Eternos Palace playset support thread

[Uki]

I’d LOVE that, but I’ll be good with just Snake Mountain.

[bObA_fEtt_Ox]

Hope we can expect Slim pit, Fright zone, Eternos palace and Cristal castle after Snake Mountain !
That would be fantastic but if they did that, I guess all of the would be running out of room !

[Durendal]

Wow! Eternos Palace has been my most wanted playset since the old days.

Curiously, when I was a child I used to think mistakenly that the whole of Eternos City on top of Eternos Mount was the palace, until much later I realized that the palace was actually only the round building on top of the highest peak of the Eternos massif. Which is why, nowadays, it would have never occurred to me that an Eternos Palace playset in MotUC could actually contemplate trying to portray the whole whopping Eternos City (or the whole of the city that lies on top of the mount at least, as in my fanon that's just the "old" part of the city, with newer parts sprawling over the surrounding plains).

OTOH, while a playset that, from one side, looks somewhat like the whole city is certainly cool, it too definitely looks quite out of scale (more out of scale than Snake Mountain and much more out of scale than Grayskull). So I'm a bit ambivalent as to whether I would prefer this approach over a playset of just the palace. Also, the radially symmetric shape of the palace itself lends itself easily to modularization, so that they might just need to tool one quarter (or even just one eighth) of the palace and sell it as a modular build-a-palace structure with furniture add-ons, which would allow it to better fit the different space requirements/constraints of different collectors (so one could have just a quarter of it set against a corner of a small display, or have a bigger display of three quarters, the missing quarter allowing one to see the interior, etc.). With the lesser amount of tooling required for the main palace structure using this modularized approach, it might be possible to tool additional add-on elements, such as a (possibly stackable) mount base, a few city spires (or ideally some spire elements that can be mix-and-match combined into as many spires as one needs), the iconic bridge entrance, or the atom/Atomium-like thing (a "Monument to Knowledge and Science" on Eternos's Science Square, in my fanon, a prominent central square of the city and busy hub of its metropolitan transport system).

As for the rooms and interior, I think the most iconic ones are: the Royal Throne Hall, Orko's Bedroom, Man-at-Arms' Lab (plus the adjacent "garage"), the Royal Gardens, and the Royal Dining Room. Those seem to be the most frequently portrayed places in the cartoon. Yeah, Chef Allen's kitchen might be cool, too (mostly because of Chef Allen), as well as some other bedroom (possibly Marlena's, as seen during the kidnapping sequence), Melaktha's office, and possibly the Museum (seen in the episode of the Rainbow Explorer).

All in all, I think the most iconic elements that I'd like to see in an Eternos Palace/City playset would be: the Royal Palace round structure with at least the Royal Throne Hall and Orko's Bedroom somewhere inside (ideally with also another room, like the dining room); at least some part of the adjacent Royal Gardens (with part of the enclosing walls and the iconic outdoor table); a mount base whose inside would double as the palace's basement containing Man-at-Arm's Lab and "garage" (and possibly Chef Allen's kitchen); and, in order to give some idea of the surrounding city, some add-on buildable spires, the iconic entrance bridge, and the "atom" monument.

So the proposed mock-up model contains many of these elements, but I would try to engineer them as more of a modular, "buildable" playset (à la Playmobil playset), rather than as a monolithic clamshell design. Or, if a clamshell design is chosen, I would rearrange the interior side placing MAA's Lab on the right where Chef Allen is, place the Throne Hall to its left and Orko's bedroom above it, and placing a bigger, more proper Royal Garden where Orko's bedroom is in the mockup. Or, I don't know, maybe since Grayskull is three-storeys tall it would be feasible to keep the Throne Hall where it's now in the mockup and just place Orko's bedroom on top (in a kind of dormer under the dome part), and place the Dining Room to the right of the Throne Hall, and have the Royal Gardens be where the Sky Sled "parking lot" is. I think it would be worth it to explore all the different possible interior configurations in order to find the one that both somehow makes "more sense" in terms of spatial relationships and relation to the exterior part, and also allows for as many different iconic rooms to be represented as possible.

In any case, I really hope we eventually get to see a full Eternos City playset in the Megaconstrux line. As much as I'd like to see it make it into the MotUC line, the chances of that are almost non-existent, since many/most collector's would prioritize the classiciziation of vintage-released playsets, of which there are still too many to ever get released, over the release of a location that never had a playset in the vintage times. Anyway, one can dream, and my dream release schedule would be:

Castle Grayskull
Snake Mountain
Crystal Castle (Filmation/toy merge)
Fright Zone (Filmation's)
Three Towers of Eternia
Eternos Palace/City
Whispering Woods (build-a-forest diorama pieces)
Castle Brightmoon
Nordor
Onnor
Starship Eternia
Fright Cave (vintage toy Fright Zone)
Slime Pit
Hall of Wisdom
Mystic Mountains (with Avion on top and Andreenos inside the mountain bottom)
...and many others.

Or grouped by "general location":

ETERNIA DISPLAY: essential: Castle Grayskull, Snake Mountain, Eternos Palace/City - additional: Mystic Mountains, House of Shokoti, Darksmoke, Tundaria (with Gwildor's home), Temple of the Sun, Aquatica, Arcadia, Targa, Tahryn
ETHERIA DISPLAY: essential: Crystal Castle, Fright Zone, Castle Brightmoon, Whispering Woods (build-a-forest diorama pieces) - additional: Crystal Falls (Crystal Castle "mountain base" add-on), Beast Island, Mystacor, Laughing Swan Inn, Castle Chill, Salineas, Dryl
PRETERNIA DISPLAY: essential: Three Towers, Hall of Wisdom, Fright Cave, Slime Pit - additional: Anwat Gar, Lady Slither's Lair
TRI-SOLAR DISPLAY: essential: Nordor, Onnor, Starship Eternia - additional: Sebrian's House, Denebria (Gorn City + Quagmi Swamp diorama pieces), Galactic City, Necron, Levitan, Monster Arena

Ever come up for air?

[sirsniffy]

I would support this, though I would have to store it at my mom's house (my apartment is small). After Snake Mountain, I would totally be on board. Thanks for posting this!

[hadley]

I had the Robo Force castle as a kid. I wonder if my parents got it at a yard sale or something because when I look it up now, it wasn’t complete.

Anyway, I used that as the Palace as a kid. I probably just assumed it was, because did anything other than MOTU exist? Haha..

The idea of Eternos palace is cool. I don’t need the Royal kitchen and Orko’s Sleepytine Adventures furniture set, but a diorama piece of the big cylindrical building and courtyard would be really neat.

[orsogranito]

Great playset vision about Eternos Palace... but please remove Orko's bedroom and the kitchen!

[horseman1981]

Love it,I would buy it. The kitchen and the bedroom are the best parts!

[bamf1980]

I would absolutely buy that!

[Ivan]

I agree that this is an amazing mockup (like all mockups Stuart has done). I wish we could have this. If I win the lottery I'd pay to have these produced Also, for the Eternia towers, I'd do a separate track extension set, so you could build tracks that go around all your other Eternian playsets.

For Eternos, I would also maybe make it more horizontal - this mockup follows a fold-out design concept of other MOTU playsets, but I think for Eternos it might be interesting to explore a form factor that is maybe not as tall, but unfolds into a larger surface area. I agree with Niki that those open spaces outside of palace are very important, I would love to get those. Also more floor area in the throne room.

[uaxuctum]

Great playset vision about Eternos Palace... but please remove Orko's bedroom and the kitchen!

Love it,I would buy it. The kitchen and the bedroom are the best parts!

Why?
The kitchen maybe (as it's there mainly for Chef Allen). But Orko's Bedroom is one of the most iconic rooms in the Palace, featured prominently in several episodes, and his bed design is just insanely cool.

(Note the playset mock-up doesn't portray his true bed design correctly.)

[hadley]

[QUOTE=uaxuctum;3820310]Why?
The kitchen maybe (as it's there mainly for Chef Allen). But Orko's Bedroom is one of the most iconic rooms in the Palace, featured prominently in several episodes, and his bed design is just insanely cool.

(Note the playset mock-up doesn't portray his true bed design correctly.)

Speaking on behalf of myself alone, the filmation cartoon isn’t my favorite version of MOTU, and those items are hyper specific to that version. But I get your point, this version of the palace would be straight from the show, so it makes sense to lean into it.

I never noticed that Orko’s mattress is a gnarled up reproduction of his hand. That ups the creep factor pretty considerably. Filmation always did nail environment design.

Stuart is a hell of an artist and I love his designs, but I don’t see how this one would work in 3D space. The left exterior/right interior in particular. It had to be wide enough on the outside for several figures and the wind raider, and wide enough on the inside for several sky sleds... it’d have to be like 18 inches thick while open! The again maybe the snake mountain latest would be that thick and I’m just a naysayer.

But if it was mine to design, I’d simplify a tad. The left interior would be devoted to the throne room and the right interior would be devoted to Duncan’s lab.

[Adam_Prince of Eternia]

I am sorry, but these are action figures, not dolls. And they need a playset, not a dollhouse. There is little to no play value in a bedroom or a kitchen, which is one of the chief complaints about the Crystal Castle playset accessories. I particularly cannot justify devoting an entire section of a playset to a room for a single supporting character like Orko or Chef Allen.

[orsogranito]

Why?
The kitchen maybe (as it's there mainly for Chef Allen). But Orko's Bedroom is one of the most iconic rooms in the Palace, featured prominently in several episodes, and his bed design is just insanely cool.

Because in my opinion to sell a plyaset like this, you must satisfy as many fans as possible and not all motu fans are supporters of Orko character.
About the kitchen… my god, please, make an arms hall or a maps room or whatever but not a stupid kitchen for an useless character.

[uaxuctum]

I am sorry, but these are action figures, not dolls. And they need a playset, not a dollhouse. There is little to no play value in a bedroom or a kitchen, which is one of the chief complaints about the Crystal Castle playset accessories. I particularly cannot justify devoting an entire section of a playset to a room for a single supporting character like Orko or Chef Allen.

I'm sorry, but do you realize the Eternos Palace is actually the Royal Family's house? Also, if you consider a playset has to have "play value" and that "dollhouses" don't have any play value, I must say that your perceptions seem rather biased, as I don't think any girl will agree to your assertion that a "dollhouse" has no play value. And these are collector's items, BTW, so their "play value" should not be their main design concern, as opposed to their "display value", and I'd say the display value of one of the most iconic and recognizable rooms in the palace must be rather high.

Because in my opinion to sell a plyaset like this, you must satisfy as many fans as possible and not all motu fans are supporters of Orko character.
About the kitchen… my god, please, make an arms hall or a maps room or whatever but not a stupid kitchen for an useless character.

Orko is an integral and prominent part of the Filmation canon. If some fan is not a "supporter of the Orko character", then maybe they just won't support a Filmation Eternos Palace playset in the first place. That shouldn't be a reason for such playset not to include one of its most iconic rooms. Similar reasonings could be made in order to exclude every possible Eternos Palace detail and accessory, as well as those of Snake Mountain (some fans hate its Filmation version, while others can't stand its vintage version; etc).

As for the kitchen, I agree that this room is not as prominent as certain others (and was only featured like a couple times during the series), so it shouldn't be given preference (over, say, the dining room or the gardens, which enjoyed much more screen time even though they don't feature furniture that is as instantly iconic as Orko's bed). But the Chef Allen character that you consider "useless" is certainly wanted by a sizeable amount of fans.

[Adam_Prince of Eternia]

I'm sorry, but do you realize the Eternos Palace is actually the Royal Family's house? Also, if you consider a playset has to have "play value" and that "dollhouses" don't have any play value, I must say that your perceptions seem rather biased, as I don't think any girl will agree to your assertion that a "dollhouse" has no play value. And these are collector's items, BTW, so their "play value" should not be their main design concern, as opposed to their "display value", and I'd say the display value of one of the most iconic and recognizable rooms in the palace must be rather high.

Is He-Man going to bake a cake and take a nap? Because that is the only play value a dollhouse—and these rooms—have. Kids did not anxiously tune in to see the domestic adventures of He-Man and the Masters of Universe. And with the limited amount of space inside a clamshell playset—which is not accurately depicted by this design—I do not think most collectors want a dedicated space for Chef Allen, who appeared in three episodes and is yet to have a figure, to bake cakes for the royal court. Even in terms of display value, I do not think many collectors are clamoring to display all their figures standing around in a kitchen.

[Tribal Spaceman]

I spoke to Stuart about his design choices and he had this to say:

‘I took a look at the overall fan base and recognised there are many differing fans. Some like the straight up Alcala side and would likely have no interest in a Filmation palace anyway, others remember the cartoon but like their vintage toy style battles, others loved the drama , magic and plotting of the cartoon. So I wanted to cater to all of these - for that reason I made the front side an epic battle play side, where there’s multiple posing and battle opportunities. Room for vehicles and ledges for display (recognising most adult collectors don’t actually play with their toys).

On the reverse I made the interior a play area for cartoon based plotting, magic and drama. None of these characters ever just walked out the door and started beating people up, 95% of the cartoon episodes were about all the characters, prophecies, spells and drama that ‘caused’ those show downs, so I used some key locations from the palace to allow cartoon fans (who after all this play set would most appeal to) to act out or display some of those scenes.

Orko's bedroom appeared several times, as did the throne room, courtyard and Duncan’s workshop. Whilst some won’t ‘get’ why there’s a kitchen, the key scenes in Secret of the Sword where Skeletors cronies disguised themselves as chefs with the cake is a fan favourite, and it made sense to nod to the film and She-Ra with the Palace also, so I included the kitchen, the ‘Cake of Deception’ and a free Chef Allan bonus figure.

This way fans of both action and drama can enjoy the set.

I find it kind of amusing really that anyone would be offended by their inclusion! If you look at both the vintage and new Snake Mountain - what on earth is the inner right side even supposed to be? It’s just wasted space. I just wanted to cram as much ‘set’ in there as possible to act out key scenes from the cartoon. After all, if someone didn’t want it to be a kitchen - they could just take out the cooker piece and move man at arms workbench, it’s not like I put pans on the wall!

Finally, I do want to add that it saddens me that in this day and age people still try and define a difference between ‘action figures’ (as for boys) and ‘dolls’ (which must gasp - only be for girls).

Action figures ARE dolls. Fact. They term action figure was coined by Mattel in the 60s to sell male dolls to boys as they knew their parents thinking at the time would balk at the idea of a boy owning a doll (how sinful, I can imagine the gates of hell creaking open at such a thought).

End of the day, if it’s a plastic rendition of a human - it’s a doll. But hey if people can’t handle that thought because they fear they’ll suddenly get the urge to dress in leather cop gear and do the YMCA, well sure, let em tell themselves there’s a difference, whatever helps them sleep at night!

Whether people choose to act out battles or drama (or like most of us - both) they’re all dolls. All I’ve tried to do is create a concept that allows the many differing types of fans to enjoy it in whatever way they see fit, and as the Eternos Palace originated from Filmation, that’s the source I took for reference material for play.”

[Jun-Yor]

It's a fun playset with interesting ideas. Sometimes these presentations are what makes more casual fans like me realize that 1) it's feasible and 2) I'd buy that. He did a really stellar job! And it's strictly for the Club Grayskull fanbase, the ones that seem quite vocal and percieve themselves (from what I read here) as marginalized. The execution is really quite fun.

[orsogranito]

Orko is an integral and prominent part of the Filmation canon. If some fan is not a "supporter of the Orko character", then maybe they just won't support a Filmation Eternos Palace playset in the first place. That shouldn't be a reason for such playset not to include one of its most iconic rooms. Similar reasonings could be made in order to exclude every possible Eternos Palace detail and accessory, as well as those of Snake Mountain (some fans hate its Filmation version, while others can't stand its vintage version; etc).

As for the kitchen, I agree that this room is not as prominent as certain others (and was only featured like a couple times during the series), so it shouldn't be given preference (over, say, the dining room or the gardens, which enjoyed much more screen time even though they don't feature furniture that is as instantly iconic as Orko's bed). But the Chef Allen character that you consider "useless" is certainly wanted by a sizeable amount of fans.

I'm not an Orko hater. I like him, but only into Filmation context.
So yes, in this Filmation playset Orko's bedroom could be correctly inserted, but I fear that this choice could results too binding and not welcome to all motu fans. I would think so.
Maybe could be the bedroom made like a mini playset? It could be a new way to make interesting "rooms" (or ambients in general) for motuc characters.
IMG_E4925_m.JPG

About Chef Allen "character wanted by a sizeable amount of fans": Numbers? Because I'm used to thinking about numbers if we're speaking about them and on this forum this character is always named by the same persons.

Anyway we are only speaking about a remote playset manufacture and we are expressing free opinions.
If we had to accept this playset vision without speaking on it, why this thread has been opened?
I don't want to replicate to the stupid letter writted "from another space"... full of trivials things that has only the effect to make a poor figure to who has written it.

[Jun-Yor]

I spoke to Stuart about his design choices and he had this to say:

Actually the term action figure was originated at Hasbro to market GI Joe dolls to boys.

[jzachery]

So make the bed removable and it can be any room you want. LOL

I LOVE the kitchen! Chef Allen is a must!

I would love this set or something like it. Heck, even some fold out dioramas at this point.

[Tribal Spaceman]

Honestly there's no need for unpleasantness in this thread. I really like that depiction of an Eternos Palace playset and would buy it in a heartbeat. If people have different ideas about what features such a toy would have, let's discuss them civilly.

[mjw41]

I thought a support thread for the Eternos Palace already existed, but I couldn't find one.
I've wanted the Eternos Palace as a playset ever since I was a child. I even made one of my infamous calls to Mattel about it. I think they thought I meant "Eternia" because the CS rep seemed surprised and replied, "Uh.. yes. But how did you know that?" when I asked about "the Eternia palace." lol.

Anyway, a couple months back Stuart Taylor Cameron aka Catra's Wrath from MattyCollector took my challenge and did this awesome mockup of a Filmation-inspired Palace as it might look in Classics. :O I so want this!! Indeed, I want to LIVE in this!!

https://i.imgur.com/9e1X4pc.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/R5QaqLs.jpg

After Snake Mountain, I'd like to see playsets released in this order:

Eternos Palace
Crystal Castle
Fright Zone
Slime Pit
Eternia towers
Whispering Woods
Starship Eternia
Snake Lair
Castle Brightmoon

Yes, I know these will probably never happen except for Snake Mountain, but a gal can dream, right?

So which playsets would YOU buy in Classics??? Would you want Eternos Palace?

PS - Can't WAIT for Snake Mountain!

Its ok looking for what it is. Its Filmation based which is nice, but Snake mountain is a huge undertaking for Super7 and they are a smaller toy company than Mattel. I have Mattels MOTUC Castle Grayskull and If i'm able to swing Snake Mountain that's going to be it for me Playset wise. I just don't have the room.

[Swifty]

I'd probably pay a couple thousand for a truly impressive one ... but before the Crystal Castle and Fright Zone though! Wouldn't it be great if we got them all eventually? Hey, a guy can dream right!!

[yeahthatsme1973]

Ok that’s pretty cool. At first glance of the front I didn’t notice the Road Ripper was there but the fact that it is sitting in MAA workshop is pretty ****** cool. Of course I’d buy this but I would have to upgrade my house.

[Sebastiaan]

It is a fantastic playset created with much thought. I don’t want anything changed or added. It is stunning!!!!