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

Trap Jaw Bio

Real Name: Kronis

An insane criminal from the dimension of Infinita, Kronis was one of several evil warriors freed from an intergalactic prison by Keldor to bolster his ranks during the start of the Great Unrest. After serving Keldor for years, Kronis grew ambitious and raised an army of his own to challenge his master. Now a powerful Overlord of Evil, Skeletor defeated Kronis — breaking his jaw and arm, and leaving him for dead. Found and rebuilt by Tri-Klops, Kronis was transformed by him into Trap Jaw, a man armed with combat weapons and an “iron jaw!”

Portrait Art Source: He-Man and the Memory Stone

We’ve never had a real origin story for Trap Jaw. In his first minicomic appearance, he was a criminal from another dimension who stumbled into our own when Skeletor created a portal to that dimension in hopes of side-stepping the gates of Grayskull. Instead, Trap Jaw ended up in Grayskull, and used its power to whale on both Skeletor and He-Man, who had to combine their might to beat him (after which Skeletor took the unconscious TJ as his new servant).

In the Filmation cartoon, Trap Jaw had no origin; he was just another of Skeletor’s bumbling servants. In the Millennium cartoon we learned he was once Kronis, a member of Keldor’s crew who was seen with both jaw and both arms intact. The MV Creations “Icons of Evil: Trap Jaw” comic developed Kronis a bit further; after Keldor’s transformation into Skeletor, Trap Jaw rebelled against what he saw as his master’s increasingly erratic behavior, even mounting an army to try and take Snake Mountain. Skeletor defeated Kronis’s army, blasted off his arm and punched off his jaw in one of the most brutal moments in MOTU history. After, Tri-Klops rebuilt Kronis into Trap Jaw. When asked by Evil-lyn why he would stay and fight for Skeletor after what had been done to him, he answered, “Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer.” Yeah, whatever, Kronis.

This bio rather nicely incorporates aspects of both the minicomic and Millennium stories: Trap Jaw hails from another dimension (Infinita), but still mounts an army and is defeated by Skeletor.

The fact that he’s rebuilt by Tri-Klops annoys me, of course; I hate Go-Go-Gadget Tri-Klops. And besides, wouldn’t it be more interesting if Trap Jaw built his prosthetic limbs himself? There’s a certain aspect of pathos in that idea. Here’s a scenario: captured by Skeletor and left for dead, Trap Jaw rebuilds his arm from spare parts. He then goes to Skeletor and begs forgiveness, showing the prosthetics as proof he can be useful (and perhaps keeping that “keep your enemies closer” notion in the back of his head).

It’s certainly a lot better than Tri-Klops pulling an OSI. (That’s the organization that rebuilt the Six Million Dollar Man. It’s a reference I actually had to look up, since that show was before my time.)