Name: Zodac Factions: Neutral/Heroic Warriors/Evil Warriors Approximate US release date: June 3, 1983 or August 8, 1983
The most enigmatic of all Masters of the Universe characters, Zodac was released in the second half of 1982. A late addition to the first wave of figures, Zodac was created to round out the original group of eight figures.
Design & Development
It’s probably fairly well known among fans now that two separate Mark Taylor characters, Teela and Sorceress (aka Goddess), were eventually combined into a single character (Teela). Apparently Mattel’s marketing group didn’t think there was enough demand for two female action figures in one year. That left seven figures for the first year, instead of the eight that were planned. Enter Zodac.
Another Mark Taylor design, Zodac borrowed Skeletor’s arms and legs and Beast Man’s furry chest. New parts included his head, armor, and blaster.
Zodac was originally called Sensor. The idea was that his space-age looking helmet gave him heightened sensory perception.
From the Mark Taylor Portfolio, published by Super7/The Power and the Honor FoundationImage source: The Toys That Made Us/The Power and the Honor Foundation. Artwork by Mark Taylor.
As indicated by the artwork above, the design stuck closely to the textured arm and leg sculpts used on the finalized versions of Skeletor and Mer-Man.
When the cross sell art was created, Zodac was given very similar forearms and boots to the ones used in the Skeletor and Mer-Man cross sell art, rather than the more textured look of the actual toys. Perhaps this was done to maintain consistency across the artwork:
Zodac cross sell art. Image courtesy of Tokyonever.
Skeletor cross sell art
The prototype is somewhat different from the final figure. Like the b-sheet, the lower sides of Zodac’s helmet are red (they are painted gray in the production version). The white design on his chest armor is quite thick compared to the final toy, and the gun seems to have a wider barrel but narrower “fins” and a shorter handle compared to the toy version.
Prototype Zodac
Prototype Zodac
Production Figure
The final has some slight alterations to the armor and gun, but is otherwise very similar to the prototype:
The very first Taiwan release has this unique-looking connector piece on the lower back. Subsequent versions have a more standardized look compared to other first wave figures.
Zodac’s armor has “bullets” stored bandolier-style at the sides of his armor. I think that’s a really interesting touch, as you don’t normally associate laser pistols with bullets. I like to think his weapon is a fairly primitive kind of laser pistol that can only get off one shot at a time using some kind of single-use cartridge – possibly scavenged from the post-apocalyptic wasteland.
Bullets!
Cosmic Enforcer & Beyond
Zodac was originally sold on the “8-back” with the tag line, “Cosmic Enforcer”. But what is a cosmic enforcer?
According to the 1981 Mattel licensing kit (the earliest material we have on Zodac), it meant that Zodac was a bounty hunter. The Empire Strikes Back had come out the year before, and Boba Fett was a very popular character. It may be that Zodac was portrayed this way to capitalize on that popularity. The original intent by creator Mark Taylor, however, was for Zodac to be a heroic warrior.
The above describes Zodac as “The Cosmic Enforcer. The bounty hunter of our exciting universe.” Contrast that to Mark Taylor’s original description of his character:
Sensor: Man of the the future scientifically heightened senses, knowledge & weapons. Acts in support roll to He-man and as a foil to Tee La’s mystic nature.
The bounty hunter thing didn’t stick, and Zodac very quickly became a kind of cosmic observer (much like Jack Kirby’s Metron character), intervening in Eternian affairs only when absolutely necessary.
In the 1982 DC Comics MOTU series, beginning with Fate is the Killer, Zodac is “rider of the spaceways”. Like Metron, he travels through space in a flying chair (in this case it’s the throne from Castle Grayskull). He is not aligned with the heroic warriors, but he does intervene when it looks like Skeletor is about to gain too much of an advantage:
Update: Everyone who talks about Zodac seems to compare him to Metron, and MOTU to New Gods. That’s mostly due to the neutrality and the flying chair thing, which came from Paul Kupperberg at DC Comics, not from Mattel. If it had not been for that initial story, I don’t think anyone would connect Zodac to Metron or Jack Kirby, certainly not visually. Mark Taylor, the designer of the character, never mentioned Kirby as an influence. Later toys in the line like Mekaneck and Sy-Klone do have a certain Kirbyesque look to them. Kirby’s characters are very brightly colored and flashy, while Zodac is more muted and streamlined in his design. To me Zodac seems more influenced by Flash Gordon and mid-20th century science fiction, at least in his visual design.
In Fate is the Killer, Zodac describes himself as “neither good nor evil”. In the panels below, he tells He-Man that he must take him from Eternia, or else kill him, for the good of the planet:
In the 1983 Sword of Skeletor by publisher Golden Books, Zodac is described as a wizard, but he serves the same function as the DC comics Zodac. He intervenes to get He-Man into Castle Grayskull, so he can stop Skeletor, who has taken control. All of this is to keep the “balance between good and evil”.
From The Sword of Skeletor
In the 1983 comic, Power of Point Dread (the large version that came with the Point Dread & Talon Fighter playset and vehicle), Zodac again steps in at the last minute to aid He-Man. Zodac speaks of keeping a universal balance, which Skeletor has threatened by keeping He-Man from guarding Castle Grayskull. Zodac rights the balance by showing He-Man the Talon Fighter, which he uses to defeat Skeletor:
In the 1983 Filmation cartoon, Zodac is again presented as a neutral good figure, stepping in rarely to indirectly intervene to maintain the balance between good and evil.
Source: Filmationcels.com Colors by Jukka Issakainen
In the episode “Golden Disks of Knowledge”, it’s revealed that Zodac is the last member of the “Council of the Wise”. At the episode’s conclusion, Zodac transforms Zanthor (who had redeemed himself after some misdeeds) into a fellow cosmic enforcer. He’s even given the same costume as Zodac:
The 1982 MOTU Bible, written by Michael Halperin, describes the character like this:
ZODAC, the wise leader of the Council of Elders, called to the stars for advice… The Council listened to the vision which promised them that if ever the forces of evil should try overcoming Eternia a champion would arise to defend the planet…
Zodac gathered the Council of Elders in the Hall of Wisdom and collectively they concentrated their mind force until the sheer power of their consciousness created a mighty force field. At that moment, an implosion cracked through the corridors of the Hall and the Council disappeared in a blinding flash of energy. Only Zodac retained his human form as one of the Eternia’s guardians.
The 1984 UK Annual describes Zodac like this:
Although neither good nor evil, Zodac, the Cosmic Enforcer, has a vital role to play in this battle between good and evil. There have been many times when Skeletor has attempted to alter the balance of the universe – and several times when he has almost succeeded. In a situation like this, Zodac’s role is to prevent this – by tipping the scales to achieve another balance. This often means informing He-Man of what his enemy is planning to do – or by showing him the future if Zodac is successful, so that He-Man himself can do something about it. Zodac never interferes directly in the affairs of Eternia, but we may be sure that he is always watching.
Evil Cosmic Enforcer
Obviously not everyone at Mattel was on the same page with the story line that had developed between 1982 and 1983. On the 1983 reissued 12-back card, Zodac is portrayed unambiguously as an evil warrior. The artwork by Errol McCarthy shows Zodac attacking He-Man with his blaster.
Illustration at top by Errol McCarthy. Image source: KMKA
By 1983, cross sell art appearing in minicomics and on packaging rebranded Zodac as the “Evil Cosmic Enforcer”.
Image source: Vaults of Grayskull. Notice that his name is spelled with a “K” here. That spelling would later be used in the 2002 MOTU series.
I should also note that Zodac also appears in another 1983 figure sheet as simply “Cosmic enforcer” (his name is also spelled correctly):
In this 1983 commercial featuring all Masters of the Universe characters produced up until that time, Zodac is grouped with the Evil Warriors:
In this 1984 poster by William George, Zodac is also grouped with the Evil Warriors:
In the Golden Sticker Fun Book, The Evil-Lympics, Zodac is among the Evil Warriors:
Image via Joe Amato
He’s also an Evil Warrior in the Swedish Universums Giganter comic series. Images and translations below courtesy of Ken Kacal:
The DoppelgangerThe Battle for the Power Sword
In the Ladybird-published 1986 He-Man and the Asteroid of Doom, Zodac is portrayed as Skeletor’s evil flunky:
The 1984 mini comic “Slave City” originally featured a villain named Zodak. When the team producing the comic book discovered that “Zodak” had an actual settled on appearance, they changed the villain’s name to Lodar by altering some of the letters in the text:
Reconstructed by Jukka Issakainen
Zodac is being attacked by Man-E-Faces in this R.L. Allen piece below:
In several coloring books Zodac was portrayed as a heroic warrior:
Image source: James Eatock Image source: James Eatock
He is portrayed as a heroic warrior in the Italian Piu comic series. Image below courtesy of Ben Massa/Orko’s Keep:
Ultimately, Zodac was all over the map. He could really be used to fill any role in your childhood battles for Castle Grayskull!
Icons of the first wave
Danbrenus Research: Mark Taylor’s Zodac
Update: Daniele Danbrenus Spezzani has kindly shared a document he wrote years ago of his own research on Mark Taylor’s ideas about Zodac’s backstory and characterization. Thanks to Danbrenus for sharing this with us! Luckily he had printed this out, otherwise it would have been lost in a computer crash:
Zodac in Action
A photo and a short video of Skeletor in action, contributed by Øyvind Meisfjord:
Zodac wasn’t heavily promoted, and I don’t remember him being all that popular with my friends when I was a kid. Maybe it was because we didn’t know what to do with Zodac. But like Faker, he has become something of a cult favorite among MOTU fans today.
Zodac’s one and only appearance in box art – from Rudy Obrero’s Castle Grayskull illustration
Update: I put together a video covering some of the above here:
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Name: Man-At-Arms Faction: Heroic Warriors Approximate US release date: May 13, 1982
Man-At-Arms, ally of He-Man and master of weapons, was released with the first four action figures of the Masters of the Universe line early in 1982. I remember getting all four of them (shown below) for my birthday soon after they were released, which was the first I had heard of them. I was, of course, instantly hooked.
Cross sell artwork by Alfredo Alcala
Man-At-Arms is by far the most tech-heavy character among those early figures. Looking something like a futuristic space gladiator crossed with a conquistador, Man-At-Arms was envisioned by creator Mark Taylor as a scavenger of high-tech equipment from the remnants of a higher civilization that has been destroyed:
I based [Man-At-Arms] on the Spanish Conquistadors. I always wondered how those suckers had the nerve to do the things they did. They had to be ballsy beyond belief! Mattel’s marketing team was really on me to incorporate lots of technology, since Star Wars was still so popular. So I told them I could put high-tech gear on Man-At-Arms. I’d just read Piers Anthony’s classic science-fiction novel Sos the Rope, about a character who goes into a wasteland where a superior civilization had once lived. And he digs down and brings out their technology, which gives him a huge advantage over everyone else! So Man-At-Arms does that too.
Man-At-Arms was actually originally designed by Mark Taylor for the never-produced Rob-N & the Space Hoods toyline. According to Dušan M., the character was originally going to be allied with an evil sheriff in that toyline. When that line failed to be green-lit, the character (or a version of him) was reused for Masters of the Universe.
Update: Mark has reveled an early version of the character in his “Sketches 1” set of prints that he made available at Power-Con 2018. This character, called Paladin, has the familiar green and orange color scheme, and familiar helmet and face armor (albeit much more concealing in this version). His costume is much more primitive-looking than the more familiar Man-At-Arms design. The ventilator that was later moved to his chest area is up near his face here. He has a spiked orange mace at his side, but also carries a futuristic rifle. According to Dušan M, this was apparently the design used in the aforementioned Rob-N toyline, although it originally had a different color scheme.
Image courtesy of Doug Feague. This design was originally done for “Rob-N & The Space Hoods”
Also note the fur cloak on the above design. That was a feature that appeared in the first ever MOTU minicomic, He-Man and the Power Sword.
In the below B-Sheet design by Mark Taylor (here he is given the working name of “Arms Man”), the conquistador element is quite evident in his helmet. His armor bristles with wires, hoses and gadgets. His mace weapon was originally supposed to function a bit like a flail, with the ball end of the weapon detaching from the handle to be swung about on a string.
In the color version of the same B-Sheet design, we can see that while the loin cloth was intended to be black, the boots and right arm bracer were originally supposed to be orange:
From the Mark Taylor Portfolio, published by Super7/The Power and the Honor Foundation
In what appears to be the earliest prototype of the figure (below), you can see some changes that were made to Man-At-Arms’ color scheme. The loin cloth and boot colors were changed to a brown color, and the right arm bracer was made blue instead of orange. The high tech conquistador helmet still is quite evident, although it would be altered in the final toy. The boot knife was cut from the design (images courtesy of Andy Youssi).
The above prototype was used as the basis for early depictions of Man-At-Arms by artist Alfredo Alcala:
Man-At-Arms cross sell artwork. Image courtesy of Axel Giménez.
In the above cross sell art that was printed on the backs of figure cards and vehicle boxes, we see even more clearly that Man-At-Arms has lost a few design details from the original B-sheet. Gone are his square belt buckle and his metal glove. His shorts and boots in this illustration are colored black, and his helmet is rounded off at the top.
In this second and close to final prototype (below), Man-At-Arms’ left boot is unpainted. Man-At-Arms’ design here was simplified in several ways compared to the first prototype. His chest armor lacks the furry lining around the arms. His weapon was reduced in size and in detail. He regained the red color on his shorts and boots, but lost the red detail on his belt.The major difference between this prototype and the final toy the unpainted left boot, and the fact that he retains the “bracelet” section of the armor on his left arm (the bracelet does show up in versions manufactured in France, however).
We also see the single unpainted boot in this image (below) from the side of the original Castle Grayskull box. In this image we can see that the right boot is painted red.
Man-At-Arms makes an appearance with the green left boot in the July 1982 DC Comics story, From Eternia With Death, apparently based off of the early green-booted prototype:
The prototype was slightly revised once more as it got closer to production (below). Man-At-Arms was given two painted red boots:
Image source: James Eatock
The second and third Man-At-Arms prototype designs feature a blue belt and red details on his helmet. The very first production examples of the figure were colored that way as well, but subsequent releases lack the red details on the helmet; later versions came with a gray belt.
Common “gray belt” versionreleased in subsequent waves
Note that Man-At-Arms actually had sculpted hair below the helmet line on the back of his head. It was, however, painted the same light blue as the rest of his helmet (thanks to Jukka Issakainen for reminding me of this).
The first releases came packaged on the 8-back card, and reissues starting in 1983 featured a scene on the back painted by artist Errol McCarthy:
Errol McCarthy also depicted Man-At-Arms many times over in Mattel licensing kit and style guide artwork, with some influences from the Filmation version:
As one of the main characters of the line, Man-At-Arms showed up quite frequently on MOTU box art:
In the mini comics, Man-At-Arms is first portrayed as an independent and occasional ally of He-Man who teams up with him to defeat Skeletor when necessary. By the time The Tale of Teela mini comic was released in 1983, Man-At-Arms had started to be a more permanent fixture around the palace of Eternia and was also portrayed as Teela’s adopted father:
This portrayal of Man-At-Arms quickly became almost universal across all media, from the Filmation series to the most recent DC Comics series.
Speaking of Filmation, Man-At-Arms was one of the most frequently-seen characters in the cartoon series. He appears in the introductory animation to each episode as one of the few people who know Prince Adam’s secret identity. He is also given the real name of Duncan.
Design-wise, Man-At-Arms underwent some fairly dramatic design changes in the Filmation cartoon. his arm and leg armor was simplified and made symmetrical to allow the animators to flip cells over and reuse the same sequences going left or right. And of course, he was given the mustache that has defined his look ever since.
Filmation of course did a commercial for the Masters of the Universe toyline before their popular cartoon series. In the ad, Man-At-Arms was drawn on-model to the actual toy:
Depictions of Man-At-Arms in the golden books generally follow the evolution of the character in other media, from clean-shaven independent warrior to mustachioed royal weapons master and step-father of Teela.
The 1987 Canon-produced Masters of the Universe Movie featured Man-At-Arms as one of its primary characters. The design for Man-At-Arms’ costume early in the film’s development was closely based on the original toy, but the film neared production Man-At-Arm’s costume underwent a radical transformation. His uniform was eventually colored blue instead of the traditional orange and green. The face guard was flattened and made ornamental rather than functional.
Claudio MazolliRalph McQuarrieJon Cypher as Man-At-Arms
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Name: He-Man Faction: Heroic Warriors Approximate US release date: May 13, 1982
He-Man was released with the first wave of action figures in the 1982 Masters of the Universe line. But for a simple, relatively unadorned action figure, He-Man has a complex and storied history. His origins are the subject of much controversy, and frequently discussed lately in the wake of the recent Toy Masters documentary and the Dark Horse Art of He-Man book. I can’t definitively settle those controversies, but I will attempt to present the key facts as I understand them in the development of the most powerful man in the universe.
Update 2/7/2024: since writing this in 2015, I think I have a much clearer picture of He-Man’s origins. This article has been updated several times since 2015 as additional information came to light, and my recent article about the “He-Man Trio” also provides a very clear picture of the early development of He-Man.
From Rudy Obrero’s Castle Graykull box art illustration
Design & Development
The earliest known artwork related to He-Man is a 1979 drawing by Mattel artist Mark Taylor. When Taylor was hired at Mattel, he initially did packaging design for the Barbie line. In his free time he would sketch the kinds of fantasy heroes he had been interested in since he was a child. He was influenced by Tarzan and Prince Valiant comic books, as well as the artwork of Frank Frazetta and the various artists featured in Heavy Metal magazine.
Torak, by Mark Taylor, 1979. Image source: The Power and the Honor Foundation
In this 1979 sketch (above), Torak certainly looks the part of He-Man. The facial features, determined expression and blond hair are all very familiar. The leather strap around his chest almost looks like half of what would eventually be He-Man’s distinctive chest harness. There is even a villain in the background who resembles Skeletor.
The image below has commonly been assumed to be an early He-Man sketch, but it’s possible that this was done for the Conan line – Mark Taylor did the concept art for both, although the Conan line didn’t move forward due to the sex and violence of the movie.
Mark Taylor illustration, from the Art of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe
As Taylor tells the story, Mattel was looking for a new boy’s action figure line that could be produced without paying licensing fees to a third party. The company had passed on making Star Wars toys, and of course Star Wars had become enormously successful in the meantime. Mattel’s existing boy’s lines (Clash of the Titans, Battlestar Galactica and Flash Gordon) could not compete with Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader.
As part of the initiative to create a new male action figure line, Roger Sweet (a designer at Mattel), used some of Mark Taylor’s drawings to assist in developing a pitch for a new line of action figures. For a presentation to Mattel CEO Ray Wagner, Sweet sculpted a rudimentary action figure, which was really a Big Jim figure packed with extra clay muscles. It was then cast and duplicates were created to try out different costume looks. In Roger’s concept, the character could be a generic hero, outfitted with science fiction, barbarian or military costumes, and would have access to science fiction vehicles.
Roger Sweet’s “He-Man Trio”, late 1980
As you can see, a recognizable version of the final He-Man harness is present on the center figure, which has come to be known to fans as Vykron:
Image: The Power and the Honor Foundation
Roger has acknowledged in a podcast interview (Masters of the Universe Chronicles) that Mark Taylor designed the harness for his barbarian prototype, including the Templar cross. And if you look closely at the bracers on the center figure, you can see they resemble those of Mark Taylor’s Torak character. The shin guards also have the cross, so they are another Mark Taylor element. The helmet also comes from another Mark Taylor design from the 1970s. This fits with statements by both Mark Taylor and Ted Mayer that Roger’s model was based off of Mark Taylor’s designs. Elsewhere, in the Toy Masters Podcast, Roger and others acknowledge that Mark’s He-Man artwork predated Roger’s prototype.
Of the three 1980 prototypes, it was the barbarian-themed figure, with his Mark Taylor-designed costume, that was green-lit by Ray Wagner for further development. Roger designed the other two costumes on the military and space themed figures (they are actually kit-bashed, using one or more parts from existing toys, such as the repainted Boba Fett helmet and a WWII German tank kit).
Image: The Power and the Honor FoundationImage: The Power and the Honor FoundationImage source: Rebecca Salari Taylor
Mark Taylor also drew a couple of illustrations in 1981, apparently based on the prototype (in turn based on Mark’s designs). The harness in these drawings was even closer to the final toy design:
Image Source: The Power and the Honor Foundation Catalog Image source: The Power and the Honor Foundation, via The Art of He-Man
Still, Roger Sweet has been claiming for many years that he “originated” He-Man:
“What I always say is, I originated and named He-Man, and originated the general concept of the Masters Of The Universe. I constructed three prototype figures at nine and a half inches, which I first showed at a product conference at Mattel in late 1980. These three prototype figures brought He-Man into existence. They were all of He-Man in different themes and configurations. One had a barbarian theme from the ancient past (low tech), another had a current military enhanced theme (mid tech), and the other one had a futuristic military, a la Star Wars, enhanced theme (high tech), showing that He-Man can go anywhere, and do anything, at any time, in any theme. These figures were nine and a half inches tall, and the figures in the line from 1982-87 were five and a half inches. But I knew if I showed these figures at the height they ended up being, I would have a very poor chance of selling the concept, so I made them very tall, huge, and very impressive.” – Roger Sweet
As far as Roger Sweet’s barbarian prototype goes, the harness appears to be the only element on the sculpture that is unique to the final He-Man’s design. And as we’ve already learned, it was Mark Taylor, not Roger Sweet, who designed the harness. It appears, moreover, that the entire barbarian prototype costume was designed by Mark Taylor. Roger appears to have been the first sculptor, not the designer (later, finer sculpts were done by Tony Guerrero). Sweet has based his claim to creating He-Man on this prototype, but it’s hard for me to see how Sweet can be given any credit for the visual design of He-Man.
Based on all available evidence, it is my conclusion that Mark Taylor is the principal and primary designer of He-Man, with some ancillary contribution and input from many others at Mattel. In fact, the whole 1982 lineup was almost entirely designed by Mark Taylor, aside from the vehicles, which were designed by Ted Mayer. The toyline was really Mark’s vision, at least for the first year of its existence. Mark was in charge of the creating the figures and the Castle for the 1982 line, in addition to being in charge of the packing on the larger items like Castle Grayskull and Battle Cat.
As far as I can tell, Roger Sweet’s contributions to He-Man (the figure) were primarily as follows: the name itself, and the “power punch” action feature, and the idea to exaggerate the musculature (as Roger often says, he wanted He-Man to make Arnold Schwarzenegger look like a wimp). Roger Sweet’s more significant contributions to the Masters of the Universe toyline seem to have come later, with figures like Tri-Klops, Mekaneck, Sy-Klone, Kobra Khan and others. We have Sweet’s concept drawings for most of those figures, but all the concept artwork for He-Man and other figures released in 1982 comes from Mark Taylor. You can see in the quote by Roger below, he didn’t really like the first wave of the line – indicating he had little say in its design or direction (and indeed Roger has said he was taken off the line as soon as it was approved for Development by Mattel’s president):
“When I first saw the [1982] Masters of the Universe line all together I thought it was somewhat weak because it was low-tech and it was conservative. My concept of MOTU was that it combined everything- low-tech, high-tech, past, present and future. I wanted MOTU to be as expansive as possible and do anything that was appealing. I would love to see a G.I. Joe segment in MOTU. I wouldn’t mind seeing a character like [Child’s Play] Chucky in it.
“In other words, anything could go into it. When I became the manager in charge of creativity for the line in 1983 I worked real hard to change that.” – Roger Sweet
The first year of the Masters of the Universe line
Mark quit Mattel in 1982, after the line had launched. Arguably had he not quit, he would have continued to lead the design of subsequent waves of figures. But because Mark had left, Roger was put in charge. You can kind of tell Mattel was caught off guard, because the 1983 wave of figures relied heavily on repaints and old tooling, and had the fewest new figures of any year of the brand. Mark had designed Ram Man and Man-E-Faces before leaving Mattel, leaving other Mattel designers like Colin Bailey and Roger Sweet to move very quickly to get toys out in time for 1983.
Rudy Obrero, the freelance packaging artist behind the artwork for the earliest MOTU product boxes (Castle Grayskull, Battle Cat, Wind Raider, etc), described his working relationship with Mark Taylor:
I don’t remember the conversations [with Mark Taylor about the MOTU line] but I remember the feeling I got. I left there thinking this guy is really into it. He’s really into this. And that’s why I always thought he created it. It just felt like it was his baby.
Source: Power & Honor FoundationImage Source: Power and Honor Foundation Image source: Tomart’s Action Figure Digest. Note that this version has reduced horns on the helmet. It appears to be a degraded wax copy of the original. Tony made a number of wax copies of the original and gave it out to people who worked on the He-Man line. This one used to belong to Ted Mayer.
These 1981 prototype models (above) by the late Tony Guerrero are closer to the final He-Man design in some ways. The bracers and belt now look very recognizably He-Man, as does the belt/loin cloth. I’m not sure if this was meant to have a harness put over top it or not, but I would assume that it did. A cast of this sculpture appears in early prototype pictures of Ted Mayer’s Battle Ram vehicle, as well. I would speculate that they may have been considering cloth boots for He-Man at this point, which would explain the bare feet.
Close to final Battle Ram concept by Ted Mayer. Note that the He-Man figure in the drawing has boots.
Incidentally, a helmet very similar to the one on the above prototype appears on the door to Castle Grayskull:
The horned helmet stuck with He-Man until very late in his development. It appears in several versions of Mark Taylor’s B-sheet for the character, including an early colorized version dated April 6, 1981, and a later recolored version dated August 3, 1981:
From the Mark Taylor Portfolio, published by Super7/The Power and the Honor FoundationColorized version from August 3, 1981. Image source: The Power and the Honor Foundation
The above version looks very close to the final production figure. The colors have been made brighter, probably in a bid to be more appealing to children. The shield looks close to the final version.
A prototype (below) was sculpted based on the 1981 B-Sheet. Most of the elements from the B-sheet are there, with the notable exception of the horned helmet. This version is also missing the bracer on the left wrist and the boot knife. Perhaps the left bracer is missing because its presence on the B-sheet was obscured by the shield.
Closer to final prototype. Image source: He-man.us
Image originally posted by Jordan Hembrough
Mini comic artist Alfredo Alcala probably used both the B-sheet and the above prototype as a reference, because his earliest depictions of He-Man have specific elements from both (notably, the knife in the boot, the two-tone boots, the belt, the occasional lack of a bracer on the left wrist, and the shape of the axe).
Another view of the close to final prototype appears in this photo (courtesy of Ted Mayer) of an early version of the Wind Raider. In this image, the detail on the right forearm bracer is more evident. From this angle, it looks like the harness is a part of the chest sculpt, although it’s difficult to say for sure. It’s also clear that the cross symbol on He-Man’s chest is also more raised than the final toy.
Update: More views of this early prototype have recently surfaced in these promotional images shared by Andy Youssi. These images include He-Man’s prototype axe:
Mark Ellis, who was in charge of marketing for the fledgling MOTU line, explains some of the changes to He-Man’s design:
Preliminary Design did the original figure for the theme test, one of which was the barbarian. After the research came back on the theme, work began on developing the line. Engineering and the art departments took over the development of the characters. Each character was modified a few times, each time being a little less barbarian and finally to what was produced. In developing the original line, you have to remember that we were introducing it without the benefit of a movie, comic character, or TV show. It was on its own. From the Usage Research, kids when they are 5 and 6 want to know if the character is good or bad. So over time, changes were made to make He Man more clearly good and Skeletor and his cronies made to look quite different from the good guys. I do remember changing He Man’s hair to be blond because my boss had blond hair. I had a chart on my office wall to keep track of who was who, and what their special powers were so that everything we did in the commercials and packaging was consistent.
You might have noticed that every version of He-Man we’ve seen so far lacks the iconic power sword. The sword seems to have been an added later as a marketing consideration, according to Ellis:
I will say that at Mattel, we were careful to make sure the sword fit into the characters hand. An idea was proposed when we were doing the television commercial for the line that involved a split sword. That is why He Man’s and Skeletor’s swords fit together. We later dropped that idea in the development of the commercials.
I’d also like to note that the upward-curved cross guards on the sword were meant to be open, as in the Alfredo Alcala artwork (below). But it appears that strengthening connectors were added to the cross guards because the plastic used was so flexible. So the ends of the cross guards were often depicted in media as being fused together, especially in the Filmation cartoon – an interesting accident brought about by engineering and safety considerations.
Quick mock-up of the Power Sword with open cross guards
According to designer Mark Taylor, the upward curved cross guards were actually meant to be handles, as you turned the sword like a key to open Castle Grayskull. In his view of the He-Man mythos, He-Man would have inherited one half of the sword from his ancestors, and the Skeletor would have inherited the other half.
It was recently pointed out to me by Dušan Mitrović that there is an early Filmation drawing that features the half sword concept. The split sword idea was dropped before the show went into production.
This final, hand-painted He-Man prototype (below) brings all the refinements and changes (many driven by market research) into the final iconic look for the most powerful man in the universe:
Notice the unpainted bracers on the forearms – a cost-saving measure. From The Art of He-Man.
The cross sell art (below) is very true to He-Man’s finalized design, and so was likely created sometime after the final prototype:
Packaging
He-Man was first packaged on the sought-after “8-back” card. Reissued versions featured an amazing scene on the back of the card of He-Man, Teela and Man-At-Arms gazing out over the rolling hills of Eternia, vigilant for any signs of Skeletor. My favorite version is the reissued “12-back” card, because it features that artwork.
Art by Errol McCarthy, from The Art of He-Man
The first He-Man 8-back release figures were made in Taiwan. The version below is the very first release, which you can tell because it has no warranty information listed on the back, no subtitles for the character names, and no batch number (ie G1, G2, G3, and so forth):
He-Man, Mexico “8-back” packaging, 1983, with warranty:
He-Man, Taiwan “12-back” packaging, 1984:
Production Figure
Early versions of the 1982 made in Taiwan loose figure (stamped 1981) have a sculpted belly button, which disappeared from the figure starting in 1983. I believe the earliest versions have somewhat blue-ish gray accessories, while subsequent versions have more of a flat gray color.
The belt color ranged from an orange-salmon color to more of a mustard yellow. His hair color could be subdued or quite bright. I won’t explore production variants in depth in this particular article.
One of the things that really captivated me about He-Man as a kid, aside from his powerful appearance and striking but simple design, was his face sculpt. It wasn’t a handsome face. He had very strong cheekbones and muscular jaws. Depending on the angle, his expression could go from a grimace to a smile. It’s really a remarkable face, and a testament to the great skill of Tony Guerrero.
He-Man in Action
Some photos and a short video of He-Man in action, contributed by Øyvind Meisfjord:
Reception
He-Man and his early compatriots were an instant success. Even before the debut of the Filmation cartoon, the Masters of the Universe line sold five million figures in its first 10 months:
Trade magazine advertisement, reusing a pose by artist Alfred Alcala in the mini comic, King of Castle Grayskull. Image via www.motucfigures.com
Some additional trade ads featuring He-Man, via MOTUC Figures:
Gift Sets
He-Man, as a toy, was sold in a number of configurations, apart from the single-carded figure. I won’t get into He-Man variants (ie, Battle Armor He-Man, Thunder Punch He-Man, etc) for now. But the standard release He-Man was available in the following gift sets:
He-Man/Battle Cat
He-Man/Wind Raider
He-Man/Jet Sled
He-Man/Skeletor
He-Man/Teela
He-Man/Teela/Ram Man
You can explore what these items looked like at the excellent Grayskull Museum site.
An interesting side note. In early materials He-Man is referred to as “Strongest man in the universe” rather than “Most powerful man in the universe.”
Artwork
He-Man appeared in most of the box art produced for the MOTU line. My favorite depictions of He-Man in box art tend to be the Rudy Obrero pieces. I’m also quite fond of William George’s depictions, but I’ll get into his artwork in another post when I discuss Battle Armor He-Man:
Origin Story
He-Man’s origin story changed dramatically over the first few years of his existence. In the Alcala/Glut mini comics, he was a jungle warrior who had been gifted by the Sorceress/Goddess with some powerful weapons and artifacts. His harness acted as a force field and amplified his strength. He-Man was strong but he couldn’t move mountains. He could be overpowered by enemies like Beast Man or Mer-Man, if he wasn’t careful. He-Man was always He-Man in this continuity – there was no Prince Adam.
In the earliest Golden Books stories, He-Man again lacks an alter ego. He is simply He-Man, tireless protector of Castle Grayskull. That’s even the case in some subsequent stories, like the one below from the Golden Book series:
In the 1982 DC Comics series, the alter ego of Prince Adam was introduced for the first time. This Adam (dressed in a blue vest) could only transform into He-Man by entering the “Cavern of Power”.
By the time the Filmation cartoon debuted in September 1983, Prince Adam was sole keeper of the power sword (in other canon it was often hidden in obscure places or guarded by the Sorceress), and he used it to summon the power of Castle Grayskull and transform into He-Man. He was warrior with immense, almost limitless strength, but he had an aversion to violence except as a last resort.
Animation
In the Filmation cartoon, He-Man’s design was noticeably softened. He lost the rectangular elements on his harness and the detail on his bracers and belt. But in the Filmation-produced commercial, He-Man retained the details of the vintage toy:
He-Man as he appeared in the Filmation cartoon
He-Man from the animated commercial. Image source: The Art of He-Man
Advertising
As the protagonist of the MOTU line, He-Man was of course featured prominently in almost all marketing materials for the line, including catalog images and television commercials:
Impact
He-Man captured the imagination of a generation of children, from 1982 until the demise of the Masters of the Universe line in 1988. He was a bit of a contradiction, though. He tapped into the primordial barbarian fantasy worlds that were so popular during the 70s and early 80s (Conan the Barbarian, The Beastmaster, etc), but he also had a heart and was a good role model for children. And despite the fact that he wore furry shorts and rode a giant tiger, he would also pilot fantasy vehicles and fight opponents armed with laser canons.
Equal parts Conan, Trazan, Luke Skywalker, Flash Gordon and Prince Valiant, He-Man was derivative of dozens of disparate but iconic characters. But He-Man also transcended those influences and became something much more. Would it be at all plausible to say that He-Man represents some kind of unconscious primordial image – a Jungian archetype? Maybe that’s taking things a bit too far. But then again, maybe not.
Joseph Campbell is one of my heroes. Joseph Campbell’s concepts about myths and legends and icons are ingrained in all artists’ mentality. If you’re going to tell a story, you need to understand Joseph Campbell.
As an artist it’s always been integral to me to tell the story. Even if I’m doing something that you wouldn’t think has a story to it, like a painting, I have to feel that I’m telling a story.
I think I got this [idea of what a hero is] by looking at Greek literature and Tarzan and Prince Valiant. I would read it with my dad, which was really important, and I wanted to be the next hero. And at the same time I was kind of fascinated with the idea of Cro-Magnons and Vikings. They would just go into battle with almost no armor on. They went into battle, and so did the Greeks and so did all the heroes. A hero doesn’t need a lot of armor. To me the hero is the guy that is willing to go out there and just do it no matter what. His job is to prevail.
Illustration by Earl NoremIllustration by Earl Norem
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Name: Stratos Faction: Heroic Warriors Approximate US release date: June 3 or June 18, 1982
Released late in the first year of Masters of the Universe figures, Stratos was one of the few from that 1982 that I didn’t own as a kid. I remember encountering him for the first time at a friend’s house: “Who’s this guy? Oh yeah, I remember seeing him in the comics. Where’s his weapon? No weapon? I guess it’s cool that he can fly. Is he a flying monkey?”
Design & Development
Stratos, designed by Mark Taylor, appears to have been conceived as a villain at an early stage of his development. He’s called out as such in the 1982 licensor kit, which was made available for interested licensees in early 1982, just prior to the launch of the toys:
1982 Licensing Kit image via Michael Jay
Given the working name “Bird Man” (also, perhaps “Wing Man”) Stratos was intended to have the hairy arms and legs of Beast Man, but the furless chest of He-Man.
Artwork by Mark Taylor, showing the front, side and rear of the figure. Shared by Rebecca Salari Taylor.
The body in the B-sheet isn’t fully colored, but a bit of color on the chest indicates a tentative flesh tone or orange color scheme. However, he could also be interpreted as having a light gray body, and the warm tones on his chest could be lighting. His wings are blue, and his red backpack attaches around his waist and his neck. That design comes through in the first mini comics drawn by Alfredo Alcala, depicted as first a villain and then a hero, although he didn’t always include the jetpack:
Evil Stratos, in orange furGood Stratos, with tan fur/skin
Eventually his backpack was redesigned and his body color was changed to gray, which was reflected in the last mini comic of 1982, Battle in the Clouds. The colors of his backpack and arm feathers were also reversed:
The above depiction of Stratos was actually based on the cross sell artwork, which is shown below:
Stratos cross sell artwork. Image courtesy of Axel Giménez.
Notice in this hand-painted prototype (with another redesign to the chest harness), Stratos has a hairless chest, which matches up with the original Mark Taylor B-Sheet and the cross sell art:
1982 Licensing Kit. Source: Michael Jay
This image below gives us a closer look at the Stratos prototype. It comes from the 1984 UK Annual (which used images taken from early prototypes) and makes it clearer that Stratos had a smooth chest. This design makes him seem far less animalistic:
Image via He-Man.org. Note that the harness also lacks the feather design at the shoulders.
I thought I had found yet another prototype of Stratos in a German promotional booklet. The harness seems to have a criss-cross pattern on the front, which reminded me a little of the cross sell art. But I think this is simply a case of the photographer putting the harness on incorrectly:
Eventually it was decided that Stratos would have the same furry chest as Beast Man:
Image source: The Art of He-Man
There were some variations of early production versions of Stratos. Some came with blue wings and a red backpack, and others with red wings and a blue backpack. The rarest version had a blue beard and gray goggles.
The blue beard version of Stratos is the very first version released. It’s probably a factory error. Even though Mark Taylor’s original color scheme included a blue beard (and blue goggles), pre-production prototypes all had gray beards.
Blue wing blue beard StratosRed wing blue beard Stratos
The red wing/gray beard version is probably the most popular, as he was most frequently depicted in this color scheme:
Of course the blue wing/gray beard version has its fan base too:
The first editions of Stratos was packaged on the “eight back” style card.
Later versions were packaged in the “12 back” card and featured this scene on the card back by artist Errol McCarthy:
Strangely, Stratos is depicted with three-toed feet
Minicomics
Stratos appears fairly frequently in early minicomics, although his appearances gradually taper off in later years.
Aside from the afore-mentioned first year minicomics, Stratos takes a starring role in Siege of Avion, illustrated by Alfredo Alcala and written by Michael Halperin. The story is based on Filmation’s He-Man espisode, “Reign of the Monster”. In the story, as in the cartoon, Stratos is the leader of Avion, home to a race of bird people. Both stories revolve around the Staff of Avion and Skeletor’s plot to steal it.
DC Comics
Stratos is a supporting character throughout the 1982-1983 run of Masters of the Universe comics by DC Comics.
Stratos appears only on the cover of Fate Is The Killer, released November 1982. This is a recolored version. Image courtesy of Dejan Dimitrovski.From To Tempt The Gods, December 1982. Image source: Vaults of Grayskull
Golden Books
Stratos appears in the early Golden Book stories as well, and plays a particularly strong role in The Trap:
He also plays a strong role in The Sunbird Legacy, where we see a different take on the people of Avion. Stratos’ compatriots were shown in the familiar gray/blue/red colors but given unique headgear and wings on their backs :
Animation
Stratos made occasional appearances in the Filmation cartoon. He wasn’t depicted as a flying ape-like creature. He looks instead like a human in a kind of flight suit.
The Filmation Series Guide he looks a lot closer to the toy, as it predated the development of the animated look for the character:
Other Artwork
Stratos also makes some appearances in Rudy Obrero’s Castle Grayskull, Wind Raider and Battle Ram box art:
From Castle Grayskull box art
From Wind Raider box art
From Battle Ram box art
Stratos also appears in several posters by William George:
Stratos probably isn’t near the top of most people’s favorite MOTU character lists (although some people absolutely love him). As a kid he didn’t particularly spark my interest, but as an adult I find him enormously charming.
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