Category: Heroic Warriors

Heroic Warriors

Guest Post: Mark Taylor’s Vision for Zodac

Posted on by Adam

Guest post 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.

1982 8-back cardback

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.

Further reading:

Masters of the Taylorverse

Zodac: Cosmic Enforcer

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5
Heroic Warriors

Strobo (1988 – Unreleased)

Posted on by Adam
Colors by Jukka Issakainen

Article by Jukka Issakainen and Adam McCombs

Although never advertised in catalogs, in the late 1980s Mattel had plans to release a wave of figures that would feature 100% reused tooling, the vein of previous characters like Stinkor, Moss Man and Faker. Presumably these figures would have been released in 1988 along with Laser-Light Skeletor and Laser Power He-Man. Six figures made it far enough in the design process for Mattel to commission packaging artwork for them, although of the six, only Strobo had an appearance in vintage media.

Cardback illustration

Strobo appears in two separate pieces of cardback artwork by Errol McCarthy. One was created for Strobo’s packaging, and the other for a Snake Trooper army builder character.

Strobo card art. Image via He-Man.org

Snake Trooper card art. Image via He-Man.org

The illustration below shows which parts Strobo would have been built from:

Interestingly, Strobo’s arms look like Sy-Klone’s arms except for the fins on the outer arms. It’s not clear if this figure would have omitted those fins as depicted in the artwork, or if Errol was displaying a bit of creative license in his illustration.

US Magazine – Masters of the Universe

Strobo appeared in the Fall 1988 issue of Masters of the Universe Magazine, in a story called The Dark Power of Skeletor. The story is really the continuation of a story arc that started with the Spring 1988 issue story, To Save a World. In that comic, a rogue dark star comes close to Eternia in a rare event. Skeletor tries to harness its power, but in the process almost destroys all of Eternia. Only by He-Man and Skeletor working together is Eternia saved from utter destruction.

From To Save a World. Image source: He-Man.org

In The Dark Power of Skeletor, we learn that a meteor from the dark star had landed on Eternia, and Skeletor used its power to cast a shadow over the land. Anything in the shadow, including Castle Grayskull, was under Skeletor’s control. We find him and his evil warriors occupying the throne room of Castle Grayskull, which is illustrated in the Filmation style. Sorceress in her Zoar form is locked in a bird cage. In order to break the shadow magic, He-Man shines light from his sword onto Strobo’s chest. Strobo spins, bathing the room in light and causing the piece of the dark star to explode into dust.

Image scan by he-man.org member RED.

Image scan by he-man.org member RED.

Image scan by he-man.org member RED. Cleaned by Jukka Issakainen.

Image scan by he-man.org member RED. Cleaned by Jukka Issakainen. Strobo demonstrating his spinning action feature, which he was to share with Sy-Klone.

Full story below:

Note that despite Strobo’s Zodac helmet, there is no mention of his being a Cosmic Enforcer or there having been any connection between himself and Zodac.

So if Strobo was not originally intended to be a Cosmic Enforcer, what lead him to that road?

In the original Filmation He-Man and the Masters of the Universe show, Zodac appears three times. He is portrayed as the Cosmic Enforcer that watches over the Universe. He is not good or evil in the cartoon; we seen an example of that when he gives Skeletor the knowledge of how to obtain the Starseed (“The Search”) which serves as a test for He-Man. But his presence is requested at times when the balance is tipped (“The Quest for He-man”) so fans see him help out the good guys. In the episode “The Golden Disks of Knowledge,” it is revealed that Zodac is the last member of the Council of Wise.

[High-Definition Filmation screencaptures by Jukka Issakainen]

Zodac was also part of the group decision, that sent Zanthor into the Phantom Dimension as punishment for his crimes. Zanthor in his greed had given the Golden Discs to Skeletor. Having had a change of heart, Zanthor wants to atone for his crimes, so he pleads to help retrieve them back as penance. Zodac is called for this occasion and he decides to set Zanthor free from the Phantom Dimension, but only as a ghostly figure. With help from He-Man, they manage to get the Discs back from Snake Mountain.

After they have retrieved the Golden Disks of Knowledge, Zodac says that he will need some help, and turns Zanthor from his ghostly form into a Cosmic Enforcer.

We now see Zanthor sporting the same red armor, dark gray boots, white gloves and red helmet that Zodac wears. From this episode the precedence is set that if you join the Cosmic Enforcers, that armor and red helmet are part of the uniform. They embark on their journey together, each turning into a white ball of energy as they bid farewell to He-Man and the other heroes.

It doesn’t seem that Mattel made the connection with Zodac’s helmet and the Cosmic Enforcers when they were creating Strobo. Indeed, Strobo seems to have more in common with Sy-Klone than Zodac. The canon of Masters of the Universe was never tightly controlled, and it was rebooted several times, even in the 1980s. The people who developed Strobo may not have even known about “The Golden Discs of Knowledge.” And of course in some 80s media Zodac had been retconned as an Evil Warrior. Strobo’s name and main gimmick with a reflecting light in the magazine story demonstrates that the approach was more leaning to the Sy-Klone direction, and not as a member of the Cosmic Enforcers.

Masters of the Universe Classics toyline

Strobo was released in the Masters of the Universe Classics Toyline as a traveling convention figure, periodically made available online and at conventions throughout 2013. Because the source material at the time was only the MOTU Magazine story and not the Errol McCarthy art (which hadn’t been revealed yet), Strobo was not released with a repainted Sy-Klone shield. Instead he came with a piece of the dark star, complete with stand, and an extra unhelmeted head intended for Zodak, the 200x Cosmic Enforcer. He was supposed to come with a Four Horsemen-created strobelight gun as well, but it was cut for cost. Later it would be released in a weapons pack.

MOTU Classics Strobo prototype with planned accessories. Note that the middle line down his helmet is painted silver, not red.
Strobo action figure

In the bio that came with Strobo, he was re-written as the Cosmic Enforcer who replaced Zodac after his death (there were a lot of deaths in the MOTU Classics bios). The bio says he was “forcefully maintaining neutrality in He-Man’s absence” which sounds like a contradiction in terms. Bits and pieces of the bios have been used in more recent story canons, and the aspect of Strobo being a Cosmic Enforcer is one element that carried forward. The “real name” was invented for the Classics line, and has not been used in any media after it.

Strobo carback and bio. Image via eBay

Since Strobo was a Traveling Convention Exclusive figure by Mattel, German fans found a cool way to advertise him on the back cover to the Grayskull Convention 2013 exclusive minicomic “Under Grayskull’s Flag” (art by Daniele “Danbrenus” Spezzani).

Classics Mini-Comics

Below is the original pencil layout page spread for MOTU Classics mini-comic issue #8 by Axel Giménez, where Strobo is included close to King He-Man and Orko in the battle scene.

Final artwork altered and omitted some characters. Artwork by Jordi Tarragona and color by Carrie Strachan.

The coloring on Strobo’s helmet appears to be based on the Classics prototype version, where the middle line across the helmet is not colored red.

DC Comics

A brief appearance for Strobo occurs in the He-Man and the Masters of the Multiverse comic mini-series from DC Comics issue #3. This is the first time that after the Classics toyline associated Strobo as part of the Cosmic Enforcers, that it is acknowledged in another media outside of it. Art by Dan Fraga & color by Matt Yackey.

As the Anti-Eternia He-Man is on his quest, he is stopped at the Interrealm by Zodac, Zanthor, Strobo, Apokrifa, Zodak and the Mighty Spector. Though in the next page it appears that Anti-Eternia He-Man prevailed against the Cosmic Enforcers of the Multiverse and continues on his rampage.

Masters of the Universe Revolution

In the Netflix animated series Masters of the Universe Revolution, we catch a glimpse of Zodac speaking to Evil-Lyn in episode 05. And next to Zodac (on his right side) is Zanthor and on the other side is Strobo. Neither Zanthor nor Strobo have any dialogue in this ending teaser.

In a close up shot of Strobo, it appears that his right hand is not wearing the red glove. But that might just be a small coloring error.

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16
Heroic Warriors, Powers of Grayskull

Tytus: Heroic Giant Warlord (1988)

Posted on by Adam

Tytus was originally intended for the 1987 line of figures, within the “Powers of Grayskull” subline. However, due to the collapse in US sales for Masters of the Universe that year, it was scrapped for US release and only sold in limited quantities in Europe the following year.

Design & Development

Tytus was designed by Alan Tyler, the artist who also designed He-Ro and Eldor. An early version of his design featured white eyes and a very revealing costume, even by MOTU standards. We see two weapons options in the illustrations below: one with a strange, short club and the other with a clawed capturing weapon. His costume is silver, blue and yellow. The key elements of his metal headband, metal boots, long blond hair and grabbing weapon are in place.

Images: The Power and The Honor Foundation

Another take by Tyler gives him more human-looking eyes, and a slightly more substantial costume. This one features red rather than yellow gems.

Image source: The Power and The Honor Foundation

A heavily cropped final version of the concept was featured in Dark Horse’s 2015 book, The Art of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe. He is given a “G” emblem on his chest, representing Grayskull. At the time the name of the protagonist of the Powers of Grayskull series was Grayskull, later changed to He-Ro.

Image source: The Power and The Honor Foundation

In a piece of concept art to illustrate the idea of Preternia, we do see a heroic-looking giant figure, although this version lacks any chest harness and has brown hair:

Image source: The Power and the Honor Foundation

Tytus’s final weapon was completed redesigned by Mattel artist David Wolfram. He described the process to me below:

Regarding the Tytus weapon: A lot of the time, the preliminary design group would “hand wave” their way through presentations, leaving the more practical aspect of how something would work to the final design group. This was a classic example. At the product conference to get the approval to go ahead on the project, Larry Renger was demonstrating the feature for Tytus. He had something that resembled a claw, and said it would trap a figure. Of course, in its configuration he had to literally wrap the fingers around it while saying that in the final toy it would work differently. After it was dumped on me, it was pretty apparent that no claw-like accessory would work, due to the difference in configuration of the many figures, and also that anytime you tried to wrap something around a figure, it would just knock it over. For the most part, the one consistency was in the head area, which also coincided with the arc of the downward swing from the giant. I started thinking about ways of trapping things, and the “lobster trap” seemed like the best way to go, and it ended up working out pretty well.

David Wolfram interview with Adam McCombs for The Toys of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe
Revised Tytus weapon designed by David Wolfram. Photo: He-Man.org

Below is image of an early factory sample of Tytus, which I believe was displayed at a Power-Con convention panel a number of years ago. You can see that the hair on this version is not quite right, and flairs outward in multicolored streaks. But you can also see the updated costume with more substantial harness with Grayskull insignia, furry trunks, and gold, silver and gray color scheme.

“Tytus would like to speak with your manager about the poor quality pumpkin spice latte he received.” Image shared by Mantisaur82

Figure & Packaging

The toy was featured in Mattel’s 1987 Catalog, as it had originally been planned for a release that year. Alas, with the cancellation of the toyline, it would only see limited release in Europe, and was delayed to 1988. You can see in the catalog photos the “Body Snatcher” weapon. The catalog text says he has had a spring-action arm feature, but I believe it was actually just a “swing-action arm.” There was a gear connecting the right arm to the head that would make Tytus’ head turn as the arm swung down.

Image source: Nathalie NHT

You can see a fairly nice example of Tytus in the images below, sourced from He-Man.org. The figure, like Megator, featured rooted hair and was about 17 inches tall, towering over standard Masters of the Universe figures.

Most Tytus figures were manufactured in Italy. However a very few were manufactured in Mexico. The latter have a Mexico stamp on the back of the belt, while Italian Tytuses don’t have a country name on the figure. A test-shot Mexican Tytus figure was featured in Tomart’s Action Figure digest, below:

You can seen the Mexico (left) vs Italy belts in the images below, originally posted by Matias Lonati:

You can see the details of the “Body Snatcher” weapon in the images below from John Baracani. The capture area featured a rubbery piece with four protrusions that would help to hold onto a standard figure’s head:

You can see a disassembled version of the figure below in a photo by customizer Jon English (MasterEnglish Customs). Note the gear mechanisms connecting the head and right arm.

Tytus was packaged in a large window box with an illustration on the front by William George:

William George box art. Image via He-Man.org/Masters Unbound. Originally scanned with window digitally removed by Emiliano Santalucia.

The back of the box gave a very little bit of information on Tytus while describing his action features. I’m not sure who did the art here:

Image via He-Man.org/Masters Unbound

There was apparently a Mexico Tytus in US Packaging that surfaced about 14 years ago. You can read about that here.

Background Information

Tytus and Megator were alluded to in some of the development documents for the Preternia/Powers of Grayskull concept. I’ll quote a few passages below:

He-Man was standing on a plain of tall grass. In the distance, he could see great creatures-dinosaurs!–lumbering across the land. On a nearby ridge, a band of giants peacefully prepared a meal. He-Man was in awe. “It is Eternia! It’s filled with all the things the legends had told me! Dinosaurs–and giant men–and… He-Man suddenly leaped back. “SNAKES!”

….

As the battle continued, giants raced down from their lairs in the mountains to join the fray–on both sides. Sorceress pointed to the strongest of them. “He is the leader of the giants who defend Grayskull. His people perform mighty feats that cannot be accomplished by magic. And over there– Sorceress pointed to gigantic robotic beasts that were stalking into the village. “There is King Hiss’s legion of evil giants.”

You can read the documents in their entirety here.

Artwork & Advertising

Errol McCarthy illustrated Tytus in one surviving drawing, below. It may have been done originally for the 1987 Style Guide, but Tytus doesn’t actually appear there, most likely due to his having been dropped from the roster that year.

Tytus and He-Ro. Image via He-Man.org

There were only a couple of print ads for Tytus published in Europe:

Unfortunately, to my knowledge Tytus never appeared in any comic stories or poster artwork. It’s a shame!

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5
Heroic Warriors

Flying Fists He-Man: Heroic Leader with the Arm-Swinging Action! (1986)

Posted on by Adam

I think I only encountered Flying Fists He-Man once as a kid. I don’t remember being all that impressed – I thought the transition between his neck and his head looked very strange, and the head itself looked off to me. Certainly the action feature was far less interesting to me than his immediate predecessor’s, Thunder Punch He-Man.

Image source: Nathalie NHT. From the 1986 Mattel dealer catalog. This appears to be a hand-painted hard copy/prototype

Design & Development

In terms of visual design, we get our basic look for Flying Fists He-Man from Ted Mayer. The illustration dates to December 8, 1983, and may be the genesis for both the Battle Armor and Flying Fists He-Man variants, in terms of their appearance.

The action feature itself seems to originate with Roger Sweet, who illustrates it in a concept using the standard He-Man look, and a swinging ball weapon (the page below comes from the Power and the Honor Foundation Catalog):

Update: You can see an early mockup for the figure on the side of the Eternia playset packaging, made using a regular He-Man figure – note the unpainted bracers from the original He-Man. In fact the armor almost looks like it was cropped into the photo somehow. Thanks to Nate for pointing this image out.

In the cross sell art below, we can see the finalized look for the figure, including gold and silver metallic armor, mace and shield. The mace and shield elements would spin as the figure was made to swing its arms back and forth, something that happened automatically was the waist was twisted.

One interesting note on his design – the lower edge of his chest armor features a mirror image of the standard male belt design. This was also something that showed up in an early incarnation of Tri-Klops, as captured in the cross sell artwork:

Figure & Packaging

The first First Flying Fists He-Man newspaper ad appears on February 12, 1986, and he was probably available in stores shortly before then. The packaging of the figure announces him as the “5th Anniversary” He-Man figure, which isn’t quite true. He-Man was originally released in 1982. Maybe their reasoning was that it was the “fifth year” of the line.

Flying Fists He-Man was released on an extra-large, deluxe card. As with the previous year’s Thunder Punch He-Man, the instructional panels are right below the artwork, and then the 12 characters in cross sell art are squeezed in at the bottom. The artwork at the front of the card is by William George, and the scene on the back is by Errol McCarthy:

Image via He-Man.org
Image via the Power and the Honor Foundation

Subsequent releases of the figure featured a color change to the font on “Flying Fists” on the front:

The figure featured modified arms that were similar to the original He-Man, but subtly different. He also featured greatly enlarged feet for greater stability. He had a lot of vac metal on his costume and accessories, which in toy language is the universal signifier of a “deluxe” figure. He also featured a removable clip on his back that functioned both as a way to store his weapon, and as a handle to help kids get a better grip when using his twisting waist/arm swinging feature. He also had a hard, solid head, which in my opinion reduces the quality of his face compared to the original hollow polyvinyl head. The images below come from eBay, as I don’t have one of these on hand to photograph.

One notable international variant is the Leo India version, as shown by spiritofsnakemountain on Instagram:

Flying Fists He-Man was also released in a gift set with Terror Claws Skeletor (images via LCG Auctions):

Advertising

Below are a selection of Flying Fist He-Man ad appearances:

French catalog featuring Flying Fists He-Man

Flying Fists He-Man was featured the trade ad below, which was originally unearthed at the excellent MOTUC Figures site.

He also appears in the Mattel rebate ad below, which was originally posted on the Battle Grip site:

Artwork

Flying Fists He-Man is featured in a few posters by the following artists:

Earl Norem, Motu Magazine
Earl Norem, Motu Magazine
William George Eternia Poster

There was also an unreleased piece by William George that features Flying Fists He-Man and Terror Claws Skeletor fighting over the cosmic key, which was shared some years ago by Roger Mahafy:

Minicomics

The primary minicomic for this variant is The Flying Fists of Power. Interestingly it features Roger Sweet’s rather minimalist concept for the figure, which just looked like a standard He-Man with a spinning mace weapon (updated to three ball ends) and an updated shield. In the story the Sorceress awards He-Man with an additional gift of “energy and spirit.” When He-Man summons the Flying Fists, he will get have additional punching abilities and his spinning mace and shield will appear in his hands. (All minicomic images come from the Dark Horse minicomic book.) (Update: Matthew Martin and Øyvind Meisford note that Flying Fists He-Man also appears in King of the Snake Men and Enter: Buzz-Saw Hordak.)

In The Terror Claws Strike he get a rather amusing visual depiction of He-Man’s flying fists power. In this comic the ability isn’t necessarily tied to the weapons. It’s really unclear how this is a new ability for He-Man, because he did similar things in the Filmation cartoon all the time. It doesn’t make a lot of sense narratively, although it does get the action feature across.

Flying Fists He-Man, still in his concept look, also appears in the unpublished Return From Terror Island Comic:

Flying Fists He-Man in Action

Øyvind Meisfjord has shared the following image, and video of Flying Fists He-Man in action. Enjoy!

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