Masters-of-the-Universe-Piece Theatre: “Artistic License”

Blogging will be light in the coming weeks, because I am doing the July Short Story Challenge again, though I’m only committing to a week for now.

However, in the meantime enjoy this Masters-of-the-Universe-Piece Theatre photo story. The name “Masters-of-the-Universe-Piece Theatre” was coined by Kevin Beckett at the Whetstone Discord server.

I got a lot of new toys recently, because Smyths Toys (chain that took over the European Toys R Us stores after the demise of their parent company) got a bunch of new Masters of the Universe Origins and Masterverse figures in stock all at once.

One of the new figures I got is the Masterverse version of Faker, an evil robot doppelganger of He-Man created by Skeletor.  Now Faker is a weird character, since he is essentially a repaint of He-Man (cheap to produce for Mattel, since he doesn’t require any new parts) in a bright blue and orange colour scheme. There are a couple of He-Man repaints in different colour schemes such as Prince Keldor a.k.a. He-Skeletor, Anti-Eternia He-Man, Wun-Dar and Horde Slime Zombie He-Man, who hasn’t yet been produced in either the Masterverse or Origins line to my infinite surprise. Here is a photo of the Masters of the Universe Classics version.

Faker is ready to conquer Eternia for Skeletor. I like this version of the character a lot, not just because of the striking colour scheme, but because his sword and axe aren’t just repaints of He-Man’s weapons, but look worn and cobbled together, adding to the overall appearance of Faker as a cut price He-Man knock-off.

Faker is a popular character (and has featured in one of my Masters-of-the-Universe-Piece Theatre photo stories before). Fans like him because of his striking colour scheme and Mattel likes him because he is cheap to make. However, he’s also a rather absurd character, because he is about the least convincing robot doppelganger ever. And indeed, whenever he has appeared in the cartoons or comics (most recently in Masters of the Universe Revelation), he’s usually depicted as an actual robot doppelganger of He-Man with steel underneath. There actually is a Masterverse version of the Terminator type Faker that appeared in Revelation, though I don’t have that figure.

As for why Faker looks the way he does, the real world reason is that some Mattel designer forty years ago thought a blue and orange He-Man looked cool. As for the in universe reason, well, here is one potential answer:

Artistic License

Snake Mountain, Tri-Klops’ workshop:

“Behold my new robot doppelganger of He-Man, Lord Skeletor. Those accursed Masters of the Universe will never know what hit them, when we plant this Faker in their midst. And now arise, my Faker.”

“I Am He-Man.”

“Is he not glorious, Lord Skeletor? I daresay he is my best invention yet.”

“Why is he blue?”

“Excuse me, boss?”

“He-Man is not a Gar. So why is he blue?”

“He-Man also doesn’t have red hair. Or creepy blank eyes. Or a sword riveted together from randoms bits of trash.”

“I… I don’t understand, boss.”

“You do know the difference between humans and Gar, don’t you, Tri-Klops?”

“Yes, Gar have a two point five lower body temperature on average.”

“Gar are blue. Humans are beige and brown. So why is your robot He-Man blue?”

“Listen, boss, I’m blind and only perceive heat signatures through my visor. I don’t know what colour anything is supposed to be.”

“Sigh. Let me guess. You got Trap Jaw to help you paint your fake robot He-Man.”

“Yup, Lyn. Tri-Klops built him and I painted him. Isn’t he awesome?”

“And why, pray tell, did you paint the He-Man robot double blue, Trap Jaw?”

“Uhm, artistic license, boss. I like bright colours and He-Man is just beige and tan and boring. And besides, Gar are prettier than humans. That’s the reasons humans don’t like us, because they’re jealous of our pretty blue skin.”

“Oh please, not another rant about how the poor Gar are so mistreated. As if this world treats anybody well, when they’re not privileged and rich.”

“You blistering boobs! That robot is supposed to look like He-Man and He-Man is not blue. And now fix him or I swear I’ll beat the two of you black and blue. Is that understood?”

“Yes, boss.”

“Idiots. I am surrounded by idiots, Lyn.”

“Now you know how I feel.”

“Hmm, on the other hand, if we deploy our fake He-Man and reveal that he is in truth a Gar, then maybe the people will turn against He-Man like they turned against me…”

“Because obviously the fact that you’re half Gar is the only reason that no one likes you.”

“What were saying, Lyn?”

“Uhm, nothing, Lord Skeletor. Just thinking out loud.”

***

“Well, I like him, Tri-Klops.”

“Shut up, Trap Jaw. This is all your fault.”

***

As established in the 2002 cartoon, Tri-Klops’ vision is enhanced by his visor, giving him infrared and X-ray vision, but without it, he is blind. This can be seen in one episode, where all sorts of electrical systems, including Tri-Klops’ visor, malfunction and Tri-Klops is shown bumping into walls and stalgamites in Snake Mountain.

The 2002 cartoon also established Tri-Klops as Skeletor’s chief engineer and inventor, a role that Trap Jaw fills in the Filmation cartoon and the recent Netflix CGI cartoon. At any rate, Tri-Klops and Trap Jaw are Skeletor’s tech guys, so it makes sense that they would build Faker.

Gar is the name of the blue-skinned inhabitants of Eternia. Skeletor/Keldor is the most famous Gar (half Gar, actually, since he is the son of King Miro and a Gar woman), but there are several others such as Sy-Klone and Kronis a.k.a. Trap Jaw.

There have been blue-skinned people on Eternia since the Filmation cartoon and the early comics. However, the name “Gar” does not show up until much later. I always assumed that it originated in the 2002 cartoon, which not only introduced Keldor as Skeletor’s original identity, but also gave names to many of the Eternian races. But while there is an episode set on a largely deserted island called Anwat Gar, whose magical artefacts are protected by Sy-Klone, it is never said anywhere in the 2002 show that Gar is name of the blue-skinned Eternians or indeed anything other than the name of the island.

The name “Gar” for the blue-skinned people of Eternia may have originated with the characters bios and mini-comics of the Masters of the Universe Classics toyline, where a lot of character names and terms come from. But as far as I can tell, the blue-skinned people of Eternia are first referred to as Gar in the 2012 DC Comics run, which also established that the reason the Gar are disliked is because some of them rebelled against King Grayskull and murdered him. Oddly enough, this completely contradicts the 2002 cartoon, where King Grayskull is killed in battle with Hordak.

In the comics, the Gar are banished to Anwat Gar and the island is declared off limits to the rest of Eternia, until Adam and Adora travel there and Adam, who is king at this point, decides that he is not okay with banishing an entire race of people to a small island because of something that may or may not happened centuries ago and lifts the decree. Which is totally what Adam would do. Meanwhile, Adora, who has only just shaken off her Horde conditioning and hasn’t quite gotten the hang of this heroism thing yet, is frequently frustrated that Adam constantly interrupts their quest to rescue random Eternians.

Of course, King Miro was also shipwrecked on Anwat Gar many years before and even had a relationship and a baby – the future Prince Keldor a.k.a. Skeletor – with a local woman, but he never used his position to actually help the Gar. In fact, King Miro, who is portrayed as a kindly elderly man in his two appearances in the Filmation cartoon, looks more and more like an arsehole, once it was established that Keldor/Skeletor is Randor’s half-brother. Keldor clearly didn’t get all the bad traits from his mother.

I had another Masterverse figure arrive on the same day as Faker, namely Grizzlor, henchman and prison warden of the Evil Horde, who is basically a giant four-fingered alien gorilla. So of course, I put them opposite each other:

Bonus: Faker meets Grizzlor

“I’m He-Man.”

“No, you’re not. You’re just some bargain basement knock-off.”

“I have a sword. And an axe.”

“So what? I have an axe, too, and mine is bigger.”

***

And that’s it for today, folks. I hope you enjoyed this Masters-of-the-Universe-Piece Theatre Photo Story, because there will be more.

Disclaimer: I don’t own any of these characters, I just bought some toys, took photos of them and wrote little scenes to go with those photos. All characters are copyright and trademark their respective owners.