Teela's in a bubble!

The Ladybird Masters of the Universe book "A Trap For He-Man" featured a lot of fantastic artwork by Robin Davies. Here I present yet another panel from this exciting adventure in which we see Mer-Man use his powers to incase Teela in a bubble from which she cannot escape! Teela's awkward pose is well illustrated, as is the somewhat angry fish looking back in her direction!


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

Strongarm was Chopper?! #1

For those that do not know, in the script and model sheets for the season one He-Man episode "The Dragon Invasion" Jitsu is known as Chopper. At no point in the series or accompanying production material does the name Jitsu ever appear! One of the strangest things I found upon obtaining the storyboards for "The Dragon Invasion" is that Jitsu is nowhere to be seen! Instead of Jitsu, storyboard artist Don Manuel illustrates Strongarm, the one-shot villain from "She-Demon of Phantos", in his place. My guess is that at time Don Manuel began storyboarding the episode the model for Chopper had not been finalized, and so he decided to illustrate Strongarm as a placeholder!


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

"The Secret of The Sword" adaptation #6

Riding high on the success of their numerous Masters of the Universe and Princess of Power books, Ladybird decided to turn the animated He-Man and She-Ra feature, "The Secret of The Sword", into a book! The book was filled with actual stills from the movie and is very nicely presented throughout. Here are pages twenty-six to thirty of the adaptation...


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

Next time...

Here is another fantastic panel from the Masters of the Universe minicomic "The Terror Claws Strike!" Once again Bruce Timm demonstrates his fantastic command of the comic book page! Skeletor looks almost devilish in his pose in the first panel, whereas in the second panel he strikes a more traditionally defiant villain pose. The coloring throughout these panels is gorgeous, and adds a great deal to the illustrations themselves...


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

He-Man's oddest appearance...

Out of all of He-Man's appearances in all of the various Masters of the Universe canons, this appearance in the Golden Book "The Trap" has to be one of the oddest. Clearly the artist has looked to the toy for the design of He-Man's head, but his familiar armor is illustrated to look like braces that tuck into his belt! This book is worth investing in, if only to see one of the oddest appearances of the most powerful man in the universe! I am not going to even mention Stratos' crazy beard...


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

"The Secret of The Sword" adaptation #5

Riding high on the success of their numerous Masters of the Universe and Princess of Power books, Ladybird decided to turn the animated He-Man and She-Ra feature, "The Secret of The Sword", into a book! The book was filled with actual stills from the movie and is very nicely presented throughout. Here are pages twenty-one to twenty-five of the adaptation...


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

A brief review #016 - "Reign of the Monster"

As many of you will know, in 2010 I published The unofficial cartoon guide to He-Man and the Masters of the Universe. At 300+ pages the book features 700+ pieces of trivia, 460+ deleted scenes, 360+ examples of animation reuse, 380+ quotes, 50+ abandoned episodes, and a LOT more! It is the book that NO fan of the Filmation series can live without! BUY IT NOW!

As an incentive, here is my brief review and rating (as they appear in the book) for "Reign of the Monster"...

As soon as the episode begins we realize that the heroes are not the stars of this script. Skeletor is written to be pure evil, and his alliance with the Torgs sets the episode apart from many others. Of course, the one thing that we cannot help but focus on during the course of this episode is Molkrom; easily one of the best monsters to grace the series. Often the monsters in the series would have some visual quirk to make them less frightening, but Molkrom is hideous and frightening through and through. Although the character dialogue throughout the story is nothing special, the plot and the battle outside Castle Grayskull make this one of the series' great episodes. 8/10

Now, may I ask; what is YOUR rating?

Widget Fortress layout.

Sometimes in order to make life easier for themselves, the layout artists, the background artists, and the directors, the storyboard artists would illustrate an entire location so that everyone could get their visual bearings! If a lengthy action scene were to take place, as it does in the season one episode "Evil-Lyn's Plot" then staging the action could get confusing, especially as the action in this episode takes place both inside and outside the Widget Fortress. It is interesting to see that the artist planned for the mine entrance to work its way into the back of a large land mass. Slightly more creative than what we got in the actual series...


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

"The Secret of The Sword" adaptation #4

Riding high on the success of their numerous Masters of the Universe and Princess of Power books, Ladybird decided to turn the animated He-Man and She-Ra feature, "The Secret of The Sword", into a book! The book was filled with actual stills from the movie and is very nicely presented throughout. Here are pages sixteen to twenty of the adaptation...


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

The Moonstone chamber.

As I have professed many times over "Glimmer's Story" from She-Ra's season one is by far one of the worst of the series. However, dare I say this; there are a few good moments in the episode. One of which is the inclusion of the Moonstone, and the awesome temple-like chamber that houses it. What I like about the Moonstone concept is that it gives Bright Moon a certain mysticism; something that was sadly missing for much of the series. It was established early on that Queen Angella was a being of magic and could link herself to her castle, but many of the writers never addressed that story. It is just a shame that the Moonstone appears in one of the poorest episodes of the series...


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

Heroic run.

During his time on the Masters of the Universe minicomics Bruce Timm showed numerous examples of classic comic book artwork; he was clearly an artist who had grown up reading Marvel Comics. His influences were clear to be seen in each and every illustration. Here is a panel from "Enter: Buzz-Saw Hordak!" in which we see He-Man running towards us. He-Man's physicality and his pose, and the spot black shading on the figure, are clearly influenced by the late great Jack Kirby!


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

"The Secret of The Sword" adaptation #3

Riding high on the success of their numerous Masters of the Universe and Princess of Power books, Ladybird decided to turn the animated He-Man and She-Ra feature, "The Secret of The Sword", into a book! The book was filled with actual stills from the movie and is very nicely presented throughout. Here are pages eleven to fifteen of the adaptation...


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

Reading a comic...

In issue sixty of the UK Masters of the Universe comic, one reader in particular poses a very interesting question to Scrollos! I like the idea of Skeletor picking up a copy of the Masters of the Universe comic and learning all of the secrets! Sometimes these kids were way ahead of the writers of the comic...


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

Deleted scene from "Evil-Lyn's Plot".

Here I present four pages of a deleted scene from the season one He-Man episode "Evil-Lyn's Plot". In this scene we see Teela teaching Prince Adam how to use a bow and arrow. There are some very amusing sight gags in these panels that would have made for an entertaining scene. The punch line when Teela leaves is good, proving once again that much of Prince Adam's incompetence is merely an act. While this scene is unnecessary, it is still a shame that it was cut for time. At the end of the scene you will see that Prince Adam unsheathes the Sword of Power from a different angle than what we are used to. This sequence was supposed to have been used here, and in the previous transformation in the episode, but for some reason they did not use it on the one transformation sequence in the episode. This animation would eventually be used in season two's "The Rainbow Warrior"...



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

"The Secret of The Sword" adaptation #2

Riding high on the success of their numerous Masters of the Universe and Princess of Power books, Ladybird decided to turn the animated He-Man and She-Ra feature, "The Secret of The Sword", into a book! The book was filled with actual stills from the movie and is very nicely presented throughout. Here are pages six to ten of the adaptation...


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

A brief review #015 - "A Beastly Sideshow"

As many of you will know, in 2010 I published The unofficial cartoon guide to He-Man and the Masters of the Universe. At 300+ pages the book features 700+ pieces of trivia, 460+ deleted scenes, 360+ examples of animation reuse, 380+ quotes, 50+ abandoned episodes, and a LOT more! It is the book that NO fan of the Filmation series can live without! BUY IT NOW!

As an incentive, here is my brief review and rating (as they appear in the book) for "A Beastly Sideshow"...

The first act of this episode is very strong, with a great feeling of suspense, as Beast Man slowly lures Cringer into a trap. However, by the time act two comes around it feels like an average capture and rescue plot; the story deserves much more than that. In a script in which Cringer should be the star, it is surprising that he is only in the episode sporadically. There are some good moments in this episode, and the directing throughout is worth taking note of. Sadly, these brief scenes cannot save an episode that slowly falls into the average category. He-Man's ridiculous confrontation with Skeletor at the end of the episode sums up the script. 4/10

Now, may I ask; what is YOUR rating?

The Diamond Sword...

I was always a fan of this illustration from the 1987 UK Masters of the Universe annual showing Skeletor with what appears to be He-Man's Sword of Power. The sword is actually the Diamond Sword of Goman; an indestructible weapon, which Skeletor acquires as the story begins. If you own any of the Masters of the Universe comics by DC, this illustration will be instantly recognizable as one of the panels originally illustrated in issue three by George Tuska! It is fair to say that the 1987 annual features a lot of art swipes...


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

"The Secret of The Sword" adaptation #1

Riding high on the success of their numerous Masters of the Universe and Princess of Power books, Ladybird decided to turn the animated He-Man and She-Ra feature, "The Secret of The Sword", into a book! The book was filled with actual stills from the movie and is very nicely presented throughout. Over the course of the next month or so I will be showcasing the pages for your enjoyment! Here are the first five pages of the adaptation...


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