#Crystal castle

[paperw0rmz]

Crystal castle reference

[birindale]

I've mentioned the so-called "U-Matic tapes" before, but had tabled finding footage of them bc the next step was going to involve a lot more hacking than I'm capable of. But on my most recent research quest, I got a bootleg DVD which contained an unlisted feature: my personal white whale.

So what is this? Why did I want a copy so bad?

The U-Matic tapes were found in Filmation archives, and we believe this was part of the collaborative process between Mattel and Filmation's development of the characters.

It's easy to look at the Filmation designs and see where the studio's common practices are put into effect. Hordak was changed from gray-skinned to blue so that he would pop out against the backgrounds better. She-Ra's spiraling chest emblem was made symmetrical, because they'd learned that asymmetry and stock footage do not get along during their Superman cartoon.

But this--these designs, this singular tape--this is our missing link. The common ancestor between the first wave toys and the Filmation designs. And yes, I had still images, but not in the original resolution! Not with the clapperboard! This is an entirely unexpected windfall and I'm downright gleeful. Buckle in, folks, I'm breaking it all down:

Castaspella

Ah, Castaspella. She started out with really vibrant colors actually, Justine Dantzer designed her with this whole psychedelic vibe. Her magic wheel was originally super bright, primary colors that imo would have served the toy really well. Instead of 'look at this cool hypno disk' it would be 'look at this cool rainbow hypno disk'. Kids love rainbows! I'm not biased at all!

Obviously the biggest difference aside from her color scheme is the wheel. They did have it in early Filmation passes, but like... it's a giant wheel. I imagine it's kind of a pain to animate.

Double Trouble

Double Trouble, too, had a bit of a color scheme journey. She began with magenta and red, then apparently moved into this violet-and-blue combo, before finally settling on green. And like, the first wave did need more green imo. If they'd stuck with the red for Catra and that lilac for Glimmer they could have had a whole rainbow. And like, gay bias aside, that would be lovely for collectors, or kids that like to arrange stuff by color.

Anyway they kind of stole prototype DT's color scheme for Filmation Glimmer, probably because of the aforementioned 'pop' blue brings against their standard backgrounds. And speaking of...

Glimmer

The guide who lights the way! Filmation pushed her hair much pinker than the toy's (although it's dyed purple in one episode), but otherwise yeah, that's pretty much just Double Trouble's proto-outfit, sans tulle. I should note that the leotards and so on are likely also a 'reduce the number of frames we have to draw' measure. Lou Scheimer had a very, very strict policy that She-Ra's underwear never be showed, which made a number of shots incredibly difficult to animate (the spin-kick towards the camera comes to mind). Honestly it's probably the reason for our She-Ra's shorts. But it's where things like leotards come in handy, because you can animate the action without working around modesty or fabric physics.

Catra

Catra's the biggest downgrade, in my opinion. Like I know, toys marketing being what it is, that they had to push pink. But the red looked so cool! And I know it's difficult to see in the video, but her mask used to have fur like in the prelims. That I think was more of a practical decision, since it's harder to slip a fur-lined mask over rooted hair than a smooth plastic one, but I'd kill to see some test shots with it.

We're not sure what that flocked red Battle Cat mold is--if it's an early Clawdeen/late Tinx, or a shapeshifted Catra. I'm inclined to think the former, both because the play pattern is 'this one toy can be two forms' and because they appear to have added a silver collar in place of Battle Cat's helmet. It seems to have been scrapped for her winged horse Storm, at least for this wave, which is kind of a shame. I think a red velvet Panthor would have had a lot of crossover appeal with the MOTU market (and just been awesome in general).

She-Ra

She-Ra is pretty far along conceptually on both sides of the equation. Naturally, she was the first to be designed--you can see where Mattel was leaning into a tulle and reflective sticker thing and Filmation was like "we reeeeeally want to give her a winged opera-viking-helm thing though". You can see the mask, instead of hard plastic, is like, shiny foil.

Bow

The top of Bow's cape, too--shiny foil. His bow was shaped more like a traditional longbow, and his quiver appears to have been hollow instead of a single cast piece. His outfit is actually the least changed, both in the toy's production and in developing it for Filmation. Like the only things different in the cartoon are that he doesn't have a breastplate covering his heart & abs, and that they gave him a mustache. They tried to do a full beard initially so like. Hey. Could have been hairier!

The figure on the left, under proto-Enchanta, seems to be proto-Kowl. How quickly Justine Dantzer's concept was lost. Koala, plus owl--it's not that complicated!

but Mattel wanted to make a little guy with butterfly wings instead. Explains some of the Filmation concept art, at least.

Angella

Angella was probably changed the most for Filmation. Like they kept the pink and the wing-influenced sigil on her chest (and the actual wings), but they added that blue--almost certainly for contrast--and turned her blonde. Meanwhile the toy just refined the chest design and switched from opaque white to a semi-transparent pink for the wings. 'Cause you know, toy marketing.

Frosta

Frosta, too, was relatively unchanged. Both companies opted for a lighter shade of blueon the hair, and Filmation replaced the reflective elements with white & the sheer with a different shade of blue, but other than that it was pretty much just the same process they applied with Catra's fabrics. Mattel went for texture, Filmation went for an easy-to-animate silhouette.

Other

I've talked about Justine Dantzer's original vision for the Crystal Castle even more than the U-Matics themselves at this point. She loves eagles, she was really excited about the beak elevator thing, it didn't test well & Mattel decided it was too edgy. Thus, the eventual pink situation.

Speaking of eventual pink sitatuations--did somebody say Swift Wind?

That blurry, indistinct horse shape is everyone's favorite equine, in the flesh. Guys, look! He's white! There's a blue ombre on his wings! Suddenly the dichotomy of Toy! and Filmation!Swifties seems less extreme, no?

That bird-thing on the left seems to be a proto-Enchanta, albeit very different from the final product (which was basically just a swan with a mane, not this sick ass dragon-influenced version).

The shields were just round shields, but they may have been placeholders to show off colors/materials, because we know Noreen Porter had refined She-Ra's at least by this point.

The video quality is too poor to say for certain who had a weapon and who had a comb at this point, but Catra's little item there looks significantly pointier than the comb she wound up with. Maybe a comb-ination with a knife? I for one think she should get a blade or two. As a treat. They didn't even give her a sword until wave 3, and that wasn't even her main weapon [side-eyes the Shower Squirter judgmentally]

Man I still can't believe this just turned up. Who would have thought that trying to get cleaner footage of the 1985 Duck Soup commercial could lead to this. Thank you bootleggers you are doing god's work (media preservation). If anybody wants some Rainbow Brite or the live action Japanese Spider-Man or something, I had a pretty great experience with these guys. Only complaint is that their list of included features should be way more specific. I took a gamble on finding some footage anyway & while it didn't turn up I'm far happier with this result. Also if an officially licensed version of any of their titles comes out they take it off the store, which is like, weirdly honorable? But good for them, tbh. Good for them.

[silverpsychedelic]

Is there anything you can currently tell us about Selph and their whole arc or are you still figuring it out?

I got some stuff I can talk about, sure! I won't reveal everything just yet because I'm still working things out with it, I hope to draw some of it at some point!

Like I've said, Selph has ties to Jackle, but most of them are unknown to everyone but Wizeman (and Selph obv). Jackle and Selph are a duo much in the same way Reala and NiGHTS are, and have existed long before the two were created. Though, their creation was vastly different than NiGHTS and Reala's. Far more traumatic.

Selph was not the bitter, resentful and downright vengeful person they are when the cast eventually meets them again, but heck, something akin to a millennia in isolation will do that to a person. They used to be brilliant, kind, charismatic. They were something Wizeman had total faith in, they were adored. But being imprisoned when their twin was left to freely roam for thousands of years? That has left them full of hatred and contempt. They are hurting, they are mourning the life they should have been allowed to live all this time, the life Jackle got to while they were punished. It's all one big mess, and it's not so easily cleaned up. At that point, Wizeman might be gone, but the echoes of his maltreatment are still loud and present.

Selph will have a lot of hastily made, rage-fuelled plans that really aren't going to do a lot of good for anyone, but they will bring to light a whole lot more about just how fucked up Wizeman was. Just how much he was doing in order to assume total control of the Night Dimension, and make sure nobody questioned his motives. It will also involve the Dark Ocean, things called Night Terrors, the Crystal Castle/Mirror Castle area of Nightopia (from JoD), and a bunch more to boot.

Everyone seems to have forgotten Selph. They're going to make sure nobody ever forgets their name again.

[altered-statuses]

Breath of the Mountain - John Huling (USA, 1994) Gentle Season - Dean Evenson and Li Xiangting 李祥霆 (USA/China, 2000) Native Earth - Christopher Buckman (Australia, 1998) [but from an anonymous CD called 'Serenity: Music for Relaxation'] Enchantment of the White Lotus - Boris Mourashkin (Russia, 1995) Twilight Suspension - Tony O'Connor (Australia, 1992) Aion - Chris James (Australia, 1999) Between Two Worlds - Terry Oldfield (UK/Australia, 1990) Harmonic Resonance - Jim Oliver (USA, 1995) Whales of the Pacific - Anton Hughes (c. Australia, 1993)

Inspired to do this one after a day at the Crystal Castle in Mullumbimby and seeing whales heading south for the summer. Cover image is from a Crystal Castle magazine advertisement from the 1980s.

[catulhu333]

SPOP Sword of Protection

To be specific, the First One/Ancient Eternian creation. Also an addendum to my post of SPOP She-Ra design.

In general, it quite resembles the DC Masters of the Universe Design of the (awakened/active) Sword of Protection:

It also resembles with it's circuitry the 200X version of Sword of Power...but also the 200X Sword of Protection itself, that appeared only in concept art form and toy form:

It having a crystal blade, might be inspired by the Sword of Power when wielded by He-Ro and champions before him (with the Sword turning metallic when King Grayakull inherited it).

BUUUT, it might be as well or even more possibly inspired by the 80s Sword of Protection toy, with a translucent blade:

The SPOP Sword of Protection's rainguard and crossguard resemble the Filmation Crystal Castle:

[skarianavia]

" I found your picture Hangin' on the back of my door Won't give you my heart No one lives there anymore" Platinum Blonde - Not In Love

[sherashera]

✨️

[pinkphotographyphoenix]

[livinginahousewithchickenfeet]

Part 2 of my vacation photo dump, here is the link to my original post and part one of the photo dump

The crystal castle from Convergence Station

And one of my hoodies I got at Meow Wolf

The strangest foliage I have ever seen as a Midwesterner (I feel like a tumble weed is about to go by, it is so dry) + MOUNTAINS!!!

This car that has a face...

and the face is pain

The car museum was huge and they had a ton of toys as well as cars. Models and little racing games.

[paperw0rmz]

I <3 my webcam

[birindale]

[suicidetwo-tone]

[the-sp0tless-mind]

the summer ends.

[02decay]

Alice Glass by Danny North, NME Magazine 2011

[02void]

crystal castles, 2008

[sherashera]

These are just so pretty like what the heck