Author: hefarts

Toy review: Mantenna

Toy review

Mantenna was one of my first MOTU figures in the 80s, and it absolutely made sense for me, because I was fascinated by insects and spiders since I could walk. 40 years later I will admit that Hordaks bug man and me, we have a love-hate relationship. And here’s why. When you are familiar with the basic anatomy of an insect, you will have sniffed out that Mantenna’s ears (!) must be a product of humongous fantasy. I mean ears! They do look like a giant version of Hordak’s ears, don’t know if that means anything. As a boy I thought Mantenna is a spider, but there was much more creativity behind that figure. It’s an insectoid bug horde monster thing.

Then the eyes, definitely hypnotic, but otherwise very human as well. No hint of compound insect eyes. I guess it’s a repeating pattern in the MOTU toyline. They don’t make sense, it’s not logical, and that’s what keeps it in your head. You chew on the imperfection trying to understand it.

The eyes-out-feature worked perfectly, great quality! ‘The spy with the pop-out eyes’ as Mattel called him, was able to shoot beams with them. So they might have thought a spy needs proper hearing, what goes of course hand in hand with the size of the ears.

The black patch where you would expect a nose in a face always looked like a spider to me, like a logo, but it would have weirdly aligned 10 legs. It just now appears to me it could be meant as a hole, even a mouth! My photo is taken under uv light, and the mouth looks like a sandworm’s mouth from Dune.

Then there’s two prominent fangs, like tarantulas have them parallel to the body.

What bothered me even more than the ears are the legs. It must have been an economical decision to merge two legs to one, so that Mantenna has four. It makes the legs look weirdly broad, almost like he’s a cowboy in chaps. Counting the arms in, we find six limbs on our Horde creature. Somehow Mantenna’s arms are a bit bent, making him look ready to draw his guns.

Compared to other figures, Mantenna seemed smaller, flatter, and kind weaker, but luckily the toy didn’t look as ridiculous as the cartoon character. His awesome quality, and the decent colors made him a great toy. Together with Leech, Grizzlor, Modulok and Dragstor, the Evil horde was a gang of unique monsters. The kind of monsters that made parents roll their eyes.

Titfortat 9: Ram Man vs Two Bad – Crazy magic!

Titfortat

Ram Man got 29 points in hefarts table of skills, he’s quite smart (8 of 10). With impressive 2.1m and 140kg he’s surprisingly fast. His tribe is famous for their craftsmanship, they are builders, creative and handy combined. Rising, breaking down, repeating. Our famous hero decided to fight for the good, and gave up the construction business long ago.

Two Bad is even bigger (2.3m, 200kg) and pretty strong, but gained only 26 points in total because he’s not the brightest, and really slow (4 out of 10 points). He, or they, are notoriously unhappy, annoyed, angry – negativity in any possible way.

Two heads on one warrior seem useless first. OK, you have two pairs of eyes to keep your back clear. No, even on second thought it’s useless. Especially for the titfortat, with only one opponent in a ring, two heads are useless. It slows him, or them down. The permanent dialog, the many unconnected thoughts must drive both trolls crazy. Or drove them crazy. Nothing else was Merman’s plan, when he merged two trolls. People agreed that it was just an evil joke, maybe a trick to weaken Skeletor. Not to take his trolls down, but to turn them into an annoyance, useless and hindering. Or was more behind all this?

Ram Man is not known as an overthinker. He’s not dumb, he just doesn’t want to take over responsibility. He’s a hammer, a destroyer. The smart guys can figure out what to smash when, and what to do with whatever Ram Man left. In titfortat, there’s no one to tell him what to do, and there’s no wall to break down, no door to open, no evil vehicle to stop. Only a two headed freak, two monsters in one. Another evil creature that wouldn’t even exist, if there wasn’t evil magic. Hordak, Skeletor, Evil Lin, King Hiss. Merman. They all mess with dark magic and create monsters like Two Bad.

Both are not made for a ring fight. Great! So let the ring fight begin.

The smart handyman in his helmet against the slow, crazy giant. Ram Man is not the guy who could tire someone out. He has to come up with a plan to knock the crazy one out without getting into his massive arms. But it’s hard to think when two idiots won’t stop talking, and even worse, giggling and slurping. Two Bad is a smelly, noisy, dangerous creature. He constantly walks towards Ram Man, one head smiling, talking brabberish, while the other head shows no expression at all. Just calls him, ‘Raaam maaan’. Ram Man goes in, but instead of going head first towards Skeletors henchman, he throws himself on the ground, rolling perpendicular in Two Bads feet! What a move, not elegant, but effective. Two Bad stumbles, falls, and tries the reach for the hero on the floor. But it takes him too long to reach down, and while the monster falls forward, Ram Man rolls further way. He has enough time to get up, and for a second gets scared of the noise coming from Two Bad. But the reason for the noise is different now. They are arguing, left and right head get into a fight over the poor response to Ram Man’s attack. This gives our hero the chance for a second strike. He jumps high up and lands a punch on Two Bads chest, right in the center where the trolls are connected. A blue shimmer of light appears, and pushes Ram Man back. That was not the effect he expected to see. The two headed monster did not suffer from that punch. The evil magic that keeps these two together seems to protect them from being separated. Ram Man is out of breath, his fist hurts terribly. Two Bad crawls toward the hero on the floor, he crawls onto him. 200kg are a burden. For both. Two Bad takes the helmet between his massive hands, and starts squeezing. Screaming, growling, coughing, they make all kinds of disgusting sounds, while they crush the helmet first, then the head. Ram Man’s helmet was not made for pressure from the sides. What a terrible end here.

Crossover: Ravos

Crossovers

I just realised I was never too much into flying vehicles or action figures. It wouldn’t stop me from buying those as a kid, but they weren’t my favourites. MOTU had just very few, Buzz Off, Zoar, maybe Hordak, and of course Stratos. The rest needed a Wind Raider.

MASK had many more, Thunderhawk, Stiletto, Firefly, Manta, Condor, Dynamo, Slingshot, Switchblade, Goliath, Buzzard, Meteor, Wolfbeast, Vampire, and the amazing Corvette Raven brought your imagination high up.

I combined Stratos and Raven, creating Ravos, THE airborne superhero. Stratos was never in my collection, though I do like the gray color. But the fly-theme in my opinion was not well visible. He’s more like some hairy guy who clipped feathers to his arms.

Raven’s colors were perfect for a more serious looking hero. The Gulliver mask of Calhoun Burns might look a bit like a biker helmet. It hides Stratos’ ape-like face. Ravos is using one of the immobiliser discs, which might return to him like Thor’s hammer. If I’m not mistaken Stratos in the original version had no weapon at all.

I came up with a raven logo, because it always bothered me how little MASK vehicle names were connected to their design. Isn’t it weak to have nothing but black color on a car called Raven?

Stratos is represented in the feather attachments, and the harness.

Titfortat 8: Roboto vs. Horde Trooper – Scrap metal for Hordak!?

Titfortat

You ask yourself why these two robots have a titfortat? Here’s why: Roboto probably wanted it. It shouldn’t be possible, but who if not Roboto is able to even manipulate titfortat?! This mechanic guy is a wonder boy, even to his make Man at arms.

Roboto is aware that Horde Troopers are programmed to collect raw materials for their own reproduction. For them, Roboto is nothing but a bunch of metal which they could use to produce more troopers.

Roboto likely calls for this battle to make a statement. He is the boss-robot on Eternia, and he’s not a warehouse!

2.1m, 200kg, 35 points for Roboto; fighting the 2.5m, 170kg and 31 points trooper. Horde Troopers are giant killing machines, but Roboto has the ability to think differently. He’s weirdly intelligent.

Let’s start this robotic titfortat!

The fight begins very quietly. Silent whirring noises and blinking lights make clear, here are two computers calculating well before striking.

And then it all happens like a well studied choreography. The Trooper strikes first, a red laser beam towards Roboto’s head. He bends his knees just enough to not get hit, and then fires back a double-laser beam. This is not a deadly strike, he fires high up to distract Hordak’s robot, moves to the left and cuts the Troopers arm off in a split second!

It becomes clear that the superior heroic Robot does not intend to end this quickly, he seems to enjoy the demolition of his opponent. No chance for the taller horde machine. Cruel 20 minutes later Roboto ends this titfortat by smashing the Troopers head under his foot. What a demonstration of sinister good power!

Crossover: beastBeast

Crossovers

My holy grail of drawing so far is the crossover of MOTU and MASK, I’ll call it MASTrs. MASKERS. Besides MOTU, MASK was the second toyline that made my childhood. The cartoon was like He-Man in a typical 80s format. Another similarity is the annoying side kick T-bob, whom I like as much as Orko. So far I haven’t seen any new MASK yet, not sure why. I know there are many enthusiasts waiting!

For this crossover I combined Beastman with Wolfbeast, resulting in beastBeast! Wolfbeast is Mayhems dark blue Corvette Stingray with neon pink flames, and Mayhem is wearing a skull mask, called New Viper (why would things make sense here?! Where’s the wolf-reference?). BeastBeast is a dark blue version of Beastman, including some neon pink pattern. He is wearing New Viper, and carries an axe inculding wheels of Wolfbeast as weapon. This time I learned drawing an almost entirely dark character. I highlighted the edges with lighter blue and it worked fine. Motivated by that I also tried some more shading. He wears the spider like symbol Mayhem has on his uniform (OK what is the theme, Wolf, Stingray, Viper or Spider?), and the arm accessories are green like the clone, one with Beastman-like spikes, the other with the alien-like skull from Wolfbeast’s hood. Having that done I realised that the three main colors suddenly resembled Trapjaw’s color mix. I totally avoided any of Beastman’s orange, so I used itfor thebackground. May (hem, hehe) beastBeast be the start to a new series of crossovers on hefarts.com.

Crossover: Family horde

Crossovers

I totally understand that some people don’t like watching Family Guy. They go far to far sometimes, no, often. I love it. I do not like my crossover. Not because it is especially bad, or boring, no because it happened to be quite scary. Mostly Chris, who is now Creech, and even that name sounds intimidating, His leechy teeth look awesome, and he’s got green suction cups. Peter is Horde Pooper, the red bat goes well with his white shirt. He looks funny with no neck.

Megstor, Dragstor as Meg works well too. Both are kind of permanent victims of evil people.

Mosquitor and Stewie, that makes Mosqwie. His face impression is a bit weird. Maybe he’s insecure with the snozzle for his nozzle.

But his Teddy, Rupert, is the cutest Grizzlor ever. Lets call him Ruzzlor. He could easily tear them all apart, but he decided to enjoy the family life.

And last but not least Herbert with four legs and eyes apart, that’s Manbert the Hypno!

I made this drawing some years ago, and looking at it now I wished I had made it a bit more MOTU, and less Family Guy. What do you think?

Toy review: Leech

Toy review

The original Leech toy from the 80s was never my favourite, but I always liked it. It might have been the enormous size, or the dark green color in combination with the red Horde symbol, and the orange rings around what must be the leeches wrists.

Mattel gave Leech a unique body, like Two-Bad, Extendar, Grizzlor, Mantenna and some others. The huge round feet make a stable stand, though my Leech had always a bit wobbly legs. The photo is taken under uv light, and the worn off area in his inner legs fluorescent pretty strong for some reason. His arms are strong, but his muscles not as defined as the more human figures, they kind of remind me of Bud Spencer. His hands are real working suction cups! In the 80s She-Ra: Princess of Power series Leech would use these hands to drain energy from enemies by holding their head between the hands. On the original box, Leech holds Man-at-Arm up, using his mouth, not his hands. It says ‘Leech sucks the power from his enemies ‘. Because neither the hands, nor the mouth of the toy were made to hold another figure, it never really worked for me that he sucks energy. The mouth was a more sophisticated suction cup. It was flat, painted teeth on it, with a soft seal, the lips around it. A button on the back allowed us to pump a vacuum, when you pressed Leech against a flat surface. That worked well on glass, you could hang the heavy green horde member for some seconds. The hands wouldn’t hold him.

For the longest time I thought the flat mouth of the toy would be a compromise for the production. In fact the toy looks more like a leech than the more reptile-like cartoon version. Too bad I haven’t had a close-up of a real leech in the 80s! Making a leech one of the bulkiest members of the universe, with strong arms and legs, that’s what I love MOTU for!

It is the only green horde member, but he’s in good, green company. Mossman, Whiplash, Merman, Triclops, Man-at-Arms, Kobra Khan, and King Hiss are all very green.

Quality wise Leech is a great toy without flaws. The rubber is very durable, and the color rock solid. There’s a tiny bit of black mold on his hands, that’s it.

Titfortat 7: Blast Attak vs. Fisto- Hit me Fisto, one more time!

Titfortat

Man-at-Arms’ brother Fisto is kind of a permanent No 2. A bit younger, a bit less skilled, and and and. To all overflow, he is wearing an iron fist, made by his brother, since he had that stupid accident in the factory. 

But he is strong as three horses, has the iron amboss punch, he is fearless and brave.

Blast Attak one the other side is a mystery who doesn’t belong anywhere. Sometimes fighting for the Snakemen, sometimes with Skeletor, and often enough doing his own thing, whatever that is. What is confirmed: he is a ticking bomb. Scans brought an image of enough explosives to destroy a castle and the village around it too. But what is the trigger? Who has the red button on his desk? No one can, or is willing to answer. And the heroes never got the chance to take him out. Even without the bomb thing, Blast Attak is a proven sniper, fighter and survivor. 

So is this fight his stage to blow up Eternia? Is Fisto the perfect hero to punch the bomb?

Blast Attak vs. Fisto, 30 points, 2.1m, 150kg vs 33 points, 1.8m, 100kg.

Round 1: Fisto is too smart to just hammer-fist-bump this bomb, isn’t he? Ok he is waiting, that’s a good sign. Blast Attak is active, walking around, murmuring, observing. Like a maniac, a scary stranger with a well known secret. 

Then he makes a move. He activated a grid of red laser, covering the whole fighting area. We have never seen that before! Fisto doesn’t move. Is that the trigger? Blast Attak comes closer, no sign of fighting, no attack. The laser grid moves around him as he walks. What the hell? Fisto is overwhelmed, by the little knowledge he has about this guy and by the scenery he creates. Only 2m distance now. Another tool, a stick, no, four, standing straight. He places them in a square around Fisto, who is in a weird cage like set up now. The bomb man starts smiling devilish as a huge iron fist hits his head and knocks him out. No explosion, no further happenings. Still mysterious though. Fisto knocks and wins.

Man-E-Faces

Crossover: Man-E-Matryoshkas

Crossovers

When I got this idea, I had to draw it immediately, because it fits so well. The famous and beautiful Russian dolls are a great way to display all three faces of Man-E-Faces. His strange helmet has just the right voluminous shape to make him a doll. Let’s hope for him that the human part is the biggest one! MOTU’s Man-E-Faces as Russian dolls.

 

This project was a good chance to use some tools. I used the symmetry tool from Sketchbook. The line prediction caused some effect I think is beneficial, it simply rounded the corners. I also finally learned to copy and paste objects. It’s a while ago that I drew it, but it will always be one of my favourite drawings. 

 

 

 

 

Man-E-Faces

Toy review: Triclops

Toy review

 

Triclops is maybe the least evil looking villain in Eternia. In fact I would sometimes call him three-eyed Heman. The entire body is just a slightly different colored Heman, he’s more tanned, but a bit grayish. Many figures use this full-muscle-with-straight-fingers shape: Man at arms, King Randor, Mekaneck, Prince Adam and Faker. Triclops’ color variation is just darker boots and pants compared to Heman. The straight fingers were always an indication for the side the MOTU character was fighting for. Evil warriors with straight fingers are rare: I can only think of Faker. Things weren’t 100% thought-through in the 80s I guess, so I wouldn’t interpret too much into that hand.

Triclops’ head makes the difference, and a well-done difference it is. A rotating ring instead of eyes is a proper science fiction feature. They managed to make it look kind of natural, without the cheap 80s robot design. The fact that Triclops’ color is a natural looking green avoids any confusion with an Android. 80s MOTU toys had a much higher level of quality than other action figures, and Triclops is a good example. His face is rich in details, even though the eye-ring covers most of it. His three eyes are not only printed on, or even stickers. They are embroidered, and colored. The color lasts until today, and the whole ring rotates without any problems. Well done guys! 

Triclops’ harnish looks very tribal, as if he’s from a group of people from a savanna or rainforest. It is made from elastic, durable plastic that lasts till now.

I can’t remember any original story being told about his background. His box said that one eye is for day, one for night, and one to look around corners. And all three are to spy for Skeletor. Mattel really left us room for fantasy. On the other hand they produced such great material for stories, and just left it blank. Find my version in the titfortat tournament! 

Triclops’ sword is very different from Hemans. It is green, very narrow, and soft. It bent easily, and looked a bit funny when it pointed to the side. There is a holder on his back, which worked well. He hasn’t had any other weapon, but he had a glowing-in-the-dark ring. The ring was big enough to fit his arm, or a child’s finger. It had a secret compartment, and a black scull printed on it. A skull with three horns, that doesn’t resemble any other symbol of MOTU. So almost 40 years later I found a video on YouTube, explaining that so-called warrior ring. We haven’t had Trapjaw, otherwise we would have had two rings. The ring was meant to be for fan club members, but in the end was just for everyone who bought the right figure.