With Masters of the Universe Classics coming to an end, and with Masters of the Universe as a property having an uncertain future, thoughts turn to the figures that are left. Obviously, the vintage figures are now taking precedence, and every effort is being made to get the rest of those made (don’t forget about the Meteorbs, guys). However, Masters of the Universe expands far outside of just the toys that were once made. Many characters are still in need of representation in the line.
When I think of original mini-comic characters, the first two that pop into my mind are Geldor and Lodar. We got a fantastic Geldor as a result of fan voting last year, which leaves Lodar.
Whether you know it or not, you want Lodar.
Lodar made his first and only appearance in the pages of the issue titled “Slave City.” In this comic, He-Man does his best Mario impersonation and saves a princess from some creatures called Kobolds. When she gives He-Man her sob story, he, of course, intervenes, and yadda yadda yadda, he ends up in Lodar’s arena fighting a big dude named Garn. He-Man wins because Garn didn’t have an action figure either, and then He-Man and Lodar fight, while a heavy metal soundtrack plays in the background.
It’s not the deepest of plots, and the mini-comic doesn’t have the charm of the earlier mini-comics, but it did introduce Lodar, a masked dude with spiked shoulder pads who is capable of going toe-to-toe with He-Man.
Some of the mini-comics were oddities. There were the obvious ones that were used to introduce a new character or vehicle, but then there were the ones that didn’t seem to introduce any new toys at all and only existed to show off these brand new characters that had no chance of being included in the toy line at all, so we as a collective childhood unit were left scratching our heads and wondering where the hell our Lodar figure was, or when they would be making Geldor. The cartoon did that also, with characters like Fang Man, Icer, Count Marzo and others that could have made cool toys. They were just tossed in and abandoned, leaving us in a puddle of confused tears.
Like, what the hell, man? Childhood is all cruel and stuff.
Well, those days are over, so up yours, ’80s kids. Our toy line is better than yours, and it is way more complete. We’re getting cartoon characters that have never been made before, and we’re ever so sloooowly getting a shot at those mini-comic characters. I look at Geldor and I nod in satisfaction. I don’t do it too often because a grown man nodding at his toys with the strange expression I must have on my face while I do it is a bit creepy, but I’d like to be just as creepy towards a Lodar figure.
Lodar would be a relatively easy character to crank out, at least from the all-important tooling aspect: he’s a mostly blank body with a little bit of shoulder overlay, a new head, and spiked shoes. Because when he’s not sending people to their death in the arena, he likes to golf. That’s really all there is to do in Slave City. With a fairly simple yet menacing design, Lodar would be a great-looking character, especially with his purple color scheme. We all know MOTUC fans go nuts for characters dressed in mostly purple costumes. People love Spector and the Unnamed One, right?
There’s a great upheaval happening in our tiny little toy line. The sub barely squeaked by, Toy Guru has resigned, the line as we know it is ending in 2015 with an uncertain future in 2016, and we’re all completely terrified.
We need a little assurance.
We need a little stability.
We need a little Lodar.