Inspired by He-Man.org’s Roast Gooble Dinner podcast, welcome to PGPoA’s latest MOTUC Bio Discussion!
Real Name: Teela
After being wounded by King Hssss’ 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–been a while since we had one of these. Trying to get back into the habit.
So let’s see–lot of story here. We find out the Sorceress is fatally wounded by King Hssss and so, she quickly reveals Teela’s true heritage. Teela trains with the Sorceress and eventually takes her place.
I think this is more or less the version of Teela’s ultimate fate that many expected to happen, i.e., that she would take over as the Sorceress. I’d probably have preferred a less painful end for the original Sorceress; dying of King Hssss’s venom just seems a little, well, for lack of a better term, gruesome for MOTU.
What bothers me about this bio, though, is it doesn’t explain the actual, y’know, figure at all. We’re left to infer that once she became the Sorceress, Teela suddenly turned blonde and got a furry bikini…but why? There are lines that could easily have been edited down to make room for a one-sentence explanation–never mind the fact that this variant is called Battleground Teela, but there’s no mention of the Ultimate Battleground at all.
I don't like this bio one bit. First, as you yourself and many others have stated Poe, it doesn't actually talk about the actual figure.
Second, I reject the idea of the Sorceress' death and Teela assuming the role. See, I never actually thought there would be a Sorceress beyond the current one. I just assumed that He-Man would ultimately defeat Skeletor, King Hsss, Hordak, etc and there wouldn't be a need for a Sorceress anymore.
I never thought for an instant that Teela would become the Sorceress of Grayskull.
The furry bikini and gun seem an odd choice for sorceress practice. I have no problem with the blonde hair though. Women change their hair color all the time, why would Teela be any different?
Where do we start:
She is not gay! Seriosuly! Oh! Sorry, wrong bio…
Quick Question: Polar Ice Caps wearing a Metal Bra and a Loincloth?
To quote the infamous phrase seen on ToplessRobot : WHOSE RESPONSIBLE THIS!?
Now with that said, the whole “Sorceress fatally wounded” thing to “force Teela into her destiny” I don’t like. I KNOW that she eventually WILL become the Soresourwrists, but Killing off the Sorceress, Forcing Teela to become the next Sorceress, Sending Evil Lyn into the future…
The Story has basically shoved aside the 3 females from the original MOTU line…
Wouldn’t be surprised if Adora decides to stay in Primus and Marlena finds a way to return to Earth…
Not saying that Toyguru hates Female Characters, but he seems to be shoving them to the sidelines.
Since Sorceress Teela is pretty much This figure wearing a Poncho, does this mean that Mattel will rerelease this buck with a new head and "Cape" to have a Sorceress Teela?
This is probably a calback to the Sorceress almost dying from King Hsss's venom in the 2002 series.
And, uh… Teela just died herhair and dressed slutty. I dunno, does that deserve a line in the bio?
I agree. This is one of the reasons I pay no attention to the Bios at all (I can't even remember the last one I read).
Why couldn't they just say this was Teela (DC comics version), or Teela in her battleground outfit (Star Wars does it all the time), or Teela before she became Captain of the Guards (ie, she was a young warrior… explains the outfit and hair colour change when she was "promoted").
They did the same for Vikor and Demo-Man (tried to create something out of nothing and link it all together). Not everything has to fit perfectly… I would've rather they just had Concept He-Man/Skeletor figures (again, like Star Wars). Makes more sense without having to fit a square peg in a round hole with these Bios.
Actually, toyguru has gone on record to start that the BG Teela figure is not her as Sorceress, nor is it her training gear.
So we get a version of a character that we get no bio context for, that comes packed with a bio describing 2 Teela outfits that are not the figure it comes packed with.
O_o
"…on record to STATE…" =P
Been struggling all day with what to say about this. This is the bio that broke me, I haven't bothered with any of them since. As for discussing it…? It is beneath discussion, or even recognition. 'Nuff said.
I think Battleground Teela is all about the avatar of the individual collector. For me, Teela was always blonde and wore two costumes so the bio can work with that in mind, since the bios don't really describe the characters. In Teela's original bio, she could be blonde, if you wanted, just like Mer-Man could be the blue version.
The radically different versions of characters probably will have more backstory, not an explanation as to why they look so different. Temple of Darkness Sorceress has no explanation as to why she's all white, Battleground Teela has no explanation for her blonde hair or new outfit. I'd expect this if the MYP Queen Marlena came out.
So far Battleground Evil-Lyn might be the only exception…she is gray skinned possibly because she's depowered, but that's up to each individual fan if they want to accept that or not.
It doesn't really bother me overmuch. I always assumed the bios were about the *characters*, not their *outfits*… as such, the second Teela figure gives us a bit more of her story and doesn't bother to mention why she chose to dress differently today, rather like how the first one gave us the beginnings of her story and didn't explain why she decided to wear a rigidly immobile onesie for a bit.
Essentially, she changed her clothes, dyed her hair, and hopefully took the opportunity to shower as well – these are fairly everyday activities that really don't need an explanation.
She'd be a good DC versus MOTUC two pack figure to put in against a DC Villainess.