THE EVIL HORDE | A Masters of the Universe Retrospective

the majority of 0s action figure toy lines were focused on a central conflict between a team of good guys and a crew of bad guys the Agents of mask were tireless in their efforts to thwart the evil schemes of Venom the force of Freedom did battle against Savage superheroes fought supervillains and the 18 combed the um bad guys seriously that was their name the bad guys I really hope galoo didn't actually pay a writer to come up with that title yet when these franchises saw any kind of long it they typically introduce new subgroups to reinvigorate the story and keep children excited about collecting the toys in many of these cases I found the alternate villain factions to be a more enticing playtime Prospect than the armies of the main foe while gi. Joe was busy fighting COBRA they also had to deal with the dread kns the Autobots not only had to contend with the Decepticons they had to battle the insecticons too and even Star Wars expanded beyond the central conflict between the rebels and the Empire by intr ucing the bounty hunters in 1980 meanwhile on Eternia He-Man and his allies had been engaged in an ongoing battle with Skeletor and his evil Warriors since 1982 when a new enemy stepped into the fry in 1985 the evil horde were a band of dark demonic creatures that are commanded by their supreme leader hordak who is just as interested in plundering the mystical secrets of Castle gry skull as Skeletor when this evil etern in faction was first introduced into Mattel's Masters of the Universe toy line the grouping featured four different action figures yet their ranks grew in the following years and the evil horde became one of he-man's most formidable enemies so in this video we're going to take a look back at every single evil horde toy produced for the Vintage Masters of the Universe toy line stay tuned come with me toy fans hey toy fans my name is Tony and welcome back to the analog toys YouTube channel although the evil horde were introduced into the main Masters of the Universe toy line in 1985 at that time filmation the animation studio that had produced the hugely popular cartoon were moving on to shira's Animated Series so it was decided to make the horde the villains in this new show banking on their earlier success with the Masters of the Universe Cartoon and toy line Mattel bet big on this new evil faction by introducing five horde action figures and a large play set during their first year on toy store shelves initially the evil horde included the leader hak the hairy henchman grizzlor the evil spy man tenna and leech the master of power suction all of these evil Warriors wear a horde symbol denoting their allegiance with this Insignia featuring horda face with bat wings on either side the horde's home is the fright zone and this forbidden Fortress was offered as the toy Line's main new play set for 1985 product marketing informed children that the evil horde were out to destroy Eternia and that they did didn't care who got in their way and I always appreciated these types of action figure subgroups that could do battle with both my good guys and my bad guy action figures do not threaten me Skeletor in the mythology Skeletor was once hordak's evil Apprentice until he trapped his teacher on another world believing that hordak would never find his way back to Eternia no wonder this guy looks so angry the hak action figure has been produced with a gray and black color scheme with red accents yet he wore mostly blue in the cartoon where he also had a more mechanical looking face as opposed to the Bone Mas sported on the toy hak features the common spring-loaded waste play feature that had been a trademark of the Masters of the Universe toy line since the very beginning horda's clipon chest armor has a red vinyl cape attached to the back panel and the earliest examples of this figure have red painted ribs on the armor and a painted red bat on the back with these extra paint applications being absent on subsequent releases grizzlor is a kind of updated beastman figure and he is not able for having his torso Head and Shoulders covered in thick brown fur his name implies that he is inspired by a grizzly bear and due to the inclusion of all his fur this is one of the few action figures in the original Masters of the Universe toy line that has no waste articulation grizzler also wears a yellow harness with the red horde symbol attached to his chest hak and grizzlor are both pretty cool action figures but I'm not that crazy about the next to mantenna is certainly one of the weirdest characters in The Masters of the Universe toy line and when you consider that Mattel gave us a fisting action figure that's really saying something mantenna has a large head with ears made from separate pieces of flexible PVC plastic and a fun plate feature where a child could manipulate a lever on his back and make his eyes pop out of his head when the lever is activated the eyes not only pop out but also extend upward on stalks somewhat like a periscope mantenna is Hoak spy and the character was originally designed with four legs and even though the eventual action figure only had two lower limbs you can see that the creators actually sculpted four legs and fused each pair together to simplify the production process despite this manufacturing shortcut mantenna did feature four individual legs in the filmation Animated Series the fourth horde character to be included in this opening volley of Mattel action figures is leech this evil green monster is one of the larger action figures in the original Masters of the Universe toy line and Lee sported suction cup hands and a suction cup mouth the mouth suction feature works the most effectively due to the inclusion of a button on the figure's back that could be used to pump air out of the cavity and it works really well on smooth surfaces unfortunately the incorporation of this play feature hinders leech's posability with him having no articulation at either the waist or the neck and it's a real shame because when you look at leech face on you stare straight into his massive Gob when all of his best sculpted details can only be seen from side on in fact leech's wide open mouth kind of reminds me of no not her that that Master of power suction why all the mumbo jumbo all of the first four evil horde figures came armed with crossbows that feature a simple firing mechanism even though they did not actually shoot any projectiles each one has been produced in a different color and they all feature unique heads sculpted onto the tip of the bow when you consider the Staggering amount of parts that were consistently reused during the early years of this toy line I must commend Mattel for giving each of these crossbows a distinct look which suited the character that wielded them there is another figure that was actually released the year before which is technically part of the evil horde making her debut in the Shira Princess of Power toy line in 1984 Katra was originally intended to be shira's Nemesis in the Animated Series yet when the evil horde were introduced as the main antagonists katra's character was altered for the show with her becoming another of hak's minions also released in 1985 we have modulok the evil Beast of a thousand bodies although this figure was released during the same year as the first four founding members of The Horde I believe he was the last figure to be designed that year and that's because he does not appear in the earliest evil horde marketing material in fact modul Lock's inclusion in the evil horde may even have been an afterthought because this is the only horde figure released in 1985 to not be armed with a crossbow and he does not feature the faction signature bat symbol perhaps this is why he is also abs from the first evil horde television commercial the evil horde has no friends the evil horde new from the Masters of the Universe collection all figures each sort separately let me out of here from Mattel unlike the rest of the evil hord action figures that were sold on blister cards modulok was sent to retail in a solid box likely due to the large number of components included modulok came with 22 individual body parts including one torso two heads two pairs of arms three pairs of legs and numerous connecting sections that could be plugged together in multiple different ways to create a variety of different looking creatures the figure also came with a two-piece laser rifle so that if you wanted to use the various body parts to create two creatures you could arm both of them I never had modock in childhood so my first experience of assembling this toy occurred very recently when I acquired him for this video this was quite the challenging exercise because many of the joints were so tight that I had to use use a lot of force to either push the parts together or pull them apart and it made me wonder how a 5-year-old would manage this so whilst conducting my research I wasn't surprised to learn that in a 1985 LA Times article about the best and worst toys of the year modulok was given a most frustrating toy award because of this issue according to David kapper Mattel's director of marketing for boys toys initial modulok shipments were a little stiff in terms of the pieces connecting the plastic stretches over time making it easier to play with the figures in addition the problem was corrected as of October 1985 shipments so perhaps I acquired one of these early release examples or maybe modulo just a really rubbish toy he is certainly my least favorite evil horde figure because the omission of that iconic horde bat symbol means he doesn't display well with the other members of the faction and the art on the back of the box which encourages children to create over a thousand different monsters always reminded me of the action figure version of the karma sutra the Fright Zone was the third major playet to be introduced into the toy line after Castle grey skull and Snake Mountain of the three major play sets depicted in the filmation cartoons the fright zone toy looked least like its animated counterpart which was a more biomechanical type location rather than the creepy rock pit simulated by the toy it's also the most underwhelming of the bunch in my eyes no plays set can top the near Perfect Design of Castle grey skull and while Snake Mountain is a very frustrating toy it is still a play set even if all the business was at the front with absolutely no party happening at the back the front Zone on the other hand is more of a diarama than a play set making it a great display piece but it certainly would have been a better toy if there were just a couple of extra Play features incorporated into the final design what we do have though is the rock monster trap that is activated when a figure steps on it with their foot falling into a pit and being trapped by a kind of rock looking mouth sort of thing then there is a prison cell with a locking door that can be released by using a lever that is located at the top right next to the Sinister tree if a figure climbed the stairs on the side of the playet they could access the upper level but if they got too close to the tree it would grab them in its branches with this play feature being operated by a pair of spring-loaded levers attached to the base of the trunk the one play feature accessory that everyone remembers though is the Beast monster puppet even if a few people seem to think that it came with snake mountain and not with the fried Zone this puppet is very difficult to acquire today due to the thin latex rubber construction that deteriorates over time and as you can see my example is on its last legs with splits and cracks all over it yet back in the 80s this would have been the most fun part of the play set as a child put their hand inside the puppet and then have it make surprise attacks on He-Man by bursting through the hole in the sidewall as was always the case with the Masters of the Universe toy line the front Zone was sold in a box with some absolutely incredible artwork and the final detail worthy of mention is the sculpt of H face that is seemingly carved into the stone facade so that no one would mistake this trap fill stronghold of Terror as being anything other than the home of the evil horde the fright zone rounds out the 1985 evil horde lineup yet there was one other toy advertised that year that never made it into full production according to the write up on this catalog image the evil robot was planned to be a servant of Skeletor and his evil Warriors yet due to the bat insignias on his chest and knees this prototype looks much more like a member of of the evil horde hence his inclusion in this video in 1986 Mattel added several new toys to The Horde lineup including four new action figures one smaller play set and a couple of creatures of the four action figures we received three new characters and one alternate version of the faction supreme leader HCK where the figures from 1985 were all mystical type creatures the 1986 characters were more technological likely due to the cybernetic Design Elements used to depict the evil horde in the Shira animated series and drag store is a perfect example of this drag store was advertised as the transforming evil Warrior vehicle and his biomechanical design included an engine and exhaust ports mounted on his back he also had a single wheel fitted in the center of his torso and this figure's play feature utilized a rip cord to power his internal gears and make him shoot across any smooth surface at rip roaring speed yet Mattel's claims of this figure transforming into a vehicle are quite misleading because all he does is hold his hands up in the air and face plant if any child of the80s received this toy hoping it would be anything like a Hasbro Transformer they would be sorely disappointed although drag store isn't that difficult to find on the secondary Market most figures offered for sale are missing the rip cord and if you want a complete example you'll need to ensure this accessory is included drag store was also the last evil horde figure to ever be issued with a crossbow which is a shame because it is one of of the better Mattel accessories in the line next up we have the first real troop builder of the entire Masters of the Universe toy line kids and collectors alike all love a good Army Builder and The Horde Troopers fit the bill perfectly these Troopers are the evil robot minions of horda Army and Mattel knew that these types of figures would sell really well so they added a yellow blast graphic onto the cardback telling kids to collect an army of hoorde Trooper robots this type of character was also an exciting addition to the cartoon because allowed our heroes to destroy these robotss on mass without breaching any children's television censorship rules with so many horde Troopers scen getting smashed up and crushed in the Shira animated series it made sense that Mattel would incorporate a battle damage play feature into the action figure when He-Man punches the button in the center of the robot's chest the Torso collapses leaving the hord trooper in a mangled state that could easily be reset allowing for repeated destruction of the same robot over and over again I never had the hord trooper in childhood but I can tell you now that I would have had a hell of a lot of fun with this action figures play feature the hord trooper's gray armor makes them look like futuristic kns and Mattel did not reuse any parts when designing this figure every single component used to produce the hoorde trooper required brand new tooling and that included their red translucent spear accessory multibot the evil robot of a thousand bodies uses the modul loock Builder figure concept and it makes much more sense for for a robot to be able to swap around its body parts than an organic creature like modulok this is also the second action figure in the evil horde lineup alongside modulok to not feature the hord's iconic bat symbol where the toy design of multibot differs from modul loock is with the inclusion of a second torso section so you can create a type of Siam twin Android and I had a much easier time assembling the parts on this figure with Mattel seeming to have improved the tight joint situation this time around multibot was sold in a solid box just like modulo and the inclusion of this second torso meant that children could create one robot with conjoined body parts or two complete separate robots multibot was even the star of his own television commercial which also featured modulok with Mattel suggesting that children could combine the parts of both of these figures to create a giant robot monster while I'm not a big fan of this snap together action figure concept I do find multibot to be the more enjoyable figure of the pair to display the new variant of hord issued in 1986 did not Mark the first time in the toy line that a key character received an action figure makeover with both He-Man and Skeletor having multiple figure variants by this point it does however speak to just how popular hak had become during his first year in the line as no other characters outside of the main hero or villain had been offered this treatment hurricane hak is also a gorgeous looking action figure thanks to his molded on Armor being painted in a glorious metallic gold this version of hak is in some way ways more similar to his filmm counterpart due to his right arm being shaped like a cannon a weapon which he often sported in the Animated Series this new arm was Hurricane hak's main play feature as it came with free attachments as did trap jaw before him and since this cyborg is my favorite action figure in the entire Masters of the Universe line I never need much of an excuse to dust him off for a random video appearance after you attach the accessories to hordak's arm you turn the wheel on the figure's back to make his Wicked weapon and spin and he comes with a three-headed Thunderball mace a four-prong battles shield and to allow him to fly we have the Batwing propeller holy travel agent Batman I have always preferred the classic look of these action figures over their gimmick Centric variants yet if you are going to collect all the different versions you'll find few better looking than hurricane hak if you grew up throughout the 1980s like I did then you'll definitely remember the Slime craze that swept across popular culture like a toxic green tidal wave and when slime was first introduced into the Masters of the Universe toy line it was branded with the evil horde logo this lime green colored slime was supplied in cans and was available for free with the purchase of two action figures Mattel had been selling slime products since the 1970s and during one of their design team's brainstorming sessions they came up with the idea for the evil horde Slime Pit playet this simple toy featured a boneclaw hand that was used to trap action figures and then children could pour the Slime through the skull at the the top and all over poor or this was a fun proposition for us kids but a nightmare for our parents who had to clean this goop out of the living room carpet several characters in The Masters of the Universe toy line were known for riding animals and Mattel gave the best Mount of all to the evil horde mantisaur carries hordak into battle and this evil insectoid Steed is the most imposing in the line this creature is designed to look like a giant biomechanical praying mantis that is armed with a laser mounted on his tail and outfitted with a saddle for hak to ride on in the shirar cartoon mantisaur was depicted as a green creature yet I am glad that Mattel produce the toy in a totally different color scheme because he now matches his rider and they look great on display together mantis's main play feature is his Trapper arms that are designed to pick up enemies and carry them away at least that's what Mattel wrote on the box but when I LIF a figure up using these arms I can't help but think that mantisaur is about to eat heatman for lunch I never knew of this toy until very recently but if I had owned one in childhood Battlecat would have been tossed to the side pretty damn quickly both panthor and Battlecat were serviceable enough during my play time yet their lack of posability was a let down and stridor was a downright disappointment because when I saw him on a toy store shelf I was convinced I'd be able to move his legs so when I received the toy that Christmas and finally realized that the limbs were permanently locked in place it was Soul destroying yet mantisaur has four articulated legs two movable arms a movable head and a towering silhouette and this is a really great toy monstroid was the other much larger creature released in 1986 and this mechanical crab type Beast has a windup play feature that makes him spin around and knock over his enemies monstroid the roid that ain't got time to bleed new from Mattel by 1987 the Masters of the Universe toy line was beginning to lose Steam and as such there were only two new evil hord figures released that year the first was buz saww hordak who looked much more like the original version of the action figure from 1985 and this addition of the figure has saw blades that shoot out of his chest the final evil horde figure ever released was the fan favorite mosquito and this character has a very striking design with his head and eyes bearing a striking resemblance to the mantisaur creature released the year before mosquito the evil energy draining insectoid was clearly inspired by a mosquito and he featured a long pointed robotic nose and a play feature that pumps blood around his torso by way of a push button located on his back an early incarnation of this action feature appeared in Mattel's 1980 Gregory vampire bat and it's been used to gruesome effect here making mosquito an ideal addition to the evil horde lineup being able to stand out in a toy line as weird and wonderful as Mattel's Masters of the Universe is never easy yet mosquito achieves this through his top-notch design and brilliantly bonker's head sculpt and I just love him he could very well be my favorite evil horde action figure in 1988 Mattel began shifting gears by focusing on action figures inspired by the Masters of the Universe liveaction movie and this marked a downturn in popularity for the toy line yet this Decline and interest could have happened earlier in the decade if it weren't for the introduction of popular new characters like those of the evil horde when the evil horde was introduced in 1985 it repr presented a major Revival of interest in He-Man at that time which gave the Masters of the Universe brand a well-needed retail boost with some truly iconic characters that have stood the test of time the evil horde was composed of some very creepy looking villains and they captured our childhood imaginations while hak may not be as instantly recognizable as He-Man and Skeletor he is definitely up there in popularity with other characters like Orco and trap jaw and alongside the rest of the evil horde they are def ly worthy of addition to any vintage Masters of the Universe toy collection so thank you all for watching and if you enjoyed this video you can click the links over here to check out some of our other vintage Masters of the Universe content or you can subscribe to the channel by clicking here or consider supporting us on patreon where you'll get access to ours of exclusive content I'm Tony from analog toys and I have the power

Channel: Analog Toys

Views: 42,373

Keywords: star wars, action man, toy collecting, vintage toys, gi joe, mego, hasbro, kenner, palitoy

Id: yTZ-IkjuA30

Length: 22min 23sec (1343 seconds)

Published: Thu May 09 2024