Origins of Lady Slither and the Snake Lair: Zilora MOTU Origins Cartoon Collection Deep Cut Concept

With the reveal of the MOTU Origins Cartoon Collection at SDCC 2023 and the subsequent preorder of the first 6 figures, it seems like the skies the limit! While we are getting hints and teases of future Cartoon Collection figures and vehicles on the MOTU Origins cardbacks, there is a particular character that caught the eye of one perceptive fan! Thanks to an eagle eyed teelaholic for making the connection that the recently released MOTU Origins Mattel Creations exclusive, Lady Slither, looks a lot like Zilora from the He-Man and the Masters of the Universe Filmation episode, “The Time Corridor.”

His post on Instagram caught the eye the gifted and talented Axel Gimenez, who replied and said he’ll “do a post explaining and showing and showing the concept of her,” Until then, we will patiently await Axel’s update as it is amazing he is giving fans a peak into his concept process! While we are waiting, we can give you the Filmation backstory of Zilora and the Snake Clan from the Masters of the Universe Filmation cartoon episode, The Time Corridor.

The Origins of Lady Slither

Today is the day where Axel shared the inspiration for not only Lady Slither, but the Snake Lair itself! Lady Slither! Axel says on his Instagram post, “Ten years ago, while I was working on the art of the minicomic #5 of the Classics line, the first idea for the Snake Lair was to reuse the concept from the vintage line of the unproduced Treehouse playset, but I quickly discarded that option to make the design more related to the Snake Men. That is why the main aspect is the adaptation of that faction’s logo to the facade of the fortress.?

Regarding Lady Slither, the suggestion I was given was to take the slave girl who appears at the feet of King Hiss in the vintage minicomic “King of the Snake Men”. Seeing that her design was something too generic to relate to the Snake Men, I decided to work on something totally different. At that time I was more inclined to take elements from Filmation, and so I thought of hinting at a possible relation to Zilora, the warrior woman and leader of the Snake Clan during Eternia’s distant past (Preternia?), who appeared in the first episode of that series, “The Time Corridor”. At first I didn’t think about the option that she can change her legs into a snake tail. I would think of it some time later as a way to follow the King Hiss action feature, although in the opposite way. ?

The Time Corridor Episode Synopsis

According to the Wiki GrayskullAdam, Cringer, Man-At-Arms and Orko are enjoying a picnic in the grounds outside the palace when Zoar summons them to Castle Grayskull. When they arrive, the Sorceress tells them that Skeletor has travelled into the past, and is working alongside the Ape Clan in a plot to destroy Castle Grayskull with an artifact called the Wheel of Infinity.

The heroes use the Sorceress’ time portal to travel to Eternia’s past, where they immediately meet and save Zilora, the leader of the Snake Clan, from a Dragosaur. With the gratitude of the Snake Clan, the heroes enlist their aid in storming Skeletor’s fortress. The fighting is fierce, but during the battle Zilora is captured and taken to Dragosaur Isle. He-Man, Man-At-Arms, Orko and Battle Cat follow the captors to the island, and manage to save Zilora.

The Sorceress uses her powers to reach through time and appear to them in a vision; she urges them back to the fortress, where Skeletor starts the Wheel of Infinity spinning. He-Man grabs the wheel and spins it even faster, overloading the artifact. Fearing an imminent explosion. Skeletor makes his escape and He-Man hurls the Wheel into the reaches of space, where it explodes. After they have made their farewells to Zilora, the Sorceress summons He-Man and his friends back to the present, and thanks them for saving Castle Grayskull.

Zilora Filmation Character

Zilora is the The strong-willed leader of the Snake Clan from Eternia’s past, Zilora was both a great leader and a warrior. She confronted Skeletor, whom she dubbed “Ghostface,” for turning the once-peaceful Ape Clan against her people. Distrustful of strangers, she would jump to conclusions about them. Her armor had a snake motif. From Eternia`s ancient past. In he Filmation cartoon, she does not trust people on first appearance, she proves herself to be a kind-hearted being with a warriors. You could argue that she is the precursor to Teela but can save that discussion for another day.

Lady Slither and Teela Tooling

The great thing, like it or not, is the mashup of parts reused in the Masters of the Universe lines can be turned into a totally different figure! Since there are so many characters in the Filmation cartoon, there are hundreds of new characters that could be created with a simple reuse of MOTU Origins figure parts that are already created.

Zilora Custom Concepts

We came across some custom concepts and renders for Zilora to show what a MOTU Origins figure would like like!

We came across a custom vintage MOTU Zilora and, if a figure were to be made of the Zilora, this is pretty close to what she might look like!