Twistoid: Evil Speed-Twisting Robot (1987)
Written by Adam McCombs
Name: Twistoid
Faction: Evil Warriors
Approximate US release date: November 11, 1987
Like many figures from the 1987 wave of figures, I never once encountered Rotar either in a toy store or at a friend’s house. He was a gimmick-heavy figure that was produced in very low numbers at the tail end of the line, and so is one of the most expensive figures to find used today.
Design & Development
Unfortunately I don’t have much information about the design history of Twistoid. I can share some dates from public filings involving Twistoid, as well as the date of the earliest ad I’ve been able to find for the figure. I’ll note that I suspect Twistoid was released earlier than November 1987, but ads that year for Masters of the Universe toys are few and far between:
• 06/23/1986: Rotar patent filed
• 09/30/1986: Twistoid first use in commerce filing
• 10/06/1986: Twistoid trademarked
• 11/11/1987: First Twistoid newspaper ad
Figure & Packaging
Twistoid came with a few different accessories. He had a scythe weapon to help him cut down enemies when he was spinning. He had a pedestal that he could stand on while spinning, and he had rotating “hatchet whipper” accessory consisting of a purple center piece and two orange hatchets attached. After revving up Twistoid’s spinning action feature (done manually by dragging the point across the floor), Twistoid could be placed on the hatchet whipper, which would cause it to spin. Like Rotar, the back of his helmet looks quite face-like, perhaps to help him appear to have a visible face even while spinning.
The figure itself was a 100% new tool, with blocky robot arms and a garish color scheme. His nose and mouth actually look organic, although canonically he’s just a robot (more on that later). Like Sy-Klone, his arms were ball jointed and were loose enough to raise to horizontal position while spinning.
Twistoid was packed on an oversized, deluxe card. The front of the card features an illustration by Bruce Timm, while the back is illustrated by Errol McCarthy.
Rotar and Twistoid were both packed with this instruction booklet (images via He-Man.org):
Update: Lanace from Fulguropop reached out to let me know of a predecessor toy from the late 1960s, called the Wizzzer or Wiz-z-zer. It was a top with apparently the same internal mechanism, that was also wound up by dragging the rubber tip along the ground. You can see Mattel even recycled some of the instruction art from Wizzzer for Rotor and Twistoid, below:
There seems to have been a different set of instructions, with different illustrations and layout, in the Spanish release. (Image source: Mundo Masters).
Backstory & Comics
Twistoid appeared in the 1987 Style Guide, where he was given a backstory. It’s made clear in his bio that he’s an android, rather than a cyborg like Rotar:
Name: Twistoid
Group Affiliation: Evil Warriors
Role: Evil Energy Droid
Power: Ability to store up immense amounts of energy, then burst out in a super spinning action, plowing over warriors and taking on heroic Energy Droids.
Character Profile: Created by Skeletor as an answer to the heroic droid built by Man-At-Arms, Twistoid is a purely robotic Energy Droid that loves nothing more than to spin into battle and slam Rotar like crazy!
Weapons: Ball and chain, whirling sword and terror-gears.
Year of toy intro: 1987
Twistoid came packaged with a minicomic entitled Energy Zoids. Interestingly this is different from the “Energy Droids” appellation in the Style Guide. In the story, Rotar is a wounded solder who was healed inside Man-At-Arms’ gyro machine. Skeletor, seeing the capability of the machine, decides to steal it and kidnap Rotar. In the process, Rotar is turned to stone by Snake Face’s gaze. Later, Skeletor creates the robot Twistoid using the Gyro Machine. Rotar is released from stone and forced to fight Twistoid. The story was written by Phil White, with pencils by Chris Carlson.
Unfortunately, to my knowledge this was the only appearance of Twistoid in any vintage comic story.
Artwork & Advertisements
Twistoid appears in the background of the 1987 Preternia poster by William George:
Twistoid also appeared in this Swedish illustrated pinup:
He also appears in a number of international ads:
Rotar in Action
Thanks to Øyvind Meisfjord for providing the image and video below showcasing Rotar and Twistoid in action!
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A great read, as always! Thank you!
Odd how his Style Guide image gives him Rotar’s weapon.
The best thing about living in NE Ohio in the 1980s (as a kid) is that it seemed the region used to get EVERYTHING. There was a Children’s Palace across the street from Belden Village Mall in North Canton. It was the only place I ever saw an Eternia, and in 1987, they had essentially a wall of Rotars, Twistoids, and Powers of Grayskull archosaurs.
O’ course, by 1990, they had nothing but a wall of Stinkors and Hordaks . . . .