Skeletor Masters of the Universe Microplakit Series

Nobody in eighties cartoons coveted a castle harder, or got it less often. The Masters of the Universe arch-villain turns up here as a display piece, the hooded sorcerer with a skull where his face ought to be, a design built on one blunt idea and carried by it for four decades. The Microplakit treatment means a compact, stylised reading rather than a heroic-realist one: made for the cabinet shelf, sitting comfortably beside other small collector figures instead of towering over them. It carries at a glance from across a room, which is what stylised figures are supposed to do. Good for anyone assembling a row of childhood villains, and a straightforward subject to paint, with clear shapes, a strong silhouette and a face that repays a steady hand around the eye sockets.