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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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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Thank you for another great article.
MOTU was a wonderfully crazy line that, in one instance, would reuse bucks, then release a slew of unique body types for the Horde, Snake Men and later characters such as Dragstor and Rio Blast.
That Strobo really is a hideous design, though. They get the prize for that one!
Why not just do an evil version of Sy-Klone (play up on the clone part), with a new, monstrous head sculpt?
No one had forgotten about Zodac. To reuse his distinctive head was just lazy. Unlike Stinkor (poor Mer Man never looked aquatic) and flocked-headed Moss Man, it was always going to look like Zodac.
To me, between the colors and buck choices, Strobo, Lord Grasp and Terroar all look like bad kit bash nightmares.
Thank you! I kind of like Strobo because he’s so kooky looking, like a low-budget sci fi movie character. In general I’m not too fond of the other 1988 kit bash designs, though.
The “lazy kit bash” thing was pretty much intentional, though. These were very late in the day, wringing-the-last-drop out of the toyline figures, as I understand it pretty much aimed at the European (/other international market), where releases were generally a few months to a year behind the US ones, and whereas MOTU’s popularity had pretty much finished in the US by this time, they were still on their late-in-the-day popularity elsewhere and the late figures were still selling (that certainly was the case here in the U.K.).
So these “final wave” characters were literally designed for every single part to be recycled from previous figures, and – with respect to Mattel – probably not a whole lot of thought or effort into giving them a major amount of depth as compared to earlier characters. Of course, the idea fell through when international sales also dropped off. The idea of an evil Sy-Klone is a pretty cool one, but even the commissioning of a new head sculpt for it would have been outside of the criteria for that low budget final line.
But yes, literally everyone of that proposed final wave looks hideous mash-ups. For me, they only have novelty/interest value for the reasoning behind them. I can’t say any of them I would have rushed out to buy back in the day, as they are literally just cheap mash-up / repaints of older characters. ….Then again, my favourite vintage figure is generally Faker, so I’m somewhat of a hypocrite on that one!! 🙂
Yeah, there’s something about Faker! I remember getting him as a gift, no artwork on the card back, no advertising/commercials, no mention in the mini comics, no heroic counterpart figure released at the same time (I recall them releasing new good guys and bad guys 1 to 1). Just this random robot He-Man that dropped out of the “blue”!
The chest sticker was cool, too, and I guess reminded me of the interior Castle Grayshull artwork, like the last tie-in to that era before the cartoon took over.
I think the strength of Faker’s appeal is still in that first He-Man design. The famous MOTU body type, but that He-Man head sculpt really is iconic.
I can see why people thought MOTU started as a “Conan” tie-in, because his face is vaguely Arnold, but then, tough to pin down. I heard a European artist and MOTU fan describe the face as “Mongolian.”
In an odd way, he’s not race specific, he just looks “barbarian.”
The wordplay comes from cyclone. There has been no indication that Sy-Klone has clones of any kind though.
Though would be curious to see an evil counterpart for Sy-Klone 🙂
Great article! Thank you!
For some reason, I never got the last issue or two of the MOTU Magazine, so I knew nothing about this guy until the early 2000s or so. In the end, I got the Classics figure, and it’s nifty to see how he has been included since then.
Oh gee were there a lot of unnecessary deaths in the Bios back in the day. I guess that’s one way to try and make a couple lines on the back of toy packaging seem more dramatic; but it never felt like anything other than an attempt to make stuff “edgy.”
I have such an affection for the entire Lost Wave and as they are slowly trickling out in Origins am feeling excited about having a complete set of them… Walmart Exclusives be damned.