Blond Teela Custom Action Figure Art from Masters of the Universe Classics

I remember the moment I discovered Masters of the Universe as vividly as if it were yesterday. The year was 1982 and I was a little boy in a Venture discount department store with my mother and, as usual, I had sneaked away to check out the toys. I was looking for Star Wars figures but before I could get to them, I discovered these massive, grotesquely muscled heroes and monsters. They were all posed in a weird squatting pose and they were much larger than the Star Wars figures that I was used to. They repulsed me so I skipped over them and continued to search for Star Wars toys.

But then like a car wreck on the highway, I came back to them. The beautiful paintings by Rudy Obrero on the vehicle and playset boxes sucked me into thier weird world with their epic depictions of massive battles. I labored over them discerning every detail of the battle.

I was completely fascinated but I knew my parents wouldn't let me start collecting a new series of action figures (particularly one that wasn't in scale with my Star Wars figures) so I put any thought of getting them out of my head.

A few days later one of my more "well-off" friends at school started bringing in the mini-comics that were packaged with the figures. The art inside by Alfredo Alcala was amazing and I finally learned what these guys were all about; they lived on a strange planet where they fought over a powerful sword and a mysterious skull-faced castle. The main character was a barbarian who left his people in the jungle to help fight evil and he was called He-Man.

There was also a beautiful blond haired warrior woman in these stories called Teela. She rode a gold unicorn and would often get captured by Skeletor who wanted her as his bride. But she was also a fighter who wasn't afraid to jump into battle with a sword or an axe. It was during these battles that we saw her long golden tresses flowing with each swing of her weapon.

I was hooked and thanks to Santa, I got my hands on some of the figures. However, shortly thereafter, the entire Masters of the Universe mythology was re-written to follow a superhero/secret identity model and Teela's hair changed from blond to a reddish/auburn color.

I understand why they made the change in the story; to make the world a little less severe and therefore friendlier to younger kids and their moms, but I still prefer these original stories. And "Blond Teela" is a part of them. This is my homage to her.

She is of course based on the MOTUC (Masters of the Universe Classics) Teela action figure and includes two heads both of which are repainted including the eyes and lips to make them a little sexier. The hair on the "long hair" head is two parts. The part near her shoulders is rubber so that she still has a full range of head poseability. The top is a firmer sculpting material that allowed me to capture that wispy 80's hair from the comics.

I hope you dig her. If you do, leave a comment. Until next time, I remain "The Insidious One."