Red Shadow MOTU Origins Concept

Back in November 2023, I wrote an article proclaiming that Red Shadow could possibly be coming to the Masters of the Universe Origins line. If you are unaware of who Red Shadow is or where he came from, we can fill you in. Red Shadow was another one of Axel Gimenez’s MOTU Classics concepts that was never produced in the line. We got excited when Red Shadow was teased on Moss Man’s box art and we are patiently waiting for him to come to the line. We, of course, would love to see Axel’s concept officially come to life in plastic but while we wait to hear, we can feast our eyes on a custom that was created by bombstaroutkast (sub his YT Channel too!) and images by the one and only Mr. Home Arcade!

November 19, 2025 Update: Red Shadow Mattel Creations Exclusive Revealed

Red Shadow MOTU Origins Club Grayskull Mattel Creations Exclusive Preorder

The get as much hair on the figure as possible, it looks like this was created from a Stratos buck that was modified to more, you guessed it, hair on the figure. The vine strap goes across his chest and. Mr. Home Arcade put it perfectly when he said, in his YouTube video, that Red Shadow’s face looks like the man in the iron mask! To take it a step further, we can call him the Destro of the Masters of the Universe. His face is expressionless and it looks like there are hinged metal plates on each side of his jaw bones. You might be curious why Red Shadow is paling around with a Shmiminvit creature from the Filmation cartoon but, in the MOTU Classics line, there were several extra packins to the figures that serviced to build out the world of MOTU. Shminavits were native to the planet Trannis. Although fluffy and harmless, they were resilient enough to survive the devastating conditions the planet faced thanks to Plundor’s Factory, which caused many other species of Trannis to go extinct. It makes perfect sense why this creature is hanging around Red Shadow because they look like survivors!

From the side view we can get a better look at the vine strap and knife sheath and around the backside, where the money shot is, his water bottle bottle and I’ll be channeling Mr. Home Arcade when I say this but his ass needs to stay hydrated! You can also get a better look at the hair sculpt from the back and the red accent stripe goes all the way down to the base of his skull. The hair looks really lifelike and the sculpt is fantastic! The mace, which is a nod to Moss Man’s weapon in the MYP MOTU 200x cartoon, looks very woody (get your mind out of the gutter) and earthy! It looks like it is a combination of a whittled tree branch with some metal rectangular pieces added to it. The spear has a metal arrow tip that has a cool wrap on it, which also looks like it was found and fashioned into a weapon that is used for further distances.

Here is Red Shadow with his buddy Moss Man and I just just hear them now! Moss Man is shocked that Red Shadow up and stole his mace from the 200x series!

You can also check out Red Shadow along with Mr. Home Arcade’s customs collection of newer figures on his YouTube Channel! You might recognize one of them!

Is Red Shadow Coming to Origins?

We are probably reading way too much into Axel Gimenez’s post but he posted a custom MOTU Classics Red Shadow on Instagram with the caption, “My beloved Red Shadow, by Leo, in a photo that I needed to send as a reference.” Since some of Axel’s deep cut Snake Men are in the works and Red Shadow was teased on the Moss Man box art, it is looking more likely that we could see Red Shadow come to the MOTU Origins line. With the tail section of Lady Slither added to the tooling for future figures we could also see the Red Snake Men concept that was also teased on the Moss Man box art come to fruition. Along with Red Shadow and the Red Snake creature teased, there were also several Powers of Grayskull teases on Moss Man’s box art too!

The following concepts are held over from Axel Gimenez’s work on the MOTU Classics line so you will see Red Shadow referenced and other concepts, as Axel explains below:

According to Axel, “One of my first projects for Mattel in 2013 was to design five figures for the Masters of the Universe Classics line. From those, Fang-Or, The Great Black Wizard, and Red Shadow are my favorites. Fang-Or was made by Super 7 when they took over the line at the time. The other two never made it to production, and that’s why a few years ago, I decided to ask @zoooorito to make a custom of Red Shadow, which would be the first he ever made for me. He decided to make two versions. A regular version, that is the one I chose, and a flocked version, which is the one Leo made for him. To complete the trio of my favorites from those early designs, Leo will be working on The Great Black Wizard.”

Red Shadow Box Art Tease

Moss Man’s packaging is absolutely stunning, with a beautiful scene within a lush forest complete with waterfalls and in the background yes, it is Eternia! So this scene is taking place in none other than in Preternia! We are just over the moon about how beautifully gorgeous this packaging is! We have been waiting Moss Man for so long and they really did this gentle pine smelling friend of the forest justice with this incredible packaging! Let’s dive in and take a close look at Moss Man’s packaging!

Art and Illustrations

Moss Man comes in a gorgeous collector’s edition box, similar to that of Eternian Palace Guard window box. This is just stunningly beautiful art work covering every square inch of the packaging featuring our pine smelly furry friend, and a ton of figure and creature teases which we can’t wait to get into! The artistic team of @manuel_eduardo_caritas, @axel.gimenez and @fetch.franciscoetchart did a spectacular job with this artwork! Gonna have to pick up several of these to keep in the collection! There is a whole forest scene going on with prehistoric creatures, all sorts of trees and vines, and a ton of new character sprinkled throughout.

Front and Side Box Art

The front of the box features a stunning prehistoric forest scene with several figure and creature teases. The art wraps around the top flap, front and sides of the packaging. Here we can see the entire panel of images. On the side panel there is a figure tease of Gigantisaur, an unreleased creature from the cancelled 1988 Powers of Grayskull line. You can see Thunder Punch He-Man coming out of the dinosaur’s belly. We will discuss him further below. We also get another tease on the center panel which occurs on the top flap of the package. Flying toward that large Sequoia is none other than Turbodactyl, who was also originally released in 1987 also under the Powers of Grayskull subline! Also that is no ordinary Seqouia tree, if you look closely there is a face on that tree, and it is Sky Tree! Sky tree is a character from He-Man and the Masters of the Universe and is the oldest tree on Eternia! In the left panel below, we can see Moss Man front and center, but who is the blue creature standing behind him? That is of course is Red Shadow, yes which I know he is blue, but that is his name. We discuss Red Shadow further below as well. Of course off in the distance is Eternia as this scene is taking place in no other than Preternia!!