Battle Armor Skeletor

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 Rotoplast Battle Armor Skeletor can be identified in general by its soft head with muted face paint application, rubber arms which are usually very gummy (but can also be hard rubber), and blue belt. The figure is marked © Mattel. Inc. 1981.1983. TAIWAN, since it borrows the TAIWAN mold. The accessories are marked TAIWAN as well but are very rigid plastic (no bend at all). 

The Roto Skeletor comes in a wide variety of paint applications. The face mask can come in various hues such as yellow, pale yellow, off-white, and shades in between. The outer face mask can be lime green, pale green, mint green, and shades in between. The inner eye cavity could be blue, purple, or even pink. 

The bat emblem can be red, pink, orange, and shades in between. The outline of the bat can be various shades of green such as lime green or dark green. 

The slashes can be unpainted, narrow vibrant silver, wide vibrant silver, or wide silver but lightly applied.

Limbs can come in a variety of shades of blue and soft to hardness, but are rubber, as opposed to plastic like on the Roto Skeletor. The boots can be shades of blue and purple.

A curiosity emerges with certain BA Skeletors, where the legs are painted blue on top of the blue skin tones. It's like a paint or gloss-like finish that is applied. Usually, the pale-faced variants are the ones that have this unique paint application. 

In just a select few instances, a “dark” BA Skeletor has been found. This figure has unique limbs molded in the colors of Mer-Man, with boots painted dark purple. Only 2-3 have been found.

Lastly, it's important to mention that concurrent with the Rotoplast line, bootlegs were made of certain motu figures. These Venezuelan bootlegs have the curiosity to be outfitted with slightly smaller scale staff, sword and axe in lilac-blue. These rare sets of accessories are sometimes paired with Rotoplast Battle Armor Skeletor, although they were never officially licensed.

DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERISTICS:
1. Soft head, in a wide variety of muted face paint applications
2. Rubber arms (Usually very gummy but also can be hard rubber)
3. Blue belt