Remaining Vintage Figures Still to be Released in the MOTU Origins Line
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As the MOTU Origins line continues to grow in success, fans keep asking when will we finish off the original vintage action figure characters in the Origins line? There are 16 figures that remain to be made for the Origins line, some of which we know are coming and some that still have yet to be announced. This graphic by New Eternia on Instagram inspired me to write this article. Many of these have been teased on various card backs and packaging art. Which one do you want to be released next and which ones do you want most? We take a look at all the remaining characters and analyze what we know about them. Have we seen them teased on art, already revealed, not mentioned at all or just having their trademarks renewed? We will answer all those questions on the remaining 16 vintage figures still to be released in the MOTU Origins Line! Plus we have 2 unreleased figures that we had to include the Powers of Grayskull He-Ro & Eldor!
Rio Blast
After being teased for quite some time on MOTU Origins box and card art, it is great to finally see Rio Blast come to the MOTU Origins line. Revealed at SDCC 2024 Mattel booth, this was a very long anticipated figure that has fans over the moon with excitement. Now that is he definitely confirmed to be coming to the line, it is just a matter of time before we see him come up for preorder on Mattel Creations.
They packed all of the details into this figure and did not skimp one bit! There are even extra details in the chest and thigh cavities.
His laser cannons look awesome and you can see that they added a sight and a heads up display!
Rio Blast had his trademark renewed not too long ago on 5/20/2021. Released by Mattel in 1986, Rio Blast is a futuristic cowboy who has hidden blasters all over his body. With pop out laser cannons from his chest and legs six shooters at his wrists and shoulder cannons, Rio Blast was yet another one Mattel’s gimmick heavy figures that was common in the later releases of MOTU figures. A cowboy seems a bit out of place in the planet of Eternia, but this techno-heavy Cowboy sure packs a lot of techno fire power and that technology part is what makes him make sense in the line. If we get this one for Origins, it will be fun to see what they do with all his blaster gimmicks! Do you think he would be considered a deluxe release? Only time will tell!
In terms of his backstory, Rio Blast is described as a nomad from the Galactic Wild West who possesses incredible shooting skills and high-tech enhancements. He aids He-Man and the other heroes in their battles against Skeletor and his minions.
Rio Blast was introduced to the line in 1986 and is depicted as a cybernetic cowboy, wearing a western-style outfit. His chest and thighs are equipped with mechanical parts and weaponry.
Previous Rio Blast Teases
Rio Blast is also seen hanging by a thread holding on the monorail track that goes around Grayskull Tower on the Eternia Box art!
This amazing scene has Sssqueeze tangling (pun intended) with some very cool MOTU characters that collector’s have been clamoring for: Rio Blast and Extendar!
As Roy states: “IT’S PACKAGING TIME!
@masters of the Universe Origins Wave 14: Sssqueeze, the evil long-armed viper!
Sssqueeze constricts his victims out of their last breath with his enormously elongated arms.”
The usual suspects for Origins:
Art Direction & Graphic Design @manuel_eduardo_caritas
Artwork @axel.gimenez@fetch.franciscoetchart
Toy Design @katanarama333
Story @joshuaskywriter
Copywriter @yesreallyrob
Two-Bad
Two-Bad is a two-headed Evil Warrior who is basically two different beings sharing the same body. In some ways he is like siamese twins, although both halves of his body are very different-looking creatures who appear to be from entirely different species. His right half is a blue creature, while his left half is a purple, scaly creature with an eyebrow-like yellow band on his forehead. Two-Bad was introduced into the Masters of the Universe toy line in 1985. Originally marketed as the “double-headed evil strategist” it is implied he is a master of strategy due to being two warriors in one, but his main trait in all story media is that his two heads have a habit of endlessly arguing with each other, meaning he has always generally been used for comic relief.
Vintage Action Figure
Two-Bad has been teased several times on MOTU Origins card art! Two-Bad first appeared on the Battlefield Warriors box art as he looks like he is in pursuit of He-Man.
We then got to see him on the MOTU Origins Deluxe Terror Claw Skeletor card back art where he was backing up Terror Claw Skeletor with Spikor by his side in a battle against Flying Fist He-Man that continued on his deluxe card back. We now know that Spikor is coming to the line, so it’s only natural that Two Bad could following not too far behind!
He also appeared on the card art of Mini Comic Roboto so hopefully that means the figure is not too far off in the distant future.
Per Roy Juarez (@manuel_eduardo_caritas) • Instagram photos and videos
Roboto may have strength of steel, but it’s his cybernetically enhanced heart that makes him one of Eternia’s bravest (swipe to see full artwork)
The usual suspects for Origins:
Roy Juarez (@manuel_eduardo_caritas) • Instagram photos and videos
Art Direction & Graphic Design by @manuel_eduardo_caritas
Artwork by @axel.gimenez & @fetch.franciscoetchart
Toy Design by @katanarama333
Copywriter @yesreallyrob
Story by @joshuaskywriter
Laser Power He-Man
Laser Power He-Man was a corner stone into the gate way of the Powers of Grayskull! Prominently featured on the Eternia package artwork, you can see Laser Power He-Man battling with Laser Light Skeletor! But this isn’t the first time we saw him teased! He was previously teased on the Camo Khan Card art as we will discuss below.
Featured one Camo Khan card back art, you can see a very clear image of Laser Power He-Man! This is very exciting to think that we might be getting a Laser Power He-Man since he is one of the rarest vintage figures of the line! Back in 1988, the Masters of the Universe line’s popularity was waning and Laser Power He-Man was one of two final figures for Mattel. Similar to Laser Light Skeletor, Laser Power He-Man had a light up feature through his Power sword when held in his right hand
According to the Battle Ram Blog:
Laser Power He-Man was released Italy and Spain a year after the end of the Masters of the Universe toyline in the US. He was a figure most North American fans were not aware of until they discovered it online years later. That was certainly true for me. Because the figure was produced in limited numbers overseas, it’s one of the most expensive vintage He-Man toys to acquire today. (Update: I’m also informed that there was some distribution of Laser Power He-Man in Switzerland. Thanks to Olmo for the information.)
As with Laser Light Skeletor, the figure’s light up feature is activated by raising his right arm. A wire is snaked from the sword, under the armor on the right arm (which seems to exist only to hide the wire) and into the backpack. The light in the sword is powered by an AA battery that fits in the backpack.
The Italy release (shown below) has the newly sculpted head, which some have speculated is supposed to resemble Dolph Lundgren, who played He-Man in the 1987 Masters of the Universe Movie. Alternatively, it could resemble some actor who might have starred in the (never produced) interactive He-Man TV show. That’s purely speculative – they might not have had any actors in mind for the series. Looking at this and the early prototype closely, however, I think the most likely interpretation is that it’s just supposed to look like the original He-Man’s face sculpt, but with a more neutral expression and updated hair. Like Laser-Light Skeletor, all of Laser Power He-Man’s tooled parts are unique to the figure
Laser Power He-Man: Heroic Master of Light Energy (1988) – Battle Ram (battleramblog.com)
Source: Laser Power He-Man: Battle Ram Blog
Source: Laser Power He-Man: Battle Ram Blog
Source: Laser Power He-Man: Battle Ram Blog
Laser Power He-Man was one of the two remaining deluxe release figures of the vintage Masters of the Universe line in 1988. He had a light up power sword feature powered by his backpack. The light up feature was activated by putting the Power Sword in his hand. By the time this figure was released, the line’s popularity had died out in the United States, so it was released in Italy and Spain. Today, Laser Light He-Man and Laser Light Skeletor are of the highest valued figures of the entire MOTU vintage line and fetch triple digits!
Source: Laser Power He-Man: Battle Ram Blog
Source: Laser Power He-Man: Battle Ram Blog
Laser Power He-Man can with two variants of his head. The first was the original vintage head design, but was later changed to resemble Dolph Lundren who was then starring in the Masters of the Universe Motion Picture.
Source: 1988 Mattel Italy Laser Power He-Man (collectorarchive.com)
Laser Light Skeletor
And with Laser Power He-Man, of course comes with nemesis, Laser Light Skeletor, also part of the Powers of Grayskull! Also prominently featured on the Eternia package artwork, you can see Laser Light Skeletor battling against Laser Power He-Man! But he too was previously teased on the Camo Khan Card art as well!
Laser Light Skeletor is featured very prominently on the back of Camo Khan’s card back art! He can be seen multiple times illustrated throughout the comic. He is seen shooting out his laser beam, sitting on his throne and commanding his evil henchmen Camo Khan to attack! One of the rarest of the original vintage action figures, Laser Light Skeletor is a sought after a very expensive vintage figure to acquire. If Mattel were to release him in the Origins line, I think fans would be totally over the moon with excitement!
Laser Light Skeletor was one of the two remaining deluxe release figures of the vintage Masters of the Universe line in 1988. He had light up eyes and a light up hand. The light up feature was activated by lifting his right arm, and his havoc staff was semitranslucent, so it was supposed to lit up while he held it in his right hand. By the time this figure was released, the line’s popularity had died out in the United States, so it was released in Europe. Today, Laser Light He-Man and Laser Light Skeletor are of the highest valued figures of the entire MOTU vintage line and fetch triple digits!
Source: Laser-Light Skeletor: Battle Ram Blog
Source: Laser-Light Skeletor: Battle Ram Blog
According to the Battle Ram Blog:
Laser-Light Skeletor, released in Italy and Spain a year after the end of the Masters of the Universe toyline in the US, was a figure most North American fans were not aware of until they discovered it online years later. That was certainly true for me. Because the figure was produced in limited numbers overseas, it’s one of the most expensive vintage He-Man toys to acquire today. (Update: I’m also informed that there was some distribution of Laser Light Skeletor in Switzerland. Thanks to Olmo for the information.)
Laser-Light Skeletor: Evil Master of Light Energy (1988) – Battle Ram (battleramblog.com)
Source: Laser-Light Skeletor: Battle Ram Blog
Tytus
Tytus, one of the last produced characters of the Vintage Masters of the Universe Line, and one of two giants, is prominently featured on the front of the card back art whelding his giant hammer! Both Giants, Tytus and Megator are both illustrated on Camo Khan’s card back art, so could Mattel be planning to release their two Powers of Grayskull giants? Can’t wait to find out!
According to Wiki Grayskull:
Tytus is a giant aligned with the forces of good. He is a contemporary of King Grayskull and He-Ro from the Preternian era, when the Ancients were threatened by the Snake Men. The character was developed for Mattel‘s “The Powers of Grayskull toy line, a spinoff of the declining Masters of the Universe franchise that would explore the heroes and villains of prehistoric Eternia. However, plans for the line were scrapped, and Tytus was only made available in Europe as one of the last figures under the Masters of the Universe brand. As a result, he appears in little (if any) of the 1980s fiction, and is among the most obscure characters in the franchise.
Tytus | Wiki Grayskull | Fandom
The vintage Tytus action figure can be see below, and was only released in Italy and Spain. The original box art for the Tytus shows him battling against King Hiss along with He-Ro. It also describes his role in the world of Preternia. How cool would it be to get a Tytus in the Origins line with rooted hair!
We already know we are getting King Hiss, who was revealed at SDCC, so are we also going to get one of my personal favorites, He-Ro? I would to see an Origins version of the unproduced He-Ro figure with Vac Metal chest armor!
Megator
Megator, was the second of the two giants last produced for the Vintage Masters of the Universe Line, and is prominently featured on the front of the card back art spinning his giant spiked mace! Tytus and Megator are both illustrated here, so could Mattel be planning to release their two Powers of Grayskull giants? Only time will tell, but it is so exciting to see them here.
Megator, evil Giant Destroyer was one of the last vintage Masters of the Universe characters to be released in 1988. One of two giants, Megator and Titus, the two rarest of the MOTU vintage figures, was released only in Europe, primarily in Italy. Originally designed to be part of the spin off “Powers of Grayskull” line, Megator and Titus were still released with the Masters of the Universe logos on their packaging. Megator, the green giant evil warrior stands 15″ tall and came with real rooted hair. He included a spring-loaded right leg for a kicking action feature, and he came with a spiked ball and chain.
Megator’s trademark was also renewed on November 11, 2021.
Stonedar
The first time we saw a tease for Stonedar was on the Eternia box art!
The second time we saw Stonedar was on the card back art for the Mattel Creations exclusive of Rokkon! You would have missed it, if you didn’t look carefully enough, but there a tease for Stonedar on the back of the card back art! In fact, we did miss it and thanks to Chris M., a MOTU fan and collector from Germany, for emailing us and alerting to this tease that paid homage to a historic version of Stonedar.
Looking very similar to Rokkon, Roy did include a figure tease to Stonedar on the card back, paying homage to the original artwork by Earl Norem shown below.
He is often accompanied by his young friend Rokkon. The pair were like transforming MOTU figures but instead turning into something cool, they turned into rocks, which reminds me of that part in the movie Big where a toy company produces a Transformer that turns into a building!
Stonedar is the leader of the Rock People. The character appeared late in the 1980s Masters of the Universe toy line, and as such appears in relatively few stories, with little consistency.
Blast Attak
Blast Attak is also seen on the Eternia box art, illustrated on the trail that leads to Snake Mountain!
Like most MOTU figures, Blast-Attak came packaged on a blister card, featuring bold artwork of the character exploding in action. The back of the card provided instructions on how to activate his self-destruct feature as well as showcasing other figures in the series.
A member of the Evil Warriors and later the Snake Men, Blast-Attak is an android built as a walking time bomb. After a certain pre-set period of time, he will explode and cause immense damage to his surroundings, before reforming automatically.
Dragstor
According to the Wiki Grayskull, Dragstor was Etherian peasant who was captured by Hordak and transformed into an evil cyborg. Due to Hordak’s modifications, he became one of the fastest beings on Etheria, with a wheel embedded into his chest and an engine on his back. Dragstor later displayed a rebellious attitude, exposed in his rivalry with the newest Horde warrior, Mosquitor. When He-Man asked him “Who’s your new friend?”, Dragstor replied “Mosquitor… and he’s no friend of mine!”
With the Extendar Mattel Creations Exclusive card back, we can see a cool scene with Extendar fighting off the Evil Horde! Dragstor is finally teased as well as the Fright Zone so we can’t wait for more MOTU!
Multi-Bot
Mulit-Bot was the second figure in the MOTU line to come out with the mix and match style body parts. Just like Modulok, Multi-bot too came with 22 body parts but this time could combine with Modulok to create a huge Mega Bot monster like creature!Apparently as it says on the box, there were 1000 possible combinations, so I am sure kids had hours and hours of fun with this thing! Multibot was released a year after Modulok in 1986, and continued that gimmick heavy theme of the MOTU toys back in the 80’s. Also member of the Evil Horde, Multi Bot was known as the ” Evil Robot of a thousand bodies” Made of completely all new parts, Multi-bot did not share any molds with previous MOTU figures, sigaling the strength of the line at the time! Multi-Bot first appeared on the She-Ra Princess of Power cartoon in the episode “Horde Prime Takes A Holiday”. Multi-Bot was the goofy Horde robot created by Modulok. Mattel has just recently renewed this trademark this year on 03/09/2022, showing us we have so much more to come in the MOTU Origins line! Since we recently got Modulok, Mult-Bot is sure to come to the line!
Even though the image is blurry, you can see Multibot right next to Modulok in the Eternia box art by Mantisaur.
Twistoid
Also a big thank you to our Toy Habits crew member Grrrraffe for helping us decipher these mystery figure pictured on the Eternia Box art. Yes it is none other than Twistoid!
Twistoid was originally released for the Mattel vintage Masters of the Universe line in 1987. Commonly seen together with his counterpart, Rotar, he was a very odd character that was released at the tail end of the line.
According to Twistoid | Wiki Grayskull | Fandom
He is a member of the Evil Warriors, he is a cybernetic warrior with no legs, whose lower body is shaped like a spinning top, enabling him to twist along the ground at super-speed. This enables him to trick opponents and easily dodge attacks.
Twistoid was one of the last figures to be released in the 1980s toy line. He was created as an evil rival to the heroic character of Rotar. Given his late introduction into the toy line, Twistoid is one of the line’s lesser-known characters and thus received little exposure. The only official medium to feature Twistoid is the Mattel mini-comic “Energy Zoids“. In this story, Skeletor steals the machine with which Man-At-Arms had created the Heroic Warrior Rotar and uses it to create Twistoid.
Mattel also designed a vehicle called the Gyratakker, which was intended to launch Rotar and Twistoid into combat. This vehicle features in the comic, but the toy line was cancelled before it could be released.
The action figure first released by Mattel in 1987 is a very rare and sought after collectors item today. Its rare existence can be attributed to being released very late into the toy series original run.
Twistoid was never featured in the Filmation accompanying cartoon because it had ended by the time his figure was released.
Twistoid | Wiki Grayskull | Fandom
Twistoid was later as a two pack with his counterpart Rotar for the MOTU Classic line in 2015. Here ,they actually came with human legs that can be switched out for their rotating lower bodies.
Rotar
Rotar, Heroic Master of Hyper Spin was originally released by Mattel in 1987. One of Mattel’s later releases, Rotar continued the gimmick heavy theme by coming with gyro gears that would make him spin! This figure was very unique in that it was half action figure and half twistoid spinning toy. With only articulated arms, this twistoid action figure was considered a deluxe release with it’s included axe, gears blade and multi-geared spinner accessory / stand. The trademark on Rotar was renewed just this year on 01/13/2022! So Mattel is going hard with new trademark renewals signally the line is strong and we have so much more to see in Origins!
Gwildor
We reported on a back in the beginning of April of Gwildor being included on a leaked list. Now being it was April 1st, we don’t know if it was part of an April Fool’s joke, or if it was legitimate. But seeing as Gwildor’s trademark was renewed just last year on 07/30/2021, then perhaps it may be legitamate! Gwildow was a fairly newer character to the Masters of the Universe world. He was introduced into the line after appearing in the 1987 live-action movie Masters of the Universe, starting Dolph Lundgren. Gwildor is a member of the Thenurians, which are a dwarf-like race. As you can see by the tools and equipment that adorn him, he is a is a famous locksmith and inventor. Gwildor is notable mainly for his greatest creation: The Cosmic Key, a mechanical device with the ability to transport its holder to any place throughout space and time. With his trademark being renewed just last year, this is great news for fans of the movie who were hoping to see movie figures made from the vintage line! Of course, we don’t have the official images yet, but the figure below represents the vintage Gwildor from 1987. We are sure other movie figures will follow like Blade, Saurod, and possibly a movie version of He-Man (played by Dolph Lundgren) and Skeletor (played by Frank Langella).
Blade
Blade, evil master of the sword looked like a pirate and was featured in the was live action 1987 Masters of the Universe movie. We have yet to see Blade teased on any MOTU Origins art or packaging so we are probably a long ways away from getting this figure. Interesting enough, we could not find any information on Mattel’s trademark for Blade.
Blade was a mercenary, and one of Skeletor’s finest warriors. He was a swordsman of great skill, carrying two swords and an array of knives. He had a deep hatred of He-Man, and was eager to face him in battle.
Blade was sent to Earth by Skeletor, along with Beast Man, Karg and Saurod, to find the second Cosmic Key. There, Blade faced He-Man in one-on-one combat, although he retreated with the others when Teela and Man-At-Arms arrived. Blade was then forced to return to Skeletor in disgrace, and begged for one more chance; Skeletor instead vaporizing Saurod, as Blade looked on in horror. When Evil-Lyn intervened to save the lives of Blade, Karg and Beast Man, Blade accompanied her back to Earth.
Blade | Wiki Grayskull | Fandom
Blade was released in the vintage Masters of the Universe toy line in 1987, and included a sticker saying “Featured in the He-Man Movie”
Blade was also released for the MOTU Classics line in 2014.
Saurod
Saurod is another character from the He-Man and the Masters of the Universe Movie. Saurod was originally released in 19876 and featured a sparking action feature from his mouth! He is a reptilian warrior who serves the evil villain Skeletor as one of his henchmen. Saurod is depicted as a humanoid lizard with a long tail, sharp teeth, and the ability to spit fire from his mouth.
Saurod was introduced in the live-action Masters of the Universe film released in 1987, where he is portrayed as a member of Skeletor’s evil forces. In the movie, Saurod is shown as a formidable warrior who is skilled in combat and uses his fire-breathing abilities to defeat his enemies. However, he is ultimately defeated by the heroic character He-Man.
Despite his limited appearance in the Masters of the Universe franchise, Saurod remains a memorable character for fans of the series due to his unique design and abilities. He has appeared in various merchandise, including action figures and comics, and has become a popular choice for collectors of Masters of the Universe memorabilia.
As you can see below, the trademark for Saurod has not been renewed since April 27,1987. So the status seems to be “DEAD” and unrevivable since May 30,1994. So this leaves us guessing as to if this figure will ever be coming to the MOTU Origins line?
Hurricane Hordak
Hurrican Hordak was released in 1985. A deluxe variant of the original Hordak figure, he had a Horde bat on his right hand that created a ‘hurricane” twirling effect. Hurricane Hordak is one of the original vintage deluxe figures we yet to get in the line, so maybe this is a tease of things to come. The original Hurrican Hordak was released in 1985 and came with a spinning Horde bat gimmick on his right hand that could be swapped out for two other accessories, shown below.
We saw Hurrican Hordak teased on the Sy-Klone card back art. Here is a view of the front card art in hi resolution! The colors look incredible, and you can make out the huge army of Horde Troopers coming out of that tower next to Hurricane Hordak with his spinning right hand of evil is the perfect nemesis for Sy-Klone!
As you can see Hordak’s trademark name was just renewed on April 5. 2022, so Mattel still has the rights to it, and we should definetly see this final version of Hordak coming to the line!
Powers of Grayskull Teases
Even though these two characters below are not part of the remaining original 16 vintage characters to be released, we are going to include them as we knew they were supposed to be coming to the original vintage line but never got produced. Yes they are He-Ro and Eldor from the Powers of Grayskull! First of all you will see front and center on the artwork. You can see that these figure were teased on the Eternia box art. 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!
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!
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.
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!
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.
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!
Eldor: June 22, 2021
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. He can be seen in the card art standing next to Moss Man and Tytus. How cool would it be if Mattel starts to build out the entire Powers of Grayskull line under another subline of Masters! Could we perhaps see a He-Ro as well with Vac Metal Chest Armor? That would be amazing!
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. You can read all about Eldor’s creation and back story on the Eldor: (1987/2019) battleramblog.com.
Source: Eldor battleramblog.com
Source: Eldor battleramblog.com
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