The Tri-Klops theory is one of the longest one in the fandom. Even when there has actually been no evidence found that he was planned or intended as a good guy. Even for a split second. There's no concept artworks, no notes or documents. ...Yet all the fans have embraced this fan theory. And spout it like as its a fact. So much so that Mattel has also at one point referenced Tri-Klops as "he was a good guy at first" (But they don't have anything to back it up with, when asked)
Tri-Klops as a hero actually makes sense originally because of his boots. He has the same boots as He-Man & Man-At-Arms. Whereas Zodac has the same feet as Merman & Skeletor. But maybe since they already had Man-E-Faces they didn't want another hero that had a ability of 3. Also his color scheme is definitely more hero like but so is Zodac. 🤷
If you recall (depends how old you are) the card art for Zodac describes him as an evil cosmic warrior. But of course the filmation cartoon makes him a good guy. Even as a kid I noticed what you suggested. Zodac shared the same style body as the evil warriors. 🤷♂️
so thats how those toys tied in...I got the triceratops and trex as a young kid but never saw them in the show; thank you for answering a 37 yr old mystery for me
The Dinosaurs were so late in the toyline, that not all fans knew about them. Heck. There are some MOTU fans who don't know about characters like Ninjor or Rio-Blast.
Cool video! Thank you! The "Veena's Tears" theory is pretty darned cool. Here I was, just thinking it was a take on the Eye of Ra / Eye of Horus Egyptian symbols, because of her general Egyptian style. I remember reading somewhere that not only was Tri-Klops originally intended to be a good guy, but Mer-Man was also heroic and Stratos was evil. My own personal pet theory is that we already know who Songster really is . . . . SONGSTER Heroic Rock & Roll Bard Real Name: Kevin Corrigan King He-Man’s Time Agents scour the length and breadth of space-time to find those who can be placed into Eternia’s history to manipulate events - subtly or drastically - to ensure that the forces of evil never triumph. One of the sneakier ploys was to find a washed-up rock musician from Earth who once helped He-Man recover the Cosmic Key, transport him to the recent past, and use his musical talents to rally support against evil. Taking the alias “Songster” so as not to cause a catastrophic temporal paradox should He-Man recognise his younger self when the hero arrives on Earth, Corrigan travels throughout the Light Hemisphere singing instructional and rousing songs to prepare others for upcoming battles. Songster aids the Heroic Warriors as a Rock & Roll bard! I've also speculated on the evolutionary biology of the Horde-Worlders, but that's a longer read, and was written before the Classics bios.
The Tri-Klops theory is fun because it is one of the oldest fan myths. But there is no proof-sheet or concept art or document found that says he was a good guy. The Mer-Man and Stratos thing is from early conception times when they changed the alliances back and forth. 😎 ( battleramblog.com/heroic-mer-man-evil-stratos/ )
As a kid, I always made him either the anti hero or always worked close to the good guys. I always felt he was too cool a character/figure to be evil/a bad guy.
A theory that Jukka and myself have talked about before is that Modulok and Stinkor were swapped round in the 1985 wave of toys, with Modulok originally intended to be packaged as an Evil Warrior and Stinkor as a member of the Evil Horde. The reason for this is that we know, from early, unpublished sketches for The Treachery of Modulok minicomic that portrayed Modulok as a minion of Skeletor, that Modulok was at one point going to be packaged as one of Skeletor's Evil Warriors. Other evidence supporting this: the lack of a Horde bat symbol on Modulok's chest, Modulok starting off as one of Skeletor's crew in the Filmation MOTU series. Yet this wave of toys had the usual Heroic-Evil Warrior balance, with 3 on both sides (Roboto, Moss Man and Sy-Klone for the good guys and Two Bad, Spikor and Stinkor for the bad guys). So Modulok being packaged with the latter would have shifted the ratio to 3:4. Enter Rob Lamb of Filmation. He has told his story many times of how Stinkor was presented to him and the rest of the Filmation crew, by Mattel, as a member of the Evil Horde for use in the She-Ra cartoon series. Of course, they thought the concept of Stinkor was ridiculous and chose not to include him in the series. But Rob Lamb has always been adamant that Mattel presented Stinkor as a member of the Horde. Therefore, with what we know about the original intentions for Modulok as one of Skeletor's crew, it makes sense to assume that Modulok and Stinkor were intended to be packaged with the Evil Warriors and Evil Horde respectively, but at some point they were swapped round, with Stinkor packaged instead with the Evil Warriors and Modulok with the Horde. My personal theory about the reasons for this is that it may have been because the character of Two Bad, like Modulok, had two heads, so it may have seemed awkward or confusing to release two new characters with two heads as part of the same faction at the same time.
I've long thought that Modulok was originally intended as an Evil Warrior, but I'm not sure you need to swap Stinkor to make room for him--Modulok stands outside the standard case ratio, after all, and was a higher price point than any of the other figures in the 1985 releases. I think he was always meant as a 'special' figure and just got shuffled into the Evil Horde for other reasons.
@@matthewmartin1595 The main thing going against the above theory I think is the design of both characters - the design of Modulok fits better with the 'movie monster'-inspired look of the Horde whereas Stinkor fits better with Skeletor's crew, who are typically animal-human hybrids. It's mainly Rob Lamb's insistence that Mattel presented Stinkor to him as part of the Horde that makes me think a swap may have taken place.
Its a lot of good deduction and is a convincing argument. Devils advocate: Stinkor and mossman complimentary ala Fisto & Jitsu, Stratos & Mer-Man Teela & Evil-Lyn This is design and marketing working in perfect unite... As such, putting Stinkor into a new and untested faction seams risky. Also, The Horde had the lion's share of the tooling budget...So heroic/evil warriors gonna get the Faker/Prince adam treatment. However, more to your point; It is interesting that Stinkor, just from a color pallet perspective fits well alongside the black/red deco of the Horde. Also, the horde had a harry henchman. Early Stinkor was going to have Beastman/sratos buck going by his cross sell art. So a marksting guy could concivible said "the The Horde need two harry henchment? Early Modulok was more of a christmass colors green and red. Green don't work with Horde's initial deco scheme. Perhaps Orange was added to Stinkor late in the game so he fits better with Skeletors more collorful compatriots?
I also think that its likely, Modulok may have intended to be unalign like Green skinned 1st Sorcress, then Zodac replacing her as 8th 1982 fig and early Man-e- Faces stories. Modulok fits the "mad science gone wrong" theme that the horde ended up being more then the "universal monster" theory.
I don't think the ratio argument on Wave 2 holds, simply because Faker and Evil-Lyn don't really fit in there--they don't get cross-sells in the comics or mini-comic appearances. I think you'd have a better case that Man-E-Faces and Tri-Klops were meant to be more ambiguous, with Ram-Man firmly good and Trap-Jaw firmly evil. We don't get the Heroic/Evil divisions until a little ways into Wave 2 marketing, after all; even the taglines are missing "Heroic" and "Evil" in the earliest marketing and releases.
Wasn't there an idea early on that it would be up to the kids rather than the marketing to decide which characters were good, and which were evil? The idea I think was to allow the kids buying the toys to pretty much create their own universe from the raw materials, but things solidified a bit more with the minicomics being introduced... I know Roger Sweet said he imagined Man-E-Faces to be a bad guy. I've often wondered if Ram Man at one point was going to be a villain, as the skull emblem on his belt suggests a villain rather than a hero. And we know that Stratos was going to be a villain until quite late in the game, with certain marketing material even describing him as evil...
I love this style of video. Deep diving not just into hisorical lore, but now equally nostalgic fannon since this community is now older then we where, when this community started to coalesce in the late 90s... Some of us where in highschool or jr high when we started to learn other super nerds still cared about MOTU when we all learned what "electronic mail" was. 😁😆 I guess were all a little ELDOR now. Wokka wokka!
I’d love to make more of these videos. Especially if a fan theory has some breadcrumbs that can be pieced together. Hopefully based on characters and the world itself. (Instead of the now-many-times-debunked idea about ”Oh He-Man started out as a Conan and they produced the toys but in 1982 Mattel dudes went to movie theater and saw how bloody film was so they changed hair color to blonde and made up a new name in place of Conan…” 😂🙄)
@@ToonJukka Yeah, you have done a lot of great "factual history" and "correction on myths", in previouse videos but this is a fun tangent! You've made videos about Keldor, Scareglow "ghost of Skeletor" debunking that. And corrections about Keldor in other videos i believe. I'd like to see stuff like; "could he-Ro be King grayskulls son" (No specific canon, just individual person "in my canon" type stuff.) "Was Gwildor going to be on a PoG card back?" (Because his mini comic back cover) You can do ten thousand videos on Keldor/randor alone! 😂 There is a fun topic about the evolution of the ancients/councle of elders and there scattered appearances visual representations. Who could Teela' dad really be? Endless speculation! Could it be Keldor before he got lost in spacetime from hus magical experiments!?!?!?! (Start with Wild speculation...tben just leave bread out over night. Instand bread crumbs lololo🤔🙄😅) Of course with Enter buzz Saw Hordak, well why the heck is Hordak helping to construct Central Tower in the first place?!?!?! Does it have anything to do with the drawing table concept art of a three towers with a kind if hordak looking face? Why is Grayskull tower called Grayskull Tower?!?! It predates Castle Grayskull! So did Hero build it? I.e. Grayskull the man built a watch tower before making a whole castle? I think brainstorming what the 1988 charecters COULD have been named is another good place for theorizing. "Slamuri" i would bet more then anything, would have been named "Karate" since that name was used for a very not karate looking charecter for NA. It felt like a trademarked name they where told to use. "Hot Shot" or "Sir shot" makes more sense then "Plasmar" considering the medevil knight motief, and what we now know about He-Ro being designed with a spring loaded "quick draw" action. Then, just what colors would they have been in 1988. Another thing, with Strobo being in a US magazine, is is posible that entire wave might have been designed to be mail order BOGO to clear out unsold 1987 figures? Those magazines came out late into 1988 after all...
The 2002 MOTU series' comics called ICONS OF EVIL, tell individual stories for how Keldor/Skeletor gathered or transformed his lackeys. In the case of Tri-Klops, he was indeed a good guy, a great sword wielding warrior and master fighter that protected a certain Technologically advanced individual. And Keldor duped him into turning on the person Tri-Klops protected claiming that the person controlled Tri-Klops via the helmet and the visor the latter was forced to use because his eyes were damaged by a gas or acid when he met Keldor, whom made him believe he was there in good faith. In reality when Tri-Klops eliminated the person he was protecting thinking he was evil, it was discovered that Keldor had placed a spell to the Helmet and visor to subjugate Tri-Klops making him his eternal servant.
The comic mini-series "Icons of Evil" from 2003 are terrific. In the case of Tri-Klops here they are irrelevant. Because the 2002 series is its own reboot. Plus the Tri-Klops origin comic doesn't fully get to dive into the character. Yes we see him help one dude against some bandits. But they never give any explanation or hints why he did it. There could be any nefarious reasons behind it, but the unnamed warrior getting blasted in the face turned things. The visor that later Keldor gives Tri-Klops and says he placed a spell in it to subjugate Tri-Klops also contradicts the cartoon episode we saw before the comic. Where Tri-Klops very clearly set out to do his own thing and attempt to conquer the Royal Palace. The comic was meant to still be in same set of rules as the cartoon, so not sure why this mishap happened. The Tri-Klops comic sadly had its own fair share of mishaps, and the many different artists needed to even complete it just give a disjointed experience (errors from one page to the next one like during Keldor and Tri-Klops fight, etc)
I always thought Tri-Klops was too cool to be one of Skeletor's goons. Be cool if he was just a wandering mercenary/do-gooder like in Yojimbo or Fistful of Dollars. After figuring out what Skeletor was about he'd probably fight against his plots where he could, but he's mostly out for himself.
I like the idea that in Enter Buzz Saw Hordak Hordak was refering to "Grayskull:the man". Because, _why wouldn't_ Hordak just say "end the power of Castle Grayskull forever"... In this light, i wonder if the 1987 movie might have been script doctored since Skeletor has a tendency to say "grayskull" and not "CASTLE grayskull" throughout the whole film. Some synergy cross promotion of getting us kids ready for He-Ro & Eldor later in the fall/winter in time fir Christmas? Its a very "evil ghost of Skeletor" sentence and proves why grammer is so important!😂🤣😁 And funally, i would bet a trillion billion dollors Lou came up with the name "He-Ro" and convinced mattel to change the G to an H, (no doubt pushing production back at the factory...) and the 1987 style guide was written by whoever wrote that "he-ro and the Land of Legend" pitch document James shared with us all.
I kind of wish they'd just stuck with calling the character Grayskull instead of renaming him He-Ro... it's a less silly name than He-Ro and best of all it might have stopped Ian Richter creating the godawful 'King Grayskull' in 200x...
@@aidancross9756 AIDAN! good to here from you bro! Part of me thinks King Grayskull, could is just a grown up version of the boy Gray? Part of me likes to think "He-Ro" is just the alt identity, pulic persona to young Gray. He just hasn't yet learned what "Grayskull" is yet, since he is more boy then man. His "secret past, and fortold destiny he learned in the cave that day" [1987 He-Ro style guide] Its all very Clark Kent/Kal-El/Superman. "He-Ro" is just what people call him since that version is so heroic. Its a name a child would give to a demigod rescuer. Gray, does not knows he will become "THE GRAYSKULL", not yet at least...Just as Arther pulling Excalibur from the stone, meant nothing to young Arther...he was just told to bring his brother a sword, any sword asap! Merlin/Eldor knows more, and has been traning the boy his whole life to fulfill destiny and make Grayskull synonymous again with all powerful benevolent rule by divine right of justice and law. Gray's adopted mother, Sharella doesn't think her boy, is man enough yet to end the Great Wars once and for all. Its all very Arthurian to me. shining kingdom on the hill/Camelot = Central Tower/ Hall of Wisdom. Meets Gray the Jungle boy. (Tarzan not knowing his last name is Graystroke...) witch incidentally goes back to He-Man and the Power Sword as "Mattels new jungle hero". (Which stuck in Lou's mind when he brushed off the name He-Ro in the Son of He-Man bible pitch, we got once again a "jungle boy" as a completly differnt he-Ro! Though, thematically similar with a long lost jungle boy with a mysterious past and predetermined preverbial shining knight.
@@falleneldor That idea works brilliantly. If you were responsible for official canon lore rather than the hacks at Mattel, I'd be very satisfied 🙂 Good to touch base with you too! I'm not likely to be able to come over Stateside or to Power-Con again any time soon, but my DMs are always open 😎
@@aidancross9756 Thank you Aidan, thats a mighty compliment i appricaite. I miss talking with you and a many others these last few years! The reason I'm not on social much these last few years, is I've been channelling my "fan fiction energy" into my own IP. "Untold eons ago, after humanity's expulsions from The Garden of Eden, but before the rise of the Kingdoms of Atlantis there was much suffering on primordial earth. The Eldritch: the prime-evils plagued The living with endless terrors... The Eternal saw the strife and was heavy with sadness for the people he made...So The Eternal gave the people a herald to lead them! Thus was born the PRIME-MORTAL: the mightiest mortal the earth has ever seen! The original hero of prehistory defends the Children of Adam from all who serve the will of The Namless; First of the Fallen Ones. They who seek to poison, corrupt and destroy all that has been made! Heretofore was an era only dreamed of, now you can finally read these "Lost tales" from THE LAND OF LEGENDS!" There are worlds beyond and so much on my "prototernia" CAIN the 1st Killer is a nomadic cave man punisher meets Predator type... And theres like steampunk zombie cyborg dinosaurs who have harnesed the power of volcanic reaction to stay alive. Time travling bionic Astro-Saurian refugees living on the moon. (Its a space station) There is a stranded alien emissarie astronought named Zadox who leads The Gregori (the watchers) from Mount Zion... They create a network of "laser gates" explaining all the prehistoric megolithic structures dotting earth. the alien Annuki and Atlans bring interplanitary war to earth from thier destroyed planet X. Stonehenge was a planitary invasion "laser gate". The rise of the Nepheliam and many "warrior heroes" who's linage extends to Thor and Hercules eons later. The "giants of old". Just every wacky MOTU, Conan, children's bible story and dinosaur, alien, supernatural sci fi, stargate, angel/demon story ive ever come up with under this "Land of Legends" umbrella IP. Its been fun coming up with new names for "old ideas", much like Emiliano and Formo are doing with the Legends of Dragonore.
One big issue with the Tri-Klops being a good guy because of the 1/1 theory of villains to heroes released in the action figures line because Zodac was released in the first line as a villain, but has always been portrayed as either heroic or at worst neutral, but never as a villain. It also if you switch Evil-Lyn in the first series and Zodac in the second it would make the 1/1 ratio way more of a plausible theory.
it's not a theory but i wanted the She Ra characters to be in masters line, they could have kept their boards like they were, but the girls's group stole them and turned them into dolls, and moved them into the girl's aisle, so i never knew they existed because i didn't go into the girl's aisle
Funny , I still remember as a kid, I wondert if triclops is realy one of skelotors warriors, I remember checking the backcard, the artwork over and over again. He just looked like he is on the wrong side.
Just a quick thought I'm not sure exactly what year these toys were released but if I'm right it was around the same time as the movie Krull. If so then he sure does look like the Cyclops from that movie doesn't he and that guy was a hero not a villain, and they both have a similar way in which they carry themselves to the point I would totally believe was intentional. But I know nothing about this universe so if I'm wrong 🤷 Just a thought curious what you think great video!
I was always confused why nearly all of the guys stood there with this "come on man, kick me in the junk" pose. Because that's exactly what would happen if you stand like that in a real fight, your balls are gonna get blasted so hard they'll hang crooked the rest of your life.
Here's my theory on Prince Adam in the minicomics. *The only way to reconcile the introduction of Prince Adam in the minicomics,* with the older minicomics, is to state that Prince Adam is He-Man's alter ego in the minicomics, just like Clark Kent is Superman's alter ego. This is different from the cartoon, where Price Adam is the default setting, and He-Man is his alter ego. Thus, in the minicomics, He-Man's half of the Power sword, does not grant super strength, but allows the already super strong He-Man, to quickly discard his Prince Adam disguise. Also, in the minicomics, Prince Adam/He-Man must have been the adopted son of King Randor and Queen Marlena, as he is clearly shown to have originated from a barbarian tribe, and not as a royal family member. Before the introduction of Prince Adam in "Dragon's Gift" minicomic, we see He-Man sat at the dining table with the King and Queen in both "The Magic Stealer" and "The Ordeal of Man-E-faces". This could be the precursor to him being adopted as their son, in his disguised form as Adam. As a side note, the Queen seems totally unaware that Adam is He-Man, in "He-Man and the Insect People", yet King Randor must be aware of this fact, because He-Man calls him "Father" to his face in "The Search for Keldor". Thus, we can conclude that He-Man/Adam's relationship was closer with the King than with the Queen, leading up to him to being adopted as their son.
Not bad, but those early minicomics consistently contradict one another. The earliest comics are almost surely working from a different canon than later ones.
Yeah, of course, the later minicomics were pushed more into the cartoon direction, but with some creative thinking, and logic, you can make it all fit. It's either that or we say there were 2 He-Mans in the minicomics, which I always thought was a bit strange.@@hermionestoybox4423
Tytus boxart had name-checked characters. While on Megator’s box the background characters are unnamed. Out of which the archer girl is visually most Interesting. 😃
I'm not sure how much of a fan theory it is but theres clear inspiration from Zodak and some art from Jack Kirby's 4th world so Eternia could easily be a planet in the DCU
the women on Megaton's box are probably just background NPC's their clothing is plain and in the Masterverse named people usually have bright colors and very distinct costumes, though if you want, on the left, Set Dressing and her daughter Prop, and on the right, Archer extra 3
Here's a fan theory: The original toy comics setup Randor's lost brother Keldor, intended to be revealed as Skeletor; but this revelation never took place so was not canon. In the cartoon, Hordak was revealed to have kidnapped baby Adora, but instead of harming or imprisoning her, Hordak raised her. I think Filmation didn't like the idea of Skeletor being related to He-Man, but revisited this idea with Hordak & Adora; finally compromising on not a blood relative, but a kidnap-father figure.
Sounds fun. Though the timeline doesn’t support that. Keldor-brother was introduced in 1987 minicomics. Given some leeway for them to create the minicomic, lets say the idea was invented in 1986. Filmation He-Man cartoon ended in 1985 already (which episodes were written and produced in 1984). Filmation couldn’t ”not like” an idea that was not conceived until years after the Fact.
#3 - it was confirmed that they intended to do a companion series with She-Ra at the same time as the 2002 He-Man but the dour ratings of the first season soured it. I remember the interview and they were gutted at the cancellation.
Would be curious to see this interview. Because the creators never says anything about a ”companion series at the same time”. They never even went as far as to say she would be in season 3 of the series (though fans keep this myth alive, due to the creators confirming that Hordak would arrive in season 3). Even the comic creators couldn’t use She-Ra because of legalities in their first year. Not in the way that she were to be used in cartoon. But no use alltogether.
@@thePsiMatrix The creators talked in a 2005 Q&A only that they ”would eventually like” to get to She-Ra. And that her story would be close to the original. But sadly that is all they ever really said. Mattel was putting all its eggs into He-Man reboot by all accounts. So a ”companion series” that would run at the same time is unlikely. Also such a news would be one both comic creators and fans alike would remember. Could be the memory doing tricks. Wouldn’t be a first time. I think at one point a fan was very sure he remembered a vintage minicomic panel with Teela performing a sexual thing to He-Man. (That panel turned out to be He-Man caressing her hair….) 😂
why you put Zodac on evil warriors? Anyway have you thought about first 2 waves: 7 heroes (5+2) and 7 villains (3+4)... ? I also think that Tri-Klops was created as a hero, also his "fashion-style2 is too elegant, as the sword. But... Stratos was also intented to be a bad guy, and Mermman as a good guy so... well.
The proposed fan theory placed Zodac in the Evil Warriors category. Even if we know that his original tag line was "Cosmic Enforcer" and even in Mark Taylor's concept sketch he is described as an "ally to He-Man". The Stratos and Mer-Man thing is one of those early days when they kept changing alliances on characters. The "intended as one thing" doesn't have actual story to back it up. Just a line on some memo or styleguide. In the case of Tri-Klops that doesn't really apply. We have not discovered any documents or concept arts or memos that give a clear proof Tri-Klops was "created a hero". (Roger Sweet's book being the exception and even there no backstory or proof to one sentence...) But in that perspective the Tri-Klops theory is a fun one. Many fans have come to the same idea, based on the little information there was of the character, and story elements shown in the vintage minicomic.
"Tears of Veena" would make a great title for a story. She has to raise the child of Grayskull, his heir while defending the Fortress of Power simultaneously while the elders eff off to create a stable goverment amongst the continual threat of King Hiss. They create the Cosmic Enforcers as global emissaries. Meanwhile Veena changing diapers with one magic hand and fighting off Hordes * of Snakemen with her other magic hand. Single motherhood on STEROIDS! No wonder she is so damn sad! * Pun intended...
I think the triclops theory is a little out.. I mean the heroic warriors all have opposites on the other side... Just like titus and megator, we also have, buzzoff vs claw full.. Fisto vs jitsu.. Etc so triclops would have been a rival to many faces. And some one said he might also rival mek a neck since they are both look outs. So yes it makes more sense for him to be a bad guy in my opinion.
Wait..was Zodak a bad guy? I had him as a kid and vaguely remember him being some kind of outerspace hero. Then again I did always have he-man getting murdered to death every single time I played with these toys, so maybe I was just a weird kid.
Accordingly there was going to be a Sorceress figure and a Teela figure. But Sorceress got bumped and in its place Zodac got the spot. He originally was "Cosmic Enforcer" (8-back), so a neutral entity. That's how he was depicted in the DC Comics and Filmation. Some time later Mattel re-issued him and added "Evil" to his title. But if we look at Mark Taylor's original concept artwork, Zodac is described as an "ally to He-Man".
Ninjor and Jitsu were not released in wave 2 of the toyline. The proposed fan theory contrasts Tri-Klops against those specific characters as is evident in the video. 👍
@@ToonJukka irrelevant. Point is that he isn't the only human skinned bad guy. Even if he was at that point, so what? The good side had bee people. bird people, etc so not all of them were human skinned either.
@@Necrowolf81 Well you have to remember the context of it. At such an early stage of the toyline, you only had very few storylines even that depicted the world and its characters fully. Good guys were mainly human (no bee people). There was just one location (Grayskull). Skeletor didn't even have a Snake Mountain. Sure on the good guy side you had bird people like Stratos but at that point he would be the exception in a way. So if you are a kid, looking at roughly 9-14 characters you have in the toybox, its understandable how many fans would perceive Tri-Klops (human) as possible belonging to the good side. If you have folks like Mer-Man, Beast Man, Skeletor etc as the dedicated villains. Just like the 2002 Adora theory, the information fans had access to at any given moment is what has helped create the fan theories. :)
The way to tell who was meant to be a good or a bad guy is to look at their feet. Badguys all have three clawed toes and goodguys all have regular human feet. Tri-Klops had regular human shaped feet.
That’s a fun theory I never heard about TRI-KLOPS. I saw wave three articulating that FAKER is a meld of a good guy + bad guy regardless of blue skin, he “fakes” being he-man and is good for a little while until being revealed for what he truly is; a mechanical He-man. His skin was only blue because of the toy too. In the filmation ‘toon he is NOT blue. So if there’s a good/bad guy in wave three I assumed it was Faker despite whatever was written about TRI-KLOPS after the fact! Faker is not inherently evil just an impostor robot based on He-Man containing SOME of the hero’s moral compass at least.
from what I remember about Faker his skin, etc looked just like heman and the sorceress changed his appearance at the end of the episode/issue so that he could no longer pose as heman.
In my long 2.5 year search for 'Faker', I came across Tri Klops and Trap Jaw at Kaybee Toys in Levittown, NY. To get to my point, when I inquired about Faker, one of the employees told me that Faker was created due to an accident. A number of He Man heads fell into the vat of blue dye. Maybe you could look into this and make another interesting video.
@@LeoLewis I was only recounted what I was told back then, the way I see it is that it might very well be true. The 1st Editions released in 1983 sold out very quickly and became very difficult to find. 2nd Editions were released in 1987, most likely due to popular demand. I did not fabricate my recount, the accident story was told to me by Kaybee Toystore Employees in Levittown, NY. You are free to believe what you want.
@@Necrowolf81 Quite possible, some people may have connection, and the toy store need to be in contact with the manufacturers in order to stock their merchandise.
That would be Roboto. In original minicomics he was built by Man-At-Arms. But in the Filmation episode he was depicted as coming from the planet Robotica (crash landed on Eternia), that had many others like him.
@@ToonJukka lust for content, i used to love he- man as a child, didn't miss an episode!!! i even endured shera cause she was a related to adam (he-man)
From a toy manufacturer p.o.v it makes sense, given their approach overall to the characters. Which is why the richness comes from Filmation series and minicomics, books and more that did create more female characters for the world of Eternia.
The 2002 show They were supposed to bring she Ra for 3rd season The show established that the elder gods split the planet eternia into two parts . Light dimension and dark dimension , split by a big wall as a barrier. All dark forces along with hordak and skeletor has been locked there . Skeletor breaches the barrier into the light dimension ,and immediately seals it. He is actively trying to prevent hordaks from entering into the bright dimension. This is the reason why he man doesn't kill skeletor even though they established that every other nation on eternia had allied with randor including several warring nations . Because skeletor keeps the dark dimension from merging with the light dimension because he will be forced to serve as hordaks lackey
No. That is a fan myth. No 2002 series writer, producer or director has ever said ”She-Ra will show in season 3”. That is what fans wished, but in actuality there was no confirmed time when She-Ra would appear. The creators said that they planned Hordak and Evil Horde come in season 3 and take over Eternia. But She-Ra was not mentioned. There are legal rights that prevent it unfortunately. Which even plagues today in that MattelTV can’t use She-Ra in their Animated Revelation/Revolution series. Elder gods did not split the planet. Its only Hordak in ”Separation”, and he stops the magic before it fully destroys the planet. Its all explained in the episode. Hordak is not on the Dark hempisphere with Skeletor. He was banished into Despondos. Skeletor in the 2002 series breaks through the Mystic Wall in episode 1. He does not seal it. Nothing like that happens. [”The beginning part 1”] Skeletor doesn’t want Hordak to be freed from Despondos. So he destroys the altar of Hordak [”Power of Grayskull”]
His original toy card has the tagline "Cosmic Enforcer". So he was a neutral character, and that's how he was depicted in the early DC Comics and to some degree with Filmation. We also know that in his original concept art by Mark Taylor, there is the description "ally to He-Man". :) But in the fan theory, Zodac was counted on the villains' side. Since in the re-released version Mattel had added "Evil" to the tag line. So for some fans he was "evil".
Very enjoyable video but literally an exercise in futility trying to establish story logic to something that was made up by multiple writers across multiiple formats as they went on just to sell toys
He is. In his original packaging he is given the tag line "Cosmic Enforcer". And we know from original Mark Taylor concept art, he is described there as "ally to He-Man". But in the proposed theory, fans placed him in the Evil Warriors.
Awesome work, Jukka! What a fun video. These theories were fun!
Great work as always. Triclops theory is very sound in my opinion!
The Tri-Klops theory is one of the longest one in the fandom. Even when there has actually been no evidence found that he was planned or intended as a good guy. Even for a split second. There's no concept artworks, no notes or documents.
...Yet all the fans have embraced this fan theory. And spout it like as its a fact. So much so that Mattel has also at one point referenced Tri-Klops as "he was a good guy at first" (But they don't have anything to back it up with, when asked)
@@ToonJukka even if it's just 'neutral character' I think the concept can breath a lot of interest into him.
Tri-Klops as a hero actually makes sense originally because of his boots. He has the same boots as He-Man & Man-At-Arms. Whereas Zodac has the same feet as Merman & Skeletor. But maybe since they already had Man-E-Faces they didn't want another hero that had a ability of 3. Also his color scheme is definitely more hero like but so is Zodac. 🤷
Tri-klops is more man than monster. So the boots make sense. Likewise with Jitsu...Ninjor makes less sense.
@@scockery and am I wrong or do Jitsu and Ninjor look too much alike?
If you recall (depends how old you are) the card art for Zodac describes him as an evil cosmic warrior. But of course the filmation cartoon makes him a good guy. Even as a kid I noticed what you suggested. Zodac shared the same style body as the evil warriors. 🤷♂️
I thought zodiac was a good guy 🤔
Zodac was supposed to be a good guy originally. Mark Taylor envisioned him as a pilot, while Stratos was going to be a villain.
so thats how those toys tied in...I got the triceratops and trex as a young kid but never saw them in the show; thank you for answering a 37 yr old mystery for me
The Dinosaurs were so late in the toyline, that not all fans knew about them.
Heck. There are some MOTU fans who don't know about characters like Ninjor or Rio-Blast.
Cool video! Thank you!
The "Veena's Tears" theory is pretty darned cool. Here I was, just thinking it was a take on the Eye of Ra / Eye of Horus Egyptian symbols, because of her general Egyptian style.
I remember reading somewhere that not only was Tri-Klops originally intended to be a good guy, but Mer-Man was also heroic and Stratos was evil.
My own personal pet theory is that we already know who Songster really is . . . .
SONGSTER
Heroic Rock & Roll Bard
Real Name: Kevin Corrigan
King He-Man’s Time Agents scour the length and breadth of space-time to find those who can be placed into Eternia’s history to manipulate events - subtly or drastically - to ensure that the forces of evil never triumph. One of the sneakier ploys was to find a washed-up rock musician from Earth who once helped He-Man recover the Cosmic Key, transport him to the recent past, and use his musical talents to rally support against evil. Taking the alias “Songster” so as not to cause a catastrophic temporal paradox should He-Man recognise his younger self when the hero arrives on Earth, Corrigan travels throughout the Light Hemisphere singing instructional and rousing songs to prepare others for upcoming battles. Songster aids the Heroic Warriors as a Rock & Roll bard!
I've also speculated on the evolutionary biology of the Horde-Worlders, but that's a longer read, and was written before the Classics bios.
The Tri-Klops theory is fun because it is one of the oldest fan myths. But there is no proof-sheet or concept art or document found that says he was a good guy.
The Mer-Man and Stratos thing is from early conception times when they changed the alliances back and forth. 😎
( battleramblog.com/heroic-mer-man-evil-stratos/ )
I’m m not even that into He-Man but this was good content.
As a kid, I always made him either the anti hero or always worked close to the good guys. I always felt he was too cool a character/figure to be evil/a bad guy.
I love when you can dive into the deep lore of MotU.
Much appreciated! This is a topic I'd like to dig into again later in another video! :)
I really enjoyed this!
9:05...
"Dirty-Birdie!"
😂🤣🤣😂
A theory that Jukka and myself have talked about before is that Modulok and Stinkor were swapped round in the 1985 wave of toys, with Modulok originally intended to be packaged as an Evil Warrior and Stinkor as a member of the Evil Horde.
The reason for this is that we know, from early, unpublished sketches for The Treachery of Modulok minicomic that portrayed Modulok as a minion of Skeletor, that Modulok was at one point going to be packaged as one of Skeletor's Evil Warriors. Other evidence supporting this: the lack of a Horde bat symbol on Modulok's chest, Modulok starting off as one of Skeletor's crew in the Filmation MOTU series.
Yet this wave of toys had the usual Heroic-Evil Warrior balance, with 3 on both sides (Roboto, Moss Man and Sy-Klone for the good guys and Two Bad, Spikor and Stinkor for the bad guys). So Modulok being packaged with the latter would have shifted the ratio to 3:4.
Enter Rob Lamb of Filmation. He has told his story many times of how Stinkor was presented to him and the rest of the Filmation crew, by Mattel, as a member of the Evil Horde for use in the She-Ra cartoon series. Of course, they thought the concept of Stinkor was ridiculous and chose not to include him in the series. But Rob Lamb has always been adamant that Mattel presented Stinkor as a member of the Horde.
Therefore, with what we know about the original intentions for Modulok as one of Skeletor's crew, it makes sense to assume that Modulok and Stinkor were intended to be packaged with the Evil Warriors and Evil Horde respectively, but at some point they were swapped round, with Stinkor packaged instead with the Evil Warriors and Modulok with the Horde. My personal theory about the reasons for this is that it may have been because the character of Two Bad, like Modulok, had two heads, so it may have seemed awkward or confusing to release two new characters with two heads as part of the same faction at the same time.
I've long thought that Modulok was originally intended as an Evil Warrior, but I'm not sure you need to swap Stinkor to make room for him--Modulok stands outside the standard case ratio, after all, and was a higher price point than any of the other figures in the 1985 releases. I think he was always meant as a 'special' figure and just got shuffled into the Evil Horde for other reasons.
@@matthewmartin1595 The main thing going against the above theory I think is the design of both characters - the design of Modulok fits better with the 'movie monster'-inspired look of the Horde whereas Stinkor fits better with Skeletor's crew, who are typically animal-human hybrids. It's mainly Rob Lamb's insistence that Mattel presented Stinkor to him as part of the Horde that makes me think a swap may have taken place.
Its a lot of good deduction and is a convincing argument.
Devils advocate:
Stinkor and mossman complimentary
ala Fisto & Jitsu, Stratos & Mer-Man
Teela & Evil-Lyn
This is design and marketing working in perfect unite...
As such, putting Stinkor into a new and untested faction seams risky.
Also, The Horde had the lion's share of the tooling budget...So heroic/evil warriors gonna get the Faker/Prince adam treatment.
However, more to your point;
It is interesting that Stinkor, just from a color pallet perspective fits well alongside the black/red deco of the Horde.
Also, the horde had a harry henchman. Early Stinkor was going to have Beastman/sratos buck going by his cross sell art. So a marksting guy could concivible said "the The Horde need two harry henchment?
Early Modulok was more of a christmass colors green and red. Green don't work with Horde's initial deco scheme.
Perhaps Orange was added to Stinkor late in the game so he fits better with Skeletors more collorful compatriots?
I also think that its likely, Modulok may have intended to be unalign like Green skinned 1st Sorcress, then Zodac replacing her as 8th 1982 fig and early Man-e- Faces stories.
Modulok fits the "mad science gone wrong" theme that the horde ended up being more then the "universal monster" theory.
I don't think the ratio argument on Wave 2 holds, simply because Faker and Evil-Lyn don't really fit in there--they don't get cross-sells in the comics or mini-comic appearances.
I think you'd have a better case that Man-E-Faces and Tri-Klops were meant to be more ambiguous, with Ram-Man firmly good and Trap-Jaw firmly evil. We don't get the Heroic/Evil divisions until a little ways into Wave 2 marketing, after all; even the taglines are missing "Heroic" and "Evil" in the earliest marketing and releases.
Wasn't there an idea early on that it would be up to the kids rather than the marketing to decide which characters were good, and which were evil? The idea I think was to allow the kids buying the toys to pretty much create their own universe from the raw materials, but things solidified a bit more with the minicomics being introduced...
I know Roger Sweet said he imagined Man-E-Faces to be a bad guy. I've often wondered if Ram Man at one point was going to be a villain, as the skull emblem on his belt suggests a villain rather than a hero. And we know that Stratos was going to be a villain until quite late in the game, with certain marketing material even describing him as evil...
Glad to see you still doing vids. Engagement seems to be up too. 👍
The thing about triclops toy release is that he would overlap with manefaces. They would have the same gimmick (spinning heads/faces).
I love this style of video. Deep diving not just into hisorical lore, but now equally nostalgic fannon since this community is now older then we where, when this community started to coalesce in the late 90s...
Some of us where in highschool or jr high when we started to learn other super nerds still cared about MOTU when we all learned what "electronic mail" was. 😁😆
I guess were all a little ELDOR now.
Wokka wokka!
I’d love to make more of these videos. Especially if a fan theory has some breadcrumbs that can be pieced together. Hopefully based on characters and the world itself. (Instead of the now-many-times-debunked idea about ”Oh He-Man started out as a Conan and they produced the toys but in 1982 Mattel dudes went to movie theater and saw how bloody film was so they changed hair color to blonde and made up a new name in place of Conan…” 😂🙄)
@@ToonJukka Yeah, you have done a lot of great "factual history" and "correction on myths", in previouse videos but this is a fun tangent!
You've made videos about Keldor, Scareglow "ghost of Skeletor" debunking that. And corrections about Keldor in other videos i believe.
I'd like to see stuff like;
"could he-Ro be King grayskulls son"
(No specific canon, just individual person "in my canon" type stuff.)
"Was Gwildor going to be on a PoG card back?" (Because his mini comic back cover)
You can do ten thousand videos on Keldor/randor alone! 😂
There is a fun topic about the evolution of the ancients/councle of elders and there scattered appearances visual representations.
Who could Teela' dad really be? Endless speculation! Could it be Keldor before he got lost in spacetime from hus magical experiments!?!?!?!
(Start with Wild speculation...tben just leave bread out over night. Instand bread crumbs lololo🤔🙄😅)
Of course with Enter buzz Saw Hordak, well why the heck is Hordak helping to construct Central Tower in the first place?!?!?! Does it have anything to do with the drawing table concept art of a three towers with a kind if hordak looking face?
Why is Grayskull tower called Grayskull Tower?!?! It predates Castle Grayskull! So did Hero build it? I.e. Grayskull the man built a watch tower before making a whole castle?
I think brainstorming what the 1988 charecters COULD have been named is another good place for theorizing.
"Slamuri" i would bet more then anything, would have been named "Karate" since that name was used for a very not karate looking charecter for NA. It felt like a trademarked name they where told to use.
"Hot Shot" or "Sir shot" makes more sense then "Plasmar" considering the medevil knight motief, and what we now know about He-Ro being designed with a spring loaded "quick draw" action.
Then, just what colors would they have been in 1988.
Another thing, with Strobo being in a US magazine, is is posible that entire wave might have been designed to be mail order BOGO to clear out unsold 1987 figures?
Those magazines came out late into 1988 after all...
Really fun video!
This was great hopefully you make more of these videos! 💪🏾⚔️
I'm glad Tri Klops was eventually released as a bad guy
Hi new subscriber here 😁 Thanks for sharing this entertaining video 🤩
Glad you enjoyed it!
Great video Jukka & Rob, thank you.
Thank you!
Rob did an amazing job with the narration! Need to get more audios from him for future videos!
The 2002 MOTU series' comics called ICONS OF EVIL, tell individual stories for how Keldor/Skeletor gathered or transformed his lackeys. In the case of Tri-Klops, he was indeed a good guy, a great sword wielding warrior and master fighter that protected a certain Technologically advanced individual. And Keldor duped him into turning on the person Tri-Klops protected claiming that the person controlled Tri-Klops via the helmet and the visor the latter was forced to use because his eyes were damaged by a gas or acid when he met Keldor, whom made him believe he was there in good faith. In reality when Tri-Klops eliminated the person he was protecting thinking he was evil, it was discovered that Keldor had placed a spell to the Helmet and visor to subjugate Tri-Klops making him his eternal servant.
The comic mini-series "Icons of Evil" from 2003 are terrific. In the case of Tri-Klops here they are irrelevant. Because the 2002 series is its own reboot.
Plus the Tri-Klops origin comic doesn't fully get to dive into the character. Yes we see him help one dude against some bandits. But they never give any explanation or hints why he did it. There could be any nefarious reasons behind it, but the unnamed warrior getting blasted in the face turned things.
The visor that later Keldor gives Tri-Klops and says he placed a spell in it to subjugate Tri-Klops also contradicts the cartoon episode we saw before the comic. Where Tri-Klops very clearly set out to do his own thing and attempt to conquer the Royal Palace. The comic was meant to still be in same set of rules as the cartoon, so not sure why this mishap happened. The Tri-Klops comic sadly had its own fair share of mishaps, and the many different artists needed to even complete it just give a disjointed experience (errors from one page to the next one like during Keldor and Tri-Klops fight, etc)
I had those bonkers triceratops and t-rex toys as a kid, I completely forgot until I saw this!
I always thought Tri-Klops was too cool to be one of Skeletor's goons. Be cool if he was just a wandering mercenary/do-gooder like in Yojimbo or Fistful of Dollars. After figuring out what Skeletor was about he'd probably fight against his plots where he could, but he's mostly out for himself.
Lawful Neutral
In the Netflix reboot series, TriClops is a neutral character, neither Hero nor Villain, but more morally ambiguous.
I like the idea that in Enter Buzz Saw Hordak Hordak was refering to "Grayskull:the man".
Because, _why wouldn't_ Hordak just say "end the power of Castle Grayskull forever"...
In this light, i wonder if the 1987 movie might have been script doctored since Skeletor has a tendency to say "grayskull" and not "CASTLE grayskull" throughout the whole film.
Some synergy cross promotion of getting us kids ready for He-Ro & Eldor later in the fall/winter in time fir Christmas?
Its a very "evil ghost of Skeletor" sentence and proves why grammer is so important!😂🤣😁
And funally, i would bet a trillion billion dollors Lou came up with the name "He-Ro" and convinced mattel to change the G to an H, (no doubt pushing production back at the factory...) and the 1987 style guide was written by whoever wrote that "he-ro and the Land of Legend" pitch document James shared with us all.
I kind of wish they'd just stuck with calling the character Grayskull instead of renaming him He-Ro... it's a less silly name than He-Ro and best of all it might have stopped Ian Richter creating the godawful 'King Grayskull' in 200x...
@@aidancross9756
AIDAN! good to here from you bro!
Part of me thinks King Grayskull, could is just a grown up version of the boy Gray?
Part of me likes to think "He-Ro" is just the alt identity, pulic persona to young Gray. He just hasn't yet learned what "Grayskull" is yet, since he is more boy then man. His "secret past, and fortold destiny he learned in the cave that day" [1987 He-Ro style guide]
Its all very Clark Kent/Kal-El/Superman.
"He-Ro" is just what people call him since that version is so heroic. Its a name a child would give to a demigod rescuer.
Gray, does not knows he will become "THE GRAYSKULL", not yet at least...Just as Arther pulling Excalibur from the stone, meant nothing to young Arther...he was just told to bring his brother a sword, any sword asap!
Merlin/Eldor knows more, and has been traning the boy his whole life to fulfill destiny and make Grayskull synonymous again with all powerful benevolent rule by divine right of justice and law.
Gray's adopted mother, Sharella doesn't think her boy, is man enough yet to end the Great Wars once and for all.
Its all very Arthurian to me.
shining kingdom on the hill/Camelot
=
Central Tower/ Hall of Wisdom.
Meets
Gray the Jungle boy. (Tarzan not knowing his last name is Graystroke...) witch incidentally goes back to He-Man and the Power Sword as "Mattels new jungle hero".
(Which stuck in Lou's mind when he brushed off the name He-Ro in the Son of He-Man bible pitch, we got once again a "jungle boy" as a completly differnt he-Ro!
Though, thematically similar with a long lost jungle boy with a mysterious past and predetermined preverbial shining knight.
@@falleneldor That idea works brilliantly. If you were responsible for official canon lore rather than the hacks at Mattel, I'd be very satisfied 🙂
Good to touch base with you too! I'm not likely to be able to come over Stateside or to Power-Con again any time soon, but my DMs are always open 😎
@@aidancross9756
Thank you Aidan, thats a mighty compliment i appricaite. I miss talking with you and a many others these last few years!
The reason I'm not on social much these last few years, is I've been channelling my "fan fiction energy" into my own IP.
"Untold eons ago, after humanity's expulsions from The Garden of Eden, but before the rise of the Kingdoms of Atlantis there was much suffering on primordial earth.
The Eldritch: the prime-evils plagued The living with endless terrors...
The Eternal saw the strife and was heavy with sadness for the people he made...So The Eternal gave the people a herald to lead them! Thus was born the
PRIME-MORTAL: the mightiest mortal the earth has ever seen!
The original hero of prehistory defends the Children of Adam from all who serve the will of The Namless; First of the Fallen Ones. They who seek to poison, corrupt and destroy all that has been made!
Heretofore was an era only dreamed of, now you can finally read these "Lost tales" from
THE LAND OF LEGENDS!"
There are worlds beyond and so much on my "prototernia"
CAIN the 1st Killer is a nomadic cave man punisher meets Predator type...
And theres like steampunk zombie cyborg dinosaurs who have harnesed the power of volcanic reaction to stay alive.
Time travling bionic Astro-Saurian refugees living on the moon. (Its a space station)
There is a stranded alien emissarie astronought named Zadox who leads The Gregori (the watchers) from Mount Zion...
They create a network of "laser gates" explaining all the prehistoric megolithic structures dotting earth.
the alien Annuki and Atlans bring interplanitary war to earth from thier destroyed planet X. Stonehenge was a planitary invasion "laser gate".
The rise of the Nepheliam and many "warrior heroes" who's linage extends to Thor and Hercules eons later. The "giants of old".
Just every wacky MOTU, Conan, children's bible story and dinosaur, alien, supernatural sci fi, stargate, angel/demon story ive ever come up with under this "Land of Legends" umbrella IP.
Its been fun coming up with new names for "old ideas", much like Emiliano and Formo are doing with the Legends of Dragonore.
@@falleneldor Sounds excellent. Will love to see more!
2002 He-Man. 👍🏼
I can’t argue with Roger Sweet. Tri-clops was supposed to be a good guy
Sorceress makeup: Eagle Fang? Falcon Fang?
Well she transforms into a Falcon...
The moment I realized I had the complete set of all 3 waves of toy releases as a kid. 😩
One big issue with the Tri-Klops being a good guy because of the 1/1 theory of villains to heroes released in the action figures line because Zodac was released in the first line as a villain, but has always been portrayed as either heroic or at worst neutral, but never as a villain. It also if you switch Evil-Lyn in the first series and Zodac in the second it would make the 1/1 ratio way more of a plausible theory.
it's not a theory but i wanted the She Ra characters to be in masters line, they could have kept their boards like they were, but the girls's group stole them and turned them into dolls, and moved them into the girl's aisle, so i never knew they existed because i didn't go into the girl's aisle
True I find it so weird that I had boxes and boxes full of He-man toys and only a single woman amongst them
Funny , I still remember as a kid, I wondert if triclops is realy one of skelotors warriors, I remember checking the backcard, the artwork over and over again. He just looked like he is on the wrong side.
Just a quick thought I'm not sure exactly what year these toys were released but if I'm right it was around the same time as the movie Krull. If so then he sure does look like the Cyclops from that movie doesn't he and that guy was a hero not a villain, and they both have a similar way in which they carry themselves to the point I would totally believe was intentional. But I know nothing about this universe so if I'm wrong 🤷 Just a thought curious what you think great video!
I was always confused why nearly all of the guys stood there with this "come on man, kick me in the junk" pose. Because that's exactly what would happen if you stand like that in a real fight, your balls are gonna get blasted so hard they'll hang crooked the rest of your life.
Likes the vid...where did you get that Awesome (Back Ground Music) From?.
Here's my theory on Prince Adam in the minicomics. *The only way to reconcile the introduction of Prince Adam in the minicomics,* with the older minicomics, is to state that Prince Adam is He-Man's alter ego in the minicomics, just like Clark Kent is Superman's alter ego. This is different from the cartoon, where Price Adam is the default setting, and He-Man is his alter ego. Thus, in the minicomics, He-Man's half of the Power sword, does not grant super strength, but allows the already super strong He-Man, to quickly discard his Prince Adam disguise. Also, in the minicomics, Prince Adam/He-Man must have been the adopted son of King Randor and Queen Marlena, as he is clearly shown to have originated from a barbarian tribe, and not as a royal family member. Before the introduction of Prince Adam in "Dragon's Gift" minicomic, we see He-Man sat at the dining table with the King and Queen in both "The Magic Stealer" and "The Ordeal of Man-E-faces". This could be the precursor to him being adopted as their son, in his disguised form as Adam. As a side note, the Queen seems totally unaware that Adam is He-Man, in "He-Man and the Insect People", yet King Randor must be aware of this fact, because He-Man calls him "Father" to his face in "The Search for Keldor". Thus, we can conclude that He-Man/Adam's relationship was closer with the King than with the Queen, leading up to him to being adopted as their son.
Not bad, but those early minicomics consistently contradict one another. The earliest comics are almost surely working from a different canon than later ones.
Yeah, of course, the later minicomics were pushed more into the cartoon direction, but with some creative thinking, and logic, you can make it all fit. It's either that or we say there were 2 He-Mans in the minicomics, which I always thought was a bit strange.@@hermionestoybox4423
I enjoyed this Tri-Klops theory.
In hindsight, he does look out of place.
It'd have been interesting if the cartoon had explorrd this.
Who was sitting in the wagon on the Megator box cover. You just said archer lady was the unknown character. Just curious
Tytus boxart had name-checked characters. While on Megator’s box the background characters are unnamed. Out of which the archer girl is visually most Interesting. 😃
I'm not sure how much of a fan theory it is but theres clear inspiration from Zodak and some art from Jack Kirby's 4th world so Eternia could easily be a planet in the DCU
the women on Megaton's box are probably just background NPC's their clothing is plain and in the Masterverse named people usually have bright colors and very distinct costumes, though if you want, on the left, Set Dressing and her daughter Prop, and on the right, Archer extra 3
Here's a fan theory:
The original toy comics setup Randor's lost brother Keldor, intended to be revealed as Skeletor; but this revelation never took place so was not canon.
In the cartoon, Hordak was revealed to have kidnapped baby Adora, but instead of harming or imprisoning her, Hordak raised her.
I think Filmation didn't like the idea of Skeletor being related to He-Man, but revisited this idea with Hordak & Adora; finally compromising on not a blood relative, but a kidnap-father figure.
Sounds fun. Though the timeline doesn’t support that. Keldor-brother was introduced in 1987 minicomics. Given some leeway for them to create the minicomic, lets say the idea was invented in 1986.
Filmation He-Man cartoon ended in 1985 already (which episodes were written and produced in 1984). Filmation couldn’t ”not like” an idea that was not conceived until years after the Fact.
@@ToonJukka Sound logic!
#3 - it was confirmed that they intended to do a companion series with She-Ra at the same time as the 2002 He-Man but the dour ratings of the first season soured it. I remember the interview and they were gutted at the cancellation.
Would be curious to see this interview.
Because the creators never says anything about a ”companion series at the same time”.
They never even went as far as to say she would be in season 3 of the series (though fans keep this myth alive, due to the creators confirming that Hordak would arrive in season 3).
Even the comic creators couldn’t use She-Ra because of legalities in their first year. Not in the way that she were to be used in cartoon. But no use alltogether.
@@ToonJukka It has been a long time and 3 PCs ago; I may be mis-remembering the details.
@@thePsiMatrix The creators talked in a 2005 Q&A only that they ”would eventually like” to get to She-Ra. And that her story would be close to the original.
But sadly that is all they ever really said.
Mattel was putting all its eggs into He-Man reboot by all accounts.
So a ”companion series” that would run at the same time is unlikely.
Also such a news would be one both comic creators and fans alike would remember.
Could be the memory doing tricks.
Wouldn’t be a first time. I think at one point a fan was very sure he remembered a vintage minicomic panel with Teela performing a sexual thing to He-Man. (That panel turned out to be He-Man caressing her hair….) 😂
why you put Zodac on evil warriors? Anyway have you thought about first 2 waves: 7 heroes (5+2) and 7 villains (3+4)... ? I also think that Tri-Klops was created as a hero, also his "fashion-style2 is too elegant, as the sword. But... Stratos was also intented to be a bad guy, and Mermman as a good guy so... well.
The proposed fan theory placed Zodac in the Evil Warriors category. Even if we know that his original tag line was "Cosmic Enforcer" and even in Mark Taylor's concept sketch he is described as an "ally to He-Man".
The Stratos and Mer-Man thing is one of those early days when they kept changing alliances on characters. The "intended as one thing" doesn't have actual story to back it up. Just a line on some memo or styleguide.
In the case of Tri-Klops that doesn't really apply. We have not discovered any documents or concept arts or memos that give a clear proof Tri-Klops was "created a hero". (Roger Sweet's book being the exception and even there no backstory or proof to one sentence...) But in that perspective the Tri-Klops theory is a fun one. Many fans have come to the same idea, based on the little information there was of the character, and story elements shown in the vintage minicomic.
I was a kid in the 80s and I have no memory of the PreTernia stuff.
"Tears of Veena" would make a great title for a story. She has to raise the child of Grayskull, his heir while defending the Fortress of Power simultaneously while the elders eff off to create a stable goverment amongst the continual threat of King Hiss. They create the Cosmic Enforcers as global emissaries. Meanwhile Veena changing diapers with one magic hand and fighting off Hordes * of Snakemen with her other magic hand.
Single motherhood on STEROIDS!
No wonder she is so damn sad!
* Pun intended...
I think the triclops theory is a little out.. I mean the heroic warriors all have opposites on the other side... Just like titus and megator, we also have, buzzoff vs claw full.. Fisto vs jitsu.. Etc so triclops would have been a rival to many faces. And some one said he might also rival mek a neck since they are both look outs. So yes it makes more sense for him to be a bad guy in my opinion.
Wait..was Zodak a bad guy? I had him as a kid and vaguely remember him being some kind of outerspace hero. Then again I did always have he-man getting murdered to death every single time I played with these toys, so maybe I was just a weird kid.
Accordingly there was going to be a Sorceress figure and a Teela figure. But Sorceress got bumped and in its place Zodac got the spot.
He originally was "Cosmic Enforcer" (8-back), so a neutral entity. That's how he was depicted in the DC Comics and Filmation. Some time later Mattel re-issued him and added "Evil" to his title.
But if we look at Mark Taylor's original concept artwork, Zodac is described as an "ally to He-Man".
Yeah, I always thought he was neutral but leaned toward good than evil.
Isn't he just a riff on Jack Kirby's Metron from New Gods? That was always my take, even at the time.
A few years ago there were news stories about human hair underwear. To me don't He-Man's trunks look to be the same color as Teela's hair?
its supposed to be animal fur like a barbarian would have not hair
You're clearly wrong about Tri-Klops being the only "human" coloured evil guy. What about Ninjor and Jitsu?
Ninjor and Jitsu were not released in wave 2 of the toyline. The proposed fan theory contrasts Tri-Klops against those specific characters as is evident in the video. 👍
@@ToonJukka Fair enough.
@@ToonJukka irrelevant. Point is that he isn't the only human skinned bad guy. Even if he was at that point, so what? The good side had bee people. bird people, etc so not all of them were human skinned either.
@@Necrowolf81 Well you have to remember the context of it. At such an early stage of the toyline, you only had very few storylines even that depicted the world and its characters fully. Good guys were mainly human (no bee people). There was just one location (Grayskull). Skeletor didn't even have a Snake Mountain. Sure on the good guy side you had bird people like Stratos but at that point he would be the exception in a way.
So if you are a kid, looking at roughly 9-14 characters you have in the toybox, its understandable how many fans would perceive Tri-Klops (human) as possible belonging to the good side. If you have folks like Mer-Man, Beast Man, Skeletor etc as the dedicated villains.
Just like the 2002 Adora theory, the information fans had access to at any given moment is what has helped create the fan theories. :)
Tidus and Megator sound like Heavy Metal Bands.
The way to tell who was meant to be a good or a bad guy is to look at their feet. Badguys all have three clawed toes and goodguys all have regular human feet. Tri-Klops had regular human shaped feet.
That’s a fun theory I never heard about TRI-KLOPS. I saw wave three articulating that FAKER is a meld of a good guy + bad guy regardless of blue skin, he “fakes” being he-man and is good for a little while until being revealed for what he truly is; a mechanical He-man. His skin was only blue because of the toy too. In the filmation ‘toon he is NOT blue. So if there’s a good/bad guy in wave three I assumed it was Faker despite whatever was written about TRI-KLOPS after the fact! Faker is not inherently evil just an impostor robot based on He-Man containing SOME of the hero’s moral compass at least.
from what I remember about Faker his skin, etc looked just like heman and the sorceress changed his appearance at the end of the episode/issue so that he could no longer pose as heman.
Toys came before the cartoon.
Is why man at arms had no mustache.
In my long 2.5 year search for 'Faker', I came across Tri Klops and Trap Jaw at Kaybee Toys in Levittown, NY. To get to my point, when I inquired about Faker, one of the employees told me that Faker was created due to an accident. A number of He Man heads fell into the vat of blue dye. Maybe you could look into this and make another interesting video.
He was created because they did not need to make any new molds at all.
@@LeoLewis I was only recounted what I was told back then, the way I see it is that it might very well be true. The 1st Editions released in 1983 sold out very quickly and became very difficult to find. 2nd Editions were released in 1987, most likely due to popular demand. I did not fabricate my recount, the accident story was told to me by Kaybee Toystore Employees in Levittown, NY. You are free to believe what you want.
@@davecinelli1068 yes because I'm sure some rando toy store employee would be "in the know"
@@Necrowolf81 Quite possible, some people may have connection, and the toy store need to be in contact with the manufacturers in order to stock their merchandise.
what about the robot alien that lands in eternia to explore! the one with the transparent chest
That would be Roboto. In original minicomics he was built by Man-At-Arms. But in the Filmation episode he was depicted as coming from the planet Robotica (crash landed on Eternia), that had many others like him.
@@ToonJukka not built, he repaired him
@@ToonJukka didn't read all yep that's the one
@@ToonJukka lust for content, i used to love he- man as a child, didn't miss an episode!!! i even endured shera cause she was a related to adam (he-man)
I always thought Ram-Man was a bad guy because of the skull on his belt.
I always thought Triclops was a hero. His sword style is a hero's sword.
The king gray skull is Booker t
Isn't there a lore where skeletor is actually prince Adam/he-man uncle
There is. In the 2008 CLASSICS bios' story they use that. And the modern 2012 DC Comics had it, as well as the CGI animated 2021 show. :)
He also came with a warrior's ring not an evil warrior
My personal theory is that Ram-man and fisto are a couple...
Honestly, I'm kinda shocked Teela, Sorceress, and Evil Lyn are the only females in the MOTU line aside from She-Ra.
why? it was marketed towards boys. Most boys back then did not want to play with female figures.
From a toy manufacturer p.o.v it makes sense, given their approach overall to the characters.
Which is why the richness comes from Filmation series and minicomics, books and more that did create more female characters for the world of Eternia.
They were sad because they were having marital issues if you catch my drift ;)
The 2002 show
They were supposed to bring she Ra for 3rd season
The show established that the elder gods split the planet eternia into two parts .
Light dimension and dark dimension , split by a big wall as a barrier. All dark forces along with hordak and skeletor has been locked there .
Skeletor breaches the barrier into the light dimension ,and immediately seals it.
He is actively trying to prevent hordaks from entering into the bright dimension.
This is the reason why he man doesn't kill skeletor even though they established that every other nation on eternia had allied with randor including several warring nations .
Because skeletor keeps the dark dimension from merging with the light dimension because he will be forced to serve as hordaks lackey
No. That is a fan myth.
No 2002 series writer, producer or director has ever said ”She-Ra will show in season 3”. That is what fans wished, but in actuality there was no confirmed time when She-Ra would appear. The creators said that they planned Hordak and Evil Horde come in season 3 and take over Eternia.
But She-Ra was not mentioned. There are legal rights that prevent it unfortunately. Which even plagues today in that MattelTV can’t use She-Ra in their Animated Revelation/Revolution series.
Elder gods did not split the planet. Its only Hordak in ”Separation”, and he stops the magic before it fully destroys the planet. Its all explained in the episode. Hordak is not on the Dark hempisphere with Skeletor. He was banished into Despondos.
Skeletor in the 2002 series breaks through the Mystic Wall in episode 1. He does not seal it. Nothing like that happens. [”The beginning part 1”]
Skeletor doesn’t want Hordak to be freed from Despondos. So he destroys the altar of Hordak [”Power of Grayskull”]
Title looks like "She-Man Fan Theories" lol
Evilyn is daughter of faceless one..and teela her middle sister
Did the people who lived in Preternia, call it Preternia?
It would've been just Eternia. Only during ancient times. :)
@@ToonJukka that was always weird. We don’t call ancient Earth “Prearth” lol.
never heard of this ..megator? what?
Wasn't Zodak a good guy?
His original toy card has the tagline "Cosmic Enforcer". So he was a neutral character, and that's how he was depicted in the early DC Comics and to some degree with Filmation. We also know that in his original concept art by Mark Taylor, there is the description "ally to He-Man". :)
But in the fan theory, Zodac was counted on the villains' side. Since in the re-released version Mattel had added "Evil" to the tag line. So for some fans he was "evil".
You didn't pronounce correctly a single letter of Emiliano Santalucia name
I thought zodiac was a good guy🤔
Very enjoyable video but literally an exercise in futility trying to establish story logic to something that was made up by multiple writers across multiiple formats as they went on just to sell toys
That voice… ugh
I thought ZODAK was a neutral character?
He is. In his original packaging he is given the tag line "Cosmic Enforcer". And we know from original Mark Taylor concept art, he is described there as "ally to He-Man".
But in the proposed theory, fans placed him in the Evil Warriors.