I know many of you have been waiting for Part Two of this series. With a one-and-a-half-year-old son, and a busy career in the theater in New York City, I will admit that I have been busy. The fun of toys has to wait sometimes, but Tom and I are excited to reveal this next wave. We hope you enjoy these. If you like any of the ideas, let the guys at Super7 know!!
1) King Miro — A missing king … An heroic general … The father of Skeletor (among others? Why should we assume that he only had two sons? Clearly, the guy got around). The Filmation series presented him as having been abducted by The Enchantress, the MYP series presented him as the mortal enemy of Count Marzo, banished to Despondos during the Great Unrest. We’ve gone with the MYP design here because we are running out of unique 200X characters, and the design is rather beautiful. This is also how he appeared in the new mini-comics included with Classics figures. It’s bizarre that we don’t have this figure. The rumor was that he was part of the lineup a few years ago but was bumped when the Filmation rights were acquired in order to make room for other figures. In any case, he is long overdue. Included is his rival, in troll form. We need that figure too.
2) The Twiggets — These lovable characters appeared in almost every episode of the She-Ra, Princess of Power series. Sprocker, Sprag, and Spritina also appeared in the movie The Secret of the Sword, and, as such, seemed to earn the roles of lead Twiggets. Choosing these three also allows for variability of design, making the three pack even more interesting. The accessories are specific to each character, and if you haven’t seen the She-Ra episode “Gateway to Trouble,” we suggest that you do. Who wants some Spoo?!
3) Mistresss — Masters fans have been clamoring for a female member of the Snake Men for years. What better choice than a character from the vintage mini-comic King of the Snake Men? Tom has done a wonderful job of referencing some ’60’s sci-fi in the design of this figure. Her accessories, in part, act to further diversify the Classics Snake Warriors 2-pack. Is she good? Is she evil? Whose side is she on? Is she even human? Good questions … Decide for yourself. But we know that this character would rissssse to the ocassssion of being the first female Snake Man. Who needs Lady Slither? Wait, maybe this IS Lady Slither … It’s up to you. I personally love her hairstyle.
4) Dylamug — He didn’t appear too often in the She-Ra cartoon, but when he did, he made a strong impression, and aside from Hunga the Harpy, he is the only villain from The Secret of the Sword that has not been made in figure form. He was also a concept character developed by Mattel but never produced. Regarding his action feature, The Four Horsemen could come up with the rotating faces or create a snap-on face-plate option.
5) Sharella — That mystery archer from the vintage Megator box art, Sharella is the human, living form of the Goddess (at least according to the MOTUC bios). As part of the vintage “Powers of Grayskull” toy line (that never really made it, sadly), she helped raise Adam and Adora’s ancestor Gray (vintage He-Ro)! Any addition to the Preternian lineup is welcome, and I think Tom has done a great job of capturing the essence of woodland fighter.
6) Kothos — An independent villain from the Filmation cartoon with a great design that would help further diversify the MOTUC line. He’s a warlord and a wizard, and he does NOT like Evil-Lyn. His two episodes were excellent, great fun, and his inclusion in the line would also help diversify the ethnic makeup of MOTUC.
7) Damon — In the ’80s, Mattel and DC Comics released a comic book miniseries featuring Masters of the Universe. This miniseries gave us Damon, a demonic rival for Skeletor, with powers almost as strong, even if dependent on talismans. Like everyone else, he wants to rule over Grayskull and discover its secrets. Some believe that he may have been the inspiration for the redesign of Count Marzo in the MYP series. Regardless, he’s EVIL, and the talismans would be great accessories.
8) Melog — From Season 1, Episode 42, (“Enemy With My Face”) of the She-Ra, Princess of Power series, Melog is an interesting character because she is somewhat the Faker of POP. Exhibiting all of She-Ra’s strength, Shadow Weaver creates her from the polluted mud surrounding the Fright Zone. What she doesn’t realize is that Melog also has the potential goodness and empathy of the Princess of Power. Needless to say, Shadow Weaver’s plan doesn’t work out. What else is new? One of the coolest things about this design is the fact that she comes with Styrax, Shadow Weaver’s beloved pet, a true version of the Filmation Sword of Protection, and a purple version of Castaspella’s magic blast (why that was never re-used for any other figure is beyond me).
9) The Kex Queen — Another triumphant concept-design, The Kex Queen, Who appeared in the vintage mini-comic He-Man and the Insect People, has been on our personal most-wanted lists for many years. He and I have talked about how there really weren’t enough vintage mini-comic characters produced in the Classics line, and this one would not only give the Heroic Warriors a new female amongst their ranks, but also further flesh out Randor’s Council and perhaps provide a friendly foil for the Queen of the Andreenids?
10) Garn — Another great character from the vintage MOTU mini-comics, Garn would be a great addition to the MOTUC line, especially since he’d infuse the line with some Eternian / Native American style. We have a cowboy, a man with an elephant head, and a humanoid crab — Garn has style, MOTU style.
11) Raven — “Raven, Raven, fly to me! Raven, Raven, what did you see?” — Skeletor. This design was created by Tom a while back, and I daresay it inspired us to team-up to do these articles (starting a couple of years ago). It is based on Skeletor’s winged-spy, who was featured in the Filmation series (Season 2, Episode 2, “The Energy Beast”). I think he has done such a great job suggesting the use of rather clean design choices to create a visually frightening character. Of course the Energy Beast is included (in his prison), and Raven’s smaller, cartoon-specific form is as well, making good use of the perch included with Melog.
12) Catra (Deluxe) — So, in eight whole years of MOTUC, not one variant of Catra was offered. Odd … We have the Filmation version, which is wonderful, but we don’t have the toy version or her two vintage variants: “Scratchin’ Sound Catra” and “Shower Power Catra.” Included is a Horde Crossbow for her, in silver, with a cat theme (finally!), as well as three pairs of interchangeable legs/tail (one for each version), and If you were to buy three of these sets ($$$$ for Super7), and use a couple of the accessories included with the previously released version, you would have all the accessories necessary to make the various versions of this character that have appeared over the years. All that needs to be said is that this set is LONG OVERDUE.
13) Duke Tiberon — I have to admit, this is an obscure one, but his design is so cool, and he actually would make great use of most of the pieces used to make Eternos Palace Randor. He appeared in the MOTU newspaper comic strips (a collection of these is forthcoming from Dark Horse, in hardback) and was created by Chris Weber and Karen Willson (who appeared at Power Con on a wonderful panel a few years ago). He was intended to be a recurring character in those newspaper comic strips and seems to be a rather snarky member of the royal court. This figure would be a wonderful way to include accessories specific to the newspaper strips too (like the snake staff).
14) Hunga the Harpy — “ANGELLLAAAAAAAAA!!!!” The screeching, caterwauling, villainous Queen of Talon Mountain, Hunga the Harpy first appeared in The Secret of the Sword as the jailer of Queen Angella, and as an apparent free agent for The Horde. This character begs for figure treatment by the 4H: hideously demonic wings … double-jointed ankles … that wicked magic wand … and maybe even an extra generic harpy head — that’s right, a chance for multiple sales, Super7! Build yourself an army of Harpies!!
15) Queen Zal & Bruar 2-Pack — Another obscure but wonderful potential addition to the line would be Queen Zal, the Sovereign of Light, and her defender, the crystal being Bruar, from the planet Zal-Kron. These characters were featured in Issue 16 of the vintage Brazilian MOTU comic A Estrela De Zal-Kron. Frankly, they look like they could lead their own comic book series. I don’t really speak Portuguese, so I can’t translate the comic, but from what I gather, Skeletor entraps Granamyr (the green version) and releases some demons from another dimension. While fighting against these demons, and trying to save Granamyr, He-Man is magically transported to the planet of Zal-Kron. There he meets our 2-pack, who help him return to Eternia after an initial misunderstanding and skirmish. What I love about a lot of the comic series from countries other than the United States is that they actually explored the “universe” component of “Masters of the Universe.” These two would be a nice way to capitalize on that.
16) Prince Dakon — Talk about lots of potential! This is another character from the vintage mini-comics (“The Secret Liquid of Life”). Let’s just get the obvious out of the way … He would further diversify the cultural/ethnic lineup in the line and also provide us with a new, slightly independent hero, whose design screams “MOTU.” His weapons are reused (the sword previously included with Filmation Skeletor, and the shield previously included with Stinkor). It’s no secret that we need more mini-comic characters, but the story of Prince Dakon is actually pretty epic. He’s also rather a badass, choosing to get married to Princess Maran under the tree that supposedly devoured his enemy, Geldor.
17) King Tamusk (and King Barbo) — Two for the price of one! Nothing wrong with that, and Tom did a great job of designing a concept for what I believe is his most-wanted character. Appearing in the He-Man Filmation series, Season 2, Episode 97, “The Time Wheel,” King Tamusk was the last of the sorcerer kings, who ruled over Eternia long before Miro and Randor. He is transported to Adam’s time on Eternia where he learns to embrace his more empathetic tendencies, which, according to history books featured in the episode, caused him to become a benevolent and empathetic ruler (that’s always a good thing, right?). Buuuut … who is this other guy? What’s that you say? He looks just like Tamusk? That’s because he IS just like Tamusk. Filmation made good use of previously used animation cels, and in this case, completely recoloring this character does do a great job of making him look like a new character. King Barbo appears in Season 2, Episode 80, “The Shadow of Skeletor,” which takes us back to the moon of Phantos, the Dark Moon. He was either the brother of Queen Elmora or at least succeeded her as ruler of Phantos after she abdicated. Since Power Con is now famous for offering repaints as exclusives, should we receive a King Tamusk figure down the line, King Barbo would be an excellent candidate for Power Con exclusive status.
18) Kayo — As far as animated characters or action figures go, Kayo is pretty much a stud. Then again, some of you may think Stinkor is attractive. We can agree to disagree. Kayo has been one of my most wanted New Adventures characters. His color scheme is vibrant (he has a space football player vibe going). He knows how to pilot a ship through the roughest skies, AND he can take down an enemy in hand to hand combat, almost as swiftly as He-Man. He’s a ginger — who doesn’t like that? In addition, he wouldn’t be too expensive to produce, so he could be a great offering in a subscription, helping to offset costs for more highly tooled figures.
19) Queen Andreeno — Created for the MYP series, Queen Andreeno, queen-bee of the Andreenids, would make for a visually stunning addition to the line. She first appeared in Episode 20, “Buzz Off’s Pride.” I know this was a pet project for Tom, and he delivered beyond expectations. As a kid, and a collector of the vintage line, Buzz-Off wasn’t one of my favorite characters. However, that changed when he and his people were completely reimagined and successfully fleshed out in the MYP series. For some reason, the Classics bios ignored the fact that she was the supreme ruler of the bee people, and made Buzz-Off their king. Many fans disliked this change, and making this figure a part of the line would fix that. She also comes with Ambrosia … not the salad … but the highly addictive, highly potent product of the Bee people’s hard work, which Skeletor, Evil-Lyn, Tri-Klops, and Webstor learned may not have been worth the trouble of stealing.
20) Zilora & Ollo 2-Pack — Despite being Filmation creations (Season 1, Episode 8 of the He-Man and the Masters of the Universe series, “The Time Corridor,”), it’s arguable that these are the first two lead characters we got to know from Preternia. Zilora comes with her halberd and a Snake Dagger (which would not be a reuse of the dagger included in The Snake Warriors 2-pack; this would be a new dagger, made specifically for the female hand). Many people have been asking for a figure of Zilora, and including her with her nemesis Ollo would be a wise decision, not only because it plainly gives us a new character to further populate our toy shelves, but also because any sort of “versus” 2-pack is always exciting.
21) Battle for Grayskull Weapons Pak — The Weapons Paks in the Classics line have been some of my favorite releases. There have been Weapons Pak want-lists on The Org since the last one was released in October of 2013, and there has been no shortage of wonderful suggestions for items. This collection of items does a great job of not only providing many of those suggested pieces, but also of offering new items that you may not realize you’d needed until you saw a concept design. There’s Faker’s cardback cross-sell accessories in magenta, translucent POP shields for the Star Sisters, Odiphus, Snake Armor He-Man’s missing shield, some spell books for any of the mages on Eternia or Etheria or Primus, a Snake Staff for Kobra Khan, etc. I hope Super7 will see this and think about producing it; I believe that if it’s affordable, it will sell very well.
-Brian Rooney (bcrduke)
