At the most recent Power-Con I got the chance to check out the Formo Toys Legends of Dragonore table, and even watch the table with my son while the Formo crew were busy with their panel. I got to play with the wave 1.0 figures on the table and absolutely fell in love with them. Below you can find some images of some of the wave 1.5 and 2.0 prototype figures they had on display:
I picked up a Barbaro figure while I was there, and I thought I’d share some photos and a few thoughts. The figures are inspired by the 5.5″ Masters of the Universe line, but they maintain their own unique style. The packaging is familiar in shape but otherwise doesn’t borrow heavily from any vintage toyline. The front slightly recalls the Powers of Grayskull packaging that would have been used for He-Ro and Eldor in the vintage line, but the back is really its own thing, with a parchment and stone theme. Featured is an illustration of Barbaro, complete with a bio and cross sell photos of all of the figures in the first wave.
The figure comes with a few accessories – a removable horned crown, a battle axe, removable armor and the right arm of the Divine Armor. Each of the six figures in the first line has a piece of it – you can collect all six to complete the Divine Armor, which works as the McGuffin of the story. In MOTU parlance, the Divine Armor is like the two halves of the power sword.
In every Universe exists an ancient Secret Well. These Wells are portals between worlds and dimensions. Passageways used by heroes, monsters, and adventurers to explore new realms across the galaxies. Through Castle Dragonore™, the fearless Barbaro has left both his tribe and world to enter the Well, leading a group of Heroic Champions in a quest to retrieve the ancient Divine Armors of Power™ scattered across the dimensions. During their adventures, the Heroic Champions will encounter the dark magic apprentice Oskuro™ and his Evil Masters, who possess the power to transform the heroes into terrible monsters! Who will attain the Divine Armors of Power™ first?
Part of the fun of the line is that you can mix and match parts between figures. There are the usual five points of articulation on this figure, plus extra swivel joints at the boots and right gauntlet (the left one seems to be glued into place). The figure is also backwards compatible so you can mix in parts with the vintage Modulok or Multi-Bot figures, if you wish.
Barbaro with his portion of the Divine ArmorBarbaro with Modulok armComplete Divine Armor. Image via Formo Toys. Barbaro with my custom prototype-style Castle Grayskull
To me this feels like a lost MOTU figure that never was. It has a high amount of detail, like you would see in the old Tony Guerrero sculpts. In many ways I prefer this style to the MOTU Origins figures – I find I prefer the higher level of detail, and I don’t miss the extra articulation, personally. I find these to be quite charming and I look forward to collecting the series!
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Recently one of my connections on social media was asking if there was a resource of all of the vintage cardbacks collected somewhere. While most of them are scattered throughout my site, I thought it might be helpful to collect them in one place.
There are lots and lots of cardback variants, both by country and by release order. My objective isn’t to provide every single last variant (and I certainly do not have scans or photos of them all). My objective is to do all the US cardbacks, and any major variants. Major variants would include things like 8-back vs 12 back reissue versions of the earliest cardbacks, or any major updates to the artwork on the scene at the top or the illustrated instructions on the back of the card. I generally won’t provide variants based on different cross sell art featured on the cardback. For example, a 1983 He-Man 12-back would have different cross sell art compared to a 1984 He-Man 12-back. The character selection changed to reflect whatever was new for the year.
Let’s define cardbacks: for my purposes this won’t include the backs of boxes on large items like Castle Grayskull or Battle Ram. You can find those in my previous “Box Art From A-Z” series. This is the back of the individual figures on blister cards, for the most part. I’ll also include the cardbacks of smaller accessories like Jet Sled, since the back of the packaging was in a very similar format to the standard figures. I’ll also include the backs of the Modulok and Multi-Bot packages, for the same reason. I’m not including gift sets with the regular carded figures – I plan to do a separate article about those later.
I’ll sort the cardbacks in chronological release order to the best of my knowledge. Please note, however, that some figures, like He-Man and Skeletor, were released at the same time. From 1986 to 1987, many figures featured artwork on the front of their cards, so I’ll include shots of the front as well.
Photos and scans in this article come from: He-Man.org
1988 only had two carded figures, released in Europe only (the giants were released in boxes rather than on cards). However, I will include the card art for the “lost wave” of figures that had been planned for 1988, but were not released.
Laser Power He-Man was released on a deluxe-style card, and features artwork on the front and back. I don’t have confirmation on who the artists were, unfortunately. The only cross sell artwork on the back is for Laser-Light Skeletor.
Laser-Light Skeletor was released on a deluxe-style card, and features artwork on the front and back. The artwork on front appears to be by Bruce Timm, however I don’t know who did the scene on the back. The only cross sell artwork on the back is for Laser Power He-Man..
Laser-Light Skeletor artwork from the front of the card (by Bruce Timm). Like the cross sell artwork, this features a havoc staff that is close to the original 1982 design, minus the ball end and the disks near the top. Image source: Jukka Issakainen (scanned and cleaned up)
You can see in all of these unreleased 1988 line figures, all of the figures are kitbashed from existing pieces. Strobo is a mix of parts from Sy-Klone and Zodac, with an added cape. Strobo is the only figure in this “lost wave” to appear in vintage media, in a comic in the fall 1988 issue of Masters of the Universe Magazine.
You can see in all of these unreleased 1988 line figures, all of the figures are kitbashed from existing pieces. Snake Trooper is a mix of parts from Horde Trooper, Rattlor, Blast Attak and King Hiss.
You can see in all of these unreleased 1988 line figures, all of the figures are kitbashed from existing pieces. Terroar is a mix of parts from Whiplash, Rattlor, Mosquitor and Trap Jaw. Note that the figure’s name is a modern creation. It’s unknown what his original name would have been.
You can see in all of these unreleased 1988 line figures, all of the figures are kitbashed from existing pieces. Plasmar is a mix of parts from Fisto, He-Ro, Sssqueeze, Rio Blast and Grizzlor, with an added cape. Note that the figure’s name is a modern creation. It’s unknown what his original name would have been.
You can see in all of these unreleased 1988 line figures, all of the figures are kitbashed from existing pieces. Plasmar is a mix of parts from Clawful, He-Man/Skeletor, Sssqueeze, and King Hiss, with an added Scare Glow cape. Note that the figure’s name is a modern creation. It’s unknown what his original name would have been.
You can see in all of these unreleased 1988 line figures, all of the figures are kitbashed from existing pieces. Slamurai is a white-colored repaint of Ninjor, the Storm Shadow to Ninjor’s Snake Eyes, so to speak. Note that the figure’s name is a modern creation. It’s unknown what his original name would have been.
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I thought it might be useful to put up some resources that, back in what I might call the golden days of fandom, used to be readily available online. These were all once archived on He-Man.org. I’m creating Imgur links for each book. This is a resource, not an article, so I won’t be providing any commentary here. Enjoy!
Update: I will be adding some She-Ra Golden books as well. Watch this space!
Thank you to the following individuals who are current Patreon supporters!
Philip O.
MOTU Origins Cork
Bryce W.
Ben M.
Matthias K.
Max I.
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!
Recently one of my connections on social media was asking if there was a resource of all of the vintage cardbacks collected somewhere. While most of them are scattered throughout my site, I thought it might be helpful to collect them in one place.
There are lots and lots of cardback variants, both by country and by release order. My objective isn’t to provide every single last variant (and I certainly do not have scans or photos of them all). My objective is to do all the US cardbacks, and any major variants. Major variants would include things like 8-back vs 12 back reissue versions of the earliest cardbacks, or any major updates to the artwork on the scene at the top or the illustrated instructions on the back of the card. I generally won’t provide variants based on different cross sell art featured on the cardback. For example, a 1983 He-Man 12-back would have different cross sell art compared to a 1984 He-Man 12-back. The character selection changed to reflect whatever was new for the year.
Let’s define cardbacks: for my purposes this won’t include the backs of boxes on large items like Castle Grayskull or Battle Ram. You can find those in my previous “Box Art From A-Z” series. This is the back of the individual figures on blister cards, for the most part. I’ll also include the cardbacks of smaller accessories like Jet Sled, since the back of the packaging was in a very similar format to the standard figures. I’ll also include the backs of the Modulok and Multi-Bot packages, for the same reason. I’m not including gift sets with the regular carded figures – I plan to do a separate article about those later.
I’ll sort the cardbacks in chronological release order to the best of my knowledge. Please note, however, that some figures, like He-Man and Skeletor, were released at the same time. From 1986 to 1987, many figures featured artwork on the front of their cards, so I’ll include shots of the front as well.
Photos and scans in this article come from: Hake’s Auctions, Heritage Auctions, LCG Auctions, Star Crusader, eBay, Deimos and KMKA.
One other quick note: Mosquitor, Ninjor, Scare Glow, Snake Face, Clamp Champ and King Randor were all released late in 1986, but I’m including them here as they are generally grouped with the 1987 wave.
Mosquitor
5-back action scene art: Errol McCarthy Cross sell artwork: William George SKU Number: 1191
As with the other Evil Horde members, Mosquitor’s cardback features only Evil Horde faction toys in the cross sell artwork.
The front of the card featured artwork by Bruce Timm:
Ninjor
12-back action scene art: Errol McCarthy Cross sell artwork: William George SKU Number: 3069
Ninjor continues the trend of placing Snake Men cross sell art in a green scaly background box.
The front of the card features artwork by Bruce Timm:
Scare Glow
12-back action scene art: Errol McCarthy Cross sell artwork: William George SKU Number: 3072
The front of the card featured artwork by Bruce Timm:
Image via Jukka Issakainen
Snake Face
9-back action scene art: Errol McCarthy Cross sell artwork: William George SKU Number: 1967
The front of the card features artwork by Bruce Timm:
Clamp Champ
12-back action scene art: unknown Cross sell artwork: William George SKU Number: 3073
The front of the card featured artwork by Bruce Timm:
King Randor
12-back action scene art: unknown Cross sell artwork: William George SKU Number: 3068
The front of the card featured artwork by Bruce Timm:
Image courtesy of Jukka Issakainen
Blast Attak
8-back action scene art: Errol McCarthy Cross sell artwork: William George SKU Number: 1710
Blast Attak featured only 8 cross sell art characters on the back of his card. Artwork on the front of the card is by Bruce Timm:
Image via Jukka Issakainen
Sorceress
8-back action scene art: Errol McCarthy Cross sell artwork: William George SKU Number: 1787
Sorceress featured only 8 cross sell art characters on the back of her card. Artwork on the front of the card is by Bruce Timm:
Image courtesy of Jukka Issakainen
Sssqueeze
12-back action scene art: Errol McCarthy Cross sell artwork: William George SKU Number: 1417
Artwork on the front of the card is by Bruce Timm:
Buzz-Saw Hordak
8-back action scene art: Errol McCarthy Cross sell artwork: William George SKU Number: 1732
Artwork on the front of the card is by Bruce Timm:
Image via Jukka Issakainen
Blade
11-back action scene art: Errol McCarthy Cross sell artwork: William George SKU Number: 3295
Blade and other movie figures had a “To Be Featured In The He-Man Movie!” box for movie-based cross sell art on the back. Artwork on the front is by Bruce Timm: I hope to eventually get a better quality image for this cardback.
Gwildor
10-back action scene art: Errol McCarthy Cross sell artwork: William George SKU Number: 3294
Apologies for the low-quality image. I hope to find a better one. Artwork on the front is by Bruce Timm:
Saurod
11-back action scene art: Errol McCarthy Cross sell artwork: William George SKU Number: 3670
Artwork on the front is by Bruce Timm:
Rotar
11-back action scene art: Errol McCarthy Cross sell artwork: William George SKU Number: 3024
Rotar was released on a deluxe-style card, and features Bruce Timm artwork on the front.
Twistoid
11-back action scene art: Errol McCarthy Cross sell artwork: William George SKU Number: 3024
Twistoid was released on a deluxe-style card, and features Bruce Timm artwork on the front.
Update: I thought it might be a good idea to include also Eldor and He-Ro, who were planned for 1987, but not released. We do have replicas of their cardbacks in the form of the 2019 Super7 recreations, and we also have the original card art for Eldor.
Eldor
4-back action scene art: Errol McCarthy Cross sell artwork: William George SKU Number: 1759
The Eldor cardback featured only cross sell art for Powers of Grayskull toys. The front of the card was a total redesign for the Powers of Grayskull subline.
Super7 cardback recreationOriginal vintage cardbackOriginal vintage card front
He-Ro
4-back action scene art: Errol McCarthy Cross sell artwork: William George SKU Number: Unknown
The He-Ro cardback featured only cross sell art for Powers of Grayskull toys. The front of the card was a total redesign for the Powers of Grayskull subline.
Thank you to the following individuals who are current Patreon supporters!
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!
