#mantenna

[vintage1976]

The fright zone by Mattel

[andhereisthetea]

Hordak and The Horde from 'She-Ra, Princess of Power', illustrations by Stjepan Sejic

[nekobiohazard]

Assorted MOTU doodles.

[birindale]

So, bizarre ask… but.

I have a family friend whose brother was a huge fan of the original He-Man. He also claims that there was some sort of character design contest for the original Evil Horde characters, before they were used for She-Ra; he claims to have gotten a, like, second or third prize by design Mantenna.

Now normally I would write this off as BS but his family seems pretty in on the idea, to the point of claiming to still have the original drawing, and also this absolutely sounds like something Mattel would do.

If you could help to corroborate and/or contradict literally any of this story, I would be extremely grateful.

Verdict: Contradict

So there was a character design contest in 1985, which is the year Mantenna was released, but there are several holes in that story.

Most pressingly, there weren't second/third place winners, just the winner (fearless photog) and 4 runners-up, none of whom resemble Mantenna.

Additionally: Ted Mayer designed Mantenna. There's a great article about it up on the Battle Ram Blog with some concept art

I'd be interested to see the drawing though! You should demand evidence :3

[chernobog13]

Mantenna from the Masters of the U universe by Mike Mignola.

[kollectorsrus]

[toyjunkie]

MANTENNA – Masters of the Universe Origins – Cartoon Collection (Filmation)

[zootycutieart]

This drawing was a kind of "test" for myself in a sense. Namely, how would a four-legged, bug-eyed character wear pajamas? Knowing how this is, they probably had to break up like two sets of pants to make one "pair", and they didn't have the same pairs, and they didn't have the same slipper types, and they had to make a sleep mask for a creature with such eye-focused abilities...

...Oh, and Hordak probably woke Mantenna in the middle of the night for something petty and he's going down the trapdoor again while half-awake. XD

Mantenna © Mattel Artwork © ZootyCutie (that's me!)

[n0rmal-b3an]

ROUND 1

[savage-kult-of-gorthaur]

"TO ME, MY EVIL HORDE!"

PIC INFO: Resolution at 1200x1662 -- Spotlight on poster art for Hordak and his wretched henchmen, The Evil Horde, artwork by the late, great Earl Norem (1923-2015), from the pages of "Masters of the Universe" Magazine, c. summer 1985.

"Hordak comes from Etheria where he leads The Evil Horde in terrifying combat. Leech, Mantenna, Modulok, and Grizzlor serve as his henchmen. They have returned to Eternia to further the evil plans that Hordak has for Skeletor and He-Man."

-- "MOTU" MAGAZINE, c. summer 1985

Source: www.rediscoverthe80s.com/2014/08/throwback-thursday-tbt-masters-of.html.

[fuzzychildchopshop]

Mantenna by wardog-zero

[billlaotian]

[skeletor-enjoyer]

I love when Evil-Lyn gets to ride Panthor! 🧙‍♀️🐈‍⬛

William George

[mylittleclockman]

my current motu origins figure collection

[frankensteined]

also, since snout spout is my favourite "wtf is this" character of the heroic warriors, i'm disproportionately excited to see him and rio blast in the series (even if it ends up being just a few action shots here and there like poor buzz off and stratos got in revelation)

[bogleech]

Sucks so much that Mantenna was Hordak's go-to lovable comic relief underling in the original She-Ra but the She-Ra reboot wasn't legally allowed to use him, because he was one of several She-Characters that got licensed out only for He-Man projects.

And in the six years since Stevenson's She-Ra wrapped up, what has anyone done with the cartoon rights to Mantenna???

Ten or fifteen seconds in the most recent He-Man reboot where he has no speaking lines and is defeated by Orko. This is also the second time he's shown in a cartoon since the 80's and both times tried to make him a scary badass monster that just shrieks. HE IS SILLY DAMN IT. LET HIM BE SILLY. COWARDS. I bet Nate Stevenson's She-Ra would have let him be silly again. I bet that show would've been nice to him too. Or rather I bet Entrapta would've been nice to him, you know, while she was dating his boss or whatever that was. Like a cool new mom that lets the stepkid get away with shit.