I’ve recently decided to cut down on the “churn ‘em out” aspects of PGPoA–news articles you can get anywhere else and reviews of everything I buy, rather than just the things I’m really excited about. But the exception to both is MOTUC.
Thus, enjoy these packaged pics of Battleground Teela, plus a transcription of the bio.
Battleground Teela
Real name: Teela
After being wounded by King Hssss’s venom, the Sorceress of Grayskull knew her time was short. She quickly arranged a mission with Teela to the Elder’s training citadel in the Polar Ice Cap. Here, the Sorceress revealed Teela’s true heritage: that she was secretly her magically cloned daughter and destined to become the next guardian of Castle Grayskull and its secrets! Although in a state of disbelief, Teela knew in her heart that her mother spoke the truth, and trained with the Sorceress until the venom at last overtook her. Returning to Grayskull as the new guardian, Teela uses her new magic to protect the Power of Grayskull and guard the safety of all Eternia!
Wow.
So why is she blonde?
Anyway, still really excited for this figure.
That's…quite a revealing bio.
I haven't been all up in the bios, so this doesn't do much for me… But at least it's not as convoluted as some of them. It's a cool figure though.
The end of Planet of the Apes comes to mind… The real one, not the Tim Burton one…
Completely ridiculous. And kudos to Mattel for revealing how the Sorceress is gonna die before her figure even has been announced.
I don't think it is a bad bio at all. With the bio mentioning the new magic, maybe Teela makes some kind of change, kind of like Gandalf the Grey changing to Gandalf the White. I imagine this would be a huge change, so a new look is definitely not pushing anything. Great figure!
@ Reilly: I don't hate this bio, nor the fact that they revealed how the Sorceress would die. I think her death was always hinted at in most of the media.
And it seems unimportant to me that her figure hasn't been released yet. King Grayskull's figure was released years after his death was depicted on the cartoon. I've bought tons of figures of characters who have died or were already dead in their respective media. Bob the Goon. Roger (Hellboy). Heck, Boba Fett! Sure, the Expanded Universe says he escaped the Sarlacc, but that was revealed long after the days when I was playing with my toys.
And of course, no one has to pay any real attention to these bios
But I think this one is OK. I did prefer the idea that this was Teela after powering up with the Power Sword, though…it explained the hair.
Just curious, is Teela supposed to have a secret/ bonus accessory? I thought everyone was supposed to start getting them again sometime soon.
@ Barbecue17: Right now the only upcoming figures I know of with secret bonus accessories are Man-E-Faces and Megator.
@ Poe:
You know, I think I prefer that explanation as well. This could be Teela having to use the power sword in one of the huge battles.
You know what would have been epic? In the future, Mattel could have released the 200x Sorceress as Teela as the new Sorceress of Grayskull. How wicked would that have been?
Hated it. If Teela became the new Sorceress, then she should get an appropriately sorceress-y outfit, ala Veena, not an outfit that makes her look like a notch in Vikor's bed post.
Don't get me wrong, I don't have anything against the outfit in general (although the way it's been implemented on Teela, I think she looks like an "A" cup wearing a bra for a double "D"). Rather, I think the outfit looks more like a "Savage" Teela than a "Sorceress" Teela.
I really with they had just made her a different character.
Also, the clone thing really robs the mother-daughter relationship of it's poignancy. I mean, if I was the clone of someone, I might think of them as my twin or something, but not my father. Especially if they didn't raise me, as is the case with Teela and the Sorceress.
Oh, and I still maintain that Teela is just like any other woman and likes to experiment with her hair color. Case closed.
I should clarify: I like this bio, but it doesn't seem to have anything to do with the figure it's attached to.
This bio suffers from Bow Bio Syndrome:
The character's thunder gets stolen by one or two sentences regarding another character…
To be fair: We still don't know what happens on her way to being Guardian, and it could have something to do with tapping into the power of He.
This bio's are short, and we'll probably get more info when we get to NA He-Man…
I do think the death has been foreshadowed for a long long time and am actually impressed they actually killed her.
I do have a problem with all the bios in that they are used to really tell partial stories when they really should be more of a complete bio.
The bio doesnt fit the figure as this looks more like training teela which seems apparent since her title on the box is heir to the soreceress not the actual sorceress
Either way I think most people are shook up cause the sorceress is dead and it is like having a 100 yr old grandma. Even though you know she is destined to die it still is hard and sucks when she does
as i said on IAT, to me, this smacks of bad planning. the girl w/ the snake outfit and magic staff gets trained to be the new sorceress by trading up for a sword and gun? fail.
that said, this was one bio i was likely ignoring anyways, so i'm not offended. the fig still looks like fun, so i'm in.
Maybe she absorbed the Sorceress' life force and became whole again and having blond hair could be a part of the change and like those rpg games with multi-classing she was a warrior first so the newfound magicks just bolstered that class of hers.
So is this Elder related at all to Eldor?
Regardless, I'm just now realizing that Elder is perhaps the silliest adjective to get the typical "or" suffix ever.
I don't know if I like the story here or not, but I think it's a ballsy move to confirm a major character death. They could have said this outfit was her Halloween costume and I'd still be glad for the figure.
Soooo…. the all powerful guardian of greyskull, the character who can open portals between space and time, turn into a bird, clone herself, telepathically communicate with others died to some snake venom? Sure its king hsss venom but if hsss could take out the sorceress with his venom why couldn't he just barrel roll thru all his enemies spitting venom?
There's something missing from this bio…. I think Sorceress pulled an Obi-Wan… more powerful in death then in life… something about the death just seems…. weak compared to her powers specifically
Why are people still buying this stuff? 28 bucks was questionable for He-Man and Skeletor,but it's INSANE for what boils down to a glorified fanfic character.
@ Kid Nicky:
How is this character fan fiction? Why does it matter if a character is created by a fan or created by Mattel?
Isn't enough that this is a really cool character?
@ Kid Nicky:
Why do people want to buy Scarabus? He IS little more than a fanfic character. Cool toys are cool toys, regardless of the source.
Is the price a little outrageous? Sure. When you factor in shipping, I'm not a big fan of the price either. But the price isn't high enough (yet) to get me to stop buying cool toys whenever I can.
and i suppose it goes without saying that she's actually a canon version of the character, right? she appeared prior to the red haired bun-baring teela we already got.
and to damien, i say, well placed shoutout there man. scarabus is a damned sexy fig w/ no media to base his existence on. it certainly doesn't stop him from being completely worth buying.
since when does a cool toy need a whole backstory? WCV's backyard legends is build entirely based on love for the figs of our childhood who were perhaps not the media darlings that he-man or gi joe but who nonetheless mean something to people.
if, as a toy buyer, you've never bought something based on the "it's cool" principle, i feel bad for you.
One question; If she was at the Polar Ice Cap, why is she wearing a bra and panties??
@ Poe:
I don't have a problem with the Sorceress dying. It's bound to happen. I just would've preferred them to reveal the details about her death in her own bio.
The issues I have with this bio is how it doesn't work with this figure (we once again needed Toyguru to tell us that this is her training outfit whereas that should've been made clear in the bio).
The bio also doesn't explain the blonde hair at all. And she must feel quite cold in the ice region with that dress. Both the hair and dress would've made more sense if this was her "renegade disguise" when Hordak conquered Eternia.
And why does Teela need a sword and pistol when being trained by a Sorceress? It would've made sense if she was trained in combat by the Goddess – but even then, why would she need that? She was trained by the goddamn Man-At-Arms and became Captain of the Royal Guards as a teenager! ;-D
And I think that the way the Sorceress dies is lame. She already was poisened by King Hssss in the 200X show, and I always saw it as rather lazy that they planned to do the same to kill her off for good during season 3.
Sorceress: "Teela, I've gotta die."
Teela: "But how?"
Sorceress: "Poisened by King Hssss."
Teela: "Again!? Geez, didn't you learn from the first time that happened?! Besides, didn't the powers of Grayskull save you back then?"
Sorceress: "Sorry Teela, I didn't write this crappy bio."
I think a weakness of this line has been its devotion to bios. To me this character would better be billed as "First Appearance Teela", as Vikor should have been "Concept Art He-Man". Thinking that every character needs to be shoe-horned into canon makes the whole thing a tad immature to me. Just sayin'.
I hate this bio. Lots of fail in this one for me.
First, it doesn't belong with this figure.
Secondly, I hate, hate, HATE that they killed the Sorceress. It was a reasonable assumption that she dies, but never a forgone conclustion. She could have stepped down, but in my mind, Teelana was the last Sorceress of Grayskull.
I always sort of pictured the power of Grayskull being nullified or destroyed in the last battle between He-Man and Skeletor. Then she retires with Man-At-Arms and lives out the rest of her days with her family.
I also never saw Teela becoming the new Sorceress. It was supposed to be her destiny, but I always saw it as being her choice whether or not to accept that destiny when the time came.
As mentioned above, Teela being a clone of the Sorceress negates the mother/daughter relationship. Another reason to leave the mini-comics forgotten.
Now I will say, I don't understand why fans are upset at King Hsss killing her. If she has to die, it had better darn well be King Hsss, Skeletor, or Hordak doing it.
King Hsss is at least as powerful as Hordak, and he's got a very close link to the beast god Serpos. His venom is very potent. In the MYP cartoon he bit her with all four of his arms. That's eight fangs injecting venom.
It actually makes a lot of sense for King Hsss to kill her due to his ancient rivalry with King Grayskull, He-Ro, and Zodak. It has some precedent. King Hsss has killed more characters in the motuc canon than any other villain so far. He's racking up quite the body count.
Ah well. This bio really sucks, but I still love the figure. It looks really neat. She'll be Vikor's woman, or a random chick Ram-Man picks up at a bar one Saturday night.
wha? the sorceress is d-de-WHAAAAA! *sniff* *sniff* WHAAAAA!!
sorry.. meh.. the only thing that's bugging me is that they went from bios that hint at a larger story, to a larger story that tangentially relates to the packaged figure.
i'm not thrilled with that. and, like many, I'm not considering this a teela figure… she's vikor's girl, all the way
The mother/daughter relationship was still intact in the mini-comics, despite Teela being a clone. Man-At-Arms and the Sorceress treated Teela as if she were born normally.
Okay…after reflecting on the bio at my retail part time, I've come to the conclusion that the bio is good (except for the Sorceress dying*, but that might not be true) and is one of those bios that challenges what you know (things aren't as crazy as the might first appear). Read on…
The Snake Venom: In Rise of the Snake Men, part 2, King Hssss actually said that The Sorceress would die slowly and painfully after she nuked him with the Grayskull Nuke Spell™. The venom isn't weak at all. King Hssss wanted her to die slowly on purpose.
King Hssss' power level: It was also revealed in Rise of the Snake Men, part 2 that his magic was as ancient as the Elders and that the Sorceress might not be powerful enough to defeat him. He got into Grayskull (with Evil-Lyn's help), beat the Sorceress WHILE keeping Skeletor imprisoned within Snake Mountain. In the Filmation Evilseed episode, The Sorceress was losing to Skeletor as well. At least Hssss had the high power level excuse.
The Polar Ice Cap: Teela didn't literally train in the snow. She trained at the Elder's training citadel. Even if Teela had trained in the snow, we've seen MOTU characters return to their more barbaric roots in those conditions, like Ice Armor He-Man, Vikor, 200X Evil-Lyn (her fur lined snow cape), and now Battleground Teela.
The Blonde Hair: I think it might be one of those Avatar of Imagination things, like which of Bow (mustached or clean shaven in your canon) , Man-At-Arms (mustached or clean shaven in your canon), Mer-Man (toy head or cardback head in your canon), Catra (toy head or style guide head in your canon) and She-Ra's (toy head or style guide head in your canon) dual heads YOU want on the body. Battleground Teela might simply be the way that fans got her with long blonde hair, but it isn't necessarily how she looks. If you prefer her as a red head, just swap heads. Now if it was outright mentioned in the bio that Teela's hair changed colors, that's different.
Teela using a sword and a gun: I think the times are so desperate (Hordak, King Hssss and their armies are free, Randor is gone, MAA is a Snake Man, the Masters are renegades and now the Sorceress is dying) that Teela is bringing her own unique spin to The Sorceress. We've also seen something like this in the 1987 movie where the good guys are fugitives and even He-Man is using blasters. Up untill now, The Sorceress has always been strictly a magic user armed with a staff (both vintage and 200X). Teela is a warrior well versed in all weapons (daughter of Master of Weapons). The Sorceress just knowing magic is not enough anymore. Like He-Ro of old who battled King Hssss, The Sorceress must be the perfect balance of warrior AND wizard for these dark new times. Teela isn't your father's Sorceress. Add to this idea that the Eternia Towers allow for the Sorceress to be more of a battlefield combatant, since she's no longer confined to Grayskull as seen in The Search for Keldor.
On the Sorceress' death:* So far we haven't We don't know what the venom does. The venom overtook The Sorceress, but the effect of the venom might not be simply poison. For all we know, the venom could induce full body paralysis while the poison racks her body. I "Asked Matty" to see if the Sorceress is actually dead. If TG says something like "read the bios", she might return. If TG confirms that she's dead, then she's gone. The Sorceress might have had to "go away for awhile" for Teela to ascend. The Sorceress might come back. If so, what will Ascended Teela do now?
So let me get this straight: the first Sorceress has magical powers that include some kind of mystical connection with birds of prey and the ability to turn into such. Teela-the-new-Sorceress gets a gun and a metal bikini. Don't know about you, but if I were Teela I'd be feeling a little gipped… and cold.
I assume that this Teela is from her training, not when she becomes the sorceress.
@BBQ,Dayraven,Damian
She may be an official Matty release,but “Sorceress dies so Teela buys a gun,dyes her hair,and strips down to her Valkyrie's Secret lingerie” is a really fanficcish idea.
Yes,I am able to appreciate a toy on it's own merits,but why would I buy this on Matty's awful website for 30 bucks when even if it were at TRU I'd probably wait till it hit clearance.
If these things cost what DCUC cost and were available at stores,sure I'd be down for Hurricane Hordak or Blonde Teela or Half a Turkey Sammich He-Man,but at 30 bucks forget it.
Of course all these wierd versions of characters did help 200x become a hit,but what do I know?
As far as Backyard Legends,I googled it and from what I can tell it's a boot of a Crystar figure? Might be cool for 5 or 6 bucks,but not much more than that.
@ Kid Nicky:
for right now, it's one fig. but you should do some reading on the background of the line. one of the WCV guys has been keeping up w/ us over at IAT – http://www.itsalltrue.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=8… trust me, it's worth the read.
@ dayraven:
I skimmed it,and I still have no real interest in the Crystar,I'd be all over Cy-Kill.
Dead Man Walking wrote:
That really bothers me, and is the biggest reason I foresee myself skipping this figure. I'm not wanting a scantily clad girl, but something that looks realistic would be nice.
clark wrote:
Mattel probably toned down the sexuality on purpose — "moms and kids" you know. I wish her bra were smaller and her loincloth was lower on her waist…
@ MegaGearMax:
I doubt any Moms or kids will be buying it.
Yeah what Mom is on Matty Collector hitting refresh so she can buy a 30 fig for lil' Timmy?
Mark wrote:
Kid Nicky wrote:
That's one of the two excuses Mattel is using to cut the number of extra heads… "Marketing a definitive look for the characters in order to not confuse moms and kids… Yet Superman has had Mullet, short hair, red, blue, black clothing. Don't get me started on the multiple bat costumes…
The other excuse is Logisticsthatstyleisretirednotenoughdevelopmentslots
I don't know why everyone is getting so hung up on the bio. This bio is ten times better than the figure. Down the road when Mattell finally pulls the plug on the MOTUC line everyone is going to look back and complain that this figure took the place of a real Master from the cartoon. Honestly how many of you would even buy this fig if they sold it at TRU?
@ Darren:
That's what I'm trying to say!
@ Darren: I'd buy this figure no matter where it was sold. But then, I'm one of the few whose favorite take on the MOTU mythos is the DC comics miniseries from which this figure hails.
dayraven wrote:
I think your argument is a bit contradictory here. What disappoints me about Backyard Legends is that it is based on an old property (Crystar) and not something totally original.
Basing it on Crystar also introduces unnecessary copyright concerns; BL runs the risk of losing something they've poured blood, sweat and tears into if Disney's legal department ever bothers to take notice (Crystar is owned by Marvel, in turn owned by Disney). If they created their own characters, they'd own them lock, stock and barrel.
Long story short, I think Glyos is a much better example than Backyard Legends.
Gotta say, the face sculpt and the proportions on that Teela figure are horrible.
Three things:
- this look is from the DC Minicomics, so yay for having it.
- has the Sorceress ever been depicted without her headdress? If so, what color is her hair? Could be that Teela had her blonde hair changed to red to help disguise anyone from figuring out she was related to the Sorceress.
- why in the name of hell does everything need to be spelled out from soup to nuts for people? Take three tablespoons of imagination and figure it out yourself.
Good bio, long-awaited figure.
I loved this figure! For me it´s one of the best of the year…
But the bio have no connection, I think they doesn´t have any linear history for the Masters Universe Universe and create the bios figures after the figure… if we try connect it the history doesn´t work!
*I´m from Brazil, so please, forgive my English mistakes
After thinking about it some:
Battleground Teela's function was misinterpreted by the fans–we all thought the figure was representing classic Teela somehow turning into DC Teela, but instead Mattel doesn't acknowledge Battleground Teela at all in the bio, which is a continuation on Classic Teela's bio. Battleground Teela was a vehicle to get chapter two of Teela's bio out to the fans. I have a gut feeling that we'll see this with 200X versions of characters like Evil-Lyn, where the bio won't explain why she looks different.
@ MegaGearMax – I completely agree with your comment… They are simply telling us more about the charactors as they bring out second versions of each of the figures… Don't mind it at all, as long as the charactors keep on coming!
DoctorKent wrote:
Yes. Her hair is red.