Never-Had-A-Figure Vintage 80s Characters/Variants

[Secret]

The addition of characters like Frog Monger really get me excited because it's a character who's been there since the beginning who has never had an action figure. I thought I'd focus on some characters from 80s MOTU that never had a toy released in any line. Why 80s? Because I think for a lot of people, missing 80s characters are a special priority in their collections,

I figured I'd kick things off with ten names and see what you folks come up with.

10. Sharella from Powers of Grayskull. Perhaps the most important unmade character from that era. Her Battlecat helmet is one of my favorite features of her design. (She was later retconned as the Green Goddess but that wasn't part of her 80s lore.)

9. Songster from the Masters of the Universe Power Tour in 1987. Where else are you going to find a bard with an electric guitar who sings about the three towers of Eternia?

8. Evil Robot aka Spruzza Acqua of the Evil Horde. Mattel had plans to upsize a Japanese water squirting robot with a new head and deco. The mold would be used in LJN's Voltron line and later bootlegged. Mattel certainly owns the head, color scheme, and deco.

7. Scrollos. Keeper of the Scrolls. He answered the UK comic book letter column and was something of an observer, like The Watcher from Marvel Comics. He had a red and green outfit that was similar to 1960s Jor-El and a star on his forehead.

6. Lubic. Made famous by the 1987 MOTU movie, Lubic was a shotgun toting, grizzled police officer from Earth who moved to Eternia, played by character actor James Tolkan of Back to the Future and Top Gun fame. He appeared in the comics adaptation, looking a bit like Lex Luthor in fatigues as he stayed behind and had a costume designed by William Stout in the movie.

5. Andros. Evil Ram-Horned Warrior of Skeletor. Seen in just the first episode of The New Adventures of He-Man, Andros is Skeletor's chief henchman who is left behind when he leaves Eternia.

4. Minox. Master of Mazes and Minotaur-Headed Servant of Skeletor. Minox comes from the Italian magazine, Mattel Magic Boy.

3. Shezar. Aquatic Anti-Hero from Antar the Fifth Star. In the 1987 Brazilian comics, she kidnapped the women of Eternia but ultimately sided with He-Man against Skeletor.


2. Negator from Filmation. The main villain of TWO Filmation episodes and voiced by Alan Oppenheimer, Negator controls machines and electricity.

1. An unnamed one!

Ted Mayer (designer of countless MOTU figures) had an Abominable Snowman concept that I think would have reused Beast Man/Moss Man parts with a new head as an evil albino snow ape! This character had blue gloves, belt pouches, and blue high tech chest armor along with a climbing gear, a gun, and green skis with an evil warrior motif that could be stowed on his back!

https://battleramblog.com/ted-mayer/

[facet]

Take a look at the motuc index Mostly everything you want in in here, just in classics format. Save you alot of time.
https://www.he-man.org/forums/boards...he-MOTUC-Index

[Dylamug]

Regarding your number one, I'm gonna say literally ANYTHING unproduced that Ted Mayer designed should get made.
A lot of folks swoon of Mark Taylor, and maybe rightfully so for basically originating the brand, but his concept stuff never grabbed me the same way Ted Mayer's does.

Dylamug is clearly my number one. As time has gone on, I've come to consider that Filmation butchered the designs for both him and Octavia, and if they ever get new toys, THOSE are the versions that should get made and become the defaults for the characters going forward.
But those guys aside, look at what else he designed: the skiing snowman, the brainiac Hordesman, the flesh peeling off Hordesman, and Wrap Trap. The man was great.

[Bear]

Unnamed One had a toy...

Anyway, Joya/Bubblerina comes to mind. Filmation's Enchantress maybe? Bowena? Darkdream? And Pigboy from the movie!

[Secret]

Regarding your number one, I'm gonna say literally ANYTHING unproduced that Ted Mayer designed should get made.
A lot of folks swoon of Mark Taylor, and maybe rightfully so for basically originating the brand, but his concept stuff never grabbed me the same way Ted Mayer's does.

Dylamug is clearly my number one. As time has gone on, I've come to consider that Filmation butchered the designs for both him and Octavia, and if they ever get new toys, THOSE are the versions that should get made and become the defaults for the characters going forward.
But those guys aside, look at what else he designed: the skiing snowman, the brainiac Hordesman, the flesh peeling off Hordesman, and Wrap Trap. The man was great.

Yeah. Mayer's stuff all looks like production-ready MOTU. Some of it even looks like it could reuse tooling, which isn't true for Sweet or Taylor's designs.

As much as I don't want STRAIGHT repaints, the 1986 wave especially was TOO different IMHO and a sign of the brand floundering.

They could reuse, say, 30-60% of body sculpt/tooling from other figures forever and I'd be happy pretty much forever. Too little reuse and it starts to look Roger Sweet heavy and morph into TMNT from Playmates. Too much reuse and it gets very boring.

For my money, much of what Origins does with new additions borders on too much reuse but Masterverse borders on too little quite often. (And I'm not a huge fan of the male torso they use so much in Masterverse. It's too skinny. Savage He-Man's is better and 40th is better for some characters.)

[kentNelson]

Those obscure and wierd desings and characters from old sketches are my fav and I wish they were made for Origins.
I woudl vote for Wratp Trap, Evil Robot HOrde, Sketch Dylamug and Octavia, Horde Brain, Horde Shaman...

[hadley]

Does Sharella really have lore beyond “female archer who appeared on box art and was named 25 years later”?

My favorite unrealized designs are the old Horde concepts with the little alien/bat creatures that attach to the figures’ chests. I’d love for that to make some kind of appearance. Doesn’t have to be Horde since that’s already been established. It’s just a really unique and fun concept.

[Secret]

Does Sharella really have lore beyond “female archer who appeared on box art and was named 25 years later”?

My favorite unrealized designs are the old Horde concepts with the little alien/bat creatures that attach to the figures’ chests. I’d love for that to make some kind of appearance. Doesn’t have to be Horde since that’s already been established. It’s just a really unique and fun concept.

Do you have a link? I'm not sure if I've seen those!

[hadley]

Do you have a link? I'm not sure if I've seen those!

Not the comprehensive link ever, but there’s a fantastic illustration on this page:

https://battleramblog.com/leech-evil...-suction-1985/

Find the Mantenna page on the same site for another look of the concept in Mantenna.

I think there is more on the Battle Ram blog. If Lich Leech sees this, perhaps he can chime in.

[Dylamug]

Does Sharella really have lore beyond “female archer who appeared on box art and was named 25 years later”?
pt.

She's the Green Goddess now thanks to Scott. And since they carried that over in the Wun-Dar minicomic, it's here to stay. "Sharella" is literally just a costume she wears.

[Secret]

She's the Green Goddess now thanks to Scott. And since they carried that over in the Wun-Dar minicomic, it's here to stay. "Sharella" is literally just a costume she wears.

I think, for me, a lot of her lore is implied from watching 80s cartoons.

She's new Teela, Scarlett, Cheetara.

Obviously, anybody who likes women would grow up with a crush on her. She flirts with He-Ro or he flirts with her because they're the main guy and girl.

She's from a warrior tribe so she's probably more overtly badass. He-Ro is a ranger/spellcaster and an 80s idea of a sensitive man, in touch with his feelings and nature. His literal motto is "Magic and strength, tempered by heart!"

He's what some folks on the internet today call "soy", probably deliberately modeled on Ken dolls and in response to parents groups offended by He-Man as violent. And she's essentially a short-tempered Amazon. But there's flirty banter, all PG rated. And Eldor is the Duncan mixed with Kup mixed with Obi-Wan and constantly says stuff like, "Oh. You kids! You have so much to learn! It's hard to believe I was ever your age!"

And Tytus is all, "I am a giant. I am sad and lonely! Why won't Megator be my friend? Why do villagers flee from me? Why am I so tall and lonely?"

And He-Ro is all, "Don't be sad, Tytus. Being different makes you special and your specialness makes you one of a kind, friend."

And there's probably a goofy little cartoon critter voiced by Lou Scheimer who Mattel ends up having to make a toy of. And they all laugh at the end of every episode.

And there's probably stories about He-Ro and Sharella's parents or lack thereof. Her dad is probably an overbearing warrior and He-Ro helps get the guy to tell Sharella how proud he is of her, because he isn't the "I love you type". And He-Ro's parents are probably a big mystery. "Tell me about my real parents, Eldor! I wish I knew more about them!" And Eldor, keeper of secrets that he is, says something like, "Your parents were explorers who were lost exploring. Don't allow yourself to dwell on the past. Your training is what matters now if we are to defeat King Hiss and protect the Three Towers!"

And the Snake Men are all eccentric idiots with job specialties (except for exactly one, who is smart) and King Hiss is mean to them. So mean, in fact, that they at least once help He-Ro. And there's a Snake Woman. And Mattel has demands to make a toy of her too and a generation will later confess to their therapists that they still have a crush on a cartoon snake woman. And we all go crazy when Mattel finally makes a good figure of her.

Basically, though, He-Ro and Sharella the Doug Funnie and Patti Mayonaise dynamic only less unrequited with a dash of Link and Zelda. The funny, sensitive nerd boy and the assertive, tom boy jock girl who probably comes from a higher social class.

Do I have a source for this? Not in the Mattel archives. Just as an observer of stereotypes and design trends in 80s children's pop culture.

[AnimalGrandpa]

She's the Green Goddess now thanks to Scott. And since they carried that over in the Wun-Dar minicomic, it's here to stay. "Sharella" is literally just a costume she wears.

I might be imagining this, but I think in the Classics bios or somewhere official, it's stated that Sharella became Green Goddess after her death. So she was actually Sherella at some point, and she can still take her living form when she needs to not freak people out.

[facet]

I might be imagining this, but I think in the Classics bios or somewhere official, it's stated that Sharella became Green Goddess after her death. So she was actually Sherella at some point, and she can still take her living form when she needs to not freak people out.

She did, she got shot by a posionius arrow from Quick Flick and Mossman had to give her a blood transfusion, morphing her into the Green Goddess. Not sure exactly how the transfusions did that, as he could then give anyone a transfusion and give them these amzing powers but thats how it went down. Its from one of the mini comics from classic (7 or 8)