Part I or One?

In the past I've already noted how the quotation-marks were altered mid-way through season 1 of Mike Young Productions' He-Man series.

Those updated quotation-marks ended up in the Europe-releases and eventually on DVD.

But another change in the episode-titles was the way the studio handled two or three parter episodes.

"The Beginning" had in its initial US broadcast-run for Cartoon Network the episode-title with written numerials - Part One, Part Two, Part Three. While in the European version it was changed to I, II and III to the roman numerical system.

Though by end of season 1, with the "Council of Evil" episodes the studio had made the change for Roman numerical system, so the first three episodes of 2002 He-Man cartoon are unique.

What did the H stand for?

With the updated logo on He-Man's harness, it was also used for his ancestor in the 2002-cartoon continuity; King Grayskull.

In a flashback of Preternia we see Guards outside the Castle. They also wear the "H" on their belts. But what did the H stand for?

And yes, I reckon the symbol might not stand for any letter but have an entire meaning onto its own. But I'm still curious what meaning did it have.

Variant Cover Fun #2

As I've mentioned in the past, variant covers can be lot of fun. Seeing new takes on familiar characters from different artists.

This time I thought I'd talk about the great He-Man.org exclusive online variant-cover for Issue 7 - Volume 3 of the Masters of the Universe comic by MVCreations.

The cover features King Randor and Queen Marlena in their "battle-outfits". We were first introduced to these armor-variants in season 1 episode "Of Machines and Men".

The cover-art is done by Eamon O'Donoghue with colouring by Jeremy Roberts. As a great homage, Eamon drew Randor with the sword he received from Lord Dactys in season 1 episode "Underworld".

Marlena also is holding the sword from 1987 live-action movie "Masters of the Universe" where He-Man (potrayed by Dolph Lundgren) had this particular sword.

Ice Armor He-Man by Emiliano Santalucia

Yesterday my duties were obtained by some Faker-Jukka who made this claim:
"The Ice-Armor figure was also a personal favourite and it's a shame the variant-armor didn't come up again in the cartoon. Or in the comic. It would have been interesting to see Emiliano Santalucia's version of He-Man with this particular armor."


But while it's true that the Ice-Armor He-Man did not appear in the comic, there is in fact a renderition of Ice-Armor He-man by comicbook-artist Emiliano Santalucia, that was done as a private commission; where he fights against Trap-Jaw

It was also one of the earliest images I coloured for my own amusement as well for colouring-practice. Using the small web-version, which you can see below.

Rarely seen Ice-Armor He-Man

I loved seeing He-Man gear up in the Ice-Armor during season 1 episode "Trust". Sure they didn't really explain how and where he got it, but the entire outfit was fantastic and suited this adventure in the snowy landscape.

The Ice-Armor figure was also a personal favourite and it's a shame the variant-armor didn't come up again in the cartoon. Or in the comic. It would have been interesting to see Emiliano Santalucia's version of He-Man with this particular armor.

Because "Ice-Armor He-Man" only had one cartoon-appearance, I didn't expect there to be any art made about him.
Luckily I was proven wrong when I discovered that in a German "Mega Hiro" magazine's splash-page advertizing toys; we see a rare illustration of Ice-Armor He-Man battle-ready with his weapon in hand.

Below is also the page-spread for the toy-ads where you can see Ice-Armor He-Man battling Skeletor.

Prince Adam's Scepter

Whenever there is a cartoon made to tie in with a toyline, it's interesting to see how the animation handles toy-related accessories. Weapons, playsets, etc.

Prince Adam had two accessories. A Powersword that was smaller than the regular Powersword He-Man had (closed version to fool people) and his scepter.

prototype preview of Prince Adam by the Four Horsemen

We saw his sword many times in the cartoon because of its great importance.
But what about the Scepter?

Final toy-version of Prince Adam's scepter

Adam's scepter appeared briefly in season 1 episode "The Beginning - part II" when Man-At-Arms grabs it from the ground and throws it to Adam as they fly on their skysleds to join in the battle at Evergreen Forest.

At the Evergreen Forest Adam immediatly faces off against Whiplash, using his scepter to trip him down.

Unfortunately that would be the last time we saw Prince Adam's scepter in the cartoon. As the toy-version had a missile-firing function; it would have been interesting to see used onscreen.

Jukka at Grayskull-Con 2012

Yes I will be going to Grayskull-Con in Germany this year!

Should be lot of fun! Check out the video!



For more information, check out http://grayskull-con.blog.de

Beast Man's club

Here's an image from UK issue #18 of the Masters of the Universe comic published by Toontastic.

It features Beast Man with a fierce-looking club. This artwork is interesting because it comes from Mattel, yet the toy-figure didn't have a club and I don't remember seeing one in the cartoon.

The club itself looks like it could do some serious damage and it would have been an awesome addition in the cartoon for Beast Man.

Variant Cover Fun #1

Variant covers are always fun. Personally I like that it gives new artists to interpret familiar characters in a new way and may add the chances of new readers to buy an issue based on an variant-cover from an known artist.


With Masters of the Universe comic book by MVCreations there were a great deal of variant-covers with issues.
The example today comes from Issue 3 - Volume 3 (Dealer incentive) of the comic's run. Illustrated by Sam Liu and colours by Jeremy Roberts.


I find it interesting how Man-At-Arms doesn't seem to have any pupils. Making him look almost evil. And the way details are handled are interesting. He-Man for instance has very plain wrist-bands with no detailing in them, but on the other hand Teela has an interesting wrist-guard that covers her hand a big and includes a red jewel.


Personally I like the use of Sorceress, Man-At-Arms, Teela and He-Man on the cover. They were basically the main characters in Filmation cartoon (but not to same extent in Mike Young Productions-version), so I wonder what guidelines the artist had when making this piece...