#justine dantzer

[clarenecessities]

Hey, putting out some feelers here. Would anyone be interested in shirts with the original She-Ra designs, signed and personalized by the original designer? Because to me that’s like an airhorn blaring in my heart but I recognize I’m an outlier re: caring about brand history

[birindale]

So on the left we have a drawing of Castaspella by Justine Dantzer--probably not the earliest, but still being refined, and Noreen Porter’s on the right, bringing that design in line with the rest of the... line. Alright that sentence sucked but I need a url for something, don’t even worry about it

[catulhu333]

SPOP Catra inspiration

Another part of my series. Catra, as others takes inspiration from multiple sources. Catra's costume/design in the first 3 seasons (and also her season 4 and 5 looks), seem to be inspired quite a lot by one of Filmation's designs for her, one younger and more girlish looking compared to the final one:

Early Filmation concept art of Catra

Catra in seasons 1-3 of SPOP

Model sheet of Catra is seasons 4 and early 5

Catra in season 5

This design has a very visible influence on Catra's overall costumes in SPOP, as well as her wild mane of hair, and a rather younger looking design.

To be clear, Catra's also takes inspiration from her Filmation design, with her colors, mask design, these being especially visible in her season 4 (and early season 5) look:

It's also quite obvious this early concept of Catra, also has a lion mask, as Catra was to originally transform into a lioness or (maned) were-lioness, as conceived by her (and Princess of Power) original designer, Justine Dantzer

The original concept by Justine Dantzer, also seems to have influenced SPOP Catra's design

Catra's design went through a number of iterations.

Another one was of a literal cat-girl (or it seems, tiger-girl):

Indeed, Catra still turned into a tiger in the UK She-Ra comics:

These concept arts seem to have influenced Catra in SPOP having leonine and tiger-like traits, and well being a literal cat-girl.

Another one was closer to her final design (but still having visible elements from the first Filmation concept and and that by Justine Dantzer):

Other Filmation concept art of Catra, including her transforming into a maned lioness/were-lioness, and another wearing her lion mask and having a tail:

The mini-comic and toy designs of Catra (which had a tail) seem to be another influence - specifically Scratchin' Sound Catra:

Another is Showe Power Catra, especially how she was portrayed in the Princess of Power minicomics:

Outside of Masters of the Universe inspirations, the Puma Sisters/Twins, Anna and Uni, especially as portrayed in the original Dominion manga by Masamune Shirow (adapted latter into the Dominion Tank Police OVAs), seem to be an influence, up to Catra having heterochromia like them:

(Anna and Uni are gynoids though)

(Catra's heterochromia probably also signifies her being torn at multiple points in the series, especially season 1, but also her potential for good and evil).

Another possible inspiration, are Thunderians, especially as portrayed in the 2011 ThunderCats reboot:

A particular inspiration, especially for Catra's season 4 and 5 outfits, might be concept art for 2011 Cheetara's outfit, as noted by @two-sides-of-the-same-smexy-coin . Specifically the first two from the left:

This is also not the only connection/possible reference SPOP has to ThunderCats, specifically the 2011 cartoon.

[catulhu333]

Very interesting with Gray/He-Ro and Sharella being siblings like Adam and Adora.

This could work with her being both a proto-Sorceress, and "Proto-She-Ra".

This reminds me how Adora/She-Ra prototype/"Andromeda" by Justine Dantzer had also a lot of elements (intentionally) in common with Teela and the early minicomic Serpent Sorceress:

In turn, Emiliano Santalucia in terms of unused ideas for the 200X comics, also wanted to connect Queen Veena to the Sword of Protection, possibly inspired by this.

"Adora would eventually wield the bejeweled Sword of Protection, which once belonged to Queen Veena and was created using He-Ro’s Staff of Wisdom. The gem set into the sword’s hilt (in conjunction with the gem used to form the Crystal Castle) would enable Adora to drive the Horde from Etheria and bring balance to the universe once more."

He also implied in materials on his side Queen Veena, and Angella, while not directly related, they might be of the same race/species:

"Queen Angella of Etheria hailed from the kingdom of Mizar. Although similar in appearance to Queen Veena of ancient Eternia there was no direct relation between them."

Hordak is interesting. He seems to how both traits of Gar and Speleans, though the Chiropteran traits cold be from the Hord Lord/Seferus Kur.

Hordians like Romeo and Zed also have similar elven traits (Santalucia also imagined the Horde World being ruins of Infinitia, the Gar homeworld, with some of the inhabitants presumably being descendants of Gar who remained there. So I wonder if he wouldn't have Romeo as a Gar, or part Gar, an Zed as half Gar. It is possible Hordak's mother infiltrated the refugees, or some of the Gar Horde demon cultists infiltrated the group, and spread the religion among a number of the Gar.)

Curiously the Hordak would hide among the Horde Wraiths/Wizards before be became a lich according to the 2002 comic bible, and they were described in MOTUC as corrupted Gar:

Emiliano Santalucia's idea also possibly also inspired the idea of "Horde Clones" in SPOP, who do resemble the Horde Wraiths with their hood up:

Futher Preternia (era of He-Ro) Thoughts

L-R: Eldor with the Book of Living Spells, Gray, Gray as He-Ro the Most Powerful Wizard in the Universe

Gray’s older sister (headcanon based on “raised by” in his bio) Sharella as tribal archer.

Sharella would also learn magic and eventually become the Chosen of Serpos, perhaps when King Hiss is banished. I’m thinking her cobra headdress/top would connect to a floor-length skirt to make a backless evening gown, rather than the official duplicate of Teela’s classic outfit.

Byron, the Wizard of Zoar (bearded man with orange hat and She-Ra-inspired shirt). Would probably change his species (Avionian?).

His daughter Veena was created first (2003) and has only been seen as an adult already married to King Grayskull:

She would be destined to become the first Sorceress of Castle Grayskull after he, He-Ro and 3 other wizards make the ultimate sacrifice to create it.

(Alternative: if we want a long time to pass between the era of He-Ro and the era of D’Vann and Veena Grayskull, change first Sorceress’ name and look.)

Wizard of Zalesia. Zalesia is said to be the first human country on Eternia. Its oldest relic, the Havoc Staff of Bash-Or, is passed from one holder to the next by merit (kingship will be instituted when the ruling Council of Wizards is gone). Male or female non-human student earned it?

Keclar, the craftsman. The wizard whose last act before sacrificing himself will be to craft the two magic swords the Guardian of Grayskull will guard. Depicted in the 80s UK comics as a white man with a long white beard, make him younger and something else (it’s been suggested elsewhere than Trollans forged the Power Sword).

Noah. He taught Hordak magic, so he’ll be an old-looking Eternian all the way back when Hordak helped build Central Tower. The two of them worked with a Cat folk architect, who came up with its look.

A young Hordak with a normal fleshy head like his SPOP incarnation, blue or gray to match a vintage skin tone, would be the sixth young hero with He-Ro, Sharella, Byron, the Wizard of Zalesia and Keclar.

Hordak’s mother would be a witch who mated with the immortal demon Seferus Kur. Maybe she’s Gar and Hordak had bat ears intermediate between MotU Classics’ Horde Prime’s wing ears and Gar elf ears?

(Two boneheads with light and darker blue skin.)

Core Eternian peoples not accounted for: Mer-Men, Bee people, Arachnae, Crab people, Pelleezeans, maybe Avionians, maybe Gar.

[clarenecessities]

Hey gang. Does anybody have recommendations on where to sell (or print) t-shirts? And would anyone be interested in buying some featuring original Justine Dantzer (creator of she-ra) designs for Bow, Catra, and She-Ra? They can be personalized and autographed by her.

Bc I’m very extremely interested but I fear I am an outlier and I don’t wanna lie to her about a potential market lol.

Mostly wondering about the first thing. Redbubble? Etsy? Other?

[birindale]

Remember that prelim that became Angella and Glimmer? Apparently, not only was she named “The Sorceress” at one point, she came with a raptorial companion named Swift Wind. I guess that explains what those mysterious red feathers in the top corner were about!

[lemaistrechat]

Where it gets weirder is that apparently Bow and Glimmer were creations of Justine Dantzer at Mattel’s girls’ division, but the first draft of “The Secret of the Sword” and She-Ra story bible was done by Larry DiTillio for Filmation with so little Mattel input that the Great Rebellion was going to be led by “Shimmer” and her male bard assistant “Willawind” (revealed by Lou Scheimer and mega-fan James Eatock respectively). He also developed Hordak (”Reaper”, cf. Lou Scheimer again) and a Filmation artist whose name I can’t find passed their sketch over to Mattel once his story function as the dictator dad to Adam’s long-lost sister was already set in stone.

S4 should have unoriginal Expies of Etheria characters that are just barely different enough for the copyrights to not be able to do anything

Quiver and Glitter being the first names that come to mind

OMG! Imagine if Mattel bootlegged their own characters to get around the own contract!

Anon, how does it feel to have submitted the funniest ask of 2022?

[birindale]

[birindale]

Cleaned up lineart from a Justine Dantzer auction, showing the Andromeda character that fed into her She-Ra concepts. You can see elements that made it into “Nova”, the iteration immediately following “Leela”--the collar that pulled up into a hood, the huge cuff boots, the bejewelled rose motif on the left leg. That glove thing. Like damn, which parts of Nova were Leela at all? She’s basically just a pink, frillier version of this art.

[birindale]

Another journey into Justine Dantzer’s portfolio, this time visiting the prelims of Bow & Kowl, both of whom she named and created!

Kowl of course is a koala-owl hybrid, though in Filmation’s first takes on the character he actually had butterfly wings, presumably to play up his cuteness.

Bow is already sporting his key features--the trick arrows, the removable breastplate, the heart--but what really interested me was that his left hand isn’t simply some archery-inspired asymmetry: It’s a prosthetic!

And, fair warning, this next part is going to be pretty heavy, emotionally (like, abuse cw heavy), but Justine Dantzer had some Shit to say about this design in particular:

I was a little girl in Toledo, Ohio, and I was severely abused. I had a mother who tried to kill me twice. [...] And so as a kid then, what do I do? I read comics. [...] I was trying to understand what was happening in my life. And I wanted a hero. And I didn’t have one.

And uh, Bow has a heart, because my dad couldn’t own his. He never, ever stopped my mother, not once. And Bow is wounded with his hand, because my father never lifted a finger.

Bow’s defining characteristics are his compassion, his altruistic nature, and his kickass archery skills. He was designed to be the kind of person a little girl could look to for help and support, not as a savior but as an advocate. Honest, dependable, dashing--he was the only male character in the line (not counting horses) bc you just can’t top this. and also probably bc the Boys Department insisted on handling the male characters but fine, Bow is the best

[birindale]

This character is actually the origin of Glimmer and Angella. Justine Dantzer developed the final design for Glimmer, using elements like the rose scepter which became Glimmer’s glow-in-the-dark staff. You can see here, in this detail shot I snagged from Darah.com, that the rose motif actually extended to other elements of her costume originally. She had a whole little emblem there for a bit.

As for Angella--Jennifer “Jenny” Kiernan (who also designed Frosta and, I believe, Double Trouble) took over, developing Justine’s concept of the iridescent feather-patterned cape (a version of which Mattel would later use for Starbust She-Ra) into a set of detachable wings (and halo) for Angella. The design above has red (ginger to cherry ombre) hair, but this was split into a lilac tone for Glimmer & an auburn for Angella, as can be seen in the minicomics. Both ended up wearing pink.

[birindale]

Prelims of the original Mattel concept for Catra, by Justine Dantzer. I think she may have been called Catra out of the gate? I certainly haven’t found any alt names yet.

As discussed in the panel these are from, her skirt is a collection of cat tails, and her mask originally had a lot more coverage (which explains some of those Filmation concepts) and was attached to a jacket, making the transformative element much stronger. Instead of becoming a full-on panther, this early concept was more of a werecat situation & I can’t lie, I’m in love with it. Look at her little boots! Tail-tassels & cat engravings... incredible.

Her sword (and it is a sword) was going to be a twisty spiral made from the horn of ‘a beast’, & while I do love the little cat sword they gave her in MOTUC, I know without a doubt that I would have gone bananas for the spiral concept as a kid. The only thing cooler than a werecat is a werecat with a dope sword

[birindale]

This incredible creature is TInx, Catra’s original animal companion. Melog, Magicat, Clawdeen, the catbirds, those sea serpents that one time... she’s had a lot of critters but this here is the OG.

Created by Justine Dantzer to be a mix between a saber tooth tiger and a lynx (rhymes with ‘thinks’), Mattel decided he was “too edgy”. This guy! He doesn’t even have saber teeth! Was Battle Cat too edgy? Was Panthor? No! The only thing that mattered is they could reuse the Big Jim tiger buck. It’s unjust is what it is. Let little girls have vicious beasts with fluffy tails and pink flocking.

[birindale]

This is the first She-Ra design after Justine Dantzer was told she no longer needed to resemble Teela. As you can see, she went pretty pink with it. It incorporates a lot of the elements she had been developing for an original concept, her Nova/Andromeda character:

The resemblance actually became stronger between this iteration and the next, incorporating that sun iconography & eventually even Pegasus and the Crystal Tower, supplanting Noble and the Topaz Tree Home.

There was apparently another prelim between this and Noreen Porter’s more formalized drawing (forthcoming), but I’m still on the hunt for it.

[birindale]

FEMALE ACTION FIGURE (LEELA) STORY LINE

Leela is Teela's (Masters of the Universe) twin sister. They were separated at birth to protect them. Leela is the most powerful woman in the universe and is the protector of all that is good. She is beautiful inside and out, and she is very strong inside and out. She has magical powers and she uses them to help her protect her many friends.

Her staff is a magic wand. She can use it to sprinkle glitter dust on her enemies to freeze them. Slither the snake is her friend. He moves up and down on her staff to warn her of danger. Leela has a jeweled helmet to protect her in battle, and gold bracelets, one of which is a communicator so she can talk to friends or warriors who might be far away.

Some prelim art from the Power of Grayskull documentary, by Justine Dantzer. The text above is from an internal Mattel document featured in the same segment, though unfortunately only the top 40% or so of the page. This first pass was based on Mattel’s initial direction, to make a character tied to Teela specifically in order to capitalize on her popularity as they created a bridging flanker brand between Barbie & MOTU.

As she said in PoG, “So when those drawings went through, got all the approvals, and the commitment for money, they came to me and they said, ‘Now do what you want. We trust what you’ve done, now do more. Do what you want, and she doesn’t have to look like Teela anymore.’” That second pass at the concept, incorporating her own original character & iconography, changed very little before becoming She-Ra.

[birindale]

The original concept for She-Ra’s steed was actually a white stag (or “reindeer”) named Noble, with silver antlers and a silver flying saddle. The wings were attached to the saddle so he could be transformed into a peryton, like Spirit could be transformed into Swift Wind. Mattel deemed the concept ‘too edgy’, which feels harsh when the antlers came pre-nerfed, so Justine Dantzer had to go back to the drawing board.