#preternia

The impact that the realities of toy marketing have on world building is a personal special interest, and the snakemen are a wild example.

Clearly inspired by the seprent-men that menaced Kull, and later Conan the Barbarian (though mostly through other writers).

Now, the serpent men were a whole species of reptilian humanoids with snakelike heads, though they've got a a lot of vague lizardness going on. Some of them were sorcerers, but they didn't have much variance in their base ability package.

The serpent snake-men, however, were in a toyline where every figure had to have a (at least mostly) unique gimmick.

Now, Skeletor is basically running the UN of Eternian jerks. If he runs across a species of appropriately buff humanoids he tracks down the biggest jerk in their society and forces them to join up. He rarely grabs two goons from the same well. He and his live a lonely life in (ironically) Snake Mountain, but they're exiles and bandits. Demigod exiles and bandits, but still-

On the other hand King Hiss is the king of an entire kingdom of normal workaday snake-folks, AND a squad of superhero snakemen with unique themes and special powers, as well as some thematically appropriate non-snake members, and the occasional robot.

That sounds familiar...

It's exactly what the Eternian humans have going with their champions.

Skeletor and his evil masters are powerful villains, certainly, but the snake men are a rival empire with some demigod champions of their own. The Horde is able to reach similar diversity only because it's packed with individual representatives of various alien worlds.

Whereas the Snake Men are clearly able to get exposed to some magical or scientific hoozit and wind up being a mutated super-being in the process.

They don't have the luxury of being able to show up as Mer-Man, king of the Mer-Men, and just coast on what your mer-mom gave ya. You need a special name-compatible skill or you gotta make a pact with an elder god or get alchemically mutated or have a really bad overbite just to get an interview, and even then you're gonna sit in a design scrapbook for a decade or-

...

So I finally bought the MOTU art book off Amazon because it was on sale. It’s a fascinating read,there’s stuff that I haven’t seen before in this book and one of those things that caught my eye was this Preternia battle drawing that isn’t explained or has an artist credited.

This may be the most violent piece of MOTU art work I’ve ever seen: a three headed Snake Man being decapitated, Rattlor bitting some guy in the chest and blood gushing out, Spittor bashing some guys head in, and another Snake Man sniping someone while on a Turbodactyl.

And to top it off theirs Giants in the background destroying a whole city with their feet.

L-R: Eldor with the Book of Living Spells, Gray, Gray as He-Ro the Most Powerful Wizard in the Universe

Gray’s older sister (headcanon based on “raised by” in his bio) Sharella as tribal archer.

Sharella would also learn magic and eventually become the Chosen of Serpos, perhaps when King Hiss is banished. I’m thinking her cobra headdress/top would connect to a floor-length skirt to make a backless evening gown, rather than the official duplicate of Teela’s classic outfit.

Byron, the Wizard of Zoar (bearded man with orange hat and She-Ra-inspired shirt). Would probably change his species (Avionian?).

His daughter Veena was created first (2003) and has only been seen as an adult already married to King Grayskull:

She would be destined to become the first Sorceress of Castle Grayskull after he, He-Ro and 3 other wizards make the ultimate sacrifice to create it.

(Alternative: if we want a long time to pass between the era of He-Ro and the era of D’Vann and Veena Grayskull, change first Sorceress’ name and look.)

Wizard of Zalesia. Zalesia is said to be the first human country on Eternia. Its oldest relic, the Havoc Staff of Bash-Or, is passed from one holder to the next by merit (kingship will be instituted when the ruling Council of Wizards is gone). Male or female non-human student earned it?

Keclar, the craftsman. The wizard whose last act before sacrificing himself will be to craft the two magic swords the Guardian of Grayskull will guard. Depicted in the 80s UK comics as a white man with a long white beard, make him younger and something else (it’s been suggested elsewhere than Trollans forged the Power Sword).

Noah. He taught Hordak magic, so he’ll be an old-looking Eternian all the way back when Hordak helped build Central Tower. The two of them worked with a Cat folk architect, who came up with its look.

A young Hordak with a normal fleshy head like his SPOP incarnation, blue or gray to match a vintage skin tone, would be the sixth young hero with He-Ro, Sharella, Byron, the Wizard of Zalesia and Keclar.

Hordak’s mother would be a witch who mated with the immortal demon Seferus Kur. Maybe she’s Gar and Hordak had bat ears intermediate between MotU Classics’ Horde Prime’s wing ears and Gar elf ears?

(Two boneheads with light and darker blue skin.)

The 2011 version has better art, but overall I still think the 1986 version is better.

For one simple reason.

The 1986 version has this scene:

Honestly and truly, Masters of the Universe has so much lore!

MotU has as much lore as Lord of the Rings and Tolkien's middle-Earth. Yet Mattel never takes the time to explore it and show it. They just keep remaking and rebooting stories about Adam. Adam, Adam, Adam! They've said everything there is to say about Adam. I get it. He's a pure-hearted and noble hero. A worthy successor to the heroes that came before him. The true Champion destined to wield the Power Sword. Okay. We get it.

May we please have a full length series about literally anything other than Adam now? Can we have a show about He-Ro fighting the Snakemen and/or the Horde in the Preternia era? How about a show taking place immediately after the Great Separation and all the various peoples of Eternia adjusting to the cataclysmic change? How about a the decline and fall of Zalesia? Or a saga about the line of Sorceresses? Maybe a mythic tale of the Goddesses? Obviously you all already know I'm thirsty for a series taking place during the Great Unrest and focusing on Keldor and Randor.

Or, how about a show about the Gar and how they escaped the destruction of their home and landed on Preternia!

C'mon Mattel Creative! Can you stop stroking Adam long enough to give some attention to literally any other part of your wide and diverse lore?

Sorry this Ask sort of became more of a rant.

I confess, I have a crush on King Grayskull from Masters of the Universe: Revelation. I read about him at Wiki Grayskull, where I learned that the MOTU:R prequel comics gave him a backstory.

According to the wiki, one of Grayskull’s sons was “killed” (rendered comatose) by a monster called the Orlax. Determined to stop the creature and unable to harm it with ordinary weapons, he forged the Sword of Protection.

If the comics are canonical, Grayskull is well-acquainted with a father’s grief. He knows the pain, anger, and helplessness that a parent feels after losing a child, as does his foil, Randor. Whereas Grayskull channeled his grief into constructive activities meant to protect others, Randor hid his grief behind anger and lashed out at his closest friends. Grief propelled Grayskull into acts of selflessness and Randor into acts of selfishness. The contrast is striking.

I predict that Grayskull’s backstory will come up vis-a-vis Randor in season 2. Here are some possibilities:

Randor and Adam reunite. Adam is aghast at Randor’s actions following his death, and tells him about how King Grayskull reacted to the death of his son. Randor is contrite and seeks to atone for how he treated Duncan, Orko, and Cringer.