James Eatock Presents: The He-Man and She-Ra Blog!: July 2007

26 July 2007

The Hero...

Here is a fantastic illustration by Robin Davies from the Ladybird book "He-Man and the Lost Dragon". This was one of the first occasions where we got to see that his style for drawing the most powerful man in the universe had adapted many elements of the Filmation cartoon. This is a very striking image though, with He-Man saving a child and protecting others from danger...

(click on the image to see it at full-size)

24 July 2007

Broom's emotions!

Here is a wonderfully illustrated model sheet showing the kind of styles that the animators should adhere to when animating the ever-expressive Broom. Broom was actually one of the few regular characters that would often receive new animation in his scenes...

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Not Mermista!

Here is a rarely seen illustration from the 1986 Masters of the Universe annual showing He-Man talking to a Mermaid. What I think is quite striking about this image is that the female character is clearly naked. Traditionally when Mermaids were represented in this kind of medium they would have some sort of sea shell covering, just look at Mermista from the She-Ra series...

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23 July 2007

Huntara's height!

In this accurate Filmation model sheet we can see that the Silaxian warrior Huntara was a few inches taller than She-Ra! This would not really have been obvious during the episode itself as the two were very rarely on camera at the same time. I always love looking at the character design of Huntara because she was easily one of the best and most visually interesting characters in the entire She-Ra series. If only "The Silaxian Wars" had come to fruition...

(click on the image to see it at full-size)

22 July 2007

Pull the ol' magic sword and...

Here are the storyboards to the wonderful little piece of Orko animation from "The Problem With Power" with the little Trollan pretending to unsheathe the Sword of Power! Fortunately for us the animator followed Tom Tataranowicz's expressive storyboards perfectly!

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Catra vesus Spirit!

Here is a great-looking illustration from the Ladybird book "Spirit is Kidnapped" featuring Catra and Spirit. In this image Catra is purposely trying to break Spirit's spirit by pushing him to the point of sheer exhaustion, which is exactly what happens...

(click on the image to see it at full-size)

20 July 2007

Tri-Klops arrives!

As many will know Tri-Klops is one of my favorite Evil Warriors, and yet he was given little time to shine in the Filmation cartoon. Thankfully the early minicomics gave him some recognition with his own minicomic "The Terror of Tri-Klops!" This minicomic really focused on the character's bounty hunting personality, and made sure that he never cowered to Skeletor, as is evident in this panel where the pair meet for the first time!

(click on the image to see it at full-size)

19 July 2007

Skull throne.

Here is a strong illustration from one of the many Masters of the Universe coloring books that were published in the eighties. Usually Skeletor's throne is a pretty grim construction of bone, but on this occasion his throne is constructed from actual skulls that appear to be human like in appearance! I was never too keen on the coloring book illustrations, but this is one piece I would love to see professionally colored and sitting proudly as the front cover of a comic book!

(click on the image to see it at full-size)

18 July 2007

Royal Colors.

The minicomic "Double-Edged Sword" featured Filmation-inspired artwork with some very odd color schemes. In this illustration you can see that He-Man and Ram Man are okay, but King Randor and Queen Marlena's color schemes are far from what we are used to! I do like the fact that their costumes compliment one another, but the choice of brown and pink is a far cry from the regality of their Filmation costumes! I should also mention the all-pink Teela, whom I mentioned before in one of the earliest Blog entries...

(click on the image to see it at full-size)

16 July 2007

Skeletor: Lord of the Air! #1

Here are pages one to three of a story titled "Skeletor: Lord of the Air!" from issue eleven of the UK Masters of the Universe comic. This story features the rarely seen, yet very interesting team-up of the original winged warrior Stratos, and Buzz-Off. It is also interesting as it features the Grangers, the green winged creatures, trained at Skeletor's Air School no less! Look out on page two for He-Man's "truth inducing" Sword of Power...

(click on the images to see them at full-size)

15 July 2007

Yes folks...

In this page of storyboards for the season one She-Ra episode "Return of the Sea Hawk" we see that Keith Tucker has illustrated She-Ra and Swift Wind with great detail. Aside from perfectly illustrating some key poses for the layout artists and animators, Keith Tucker adds an additional panel of the characters stirring after their large electrical shock informing the reader, with tongue firmly in cheek that they are okay...

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Kowl's plan...

Another great illustration by Robin Davies as seen in the Ladybird book "She-Ra and the Dark Pool", featuring She-Ra and He-Man carrying out Kowl's plans. If you look in the background you will see that it is painted without any outline, in effort to create depth. It makes for a very atmospheric piece of artwork...

(click on the image to see it at full-size)

11 July 2007

YouTube! :)

Just to remind you all that if you have been unable to play the videos that I have featured on this Blog they can all be found on my YouTube page HERE! :)

Meet Ram Man!

This page from the minicomic "He-Man meets Ram Man" features some absolutely stunning artwork by Mark Texeira. A true comic book professional Mark's artwork often brought a great deal of realism and life to Mattel's action figure creations, as well as an amazing amount of energy as you can see below!

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Transformation time!

Much like the two page spread in the She-Ra Ladybird book "Spirit is kidnapped" artist Robin Davies once again follows the animated pose of the transformation sequence designed by the layout artists at Filmation. This illustration from "She-Ra and the Dark Pool" shows how he was able to take the style of Filmation and make it his own...

(click on the image to see it at full-size)

07 July 2007

More Rock People.

Here is an interesting panel from the Jim Mitchell penciled and Bruce Timm inked "Escape from the Slime Pit!" minicomic. Here we can Rokkon questioning Hordak with more members of the Rock People around him, most notably a female who appears throughout the comic. Although she is never mentioned by name could this be the minicomics version of Granita?

(click on the image to see it at full-size)

06 July 2007

It's a machine!

In the season one He-Man episode "Like Father, Like Daughter" the robot Serpentoids were supposed to be illustrated with a flesh-like material. This explains why in the actual episode both He-Man and Battle Cat are surprised to learn that these obvious-looking robots are in fact robots...

Nearly Double Trouble...

As we can see here from the She-Ra Series Bible the character of Double Trouble was close to appearing in the Filmation cartoon, even being cited as Glimmer's cousin. Also note that her power is vastly different to that of her action figure! For one reason or another she was sadly never to appear in the series, though she did appear in a few books...

(click on the image to see it at full-size)

05 July 2007

500th Blog Entry! :)

01 July 2007

Skeletor versus Randor!

Here is one of many fantastic illustrations by Bruce Timm from the classic Masters of the Universe minicomic "The Search for Keldor". I always liked how Mattel finally made an action figure of King Randor late in the line, but instead of making him a character that just sat upon the throne, they turned him into a warrior! The striking colors on this piece are an example of why this is such a memorable minicomic...

(click on the image to see it at full-size)