Cliff Climber, Scubattack & Tower Tools (1987)

Posted on September 3, 2024November 7, 2024 by Adam McCombs

Written by Adam McCombs

Name: Cliff Climber, Scubattack and Tower Tools Power Gear
Faction: None
Approximate US release date: Month and day unknown, 1987

Cliff Climber, Scubattack and Tower Tools were three motorized accessories that came out at the tail end of the Masters of the Universe line. Powered by a common motorized module, they offered three different action scenarios for Masters of the Universe figures.

Design & Development

Scubattack appears to derive from the Sea Man concept below, dating from March 25, 1985. A concept by Alan Tyler, it’s not entirely clear if it was originally intended to be just an accessory or an entire figure with an elaborate aquatic costume. This concept may have lead to both Scubattack and the New Adventures figure Hydron:

*Image source: The Power and the Honor Foundation Catalog*

James McElroy did the designs for both Tower Tools and Cliff Climber. His concept art below is very close to what was actually released by Mattel:

Toys & Packaging

The Power Gear set (they are called out collectively by this name as a group in Mattel’s official materials) first appear in the 1987 Mattel dealer catalog, shown below:

Each accessory (powered by a single AA battery) was able to provide two to three different motorized action features. In a way these sets were adding to figures action features that didn’t exist previously, or at least not in a motorized way.

Cliff Climber

The Cliff Climber, in addition to its powered grappling hook, had a “chest crawler” (basically a rotating drum that could be used to propel the figure when laying on its front) and a powered drill feature.

Scubattack

The primary feature of the Scubattack was to of course propel the figure through the water with its propeller. But it also offered a water blaster function, and, scraping the bottom of the barrel for action feature ideas, hollow “flotation tanks.”

Tower Tools

Tower Tools, aside from its articulated, clamping arm and ability to propel itself across a suspended string, came with a rotating hatchet saw.

Each of the Power Gear accessories came packaged in a closed box, similar to Modulok and Multi-Bot. William George provided the box art for all three packages:

*As I mentioned in my Box Art from A-Z series, this artwork bizarrely shows He-Man and Prince Adam in the same scene! Thanks to Nate in the comments for the reminder.*

The packaging layout for all three Power Gear accessories is shown below (images via Grayskull Museum):

Øyvind Meisfjord has shared some images and videos of each of the three sets in action, to help illustrate what they can do:

Comic Appearances

Like most of the toys that came out at the end of the line, the Power Gear set weren’t heavily featured in comics or artwork. Probably their most effective showcase came in the MOTU Star Comics, issue #8, where all three are worked into the same story. In the story, they are the inventions of Man-At-Arms, and used by the Heroic Warriors:

Scubattack seems to show up most frequently of the three sets, otherwise. It shows up in issues 7 and 9 of the 1988 German Ehapa Verlag comics, used by Skeletor, Tri-Klops, Blade and Jitsu:

It also shows up in issue 1 of the 1989 Magic Boy series, used by Hordak:

Other Artwork

In terms of artwork, the Power Gear set shows up in a few places. The most striking by far is this beautiful poster by Earl Norem for the Spring 1987 issue of the US MOTU Magazine:

The full set also appears in this interesting poster by Esteban Maroto:

Scubattack appeared in this illustration by Errol McCarthy:

The Power Gear set also appeared in a few advertisements toward the end of the line:

I can’t speak to how fun these actually were because I never owned them. I will say that they look awfully earth-like, and a little out place on Eternia. They’ve never been my favorites for that reason, but their action features do look neat!

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Artwork

Box Art From A-Z, Part Six: 1987

Posted on January 30, 2017September 14, 2024 by Adam McCombs

Written by Adam McCombs

One of the best things about getting new He-Man toys as a kid was the box art. The toys were of course amazing and fun, but personally I spent almost as much time staring at the boxes as playing with the toys. I remember being pretty heartbroken when my mother made me throw away my Castle Grayskull and Battle Ram boxes. She saw them as clutter, but for me they were almost stories in and of themselves. You could see whole adventures unfolding in a single painted scene.

Unfortunately, good photographs or scans of the original art are not available for every piece. If you happen to have a nicer images than I do (higher resolution, better composition, etc), please do feel free to share, and I’ll make an update! For pictures of the packaging itself, a neutral (white or black) background is preferred. High resolution scans of the artwork, where it appears without logos, would be ideal. Bottom line – if you have better images than I do, please share them!

One final note: I’m defining box art as the front-facing painted artwork that appeared on boxed Masters of the Universe toys. The illustrations on blister card packaging, then, are outside the scope of this series.

Part Six: 1987

Name: Beam-Blaster & Artilleray
Year: 1987
Artist: William George
Description: In a shadowy desert scene, He-Man uses the Beam-Blaster to “blast” Hordak from his position on the Artilleray vehicle.

Name: Bionatops
Year: 1987
Artist: Warren Hile
Description: He-Man charges into battle atop the mighty Bionatops.

Name: Cliff Climber Power Gear
Year: 1987
Artist: William George
Description: Man-At-Arms scales a rocky cliff face with the Roto-Drill attachment at the ready; He-Man uses the Cliff Climber’s chest crawler feature to zoom down the mountain as Skeletor loses his footing. An enormous moon illuminates a range of pointed rock formations in the background.

Name: Gyrattacker (unproduced)
Year: 1987
Artist: William George
Description: Rotar launches the attack module (piloted by He-Man) at Twistoid. He-Man zooms off into the crater-filled desert landscape.

Name: Scubattack Power Gear
Year: 1987
Artist: William George
Description: Skeletor explores the murky depths of an Eternian ocean using the Scubattack. In a separate scene, Faker and Clamp Champ, both equipped with Scubattacks, engage in underwater combat as a vicious-looking eel looks on.

Name: Tower Tools Power Gear
Year: 1987
Artist: William George
Description: He-Man scales castle walls using Power Tools, as Prince Adam and Clamp Champ battle Ninjor far below. Sy-Klone and Terror Claws Skeletor battle on upper levels of the castle using Tower Tools circular saw attachments.

Name: Turbodactyl
Year: 1987
Artist: Warren Hile
Description: Turbodactyl, guided be He-Ro (unproduced), catches King Hiss in his claws. Several other Turbodactyls soar above a rocky cliff face.

Name: Tyrantisaurus Rex
Year: 1987
Artist: Warren Hile
Description: King Hiss launches a Dyna-Drone from the mighty Tyrantisaurus Rex.

Masters of the Universe patent illustrations

Posted on March 20, 2016September 8, 2024 by Adam McCombs

By Adam McCombs

Over the years Mattel filed for patents on a number of Masters of the Universe-related ideas. The language employed is rather difficult to get through, but the illustrations are a lot of fun. I’ve collected some of them here. Special thanks to Manic Man for locating several of these patents, including Blast Attak, Rotar/Twistoid and Gyrattacker! Update: I’ve uploaded each set of patent illustrations as Imgur posts, and am now linking those images offsite.

Included illustrations: