Who brought technology to Eternia?

[King_Grayskull77]

Since Eternia is this world of magic and ancient cultures, where did the technology come? Did Eternians develop it on their own, or was there "outside" influence? What if the Horde are responsible for bringing technology to Eternia? The Eternians reverse engineered the tech and turned it on Hordak. But the wars with the Horde and Snakemen destroyed a lot of this technoloy and leaving what little there was spread out through Eternia. Just a possible idea for MOTUC story line.

[Frogster]

This thread has potential. Many fans have wondered about the practicality of riding beasts and using melee weapons vs flying vehicles and energy based weapons. Looking forward to reading the various thoughts or takes on this especially since MOTU seemed much more fantasy based in its inception with more sci fi sprinkled in with Roboto and Horde concepts later.

[ShawnQt]

I always thought that Eternian technology (while superior to us) was much more ancient to them... thus the reason why dinosaurs were robots. But who would have brought technology to the planet? hmmmm... Do we have any ancients robots in Eternian history? Maybe something like the Transformers? Shoot maybe it was the Transformers!

[wallbie]

The Overlords of Trolla?

Still, that's a good point when you've got Turbodactyl, Bionatops and Tyrantasaurs Rex. I'd say the planet Eternia itself might be a victim of a nuclear holocaust from ages ago and it's a terrain like that of Ralph Bakshi's Wizards or of Vampire Hunter D.

Regardless, I don't care what the "nature" of a planet is, you know a gigantic carniverous lizard isn't going to be born with the natural ability to shoot a buzz-saw-like weapon with pincers out of its stomach. Somebody put that thing in there.

[CarKrash]

I was always under the impression that there was plenty of science and technology on Eternia.. and then came "the great wars" which wiped out most of it. Although.. there's still plenty of technology that can be found and used and repaired on the planet.

[Heidi]

I would like it to stay as a mystery.

If Marvel bought MOTU - franchise from Mattel, Eternia could be the one planet where the Watchers meddled in the things and caused a mess. Then Zodac could work for the Watchers to keep balance on Eternia so that the bumbling fools on Eternia would not destroy the whole universe.

Heidi

[Thatman]

I've always loved this question - the whole nature of science vs. sorcery innate on Eternia.

In terms of the origins of the line, I always assumed the tech was Man-At-Arms' doing - that this was a guy who was a mechanical genius who figured out this technology that was way different from the swords-and-sorcery of his world, and that gave him his own edge - I would include the Battle Ram, Attak-Trak et al in that category.

Also, the metal-working he did with characters like Mekaneck and Fisto fits into that. Because really, outside of Tri-Klops' 200X approach, there's not much tech in the ways of the 1982-1984 series. So maybe once it caught on, others began to adapt and utilize it.

The idea that it was inspired by the Horde's armies makes a lot of sense, too.

It's a fun idea to play around with, even if the real world reason is "because it's neat".

[bskcase]

In the MYP cartoon and alluded to in the minicomics, there has been a technological civilization in Eternia. Keep in mind that Eternia and people have been around way longer than Earth civilizations. The technology civilization somehow destroyed themselves and blew themselves back into the stone age.

In Man-At-Arms bio, it explains that Duncan comes from a long line of Man-At-Arms who worked with technology. The first one noted was from the mini-comics with the savage He-man and it was stated that he would scour the technology wastelands and cannabalize parts and pieces to form new vehicles.

It's of course logical that these Man-At-Arms continued to work and develop their own technology and build on what they found.

[sunshine]

Perhaps the Horde when they invaded in Preternia. Hordak after all did help construct the Three Towers. There would have been plenty of their technology left lying around after their defeat and banishment to Despondos.

[vbpanizzi]

It could also be a world that was able to develope with out the exclusion or loss of magic. A world where the virtues and vices of sorcery was not lost once technology was being discovered.

[vid.tracey]

I always thought of eternias past being totally magic based, but as they developed technology became more mainstream. However certain individuals like skeletor still craved the power that certain places like castle grayskull still had, realising it was more powerful than any technology

[skeletom]

In the MYP cartoon and alluded to in the minicomics, there has been a technological civilization in Eternia. Keep in mind that Eternia and people have been around way longer than Earth civilizations. The technology civilization somehow destroyed themselves and blew themselves back into the stone age.

In Man-At-Arms bio, it explains that Duncan comes from a long line of Man-At-Arms who worked with technology. The first one noted was from the mini-comics with the savage He-man and it was stated that he would scour the technology wastelands and cannabalize parts and pieces to form new vehicles.

It's of course logical that these Man-At-Arms continued to work and develop their own technology and build on what they found.

This is how I have basically seen things. I think Eternia as we know it is a somewhat post-apocalyptic planet.

[Red Trinity]

I know this is the MOTUC forum, but the basis for the entire original series was that the Elders/Ancients/Council of Wisdom were masters of both magic and technology. They brought about an era of peace and tranquility. But when evil arrived, they decided it was time for the people to live on their own--which is when they became the Orb in Castle Grayskull.

All this was covered in great detail in the original series bible.

The MYP pilot was based very loosely on these ideas, but much of it was largely ignored to create a whole new (convoluted) backstory.

[Pink Ranger]

This is one of my favorite topics, and I hope there's never a "canon" explanation for this because I prefer letting fans use their imaginations. Some of my favorite theories:

-A world war or apocalypse detroyed their advanced civilization leaving only a few artifacts behind that only MAA and a few others know how to use
-Traditional chemical fuels, such as coal and petroleum, are rare to nonexistent on Eternia, so industrial technology is possible but not widespread
-Because magic is so powerful and many people and races have metahuman powers, an industrial revolution wasn't really necessary and never happened, leaving advanced technology as a hobby or rare skill possessed by few people (in the real world, a combination of need and circumstance often shape a society's technological development)
-Butlerian Jihad: A war against the technologically-driven Horde Empire led to a ban on advanced "thinking machines"

[DC_WARLORD]

I was always under the impression that there was plenty of science and technology on Eternia.. and then came "the great wars" which wiped out most of it. Although.. there's still plenty of technology that can be found and used and repaired on the planet.

That's the explanation I prefer.

In the old WARLORD comic book, it was kind of like that. There were things left in Skartaris from an ancient, scientific people like computers and flying crafts, but most people had no idea it existed, what it was for, or how to use it.

-A world war or apocalypse destroyed their advanced civilization leaving only a few artifacts behind that only MAA and a few others know how to use

-Because magic is so powerful and many people and races have metahuman powers, an industrial revolution wasn't really necessary and never happened, leaving advanced technology as a hobby or rare skill possessed by few people (in the real world, a combination of need and circumstance often shape a society's technological development)

I really like these examples, too!