WEIRDLAND TV

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Concept art by Esteban Maroto for the Masters of the Universe float that was part of Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. 1985.

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Spotlight on MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE character, Evil-Lyn. I owned the figure, you know. She was one of my favorites.

Sophia Loren, eh?

The figure design is by Colin Bailey; the second and third are for the 1987 movie and by Ralph McQuarrie and Claudio Mazzoli respectively. The last image shows Evil-Lyn without her helmet—I don’t think I ever saw that as a kid, I would have remembered. Heck, I still remember seeing a hatless Smurf.

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Art and backgrounds relating to Eternia (MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE).

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*simultaneous cackling*

MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE episode, “Here, There, Skeletors Everywhere” (November 1984).

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He-Man designs by Mœbius for MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE (1987).

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Vintage MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE art by Spanish artist, Esteban Maroto.

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MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE cardback art by Errol McCarthy.

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Castle Grayskull.

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Art by Alfredo Alcala for the first few MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE mini-comics. 1981.

These made such an impression on me as a kid. I’m from Holland, but the comics were in French/German/Italian, which I couldn’t read, so I didn’t know what was going on. It made everything feel alien and sinister. Distant.

What were the characters fighting about? Some shadowy dungeon. Were they fighting out of boredom, because the lands were so barren and uninviting and there was nothing else to do? It was a depressing place really, Eternia, and it always seemed to be dusk.

Unlike in the cartoons, the villains weren’t buffoons, they were shady and dangerous mutants. All of them seemed to be lonely in their own way, as no one else shared their freakish looks or abilities.

I love the drawing of Beast Man answering Skeletor’s call, which is depicted as a ghostly face—many of the characters in He-Man’s world communicated via telepathy and coded dreams.

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Castle Grayskull designs by William Stout, for the 1987 MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE movie.

The film was a dud of course, but it had such great concept art, by Claudio Mazzoli, Ralph McQuarrie, Mœbius, William Stout, and others. I’ve posted these McQuarrie ones before but they belong here too: