The Power of Grayskull

[SUPERHEMANMIKE]

The Power of Grayskull has always been at the center of Masters of the Universe.

Emiliano's recent thread on original info vs the Classics bios got me thinking...

Over the years, there have been many different versions of MOTU's most famous castle and the source of its power.

Early Mini-comics: Castle Grayskull is full of ancient and mysterious technology. One must control both halves of the PowerSword to gain entry.

Filmation: Grayskull draws its immense power from the Abyss.

Movie: The Great Eye of the Universe unleashes the ultimate power when Eternia's moon reaches its zenith.

MYP: King Grayskull is the source of the power.

Classics: King Grayskull / He-Ro / Overlords of Trolla /The Sword of He

Which do you prefer?

[GrtEternal]

I prefer....

Each and everyone of 'em!

Each one has it's own uniqueness that brings a certain element to the MOTUVerse! Who's not to say that maybe all of the above are right?

Look at it this way, if you may:

Early Mini-comics: Castle Grayskull is full of ancient and mysterious technology. One must control both halves of the PowerSword to gain entry.

This is how it began and Filmation showed a Museum of Weapons within Grayskull!

Filmation: Grayskull draws its immense power from the Abyss.

The Abyss might be where the "Eye of the Universe" is located.

Movie: The Great Eye of the Universe unleashes the ultimate power when Eternia's moon reaches its zenith.

Perhaps Eternia's moon or at least one of them is one of the key to access the power within Grayskull Castle!

MYP: King Grayskull is the source of the power.

Who's not to say that Grayskull is not the only source or perhaps he also gets his power from the "Eye"? The sword did came from "The Abyss" when it was given to Adam, did it not?

Classics: King Grayskull / He-Ro / Overlords of Trolla /The Sword of He!

And here we are! The MOTUC line kinda mixed all and everyone of the above did it not? Perhaps He-Ro and King G are not sources but users of the same power. The Trollan Overlords are what they are. They "Over-See" things in the universe! The Sword of He is like a conduit to access the true power that lies "secretly" within the walls of Grayskull!

[SUPERHEMANMIKE]

I prefer....

Each and everyone of 'em!

Each one has it's own uniqueness that brings a certain element to the MOTUVerse! Who's not to say that maybe all of the above are right?

Wow. I really like how you've fit all of the puzzle pieces together.
You should be writing the bios.
I generally prefer the "Great Eye" concept, but I could definitely see them all working together.

[Evil_Horde]

Absolutely the version of Filmation, the best for me!

[Uki]

I prefer....

Each and everyone of 'em!

Each one has it's own uniqueness that brings a certain element to the MOTUVerse! Who's not to say that maybe all of the above are right?

Look at it this way, if you may:

Early Mini-comics: Castle Grayskull is full of ancient and mysterious technology. One must control both halves of the PowerSword to gain entry.

This is how it began and Filmation showed a Museum of Weapons within Grayskull!

Filmation: Grayskull draws its immense power from the Abyss.

The Abyss might be where the "Eye of the Universe" is located.

Movie: The Great Eye of the Universe unleashes the ultimate power when Eternia's moon reaches its zenith.

Perhaps Eternia's moon or at least one of them is one of the key to access the power within Grayskull Castle!

MYP: King Grayskull is the source of the power.

Who's not to say that Grayskull is not the only source or perhaps he also gets his power from the "Eye"? The sword did came from "The Abyss" when it was given to Adam, did it not?

Classics: King Grayskull / He-Ro / Overlords of Trolla /The Sword of He!

And here we are! The MOTUC line kinda mixed all and everyone of the above did it not? Perhaps He-Ro and King G are not sources but users of the same power. The Trollan Overlords are what they are. They "Over-See" things in the universe! The Sword of He is like a conduit to access the true power that lies "secretly" within the walls of Grayskull!

I agree. I feel that Mattel is attempting to weave all of these elements together to incorporate them into one awesome source of God-like power, the harnessing of which would allow one to become Master of the Universe!

[Heidi]

I voted the Movie version. But it was a tie between that and the Filmation version.

And I like your reasoning GrtEternal.

Heidi

[TheFallen]

I picked the MOTUC version

All versions have their own charm. I feel that MOTUC is very exciting, maybe because it is new

[Kinghsss456]

I picked other only because I grew up with the Filmation version and I love the MOTUC because its connecting all the characters into one canon. I cant wait to see what is next

[Midwinter]

I am happy to see that in the polls currently - Mini Comics is in the lead.

I grew up with the figures and the comics before I saw the Filmation show. My own imaginary stories I created with the figures and the comics inside will always be the true canon to me.

[Predabot]

That actually surprises me quite a bit?? That the mini's are in the lead. Especially since there were so many folks that came into MotU later, when other incarnations had begun to take precedence.

Why, I didn't even know about the two halves of power sword -thing until I came online at the .org.

[HordeFan]

I voted MYP. Although I do like what the Classics line is doing but we haven't had enough of the story yet for me to really get into it. The mini-comic is my next favorite.

[artodron]

I prefer the mini-comics.

[PaoloKr]

I never forget the first time that I read the first minicomics.
No show and no other media at the time, only those small albums with great pictures and amazing stories.
So I prefer the mini-comics version.

[Darth Bong]

I went with the mini-comic origin.

After all, it's the original story.

But I agree with GrtEternal. All of these kinda go together.

Darth Bong

[LORD FALLEN ELDOR]

The first mini comics set up the basic story. Castle Grayskull; Ancient fortress of mystery and power created by the ancients before the great wars that left Eternia a virtual waist land. The Sword of Power was used by the Ancients, and is now the key to Castle Grayskull.

Filmation hinted at the great wars. The bible tells the whole story of Zodac and the Council of Elders defending the most powerful magics and technology of the universe from the invading Infinitians. As Filmation trucked along, much of the bible was reinforced, if sometimes rewritten or taken in new directions. The Orb of the Elders became the Star Seed, that is located at the Center of Eternia deep below the abyss surounding Castle Grayskull. None of that is explicitly said, but all the hints from various episodes add up when you keep the bible in mind.

Once 1984 rolled around the mini comics began to sync up with Filmation. Certainly some would retell Filmation stories and must be disregarded, others actually told brand new stories using Filmation settings like the Temple of the Sun. In 1985/6 when the Comet/rock warriors and the Snakemen where introduced they actually referenced events of the cartoon. Once the Three Towers where introduced, they continue from where Filmation left off, adding to and expanding the history behind the secrets of Castle Grayskull. He-Ro and the Powers of Grayskull was about to explain everything, but now I'm glad they didn't so we could continue to incorporate new and old ideas into the expanding history. No doubt Keldor would have been vastly different from what we saw in MYP since he traveled back in time as an agent of the Nameless One and was He-Ro's nemesis in Pre-Eternia. This would correlate to Zanthor's tale from Filmation's Golden Disks of Knowledge episode. Certainly not intentional, but it was a great example of serendipity that MYP and current Mattel would rather ignore

King Grayskull is a great concept, and I thank the MYP guys for creating him. If you take certain aspects from MYP and apply them to Filmation and the later Eternian Tower era of mini comics everything falls into place and many pre-Filmation concepts can also now be reintroduced to have happened before Filmation story began. These original tales would be slightly different, and not exactly as they where originally told of course. King Grayskull reincorporates aspects of the original mini comics (no prince adam, more savage Eternia) and gives us a logical reason for Grayskull Tower to have been built BEFORE Castle Grayskull. His intense rivalry with Hordak could reinforce the Fallen Eldor origin theory. King Grayskull and Hordak at one point might have been like brothers is an idea I enjoy! This explains how Hordak knew Randor's twins where special, and provides Hordak with the proper motivation for wanting the children. For the first time we now have a reason for the Sword of Grayskull to have been split in half; Hordak's spell of separation that formed the light and dark hemispheres! Most importantly with King Grayskull we have answers for two huge questions that He-Ro's 1987 bio created. The secret Gray/He-Ro learned in the cave is that his mother and father are King Grayskull and the Sorceress Veena! The Tribal Chieftess "SheRellA" (For whom She-Ra is named from!) who raised Gray, could in fact be King Grayskull's own sister. He started off as a member of the same jungle tribe as his son who remained in hiding as a child during the Great Wars. He-Ro's great destiny is to ultimately defeat the Snakemen (like dad did the Horde) and to build Castle Grayskull to safeguard the Elder's secrets. This also explains why She-Ra says "for the honor of Grayskull", because her powers come from He-Ro who honored his father by continuing his legacy after he died defending Eternia. He-Ro who becomes Lighthope is to She-Ra and the Crystal Castle as King Graskull and Castle Grayskull are to He-Man! The tomb stone in front of Grayskull then becomes Veena's the first Sorceress of Castle Grayskull. King Grayskull really is the missing link that connects the dots from the first mini comics, through Filmation culminating in the saga of the Eternain Towers.

It's a shame Mattel feels that they have to rewrite almost 30 years of history in order to make new bios. They must not be "true fans", otherwise they would know more about MOTU then the MYP series and whatever they decide to make up as they go along!

Filmation: Grayskull draws its immense power from the Abyss.

The Abyss might be where the "Eye of the Universe" is located.

Movie: The Great Eye of the Universe unleashes the ultimate power when Eternia's moon reaches its zenith.

Perhaps Eternia's moon or at least one of them is one of the key to access the power within Grayskull Castle!

As as been shown in both shows, and various other books and comics the source of the power deep below Castle Grayskull is the Orb of the Elders. Filmation showed of The Star Seed, it stands to reason the only thing that could contained their combined essence is the Star Seed...

However, I loved the Great Eye of the universe in the 87 film. Though not directly in continuity with prior knowledge, one could say that Zodac or The Goddess built in a new safegurd in order to gain access to the Orb of Power/Star Seed after Skeletor came to close for comfort in becoming the Master of the Universe. Gwildor and the other movie concept crept into later comic stories, I see no reason for this great idea not to also be incorporated.
An interesting note is that an artifact called the Eye of Eternia was used by The Sorceress to locate Skeletor in the golden book Time Trouble.
That story has a vague resemblance to the major story telling points of the 87 film. Also of note is, I recall at least two examples of cosmic alignment leading to unlocking power like in the film. Terror Claws Strike mini comic and the golden book Power in the sky.

[kylun flac]

no they probably are not true fans. it is all for the money. if motuc wasn't making as much as they would like they would discontinue the line. wasn't that what happened with the discontinued 200x cartoon & comics toys & all other merchandise relating to motu?

[He-Ryno]

I chose the Mini Comics...

followed by...

Filmation
MOTUC

[maltesefalcon]

one of the major things in the movie is skeletor putting the sword in a lock thing next to the throne, therefore the sword of he is the key to opening the great eye, the sword of he channels the wisdom of the elders and the strength of king grayskull from the orb of power which resides in the abyss