He-Man Fan Art Site, Hefarts, goes online today! You will find Masters of the Universe and M.A.S.K fan art in written and drawn form about almost 40 years old toy lines that have influenced a whole generation of kids around the globe.
My focus is on the original toys and the cartoons from the 80s. This blog will also document my development as an artist, beginning from absolute beginner. How did I start drawing? Read my journey of drawing here!
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The fifteenth titfortat is on! On one side we have a buzzing, bright yellow insectoid. Buzz Off is fast, strong, skilled, 2.2m tall, and got 30 points in the hefarts table of skills. He lost some ranks for his limited mental flexibility, 6 points for intelligence.
The really real spiderman Webstor is much smaller, only 1.7m, and got only 5 points for combat power. That could look like an easy titfortat, but the blue arachnid has an awful speed, and scores a total of 28 points.
Lets start!
Webstor’s crouching in one corner of the ring, motionless. What is this? Is it an ambush? Is he OK?
Buzz Off is obviously confused, not sure what to do with an evil that doesn’t do evil. But this is titfortat, there can only be one winner. So he moves towards the tiny blue thing in the corner, and as he comes closer, Webstor kicks off, rolling himself into the opposite corner, without involving in any kind of interaction with the Wasp man.
Shortly after, he rolls into the next corner, and the hero realizes this must be a tactic. So Buzz Off takes off the ground, and bolts towards the arachnidal evil. He misses him by a little, and Webstor rolls to the fourth corner. As soon as that’s done, he’s unfolding, running to the center of the ring, where he lifts what is now visible as strings, and holds the construction high up. Buzz Off failed to stop Webstor from knitting a web! Now we have a spider in a web, and a flying insect man! Insect vs. spider, what a classic titfortat. Both are ever long residents of Eternia, and too many wars have been fought between Buzz Off’s people, and Webstor’s ancestors. This titfortat is politics, the winning clade will be in power over the enemy. But does it mean peace, or just another war? Buzz Off is a large, fast fighter, but Webstor is even faster, less experienced in fighting. He’s the master of trapping.
And trapping he did. His web isn’t a tacky invisible masterpiece, it’s an improvised life saver. Unbelievable how he anticipated Buzz Off would take off to screen the weird situation. And now the yellow hero is stuck up there. If he lands, Webstor can easily wrap him in a rope, maybe just for a moment, but long enough to hurt him, maybe bite him. So what to do from up there? Buzz Off can’t hide, can’t land, and doesn’t want to give the evil monster more time to prepare. So he bluntly attacks. Legs first he charges at Webstor, who’s fast enough to step aside, and swing one rope around the heros neck. Wildly buzzing, he flies higher, and while the rope cuts off his air supply, he also lifts up Webstor. Skeletors henchman climbs onto Buzz Off, biting his legs and arms. Blood drips down on the ring, and while it looks like a hero is loosing already, insectoid claws cut the ropes, giving instant relief to our hero, while the fighting opponents shoot up to the imaginary ceiling. And then it becomes a silent act. One brown claw got a grip on Webstor’s neck, the busy wings go quiet, and the blue and yellow knot drops down. An experienced fighter knows how to land, the spiders can’t stop what coming. Webstor is buried under Buzz Off, who landed softly on the crushed warrior. Win for Buzz Off!
The porcupine (or hedgehog?) guy Spikor is in my opinion an underrated henchman of Skeletor. He’s everything the Masters of the Universe stand for, he’s a slightly too serious figure for kids, he’s colorful, creative, and he has a technical feature that made him unique. Look at his face, it says ‘I’m smart and I’m evil’.
Purple is probably not my first choice for anything, but on Spikor it works very well. Mattel’s designers combined a blueish purple on the head and torso with a more yellowish purple on the limbs, and highlighted it with some turquoise ornaments on the torso. Then there’s some red on the belt and the left arm, and a brown loincloth, a choice I would never have dared to make. But somehow this red and brown makes him appear human, or civilised in my opinion. Without that contrast he might have been a space monster, not a henchman.
The uv light revealed it, his straight arm with the trident, which would fit Merman very well, is from a different material. It glows bright pink, and you might remember, it also feels harder. Unfortunately my Spikor developed issues holding that trident in quiet early in his life. That was a bit annoying. I’m not surprised that the metallic paint came off early also, and with the black plastic shining through it got a more authentic look.
He also had wobbly legs and wouldn’t stand properly, also because his center of gravity seems to be a bit higher.
Appart from these two problems I like Spikor, and I appreciate the quality of the figure, especially of the spikes itself, which give him a nice haptic.
This color switch made one thing clear: what works on a VW beetle does not necessarily work on a jet fighter…
Though one of the most iconic vehicles from the Kenner M.A.S.K toyline, Switchblade was never one of my favourites. The mechanism was a bit sensitive, and at some point transforming Switchblade felt like breaking a birds bones. Anyways changing the blunt blue to Detonators pink and green was kind of fun. These colos though must make it hard to produce a real M.A.S.K movie now…
The most sold helicopter in the United States in the 80s was according to Wikipedia the Bell 206. Just for an orientation, the 206B Jetranger II came with 400hp and had a maximum speed of over 200km/h! I always wondered why so many 80s TV shows, like the A team, Knight Rider or The Six Million Dollar Man had helicopters so often. And do you remember Airwolf!? Keep that sound in your head when you look at Switchblade*Detonator!
A jet would be easily 10 times faster than a helicopter. Switchblade doesn’t look much like a Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird unfortunately. It has a way too big cockpit compared to real fight jets. And neither dark blue, nor pink gave it a military look. But hey, I absolutely appreciate the idea of a jet turning into a helicopter!
This crossover of MOTU’s Orko and the stealthy Waldo happened within a couple of minutes from idea to drawing. I guess I created a worker who’s always hard to find, and who’s capable of doing magic. A hidden gem, someone who is hiding in the masses, someone who has the ability to do things you wouldn’t have thought were possible. Do I get some HR goosebumps here?
Wasn’t that Orko’s job? The Masters of the Universe either couldn’t believe what he’s done (because it was so stupid), or they couldn’t believe what he’s done (because it was so awesome). The red slapstick sidekick is today a welcome crossover project, and I’m sure this wasn’t the last. And while I’m typing this a new idea came up already…
Waldo, aka Wally, Charlie, Walter etc. was never on my radar. He came to earth in 1987, that would have been a perfect match. I guess I just wasn’t bothered to find him, or wasn’t even aware that he’s missing. I respect him, he’s a super popular man, and he made it to the Simpsons and many other shows and movies, plus having his own TV show!
These two have a history. Fresh air vs. awful odor. Two creatures of nature, like Ying and Yang.
Stinkor is a weirdo, someone you better send to battle on his own. Gas doesn’t have friends. You wouldn’t invite him to celebrate a win. You just can’t stand his odor. 28 points, 100kg, a creature that had to learn how to survive on its own. Stinkor is not awesome in any category, but he’s also not particularly weak. Check out my personal ranking of all vintage MOTU characters here!
Moss man is the opposite, he’s the green gentle giant that lightens the mood. Who literally freshens the air. No wonder these two have a titfortat. The green giant is heavy, 200kg. He’s got 27 points, but a bit of magic in him tells us not to underestimate him.
As the fight begins, a yellowish cloud of gas fills the ring. Not many creatures of Eternia would last in this ring for long, but Moss man is not impressed. Near him the yellow gas disappears, as if he inhales it, and he exhales fresh air. Pure magic keeps the air for the audience bearable.
The evil skunk knows Moss mans skills, and so he goes for physical contact. Screaming and scratching, biting, kicking, he’s attacking the mossy hero with all he got. The huge green thing has no problem to defend himself, but he’s taking some deep cuts. Then Stinkor retracts, looks like he’s in need of a break. Silence, but with tension. Is Moss man going to attack now?
But what is that? A green dot on Stinkors head appears, and it slowly turns into a purple flower! Someone is making fun of his opponent. Then there’s more green, plants start to grow all over Stinkor. He’s releasing more gas, but it doesn’t help much. Green plants build larger vines, growing all around him, strangling the now panicking Stinkor. Strangling him to death, and neutralising all of his poisonous gas. Easy win for Moss man.
Dragstor was one of my earlier figures if I remember correctly. And weirdly the attached mini comic ruined him for me. Not the whole comic, but one image in it haunted me for a while. Almost 40 years later I had to look it up again. There are actually some videos about the mini comic on YouTube.
It shows the making of, what means Hordak turned a ‘weak little sop’ into ‘The warrior machine’. That’s the mini comic’s title, and though Dragstor turned out to be a war machine, for me he was the poor guy, the victim, the poor little sop. And there is this image of his face in horror while he’s magically transforming. That ruined it for me. A super villain can’t be a regular guy that transformed within a moment. Or can it? Not back then though.
The figure itself was well made I find. It was different than the standard figure, in dark blue and quiet heavy. The ripcord mechanism to start the engine was working well, while the paint was durable. So quality wise I had no concerns.
The body though, especially the arms, appeared a bit weak to the young me. And the unavoidable crossbow for horde members was a bit boring.
My uv light photo shows him in a different way. He’s mid blue, reminding me on the New Adventures Nocturna. The grey metal, the red bat on his chest, boots and parts of his outfit, as well as the orange gloves disappeared in the uv light.
Nowadays, especially after writing ‘Titfortat 11: Dragstor vs. Mekaneck: Machine neck’ I finally see his potential. A loud, powerful engine, vibrating, smoking, with unbearable power, torque, speed and noise. That’s a scary war machine, not a sop!
Two of the shortest evil monsters of Eternia are in the ring.
This titfortat is for sure not about size, it’s about black magic, about the power to fight without muscles. Monsters are they for sure, not many creatures are less human than these two. Mantenna, an insectoid with huge humanish eyes, Hordaks spy and hypnosis expert is only 1.6m and 70kg. He’s smart and fast, but a weak fighter. 34 points in total.
Snake Face is easily King Hiss’ most feared follower. Medusa could be his little sister, and nightmares are his hobby. 32 points, because his magic is weak. Fast and smart is he too.
We can only guess that this titfortat is happening to eliminate at least one of them. Who ever decides on the matches will it do it with humanity in its mind. Or cruelty? We will see how if one of them manages to survive here. Start.
In the ring, both opponents appear with their eyes closed! Are we seeing a fight in the dark?! That could be a smart move! Both, insects and snakes have the senses for it. They are both super fast, and that’s what we see here. A quick back and forth, careful, evaluating. Without any physical contact, Mantenna and Snake face are in a kind of a dance. They haven’t met before, I’m sure they want to know who’s in front of them. It’s like a ring fight, but a blind one. Mantenna’s movements look a bit weird, his four legs are tipping in a hypnotic way. Snake Face is much more elegant, like a cobra, keeping his head up high. Then the insectoid jumps! Two legs wrapping around the Snake man, while the other two legs stabilize the duo to not fall. It remains a dancing act, but the horde member hammers his tiny fists onto the medusian face. Snake Face uses his hand for defense, obviously doesn’t know how to react. He unleashes the face snakes, but they can’t turn Mantenna into stone when his eyes are closed. But who would have guessed, they’re snakes, so they can bite! Tiny snakes aiming for Mantenna’s eyes, the red and blue insectoid has to retract. He jumps off his opponent, who is now in full fight mode. Mantenna knows that, because of the bite attack. The Snake man’s answer to Mantenna’s attack is a weird forward move, and it seems like he’s reaching for the eyes! Is the Medusa monster so limited to the turn-to-stone thing? He’s obviously trying to open Mantenna’s eyes, to make him look at the snakes! And then an elbow-to-the-chin initiates the horde members response. Another elbow, the little insectoid is on the move. He reaches for one of the tiny face snakes, squeezes it until it dies, and continues one by one, while the snake man slowly bleeds to death. A sight Mantenna doesn’t get, because he found a way to fight without his hypnosis eyes.
Razorback was one of my favourite cars from M.A.S.K! The combination of a white front and a red back is just a perfect fit for this Ford Thunderbird stock car. For a proper stock car Razorback’s appearance is even a bit reserved. Usually these cars are overflowing with sponsors. Razorback does have a few stickers, one of them mentioning ‘driver Brad Turner’, and we have the number 5 on the hood and the doors. Then there is ‘KENDALL motor oil’, and a single ‘R’. Another one is ‘M.T.’. ‘Escort’, ‘Simpson’, and ‘Gumout’ complete the decoration. At least some are real car related brands!
Bullet though is a street bike with no ads on it. The ‘1’, some stars, and stripes do quite well look like a racing design. And there we go, Bullet’s street bike design on Razorback! It looks much colder then the original, but I kind of like it.
The so called ‘aero bird’ from NASCAR came with up to 800 hp, going from 0 to 60 mph in 3.4 seconds! The famous Bill Elliott went as fast as 212.8 mp/h or 342.5 km/h with this car.
Orange was one of the most popular colors amongst M.A.S.K vehicles, just after blue and black. Gator, Dynamo, Firecracker and Firefly were all in Matt Tracker’s team. Stinger though was VENOM’S only orange vehicle, and I changed that to white. I used the design of Slingshot, some red, orange and yellow lines, that’s all. The second generation of the Pontiac GTO was available in several yellow, orange, gold, beige colors, as well as in different shades of blue and green. I believe Stinger has features of the 72 and 73 GTO combined, and it is a bit more edged or angular than the original car. Anyways, I find Stinger*Slingshot looks very descent!
The VW Käfer was built in numerous colors from 1938 to 2003. Detonator was released in 1987. In 1984 a special Käfer, the yellow ‘Sunny bug’, came out. The 50 years anniversary bug from 1985 was grey though. So my color switch is kind of a Jackal Bug. Not as awesome as the original Detonator, but it also works well, especially since I was never too much a fan of the M.A.S.K motorbikes. I never owned a Jackal, but I’d go for a Jackal bug! Oh and for sure we’ll see Detonator’s colors again in another hefarts color switch!
