Inspired by He-Man.org’s Roast Gooble Dinner podcast, welcome to PGPoA’s latest MOTUC Bio Discussion!
Wun-dar™ Bio
Real Name: Wun-Dar™
One hundred years before Prince Adam® was born, Wun-Dar™, a warrior from deep in the savage underground city of Tundaria, rescued a young woman who turned out to be the Goddess of Eternia®. Providing him with cosmic battle armor and a sophisticated ray gun that could tap into almost unlimited power, the Goddess tasked Wun-dar™ to protect both halves of the sword of He and keep them apart so as not to fall into the hands of evil. Like many warriors before him, Wun-dar™ became known as “The He-Man,” battling in a savage way to keep evil from obtaining the key to the great power hidden inside the long-forgotten Castle Grayskull®.
Portrait art source: New art created for MOTUC
Mattel told us pretty early on that Wun-Dar was not the same as the “Barbarian He-Man” of the early minicomics (who we now know as Oo-Larr), but I still wonder if that may have been the plan originally, what with Wun-Dar’s being tied in with the Goddess (whose role in relation to the Sorceress really needs to be clarified, if you ask me).
The bigger question, though, is why the heck the Goddess equipped him with Cosmic Enforcer armor and a ray gun that taps into “almost unlimited power.” Where’d she get this stuff? Did she create them out of thin air? Why this science fiction stuff and not regular sword-and-sorcery weapons? Did Zodak leave the stuff at her place accidentally after a one-night stand, and she decided to hang onto them after he neglected to call her back? These are important questions, people!
And of course, one wonders how Wun-Dar battled “in a savage way” with a ray gun more futuristic than today’s modern weaponry. Maybe he never actually fired it, he just used it to beat his opponents into submission. I can see it now–the Goddess gifting him with this amazing ray gun, and Wun-Dar looking taking it solemnly and thanking her, all the while thinking, “Hrm, this iron club so tiny…how me going to kill parek-narr with this?”
We also get more information on two concepts that are still being developed over the course of these bios: the notion of He-Man being a legendary title used by a number of heroes over the years, and the idea that “the He-Man”‘s job is to protect the two halves of the Power Sword and keep them apart. I get the Line of He-Men Throughout History idea–I’m still not sure whether I like it or not, but I understand the concept–but I’m unclear on the sword-protecting part. Where exactly are the sword-halves? Isn’t one in Castle Grayskull? If so, where’s the other one? And does Wun-Dar know where both halves are? It seems to me it’d be safer not to let him know where both halves were, unless both locations were common knowledge at this point and any old villain could go looking for them (though I tend to doubt that, because if that were the case, why would Adam have to go on a “quest” for them?).
On a quick side note, a cursory Web search for “Tundaria” didn’t come up with any MOTU-related links aside from this bio, so it may have been made up just for the bio. Feel free to correct me, however.
Poe
I realized I rushed to get this written so I could post it in time…a day early. Why?
PrfktTear
I don't like it when they take He-Man's name in vain. Call 'em Wun-Dar, call 'em Oolar, but the ONLY He-Man is Adam of Miro, our blonde haired, muscle bound hero.
Snarf! Snarf!
Old Snarf! Snarf!'s here to share his thoughts on Wonder Bread He-Man's official Bio:
I like the name Wun-Dar, Kinda sounds like Thundarr the Barbarian, but it's cool. Nod to Wonder Bread and all that.
He's kinda ripping off Mini-Comic He-Man's backstory, but it seems that the Goddess likes to put herself in danger (or pretend to) in order to test her candidates. What's her deal? Does she work with the Sorceress?
Why is he in charge of protecting BOTH halves of the Power Sword? Shouldn't he be like protecting one and some other "Grasykull Knight" (Not too fond of the "He-Men" through the ages thing… Especially with the small amount of time between KG and Adam)
Battling savagely: I guess that instead of tossing around Boulders or his enemies; Wun-Dar just capped their asses with his space gun (or chopped them up with his PS half). I wonder if he teabags his enemies? The Armor just gives him protection and Unlimited ammo. The bread is to soak up he blood of his enemies and eat it.
How can CG be long forgotten if there's always some "He-Man" protecting the PS halves from someone who wants to get in like Karak Nul, Gygor, etc?
Thrawn
I think they should have made Wundar an evil cosmic enforcer who battles Zodac and Zodak. That would have been better in my book.
1. I don't like the 100 years before Adam was born thing. I think it should have been 150-200 or something like that.
2. What's up with the cosmic armor? Does it have special properties? Is it made of a special metal?
3. I'm fine with the Goddess finding special people from time to time to protect Grayskull.
I do not like the whole He-Man through time thing. Since He-Man is a legendary warrior I think that should just refer to Grayskull.
Now if it's explained that over time villagers and citizens took to calling Wundar "He-Man" over time and on their own that would be okay. But he shouldn't be taking that name on his own. He should just be Wundar protector of Grayskull.
4. There needs to be a distinction made between the Sorceress and Goddess. They need to explain what their relationship to each other and Grayskull is a little bit more clearly I think.
5. Finally, as I have said many times before, Mattel screwed up royally by keeping the split power swords garbage.
That is an outdated idea that is useless and not relevant anymore. It is needlessly complicating things, and should have been left in the dustbin of history.
Still, all that being said, the basic idea that the Goddess recruits special warriors from time to time to protect Grayskull is logical and makes sense. It's the details that suck in this bio, not the overall idea.
JediCreeper
they need to hit up warner bros so they can include Thundarr the Barbarian in to their silly little new timeline. Thundarr is awesome
that said, I don't mind the he-men through time concept, because I like getting many variations on a theme, and I prefer them in my head if they are different people, not just a costume change (that's why faker always sells better than, say, thunder punch he-man)
I'm with you though on not really understanding what's going on here.. it seems the original purpose was that the sword halves were not really used, just protected, and filmation mucked that up by making the sword his primary (and in most cases) only weapon. so matty is doing what they can to fit it all together.. but they're no geoff johns
MldMnrdReporter
The whole thing with the sword is a mess. Like She-Ra's cloned sword. Why not just say "after unlocking the power of Grayskull, Prince Adam was once again able to split his power sword in two and give half to his recently rediscovered sister, Adora, to aide her in her battle against the Evil Horde on the planet of Etheria"?
Sounds pretty good to me. As for the Goddess, I think the character works best if she had just been a different Sorceress. It's already been established that every generation has had a Sorceress and that every future generation will as well (i.e. Teela being destined to be the next Sorceress).
I even propose that there is a Sisterhood of women who are trained and guided to become the Sorceress and only one is chosen. Maybe they each have a different animal totem to emulate, the Goddess has the snake where the current Sorceress (Teela'Na) has a falcon. They could even explain it so that if they get the Filmation license that the Enchantress (who wears the costume of an Owl) was a member of this sisterhood that went rogue after being passed up for the job.
Stephen
You'll have to forgive me and just follow my train of thought: The key is the sword, right? Adam uses the sword to change into He-Man. He-Man then uses the sword in battle against Skeletor. Skeletor wants to get into Grayskull but doesn't have the key. The sword is the key… This really doesn't seem to make a lot of sense when you think about it. I'm with Dayraven; Just lock the key away and try to keep the Goddess in her damn cave.
dayraven
not to mention, does tundaria sound a bit like thundera to anyone else?
and i guess this means that if mattel ever does any of the fuerza t characters, they'll be from tundaria?
i want to know too how one battels in a savage way with a super-ray-gun. and the crack about zodac doing the walk of shame naked made me laugh. he got there, and she was all hot to trot, but she had an apartment filled with green tiger kits and he quickly figured out she was a little crazy, so he hit and quit it. all those "goddess" chicks are a little nutso. and they don't shave. zo needs smooth pits.
the whle sword of he thing again smacks that TG and his whole "we have a master plan, you just don't have pieces yet to see it," thing is dead wrong! if the sword is the key to opening grayskull, it's safest IN GRAYSKULL! we wouldn't even need protectors, cuz skllie would be impotently banging on the front door, but couldn't get in… the only artifact powerful enough to let him open the gate is INSIDE. that's just poor thinking. not to mention, if the sword of he is the key to grayskull, that must not have happened until after scareglow used the key and had it chained to him, right? so, what was the sword of he before scareglow's time? just a magic sword? and i'm still frightened beyond the capacity for rational thought that someday i will be offered an action figure named "He" who had to be the original owner of the sword…
Stephen
Isn't the Goddess the one that's supposed to be keeping the two halves of the sword separate? Seems like A.) She's shirking her duty by passing it off to every guy in a loincloth that saves her and B.) cleary not understanding her job desciption because she keeps giving BOTH halves to the same person.