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

Vikorâ„¢ Bio

Real Name: Vikorâ„¢

Shortly after King Grayskull’s death, Vikorâ„¢, a great warrior from the north was chosen by the Goddess to help protect the Sword of He while all of Eternia waited for a true heir to be born. Already a master of the battleaxe, Vikor’s legend soon spread across Eternia as he quested to vanquish evil – battling the remaining renegade Snake Menâ„¢ and defending the Valley of Gnarlâ„¢ from the Fighting Foe Menâ„¢. Although his time as a He-Man was relatively short, his contribution to the legend will never be forgotten in the great archives of Eternia.

Portrait art source: Early concept art by Mark Taylor

Vikor is the first Masters of the Universe Classics figure who comes with absolutely no pre-existing role in MOTU history–no appearance in a cartoon or comic, not even a few early production and marketing notes like He-Ro. As such, he represents a good test of the bio writers’ true creative abilities.

The bio quickly places Vikor alongside Wun-Dar and Oo-Larr as the first of a long line of “He-Men” who protect the Sword of He until the true heir (i.e., Prince Adam) is born. I’m fine with the concept of a long line of protectors of the Sword of He; what I’m not as big on is the idea of them all sharing the appellation “He-Man.” As his legend spread across Eternia, was he known as “He-Man” or Vikor?

As others have pointed out, the “Valley of Gnarl” is now the “Ocean of Gnarl” on the modern Eternia map, suggesting the valley is flooded at some point (a concept I played upon in the beginning of my Vikor review). That’s neat, and works with the new revised interval of 5,000 years between King Grayskull and Prince Adam.

The “Fighting Foe Men” is a reference to the working title used for the Evil Warriors early in the development of MOTU in the 1980s. Though a bit dorky, it’s not like “Evil Warriors” is an imaginative improvement (though at least it’s gender-neutral). Time will tell whether we’ll get to meet any of these Fighting Foe Men. I would have thought Demo-Man would be one of them, given that he and Vikor appeared in the same set of Taylor sketches; but we already know he has something to do with Keldor, so Vikor is a little before his time. Perhaps the fellow in the third sketch in that group, known colloquially as “Red Beast” and an early design for Beast Man, will prove to be a member of the Fighting Foe Men.