robots/monsters/misadventure ハロウィン
Showing posts with label monstroid. Show all posts
Showing posts with label monstroid. Show all posts

Tuesday, March 8, 2022

Summoning Monstroid

 

Not too long ago I talked about the Monstroids here. It was always odd that there was a groups of 'evil transforming robots' in the cartoons, but in the toy line Monstroid was an individual robot monster who worked with the Evil Horde. If you've never seen him, Monstroid is a really large toy that looks like a crab. The top half spins around chaotically which make the body rock around. Said rocking makes Monstroid walk around on his long legs in whatever direction gravity takes him. Stick a figures arms or legs in those claws and watch them be flung around like rag dolls. It's pure insanity and maybe a broken lamp if the figure flies loose from the evil grip of MONSTROID.

The big guy didn't get much fiction time aside from random art appearances. However he did show up in a comic story in which The Evil Horde summons him from Sea of Rakash. Under Hordak's magic spell, Monstroid attacks He-Man and Skeletor. Orko and Extendar save the two and Multi-Bot is eaten in the process. It's nice that such a chaotic toy is just as out of control in his fictional debut. I like that without a doubt, Monstroid is a monster. He's aligned with The Evil Horde, but that's basically thanks to a spell. In any other situation, there's just a giant robot-crab thing that's going to kill everything in it's path. I also like the fact that a living robotic creature that lives in the sea without any explanation and we're just supposed to go with it. Pure chaos on every front.

Thursday, December 23, 2021

Tell the Monstroids it's Christmas

The He-Man and She-Ra Christmas Special is a very odd cartoon. Two earth children find themselves on Eternia and have an adventure. It's really a series of sub-plots strung together to make a short 40 minute little movie. One of the more interesting adventures is when the Monstroids get involved. In the MOTU toy line, Monstroid is a large robot monster that's part of The Evil Horde. In the grand tradition of Filmation taking liberties with the source material, instead there's a group of transforming robots called The Monstroids. Though they did later on appear as member of the Horde in a later She-Ra episode.

Clearly both a take on the popular transforming robot toys at the time (obviously Transformers, but there was a few other lines as well) and maybe a little dig at the competition (we've got to stop those evil transforming robots) before the Meteorbs were introduced. I've mentioned before how much I love the bat shit crazy nature of the line in general. A random group of transforming robots showing up in a Christmas special only to be thwarted by another group of robots is a prime example of that.