Gommoroth, Frod and Kristan...

In the season one She-Ra episode "The Red Knight" there are three competitors alongside Bow and the Red Knight during the competition who are never named, but achieve a plentiful amount of screen time. In the script however they are named and described as Gommoroth, leader of the Mountain Kingdom, Frod, a primitive caveman, and Kristan, an ice-blue warrior from Frosta's empire. Although there was no ice blue warrior in the final production, it is very easy to pair up the name with the character...


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MORE eBay madness! :)

Yes, once again I'm selling now-unwanted parts of my DVD, book and comic collection; all in superb condition (of course) - There are a lot of Filmation-related items for sale, plus a few He-Man and She-Ra items, too (with more to come) - Plus if you follow this link you'll see there's more to Busta Toons than just He-Man and She-Ra! :)

Busta Toons is selling stuff!

Happy Birthday He-Man #1 - Sword held aloft...

Yes, on this very day twenty-four years ago He-Man and the Masters of the Universe premiered in the UK before any other country in the world! Little did Filmation or Mattel know at the time that their new cartoon series would influence the lives of millions of young children. For all of us who grew up in the eighties, He-Man and the Masters of the Universe was a big part of our childhoods. The characters, settings, and stories will never be forgotten!

To celebrate He-Man's twenty-fourth birthday I am featuring TWENTY-FOUR He-Man entries in one single session! :)

So, let the fun begin...

Here is a fantastic Robin Davies illustration from the Ladybird book "He-Man and the Lost Dragon". What I love about this image is that it has a great Filmation-feel to it, and it makes me wish that the directors at Filmation had used this angle for an alternate transformation sequence!


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Happy Birthday He-Man #2 - The setting suns...

In the storyboard panel from "The Problem With Power" we can see that the original shot of He-Man looking out over Eternia's landscape atop the turret of Castle Grayskull was much different to what was seen in the final episode. Tom Tataranowicz's original vision for this shot called for a close, but low angled view of over Eternia. If you read the directions you will see that Tom Tataranowicz wanted the scene to take place as the Eternian suns were setting...


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Happy Birthday He-Man #3 - Comic influences...

This storyboard page from the season on He-Man episode "The Taking of Grayskull" by Don Manuel is very interesting. On this page Don Manuel instructs in some depth what the world inside the white hole should look like. What makes this page so special is that Don Manuel refers the background designers to make the world look like it has been illustrated by Jack Kirby, Jim Steranko and Barry Windsor Smith, all of whom were comic book artists that pushed the boundaries and came up with wondrous landscapes and worlds in their comics. One artist whom I think Don should have mentioned was Steve Ditko, as his style in the world of comics was quite possibly the most appropriate for the designing of a strange dimension...


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Happy Birthday He-Man #4 - Sand Demon?

As you can see in this image, the original design of the Sand Demon from the He-Man season one episode "House of Shokoti" Part 1 was very different to what appeared in the final episode. As with most model redesigns the creature that appeared in the actual episode looked more appropriate within the desert setting.


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Happy Birthday He-Man #5 - He-Man in disguise.

In the minicomic "The Powers of Grayskull: The Legend Begins!" we are treated to many mysterious things, all pointing towards Mattel's attempt to revitalize the Masters of the Universe toyline. One of my favorite things in this minicomic occurs when He-Man has to wear a disguise in order to battle the villains of Eternia's past! He-Man's disguise in this illustration would have made a pretty interesting action figure...


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Happy Birthday He-Man #6 - Adam's jacket.

In some of the UK Masters of the Universe annuals the artists would illustrate Prince Adam with very different designs to that of his Filmation appearance. Many of these interpretations would be based on the design that appeared in the DC comic "From Eternia With Death!" In this illustration from the 1986 annual Prince Adam is sporting a green jacket with yellow trim, and yes, Teela is now a blonde, but that has been seen before. It would have been interesting to see this color scheme on the character. And maybe that is something I will do...


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Happy Birthday He-Man #7 - Skelcons and Stratos...

Here is a fabulous two page illustration by Robin Davies taken from the Masters of the Universe Ladybird book "Wings of Doom". This is a good image for showcasing Skeletor's Skelcon warriors that only ever appeared in these books. The reason for Skeletor's lair being that maroon color? It is the interior of the toy version of Snake Mountain which was Skeletor's base of operations in this book...


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Happy Birthday He-Man #8 - Rarely seen Adam...

Here is an interesting frame of animation from the season one episode "Masks of Power" in which we see a rarely seen stock piece of animation featuring Prince Adam. This stock pose upshot was frequently used for He-Man, but only once for Adam in the entire series...


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