Inspired by He-Man.org’s Roast Gooble Dinner podcast, welcome to PGPoA’s latest MOTUC Bio Discussion!

Wun-darâ„¢ Bio

Real Name: Wun-Darâ„¢

One hundred years before Prince Adam was born, Wun-Darâ„¢, a warrior from deep in the savage underground city of Tundaria, rescued a young woman who turned out to be the Goddess of Eternia. Providing him with cosmic battle armor and a sophisticated ray gun that could tap into almost unlimited power, the Goddess tasked Wun-darâ„¢ to protect both halves of the sword of He and keep them apart so as not to fall into the hands of evil. Like many warriors before him, Wun-darâ„¢ became known as “The He-Man,” battling in a savage way to keep evil from obtaining the key to the great power hidden inside the long-forgotten Castle Grayskull.

Portrait art source: New art created for MOTUC

Mattel told us pretty early on that Wun-Dar was not the same as the “Barbarian He-Man” of the early minicomics (who we now know as Oo-Larr), but I still wonder if that may have been the plan originally, what with Wun-Dar’s being tied in with the Goddess (whose role in relation to the Sorceress really needs to be clarified, if you ask me).

The bigger question, though, is why the heck the Goddess equipped him with Cosmic Enforcer armor and a ray gun that taps into “almost unlimited power.” Where’d she get this stuff? Did she create them out of thin air? Why this science fiction stuff and not regular sword-and-sorcery weapons? Did Zodak leave the stuff at her place accidentally after a one-night stand, and she decided to hang onto them after he neglected to call her back? These are important questions, people!

And of course, one wonders how Wun-Dar battled “in a savage way” with a ray gun more futuristic than today’s modern weaponry. Maybe he never actually fired it, he just used it to beat his opponents into submission. I can see it now–the Goddess gifting him with this amazing ray gun, and Wun-Dar looking taking it solemnly and thanking her, all the while thinking, “Hrm, this iron club so tiny…how me going to kill parek-narr with this?”

We also get more information on two concepts that are still being developed over the course of these bios: the notion of He-Man being a legendary title used by a number of heroes over the years, and the idea that “the He-Man”‘s job is to protect the two halves of the Power Sword and keep them apart. I get the Line of He-Men Throughout History idea–I’m still not sure whether I like it or not, but I understand the concept–but I’m unclear on the sword-protecting part. Where exactly are the sword-halves? Isn’t one in Castle Grayskull? If so, where’s the other one? And does Wun-Dar know where both halves are? It seems to me it’d be safer not to let him know where both halves were, unless both locations were common knowledge at this point and any old villain could go looking for them (though I tend to doubt that, because if that were the case, why would Adam have to go on a “quest” for them?).

On a quick side note, a cursory Web search for “Tundaria” didn’t come up with any MOTU-related links aside from this bio, so it may have been made up just for the bio. Feel free to correct me, however.