SUMMARY:
Battle Armor Skeletor, the “evil lord of destruction” was produced in Taiwan, Mexico (Mabamex + Aurimat), Venezuela, Argentina, Spain, India, and France. Equipped with an ingenious “battle damage” action feature that had three damage indicators, as the chest is struck, the emblem changes from undamaged, to one slash, to two slashes.
The France Battle Armor Skeletor can be identified by the soft head, subtle tilted lines (eyebrows) between eyes, dark purple torso, greenish-blue limbs, and dark blue or dark purple boots. The figure has pronounced injection marks at the top (front) of the legs.
Marked © MATTEL INC. 1981. 1983 FRANCE, the figure comes with a semi-rigid, Skeletor sword marked FRANCE, and a staff marked FRANCE. While they share the same mold as regular Skeletor accessories, they are darker than the light purple Skeletor weapons.
The head can come in various variants. The main variance is Taiwan vs the France heads. For the initial releases, France used imported Taiwan heads for several figures, including Battle Armor Skeletor. These heads are marked TAIWAN, and are similar (if not identical) to standard TAIWAN head releases. I typically see these with purple boots.
As the production progressed, the heads were made in FRANCE and tended to be more matte, with subtle yellows, finer lines in the mouth, and subtle tilted lines between the eyes. Some of these heads were completely opaque, others were very translucent. Both blue rubber and purple rubber translucent heads can be found. While all these heads are rubber, the more translucent heads are significantly softer, which makes sense since they likely have thinner hoods. I typically see France head figures with blue boots.
I’ll note that I’ve seen France heads with heavy eyebrows and vibrant yellow paint masks as well.
DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERISTICS:
1. Soft Head, with varying variations of translucent hoods
2. Subtle tilted lines between eyes
3. Dark purple torso
4. Greenish-blue limbs
5. Dark blue or dark purple boots
6. Pronounced injection marks on the top (front) of the legs
FIGURE MARKED: © MATTEL INC. 1981. 1983 FRANCE
SWORD MARKED: France
STAFF MARKED: France
VARIATIONS:
(All variations marked FRANCE on the figure, and share the same accessories)
1. TAIWAN HEAD
2. FRANCE HEAD (opaque head)
3. FRANCE HEAD (translucent, blue hood)
4. FRANCE HEAD (translucent, purple hood)
