It hasn’t happened often, but finally we’re getting another figure based on a character in the 1987 Masters of the Universe film. While I don’t pretend to know all the ins and outs of the copyright situation, Mattel seems to be currently limited to producing only the movie characters that had figures in the vintage line. And that would indeed be what Blade, Gwildor and Saurod all have in common. And since Matty’s goal this year has been to complete the Classics line with updates to all the existing vintage figures, we all knew Saurod had to be coming. And that’s fine by me because I’m all for lizard warriors in space armor.

There isn’t much new to say about the packaging. I am surprised that Matty didn’t opt to put a sticker on the bubble for the movie figures, but again they might be restricted by all that copyright nonsense and the bio is designed to wrap him up in the Classics canon. His tag line is “Evil Spark Shooting Reptile.”

I have to admit to being blown away by this figure the moment I got him out of the package. I think it was the coloring that caught my eye first. Admittedly, the coloring doesn’t seem to match the big screen character all that closely, but I’m fine with that because it looks so striking. The copper colored armor is fantastic on its own, but when coupled with the blue-green underneath it, the deco really ups the wow factor big time.  I’m a little confused as to whether all that blue-green paint is supposed to be Saurod’s skin or not because the sculpt in some areas makes it look more like chain mail and yet it more or less matches the areas that are obviously textured with a scaly skin pattern. And then you’ve got what appear to be his green undies, which also have a scaly lizard skin pattern, but matches the color of his tail underneath. Am I over thinking this? Well, either way, I love the coloring on this piece.

The armor itself is intricately detailed with panel lining on the legs, circuit-like patterns on the arms and a wonderful hammered and pitted look to the shoulder pieces. Sculpted straps secure his upper leg plates and the lobster tail armor above his tail looks amazing. A stray nick and scrape here and there makes the armor look well used and battle worn. I have no idea what that thing is hanging off the back of his helmet, though. A lizard pony tail? Hey, it’s Eternia, so why not?

Saurod’s head sculpt is mostly comprised of his impressive helmet and mask. There’s a little of his scaly skin showing around the eye holes and two cold and piercing reptile eyes peering out of his rather intricate mask. The right eye on my figure is a little out of whack, but compared to some of the googly-eyed Saurods I’ve seen out there, I’ll definitely take what I got.

Despite the distinctive armor and sculpting on display here, Saurod retains all the standard articulation found in the MOTUC buck. The arms have rotating hinges in the shoulders, hinges in the elbows, and swivels in the biceps and wrists. The legs are ball jointed with hinges in the knees and ankles, and swivels up at the top of the thighs. Saurod can swivel at the waist, has an ab crunch hinge in the torso, and his head is ball jointed. The tail is rubbery, but not really poseable. It does, however, help with balance on some of the more action orientated poses.

Saurod comes with one accessory and that’s his trusty laser pistol. It’s a simple piece with a decent sculpt. The sidearm can be stored in his functional holster or wielded in his right hand.

Whatever bad blood Matty earned for making me shell out money for that ridiculous Hordak variant last month is now forgiven, because Saurod here really is a spectacular figure. I have no particular love for or nostalgia for the character, but this figure is so damn striking that I can imagine I would probably have wanted him on my shelf even if I wasn’t collecting the MOTUC line. The coloring, the sculpt, and the personality of this guy all come together so beautifully. Now if only Matty could work out the licensing rights and get us some more movie figures, particularly that blinged out version of Skeletor, I would be a really happy camper.