Stinkor

Recommended music: Falling In Reverse – Popular Monster

Happy Monday, MOTU fans! Hope you all had a great weekend. For this #MastersMonday, let’s take a whiff of another 1985 release from the vintage Mattel Masters of the Universe line: Stinkor!

When the “Evil master of odors” came out in early 1985, he quickly became one of my favorite Evil Warrior action figures. I loved the skunk-like design, which was a repaint of Mer-Man with Meckaneck’s orange armor, but what really stood out to me was his smell. Mattel added patchouli oil to the plastic at the factory. Back then, I had no idea patchouli was a popular scent in real life—I just thought of it as the classic Eternian skunk smell.

Stinkor only came with a basic Castle Grayskull shield made from blue plastic. Even though he didn’t have many accessories, that never stopped him from being a regular villain in my Masters of the Universe games. He always had a natural enemy in Moss Man. Both figures came with the same mini comic, ‘The Stench of Evil!’, where Moss Man beats Stinkor with his pine scent, so their rivalry became a big part of my playtime.

Stinkor also played a big role in the Golden Books hardcover story He-Man Smells Trouble, so there was a fair amount of story for this character in the 1980s. This was important because Stinkor was the only Masters of the Universe character released between 1982 and 1985 who never showed up in the He-Man or She-Ra cartoons. Filmation’s VP Arthur Nadel turned down the character after visiting Mattel, calling Stinkor “a walking fart joke.”

After the original toy line, Stinkor appeared in nine episodes of the 2002 He-Man and the Masters of the Universe series with a brand-new backstory. He even returned for one episode of Netflix’s Masters of the Universe: Revelation. He probably won’t appear in the upcoming Masters of the Universe 2026 live-action movie, but maybe he’ll make a cameo in a sequel.

Kids who got Stinkor in the J.C. Penny 2-pack with Spikor, or in one of the three-packs, missed out on his awesome cardback art. Like a few other 1985 figures, Dave Stevens created this artwork instead of Errol McCarthy. The art even shows Battle Armor He-Man struggling with the smell. Still, Stinkor has kept many fans over the years, including me, thanks to that unforgettable stench.

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