New Characters Coming to the MOTU Origins Line

Every now and then we write up editorial pieces to share our thoughts, hopes, and dreams for the toy lines we love. Since 2019, what started as a toy line to bring the nostalgia from the 1980’s back into our lives, Masters of the Universe Origins has has blossomed into a flourishing line it has captured collector’s hearts and blended the right nostalgia hooks with updated figure designs with articulation. As the vintage MOTU Origins lines winds down with the final set figures to be made, we see no signs of the line slowing down anytime soon. In this article, we break down theories over a few topics, including (1) the importance of Mattel successfully introducing MOTU Origins crossovers as part of their master (pun intended) business plan, the runway for (2) brand new characters to further extend the Masters of the Universe line, (3) some evidence that Mattel is using the Turtles of Grayskull line to produce tooling for the Cartoon Collection figures.

July 19, 2024: Dart-Os

Axel Gimenez keeps the teases and new characaters coming with Dart-Os, a new Snake Men character that will be featured in the English version of the “Kings of the Snake Men” book. Axel announced on his Instagram page, “DART-OS, another ancient concept for Mattel that Leo and I bring to life as a new Masters of the Universe Classics custom. This and other new material will be included in the upcoming English edition of the book “Kings of the Snake Men.” Although this concept is held over from the Masters of the Universe Classics line, we have seen several un-produced MOTU Classics figures made into MOTU Origins figures.

June 15, 2024: Evidence of New Characters

Enter The Crossover

At SDCC 2019, Mattel debuted the Masters of the WWE Universe, which brought the first playset and prototypes of the wave one figures, ahead of the release of the wave one MOTU Origins figures, with the same interchangeable parts features. In addition to bringing the two universes filled with beefcakes warrior princesses, Mattel partnered with the WWE to fund the future of the Masters of the Universe Origins line.

Since then, the MOTU Origins line has spun off into sublines like the Rulers of the Sun and, which brought Yla Eason’s characters she created back in 1986 to the forefront of pop culture and nostalgia. This partnership was beneficial to Mattel as it extended the MOTU Origins line and brought in brand new characters to the lore.

More recently, Mattel has been partnering with big brands and creating crossover lines with big backing from huge media giants like Nickelodeon and Netflix. The yet to be determined success of the Stranger Things MOTU Origins lines, in October 2023, brought new tooling in the form of larger hands and tree trunk like feet. Not knowing where this new tooling would be reused, we did expect to see it again and we did not have to wait long.

Here is a shot of the upcoming Target exclusive Vecna and He-Man two-pack!

A little more than a month later in November 2023, The Turtles of Grayskull line was revealed. The smashing success of the Turtles of Grayskull line is proof that when Mattel can creatively fuse to blockbuster franchises together, they can literally print money with plastic. In this line, we’ve seen the Demogorgon’s buck used for Mutated Moss Man and Mutated Moss Man’s earthy tentacles used for the recently revealed Vecna Stranger Things crossover figure. Mattel doesn’t need an excuse to repack He-Man and Skeletor but this gives them a good excuse to make some extra money and we don’t blame them.

The Turtles of Grayskull line checklists are below, which reuse parts from MOTU Origins but they are also using the ToG line to create new Cartoon Collection figures.

New Characters Coming MOTU

You don’t have to be a rocket scientist or an evil Horde scientist like Modulok to know that Mattel will be trying to squeeze every dollar out of the body parts and weapons they are designing. As we know, the tooling for the final figures in the Masters of the Universe Origins line is very expensive and we expect Mattel to be making multiple figures out of them.

New Snake Men Teased

The Vypor Cardback art illustration created by the talented Roy Juarez and team recently released an illustration of the MOTU Origins Vypor cardback, , which shows the full sketch! In addition to seeing Eldor, Eldor on his knees in front of Vypor, we also get a better look at the other new Snake Men in the scene, along with Lady Slither and her throne. Up close, we can see the amazing colors of Cham-Or and these figures and concepts will definitely bring some color into your Snake Men display.

New Characters Teased from Kings of Snake Men Book

Cham-Or Tease

Cham-Or is a new Snake Men character and will reuse parts from Tung Lashor, Mosquitor, Skeletor, Rattlor, Keldor, Castle Grayskull Space Suit, and Frog Monger!

Axel himself responded to our Instagram post and highlighted two very cool details about Cham-Or!

Seen on the cover of Axel Gimenez and Leonardo Vega’s new book: KINGS OF THE SNAKE MEN , two new MOTU Origins Figures are being teased! There are two figures teased on the cover of the new book, they are High Priest Pythonus, yet to be named Red Snake men character with the lower body of Lady Slither, and Toxoid! These figures have a long history of being teased on the back of Kol-Dar’s card art and on the back of the MOTU Origins Moss Man package art! So let’s take a look at what’s in this magnificent masterpiece and the teases they hold within!

According to mmtoydesign on instagram:

We know you are waiting for it. But to make our KINGS OF THE SNAKE MEN book even better than we originally planned, (which is of course an almost impossible task) we decided to add some more information, photos, and art to the book. It continues to grow and improve – so the final presale date will shift to January/February 2024, followed by the fast delivery of a great book to you. Stay tuned!

mmtoydesign

Seen below is the new Kings of the Snake Men Book that teases two new MOTU Origins figures!

One of the images, which we presume is from the inside of the book or the back cover clearly show that unnamed Red Snake men Character in MOTU Origins form as you can see below! He is using the Camo Khan hooded head, Cobra Khan body and lady slither tail! Also, you will notice what looks like the prototype for Tung Lashor to the right of Fang-Or but that figure is actually a new character called Toxoid.

Toxoid Tease

Thanks to Toy Habits Crew Member Allison Troy (aka Retro Toy Princess), she alerted us to the fact that the Tung Lashor repaint seen to the right of Fang-Or is actually a character called Toxoid! Toxoid was first teased on the MOTU Origins Mattel Creations Kol-Dar card art and we have not seen him since until today! You can see Toxoid, along with Red Snake Men character with the body of Lady Slither, on the card art to the right of Kol-Dar! In fact, there are a whole host of Snake Men teases which also include Shadow Master, Reptilax, and Lady Slither (who has been released as a Mattel Creations exclusive.

Toxoid Figure

The figure was intentionally blurred in the photo but you can clearly see the resemblance to the Toxoid illustration on the Kol-Dar card art. Given that the future Snake Men will be Mattel Creations exclusives, there is a very high likelihood that we’ll see him go up for preorder but the only question remains…when?

Moss Man Rear Box Art

The rear of Moss Man’s package is a stunning full color illustration of the entire rear of the package with Moss Man poking out of a ferny bush, fully armored up, mace in hand! He is looking over two new foes. If you want to check out our full article on Moss Man’s package art and the incredible teases found on it, head over to: Moss Man MOTU Origins Art Reveal Teases Power of Grayskull (toyhabits.com)

There is a beautiful reddish orange Eternian sunset sky in the background. Standing in the distance are High Priest Pythonus, and an unnamed Red Snake character that Axel Gimenez came up with.

Red Snake Creature

There is one more red snake creature that is prominently featured on the back of the card back art work for Moss Man and you can see the actual figure in the image below.

Moss Man Rear Box Art

The rear of the package is a stunning full color illustration of the entire rear of the package with Moss Man poking out of a ferny bush, fully armored up, mace in hand! He is looking over two new foes. There is a beautiful reddish orange Eternian sunset sky in the background. Standing in the distance are Nepthu in Snake Form, and an unnamed Red Snake character that Axel Gimenez has come up with.

We can see a new red Snake Men that will be using Lady Slithers tail!

Mr. Home Arcade has a custom red Snake Men creature that was teased on the Moss Man card and he will be making an appearance in the MOTU Origins line.

The creativity of Mr. Home Arcade astounds us as he recreated the box art scene in real like using his red Snake Man custom and a custom High Priest Pythonus from Mega Customx.

Mr. Home Arcade also did a video on the red Snake Men creature dubbed Serpentosss:

Extendar’s Mini Comic Teases an Evil Villian Version of Extendar

Further evidence of this comes from the Extendar Mini Comic, where, at the end, we see one of Hordak’s evil creations come to life, which will set the stage for an evil version of Extendar, which will reuse many of the parts from the Mattel Creations exclusive. As we see in the mini comic, cracking Extendar’s chest open to reveal the Eternium Ore matrix (which looks a lot like Optimus Prime’s from the Transformers), the source of Extendar’s powers, is revealed. Suddenly, Extendar breaks free and grabs Hordak’s face while kicking Leech back! Extendar goes back through the portal and find He-Man where he tells him that he has regrets for succumbing to Hordak’s offer many years ago. Extrendar says, “Never again will I look to others with jealously for their success, but admiration instead,” and strives to be the best version of himself. Hordak let him go and did not pursue him as Hordak’s end game is to give Extendar’s power to a new dark warrior born of pure evil.

Purple Cy-Clops

Standing next to Stinkor on the Eternia box art, you could make out the purple Cyclops character that we have seen teased several times in the past. He has been seen on the Castle Grayskull package art, Wundar’s cardback art, and on the Battlefield Warriors set package as well.

We got our first hint at Cyclops on a very early product in the Masters of the Universe Origins line, and it was very subtle. If you look closely at the front left-hand corner of the Prince Adam and the Sky Sled packaging artwork, you will notice a shadowy figure watching Beast Man and Teela fighting each other. That shadowy figure was none other than Cyclops! You could see the back of him, but his horned helmet, sword and shield were all clearly visible!

Our next hint at Cyclops was a little more visible, when we saw him locked in battle with Fisto. In this illustration we get a clear view of Cyclop’s fierce looking face, his Viking style horned helmet, battle armor and battle knee pads complete with spikes! You can kind of make out his purple-colored skin as well.

Next, we got a very clear view of Cyclops joining in battle with Two Bad, Faker on Duplicat, and Battle Armor Skeletor on Panthor against our Heroic Battle Armor He-Man riding Battle Cat and another female warrior which might be Teela, or perhaps someone else? And we also get another hint of that mysterious green frog man, just to the right of Faker and Duplicat. But that can be a discussion for another time! Cyclops again is shown is his horned Viking style helmet, is wheedling a chained mace weapon, and has purple skin and brownish orange chest and knee armor. Now this being the third time we are seeing Cyclops on package art, each time he is getting more prominent and more detailed.

And now the latest time we spot Cyclops, he is the featured character on the cover of the Wun-Dar packaged in mini comic “Lost Legend” ! He is a pivotal part of the mini comic story and is featured battling Wun-Dar throughout the mini comic! So is this now a huge hint, that Cyclops is coming to the Origins line? Only time will tell, but it has sure been fun to review all the times we have spotted him and to speculate!