Category: Heroic Beasts

Evil Beasts, Heroic Beasts, Meteorbs

The Meteorbs: Comet Creatures that Transform! (1986)

Posted on by Adam McCombs

Written by Adam McCombs. Many thanks to Joe Amato for his assistance with images on this article!

Names: Cometroid, Ty-Grrr, Astro Lion, Comet Cat, Tuskor, Dinosorb, Crocobite, Rhinorb, Orbear, and Gore-Illa
Faction: Heroic or Evil Meteorbs
Approximate US release date: October 11, 1986

I have a vague memory of seeing or even playing some of the Meteorbs as a kid, but I’m fairly certain I never owned any of them. The concept of them is certainly familiar enough for any kid from the 1980s. From GoBots to Transformers to Rock Lords to Mask, it seemed like everything had a transforming gimmick at one point or another.

The Meteorbs were unique in the Masters of the Universe line in that they were were originally sold by Bandai as Tamagoras before Mattel decided to license them and sell them with new names and new color schemes. The Tamagoras were marketed as transforming eggs, but for the Masters line the egg form was reinterpreted as a “meteor” form. This Japanese blog has information about the original figures, including pictures of the pre-MOTU Tamagoras. Bandai manufactured the Meteorbs for Mattel, as well.

For Mattel, these figures would fill out another price point in the line – I’ve seen them advertised in an old newspaper ad at a “regular price” of $3.49. Normal figures in Masters of the Universe would usually sell for $4-$5 (in the US), so these were a little more accessible, perhaps priced as a kind of impulse buy item.

Figures & Packaging

There were ten Meteorb figures, divided into factions of evil and heroic characters. They came on smaller than normal cards, featuring character art on the front and a custom Meteorbs logo. The back of the packaging gave a general origin for all the Meteorbs:

COSMIC ORIGIN OF THE METEORBS —

The meteor shower that brought the Comet Warriors also brought the Meteorbs. Both good and evil, they possess extraordinary powers! The Meteorbs restore their energy while in the orb form — when they can roll into battle and bowl over enemies!

The top of each cardback showed how the figure in the package would transform, and also cross sell photos of each of Meteorbs was included.

Astro Lion

“The heroic lion with amazing brute strength!”

Comet Cat

“Heroic panther is the fastest of the Meteorbs!”

Cometroid

“Heroic Meteorb with mechanical might!”

Crocobite

“Evil crocodile with crushing jaws!”

Dinosorb

“Evil dinosaur stomps to start quakes!”

Gore-Illa

“Evil ape with monstrous muscle power!”

Orbear

“Evil grizzly bashes enemies with claws!”

Rhinorb

“Evil rhino with horrible ramming horn!”

Tuskor

“Heroic mammoth busts force-fields with tusks!”

Ty-Grrr

“Heroic cat with super leaping power!”

Cartoons & Comics

Two Meteorbs appear in one episode of the Princess of Power cartoon, “Assault on the Hive.” In the story, He-Man and She-Ra encounter Comet Cat being chased by two Dinosorbs out in space. He-Man punches out the evil Dinosorbs and then catches a ride on Comet Cat. In the cartoon, the Meteorbs were quite large, although the actual toys were pet-sized compared to the Masters of the Universe action figures.

The Meteorbs also appear in the Star Comics Masters of the Universe series issue #2 (“Falling Stars”). In this story the evil Meteorbs and Rokkon crash to earth. Rokkon had been wounded in a battle with them. Our heroes show up to investigate and defend Rokkon until Stonedar and the heroic Meteorbs arrive to help.

Artwork & Advertising

There was a rather nice Dutch combined ad/poster/booklet that told a bit of a story about the Meteorbs. Unfortunately I don’t know who did the artwork:

Image courtesy of Joe Amato
Image courtesy of Joe Amato
Image courtesy of Joe Amato

Earl Norem did an excellent Meteorbs poster for the US Masters of the Universe Magazine, Summer 1986 issue.

That same issue also had a riddle activity page featuring some of the Meteorbs:

There was a nice Italian ad for them as well, as shown below:

There was also this ad sheet, directed at buyers (retailers) announcing the Meteorbs. Also note the announced carrying case that was, to my knowledge, never released.

Image courtesy of Joe Amato

They also appeared in this 1986 MOTU action figure checklist poster:

Image via Reddit

To date the Meteorbs have never been remade in any modern Masters of the Universe toyline. Perhaps it’s due to the legalities of having to license them from Bandai again, or the amount of new tooling involved in producing some rather obscure characters. It would be nice to have them available again in some form, but at the same time I don’t see a lot of people clamoring for them.

I’d just like to note that this completes the toy features for the entire vintage Masters of the Universe line. It only took me ten years to get through them all!

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

  • Adalberto V.
  • Adam A.
  • Allen B.
  • Allison T.
  • Andy Y.
  • badtaste®
  • Ben M.
  • Chupakaibra
  • Cory from Make Shape Create
  • Dane R.
  • Elsmasef – The MotU Channel
  • Eric H.
  • Erik B.
  • Garry H.
  • Gianluca V.
  • J Man
  • JackieX
  • João S.
  • Johnny L. 
  • Jon E.
  • Kris K.
  • Lyca
  • Max I.
  • Michael M.
  • Mike G.
  • MotuOriginsCork
  • Nate B.
  • Orion W.
  • Ove K.
  • Øyvind M. (Patreon & Facebook)
  • Patrick F.
  • Philip O.
  • Rich S.
  • Robert B.
  • Scott B.
  • Steven K.
  • Tate W.
  • Todd G.
  • tupalev

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

0
Heroic Beasts, Powers of Grayskull

Gigantisaur: Heroic Dinosaur & Battle Station (1987)

Posted on by Adam McCombs

Written by Adam McCombs

Name: Gigantisaur
Faction: Preternia/Heroic Warriors
Approximate US release date: never released

Gigantisaur, had it been produced, would have been by far the largest non-playset toy in Masters of the Universe, dwarfing even Tytus and Megator. Although it appeared in Mattel’s 1987 dealer catalog, it was never released in stores. There are a small number of unreleased MOTU prototypes that Mattel actually showed in catalogs – Eldor, He-Ro, Gyrattacker, Evil Robot and Gigantisaur. I’ve written about three of those so far, and I decided it was Gigantisaur’s time in the spotlight.

David Wolfram, the final designer for the toy, actually went over some of the history of Gigantisaur during a panel at Power-Con 2012:

Toward the end of the segment he talked about one of the toy’s action features and the fate of the prototype:

“It had a piano string, and when you pressed the button it would shoot up and stand up. It was very cool but by the time we made it to Toy Fair, people weren’t even going to the He-Man gallery anymore, it came so late. Unfortunately I threw away the prototype at some point… it was too big to keep around the office. It ended up being a much better toy and it did make the catalog in ’87.”

In my interview with Wolfram, he was kind enough to go over the design history of the toy with me in detail, and shared images of his concept art to boot!

Battle Ram: I’ve heard that [Gigantisaur] has something of a storied history. Were you the main designer on that? That one showed up in the 1987 Mattel Catalog, but of course was never released. Could you share some of the background on that?

David Wolfram: Yes, I was the designer on the many iterations. When it was first shown to me, there was a beautiful, but totally unrealistic painting by Ed Watts, and a white prototype model that was submitted by a well known outside toy invention company.

Turbosaurus, by Ed Watts. This would eventually evolve into Gigantisaur. Image source: The Art of He-Man/The Power and the Honor Foundation. July 13, 1984

DW: My first boards (especially the side view) show the reality of what I had to work with. One of the big visual issues is that the feet had to be huge to extend past the center of gravity. Ed’s (a great guy by the way, who went way too soon, and not in a way I would want to go) drawing hinted at this voluminous interior, when in fact, because of the cockpit, could only hold one figure.

Turbosaurus revision by David Wolfram. Image courtesy of DW. November 27, 1985

DW: There was also a figure that was supposed to hide in the tail section, but in the model it looked like the dinosaur was taking a dump! There were lots of meetings when marketing and management were forced to confront the reality of this turkey-like bastardization rather than the seductive drawing. I was given the go ahead to take some of the elements of the old model, and another provision was that it had to swallow a figure.

I did a lot of work with foam and clay to work out a better proportioned creature, and the engineer that I worked with, Ben Guerrero (Tony the sculptor’s brother) came up with the idea of marrying the tail with the part of the body with the rear legs to create a tripod which eliminated the need for gigantic feet to let it stand up. It not only stood up, it shot up, because Ben used a very strong spring. Of course, after all that it went to pre-Toy Fair, where the line was for all intents and purposes dead domestically.

Turbosaurus revision by David Wolfram. December 16, 1985.
Turbosaurus revision by David Wolfram. December 18, 1985.
Gigantisaur final concept art, November 5, 1986. “I actually got a spray can to create the misty mountains in the background. I used markers and wash for the highlights.”

In my interview with Martin Arriola, he also gave some background about Gigantisaur:

We did Turbosaurus [later, Gigantisaur] that never got made. Too impractical? Of course. Roger Sweet had a sketch done by Ed Watts. It showed He-Man on this dinosaur. He sold it with all these features at a price that was low. I said, do you know how big this is going to be?

I went to Dave Wolfram, and I said, “We gotta breadboard this stuff.” Sure enough, that dinosaur was probably three feet. I told marketing, if you want this to reflect what Sweet sold you in the B-sheet, this is how big it’s going to be. We hand painted it. One thing that Sweet sold to marketing is that it would swallow a He-Man figure. But you know how splayed out the he-man figures were. It would have been as big as Eternia.

Unfortunately we don’t have any packaging art for Gigantisaur, but there was a fair amount of information about the toy included in that 1987 catalog picture.

Image source: Nathalie NHT

The first thing that stands out, other than his enormous size, is that unlike the other three dinosaurs that were released in the line (Tyrantisaurus, Bionatops and Turbodactyl) Gigantisaur apparently has no exposed circuitry or mechanical parts on his exterior, despite the fact that he has a gun that pops out of his chest:

Pop-out chest gun, with Thunder Punch He-Man

One of his major features was his ability to swallow a figure. Given the width of the typical muscular MOTU action figure, this feature meant that Gigantisaur had to have a very thick neck:

Chomping on Tung Lashor
Gulp!

Once figures were swallowed, they could be retrieved via a door on the side of the figure’s belly:

Heroic Warriors chilling out in the “belly door“

Aside from the articulated jaw, it would have had articulated legs as well:

As stated by Wolfram, a lever on the figure when activated would cause the figure to rear up on its hind legs:

As mentioned previously, no packaging artwork for Gigantisaur has ever surfaced, but Joe Manzo created a nice kind of mashup mockup of what the packaging might have looked like, roughly, had it been made.

Gigantisaur appears in Playthings Magazine’s coverage of 1987 Toy Fair. The image below was shared in the Vintage Toys MOTU Facebook group. A small image of Gigantisaur is shown.

The relevant text in the article reads:

The Masters of the Universe collection now includes Preternia, a new dimension to the fantasy world of He-Man that sends him back into time to a prehistoric Eternia, where dinosaurs roam the land and many new magical forces abound. There is He-Ro, the most powerful wizard in the universe, who leads the Powers of Grayskull warriors against the evil dinoreptilian kingdom. Eldor, his mentor and teacher, and Turbodactyl and Bionatops, his mighty dinosaur allies battle against the evil kingdom and the dreaded Tyrantisaurus Rex, which is able to release a wind-up creature from its chest called a “mecha-drone.” Tytus, Gigantisaur and Megator, each standing 16″ tall, are also inhabitants of the new fantasy land of Preternia.

Returning to the Futuristic world of Eternia, the Masters of the Universe collection introduces many new heroic warriors, including King Randor, Sorceress and Klamp Champ. who battle against new enemies like Snake Face, Sssqueeze, Nin-Jor, Scare Glow and Faker, the evil robotic imposter of He-Man. A host of new vehicles, accessories and playsets will also be available.

Gigantisaur appears in a design by Errol McCarthy for a T-shirt featuring He-Ro and He-Man. The version of the dinosaur here is the earlier “Turbosaurus,” featuring sharp teeth and a smaller mouth and neck.

Earl Norem did a Preternia painting that appears to include Gigantisaur:

There is a similar-looking sauropod dinosaur in The Powers of Grayskull minicomic, but my guess is that it was just created by the artist to fill out the scene, along with the various other bio-mechanical creatures on the splash page:

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

  • Allison T.
  • Ben M.
  • Eric H.
  • Jon E.
  • Max I.
  • MotuOriginsCork
  • Orion W.
  • Øyvind M.
  • Philip O.
  • Robert B.
  • That Clyde Guy

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!

5
Heroic Beasts, Powers of Grayskull

Turbodactyl: Heroic Reptile with “Jet” Wings (1987)

Posted on by Adam McCombs

Written by Adam McCombs

Name: Turbodactyl
Faction: Preternia/Heroic Warriors
Approximate US release date: April 4, 1987

Like most of the 1987 line of MOTU figures, Turbodactyl escaped my notice as a child. He seems to be perhaps the least popular of the three dinosaurs released in the Powers of Grayskull series, but he does have an interesting history.

Design & Development

One piece of concept art sometimes grouped with the Turbodactyl idea is a drawing by Roger Sweet showing Skeletor riding something that looks a bit like a pterodactyl. However, upon closer examination it looks more like Mattel’s late 1970s Rodan toy. While this would have been a neat way to reuse the tool, I’m sure it wouldn’t have worked out given that Mattel was not the owner of the Rodan design.

Image source: The Power and the Honor Foundation
Image: City Stompers Tumblr

The first true Turbodactyl concept art comes from Mark Jones, dating to September 4, 1985. In this drawing the beast features a mechanical back and tail, similar to a fighter jet, as well as mechanically-enhanced legs. He-Man is being carried in flight.

Image source: The Power and the Honor Foundation

The concept was passed to John Hollis, who took another pass at it in this January 17, 1986 illustration. Mark Jones is listed as the originator, while John Hollis is listed as the designer/artist. It’s given the name of “Terror-Dactyl,” and we see Skeletor riding it while it grasps Moss Man in its claws. Other than the purple coloring and the name, the design is pretty close to the actual toy.

Many thanks to Pixel Dan for allowing me to snap a shot of this art at Power-Con 2023!
A clearer look at the label

Here is a shot of the hard copy/prototype toy, which appears with a light colored body and dark colored jet engines.

Many thanks to Pixel Dan for allowing me to snap a shot of this at Power-Con 2023!

We can see the finalized colors in the cross sell artwork, shown below. We can see it has returned to its original brown color scheme, and is once again aligned with the good guys:

The toy was advertised, along with the other two dinosaurs, in the 1987 Mattel catalog (image via Nathalie NHT):

Figure & Packaging

Turbodactyl’s US packaging featured the Powers of Grayskull logo and design style:

The artwork on the front of the packaging was done by Warren Hile, who also did the box art for Bionatops and Tyrantisaurus Rex:

The back of the packaging features some backstory on the Powers of Grayskull line and about Bionatops. I’ll reproduce all of the text here:

TURBODACTYL

PROFILE: Heroic Reptile with “Jet” Wings

SPECIAL WEAPON: Powerful talons for grabbing Evil Warriors!

ORIGIN: Distant Relative of the Pterodactyl pterosaur from Pre-Historic Earth!

Travel back in time through a secret time portal-and discover the ORIGIN of THE POWERS OF GRAYSKULL! Learn how He-Man became so strong! And explore the magical world of Preternia – home of HE-RO, the Most Powerful WIZARD in the Universe!

Monstrous dinosaurs and fierce giants – both good and evil – struggle violently for control of this strange & hostile land!

The dinosaurs in the time of HE-RO – Tyrantisaurus Rex, Bionatops and Turbodactyl – each posess a fantastic mechanical power!

Can HE-RO master all the good magic of the Ancient Wizards and protect future Eternia from forever falling into the claws of evil?

Look for He-Ro and the Powers of Grayskull coming your way in 1987!

TURBODACTYL has 2 wing-mounted “jets” at its command!

Whoever pilots TURBODACTYL can control his mighty beak by pulling back on its horned head. Few escape its turbo-tooth grip!

Squeeze its legs — and make Turbodactyl grab evil warriors with its claw-like talons!

Turbodactyl has limited articulation, having the ability to open his beak and squeeze his legs together. His wings don’t flap, but they are removable. Images below come from some old eBay auctions, as I don’t own one myself:

The above photos represent the US release (manufactured in Mexico). The European release, made in Italy, had an upturned nose, and his mouth does not close completely:

Image source: Boons Art Shop

Like the other two dinosaurs in the line, this figure is relatively rare and expensive on the secondary market.

Turbodactyl appears in the 1987 style guide, with a bare-bones description of the figure, focusing on its abilities and affiliation. The artwork is rather stylized and doesn’t strictly follow the look of the toy.

Image via Grayskull Museum

Here’s the text of the style guide written out:

TURBODACTYL

NAME: Turbodactyl

GROUP AFFILIATION: Heroic Animals. Powers of Grayskull segment.

ROLE: Heroic flying dinosaur

POWER: It can swoop down out of the sky and grab enemies of He-Ro with its claws.

YEAR OF TOY INTRO: 1987

Comic Appearances

Turbodactyl was featured in the background of the cover of The Powers of Grayskull: The Legend Begins. The comic was intended to introduce the new Powers of Grayskull line, and was the first in a three part story. However only part one was released, and the entire MOTU line was cancelled due to flagging sales.

In the story, He-Man and Sorceress travel back in time to Preternia, initially to teach He-Man about Eternia’s past. But when Skeletor follows them back in time and teams up with King Hiss to destroy the Elders, He-Man is allowed to intervene once he is given a disguise. In the story, Turbodactyl (called Pterodactyl) actually belongs to King Hiss, who allows Skeletor to ride it. It’s colored blue like John Hollis’ concept art.

Images are from the Dark Horse minicomics collection

In Journey To Preternia, in the 1987 Spring issue of MOTU Magazine, Skeletor and He-Man accidentally travel through a time portal. Upon arriving, He-Man rescues Turbodactyl (who incidentally can talk) from some living quicksand. Later in the story he returns the favor by allowing He-Man to ride him into battle against Skeletor. In the end Turbodactyl flies He-Man and Skeletor to the same time portal that brought them to Preternia, which returns them to Eternia.

Turbodactly appears very briefly in the 1987 UK comic story, A Rip In Time. He is again colored blue, like the John Hollis concept design.

Turbodactlys (plural) appear in the MOTU newspaper comic story called Terror Takes Time. One of the people enslaved by Hordak manages to summon and take command of a few of them, which they use to drive off Horde Troopers. They are colored green in this story. Thanks to Øyvind Meisfjord for pointing this appearance out to me.

Other Appearances

Turbodactyl is featured on the cover of the 1987 Spring issue of He-Man and the Masters of the Magazine in an illustration by Earl Norem. In the illustration he’s ridden by He-Man, facing off against Tyrantisaurus Rex.

He also appears in the 1988 Winter issue of the same magazine, again illustrated by Earl Norem. He has grabbed hold of Mosquitor in this illustration.

Update: Dušan Mitrović also notes that a reworked version of Turbodactyl was slated to appear in the unproduced 1987 Filmation pitch for He-Ro and the Land of Legend.

Turbodactly, being ridden by King Randor, is featured in William George’s Preternia painting:

Image courtesy of Jukka Issakainen

Turbodactlyappears in some Errol McCarthy artwork done for a line of T-Shirts. This version is again colored blue, like John Hollis’ artwork, although he is heroic in this image.

Images via He-Man.org

Turbodactly appeared in ads around the world as well:

Image source: Grayskull Museum

Turbodactyl in Action

Øyvind Meisfjord has kindly shared the following videos and action shots of Turbodactly!

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

  • Ben M.
  • Eric H.
  • Jon E.
  • Matthias K.
  • Max I.
  • MotuOriginsCork
  • Orion W.
  • Øyvind M.
  • Philip O.
  • Robert B.
  • That Clyde Guy

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!

4
Heroic Beasts, Powers of Grayskull

Bionatops: Heroic Bionic Dinosaur (1987)

Posted on by Adam McCombs

Written by Adam McCombs

Name: Bionatops
Faction: Heroic Warriors
Approximate US release date: April 4, 1987

Bionatops was a figure I don’t recall encountering as a kid. I did see a Tyrantisaurus Rex at a friend’s house, but he was the only Powers of Grayskull dinosaur I saw during childhood. He’s a nice-looking figure, if very limited in articulation, and one that sought to capture the growing popularity of dinosaur toys in the late 1980s.

Design & Development

The concept for a triceratops-like toy in the MOTU line has a relatively long history, beginning with an Ed Watts concept dating to December 8, 1983. The Watts concept looks a bit like a styracosaurus, in that it only has one forward facing horn and a spikey frill. In the image below, it is being ridden by Skeletor and Trap Jaw, and features a metal face plate and mechanical details around its armor:

Image source: The Power and the Honor Foundation

Watts illustrated another variation on this theme, this time featuring guns attached to two forward-facing horns coming out of the frill. This version features mechanical enhancements to the legs, and is being ridden by Dragon Blaster Skeletor on the horns rather than the back. It dates to September 4, 1985.

Image source: The Power and the Honor Foundation

Mark Jones illustrated a similar concept dinosaur, this time with guns coming directly out of the two forward facing horns. Skeletor rides a saddle on its back. It also dates to September 4, 1985.

Image source: The Power and the Honor Foundation

Finally, on January 15, 1986, David Wolfram did a final rendering of the dinosaur concept, called at the time, simply, Triceratops. It is similar in many ways to the 1985 Watts concept, although the gun has been modified and the beast is now allied with the heroic warriors. He-Man is shown riding in front of the frill.

Image source: David Wolfram

In my interview with Martin Arriola, he had some additional information regarding the sculpting of Bionatops:

On the boys’ side, [engineering] was all done inside, and you had to go through politics. Now everything goes to vendor. You had to get saddled with people who were not so talented. Like Bionatops. This guy, Hal Faulkner had a bitchin sculpt, but the engineer started smoothing out the mold and getting rid of musculature. Smoothing it all out. My manager said he was fixing it, but it looked like a piggy bank. He also worked on middle tower for Eternia. There was only so much you could do.

You can see the finalized design in the cross sell artwork for Bionatops:

The toy was advertised, along with the other two dinosaurs, in the 1987 Mattel catalog (image via Nathalie NHT):

Figure & Packaging

Bionatops’ packaging featured the Powers of Grayskull logo and design style:

Image: Hakes

Image: Hakes

The artwork on the front of the packaging was done by Warren Hile, who also did the box art for Turbodactyl and Tyrantisaurus Rex:

The back of the packaging features some backstory on the Powers of Grayskull line and about Bionatops. I’ll reproduce all of the text here:

BIONATOPS

PROFILE: Heroic Bionic Dinosaur

WEAPON: Rotatable weapons mount onto horns!

ORIGIN: Related to the Triceratops dinosaur of pre-historic earth – natural enemy to Tyrannosaurus Rex.

Travel back in time through a secret time portal-and discover the ORIGIN of THE POWERS OF GRAYSKULL! Learn how He-Man became so strong! And explore the magical world of Preternia – home of HE-RO, the Most Powerful WIZARD in the Universe!

Monstrous dinosaurs and fierce giants – both good and evil – struggle violently for control of this strange & hostile land!

The dinosaurs in the time of HE-RO – Tyrantisaurus Rex, Bionatops and Turbodactyl – each posess a fantastic mechanical power.

Can HE-RO master all the good magic of the Ancient Wizards and protect future Eternia from forever falling into the claws of evil?

Look for He-Ro and the Powers of Grayskull coming your way in 1987!

Make jaw open… it chomps down! Rotate weapons on both sides!

Fit Weapons Rack onto horns, then “Lasers” on pegs!

The heroic BIONATOPS, with his massive bony head, carries warriors into battle – armors with a rotating laser weapons arsenal that mounts on its horns!

Like Battle Cat, Panthor, Stridor and Night Stalker before him, Bionatops lacks leg articulation. He is able to open and close his jaw, but otherwise he’s basically a statue. Images below come from some old eBay auctions, as I don’t own one myself:

It’s typical for the toy to have broken horns and missing guns. That combined with the low production numbers in 1987 make it expensive to acquire on the secondary market.

Bionatops appears in the 1987 style guide, with a bit more background on the four-legged dinosaur. He is described as He-Ro’s mount, although He-RO is usually associated with Turbodactyl.

NAME: Bionatops

GROUP AFFILIATION: Heroic Animals, Powers of Grayskull Segment

ROLE: Heroic dinosaur mount of He-Ro

POWER: Carries He-Ro or one of his wizards into battle; chews up defenses with its jaws; uses its horns to knock enemies out of the way.

Image via Grayskull Museum

Comic Appearances

Bionatops was featured on the cover of The Powers of Grayskull: The Legend Begins. The comic was intended to introduce the new Powers of Grayskull line, and was the first in a three part story. However only part one was released, and the entire MOTU line was cancelled due to flagging sales.

In the story, He-Man and Sorceress travel back in time to Preternia, initially to teach He-Man about Eternia’s past. But when Skeletor follows them back in time and teams up with King Hiss to destroy the Elders, He-Man is allowed to intervene. He is given a disguise and the Sorceress conjures up Bionatops for him to ride into battle (images come from the Dark Horse minicomics collection).

Images: Dark Horse/Jukka Issakainen

In Journey To Preternia, in the 1987 Spring issue of MOTU Magazine, Skeletor and He-Man accidentally travel through a time portal, and end up allying with Tyrantisaurus and Bionatops, respectively.

Image via He-Man.org

Bionatops appears very briefly in the 1987 UK comic story, A Rip In Time. There are actually two of them, and they feature guns popping out of their chests:

Other Appearances

Bionatops is featured on the cover of the 1988 Winter issue of He-Man and the Masters of the Magazine in an illustration by Earl Norem:

He appears in another piece of Norem artwork used in an inside page of the Spring 1987 issue of MOTU Magazine.

Scan of the original Norem artwork, as featured on the Heritage Auctions website.

He appears also in the background of the cover of the Spring 1987 issue, again illustrated by Earl Norem.

Bionatops is featured front and center in William George’s Preternia painting:

Image courtesy of Jukka Issakainen

Bionatops appears in some Errol McCarthy artwork done for a line of T-Shirts. This version features the golden guns as depicted in David Wolfram’s concept art:

Bionatops appeared in ads around the world as well:

Image source: Grayskull Museum

Bionatops in Action

Øyvind Meisfjord has kindly shared the following video and action shots of Bionatops and He-Man!

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

  • Ben M.
  • Eric H.
  • Jon E.
  • Matthias K.
  • Max I.
  • MotuOriginsCork
  • Orion W.
  • Øyvind M.
  • Philip O.
  • Robert B.
  • That Clyde Guy

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!

The MOTU Living Archive at Orko’s Keep

Also, if you have good scans of vintage MOTU books, comics, magazines and other print material, please consider sharing them with my buddy Ben Massa. Ben is building an archive of vintage MOTU material that he will share with fans, comparable to the old He-Man.org archives, but with higher resolution material. Learn more at this link.

2