Which hand?

The UK Masters of the Universe comic had a letters page, and often they were quite creative with their answers. They often made up facts to satisfy the curiosity of the reader, but in issue twenty-eight with regards to Fisto it appears that they got the answer completely wrong! Unless I'm reading it wrong...


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Stratos and his wife!

The Masters of the Universe book "Wings of Doom" prominently features Stratos' wife Delora; although obviously in the cartoon Delora is his sister! The interesting thing is that Delora was always given a different design in each of the varying Masters of the Universe canons, but I have to say that by far the Ladybird book interpretation of Delora is my favorite!


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Delrora in the minicomics...

In the minicomic "Siege of Avion" we see the character of Delora looking very different to what we have come to expect of her in other Masters of the Universe canons. Often Delora, whether she is Stratos' wife, or his sister as in the cartoon, would always be given an Avionian appearance, wearing garments similar to Stratos. This minicomic takes a unique approach with Delora wearing clothes that you would expect to find on a regular Eternian female...


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Tiger transformation!

He is an interesting illustration by Robin Davies of He-Man and Battle Cat transformed from the Masters of the Universe Ladybird book "The Iron Master". With the lightning and power that surrounds the pair one would think that Prince Adam sat on Cringer and simply called upon the power of Castle Grayskull!


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Kirschenbaum and Carrillo...

The season two He-Man episode "Attack from Below" was written by Michael Kirschenbaum. This was his only episode of He-Man, but if you look carefully you will discover he was actually one of the main writers for all of the Golden Book produced Masters of the Universe stories! Incidentally Fred Carrillo who illustrated many of Kirschenbaum's Golden Book stories worked as a character design artist and layout artist at Filmation on both seasons of He-Man and the first season of She-Ra...

Catillus!

Harry Sabin created a very interesting guest character when he designed the wizard Catillus for the She-Ra season one episode "He Ain't Heavy". One of the best things about Catillus is that he did not look like the typical guest character. Without offending anyone Filmation often tried to keep their guest characters locked into a certain physique so that stock movements could be applied to the characters with little effort. She-Ra was notable for breaking away from stock designs as soon as the series started production. Catillus' physique is unlike any other character in the show. John Erwin's appearance as Prince Adam and He-Man in this episode meant that Catillus was voiced by one of the best Filmation voice actors when John was given his role!


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Finding the sword...

Prince Adam has gone missing, and it is up to Orko to deliver the Sword of Power in the Ladybird book "He-Man meets the Beast". What I like about this image by Robin Davies, and all subsequent images in the book showing Orko with the sword, is that it is far too large for him to hold upright. In the animated series, and this is something that I think Filmation got wrong, Orko was always able to hold the sword effortlessly, except of course in that one commercial bumper!


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Cat Man?

Here is a page from the He-Man and the Masters of the Universe season two Series Bible showing a character that never made it into production. This character appears to be a regal character, a great warrior and possibly a hunter. I am sure that Filmation would have simplified this character design to one that suited the style of Filmation animation. One can only imagine the kind of episode he would have appeared in...


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Speak, Skull-Face!

Here is an important panel from the classic minicomic "The Search for Keldor" illustrated to perfection by Bruce Timm, showcasing the first appearances of both Ninjor and Scare Glow! We are agreed that Timm's line art is astounding, but this image along with the rest of this particular minicomic is colored with such beauty. One only need look at the two characters to see that they have been given separate lighting to bring fourth their mysterious characteristics...


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Fighting the Roton!

Here is a fantastic action packed Robin Davies illustration from the Masters of the Universe Ladybird book "He-Man and the Lost Dragon" featuring He-Man, Man-At-Arms and Teela fighting Skeletor in his Roton. We would never see this kind of scene take place in the show because He-Man's Sword of Power was rarely ever used to fire bolts of energy in a battle situation. And of course in this illustration we see Teela's staff Kobra, being used to full effect!


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Alien Athletes #2

Here are three more alien athletes that were designed for the season one He-Man episode "Pawns of the Game Master", but for some reason never made the final cut. I think you will agree that there are some very interesting designs here!


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Alien Athletes #1

Here are three alien athletes that were designed for the season one He-Man episode "Pawns of the Game Master", but for some reason never made the final cut. I think you will agree that there are some very interesting designs here! More on the way...


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Overseer!

The She-Ra episode "The Mines of Mondor" featured a one-shot Horde villain that was given two lines of dialogue, but no name. Although he was rather uninspiring in design he was striking because he was different from the typical Horde warriors. In the script he was sadly not given a name as such, just a job title; Overseer! Although, that could be a dramatic name...


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The Sorceress' cleavage…

The costume that the Sorceress wore in The New Adventures of He-Man was obviously modeled on her appearance in the Filmation cartoon. But here, in a scene from the episode "Crack in the World", we see that every once in a while her new costume allowed her to show off some cleavage! No wonder He-Man is distracted in from his forthcoming duel with Skeletor...

Adam and Cringer relaxing...

There was an existing image of Prince Adam relaxing with Cringer by his feet, which was used in a lot of the early Filmation promotional material for He-Man and the Masters of the Universe. On this occasion Robin Davies creates his own unique take on the image, as seen in the Ladybird book "She-Ra and the Dark Pool".


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Low Angle Royals...

For some reason I really like the low angle on this illustration by Robin Davies from the Masters of the Universe Ladybird book "Skeletor's Ice Attack". I think I like the image because it primarily features Filmation characters, and as we know Filmation rarely played about with their angles to this effect...


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Adam's other design.

What you are looking at is the design for Prince Adam that appeared in a few of the UK Masters of the Universe annuals. The interesting thing to note is that this design was not based on his original DC comic appearances. It appears to be a mixture of sources, but the end result is the same; not a very good disguise for the most powerful man in the universe...


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Evil silhouette...

This wonderful illustration by Robin Davies appears in the She-Ra Ladybird book "Spirit is kidnapped". Having the characters of Catra and Clawdeen silhouetted in purple against the moon creates a great atmosphere to the piece. My only gripe is the way Clawdeen is illustrated in the book, and subsequently this piece, looking like a giant cat, instead of a tiger...


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Will He-Man ever die?

Here is an interesting question regarding He-Man that appeared in the letters page in issue sixty-two of the UK Masters of the Universe comic. What's your theory?


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Man-At-Arms loves Evil-Lyn?

Man-At-Arms loves Evil-Lyn? Yes, you are reading that correctly! In this splash page montage from the story "Fatal Attraction!" featured in issue sixty-eight of the UK Masters of the Universe comic we see Man-At-Arms falling in love with Evil-Lyn. Oddly there are some extremely beautiful images in this montage illustration, especially the image of the pair sitting by a tree.


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Servant activity once more!

I've featured them on this Blog before, and I think the time is right to showcase once more the Nerlins, Man-At-Arms' servants. In this illustration from "Castle Grayskull Under attack!" we see them attaching a device to the Wind Raider. What makes me laugh is how Stratos just stands by, not even bothering to help the poor overworked little green men...


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Mer-Man's scared!

You have to love Mer-Man's expression in this frame from "The Search", as he cowers before the wrath of Beast Man, with his mouth slightly crumpled...


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Spirit in motion.

Here is a wonderful Robin Davies illustration from the Ladybird book "Shadow Weaver's Magic Mirror". This image really showcases just how beautiful the artist could make a simple image look. It is odd to look at this image for a moment and realize that Adora is the only one whose color scheme resembles her Filmation look...


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Skeletor's neck.

In this quite graphic illustration from the Ladybird book "The Iron Master" we can see one of the rare occasions when an artist decided to draw Skeletor's sinewy neck. Thankfully Robin Davies did not continue to do this and stuck closely to the traditional Skeletor look. It is interesting to see how Skeletor looks with a neck, but personally I have always preferred the idea of a floating head, or at least no visible neck!


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