#King Grayskull

[tired-demonspawn]

me, watching the credits of the first episode king grayskull had a speaking role in and seeing alan oppenheimer(the original skeletor) was his VA: "hehe wouldn't it be funny if after he got corrupted by havoc he would start speaking like skeletor?"

grayskull some 3ish episodes later:

me: (spit-take) NO FUCKING WAY

[emperorsfoot]

[catulhu333]

2021 CGI King Grayskull inspiration

CGI King Grayskull is a interesting character, perhaps the most interesting version (due to being both a hero and villain, and it making sense), and he has a number of inspirations both in MOTU sources and those outside it.

Out of versions of King Grayskull, the DC comics one seems to have the most influence (which has sense Rob David large part in making both), were several characters stated King Grayskull was not as noble as it seemed. The issue being though, the two people stating it were not really reliable sources - Hordak and King Hiss (impersonating/wearing the skin of Adi, him doing it to persuade Saryn and other Gar to kill Grayskull).

Still, this caused He-Ro to have given a way disproportionate punishment, seemingly committing genocide against the Gar, and declaring them legal pariahs and exiles, even striping them from the ability to name themselves.

Yes, the Gar were also lead to commit horrible acts when lead/corrupted by King Hiss (impersonating Adi), but that's not a rational reaction, or proportional punishment.

About He-Ro, CGI King Grayskull, in many ways resembles an older He-Ro - he is a dark haired man in golden armor, wielding both the Sword of Power and a magic staff (as Grayskull stated he used the Havoc Staff even before infusing it with Havoc, making me think it's meant to be a corrupted version of He-Ro's staff, even resembling it in it's uncorrupted/dormant and semi-dormant form), as well as being both a warrior and sorcerer.

Making me think he is a composite character of He-Ro and King Grayskull, very probably taking inspiration from the 200X comics which were to do the same (ie revealing King Grayskull is an older He-Ro).

And with 200x MOTU, King Grayskull's helmet is also based on the one Randor wore as a captain in the 2002 cartoon, and as a prince during war in MOTUC comics:

Outside of MOTU, King Grayskull also is quite similar to Odin in Norse/Germanic mythology, and Marvel comics (and their adaptations):

Odin also has darker aspects, both in Marvel - seen as for example in Thor: Ragnarok, that Odin was a genocidal war criminal far in past. Or in myths that Odin was willingly sacrifice much and many, to give gods and humans a chance to survive Ragnarok, and in general despite having empathetic traits in myths, was heavily pragmatic. Odin's darker aspects are even visible in some of his names - Ginnarr (Deciever), Yggr (Terrible One), Draugadróttinn (Lord of the Undead), as well as his role as a god of death and dead (which is often overlooked).

Curiously King Grayskull also resembles gbagok's partly Odin-based semi-fan character, the All-Father (leader of the Ancients and brother to Nordor/Horde Prime):

Semi, as he is based on the (seeming) leader Magic Kings from ancient Eternia, whose spirits now inhabit the Anti-World, and who were implied to be the Ancients. These characters are from the German He-Man/MOTU comics.

It also does seem his helmet did inspire Randor's in the 2002 cartoon.

[EDIT: As clarified by @toonjukka, while designs of Randor's and the leading Magic King, are unrelated - as German comics only became available online in 2004, years after the production of the 2002 series pilot "The Beginning"]

Another Golden Armored Demigod could inspire CGI King Grayskull - the Emperor of Mankind of Warhammer 40k:

Like the Emperor of Mankind, King Grayskull is a well-intentioned extremist, who hypocritical used the power of what he fought against (ie King Grayskull proto-Havoc of the Snake Men; the Emperor either made a deal with the Chaos Gods for more knowledge and/or power, in order to arm himself against them, and broke it, or stole their knowlege and power). The Emperor though was not overtaken by Chaos.

Both also ended up as skeletons guarded by their most loyal servants (and some thinking/hoping he would come back), and both are remembered as saintly, when in fact they weren't, and their message was misunderstood.

(Well, King Grayskull became a "bone-head" even before death...)

[favuya]

King Grayskull

He-Man's and Prince Adam's ancestor. It's incomplete but I'm having Photoshop and computer trouble and I have no idea how long it will last. -_-

[comicchannel]

He-Man Masters of the Universe Revelation Rei Grayskull Masterverse Mattel HDY28

Link para compra: https://amzn.to/3eUVG5F

[savagepowersofgrayskull]

The council of king

A little inspired in one art of Francisco Bertomeu Baidal@bertomeufrancisco (ig)

[n0rmal-b3an]

You sent in your rare pairs, I shuffled the brackets, but are you ready for the showdown!

Round 1

King Hiss/the Faceless One vs. Shadow Weaver/Skeletor

Beastman/Evil-Lyn vs. Dree-Elle/Orko

Skeletor/Flogg vs. Sorceress/Evil-Lyn

Evil-Lyn/Kittrina vs. Bow/Adam

Adam/Buzz-Off vs. Skeletor/OC

Adora/Lonnie vs. Rio Blast/Snout Spout

Hordak/Skeletor vs. Adora/Teela

Modulok/Mantenna vs. Kronis/Lyn

Please reblog to reach a larger audience! Polls will go live Sunday or Monday.

[lemaistrechat]

I was today years old when I discovered that Masters of the Universe had 1985 and 1987 Burger King meals.

The first one emphasized ‘85 characters like Two Bad and Spydor alongside the core characters.

Orko’s just whistling, living his best life.

The second one, featuring characters from the very end of the line.

Obligatory:

[ragingphantom666]

Grayskull Worlds project plan: Masters of the Universe (Vol. 1)

This series is not an assured project. It is a concept that can still be changed or scrapped.

Synopsis

For five years, Prince Adam has defended Eternia as He-Man. He and the Masters of the Universe have faced the Evil Warriors more times than they can. Count. Now, things have changed. A new evil has risen that is terrorizing the land. It will not stop until all has been paralyzed in time by fear.

Characters

Adam Hodeskalle/He-Man - The hero of Eternia and the prince. He has spent years fighting Skeletor and the Evil Warriors.

Teela Falkefødt - The love-interest of Adam and an ally of He-Man. Due to her secretive relationship to the Sorceress of Grayskull, she has some skill in magic.

The Sorceress - The guardian of Castle Grayskull.

Duncan Falkefødt/Man-At-Arms - The head of Eternia's defenses and father of Teela.

Orko - The sorcerer of King Randor's court and ally of He-Man. He was banished from this dimension of Trolla for clumsiness.

Roboto - An ancient Horde robot reprogrammed by Duncan to serve Eternia and be an ally of He-Man.

King Randor Hodeskalle - The ruler of Eternia and father of Prince Adam.

Keldor Hodeskalle/Skeletor - The brother of King Randor, uncle of Prince Adam, and leader of the Evil Warriors. A magical accident scared his face, which he conceals in a metallic skull. He was banished after kidnapping Princess Adora. For the last few years, he has been the main adversary of He-Man.

Despara Kur/Evelyn/Evil-Lyn - The daughter of Hordak who was traded for Adora as a baby. She was partially raised by Skeletor in his banishment. She was an outcast because of her white skin, white hair, and magenta eyes. In solitude, she taught herself magic. She is now the sorceress of Snake Mountain.

R'Qazz/Beast Man - A loyal general of Skeletor from the wildlands and friend of Evil-Lyn.

Skorn Blyte/Scary Glow - A mysterious wanderer from the farmlands. He studied dark powers and lost his soul to them, becoming a lich. He feeds off fear, turning his victims to stone. He appears as a green skeleton engolfed in black fire and he wears the robes of a monk and a tattered purple cloak. His halberd is cursed like him. His mission is to destroy Skeletor and the royal bloodline.

Other Information

Skeletor's scarred white face is inspired by his appearance in the 1987 film Masters of the Universe.

Skeletor's metallic skull mask that hides his face is inspired by the Marvel Comics character Taskmaster.

Scare Glow's appearance is inspired by the DC Comic character Blight and the Marvel Comics characters Ghost Rider and Doctor Strange.

Scare Glow's voice is whisper soft, monotoned, and with a hint of depression and despair.

Evil-Lyn is the daughter of Hordak and Entrapta.

[therobotmonster]

Gah, I love Turtles of Grayskull!

I'm on record for rambling about how much I love MOTU origins, an action figure line that provides solid value, craftsmanship, and a sense of fun in an era where everything is increasingly none of those things.

And Turtles of Grayskull understands both its contributors spirits intimately in a way many nostalgia projects don't.

Because nostalgia remembers the cool very easily. But it rarely remembers the silly and the stupid-fun.

You buy a bus ticket to "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" or "He-Man and the Masters of the Universe" and you have to know that route will be winding almost exclusively through Historical Crazytowne.

And the Turtles of Grayskull/MOTU Origins team gets this. This isn't some Batman/TMNT crossover where they give you a bunch of cool mutant Arkham Villains and deny you toys of them (but a Michaelangelo wearing the bat-cowl is worth a sculpt, eye-roll).

Recent-ish stuff to ramble about:

Okay, not only is this just an awesome Hordak variant, he's conceptually blended with Lord Draxum. You've got the mutant bat-wings, to go with Hordak's vampire thing, but his shapeshifting weapon arm from the toon is very clearly a mutagen-blaster evoking the mutagen-mosquitos. You've got the shoulder pads evoking Draxum's little gargoyle boys. Fantastique!

I had wondered who Casey was taking inspiration from for awhile, but apparently the lore got revealed from his packaging, he's combined... with the WEAPON RACK/Pack.

Well, technically he raided it, but it's a clever option when it would have been easy to just put him in Man-at-Arms gear or give him a Man-E-Faces gimmick. Deep cuts are appreciated, as is that delightful amount of accessory swag.

Stealth Leo is just a cool Leonardo figure. He's the reason for my hypothesis that Mattel is low-key pitching to be the main TMNT figure company. April gets a sweet power up by being Combined with Zo-ar and the Sorceress, and the amount of new sculpting is impressive there. Nobody would have blinked if she'd been 90% Sorceress parts, so I appreciate it.

He-Man goes stealth ninja after he's de-mutated. that's cool I guess, but He's probably going to wind up with a different head when I get him. Skeletor, however, is everything you want in a repaint guy. 90s neon? Check, kusari-gama with goat skulls? Check. Tube of mutagen? Check. He's obviously a premold for the 2005 Samurai Skeletor but who cares? He's green!

Splinter-Skull is mostly OG Playmates Splinter, down to the face design, but he's got just enough King Grayskull in him to keep him a fun hybrid. In fiction, this is is the spirit of Grayskull taking on a form to match both sets of heroes asking for his help. Fun!

Leatherhead, on the other hand, is just Mattel auditioning to make normal TMNT toys again. Toss some WWEternia legs with some pants on that guy and he's basically the best and most in-scale Leatherhead to not come out of NECA. I look forward to the use of that tail on many, many snakemen related characters to come.

And yet there's more!

I thought this was going to be a four-wave limited thing. But apparently they're just keeping the train rolling until the wheels fall off, to which I say...

Wave 5 has been semi-revealed (no pics yet) and it's:

Variant Donatello, Variant Raphael, Mekaneck, and Rattlor!

Donnie and Raph are going to be costume variants like Stealth Leo, though I'm hoping they're not also stealth versions, because there's tons of other options to pull from.

My druthers would be them with accessory pak themes (cliff climber Raph, Scuba-Attack Donnie (to nod at the wind-up swimming donnie toy), etc). The Dontatello #1 gauntlet could be a fun accessory, and I wouldn't say no to a "slime pit zombie" Raph, but we'll have to wait and see.

The real thing that has me hyped is Mekaneck and Rattlor. I love reptile-people, and the Snake-Men give me a lot of them, so I'm always glad to get more options.

Mekaneck is one of the dorkiest MOTU characters and is thus one of my favorites. He's immensely goofy, and his origin implies that Man-at-Arms decided to fix the guy's broken neck by chopping off his head and giving him an extendable robotic spine. He also has the advantage of just being somebody's dad.

His son is named Philip, by the way.

I can't imagine them not making Mekaneck a wildly mutated weirdo. They had to pack his origins figure in with the road ripper to make him appealing, so I'm pretty sure he's gonna be a mutant. Fingers crossed for a giraffe head. Bonus points if its some kinda blue eternian giraffe or something.

And Rattlor, man, I want him to be a full on character hybrid so bad. Options: Tokka (snappers do have long necks), Snakeweed, Rat King (King Ratsnake?), Hothead & Scaletail.

[spopsalt]

So I know Nate says he regrets it, which I’m already taking with a grain of salt, but I’m sitting here wondering WHY Nate designed Mara like this in the first place. Why did he give her blonde hair and blue eyes and a white/gold outfit to make her similar to Adora, and then make her poc with brown hair? Like look, I watched DBZ, I get transformations can alter hair and eyes. But why the uniform and same color scheme too? Either Nate should have kept her poc as She-Ra, or just had her be white and blond when normal. It’s that easy!

Also, I know lore can change with reboots, but here’s the thing, IN EVERY ITERATION, BASIC KNOWLEDGE IS HOW THE SWORD WORKS. And never, in the history of MOTU has the sword done that. For reference, I’m going to talk about the Sword of Power, since there’s more lore, and it’s supposed to work pretty much the same as the Sword of Protection. So… He-Man’s sword transforms whoever wields it, provided they are related to the late King Grayskull, the wielder buffs up and changes clothing. It can also have a range of clothing for different needs. Armor, helmets, pants, stuff like that. Point is, it can’t change the color of eyes or hair or skin. In the 80s, when Adam used it, it did make his hair and skin a bit darker, but he still read as a white blond guy, so it’s pretty inconsequential.

But aside from that hair LENGTH can change, as 80s She-Ra had longer hair, and an alternate Keldor had it shorter. But all colors stayed the same. Also, there has never an assigned color scheme for anyone who used the Sword of Power. Even with different iterations. Hell, even the SWORD ITSELF could change color, allowing each person that was He-Man to be an individual.

Examples:

King Grayskull (200X and Classics)

Vikor

Wun-Darr

Oo-Larr

He-Ro (The First)

He-Ro (The Second) (Son of He-Man)

Adam (It was a sequel series to the 80s)

Keldor (Skeletor in an alternate universe)

Sure some of them were blonde, but that’s a coincidence. Even Keldor, stayed blue with black hair.

And again, this applies to ALL versions. See how a different version of King Grayskull is black and still allowed to be black when he’s He-Man?

So… Just WHY??? The gold and white outfit was unnecessary. And even more unnecessary was switching Mara’s colors. Either have her have blond/white hair, blue eyes, (and maybe white skin, I heard the S1 flashback was an animation error, but I also heard she may have just BEEN white) when not She-Ra, or let her have her gray eyes, brown hair, and dark skin when she is!!! I honestly don’t know when, where, or how Nate got this idea that all She-Ra had to look the same. He said he watched the old stuff, but clearly, he doesn’t know anything about the history. And I know for a fact the First Ones using Mara as a weapon and having the sword take her individuality was NOT planned from the beginning, because Nate had admitted that he WROTE HIMSELF IN A CORNER AND HIS WIFE JUST THREW THE IDEA OF THE PLANT BEING A WEAPON OUT THERE. Nate literally didn’t plan this, it was all made up or pulled out someone’s ass. And the whole Mara being whitewashed thing could have been avoided.

I honestly don't even know, there was soooo much potential, at least Nate regrets it, but like you said she could've kept her dark hair and eyes, but nope!

[incorrectringsofpower]

Season 2 First 3 episodes thoughts (spoilers below the cut, DO NOT click the cut if you do not want to be spoiled!)

Episode 1

The dimples are a bit disarming ngl.

The chorals Bear added are interesting. Someone translate them please and thank you.

Ewwwww bug!Sauron nope nope nope.

Why hallo there handsome asshole :D

What's in the pouuuuch? (I don't think we're ever gonna find out tbh)

O shit are these the raft redshirts? Oh nooo.

I support horse girl rights and wrongs.

Mooom, Galadriel is a lying liar who lies.

Gil-galad looks so done lmfao. "Great-auntie whyyyy."

Elrond about to pull an Elwing.

I want to see my little boy (Isildur). (Where is heeeee?)

Hello Glüg, you SDCC photo gem.

Ah Waldreg you fucker. Guess you figured out between seasons that he ain't Sauron.

Lmao not Sauron pulling a Moses on Adar. Wtf are you doing buddy?

Nori my beloved

Wow The Stranger has so much vocabulary now. I still think he swallowed a Harfoot dictionary.

Ok additional Harfoot food note: Beetles (scarab beetles?)

Oh yeah some fic writers are reaaaaally gonna enjoy the scenes of Halron chained and collared. Here comes another fic deluge!

Sauron, don't you remember what happened with Huan in the FA?

BEN DANIELS TIME LET'S GOOOOO.

RIP to this random elf messenger bc I don't think he's gonna make it.

Ben Daniels has the raaaaange.

Eärendil mentionnnn. And Beleriand mention! I wonder why the Mariana Trench option wasn't considered in the TA. Update: Ok nvm Círdan will answer that for us.

Poppy! Hopefully the others can still travel without the maps she took.

The music is so prettyyyy.

"Your people have been set free." #doubt (show me the proof! also why did Sauron want that? He needed slaves to work the fields in Mordor, right?)

Ah Waldreg did die in the exact episode we predicted.

More elf nuns!

Elf costumes! I need an analysis post!

Lmao Elrond's face. "Grunkle Círdan, you betrayed meeee!"

Galadriel: How 'bout I do anyway?

Elrond: Thanks I hate it.

Galadriel: Please don't jump off waterfalls again.

Mirdania! Aw shit Halron got there before the nameless doomed Lindon elf.

Ominous ending music, Bear.

Episode 2

DWARVES MY BELOVED

I love the terrace farming so much.

Dwarf food note: Mole-tail stew, Large mushroom (chanterelle-like) that is very valuable, smaller mushrooms, gourds!

ilu Disa

This scene was exactly what I needed for dwarves and dwarvish food reasons.

Oh shit not my dwarves :(((

Alfirin seeds!

Ooh creepy!

New elf characters! Do they have names? Please give them names!

"Crush two spiders with one boot." Ooh I hate the foreshadowing of that metaphor. Hates it, hates it.

More foreshadowiiiing.

Mirror of Galadriel foreshadowing specifically!

Eregion is so beautiful and majestic (thanks, Season 2 budget!). Sure do hope nothing bad happens to it! (sobbing)

Yup, RIP Lindon messenger elves.

I looove this music.

Skeletor! (By the power of Grayskull!)

Ooh cultists.

The Dweller is back!

"curse upon our flesh" wut

I have a bad feeling about this. (Wait, wrong fandom)

Where is Narviiii.

Do Disa's friends have naaames? Wait x-ray actually was helpful for once. Rachel Payne as Brenna and Laura Jane Matthewson as Revna! I'm so happy she has named friends who even gossip!

Hi Narvi!

King Durin: But do I still have grandparent's rights?

"Stubborn as a root-bound parsnip!" Hah.

Oh my god he's working on ships. I love that so much.

Ooh shit a flashback to the woods scene from Udûn.

Why are you shaving, sir? Sir.

Ahhhh poetry mentions from the FA! How nerdy.

The bell seems bad.

Eye of Sauron?

Uh-oh. Is this how he learns how squishy hobbits are on adventures?

Ooh he's developing door ideas. Fun!

I get the feeling Mirdania ain't gonna last the season, either.

Fuuuck tower foreshadowing.

Ooh elf umbrella!

Oh you little weasel!

"I'm going to open a First Age bottle." Love that detail.

"Are you my friend?" Hoo boi.

Ominous thunderclap. Ooooh.

Is he gonna larp as an Istar? Lmao.

"Soon every realm will fall." Because of you, asshole!

Title drop!

Wow. Okay. Playing on his insecurities and also calling him the "Lord of the Rings". Overdoing it a bit much there, Ronnie?

"I am your partner." screech

Pope-galad says you need babysitter, Gal. I'm sure this will go splendidly!

Episode 3

Bronwyn ;_;

Berek best boi my beloved

Sad Elendil and Valandil :(((

YESSS OH MY GOD IT'S HAPPENING. EVERYONE STAY CALM. IT'S HAPPENING!

ISILDUR SAVE YOUR HORSE FOR THE LOVE OF ERU.

Pls don't kill Berek. I couldn't stand it 😭

ISILDUR BEST HORSE GIRL

THEY'D BOTH BETTER LIVE OR SO HELP ME

FUCKING RUN ISILDUR FFS

(GOD I HATE LARGE FANTASY SPIDERS AND THIS IS WHY)

Ooh the shells funerary detail!

Eärien girrrrl your evil phase alarms me.

This ship is so saddd :(

More ominous tower shit.

Pharazôn, you weasel 2.0.

Fucking foreshadowiiiing.

Valandil my beloved! Oooh tension with Kemen.

A baby orc! Fascinating!

Damrod has arrived!

More title dropping!

"--a friend." The emphasis was so funny.

Durin is suspicious. Love it.

Celebrimbor: Well if I start a Catholic schism then so be it.

It is your moment, Holly-boy, but also your doom. You're being Anakined into Vader by Palpannatar.

Isildur has discovered the DnD means of equipment acquisition.

Noooo more dead horsies :(

Estrid :D (please don't be evil)

Lmao at least he knows proper wound procedures lol.

DO NOT HURT BEREK

Potato food spotted!

ARONDIR YASSS

THEY STOLE BEREK NOOOOO

Arondir sir you are low on arrows.

Arondir ;_;

Bronwyn :(((( fuck I'm so sad about this

I will never recover from the Aronwyn ship, I fear :(

Theo, buddy, need someone to talk to?

Sad version of Aronwyn theme nooooo :(

Really not liking how much King Durin's crown sorta resembles Sauron's this season.

Theo taking over his mother's skills :(

Yup, poisoned orc arrow theory confirmed.

Stepparenting with foreshadowing for Numenor, delightfulll.

Please don't be foreshadowing.

Who is his dad? Oh no hurtful, Theo. Buddy :(

My Garden Fam is broken and I'm deeply unwell about it.

Theo-Isildur friendship time?

BEREK HEIST BEREK HEIST

Isildur really is so relieved to be alive and not eaten by spiders that he's gone friend mode. How very like his Grunkle Elrond!

Oh no Isildur mom backstory :(

Don't cry Isildur and Theo bc then I'm gonna cry ;;_;;

Also now this is a narrative parallel!

Ah good gift discussion next to the word "precious" is throwing my brain. Oh lordy.

Please don't be evil, Estrid! I'm already suffering without Bronwyn and both Disa and Míriel are doomed af.

Theo wtf are you doing?

ENTS.

No don't lose the sword Galadriel gave you!

Míriel in white, Elendil in blue and gold, Pharazôn in red. Totally Kate Hawley doing some fascinating storytelling here.

Oh no my quote about Elendil and his daughter in a courtroom is suddenly very apt. Oh dear.

What did Elendil see?

Huh the unrest happened sooner than I thought.

EAGLE TIME LET'S GOOOO!

Eagle: Y'all are gonna die!

Elendil: Top 10 anime betrayals and by my own daughter. Wtf.

Annatar gets his own cute lil forging outfit :D

More symbolism!

Oh god what a way to end the first 3 episodes. Send help.

[emperorsfoot]

So did Mer-Man die in CGI MOTU? Also I refuse to believe that all the Merfolk died. Like how? Were they killed by the Snakemen or by King Grayskull? I don't understand why Mer-Man wouldn't blame KG for their deaths.

Mer-Man in the Core/CGI show seems to hold a sort of fanatical devotion to King Grayskull. It almost felt like he revered Grayskull as his god. Mer-Man could probably excuse or justify anything done by his god.

But, honestly, because they don't go into it in the show, we just have no idea. Your guess is as good as mine.

[catulhu333]

Skeletor was always intended to be a relative of He-Man?

...and descendant of (the) King (of) Grayskull?

To elaborate, recently, the known He-Man/MOTU blog, Battle Ram, posted an article about the combined information from interviews with Mark Taylor (one of the creators of Masters of the Universe franchise, who literally started the franchise, who came up with earliest characters at least in part, most notably He-Man and Skeletor themselves), about his original ideas for the MOTU story. You can read it here.

Among these, it described that He-Man and Skeletor were intended to be half-brothers...and sons of (the) King (of) Grayskull. (obviously influencing the latter idea of Randor and Keldor being half-brothers, and the King of Grayskull very probably inspired in part the latter King Grayskull.)

[EDIT: After being contacted by the article's writer, Jukka Issakainen (ToonJukka/ @toonjukka) I have to correct that it doesn't seem the idea of He-Man and Keldor being (half-) brothers, had influence on Randor's and Keldor's storyline I will also include other points on which he informed me.] He-Man was also mentioned to be of partly divine heritage, and as his mother was from all it seems a normal human, it does seem the King of Grayskull himself was to a level divine.

The very first Masters of the Universe minicomic mentions the warrior who split the Sword of Power (and seemingly shows the silhouette of - though possibly also of He-Man or Skeletor uniting the Sword and becoming the next king), and seemingly previous ruler who lived in Castle Grayskull, most probably the King of Grayskull from Mark Taylor's conception.

He was less moral, more similar to CGI King Grayskull - as the King of Grayskull threatened and scared other kings of Eternia into submission, by threatening to release the various monstrosities from the very beginning and very end of of time from the Well of Souls. With his court being decadent and corrupt.

The Well of Souls is a pit within Castle Grayskull that extends across time and space itself, possibly being a miniature black hole. (Skeletor's mother also was the one who fashioned the cap/cage that sealed, and allowed for the unsealing of the Well of Souls for the King of Grayskull.)

The sealed Well of Souls - one of the monstrosities sealed there, the one in the upper left corner, resembles, and very possibly inspired Filmation's Sh'Gora and Revelation's Orlax. [EDIT: It seems Sh'Gora is unrelated to the tentacled creature, but Orlax is based on it, as clarified by Jukka Issakainen.]

He-Man's mother was an athletic warrior, while Skeletor's was a crafty sorceress.

Skeletor's mother wanted to kill He-Man (who was still a young child). Man-at-Arms saved He-Man, after being contacted by his mother, and brought him up. [EDIT: Origonally I misinterpreted Skeletor being on his mother plan to kill He-Man, but I just misread the article] Skeletor's mother still managed to poison the court, possibly being the reason for the King of Grayskull's death (this makes her similar to DC comics Saryn). She also fought with and killed He-Man's mother.

During this coup, Skeletor fallen into the Well of Souls, were the demons and monsters there torn his face away (taking away his once handsome features), and them and the well altered him - his skin becoming blue, having now only three clawed toes, ridges protruding from his forearms, making him an undead demon, it also made far stronger, tougher, and magically empowered.

(This resembles the latter stories how Keldor became Skeletor, especially the 2021 CGI version, were Keldor thrown himself into the pit of power of Grayskull corrupted into Havoc in Castle Grayskull, to fully embrace it. As well how it earlier disfigure his arm. In general the CGI series used quite a bit of the early minicomic lore as inspiration.)

When Skeletor's mother saved him from the Well of Souls, she was terrified but what became of her son, and committed suicide.

He-Man was after this brought up in Atlantis (!), which apparently sunk some time ago - all of this, including the fact Teela's narration implying King Grayskull lived at least somewhat long ago, makes me think if maybe He-Man, Man-at-Arms and Skeletor not being older than it seems.

[EDIT: It does seem He-Man being brought up in Atlantis, was from another version/idea Mark Taylor had about He-Man's origins.]

He-Man himself is magically gifted, but refused to use magic, due to magic in this version, always having a price, but also also as I think Skeletor and his mother using it, might also made He-Man distrust it.

There are other very interesting bits - like the fact Castle Grayskull was created by an extremely ancient species not from Eternia, and that predated humanity by "eons", with Zodac being a partially human descendants of that species.

(Would be interesting if this species was Hordians, which would explain their obsession with the power of Grayskull and Starseed on multiple incarnations, and Zodac being a Hordian in DC comics).

Castle Grayskull was also an carved skull of a giant's remains that sunk into earth, modified by the alien species. And it was described the giant might one day "awaken" again - indeed, possibly a least in part inspiring Castle Grayskull Man, and an idea for a MOTU reboot for Castle Grayskull there being made from Tytus' remains.

And I recommend to check it out - it's fascinating how elements from Mark Tayor's unused ideas were re-used and re-imagined by various MOTU series.

EDIT: Also thanks to Jukka Issakainen / @toonjukka for contacting me, and of course, writing this article.

[madamegemknight]

Okay I'm gonna finally. Ask about the MOTU playlist. Which is what I intended to do before all those other asks hit me like a train. Curious in particular about the inclusion of

GHOST - Honey I'm Home

sodikken - people eater

Brian David Gilbert - i wish that i could wear hats

(cracks knuckles) OH BOY HERE WE GO -

HONEY I'M HOME

Honey I'm Home revolves heavily around two ideas - religion and parenthood - both of which tie in very heavily to Teela and her storyline in CGI. Teela has numerous parental figures; Man-E-Faces, who adopted her and who she ran away from as a young child, Evelyn/Evil-Lyn, who took her in as an apprentice, and Eldress, who was explicitly described as being like family to Teela (despite them having like two conversations at that point :P).

The "father" is Man-E - distrusting the World Above (and, as we learn in Season 3, following Eldress' orders), he tried to keep Teela in the Lower Wards, where she stayed until she "landed a gig" with Evelyn.

The "moth" is then Evelyn, who is symbolically 'tied up' due to being just as much of a victim as Teela is, albeit from the opposite direction due to their role as Nemeses. Evelyn takes Teela in as part of a plan to use her, yes, but as the end of Season 3 and the few tie-in materials that discuss the Season 4 plans reveal, she's being used just as much when it comes to the battle between the Power of Grayskull and the Coming of Horokoth as Hordak's possible child. She's also tied up in the sense that she is irreversibly "tied" to Teela as her Nemesis.

This leaves Eldress as the "God", the figure who controls the entire thing from behind the scenes. At first glance, this might not seem like an appropriate role for Eldress to slot into - despite her numerous wrongdoings, she spends her time alive as a guardian serving under King Grayskull, and her time as a ghost as...well, a ghost, unable to do anything except watch from the castle. However, when looking at two of the tie-in books (specifically I, Skeletor and Into The Void), the reasoning for her being the "God" is clear: Eldress is canonically responsible for the entirety of the series happening in the first place. I, Skeletor establishes that Keldor was supposed to be the heir of Miro that took the throne (chosen to be by RANDOR, no less), only for Eldress to burst in, transfer the throne to Randor, and then refuse to explain why she chose to do so. Her line about how she "cannot see the threat" is a lie as well - Into The Void establishes that she was fully aware that Horokoth (and by extension, Hordak) were coming, and it's the reason she chose to come to Eternia in the first place. While she isn't a puppet-master by any means, her actions were carefully planned in order to make sure Adam was in a position to gain the Power of Grayskull, and in doing so caused the entire series to occur in the first place. And while I, Skeletor is told by Skeletor, who is naturally an unreliable narrator, the end of the book has Teela establish that for the most part, he was telling the truth about this specific moment.

The "there's so many things that you'll never understand" line is referring to how Eldress never explains any of this - she leaves everyone, but ESPECIALLY Teela, in the dark about critical aspects of not only her grand plan, but of their lives in general. In every other continuity where Sorceress hides her relationship to Teela, this makes sense as Sorceress can't tell Teela about their relationship without dooming Teela to her fate far earlier than she's prepared to deal with it - but here, it's so she can make sure Teela will "never go astray," as Into The Void establishes (via Teela meeting an alternate universe Eldress that's a bit more open about her past) that if Teela did know what Eldress had done, she would hate her.

The repetition of "Three voices" in the chorus, whether it be "from the gramophone" or "all alone" refers to how despite what the show tries to claim, the fusion of Teela and Eldress into Teela Na is incomplete and illogical - it's not Teela Na who we follow for the rest of Season 3, it's Teela (with Eldress' memories in her head) occasionally switching into Teela Na mode in extreme emergencies. Three voices, not one, despite the show's best attempts to present it as otherwise.

The "God devoured that of Father" line is one I don't take literally, but still fits in with the idea of Eldress enacting total control over everything, especially Teela. As I mentioned prior, she is the one who instructs Man-E-Faces to not only tell Teela nothing of her past, but to call her Teela in the first place, establishing a sense of control and regulating her destiny through Man-E. Eldress symbolically "devours" Man-E's role as foster parent by ensuring her regulations are still enforced through him.

Finally, there are the lines "A vivisection of me/Done by God, for all to see." This is representative of the moment where Eldress and Teela "merge" - despite the show's attempt to have this come across as a positive thing, playing inspiring music and ending on Teela triumphantly talking about how Eldress ~isn't really gone,~ at the end of the day Teela has still been ripped open and had an entirely new person shoved into her mind and body, said person talking the entire time about how Teela has never been any of the identities she chose for herself. Notably, vivisection refers specifically to the act of viewing the internal structures of a living being, and by fusing with Teela, Eldress becomes part of that internal structure.

tl;dr: Teela has religious trauma AND parental trauma, and they are the same person. and also 'her'. and this is treated as a good thing.

PEOPLE EATER

people eater is an interesting one - there are a few songs on the Teela side of the fanmix that are from Eldress' perspective, not Teela's. The goal of them was to come across as jarring compared to the others as a reflection on how even though the show presents Teela and Eldress as one unified being now, they're incredibly fractured and are in fact two completely separate people with two completely different sets of memories and opinions. people eater, along with Louise and Eat Your Heart, are about how Eldress ultimately views Teela as a means to an end and not as the family unit Teela perceives the two of them as.

Teela sacrifices so much for Eldress, to the point where she gets her memory wiped in Lost in The Void for figuring out too much in her attempts to save her. Despite that, Eldress never gives up anything for Teela - any moments of "reassuring" her, like encouraging her to tap into the powers of Sorceress, are ultimately just further steps on the path to making sure her perfect plan succeeds. Eldress will never take care of Teela's needs, no matter how much Teela takes care of Eldress'. Ultimately, this stems from the fact that their relationship is inherently an unequal one; Eldress can talk as much as she wants about the two of them being two halves of the same coin, or more than who they are combined, but at the end of the day Eldress needs Teela to be alive again, and Teela doesn't. It is impossible for Eldress to give up Teela, because without Teela Eldress looses her chances of living again.

And so Eldress lies. She lies about how Teela will be able to decide her own future and won't end up like Eldress. She lies about the extent of her involvement with the events that have permanently reshaped Adam's life and resulted in him having amnesia. She 'lies' to Ork-0 about the original Orko the Great lacking true heart (arguably this is true, considering Orko the Great worked with King Grayskull and was thus involved in the colonization of Leviathae, but in-universe it's revealed to be untrue so I'm counting it here). And what's notable is how whenever she lies, she isolates whoever she's lying to from the others, keeping them alone with her.

And ultimately, this ends with Eldress using Teela for a second chance to live, without her consent or even explaining what she plans on doing. The first time Teela is informed about this connection with Eldress is the same time that she is merged with her, seemingly permanently though given the cancellation of the show we'll never know for sure.

I WISH THAT I COULD WEAR HATS

i wish that i could wear hats is tied very critically to two aspects of Ork-0 that I find incredibly interesting, but that the show never addresses.

First, he never gets a costume change. When he goes from RK Unit 1983 to Ork-0, he dresses up in an outfit similar to what the actual Orko wore...and then never changes it. The kids have their Master forms, Cringer has his prosthetic claws, Adam has his formal outfit once he rejoins the royal family, Krass has her Dark Master form...and Ork-0 never changes out of the outfit mimicking Orko the Great's, even when he starts working to define himself outside of the Trollan's influence. It gets to the point where the rest of the RK Hivemind start wearing palette swapped versions of the exact same outfit - this is not Ork-0's costume, this is somebody else's costume, and it's obvious to everyone involved.

Second, he doesn't realize he's a robot until discovering that all the Trollans have left Eternia despite knowing that he's changed. He knows he's been out for a long time, he knows his body is different, and his bodily autonomy is stripped away from him by Kronis via Maker Override, something he remembers happening after the fact because it makes him even more insistent that he's a real magician. Combine this with the fact that the RK Hivemind instinctively do things like try to eat, and it becomes clear that Ork-0 has a massive disconnect between his actual body and how he perceives himself.

Even actually meeting Orko does nothing to help, because it just makes it clearer how the outfit Ork-0 wears is a crude imitation of Orko's. Furthermore, while Orko manages to resolve his issues in the exact same episode he debuts, disappearing from the plot forever after that, Ork-0 ends up regressing even further, going from "robot with Orko's memories who is learning to be his own person" to "robot copy of Orko who just had to learn to believe in himself 🙃"

The real tragedy of Ork-0 is that the show refuses to have him acknowledge anything about his robotic aspects and the clear trauma and body dysmorphia they cause him to go through, while increasing his ties to a figure that on a literal design level he is only meant to be an imitation of. Despite being created as an original character, he's reduced to nothing but "orko but robot" until the creator of the show himself seems to think that's all he is. His imitation costume has become his sole sense of identity.

[queer-codedhero]

little space TV shows >w<

these are all on netflix btw!!

🌸🍰🫶🏻

Sailor Moon Crystal :\\ middle schooler, Usagi Tsukino and her friends learned they have powers of transform in the sailor guardians I must protect the world from darkness!

age recommendation: 7+

language: japanese, english,

tw: fantasy violence

my little pony: friendship is magic \\: I don’t think I need to explain this one we all love my little pony!!

age recommendation: 0-7

languages: English Hindi, Korean, Mandarin and thai subtitles are offered!

Glitter Force Doki Doki :\\ four girls, summon their inner superheroes to defend the Earth and the magical kingdom of Splendorius from King Mercenare and his minions!

age recommendation: 7+

languages: English French, German, Italian, Spanish

tw: fantasy violence

She-ra and The Princess of Power :\\ “ for the honor of Grayskull!” on a war, torn planet of Etheria, a hero rises to fight against the evil horde in this reboot of a popular 80s series

age recommendation: 7+

languages: cantonese, English French Mandarin, Spanish

tw: fantasy, violence, fear, and bad language

Ever After High :\\ the kids, a fairytale characters, attend school with two clichés, those who accept fairytale Destinys, and those who want to write their own.

age recommendation: 4-7

languages: English, French, German, Mandarin Spanish,

Little Witch Academia:\\ Akko enrolls in Luna nova witchcraft academy she’s not the best student, but her bright attitude is a key to her and her friends success

Age recommendation: 5+

languages: English, Japanese, French, German, Spanish

tw: fear

Bee and Puppycat :// this slightly psychedelic series about an intergalactic temp worker and her furry little pal is that in a charming, pastel colored magical land

langauges: English French Japanese, Mandarin Spanish

age recommendation: 3+

tw: violence and fear

Molang:// in this cute, animated series, resourceful, rabbit, Molang and shy chick Piu-Pius adventures take them all over the world

age recommendation: 0-5

languages: no speaking

The Powerpuff Girls:\\ we all know the Powerpuff Girls the delightful sisters, blossom, bubbles and buttercup help save the world from crime and evil!!

age recommendation: 2-6

languages: English

tw: fantasy violence

Lalaloopsy:// the Lalaloopsy gang and they’re adorable pets know every day is perfect to celebrate magic of friendship, creativity, and collaboration

age recommendation: 0-5

languages: English French German, Mandarin Spanish

Catch! Teenieping:\\ set free on earth fairies with magical powers begin to influence peoples emotions now it’s up to princess from a really far away kingdom to stop them!

age recommendation: 4+

languages: English Korean

Puffin Rock:// life is sweet and beautiful Puffin Rock will puffing Oona and her baby brother Baba and her pals learn about nature, friendship and family

age recommendation: 0-5

languages: English French German, Mandarin Spanish