tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8438156728877167677.post265889329054660168..comments2024-03-24T19:17:59.515-04:00Comments on Action Figure Barbecue: Wrapping Up 2021: Eternian Goddess from Masters of the Universe Origins by MattelBarbecue17http://www.blogger.com/profile/11169946891265569135noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8438156728877167677.post-20504947441484466342024-02-25T21:19:25.757-05:002024-02-25T21:19:25.757-05:00The Jack Kirby influence definitely is visible wit...The Jack Kirby influence definitely is visible with Zodac, especially with his biggest exposure being in the DC comic series. I still want Zodac with his throne! <br /><br />I believe Mark Taylor originally conceived of him as a Heroic Warrior, but it is interesting that he came out later than the other figures (I looked up that he was a later 1982 release) and that he didn't follow the something-man naming pattern that the first series began with. Granted, not all of the first series figures uses that upon release, but the roots were there (Demo-Man, Wo-man). In the documentaries I've watched and various material I've read, I haven't heard of a prototype name for Zodac other than Sensor. <br /><br />I'd love to see more of those Ladybird books. He-Man.org used to have some archived, but now that they're gone we've lost a treasure trove of information. Barbecue17https://www.blogger.com/profile/11169946891265569135noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8438156728877167677.post-20304618685880915602024-02-19T08:23:09.646-05:002024-02-19T08:23:09.646-05:00Exactly how Zodac was originally conceived seems t...Exactly how Zodac was originally conceived seems to vary depending on which interviews and documents you go with and there's some stuff about a plan for him to switch sides in story. And of course material from Mattel that reached toy shelves in 1982 didn't actually say much at all - "Cosmic Enforcer" is an odd term (unless one somehow read the licensing kit), he wasn't in the original mini comics, the eight-back cards don't divide the characters up by factions and so forth. It seems to have been the DC comics who made him a Metron-style deity enforcing balance.<br /><br />From then on the pattern was generally that fiction put him in the role of powerful entity intervening to bring balance (usually by helping the Heroic Warriors) as seen in DC, Golden Books, Filmation, the UK annuals, colouring books and even the book that came with Point Dread and the Talon Fighter. However apart from that last one Mattel themselves tended to present the toy as an Evil Warrior, whether on the individual cardback, cross sells that started using the term "Evil Cosmic Warrior", TV adverts showing the whole line with Zodac amongst Skeletor's crew, posters that the same and so forth. (There is one Ladybird Book from about 1986 that uses him in this role, perhaps due to using Mattel material directly. Certainly a lot of the art in those Ladybirds comes more from the toys than Filmation.) Perhaps that's why he was one of the first figures to be dropped from the line.Tim Roll-Pickeringhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12589024696145675963noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8438156728877167677.post-15389635121221302922022-05-28T09:39:50.281-04:002022-05-28T09:39:50.281-04:00Zodac was definitely all over the place early on. ...Zodac was definitely all over the place early on. He was kind of thrown in after the Teela/ Goddess concept was combined into two figures. I think he was originally intended as a Heroic Warrior by Mark Taylor but was then marketed as a neutral Cosmic Enforcer. I think he was supposed to be a bounty hunter of sorts, probably taking influence from Star Wars. Barbecue17https://www.blogger.com/profile/11169946891265569135noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8438156728877167677.post-41489633625912267142022-05-28T07:03:50.205-04:002022-05-28T07:03:50.205-04:00There's some indications that Mattel hadn'...There's some indications that Mattel hadn't firmly nailed down the Heroic/Evil warrior division at that stage and some characters were meant to be ambiguous in their allegiances or could help/fight both the hero and villain. However it soon became clear that toy play for this sort of line requires clear rules about who's with who. This is why Zodac became a messy source of confusion for vintage era children and seems to have been one of the first figures dropped from the line (going by later year checklists).<br /><br />To an extent Evil-Lyn was a dusting off of part of the Goddess concept to serve the Evil Warriors.Tim Roll-Pickeringhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12589024696145675963noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8438156728877167677.post-17638285783710231242022-01-27T10:02:12.072-05:002022-01-27T10:02:12.072-05:00I think the earliest intention was that the magic ...I think the earliest intention was that the magic wielding female character would be an evil sorceress or villain but the minicomics and the blending of the characters together sort of eliminated that. My daughter and I are reading through the DC Comics series and I'm excited to see her reaction to the Goddess Teela in that series.Barbecue17https://www.blogger.com/profile/11169946891265569135noreply@blogger.com