Inspired by He-Man.org’s Roast Gooble Dinner podcast, welcome to PGPoA’s latest MOTUC Bio Discussion!
Moss Man® Bio
Real Name: Kreann’ot n’Horosh™
Thought of for many centuries to be an urban legend, the creature called “Moss Man®” was, in fact, an ancient Eternian nature god and ally to King Grayskull™. During the rise of Skeletor® and the subsequent battles with the Snake Men™ and Horde invaders, Moss Man® often joined forces with the Masters of the Universe®, helping to protect freedom for all forms of life. He was instrumental in helping them win the Second Ultimate Battleground, using his powers over plant life and his “fur” of forest green to fool and frustrate his wicked foes.
Portrait Art Source: Original card back
First off, I have no idea what’s going on with that “real name.” But to paraphrase Captain Kirk, “What does a god need with a surname?”
As for the name itself, all I can think of when I read it are those gibberish words C-3PO throws out when he’s playing storyteller for the Ewoks in Return of the Jedi.
About this “urban legend” thing: I get what the Bio Writer (BW) is going for, but “urban legend” seems like the BW was trying too hard to be hip. Urban legends usually center around modern civilization and its trappings–even the Moth Man was entangled with UFOs and so forth. But who would refer to Bigfoot–who lives in the forest–as an “urban legend”? He’s just a legend, which I think makes a lot more sense for someone like Moss Man.* Yeah, I know it seems like I’m splitting hairs here, but “urban legend” just seems a bit demeaning…”urban legends” are pop rocks and soda, stolen kidneys and vanishing hitchhikers. Legends are Bigfoot and the Loch Ness Monster.
Weirder still is the idea that he’s an actual nature god. What does it mean to be a “god” in the MOTU universe? That’s an idea that could use some unpacking…it certainly makes Moss Man sound like one of the most powerful creatures in Eternia. So can he be killed? Does his every appearance serve as a, well, deus ex machina due to his immense power? Does he power wane with how much plant life is harmed or destroyed?
Moss Man being an “ally to King Grayskull” isn’t something I recall from the Millennium series, so that’s intriguing. And then there’s the “Second Ultimate Battleground.” The first one, as I recall, involved Tytus, He-Ro and King Grayskull, so it sounds like the second Ultimate Battleground is some sort of momentous battle between He-Man and his allies and another foe–whether it’s Skeletor, the Snake Men or the Horde, we don’t know. My hunch? It’s a battle between He-Man and the “Masters” (bleh) and the Horde, in the midst of which Skeletor betrays Hordak, the Horde is defeated and Skeletor takes over the remnants of the Horde and escapes into space with his new army.
But more about that when we get to Optikk…
* Yes, there’s the whole “Batman as urban legend” idea that’s used sometimes in the comics, but note that Batman haunts Gotham City.
Mose
I always viewed Moss Man as member of a race of ancient plant people, not a god (Evil seed as well). They could control plants naturally but used magic to increase those abilities. I like to view them as mystics and shamans in tune with nature. In some ways, almost Native American-like.
Crixus
Moss Man is the god of nature and plants, so that'd make him pretty useless as far as wiping out all evil goes. Seems more like MOTU is going like an ancient Greek god type mythos. They all had their weaknesses and abilities, none were all powerful.
Remember the dark hemisphere is all barren land, not much (if anything) for him to control there.
I generally like this bio though.
UtekrareleW
Greetings All! I am new in the forum. Just want to greet you all 🙂
Damien
@FakeEyes22: LotR influences in 200x? I don't see it. . .
I also don't see a 'god' not destroying all evil as making him seem like a crappy god. In no real world religion — ever — was evil destroyed by a god or gods. Even the supposedly super-almighty-awesome Christian/Jewish God just kind of hangs around saying 'hey, I'll get to it when I get to it.'
In more archaic religions this is also pretty much the case, except that plenty of older religions don't even bother with the good/evil paradigm. Gods are gods. Fickle, strange, unfathomable even. And since there's more than one, which is also likely the case in MOTUC, they tend to balance each other out so that one can never fully destroy the other.
I wouldn't scoff at the notion of an Eternian god, in any event. If mortals are jacked up mega-warriors with uber-powers, I really, really don't want to think about how powerful one would have to be to function as a god in such a world.
dayraven
yeah, i tend to play mossy much more in the vein of an ent than a god…
BTW, so if he was a pal of grayskull, who fought at the First Ultimate Battleground, why didn't mossy fight at the FUG? why only the SUG? so he was watching the FUG and was like "hey, buddy, i know you're dying and shiz, but you seem to have this well in hand… i'm taking a breeze and going to seed my azalias, if you get my meaning! ciao!" but the SUG, he took his earrings off, rolled his head on his neck and yelled "oh no you DI INT!!"
Richard Grayson
@FakeEyes22
Yeah, I've always thought of ol' Mossy as an Ent, too.
Also, for your bio: "Ah, Wilderness!"
Thrawn
FakeEyes22 wrote:
He didn't. In Tolkien's world Ents are just tree people who don't die from old age. They are not described as gods or deities, nor do they have any kind of god-like powers.
But I do think that the comparison of Mossman to an ent is a good one.
FakeEyes22
I think the awkward "Urban Legend" bit is to emphasize that Moss Man isn't something people tended to really believe in. It seems like today, if something is described as "Legendary" it doesn't suggest a mix of possible fact and fiction so much as something so bad-ass awesome that everyone has heard of it and talks about it.
But, yeah…not the best word choice. I don't see Eternians calling their cities "urban." I do wish Eternia had suburbs though, I would never stop laughing at the idea of a neighborhood full of musclebound wierdos grabbing their morning paper and fueding with the freaks next door.
Calling him a god is odd to me. Really, if he is a god, and evil still exists after he tangled with it a few times, then he is either not a god or a crappy one. Gods seem less powerful in cultures with multiple dieties, but without mention of anyone else at this point, it's wierd to me and I don't think I need gods of the ocean, dirt, sky, and whatever introduced.
Ignoring the wording of the bio, I get the impression he's a combo of bigfoot and an Ent, which is cooI. I don't know if Tolkein referred to Ents as gods exactly, but given the LotR influence on 200X, I can see a relation there.
Better bio: Very few people know for sure, but legend says that this heroic magic leaf monster popped up to defend Eternia when life and nature were threatened and mysteriously vanished. Also, he was smelly.
Damien
In my own MOTU mythos, I can easily reconcile the various 'god' issues. I take some Egyptian and some Nordic theology to have it all make sense.
The Goddess is considered divine by the people of Eternia. She is, to them, the embodiment of a divine being, though she is not truly of a 'celestial' nature. The Egyptian concept of a 'living god.' Very mortal in most senses.
Moss Man would be a 'god' closer to the Nordic system. He is 'celestial.' However, like Norse Gods, he is very powerful, but ultimately mortal. I like to think that he can be beaten, but will eventually reform. Thus, he does not have one true form, but rather the image of himself that he can reform.
That also opens up a cool idea of an item of some kind that truly can destroy him for good. That makes him extremely powerful and in line with what a 'god' in that sense should be, but still allows the threat of true death.
I also like to think he doesn't so much have a surname as he does one true name that is simply multiple words long. It would, just for example, translate to something like 'The Earthen One.'
I like this bio well enough, in any event. It jives with my MOTU mythos. The only thing I don't like, as others have mentioned, is the Urban part. He's believed to be a myth. Nothing urban about that.
This may also be the point at which I can mention how much I hate 'The Second Ultimate Battleground' being used as the terminology for the battle itself. It's stupid.
It would be the Second Ultimate Battle. The place where it HAPPENED would be the Second Ultimate Battleground.
Battleground is where the -BATTLE- happened. I swear, sometimes it seems like the bio writer is barely literate.
misterbigbo
I think barbecue17 is dead on with his interpretation of the name, and combined with the "urban legend" business, just further frustrates me. The BWs, as you call them, just seem damn lazy sometimes.
PrfktTear
@Thrawn: I actually really like that aspect, making him one of King Grayskull's old drinking buddies. 😉
Thrawn
I have a few issues with this bio. All of which you guys mentioned above.
First, I'm glad you mentioned the "urban myth" bit. He would just be a legend. Not an urban legend.
Second, calling him a god. I think that term gets thrown around too much. If anything he'd be a demigod and even that would be going too far, since that gets thrown around a lot too.
I did not care for his portrayal in MYP precisely because they made him way too powerful. MYP did that with several characters, most notably Zodak.
Mossman should just be a plant elemental, or some kind of plant man. Anything more than that is too much.
I mean how many demigods, gods, and supremely powerful people do the good guys need? They've got He-Man, She-Ra, Zodac, Zodak, Sorceress, Mossman, the Goddess, and Syklone (whose very powerful).
I'm fine with him being retconned into an ancient ally of King Grayskull though. That's kind of neat.
Poe
@Dead Man Walking: Well, they're all ripping off The Heap, and he's public domain…and of course, the Heap was a rip-off of the Theodore Sturgeon story "It"…so really, Theodore Sturgeon's estate should just sue them all.
Dead Man Walking
@Mysterious Stranger: If DC didn't sue Marvel they're not going to sue Mattel for Moss-Thing.
Mysterious Stranger
The whole "god" thing might just be an attempt to keep from getting sued by DC or Marvel over Mossman's similarities to Swamp Thing and Man-Thing.
PrfktTear
For the most part a fine bio. Yeah, right.
Yeah, the whole "urban" legend thing is puzzling. From Google, the definition of urban is "relating to or concerned with a city or densely populated area." And while I am not questioning that Eternia has cities, it just seems, as Poe said, that the bio writers were trying to be hip, or at the least they're using terminology without thinking of the implications, like when they called Keldor an alchemist, rather than a wizard or a sorcerer.
Saying Moss Man is a “god” is kind of kind of clichéd in a line of clichés. I’m fine with him just being a sentient plant dude. Some sort of a cross pollination between a human/beast/thing and organic plant matter. Just as Beastman has control over animals, Moss Man has power over plant life. I thought his portrayal in the MYP series was a little over-the-top, reducing him to, as Poe said, a deux ex machina.
So the BW really could have stopped at helping to protect freedom for all forms of life. So the “Second Ultimate Battleground”… will have some significant ramifications on the MOTUC storyline… interesting, I guess. So, Moss Man was instrumental in helping the Masters win, okay, I’m still on board. Using his powers over plant life and his “fur” of forest green to fool and frustrate his wicked foes. . Okay, so you’ve got a nature God with great power, and all he’s doing to try and stop these guys is fool and frusterate??? WTF? At least in the MYP series, he deux ex machina’d his way in, saving everyone and stopping Set, erm, Serpos. Okay…
lemonfreshviper22
It's true the idea of Moss Man being a God has always been kind of strange to me; I agree the word was meant more in the sense that he's an Elemental (like Swamp Thing).
Isn't King Hiss technically a God? Or Hordak? Or are they demons? Or neither? What qualities make you a deity in MOTU? Are gods more powerful then the Council of Elders? So many questions come up in my mind from the use of that word. I think they're going with the idea that the MOTUC world has a pantheon akin to Greek mythology but who else fits in there?
Snarf! Snarf!
Don't like the word "Urban" on his Bio. He should just be a "Legend" or a "mythological being"…
On Mossy's "godhood": To me Mossman is not a god. He's a "Wood Elemental creature". Too many "gods" on the good guys roster.
Dead Man Walking
@Barbecue17: Looks closer to "Korean and not in a rush."
Anyways, I think Poe hit it on the head with the "god" thing. Much like "cloning," I think the term "god" gets thrown around way too much in MOTU and in comics/geek media, without any clear idea of what a god is or means. I mean these writers are free to define these characters however they choose, but more often than not they are vague or contradictory.
Barbecue17
Somewhere, I hear someone comment that Mossman's name, when read aloud, is supposed to sound like "Green and not in a rush." Mossman just kind of lumbers around scattering seeds and doing his own thing.
I think of him as similar to Tom Bombadil, who also is a nature spirit of sorts with mysterious origins. Moss Man is a legend, and perhaps even just viewed as a rumor or an old wives' tale amongst most Eternians.