Cool Toy Review 2013 Year in Cool Toys: Toy of the Year

It was a long, sometimes bumpy road, but many will agree it was a road worth traveling. When Mattel announced it was planning a Castle Grayskull playset for its Masters of the Universe Classics line and preorders would be taken based on a series blueprints and foam core mockups, the skeptic in all of us couldn't help but wonder if they could pull it off. After revealing the prototype at Toy Fair in February, Mattel was barraged with pushback from unhappy fans questioning the clearance of the castle's jaw-bridge. Taking that criticism into consideration, the team at Four Horsemen Studios adjusted the jaw-bridge's clearance and Mattel hauled each incarnation in the prototype stage across the country, from toy show to toy show, taking additional feedback and making tweaks to the design along the way. In an era where the playset is a dying breed, Mattel delivered a massive, ornate centerpiece to compliment their Masters of the Universe Classics figure line right in time for Christmas. The vision and execution to get something of this magnitude created, as well as the follow through and dedication from the MOTUC community, are admirable and as a result, we've awarded Mattel's Castle Grayskull our Toy of the Year award for 2013.

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