an awesome red and black paint scheme, with some grays and silvers thrown in as well. Red and black are one of my favorite color combinations, so his paint job here is really appealing. The bulk of his body is black, but he’s got some red trim on his biceps, and this neat maroon color on his shoulders and hands, for variety. His trunks are gray, while his belt is painted purple with metallic purple trim. His feet are a silvery color, with the big upside-down triangles on his shins painted red.

Of course his helmet is painted a vibrant red, while the skin of his face underneath is painted black like his body. I think Mattel did a good job here. The chest piece really makes this figure pop and is the perfect shade of red. Combined with the awesome heart-tissue looking sculpt underneath the chest plate, it grabs shadows amazingly and really helps give the figure depth and texture.

Because he’s mostly black, there’s obviously no special air brush shading or anything like that, but with the way this figure catches light it helps make it stand out. There are a couple of scuffs, like strange spots of red on the tops of his boots, and a spot of black paint on the left side of his helmet. Other than that the paint job is great and really clean.

ARTICULATION – Mosquitor has the standard Masters of the Universe Classics articulation. He has a ball jointed neck, ball jointed shoulders, bicep swivels, single elbows, wrist cuts, ab crunch, waist swivel, ball jointed hips, thigh swivels, single knees, boot swivels, and pivot-hinged rocker ankles. The insect legs on his back are also ball jointed, and can be positioned any way you want.

All of his joints are nice and tight, some maybe even too tight. His shoulders are really hard to position. They go outward just fine, but when you try and rotate them, it’s a chore. It almost felt like I was going to break him a few times, but that didn’t happen. It just takes a lot of force to get them to turn. Then you have to deal with his torso “armor” keeping his arms from sitting at his side. The armor doesn’t hinder his ab crunch though, which is definitely nice. It’s funny that in a line plagued with loose joints, the one articulation problem I have with this one is a joint being too tight.

ACCESSORIES – Mosquitor comes with just one accessory: his blaster. It’s a recreation of the blaster that was included with the original figure. It looks very cool, and very tech looking. It incorporates some aesthetics from Mosquitor’s helmet, with some fin spikes on the top, and the barrel almost looks like his mouth. I like to imagine he uses this to stun his victims long enough for him to come in for the kill.

And just like with almost every other MOTUC figure, his armor is removable. You just have to unfasten the buttons on the back, pop off his head, and it pulls right over his neck, if you ever so desired to display him like that, or wanted to use him for customizing fodder. It’s worth noting that while the insect legs on the back of his armor are obviously separate pieces, they can’t just pop out of the armor. This is disappointing for those who would want him displayed without the insect legs, just like his vintage figure. If you heat it up with a blow dryer for about a minute though, they should pop out just fine.

I do wish that this Mosquitor figure came with some blood tanks you plug onto his back, just like with the 200X staction figure. I always thought that was such an awesome addition to his design, and it would have been nice to have that display option here. And I know this is more of a pipe dream than anything, but an unhelmeted head would certainly have been interesting.

FUN – I already mentioned that I’m a big fan of The Evil Horde, and with my love of movie monsters, Mosquitor already packs a bit of inherent fun in him. His articulation allows for a number of poses, which is one of the most fun aspects of action figures to me. Masters of the Universe always had the advantage of being filled with characters that just naturally looked fun, and Mosquitor is no different. He’s an anthropomorphic mosquito, and you can see his chest filled with blood. I think it’s fantastic, and it’s no wonder why kids loved his original figure back in the day. As an action figure, his fun factor is pretty standard and limited to however you can pose him, but maybe it’s just me, but I get a kick out of just looking at him.a

QUALITY CONTROL/THINGS TO WATCH OUT FOR – Other than the paint flaws and the tight shoulder joints mentioned earlier, not a thing.

OVERALL – Mosquitor is most definitely a welcomed addition to my Masters of the Universe Classics collection. He adds another warrior to Hordak’s Evil Horde, and just makes for a fantastic bad guy. It’s great posing him attacking the good guys, and he looks amazing standing alongside his fellow Horde members.

It’s not as perfect as I would have liked it, though. His shoulder joints are far too tight and difficult to pose, and I do with he included the blood tanks, and maybe some sort of enclosed chest plate filled with liquid to help get at least a little closer to the vintage figure (and it wouldn’t have interfered with his articulation or body design). Still, Mosquitor is a good update to his vintage figure, and fits in great with the other Masters of the Universe Classics figures, and is what we’ve come to expect out of the line thus far.

FINAL SCORE: 3.5 / 5

Where to buy: Mosquitor was originally sold on Mattycollector.com, and is now sold out there. However, you can still pick him up at the following online retailers:

• BigBadToyStore has him in stock
• Amazon also has him in stock with Free Super Saver Shipping