Castle Grayskull's "secret door" ... fact or fiction?

[yBvi3VxQ]

I just found out about the potential Castle Grayskull playset for MotU Classics. Looks interesting. However, I keep running into a claim along the lines of: "The original castle had a secret door sculpted onto the side." I've heard rumors like that before, yet after thirty years I've still not found this mysterious door, nor have I been able to discern any proof of it in the one image of the prototype that I've seen. Will someone please show me where it is?

[krosfyah]

I think it's the indented area under the two side windows, secret door wouldn't look like a door. I used to pretend that spot was Man At Arms' house from the minis.

[Baena]

There will be two secret doors on the new castle. One under the little side windows like krosfyah said, the other on the tower with the ledge, an opening that will let out onto the ledge.
Again, both will be new on this castle.

If you look at the first minicomic, "He-Man and the Power Sword" Skeletor finds a secret door, and I'd guess that the FourHorsemen found a good spot to implement that new feature? I'm a fan of the new secret doors!

[Berserker79]

I wasn't a fan of the 200x Subternia Grayskull gate and I'm not a fan of secret doors. Personally, not everyone should be able to take a step into the most magical place on Eternia.

For me the castle is completly made of magic and also the rooms inside are of magical structure, which alters all the time. Filmation did the best job imo in showing how dark & mysterious the castle is. I don't like the concept of all the magic being hidden in a simple orb. That's not mysterious.

So the only entrance should be the jawbridge to enter the castle...

[hauke]

So the only entrance should be the jawbridge to enter the castle...

Maybe the scecret doors are magical and only open from within the castle so they can be used as secret escape routes but not as entrances. That is how I imgaine them to be anyway.

[MegaGearMax]

I see the secret doors as a tactical advantage for the forces who control the castle. Castle Grayskull is a FORTRESS that gets besieged by the many villains of Eternia. Invaders such as Evil Warriors, Snake Men of the Horde would expect foes coming from the Jawbridge and could be surprised by Masters coming out two other places.

[Berserker79]

I see the secret doors as a tactical advantage for the forces who control the castle. Castle Grayskull is a FORTRESS that gets besieged by the many villains of Eternia. Invaders such as Evil Warriors, Snake Men of the Horde would expect foes coming from the Jawbridge and could be surprised by Masters coming out two other places.

But only, if you ignore the bottomless pit around the castle...

[krosfyah]

I wasn't a fan of the 200x Subternia Grayskull gate and I'm not a fan of secret doors. Personally, not everyone should be able to take a step into the most magical place on Eternia.

For me the castle is completly made of magic and also the rooms inside are of magical structure, which alters all the time. Filmation did the best job imo in showing how dark & mysterious the castle is. I don't like the concept of all the magic being hidden in a simple orb. That's not mysterious.

So the only entrance should be the jawbridge to enter the castle...

That's a fire hazard.

I pretty much agree with you, but those doors can be magical existing only when the sorceress wills them to be.

[VZX]

In my personal canon: Castle Grayskull is simply a fortress of mystery and power that is NOT a force of good nor even housing the Sorceress. It is a fortress that is constantly being fought over between He-man and Skeletor. That said, I like the idea of secret doors. It gives the battle more dynamics.

[yBvi3VxQ]

Thanks for the replies. I'll address a few points that were made:

I'm aware of the new additions for the MotU Classics castle, but I'm asking about what evidence there is for the age-old claim that's used as justification for those new additions. Furthermore, though an actual secret entrance would be acceptable, the door under the windows is quite obvious. Of course, that could be explained by the 1980s prototype being surrounded by a moat or swamp, or later interpretations placing the castle on a cliff where the door would be inaccessible to siege engines. However, to have it as a general feature, where anybody could just walk up and batter down a flimsy not-so-secret door, I have to question the legitimacy of its origins.

First and foremost, the 1980s playset has no "secret door", nor even anything remotely suggestive of one. Though as a child I, too, once assumed that the space beneath the dual windows may have been a doorway, eventually I learned that what I thought was the door's frame were simply architectural buttresses. That fact is more obvious on the prototype, where the buttresses aren't as subdued. On the other hand, also on the prototype, I see what appears to be a crack or seam precisely in that very spot. It could be a a remnant from the model's construction, or an actual secret door made to blend into the wall -- but if the latter, then why wasn't it opened to highlight the playability aspect?

Although in "He-Man and the Power Sword", Skeletor did find a secret passage within the castle (http://www.he-man.org/assets/images/...y/121_full.jpg), it was only after he entered by forcing open the jaw-bridge (http://www.he-man.org/assets/images/...y/091_full.jpg). So, no proof for a secret entrance there, either. (Off the top of my head, the closest thing to a secret entrance I recall from the mini-comics was when the heroes descended from a tower via exterior steps, in the Point Dread book/record.)

I do not wish to give offense, but I feel compelled to mention that we must not allow ex post facto justifications like the "the bottomless gorge" and "the Sorceress' magic" to influence us when trying to uncover the factual history (or lack thereof) of this feature of the toy.

[Whiplash7]

Looks like a door where the shield and axe are hanging.
I guess someone could just ask Mark Taylor?

[yBvi3VxQ]

Oh, excellent! I'd only seen the opposite side before. And it does seem to match with the cracks I saw on the other side. Thank you!

As for Mark Taylor, the last I heard, he was very sore about being threatened with legal action by Mattel, and didn't feel like doing any more interviews with fans because of it. I wonder if he even knows that they took his concept art, erased his signature, and then put it on the back of the Vikor box without a lick of credit. I tried to reveal to the community the details about that, and a few other unpalatable facts.

[Whiplash7]

No problem. I'd never seen any of it before either, but it was posted in the Castle Grayskull thread recently.
I don't really know the situation with Mark Taylor or anything, I was just throwing it out there. I figured some uber-fan out there must be on speaking terms with him.

[yBvi3VxQ]

Um, when and why did this thread get moved to the 1980s MotU forum, when it's about justifying the MotU Classics secret door?

Edit: As for Mark, yes, some uber-fan is. And that uber-fan was asked, politely, to see that Mark wasn't bothered.

[dorrmann]

Um, when and why did this thread get moved to the 1980s MotU forum, when it's about justifying the MotU Classics secret door?

Because you, yourself, were asking about the secret door on the ORIGINAL Grayskull. You even asked someone to point it out because you couldn't find it for thirty years.