TRAVERSING ETERNIA

During the life of the original Masters Of The Universe series, several steeds were manufactured by Mattel to enable the warriors to travel across the wild landscape of Eternia. The designs were rather basic at times, and the toys seemed somewhat bulky. Nonetheless, the ideas behind the various vehicles were imaginative and original.

Pictured on the right from top to bottom are Land Shark (driven here by Spikor), Attak Trak (with He-Man at the controls), and Battle Ram (with Man-E-Faces).

When the first of the toys appeared, Skeletor's luck was in short supply, as the Heroic Warriors had Battle Cat, Attak Trak, Battle Ram, Wind Raider and Talon Fighter at their disposal, and the Lord Of Destruction only had Panthor to ride into battle.

Things did change though, and Skeletor found himself equipped with an interesting variety of steeds. Hordak also found himself with the bizarre Mantisaur (a mechanical praying mantis), which was a great idea, but the toy was extremely clumsy and over-sized. It may be of interest to readers of my Grayskull novel that I had never seen a Mantisaur toy when I wrote the tale, hence the reason Mantisaur is actually a living creature in the story. (I like that idea better anyway).

Attak Trak remains my favourite MOTU vehicle. Those flip-tracks were fantastic, and it was the perfect vehicle for crossing the Eternian terrain. No wonder it featured in The Magic Stealer! minicomic. Admittedly the toy itself struggled to climb anything more than a slight slope, but it moved really fast on a flat surface!

I was always slightly disappointed that the toy Attak Trak was bright red, and the drawn one in the minicomic was brown. I thought brown worked much better, and I suppose my main criticism of the vehicles was that they were too colourful. Yet as ideas, concepts or whatever you want to call them, they could not be faulted. How cool was the detachable front section of Battle Ram? An armoured assault vehicle plus a sky sled!

Of course, not all the steeds were vehicles (in the traditional sense at least). Battle Cat and Panthor were really well-designed felines, and then there were the mechanical horses Stridor and Night Stalker. Stridor featured in the minicomic entitled The Clash Of Arms, which for a post Series One and Two minicomic is actually pretty good. Maybe it's because it's all about warriors in combat and Prince Adam is nowhere to be found.

It is still possible to find these original steeds, though personally I would recommend buying only those that are unopened in their original packaging. This goes for the figures too. Some sellers describe loose figures really accurately, but most don't. Boxed vehicles aren't as rare as some people would have you believe, so don't pay too much either (eBay syndrome).

Yes, these vehicles do represent the encroachment of science into the world of fantasy, but I have never claimed that there is no place for technology in Eternia. Think of how these machines are represented in the early minicomics. Very few warriors have science at their disposal, and when technology is used, the consequences can be frightening, such as the device Skeletor discovered in The Magic Stealer! These machines should therefore be thought of as literary devices which add an element of fear and awe to the swords and sorcery tales of Eternia.