He-Ro and Eldor coming to MOTU Origins
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An anonymous source has confirmed that both He-Ro and Eldor are coming to MOTU Origins! This is absolute music to our ears, as we have been waiting for the Powers of Grayskull to come to the line! If you have been paying any attention to our posts or watching our YouTube channel, you will know that He-Ro is my absolute favorite MOTU character, so I have to tell you, I am over the moon with excitement over this news! And of course, you can’t have He-Ro without Eldor, so it is incredible to confirm that He-ro and Eldor coming to MOTU Origins! Let’s take a look at the history of each character, previous released figures, and teases in the MOTU Origins card art that have lead us anticipate this incredible Powers of Grayskull characters!
The Powers of Grayskull
As we mentioned above, the Powers of Grayskull was a short lived off shoot of the Masters of the Universe line in the late 1980’s. Set to take place in the pre-historic land of Preternia, only a couple dinosaurs were made and of course our famous two giants Megator and Tytus.
According to the lore, the Powers of Grayskull are a set of magical abilities that grants immense strength, wisdom, and protection against dark forces to the bearer. These powers were first imbued in Castle Grayskull, which served as a center of power for good forces in the universe. The guardian of the castle, Sorceress, possessed the powers and could bestow them on the chosen champions. The powers of Grayskull include strength, agility, wisdom, telekinesis, teleportation, and the ability to communicate with animals. The primary power is the Power of Grayskull, which can grant the wielder incredible strength and enhance their fighting skills. The powers of Grayskull are often sought by the villains of the universe, such as Skeletor, who wants to use them for his evil purposes. However, the powers can only be used for good, and only a worthy champion who possesses a pure heart and courage can wield them.
The packaging of the three dinosaur toys that did see release before the line’s discontinuation bore the following text:
“Travel back in time through a secret time portal–and discover the ORIGIN of THE POWERS OF GRAYSKULL! Learn how He-Man became so strong! And explore the magical world of Preternia–home of HE-RO, the Most Powerful Wizard in the Universe! Monstrous dinosaurs and fierce giants–both good and evil–struggle for control of this strange & hostile land! The dinosaurs in the time of Grayskull–Tyrantisaurus Rex, Bionatops and Turbodactyl–each possess a fantastic mechanical power! Can HE-RO master all the good magic of the Ancient Wizards, and protect future Eternia from forever falling in the claws of evil? Look For HE-RO and The Powers of Grayskull coming your way in 1987!”
He-Ro | Wiki Grayskull | Fandom
He-Ro
He-Ro was a character that was featured in the mostly unproduced Powers of Grayskull line. He was supposed to take over He-Man as the man Heroic Warrior in the line, but sadly was never produced. Now this is the second tease for He-Ro we are now seeing in artwork! Axel Gimenez himself had made a comment about this a few months back which we covered in our MOTU Origins He-Ro Tease article. How cool would it be to get a shiny vac metal gold colored MOTU Origins version of He-Ro, just the thought of it makes me so happy and excited! Also, this opens the door to the Powers of Grayskull characters and dinos! The possibilities are endless! Just the thought of getting a shiny vac-metal version of He-Ro in the MOTU Origins line makes me so incredibly excited and happy! So let’s explore this MOTU Origins He-Ro Tease!
History of He-Ro
He-Ro was a character that Mattel came up with that was supposed to be the new lead heroic leader in the late 1980’s Powers of Grayskull Line to take the place of He-Man. By that time in the line, interest in Masters of the Universes was waning and kids’ attention was now going elsewhere. Well, the Powers of Grayskull line was very short-lived with only a couple of Dinosaurs and Giants being produced in the oversees markets. Only a prototype was made of He-Ro, with gorgeous gold colored vac-metal armor, but sadly, the He-Ro figure was never produced.
According to He-Ro | Wiki Grayskull | Fandom:
He-Ro is the name of two fictional characters in the Masters of the Universe franchise, both linked to the main character He-Man and both achieving only a “prototype stage”, until 2009, when the initial version was finally released as part of the Masters of the Universe Classics line.
He-Ro was planned to be a new character introduction, the centerpiece of The Powers of Grayskull, a spin-off line of Mattel‘s Masters of the Universe toy line in 1987. The Powers of Grayskull was to be set in Eternia’s prehistoric past, called “Preternia” to differentiate, and promised to reveal secrets about the source of He-Man’s power, through the adventures of He-Ro, a young but powerful wizard who lived in that time.
In Mattel’s license guide it stated that Gray (the original alter ego for He-Ro) could, “by placing one hand over his heart & flexing the other into a muscle & saying, Magic & strength tempered by heart… I stand for peace!”, he would become He-Ro of Grayskull, the most powerful wizard in the Universe.
However, the line was cancelled in early 1987, and none of this came to fruition. The 1987 Mattel Toy Catalog published pictures of the proposed toys from the line, including an action figure of He-Ro. Three of the dinosaur toys from the line actually made it to stores, and the two “giant” action figures saw release as exclusives in Italy, but He-Ro was never released as a toy.
He-Ro | Wiki Grayskull | Fandom
Here you can see early prototypes of the never produced He-Ro figure by Mattel.
Here you can see early test shot prototypes of the never produced He-Ro figure by Mattel as well.
And of course, once we got to Masters of the Universe Classics, He-Ro was finally released as a production figure for the first time in MOTU history! It was quickly followed by the Super7 5.5″ vintage style version. Then in 2022, we finally got He-Ro in the Masterverse line!
He-Ro in the Revelation Cartoon
He-Ro was famously seen for the first time in animated form in the 2021 animated series Masters of the Universe: Revelation; episode The Forge at the Forest of Forever. In this story, He-Ro appears in Preternia, a kind of afterlife where the heros of Eternia go to spend their afterlife. Here, He-Ro was one of the two sons of King Grayskull.
This is the appearance that the new Masterverse figure is modeled after, and I think Mattel did a wonderful job capturing the likeness of his animated version.
Super7 He-Ro
Fast forward the clock to 2018, and here comes Super7 with their awesome retro style 5.5″ Masters of the Universe figures. They did what Mattel was unable to do nearly 35 years earlier, they actually produced a stunning He-Ro action figure, shiny gold vac-metal armor and all! He included his staff of power. When you pressed down on the top of the staff, the staff opened up like a flower petal and revealed a beautiful translucent green gem inside!
The Packaging for this figure was also modeled after the short-lived vintage Powers of Grayskull line with that gorgeous new logo and illustrated art of He-Ro holding his staff on the front, and an illustration of He-Ro battling Megator on the back.
MOTU Classics He-Ro
We finally got the very first action figure produced of He-Ro in 2009, Mattel brought us He-Ro as part of the Masters of the Universe Classics line as a San Diego Comic Con exclusive! He was sold in limited quantities and also was latter available on Mattycollector.com.
He came packed with 3 different color gems, green, purple and red. They were randomly packed in, and you would not know which one you were going to get until you opened the package. Funny enough, that little gem was how the Toy Sorceress and Michael met! The Toy Sorceress was looking for the green gem, and Michael had one he was willing to trade, a few email exchanges later, the two became good friends and partners on the ToyHabits.com website and the rest is Toy Habits history! It only seems fitting that they are now both co-authoring this review!
Masterverse Figure
When He-Ro was revealed back in March, we could not be more excited and could not wait to have him in hand! He-Ro’s face sculpt features a younger looking He-Ro than we’ve seen since he debut in the Masters of the Universe Classics line, with long flowing brown hair, a head band with a red jewel in the center, and an angular face design. He has silver and blue forearm bracers with brown leather like straps that are removable! The waist piece reminds me of Roboto for Masterverse, so we could see that same style coming down the line for more figures. He also includes a nice red soft goods cape, similar to that of She-Ra. The boots and shin armor match his gold chest armor, which features an H that resembles two arrows pointing away from each other. Finally, He-Ro’s staff has a basic visual design but can open up to reveal a green gem! I love how this figure turned out, but my only wish is that he can with either vac-metal chest armor and boots, or that they made his chest armor and boots a more shinny gold color somehow. Super7 was able to do it, and Mattel has been incorporating vac-metal into their Origins line, so Mattel has no excuse.
He-Ro Teases
The first time we saw He-Ro teases was on the Fang-or card back art work. You can see him prominently featured on the gorgeous rear card back art.
This Eternia box are is beautifully stunning, and there are so many easter eggs in this artwork. With these new hi-res images, we can now more clearly see the teases for each of the characters. Most importantly, our focus will be He-Ro who is prominently featured on the artwork.
The battle in front of Eternia is outstanding and the colors are vivid! Here you can see a close up of the stunning illustration of He-Ro standing by the right claw of the Lion-o of the central tower.
This box art features my personal favorite, the Powers of Grayskull teases! First of all you will see front and center on the artwork. Here we can see figure teases of Laser Power He-Man, Laser Light Skeletor and He-Ro! We can also see Vypor behind Skeletor as well! These teases on the Eternia MOTU Origins Mattel Creations package art look incredible and seeing that they are front and center tells us that they are all but guaranteed to be coming to the line!
Back on May 18, 2023, Axel Gimenez posted a very intriguing post to Instagram today, with a Super7 5.5″ Vintage Style He-Ro in package next to him and he says “Working, working, and working ??” with a pen sitting next to He-Ro. Now He-Ro holds a very special significance to the Toy Habits family, because it was a friendly trade of the MOTUC He-Ro’s staff that brought the Toy Sorceress and Michael of Toy Habits together to form an amazing partnership of the Toy Habits team you all know and love today! So, if this is a real indication of He-Ro coming to the MOTU Origins line, believe me I would be totally over the moon! that I don’t know about you, but I feel like we have been getting small hints of the Powers of Grayskull for a while now. First with the Camo Khan Card Art Teases, then with the Moss Man MOTU Origins Art Reveal, which both were heavily influenced and teased many Powers of Grayskull characters! If you follow us on YouTube, you know that we have been predicting The Powers of Grayskull to be coming to the MOTU Origins line in 2024! We have had several theories and wish list videos where we discuss our theories on the Powers of Grayskull being the next big theme in the MOTU Origins line, as it naturally follows the Rise of the Snake Men, where the Snake Men originated in Preternia, but we will have more about that for you below.
How cool would it be to get a shiny vac metal gold colored MOTU Origins version of He-Ro, just the thought of it makes me so happy and excited! Also, this opens the door to the Powers of Grayskull characters and dinos! The possibilities are endless! So let’s explore this MOTU Origins He-Ro Tease!
Eldor
Eldor is a fun one, as he was one of the unproduced prototype characters of the “Powers of Grayskull” spin off line that never came to fruition in the 1980’s Masters of the Universe Line. Prototype images of Eldor and He-Ro had been around for many years, but we never got these figures as kids. But in 2019, thanks to bay area based Super7, we finally got Eldor & He-Ro figures as part of the Masters of the Universe Vintage Style 5.5″ collection. Eldor known as the Heroic Guardian of the Book of Living spells, looks just like his prototype images! The giant tri-fold book works like a magic trick and changes images by alternating the way the book is opened.
Source: Eldor battleramblog.com
Source: Eldor battleramblog.com
Eldor Trademark Renewal
You can read all about Eldor’s creation and back story on the Eldor: (1987/2019) battleramblog.com. The trademark for Eldor was renewed by Mattel on 06/22/2021, so we can see that was also fairly recently. Let’s hope Mattel has plans for perhaps a “Powers of Grayskull” sub-line! How awesome would that be? I would love to get a vac-metal He-Ro as well in the Origins style articulation!!!
Eldor teases
Axel Gimenez posted a photo on his Instagram page of the Super7 vintage Masters of the Universe Eldor figure that is on card and unopened. He simply put “✨Working…✨” in his post and the last time he did this, he featured an image of the Super7 vintage Masters of the Universe He-Ro, which can only mean one thing. Based on a recent post made by Mattel, they spilled the beans and made it publicly known that the MOTU Origins Eternia box art featured a ton of easter eggs as the Origins line is known for those teases turning into figures. Eldor was conspicuously missing from the teases on the Eternia box art so we are taking this a very good sign that (1) Eldor is coming to the Masters of the Universe and (2) that the Powers of Grayskull are headed to the Masters of the Universe Origins line.
Eldor Teased on Camo Khan Card Art
With absolutely stunning artwork by Axel Gimenez, the front of the Camo Khan card back features all sorts of exciting MOTU characters. We can see a host of Powers of Grayskull characters. We have Megator, King Hiss riding the Tyrantisaurus Rex. We can also see Tung Lashor, Rattlor, Squeeze and Snake Face, who were also teased to be coming to the Origins line! King Grayskull is riding Bionatops, and as we saw on the Eternia display, there was an Origins version of King Grayskull as well! We already saw Rattlor and King Hiss revealed at SDCC just last month, so we know those Snake Men are coming! Then we see teases of Moss Man and Sharella, as we covered in Wun-Dar Card Art Teases New MOTU Origins Characters. Also pictured is Eldor, Turbodactyl and Tytus as well! Also illustrated is Castle Grayskull and the recently revealed Eternia playset! There are so many characters here that we have either predicted thru previous card art teases or haven gotten leaks on, so it is very exciting to see these characters on this artwork!
Complete Your MOTU Collection
Be sure to check out our Masters of the Universe shop pages where we’ve curated figures from MOTU Origins, Masterverse, Classics, Vintage and more so you can find the figures you need easier!
