

With the current at-home situation, I got inspired to check out the Mega Construx Castle Grayskull. At 3500+ pieces it was a little daunting. The $250 price tag also made it prohibitive, but I managed to snag it for $85 on sale online. With all the pics I had seen online, and the fun I heard from others, I jumped at the chance. This thing is full of detail and play features. It was a ton of fun to put together, and now that it’s done, my son and I are having fun playing with it too. Check out the details, and a sweet time-lapse video of the build.





Check out a brief time-lapse video of it all being put together.

The box it comes in is huge. Inside the main box (there are lots of cool illustrations all over the sides and flaps) are four smaller boxes. All told it was over 52 bags within the four boxes. We liked that the pieces were pretty well divvied up. There were a few times that we got pieces that were used many pages later, so we just kept those off to the sides. The instruction book is huge, it’s 11×17″, and over 170 pages. They get you started on the skull face right away.

The Roscoe Switcheroo

We are not newcomers to building big LEGO and other building block sets. My son loves the challenge and also delves into making his own creations after the intended build is complete. In building the skull face entrance, we loved the feature where you insert the power sword and pop the jawbridge open. However, when it was complete, we found that the door never stayed upright. So not only would it display always open, but you couldn’t really employ the sword opening feature. We went and looked online if there were any commonly used fixes, but didn’t find anything satisfactory. So my son invented the Roscoe Switcheroo using extra pieces that came with this set, simply swap out the brown angled pieces on the door with these round green “tombstones”, and the door will stay closed for display. It does not interfere with play, so you can pop the door open by inserting the power sword in the secrete slot!



Once it’s all complete, we were really happy with the display and play value when it was done. Being on Coronavirus quarantine for the last few weeks, it was great having a long running project that we were excited to work on each day. We’d put in 2-3 hours, over the course of a week or so. I would open the bags and sort the pieces, and then my son would follow along with the instruction book. It was fun to put together. I’d think it would be fun even if we weren’t under social distancing rules.



Once it was all put together we had fun exploring all the play features.

The play features in this set are plentiful. The elevator goes between the three floors, the throne dumps detractors to the throne in the jail (complete with grabby arms from below and a hanging chain). There are two “secret” doors, the turret moves and tilts for aerial assaults, and the computer can be swung back for additional hiding spots.

It folds up like the original 80s Grayskull (you can see a recent article where I restored a vintage 80s Castle Grayskull here) but most of the inspiration comes from the recent MOTU Classics Castle Grayskull. There is the ledge on the left column that leads to the hidden door, the elevator has two rails, there is the room on the third floor securing an orb. I also liked that the astronaut, trapdoor rug, and flag and banner artwork was exactly from the original castle’s labels.



Here is a comparison of the weapons rack and trainer with the original 80s Castle version. I appreciate the attention to detail, especially on the weapons rack. The only shortcoming I really found in the entire set is the triangle weapons rack. In the original Castle, it’s a cardboard insert, so they include pieces to build a “real” rack. That’s great. The original cardstock rack had the larger laser rifle on it, and this does not, so the pyramid rack looks a bit sparse. To be fair I wish the original design of the door stay closed too. Other than those, that’s my only real complaint!



We really liked the mini action figures that come with this set. You get six included (additional colors and characters are sold separately) He-Man, Man-At-Arms, the Sorceress (and her hawk form Zoar), Skeletor, Beast-Man, and Snake Teela. They have incredible articulation and detail at this scale. Elbows, knees, ball joint shoulder and hips, and a ball joint neck allow for all kinds of poses and play. Each one comes with at least one accessory as well. I picked up the five pack before I though I’d get this castle, so now I have two He-Men and two Skeletors. I like the paint scheme on those two that come with the castle. However I like the lighter orange Beast-Man I got with the five pack. That pack comes with traditional Teela, and Faker. I need to track down Moss-Man, and I’m counting down until I can get Stinkor and Trap-Jaw.



Overall, almost above the play features and action figures we loved the texture and design that went into the build. The placement of the bricks really resembles the rough texture of the rocky base, or the stone bricks making up the towers. The shingling seemed a bit daunting, but it really looks fantastic when it’s all put together.



This is a fantastic piece in our MOTU collection. It’s hefty, detailed and as much fun to build as it is to play with now that it’s all done. There are a lot more MOTU themed Mega Construx coming out. Right now you can nab the Wind Raider, but we can’t wait for the Point Dread that comes with Zodak, Battle Armor Skeletor and Panthor! And then look out for Roton Vs Battlecat also coming out this fall.

Check out all the pics!

Mega Construx Castle Grayskull