Princess of Power Toys Timeline

Posted on July 25, 2024December 30, 2024 by Adam McCombs

Written by Adam McCombs

In previous articles I have put together quite detailed timelines for the Masters of the Universe toyline, drawing from sources like Mattel internal documents, concept art, patent filings, trademark filings, copyright filings, and vintage newspaper advertisements. I thought it would be worthwhile to do the same for the vintage Princess of Power toyline.

This is by no means an exhaustive timeline. I included only those pieces of information that were dated in some way. Unfortunately the amount of material to draw on here is modest compared to the sources I was able to use for my MOTU timelines. Dated concept art is in particularly short supply for POP. I actually did the initial research on this when I was contributing to the Dark Horse Toys of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe book, but I’ve since updated that work with dates from vintage newspaper ads and other newspaper material.

The “first use in commerce” dates from come from trademark filings. The meaning of this term is somewhat ambiguous. The US Trademark office defines it this way:

“A date of first use in commerce is the date when (1) the goods were first sold or transported, or the services were first rendered, under the mark in a type of commerce that may be lawfully regulated by the U.S. Congress (such as interstate commerce or commerce between the United States and a foreign country), and (2) such use was bona fide and in the ordinary course of trade.”

From my research, “first use in commerce” doesn’t coincide with the dates that the toys were sold, as the dates listed are universally too early for that. Maybe Mattel used these dates to refer to factory production or shipping.

Some notes on the newspaper advertising dates: I used the Newspapers.com database as my source of information. So it is limited to a) what newspapers they have archived, b) the extent to which the text has been made accurately searchable and c) my ability to suss out variant spellings, such as “Sheera.” In one case there was a July 10, 1985 advertisement for ALL of the first wave of She-Ra figures. However they may not have really had the entire wave actually available for sale, as I didn’t find any other ads for figures like Kowl until late fall. In that one case I’ve indicated the July 10 date in parentheses as a possible earlier date for certain first wave figures. My guess is they probably just used all of the line art given to them by Mattel for the year to help fill out the ad, even though not all figures had shipped to them yet.

In general, it’s certainly possible that some figures were available in stores days or weeks prior to the earliest newspaper dates I could find. But I will say that the newspaper ads in general are the best resource for understanding approximately when the toys were first sold in stores.

A couple of other things – I don’t think the newspaper ad data for 1987 is particularly good. The frequency of POP newspaper ads is quite sparse. Advertisers were already winding down their ad spend as the line was dying. So, the 1987 dates may be less accurate in representing something that is close to a probable release date. Also, the only ad I found for the Defenders of Good three-pack was October 1987, in a “Mattel Toy Closeouts” ad, indicating that it wasn’t a new item and it was being sold at deep discount. My understanding is that this set was originally released in 1986, but I couldn’t find earlier ads for it.

For illustrative purposes I will include some sample advertisements, some POP illustrations kindly shared by Allison Troy, and other images from He-Man.org and Charles Zembillas. Special thanks to Allison Troy for giving this a once over before I published it. Update: Thanks also to James Eatock for providing four additional dates related to the She-Ra cartoon!

1983

xx/xx/1983: Crystal Castle concept art, Justine Dantzer (pre-Mattel)

1984

xx/xx/1984: Charles Zembillas She-Ra concept illustration
xx/xx/1984: Princess of Power Bible written
03/23/1984: Castaspella concept art, Justine Dantzer
04/xx/1984: Crystal Castle concept art, Justine Dantzer
05/25/1984: “Into Etheria” first draft completed
08/30/1984: Angella first use in commerce
08/30/1984: Castaspella first use in commerce
08/30/1984: Catra first use in commerce
08/30/1984: Double Trouble first use in commerce
08/30/1984: Frosta first use in commerce
08/30/1984: Kowl first use in commerce
08/30/1984: Swift Wind first use in commerce
08/30/1984: Princess Adora first use in commerce
09/10/1984: Castaspella trademarked
09/10/1984: Catra trademarked
09/10/1984: Double Trouble trademarked
09/10/1984: Kowl trademarked
09/10/1984: Princess Adora trademarked
09/10/1984: Swift Wind trademarked
09/12/1984: She-Ra first use in commerce
09/12/1984: Angella trademarked
09/13/1984: Frosta trademarked
10/23/1984: She-Ra trademarked
10/29/1984: First mention of She-Ra and Princess of Power in a newspaper article (referencing the planned cartoon series)

1985

xx/xx/1985: Spinerella concept art, Sylvia Shapiro
01/23/1985: Arrow first use in commerce
01/23/1985: Crystal Castle first use in commerce
01/23/1985: Enchanta first use in commerce
01/28/1985: Arrow trademarked
01/28/1985: Crystal Castle trademarked
01/28/1985: Enchanta trademarked
02/07/1985: Live-action She-Ra appeared in parade (Hackensack, NJ)
02/11/1985: Princess of Power line debuts at New York Toy Fair
03/08/1985: She-Ra copyrighted
03/22/1985: The Secret of the Sword released in US theaters
04/05/1985: Catra copyrighted
04/05/1985: Angella copyrighted
04/29/1985: Swift Wind copyrighted
04/29/1985: Glimmer copyrighted
05/16/1985: Bow copyrighted
05/29/1985: Princess of Power, She-Ra copyrighted
05/30/1985: Clawdeen first use in commerce
05/30/1985: Crystal Falls first use in commerce
05/30/1985: Flutterina first use in commerce
05/30/1985: Mermista first use in commerce
05/30/1985: Peekablue first use in commerce
05/30/1985: Perfuma first use in commerce
06/06/1985: She-Ra first newspaper ad
06/06/1985: Catra first newspaper ad
06/06/1985: Bow first newspaper ad
06/17/1985: Clawdeen trademarked
06/17/1985: Crystal Falls trademarked
06/17/1985: Flutterina trademarked
06/17/1985: Mermista trademarked
06/17/1985: Peekablue trademarked
06/17/1985: Perfuma trademarked
08/03/1985: Crystal Castle first newspaper ad
08/20/1985: Castaspella first newspaper ad (possibly as early as 07/10/1985)
08/25/1985: Angella first newspaper ad (possibly as early as 07/10/1985)
08/25/1985: Glimmer first newspaper ad (possibly as early as 07/10/1985)
08/25/1985: Swift Wind first newspaper ad (possibly as early as 07/10/1985)
08/25/1985: Storm first newspaper ad (possibly as early as 07/10/1985)
08/29/1985: Enchanta first newspaper ad
09/12/1985: Arrow first newspaper ad (possibly as early as 07/10/1985)
09/15/1985: Frosta first newspaper ad (possibly as early as 07/10/1985)
09/02/1985: She-Ra: Princess of Power premieres in the UK with “Duel at Devlan”
09/23/1985: She-Ra: Princess of Power premieres in the USA with “Into Etheria”
09/28/1985: Double Trouble first newspaper ad (possibly as early as 07/10/1985)
10/10/1985: Crystal Castle copyrighted
10/12/1985: Catra and Storm set first newspaper ad
10/12/1985: She-Ra and Swift Wind set first newspaper ad
11/03/1985: Bow and Arrow set first newspaper ad
11/06/1985: Kowl first newspaper ad (possibly as early as 07/10/1985)
11/06/1985: Crystal Moonbeam first use in commerce
11/06/1985: Crystal Sun Dancer first use in commerce
11/06/1985: Crystal Swift Wind first use in commerce
11/06/1985: Entrapta first use in commerce
11/06/1985: Sweet Bee first use in commerce
11/12/1985: Crystal Moonbeam trademarked
11/12/1985: Crystal Sun Dancer trademarked
11/12/1985: Entrapta trademarked
11/12/1985: Sweet Bee trademarked
11/22/1985: Double Trouble copyrighted
11/29/1985: Enchantra (Enchanta) copyrighted
12/02/1985: Kowl copyrighted
12/02/1985: Castaspella copyrighted
12/31/1985: Scratchin’ Sound first use in commerce

1986

01/13/1986: Scratchin’ Sound trademarked
02/07/1986: Crystal Swift Wind trademarked
02/14/1986: Sea Harp first use in commerce
02/21/1986: Flutterina first newspaper ad
02/21/1986: Perfuma first newspaper ad
02/21/1986: Entrapta first newspaper ad
02/21/1986: Sweet Bee first newspaper ad
02/21/1986: Flutterina first newspaper ad
02/21/1986: Scratchin’ Sound Catra and Clawdeen set first newspaper ad
02/21/1986: Scratchin’ Sound Catra first newspaper ad
02/28/1986: Sea Harp trademarked
03/07/1986: Starburst She-Ra first newspaper ad
03/07/1986: Fit To Be Tied first use in commerce
03/07/1986: Fantastic Fashions first use in commerce
03/07/1986: Flight of Fancy first use in commerce
03/07/1986: Butterflyer first use in commerce
03/07/1986: Deep Blue Secret first use in commerce
03/07/1986: Flower Power first use in commerce
03/07/1986: Hold On To Your Hat first use in commerce
03/07/1986: Ready In Red first use in commerce
03/07/1986: Rise & Shine first use in commerce
03/07/1986: Veils of Mystery first use in commerce
03/14/1986: Flight of Fancy trademarked
03/17/1986: Fit To Be Tied trademarked
03/17/1986: Fantastic Fashions trademarked
03/17/1986: Flower Power trademarked
03/17/1986: Butterflyer trademarked
03/17/1986: Deep Blue Secret trademarked
03/17/1986: Hold On To Your Hat trademarked
03/17/1986: Ready In Red trademarked
03/17/1986: Rise & Shine trademarked
03/17/1986: Veils of Mystery trademarked
03/23/1986: Crystal Moonbeam first newspaper ad
05/28/1986: Clawdeen copyrighted
05/28/1986: Flutterina copyrighted
05/28/1986: Peekablue copyrighted
06/05/1986: Blue Lightning first use in commerce
06/05/1986: Colorful Secret first use in commerce
06/05/1986: Frosty Fur first use in commerce
06/05/1986: Heart of Gold first use in commerce
06/05/1986: Hidden Gold first use in commerce
06/05/1986: Reflections In Red first use in commerce
06/05/1986: Secret Messenger first use in commerce
06/05/1986: Windy Jumper first use in commerce
06/04/1986: Crystal Swift Wind first newspaper ad
06/23/1986: Blue Lightning trademarked
06/23/1986: Colorful Secret trademarked
06/23/1986: Frosty Fur trademarked
06/23/1986: Heart of Gold trademarked
06/23/1986: Hidden Gold trademarked
06/23/1986: Reflections In Red trademarked
06/23/1986: Secret Messenger trademarked
06/23/1986: Windy Jumper trademarked
08/12/1986: Clawdeen (individual) first newspaper ad
09/17/1986: Bubble Power first use in commerce
09/17/1986: Shower Power first use in commerce
09/21/1986: Crystal Falls first newspaper ad
09/22/1986: Bubble Power trademarked
09/28/1986: Sea Harp first newspaper ad
09/28/1986: Butterflyer first newspaper ad
09/28/1986: Mermista first newspaper ad
09/30/1986: Loo-Kee first use in commerce
09/30/1986: Netossa first use in commerce
09/30/1986: Royal Swift Wind first use in commerce
09/30/1986: Silver Storm first use in commerce
09/30/1986: Spinnerella first use in commerce
09/30/1986: Jewelstar first use in commerce
09/30/1986: Tallstar first use in commerce
09/30/1986: Glory Bird first use in commerce
10/06/1986: Loo-Kee trademarked
10/06/1986: Netossa trademarked
10/06/1986: Royal Swift Wind trademarked
10/06/1986: Spinnerella trademarked
10/06/1986: Jewelstar trademarked
10/06/1986: Tallstar trademarked
10/06/1986: Glory Bird trademarked
10/10/1986: Peekablue first newspaper ad
10/31/1986: Crystal Sun Dancer first newspaper ad
11/02/1986: Fantastic Fashions first newspaper ad
11/15/1986: Peekablue & Crystal Moonbeam first newspaper ad
11/15/1986: Starburst She-Ra and Crystal Swift Wind set first newspaper ad
11/15/1986: Sweet Bee & Crystal Sun Dancer first newspaper ad
11/17/1986: Shower Power trademarked
11/17/1986: Silver Storm trademarked

1987

01/11/1987: Shower Power Catra first newspaper ad
01/15/1987: Bubble Power She-Ra first newspaper ad
02/09/1987: Jewelstar packaging mockup
02/09/1987: Starla packaging mockup
02/09/1987: Tallstar packaging mockup
02/27/1987: Glory Bird packaging mockup
03/20/1987: Filmation completes work on She-Ra: Princess of Power
10/04/1987: She-Ra, Perfuma, and Sweet Bee (Defenders of Good) “Mattel Toy Closeouts” newspaper ad
11/11/1987: Netossa first newspaper ad
11/11/1987: Spinerella first newspaper ad
11/11/1987: Loo-Kee first newspaper ad
11/11/1987: Royal Swift Wind first newspaper ad
11/11/1987: Silver Storm first newspaper ad

Other timelines:

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Evil Mutants

Doomcopter: Jaw Snapping Helicraft (1991)

Posted on June 20, 2024September 9, 2024 by Adam McCombs

Written by Adam McCombs

In the 1989 “New Adventures” He-Man reboot, the Evil Mutants had the coolest toys. That’s true of the figures, and it’s true of the vehicles and playsets as well. My personal favorite vehicle from this line is the Doomcopter, or Skullcopter as it is known in the European market.

Design & Development

Doomcopter was designed by David Wolfram, who did the design work for most of the Evil Mutants. His typical style is evident here – a Gigerian mixture of organic elements and technology, with a heavy dose of body horror and skull imagery.

*Doomcopter concept sketch by David Wolfram*

In my interview with David, he had this to say about the design:

Lots of Giger influence there. I have this one partial sketch. As you can see on both this product as well as Nordor, the skull motif is an an important design element. I really didn’t do a lot of vehicles. I did an early sketch of a walking tank like vehicle which ended up becoming Terrorclaw and the Shuttle Pod. The vehicles ended up being designed by three different people: Dave McElroy, Steve Fouke, and Miller Johnson. Oh, and the Starship was designed by Terry Choi.
David Wolfram

Vehicle & Packaging

Doomcopter was released in 1991, with a trademark filing date of February 2, 1990. The front of the box features some wonderful artwork by William George, showcasing Disks of Doom Skeletor, Battle Punch He-Man and Tuskador:

The back of the packaging has some interesting information about Doomcopter:

*I believe the cross sell art here is largely from Errol McCarthy, but I don’t know for sure.*

Doomcopter
Night-strike helicraft

Primary Mission: 1) To transport Skeletor from space base Skuldor to the battlefield, 2) To launch suprise attacks against Guardian forces

Main Base: Space Base Skuldor on planet Denebria’s hollow moon

Battle Specs: 1) Guardian grabbing jaws for hand to mouth combat, 2) Rip-rotor for wrecking guardian strongholds, 3) Skull shield glows in the dark for midnight sneak attacks

The above description gives it a different appellation than the front of the box – it’s the “Night-strike helicraft” rather than the “Jaw snapping helicraft.” It also refers to “Skuldor,” which appears to actually be referring to Nordor. Perhaps Skuldor was an alternative name for it early on that didn’t get corrected on the packaging. Skuldor is also referenced on the packaging for Butthead and Terrortread.

The toy itself is lightweight but very nicely sculpted, with a little blue overspray on the purple body.

The skull façade glows in the dark very weakly, and can be a bit hard to capture:

Here is a scan of the instructions, which go over the various features. The snapping jaw was controlled by the lower button, and the higher button would release the flying “Rip-Rotor” once it had been wound up sufficiently. It featured stirrups as well to help keep the figure in place, although it didn’t fit every figure.

Comics & Stories

To my knowledge, Doomcopter never appeared in the various international comic book stories (UK MOTU Magazine, German Ehapa Verlag, Italian Magic Boy, etc.) It did, however, appear in a couple of He-Man magazine issues that featured toy photography with inventive dioramas to tell stories and, of course, sell toys.

1990, Issue 2: Gefahr Für Primus

1991: He-Man News

Jetlag Animated He-Man Series

Doomcopter in the Jetlag New Adventures of He-Man Series is pretty faithful to the toy design. One liberty taken with it is that it has a laser cannon mounted inside the mouth, which Skeletor uses as its primary attack weapon.

From “You’re in the Army Now,” a story involving Adam on trial for allegedly deserting his post and betraying the Galactic Guardians. The story is largely told in flashback. In this particular instance, Doomcopter ends up crashing into the side of a mountain.

From “The Running of the Herd,” where the Evil Mutants ambush the Guardians on the planet Equinos during Sagitar’s people’s ceremonial “running of the herd:”

Because it appeared at the tail end of the New Adventures line, unfortunately there isn’t a ton of media or artwork for this vehicle. Still, it’s a fun design and definitely worth picking up for any New Adventures collector.

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Evil Horde

Monstroid: The Ultimate Battling Monster (1986)

Posted on May 23, 2024September 8, 2024 by Adam McCombs

Written by Adam McCombs

Name: Monstroid
Faction: Evil Horde
Approximate US release date: October 23, 1986

Monstroid is one of the most unique toys released in the vintage Masters of the Universe line, functioning almost more like a game than a figure vehicle or beast.

Design & Development

Unfortunately I don’t know of any concept art or prototypes for Monstroid. I’ll just note that Ted Mayer created a concept for a character called Brainiac who looks a bit like Monstroid in terms of head shape and the fact that it has crab-like claws. I don’t know whether or not it directly influenced Monstroid:

The resemblance is even closer in the version below, which features protruding fangs:

*Image: The Power and the Honor Foundation Catalog*

As described in the 1986 Mattel catalog page below, Monstroid was a mechanical creature with a wind-up spinning action feature. Its large red claws could capture and hold figures securely. The play pattern for the figure was to stop it from spinning by punching a button on the side of the creature’s body. The biggest differences between the catalog model and the final toy seem to be in the wind-up crank and the stopper button, which are molded white in the image below, but are black and red in the final toy.

Additional catalog-style images appear in these pages from Magic Boy magazine (images via Poochi and Other Friends):

From my research, Monstroid was apparently first released in the US in October, 1986.

Toy & Packaging

The artist who did the box art for Monstroid is sadly unknown, but they did a very dynamic scene featuring Sy-Klone, Man-At-Arms, Thunder Punch He-Man and Roboto. The packaging and toy images below come from various eBay auctions:

The artwork on the back of Monstroid’s box was done by Errol McCarthy. You can see the original line art below:

Errol also illustrated the artwork for Monstroid that appeared in the 1987 Style Guide:

In the above Style Guide page, Monstroid is described this way:

Name: Monstroid
Group Affiliation: Evil Horde
Role: The ultimate battling beast
Power: Latches onto warriors and whirls them around and around with a crazy twirling action.
Character Profile: It clambers out of the ocean to grab anything or anyone that is unfortunate enough to be nearby. Only by striking Monstroid in one place can it be stopped from thrashing about.

Here is the Spanish version of the instructions from Mundo Masters:

Filmation

Monstroid didn’t appear in the Filmation cartoon per se, but three giant robots called the Monstroids did appear in the 1985 He-Man and She-Ra Christmas Special. It’s unclear what relationship these have with the Monstroid toy. My guess is that Mattel had planned to make some transforming robots called the Monstroids, but for whatever reason didn’t end up releasing them. Perhaps marketing really liked the name Monstroid and decided to reuse that for the 1986 toy.

On a related note, Mattel had also planned to release another Evil Horde robot called simply Evil Robot. This one was never released, but appeared as a loose page in some 1985 Mattel catalogs. This one, like the Meteorbs, was a simple repaint of an existing toy made by another manufacturer.

In fact, Mattel went so far as to commission a minicomic for Evil Robot. In the image below shared by James Eatock, we see former Mattel artist Larry Houston showing off his comic artwork of Evil Robot:

Comics

Monstroid appeared in the Star Comics issue #5, released January 1986. It is featured prominently on the cover:

In the story, Monstroid comes from the Sea of Rakash and is centuries old. Hordak and his henchmen have to work together to telepathically contact and summon Monstroid from the abyss to rise up and attack Eternia. Multi-Bot is brought in to assist, and with his help they succeed.

Monstroid appears in a German Ehapa Verlag magazine comic story from 1988, issue number 7. This time the story, called “The Flower of Life,” takes place on dry land. The location on the cliff face recalls the product photography shown earlier in the article from Magic Boy magazine.

Monstroid is also featured in a story in the January 1989 issue of Magic Boy, published in Italy. In this story, Monstroid rises up from the sea to attack the heroic warriors, instigated by Hordak, shown in his Filmation colors:

*Hordak using Scubattack*! Images come from Poochi and other Friends

Artwork and Advertising

Monstroid was featured in an Earl Norem poster released in the Fall 1986 issue of MOTU Magazine:

Monstroid appears in William George’s 1986 Eternia poster, below:

Monstroid appears in the Italian ad below that originally appeared in Magic Boy magazine:

Monstroid in Action

Øyvind Meisfjord has kindly provided the image and video below. Enjoy!

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Heroic Warriors

Guest Post: Mark Taylor’s Vision for Zodac

Posted on May 12, 2024September 7, 2024 by Adam McCombs

Guest article by Dejan Dimitrovski

Zodac B Sheet from the Mark Taylor Portfolio, published by Super7/The Power and the
Honor Foundation

Initially, in 1982, Mattel planned eight figures for Wave 1 of the Masters of the Universe toy line. Envisioned by Mark Taylor, they were supposed to be He-Man, Skeletor, Teela, Sorceress (early snake-themed version), Beast Man, Mer-Man, Stratos, and Man-At Arms.

Mockup of what the 8 back cards might have looked like if the Sorceress hadn’t been dropped from the first wave, and if the figures hadn’t been cost reduced. Put together by Adam McCombs using Mark Taylor’s concept art.

But when Teela and the Sorceress were blended into one figure, it left seven figures instead of eight. Thus, Zodac was developed as the last character of the original eight figures, and released in second half of 1982.

In this text I will try to review and summarize all the information that was already revealed on the original Zodac character, as well as add some information revealed to me by Rebecca and Mark Taylor.

The original Zodac B-Sheet by Mark Taylor, dating from 1981, shows that this character was at first named differently “Sensor”. He was renamed a few times more before getting his final name “Zodac”. Possibly, the name Zodac is derived from the word ZODIAC – a term used in both astronomy and astrology, referring to the area of the sky that corresponds to the Sun’s apparent annual path around Earth in the course of a year. The association of this character with stars and cosmos (and the fact that Zodac is made a Cosmic Enforcer sailing through space), would go in favor of this name speculation.

The figure design reuses body parts formerly seen in other figures but introduces few new parts as well – a decision of Mattel to save money. It borrowed Skeletor‘s arms and claw-like feet and Beast Man‘s furry chest, while the new parts included his head, armor, and blaster. As a result, Zodac seems to be a being not entirely human, rather a member of a hybrid-like race. In an audio interview (conducted by Matt Jozwiak, sometime around 2006.) Mark Taylor says: “I don’t think he is completely human… He may even be a throwback to these people, to however it was that originally occupied Castle Grayskull. He knows a lot of stuff that nobody else knows about the history of Castle Grayskull.”

In the same interview, Mark says he never saw him as a bounty hunter, as he was labeled in the 1981 Mattel licensing kit, where his black and white illustration was presented with the following text: “ZODAC figure. The cosmic enforcer. The bounty hunter of our exciting universe”. Mark makes a comment on how that would be an idea too close to Lucas, referring to Boba Fett the popular character from Star Wars franchise.

There is a lot of controversy on whether Zodac was originally imagined to be either a good or an evil character. On Grayskull Con 2014 – “Power & Honor Foundation” Panel by Emiliano Santalucia, Mark’s original Zodac B Sheet art was shown under which was a label indicating that Zodac is an ally of He-Man, which would lead to the conclusion that Zodac was intended to be a heroic warrior.

But, in the above mentioned audio interview, Mark describes Zodac as an almost independent character, not inclined to follow either He-Man or Skeletor. He further adds that he and Man-at-Arms kind of understand each other pretty well, as both are warriors who are fascinated by technology. Zodac had his own reasons into getting into Castle Grayskull and they have to do with technology found in there. He knew that in Castle Grayskull is a great, wonderful weapon that he has been trained how to use, and if he could pull it out, he would gain great power and advantages in battle.

However, in 2017 Mark and Rebecca Taylor provided us with a back-story, revealing more information intended for this character:

Zodac was imagined as an evil counterpart of Man-at-Arms – a negative knight so to speak. He was to fight on Skeletor’s side and go to war against Man-At-Arms and He-Man. As, they fought “all day and all night”, Zodac learned to respect Man-At-Arms so much as a warrior, that he betrayed Skeletor and switched sides – from Skeletor’s Legions of Evil to He-Man and Man-At-Arms’s side. Skeletor was furious with Zodac and he came after him. Zodac then, along with his new allies, fought Skeletor to a stand still. And thus, he then became a trusted ally of He-Man.

At some point, Zodac was to go to Castle Grayskull and recognize the spacesuit from an ancient battle field, and he becomes determined to duplicate that suit. Apparently, Mark also had the idea that a variant of Zodac could be made, associated with the spacesuit: “The next time we see Zodac in a box, we see parts of the spacesuit that snap on to him that give him different abilities.”

It seems that the technology in Castle Grayskull that Zodac was seeking, mentioned in the audio interview, was to be the spacesuit which would give him different powers and abilities. So in conclusion, Zodac would have been He-Man’s ally, as labeled beneath his B Sheet, but he first had to walk the path from Skeletor to He-Man, from evil to good.

Perhaps this Zodac back-story info could give us some hints on why he was shown as an evil warrior in the toy marketing, including the card back art by Errol McCarthy where we see Zodac shooting at He-Man and Man-at-Arms. As with the initial Sorceress, a similar motif was conceived here, that of switching sides and teaming up with either He-Man or Skeletor.

But later, in the upcoming media, he was made a neutral character in the end, picking either He-Man’s or Skeletor’s side as he tried to maintain the balance of good and evil on Eternia. Of course, in the various ’80s media and marketing there were exceptions to this, as he was sometimes depicted as completely heroic and at other times as Skeletor’s lackey, (this will be reviewed in more detail in the upcoming articles on Zodac).

I wish to express my gratitude to Rebecca Salari Taylor and Mark Taylor for being willing to reveal and share the information on the original Zodac character with us. Also, I would like to express my thanks to my friends Jukka Issakainen and Adam McCombs in providing help and information on writing this post.

Battle Ram

Battle Ram

A He-Man Blog

Author: Adam McCombs

Princess of Power Toys Timeline

1983

1984

1985

1986

1987

Doomcopter: Jaw Snapping Helicraft (1991)

Design & Development

Vehicle & Packaging

Comics & Stories

Jetlag Animated He-Man Series

Monstroid: The Ultimate Battling Monster (1986)

Design & Development

Toy & Packaging

Filmation

Comics

Artwork and Advertising

Monstroid in Action

Guest Post: Mark Taylor’s Vision for Zodac

Further reading: