He might not have succeeded in defeating that accursed He-Man and taking over Eternia just yet, but maybe that’s because Skeletor hasn’t had the right help just yet. Thankfully, the villain from Mattel’s beloved Masters of the Universe franchise has a new sidekick, courtesy of a collaboration with contemporary entertainment company VeeFriends: get ready to meet Skilled Skeleton.

That's right: Gary Vee's VeeFriends.

Admittedly, Skilled Skeleton doesn’t seem like the obvious choice to hang out with Skeleton; designed by Gary Vaynerchuk, the creator of all 283 characters in the VeeFriends line, the character is intended to symbolize “VeeFriends' mission to inspire optimism, accountability, and kindness,” according to Mattel. So… of course he’s featured in a new special edition two-pack alongside Skeletor himself.

"Partnering with such an iconic figure like Skeletor feels extremely surreal; this character is a touchstone for all of us from the Gen X era," said Vaynerchuk. "I'm excited to collaborate once again with Mattel following our incredibly successful VeeFriends UNO collaboration. I'm excited to give a hat tip to the collectors of Masters of the Universe — one of my favorite communities in the world. I hope everyone enjoys these special edition toys as much as the team and I have had in creating them. The Mattel team did an incredible job bringing this amazing toy to life."

“Gary’s innate passion and connection to the brand is one of the many reasons we were excited to collaborate with his forward-thinking company,” added PJ Lewis, VP and head of Action Figures at Mattel. “This collaboration allows us to connect to our Masters of the Universe fans in a new and exciting way while continuing to expand the audience for our best-in-class action figures with Gary’s VeeFriends fanbase.”

Both Skilled Skeleton and Masters of the Universe Origins Skeleton will come with special features as part of the Masters of the Universe VeeFriends Multipack:

• Skilled Skeleton glows in the dark and comes with six swappable hands, removable hood, armor and a shareable VeeFriends flex chain. The figure has 10 points of articulation.
• Masters of the Universe Skeletor includes three swappable heads for his multiple moods, five swappable hands, Sword of Power, Havoc Staff, and hood and armor. The figure has 16 points of articulation.
• Both Skilled Skeleton and Skeletor’s heads are interchangeable.
• Each character in this special two-pack collaboration also has swappable “heart” and “rock” hands and 16-plus points of articulation.
• The figures are packaged in a custom box with sliding slipcovers and a mini-comic.

The special Masters of the Universe VeeFriends Multipack will be available for pre-order starting October 6 at 9:00AM Pacific, exclusively at shop.mattel.com, retailing for $45.00. Click through the gallery below to take a peek at what you’d be getting.

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It feels like just recently that we were wondering if Masters of the Universe could be another Barbie for Mattel…