How and why the Snake Men were created in He-Man and the Masters of the Universe. (Part 1 of 2)

[@Tim85-y2q]

You weren't kidding when you said to wait for this one in response to my comment about Teela's snake armor. Can't wait for part 2.

[@spectorcreative1872]

Part two is done. Will be up soon!

[@PrivateEye10]

The snake men were my favorites in the 200x Cartoon, they were awesome!

[@spectorcreative1872]

The 200X show really gave them a new life!

[@justbenelson]

Just want to say I'm REALLY enjoying your MOTU content! I love history and I love MOTU, so this content is just blowing me away. Thanks for sharing your knowledge and experience and I look forward to what else you have to share!

[@spectorcreative1872]

And thank you for such a kind wonderful comment. I am most grateful. More is coming, I promise. Tell your friends. ;-)

[@gerainthorton8980]

The line about kids loving snakes is dead on. Both of my kids love the Snake Men. A lot of the time thats all they will play with. I only had Tung Lashor and Kobra Khan when I was young but would of loved more Snake Men.

[@spectorcreative1872]

Me too. I only had Snake Face until the Classics line.

[@Dented_Battle_Armor]

Absolutely awesome and eye opening video about the creation of the Snake Men. Thank you very much Scott for this! Can't wait for Part 2!!

[@spectorcreative1872]

Glad you like! Please do share with anyone else who might enjoy!

[@scottandrewhutchins]

I never liked snakes, but I liked Tung Lashor and Rattlor on She-Ra and bought them. I think I already had Kobra Khan at this point, too. I was impressed that it shot mist rather than straight water like in the commercial.

[@spectorcreative1872]

I know right! False advertising 101.

[@stanleyteriaca2184]

I like the nickname "Skeletor's Crew" for the Evil Warriors.

[@spectorcreative1872]

So noted! Hear that Mattel.

[@stanleyteriaca2184]

@@spectorcreative1872 Ha! A related but not relevant thing: Snake Mountain Man. Just a silly thought.

[@godofzombi]

The snake men were my fave faction as a kid. I had all of them except Kobra Khan.

[@spectorcreative1872]

Oh you should get him. He was awesome. Plus he shot water!

[@shadowdramon01]

2:15: Letterer - Stan Sakai As in the creator of Usagi Yojimbo?

[@justinclark397]

I always enjoy hearing these behind the scenes videos because they really show how much thought goes into these.

[@spectorcreative1872]

Glad you enjoy! much more to come!

[@tonyjackson4078]

I never really got into the Snake Men as a kid. Granted this was near the end of my toy days in childhood, and I was always more drawn to the more horrific Evil Horde crew. The Horde had varied designs and ugly monsters, and beyond randomly adding Blast Attak, the Snake Men were just...snake...men. Kobra Khan getting some nice retroactive backstory was neat and something not done often tho. I liked that.

[@spectorcreative1872]

I felt the same way. The Horde were mu villains of choice as a kid

[@mattchandler9323]

@SpectorCreative When can we expect part 2? Very exciting stuff!! It really takes me back!! Even at 43, I'm still obsessed with MOTU!! Thank you for doing this!!

[@spectorcreative1872]

Already recorded. Coming next week!

[@mattchandler9323]

@@spectorcreative1872 YES!!!!!

[@robdrabkowski2708]

"reptile with the power to lick his enemies" made me laugh. It sounds as funny as Meg's power of accelerated fingernail growth in Family Guy.

[@spectorcreative1872]

Shut up Meg.

[@scockery]

Didn't break the skin. But ouch, though!

[@Beedo_Sookcool]

Nifty! Verey much looking forward to part 2!

[@spectorcreative1872]

Coming soon. Didn't want to make this one too long

[@robledoeugene1975]

I think they were a great addition to the universe and man would love a classics version of Lady Slithers lair. Great video looking forward to the next part.

[@spectorcreative1872]

Oh I so wish we could have gotten to Lady Slithor!

[@vetname1245]

Hey new fan of your channel love learning about the making of these figures and other figures the snake men always been my favorite fraction in the Masters Universe keep up the good work and can't wait for part 2 :)

[@spectorcreative1872]

Part 2 is coming! Didn't want to go too long

[@woolicane]

Really enjoyed this. I find the creation process for the toyline fascinating. It is certainly helping me think more toyeticly with my writing

[@spectorcreative1872]

Well thanks! It is absolutely important to think that way if you want your stories to become toys! And I love to help with this. More on Spectorcreative.com

[@colt5189]

I really liked how they did the Snakemen in 200X. Which made sense why it was "Snake Mountain", etc. I really do wish the original MOTU cartoon had the tone of 200X. I think 200X is probably the only cartoon reboot that I like better than the original.

[@spectorcreative1872]

I so LOVED how the Snakemen were treated in the 200X show. It was one of the best parts!

[@JeffTheFutureJaros]

Gotta Love The Snake Men, & Company! You should do a Video on the Lawsuit that Mattel had against Remco, for their Knockoff World of Warlord figures, etc. Sweet Vid as always Guru..

[@spectorcreative1872]

Glad you liked. More to come I promise!

[@JeffTheFutureJaros]

@@spectorcreative1872 Oh Hell Yeah!!!!!!!

[@officialtombstone]

Awesome 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼 Can't wait for part 2 and more on the 🐍Men

[@spectorcreative1872]

Coming soon I promise!

[@JamesChessman]

Awesome topic! I haven't watched yet but I have ALWAYS wondered about the Snake Men, as they were a mysterious faction, and much more numerous in the toys, than in the show. Always seemed some mysterious back story. :)

[@spectorcreative1872]

I am just glad things like this survived!

[@falleneldor]

Can you share these documents in full with out all the zooming please? I like to print out all the vintage behind the scenes notes, memos, bibles and bios and style guides and keep them in a binder in chronological order with notes about Eternian history from the various 1980s episodes comics and storybooks. Its my personal MOTU vintage bible. Anyway, Keep reading the bios. :-) whoops, er, uh, i ment to say, keep the good work up.

[@spectorcreative1872]

I'll see what I can do

[@oshontheexperience6440]

What's up Scott! Looking forward to this episode. One of my favorite things about MOTU are the factions of enemies within the mythology.

[@spectorcreative1872]

Well we have some cool info coming!

[@AustynSN]

The Rattle-snake inspired one is the only of the snake men I didn't have as a kid. (Though I have V1 of Kobra Kahn, not V2).

[@spectorcreative1872]

I omly had Snake Face myself! Until Classics that is

[@markmichel3855]

There’s more episodes without Skeletor that people realize

[@spectorcreative1872]

Well true, but he is the MAIN villian

[@erickandrade8347]

Man, I can’t wait for this! I agree, factions has always been one of my favorite aspects of MotU! But a question I would like answered is concerning Filmation characters that were and weren’t brought into 200x. What was Marzo and Evilseed ok but not Batros? And others?

[@spectorcreative1872]

At the time 200X was made the rights were different and they could use figures from Filmation on 200x.

[@geechie-don7157]

Ahh good ole “snake-man”. We got Hiss as a loose figure and didn’t know his name or if he was MOTU until we went to a K-Mart weeks later. Snake men and Horde are my favorites! Thanx for the history lesson.

[@spectorcreative1872]

You are most welcome! Hsssstory is the best.

[@kontroller1]

Hi Scott, despite all the whining and complaints of a spoiled fanbase you have been the best possible brand manager for MOTU Classics and you are definitely missed. As an Italian buyer, I just wished back in the day we could be offered MOTUC distribution in Europe (we even have a Mattel subsidiary in Italy), but I guess there must have been a good reason why it was not possible. Would you please dive into this subject in one of the next videos? Lots of respect and love from Italy! Matt

[@spectorcreative1872]

Most grateful for the kind words. It does take a labor of love for products like this. Luckily we had great sculptors like the Four Horsemen and designers like Bill and Terri. It was a true team effort!

[@jeremyjamesdewitt]

We’ve been talking about this channel on our podcast. Loving the content!

[@spectorcreative1872]

Nice! Always happy to join You can contact me through Spectorcreative.com

[@gianluca.pastorelli]

Hey Jeremy, is that you from POTU? The Masters community is so awesome, feels like meeting with friends 😉

[@jeremyjamesdewitt]

@@gianluca.pastorelli Sure is! How ya doin’? 😃

[@gianluca.pastorelli]

@@jeremyjamesdewitt Love your podcast! And of course I love this channel too. Keep up the good work guys, You Have the Power 💪

[@jeremyjamesdewitt]

@@gianluca.pastorelli Thank you!!

[@TheBoglin]

Great Odin's Raven!!! 😲😲 I can't wait to hear about this one. I was 5 in 1985 so the Evil Horde and the 1st three Snake Men where some of my first MotU figures. I love the Snake Men. I can't wait until they start showing up in Origins.

[@spectorcreative1872]

Odin actually had two Ravins. To be all mythic and all.

[@33Artworks]

I enjoyed the Snake Men back story based on the 1986 action playset. Visual Artist: S.T.Perry

[@spectorcreative1872]

Glad you enjoyed! Please do share with anyone you know!

[@33Artworks]

Well I Hope to make new Christian friends in the near future. Author: S.T.Perry

[@nicholasdickens2801]

These were a great team/faction. I felt that they didn’t have that ability to place them into the show like the Horde sadly. Since then the Snake-Men have been really done justice.

[@spectorcreative1872]

At least they got into the 200X show in a big way!

[@gibranlewis7300]

Comment on Snake tower AND WOLF Tower: 1 Lady Slither's tower looks epic, & also has a great look for a dungeon in Snake tower. NOW I'd love an epic backhistory for toyline/minicomic's WOLF tower.I already have an answer for why in the cartoons we never saw Wolf Tower, nor ( until the Kevin Smith directed reboot ) the Wolf gate, and it's an answer that fits perfectly with the old toy playset, when one recalls that Wolf tower was a detachable microphone: Wolf tower is a floating citadel tower, able to detach from the rest of the mountain & rise directly up, far into the air above the rest of Snake Mountain: from it, Skeletor can see far over vast reaches of Eternia, and the enchantment of the tower amplifies the spells and control over the immediately surrounding region for whoever controls Snake mountain. The Wolf gate is simply hidden amid the stalagmites of the mountain, save to those who know the secret stairways. Both the tower & the gate were created by an evil subset of a race of wolf-people, many years after the defeat of the Snake men, and after the first defeat of Hordak in the time of King Grayskull & Veena, but also centuries before the corruption of Keldor, the return of Hordak, the subsequent betrayal by Skeletor and re-banishing of Hordak, and Skeletor's claiming of Snake mountain for himsel . One of the most wicked ancient-days princes of the wolf people is trapped beneath Castle Grayskull, and can often be seen biting at the bars of the gate covering to the Grayskull abyss. There lol .

[@spectorcreative1872]

Oh I’ll be getting to that

[@gibranlewis7300]

@@spectorcreative1872 Excellent!! I've already gotten carried away with my own addenda: the dread warlock & literal wolfman, now imprisoned in the bowels of Grayskull, is Prince Howl-arh of clan Dread Maw. The symbol upon the wolf gate is his symbol. His enmity with the snakemen was ancient, but though he was an even greater warlock than King Hiss, he could not overcome the deeply lain sorcery of Snake Mountain, which Hiss called to his aid. When Hiss was defeated by the varying assaults of Hordak & King Grayskull, with Hordak in turn being defeated by Grayskull before he could full master Snake Mountain, Howl-arh came there, and ( partly as a way of pissing on King Hiss' territory, partly to expand his own power ) he took it, and largely mastered it, and built into it the great wolf tower in his own likeness, and filled in it's bowels & in it's crown with terrible wolfish spirits, and he reared up the wolf gate high in the fortress, just beneath the curving head of the Snake tower. Of olde, the wolf-people clans & the humanoid people's of Eternia had had mixed relations, and whatever sporadic enmity there was between them had been largely put aside in the face of cold-blooded threats like King Hiss, and the alien warlord Hordak. But with Hordak & Hiss gone, Prince Howl-arh, the most wicked warlock his people had every yet produced ( &, no, his people had not been innately nor universally evil ) turned his attentions to the heirs of Grayskull & to the Castle. War, blah blah blah. Eventually he was defeated and imprisoned in the abyss beneath the Grayskull dungeon gate. He fought his way to the top of the heap, defeating the vilest monstrosities, & the quasi immortal dread lord can often still be seen, gnawing at the very bars of the enchanted gate that covers the pit. You know him well, Scott/Toyguru/Spector. His likness is captured in your dungeon-gate rug!! lol By the time Skeletor first released Hordak from the magically created prison realm of Despondos ( which half of the Solar system of which Eternia is part, was sucked into at Hordak's first defeat, including Eternia's sister planet of Etheria ), in the years of terror that culminated in their abduction of Adora, and of Skeletor's first betrayal of Hordak via resealing his master on the other side of the dimensional gate, Howl-arh had been a prisoner in Grayskull for several centuries). How's that?! lol Seriously, I hope that once Dreamworks has the full ip story rights ( & I hope they'll keep a favourable deal with Mattel on toy production ), they will get a team to thoroughly research all the minicomic AND original He-Man&She-ra cartoon installments, and also bring in some of the Eternia & Etheria based content you & your team did for Classics, and weave a single GREAT cohesive narrative of it. For example, I realized in reviewing some old He-Man episodes with a more astute than my 3 year old self's eye lol, that Zanthor, or some such fella, says Skeletor created Snake Mountain with knowledge from the Golden Disks, at odds with the entire Snake Men history... this would need to be amended to Zanthor having really meant that Skeletor used the knowledge from the disks to uncover, restore and expand Snake Mountain etc., that way both tales could still be essentially true.

[@mikesmith2718]

Wonder if there is concept art for the snake men playset I loved them as a kid so I would have loved a playset for them since every faction had their own

[@spectorcreative1872]

Honestly, i don't think there was. But they did get Viper Tower in the Eternia playset.

[@nwobw]

I am excited for this one. The Snake Men are my favorite MOTU faction after Skeletor's Evil Warriors.

[@SylentEcho]

Yeah. I, too found them cooler than the Hoarde.

[@spectorcreative1872]

I love how they were handled in the 200X show!

[@nwobw]

@@spectorcreative1872 Very good video. I am eagerly awaiting part 2.

[@ChrisBarnes575]

6:46 did you mean 1986 line, not 1996 line?

[@spectorcreative1872]

Oops, did I mess up my decade!!!! Thanks for noting

[@MiKeMiDNiTe-77]

The Snake Men were super awesome would a been cool if they had a female character as well King Hisses Queen a reptilian Evil Lyn type character.

[@spectorcreative1872]

Yeah, I always thought a female Snake Man (Woman) would have been great. Hence Lady Slythor! More here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/i4m9nnd6brJ5q9k

[@rodrickadamginsburg8960]

I feel like a kid again ready to get the cereal bowl out to enjoy his favorite show!

[@spectorcreative1872]

Goes great with Baby Yoda cereal.

[@SimbasGuardWT]

Storytime is so awesome.

[@spectorcreative1872]

So much more is coming!

[@SimbasGuardWT]

@@spectorcreative1872 Awesome 😁

[@Phantasia_Workshop]

Part 2 now!

[@spectorcreative1872]

Coming soon I promise!

[@charishhamilton7227]

Me and my husband love your channel!

[@spectorcreative1872]

Thank you so much! Please do share with anyone else who might enjoy!

[@rupturefarms21]

Do you happen to know why the mike young 200x series was never picked back up for more seasons like DCs young justice was years later?

[@spectorcreative1872]

It bombed with kids, the key demographic

[@rupturefarms21]

@@spectorcreative1872 At what point does or can a company switch gears after realizing what its actual demographic is? For example with 200x, after it bombed with kids but succeeded with "adults" couldn't they have brought it back after the success of MOTU classics? Like Young Justice did for the extra netflix season?

[@eckteckteckk171]

They must release that Lady Slither's lair with the Origins series.Im in shock!!Never heard of that lair,i saw Nordor in the past and Crystal Castle but not that Snake men lair

[@spectorcreative1872]

Hey Mattel! Make it happen

[@rolandkatsuragi]

Seems like Tim had almost everything set in the first draft

[@spectorcreative1872]

Yeah, he really knew his stuff!

[@gibranlewis7300]

Lol. The power to lick his enemies. How kinky. Try NOT to imagine the masters & princesses subjected to his administration of torment in the dungeons of Snake Mountain... or at the Fright Zone, he was an in demand henchman, with an expansive resume`. lol. Storytime is excellent. Now, do tell us the story of how Tung Lashor altered his shape, joined the evil Horde ( featuring in several oriinal cartoon She-ra episodes ), but also clearly worked as a double agent for Skeletor, since in the Gateway to Trouble ( basically an expanded treachery of Modulok She-ra episode ) She-ra episode, Tung Lashor is seen, Horde insignia and all, in Snake Mountain serving Skeletor. Fascinating stuff.

[@spectorcreative1872]

Hey I didn’t make it up!

[@gibranlewis7300]

@@spectorcreative1872 lol. It'd be hilarious if you had lol. Serious question about that character though, he shows up in She-ra episodes, AT Snake Mountain, evidently secretly serving Skeletor despite his Horde insignia & service to Hordak in other She-ra episodes... WHAT was that about. Any insights into the fascinating resume` of Tung Lashor ( & his several aliases )?? Also, great storytime, btw, in parts 1 & 2.

[@transfan1988]

why did it have to be snakes?

[@spectorcreative1872]

You know there was a piece of glass between him and that cobra. You can see the reflection if you look carefully.

[@jasperswarp]

Wait, who is Lady Slither ? Was she planned for the original line ?

[@spectorcreative1872]

She was a new character introduced in the motu classic toy line’s mini comics as another clan leader of the Snake Men

[@williamwilkinson6665]

Snakes, why'd it have to be snakes !

[@spectorcreative1872]

Because of the fangs

[@chrisbrock1621]

What about the snake females ?

[@spectorcreative1872]

See here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/qXy8lmyEoqeMoZY

[@waffensuperninja]

Oh you tease!

[@spectorcreative1872]

I ran out of time! I try not to make the videos over 15 min when I can help it!

[@waffensuperninja]

@@spectorcreative1872 i love long form vids but i know im in the minority

[@nowwac6028]

Hmmm ... Okay. At this point, Snake Faces and Squeeze weren't considered yet ? Can't wait to find out the cicumstances of their inclusion. OnlyOneSkeletor

[@spectorcreative1872]

And SnakeFace was called Medusa Man!

[@robertwishin2868]

This sounds like it predated the Peternia concepts. I thought the Snake Men were developed more to be He-Ro adversaries. It is a fair bet I am misremembering something along those lines.

[@spectorcreative1872]

They BECAME He-Ro's enemies but originally were for He-Man and the Horde

[@rayvenkman2087]

So had Powers of Greyskull been made, we would have three good factions and three evil factions.

[@falleneldor]

What became Powers of Grayskull in 1987, started in 1985, around the same time when the Snakemen where being finalized to ship in early 1986. The idea of an ancient heroic faction fighting against king hiss was in response to King hiss and his Snakemen. He-Ro started as "lord grayskull" in concept art, and even before as "Justin" in some if not the earliest internal memo around the time the King Hiss mini comic was being written. Kinghiss never mentions he-ro specifically, because they where just beginning to conceive him. His hatred of The Elders and Hordak is made abundantly clear in his mini comic.

[@Gkeese]

A cliffhanger? Noooo!!

[@spectorcreative1872]

Dum dum dahhhhhh!

[@NECABANT]

You need to turn up your vocals in the mix of your vids.

[@spectorcreative1872]

So noted! Thanks for the feedback!

[@trockijakovetic36]

OMG, now i need to wait to hear the rest of story, you must be joking. :(

[@spectorcreative1872]

I didn't want to make a video over 30 min long so it was best to split it

[@trockijakovetic36]

@@spectorcreative1872 Do you know was MOTU popular in communist countries? I am from Croatia in 80s it was Yugoslavia, for example we didn't know nothing about G.I.Joe, we had Star Wars movies and cartoons (Droids and Ewoks) but not any kind of toys and for MOTU we had cartoon, later movie, sticker book, figures, bootleg and all other kinds of merchandise. Was Yugoslavia exception or the same situation was in for example Poland, Hungary etc.

[@DonHec]

I always hated the Snakemen...30 plus years later...still hate them! Hail Lord Skeletor!

[@spectorcreative1872]

Well at least you are consistent!

[@nickd8719]

To make money

[@spectorcreative1872]

Yup. Everything in the toy industry is.

[@benflay6038]

I was never into the snakemen i had horde figures and fright zone , but was getting into Thundercats in 85 86 I had Kahn that's it I liked them in 2000x

[@DevilMaster]

I liked the Snake Men, especially King Hiss (which unfortunately I never got), because I loved the concept of a reptilian humanoid disgused as a human. For the same reason I liked V, the TV series about reptilian alien invaders disguised in a human form.

[@chesthomas7681]

I could never get into them as a faction either. Like, the Evil Warriors and the Horde were all cool monsters, robots and weirdos. And then you've got the Snakes. They're all snakes, and they mostly all have the same power, stretching body parts. I like Khan and Tunglashor as individuals, but as a group they dont grab my attention

[@spectorcreative1872]

Ah yes, T-Cats, the killer of the MOTU fan in the day. Also by Mark Taylor interesting enough!

[@benflay6038]

@@spectorcreative1872 yes ted wolf what did mark Taylor do toy concept ? The cats were cool the music the quality of animation stories just bigger different but can do exist on my shelf and in my mind . Difference is I could get them until again Mattel super 7 started making them then USA only again I just don't the attraction of the snakes killed the line originally and in 200x don't work or fit