Recently one of my connections on social media was asking if there was a resource of all of the vintage cardbacks collected somewhere. While most of them are scattered throughout my site, I thought it might be helpful to collect them in one place.
There are lots and lots of cardback variants, both by country and by release order. My objective isn’t to provide every single last variant (and I certainly do not have scans or photos of them all). My objective is to do all the US cardbacks, and any major variants. Major variants would include things like 8-back vs 12 back reissue versions of the earliest cardbacks, or any major updates to the artwork on the scene at the top or the illustrated instructions on the back of the card. I generally won’t provide variants based on different cross sell art featured on the cardback. For example, a 1983 He-Man 12-back would have different cross sell art compared to a 1984 He-Man 12-back. The character selection changed to reflect whatever was new for the year.
Let’s define cardbacks: for my purposes this won’t include the backs of boxes on large items like Castle Grayskull or Battle Ram. You can find those in my previous “Box Art From A-Z” series. This is the back of the individual figures on blister cards, for the most part. I’ll also include the cardbacks of smaller accessories like Jet Sled, since the back of the packaging was in a very similar format to the standard figures. I’ll also include the backs of the Modulok and Multi-Bot packages, for the same reason. I’m not including gift sets with the regular carded figures – I plan to do a separate article about those later.
I’ll sort the cardbacks in chronological release order to the best of my knowledge. Please note, however, that some figures, like He-Man and Skeletor, were released at the same time. From 1986 to 1987, many figures featured artwork on the front of their cards, so I’ll include shots of the front as well.
Photos and scans in this article come from: He-Man.org
1988 only had two carded figures, released in Europe only (the giants were released in boxes rather than on cards). However, I will include the card art for the “lost wave” of figures that had been planned for 1988, but were not released.
Laser Power He-Man
1-back action scene art: Unknown
Cross sell artwork: Unknown
SKU Number: 7060
Laser Power He-Man was released on a deluxe-style card, and features artwork on the front and back. I don’t have confirmation on who the artists were, unfortunately. The only cross sell artwork on the back is for Laser-Light Skeletor.
Laser-Light Skeletor
1-back action scene art: Unknown
Cross sell artwork: Unknown
SKU Number: 3024
Laser-Light Skeletor was released on a deluxe-style card, and features artwork on the front and back. The artwork on front appears to be by Bruce Timm, however I don’t know who did the scene on the back. The only cross sell artwork on the back is for Laser Power He-Man..
Strobo
Action scene art: Errol McCarthy
Cross sell artwork: N/A
SKU Number: N/A
You can see in all of these unreleased 1988 line figures, all of the figures are kitbashed from existing pieces. Strobo is a mix of parts from Sy-Klone and Zodac, with an added cape. Strobo is the only figure in this “lost wave” to appear in vintage media, in a comic in the fall 1988 issue of Masters of the Universe Magazine.
Snake Trooper
Action scene art: Errol McCarthy
Cross sell artwork: N/A
SKU Number: N/A
You can see in all of these unreleased 1988 line figures, all of the figures are kitbashed from existing pieces. Snake Trooper is a mix of parts from Horde Trooper, Rattlor, Blast Attak and King Hiss.
Terroar
Action scene art: Errol McCarthy
Cross sell artwork: N/A
SKU Number: N/A
You can see in all of these unreleased 1988 line figures, all of the figures are kitbashed from existing pieces. Terroar is a mix of parts from Whiplash, Rattlor, Mosquitor and Trap Jaw. Note that the figure’s name is a modern creation. It’s unknown what his original name would have been.
Plasmar
Action scene art: Errol McCarthy
Cross sell artwork: N/A
SKU Number: N/A
You can see in all of these unreleased 1988 line figures, all of the figures are kitbashed from existing pieces. Plasmar is a mix of parts from Fisto, He-Ro, Sssqueeze, Rio Blast and Grizzlor, with an added cape. Note that the figure’s name is a modern creation. It’s unknown what his original name would have been.
Lord Gr’Asp
Action scene art: Errol McCarthy
Cross sell artwork: N/A
SKU Number: N/A
You can see in all of these unreleased 1988 line figures, all of the figures are kitbashed from existing pieces. Plasmar is a mix of parts from Clawful, He-Man/Skeletor, Sssqueeze, and King Hiss, with an added Scare Glow cape. Note that the figure’s name is a modern creation. It’s unknown what his original name would have been.
Slamurai
Action scene art: Errol McCarthy
Cross sell artwork: N/A
SKU Number: N/A
You can see in all of these unreleased 1988 line figures, all of the figures are kitbashed from existing pieces. Slamurai is a white-colored repaint of Ninjor, the Storm Shadow to Ninjor’s Snake Eyes, so to speak. Note that the figure’s name is a modern creation. It’s unknown what his original name would have been.
Thank you to the following individuals who are current Patreon supporters!
- Philip O.
- MOTU Origins Cork
- Bryce W.
- Ben M.
- Matthias K.
- Max I.
Cardbacks series: 1982 | 1983 | 1984 | 1985 | 1986 | 1987 | 1988
Very cool! Thank you!
In a recent Origins cardback, it showed Strobo’s shield as being silver. And although we don’t have colours for the original figure concepts, I think that makes a lot of sense. And it also makes me wonder if Strobo’s head and shield were meant to be vac-metal chrome, for added flash. But that’s just me blue-sky-ing.
One minor thing, though: I believe you meant to put He-Ro in the list of Plasmar’s parts/inspirations instead of Eldor. (And the “H” on that cuirass led to an early name for him — Hot Shot — before they realised that was already an Autobot name. Although I’m afraid I can’t remember who originally called him “Hot Shot.”)
Yes, I wrote Eldor by mistake, it should be He-Ro. Thanks!
I agree, silver is a good color for the shield. Vac metal would have been nice as well. He would have had a mirror-like sticker on his chest, so anything that was light reflective would have been a nice touch on this figure.