MOTUClassics.Com: Castle
Grayskull Weapons Rack Review

NoisyDvL5

Included with the stand are Scareglow’s halberd, Whiplash’s spear, Webstor’s rifle, the small pistol & sword that came with Man-At-Arms, Buzz-Off’s axe, and the shield, long axe, & non-viney mace that came with the Eternian Palace Guards.

When the stand initially debuted, the nine weapons were a matching set of silver with a slight tint of rust from lack of use. It looked awesome in the one image we saw before Mattel changed it, making five of the weapons in metallic red. This had a purpose – a Classics reiteration of what’s colloquially referred to as “Man-E-Weapons”, a Man-E-Faces figure that was packaged with five additional weapons. Honestly, I love having them in metallic red. They look cool, but I do lament not having the full set in that slightly rusted deco. I wouldn’t be opposed to them showing up in future weapons paks.

Overall, the Weapons Rack is a really well crafted piece, but, when it was released back in 2011, it ended up having one of the slowest sellout times of anything that year. In fact, it’s one of only a handful of items to take longer than a week to sell-out. It could just be that Mattel made a ton of them, but it seems this piece didn’t light the fire under collector’s feet as much as Mattel had hoped. Of course, that might be a different story today. If the Castle is on its way, I can’t think of too many people who would want it and not want the weapons rack to put inside it. I may not have thought much of it when it was released, but it could just be the line’s sleeper item in just a few hours.

For the latest updates on Castle Grayskull check out
CastleGrayskull.Info!

For more MOTU reviews, check out our
MOTU Classics Collector’s Guide.

Pages: 1 2

39 thoughts on “MOTUClassics.Com: Castle
Grayskull Weapons Rack Review”

  1. Cripes, glad you got out of the collision all right, mate!

    Great review! I always get a massive kick out of the Weapons Shop comics. Here’s hoping this review’ll push those last few laggards to take the plunge! I really don’t want to have to shoot a “No Grayskull” epilogue photocomic . . . .

    1. Also, love the way the shop keeps getting redecorated, like the new Turkish rug and jars of candy. (I’m assuming that’s candy in those jars. Even weapons shops need impulse-buy sweets near the check-outs!)

  2. Great review, very funny pics. I agree this could be a hit item if the Castle goes through. I’m sure Mattel have a lot of these in stock, which they could bring out again for sale.

    1. Thanks!

      I know it was in a CS stock sale not too long ago, but if they have any more left, they should definitely bring ’em back. They might even look into a second run with all-rusted weapons. I’d buy it…

  3. I just got the news right now, Noisy. I’m sure glad you are okay!

    Love the mini dio story as always. Nice custom figure as well. I guess she could be called Clerk-Ara? Great job and good luck to all today.

    1. Clutch brings up another good point: this young lady needs a full bio and a nickname like Vendora, Pantechnica, or Sales-Woman. };D

      2. Veronicaitlyn Bree?
        Vendora for short. or Fred.

        or since she sells weapons, Militia? Millie?

        Just because she has to serve you, doesn’t mean she likes you.

        1. Hah! Took me a while to catch on, but after it’s been tickling the back of my brain for a coupla days, the penny just dropped — love the Clerks homage!

  4. I am glad to hear you are alright noisy. I read that news and wantd tonsay something but hard to get them out.

    Okay, on to the review, have to agree if CG makes it this should sell more. Ofcourse ran across my old one and ditched it not recalling what it went to. This had a much nicer update and hearin about the early rusty look makes me hope to see that set emerge down the road.

    I agree with Clutch and beedo your custom shopkeep lady needs a bio. I can’t think of a name though myself.

  6. Glad to hear you’re okay Noisy.

    I went ahead and gave the red sword and rusty gun to SMAA since he didn’t include those, and I think they go well with him. They look like villain weapons.

        1. Reissue, or make up the rest in the next Weapons Pak, whichever. So long as I end up with the complete set, I’ll buy it.

  10. I love that the last picture features the two items absolutely nobody* wanted.

    *In truth I wanted the spare Clawful mace; Camo Khan custom needed his proper weapon.

  11. Myra (My-Ra?), Heroic Mistress of Retail!

    I’m glad she understands the principle of ‘turning’ the merchandise and the longer something sits the more it eats into her profit margin. A discounted sale is better than no sale at all. 🙂

    So what the hell? 5 car pileup? CRIPES! Really glad you’re OK, Noisy.

  13. The palace guards went a long way towards helping fill out the weapons rack. Especially if you got two sets of them.

    1. Back when I was *supposed* to do this review, it was going to incorporate the Palace Guards. I picked up two sets and have a ton of that gear too.

  14. “With no charges being made to the credit card used to pre-order, I don’t know why folks would wait until the last minute, but we’re a weird lot.”

    I can tell you why I waited ’til the last minute.

    First of all, I kinda hate Mattel. I’d rather not give them any money, but my nostalgia for He-Man wins out over my distaste. My feelings do make me put the final decision off as long as possible, though. (Well, I guess the final, final decision would be at the end of the pre-order period assuming it goes through, or even getting it off Matty at day of sale, but I guess if I’m going to do this, I may as well do it when it might possibly make a difference.)

    But, really, $300 (after shipping and tax) is a lot of money. If I pay right now, or a year from now, it’s a lot of money. Even if this was from Hasbro, or StoreHorsemen, or Onell Design, it’s a lot of money. Even if there were production level samples to show off, and it was every thing I could ever desire, it’s a lot of money. And, man, I just don’t want to spend that much money.

    But I do want a Castle Grayskull, so I finally bit the bullet. 😛

    1. It’s primarily cost for me, as well as the constant DR f-ups. I just changed my card and I still had to call them to activate the card for my account. I don’t know if this month’s DC subs went through or not, yet? this was AFTER last month’s was charged separately, despite what the email receipt said. What BS can DR pull off in the next year that’s going to rile collector’s collective bile?

      On top of that, there were apparently reports that international shipping was over $100 before it was “corrected”. I know they said it was large and heavy, but half the cost again for shipping? That’s an easy pass for me.

      On top of that, if someone really wanted one, they could build their own from dollhouses/craft store supplies, maybe hunt down a 2002 or 80s version even if it’s just for the front facade. Those would be WAY cheaper.

      Remember, these are toys. WANTS, NOT NEEDS.

      1. UPDATE: it took a couple days, but Sam and JC are on their way!
        (now I wish I had some extra to buy a spare JC for a Jim Gordon custom! 🙁 )

  15. Noisy, I don’t post that often (ok, very rarely), but wanted to let you know that I’m glad you’re ok. This site has become my favorite toy review site, even though there are now a ton of “We take neat pics of new toys and talk about them” pages out there nowadays. Glad

  16. Gad! Sorry to hear about your accident, Noisy. Glad you’re doing well.

    You know, I’d be insane to suddenly start collecting this line at this point, but boy do your pics make it look like fun. Curse you!

    So “Vendora” (my pic) is a custom? She looks like a friend of mine.

Comments are closed.