Written by Adam McCombs

Name: Cliff Climber, Scubattack and Tower Tools Power Gear
Faction: None
Approximate US release date: Month and day unknown, 1987

Cliff Climber, Scubattack and Tower Tools were three motorized accessories that came out at the tail end of the Masters of the Universe line. Powered by a common motorized module, they offered three different action scenarios for Masters of the Universe figures.

Design & Development

Scubattack appears to derive from the Sea Man concept below, dating from March 25, 1985. A concept by Alan Tyler, it’s not entirely clear if it was originally intended to be just an accessory or an entire figure with an elaborate aquatic costume. This concept may have lead to both Scubattack and the New Adventures figure Hydron:

James McElroy did the designs for both Tower Tools and Cliff Climber. His concept art below is very close to what was actually released by Mattel:

Toys & Packaging

The Power Gear set (they are called out collectively by this name as a group in Mattel’s official materials) first appear in the 1987 Mattel dealer catalog, shown below:

Each accessory (powered by a single AA battery) was able to provide two to three different motorized action features. In a way these sets were adding to figures action features that didn’t exist previously, or at least not in a motorized way.

Cliff Climber

The Cliff Climber, in addition to its powered grappling hook, had a “chest crawler” (basically a rotating drum that could be used to propel the figure when laying on its front) and a powered drill feature.

Scubattack

The primary feature of the Scubattack was to of course propel the figure through the water with its propeller. But it also offered a water blaster function, and, scraping the bottom of the barrel for action feature ideas, hollow “flotation tanks.”

Tower Tools

Tower Tools, aside from its articulated, clamping arm and ability to propel itself across a suspended string, came with a rotating hatchet saw.

Each of the Power Gear accessories came packaged in a closed box, similar to Modulok and Multi-Bot. William George provided the box art for all three packages:

The packaging layout for all three Power Gear accessories is shown below (images via Grayskull Museum):

Øyvind Meisfjord has shared some images and videos of each of the three sets in action, to help illustrate what they can do:

Comic Appearances

Like most of the toys that came out at the end of the line, the Power Gear set weren’t heavily featured in comics or artwork. Probably their most effective showcase came in the MOTU Star Comics, issue #8, where all three are worked into the same story. In the story, they are the inventions of Man-At-Arms, and used by the Heroic Warriors:

Scubattack seems to show up most frequently of the three sets, otherwise. It shows up in issues 7 and 9 of the 1988 German Ehapa Verlag comics, used by Skeletor, Tri-Klops, Blade and Jitsu:

It also shows up in issue 1 of the 1989 Magic Boy series, used by Hordak:

Other Artwork

In terms of artwork, the Power Gear set shows up in a few places. The most striking by far is this beautiful poster by Earl Norem for the Spring 1987 issue of the US MOTU Magazine:

The full set also appears in this interesting poster by Esteban Maroto:

Scubattack appeared in this illustration by Errol McCarthy:

The Power Gear set also appeared in a few advertisements toward the end of the line:

I can’t speak to how fun these actually were because I never owned them. I will say that they look awfully earth-like, and a little out place on Eternia. They’ve never been my favorites for that reason, but their action features do look neat!

Thank you to the following individuals who are current Patreon supporters!

• Adam A.
• Allison T.
• badtaste®
• Ben M.
• Cory from Make Shape Create
• Eric H.
• JackieX
• James C.
• João S.
• Jon E.
• Lyca
• Max I.
• Michael M.
• Mike G.
• MotuOriginsCork
• Orion W.
• Øyvind M.
• Philip O.
• Robert B.
• tupalev

Want to support the blog? Consider becoming a Patreon supporter. You’ll also gain access to exclusive content and early access to posts on the blog. Thank you!