Greetings Phantomaniacs! I am back to
pitch hit for Phantom since this is one of the figs he is missing.
(And since I am on vacation – I’m thrilled
Mr. Brown is able to perform on demand.)
Temple of Darkness Sorceress was the
Traveling Convention Exclusive Figure for 2012. She was released at
Cons like SDCC and Powercon. She depicts how the Sorceress appeared
in the minicomic “He-man vs. Skeletor in the Temple of Darkness.”
Strobo is the Traveling Convention Exclusive for 2013.
The Sorceress is out flying around in
human form, instead of being magically bound to Grayskull, and flies
too close to the Temple of Darkness where Skeletor just happened to
be hanging out. Skeletor captures her, and she psychically calls out
to He-man to come save her. Suffice it to say, he does with a little
help from Man-at-Arms and Ram Man. There isn't anything special about
her being white in the story, that is just how she is drawn.
this is pretty much how it went down
For some people this is a close nod to
how the Sorceress appears in the live action movie, since she was all
white there too.
This was one of the figures that
inadvertently turned me into a completionist and all by virtue of
puppetry and friendship. I do not go to any of the Cons that Mattel
brings product to. I also wasn't all too excited by her since I
already had my Sorceress and I am not too invested in the minicomics
to have even known about this variant. This in fact pretty much makes
it a great Con exclusive. Something that is a bonus for people who
get it but isn't in SUCH demand that people are angry for it being
hard to acquire. So it wasn't on my need list and I thought maybe if
I run into it at a Con someday I will get it if it is a good price,
and pretty much put it out of my mind.
Then one day I was actually thinking
about her for some reason, I forget what it was, and a package came
in the mail. I open it up to lo and behold it is the figure herself
that was on my mind. Crazy right? After I had calmed down from
getting surprise toys in the mail, (really when does that ever
happen?) I further inspected the package and found a note from my
friend Kathleen David. Kathleen (wife of acclaimed writer Peter
David) and I are friends from DragonCon, where she has been involved
for years and was presenting puppetry workshops before there was a
Puppetry Track. If you read Phantom's review of the Puppet Slam
(Ed. - There's a video at the link) you can read about her show “Lord of Time” which features puppet
versions of all 11 Doctors and Peter David singing. Needless to say
it was a hit. Since Kathleen and I are friends on Facebook and 55% of
my posts are He-Man related she knew I was a collector and picked up
the figure for me at New York Comicon assuming that since it was an
exclusive I might not have it. She assumed correctly and it was a
wonderful surprise that totally made my day. THANKS KATHLEEN!
Not only did she send me the figure but
also the super cute Orko hats they were handing out for the 30th
Anniversary. Which made for some adorbs pics with Little B.
As with most variant figure bios, the
bio is used more to move along the metaplot of the bios since we
already know who the Sorceress is from her original bio. There is
some interesting stuff in there. It talks about Veena, King
Grayskull's widow, becoming the first Sorceress. This is the story
from the MYP cartoon and is a design of the Sorceress that I really
like and would love to see as a figure someday to go along with King
Grayskull.
One weird thing is it says “To safe
guard the Power of the Universe after the secret deal with the
Trolla, etc” As far as I've ever known Trolla is a place and the
Trollans are the people. It does have an interesting bit about it
being an active choice on the part of the Teela'na Sorceress to
create the “Power of Grayskull” as we know it from the “Power
of the Universe” that is housed in the Orb so that it could be
tapped into by an individual. I dig that idea of using some kind of
crazy genetic magic to make the ancestors of Grayskull able to
receive the power. There is no mention of the Temple of Darkness in
the bio or any reference to her being all white. The bio basically
just gives you a little more backstory on the Power.
The figure is just a white/gray repaint
of the regular Sorceress with clear white frosted transparent wings
and different boots. The new boots come from Battle Ground Teela and
are furrier at the top with some of that strapping up the calves as
well. The eyes on her falcon headdress are lavender.
She comes with two accessories. She has
an exact copy of her original release staff. No repaint. So meh.
Although in its defense it was already white.
She also comes with a pedestal for the
Orb of Power that came with the re-release of King Grayskull. I got
my King Grayskull on my one and only trip to SDCC and my version
didn’t come with it. I can put the Star Seed that came with
Procrustus in it, but it doesn’t look as good.
The pedestal itself looks really cool
with transparent blue crystals giving way to flecked stone. This blue
crystal imagery comes from the MYP cartoon. It also has some cool
symbols on it. One of which is the symbol for Grayskull seen on
He-Ro's cape. One is the symbol on King Grayskull's chest. Also
something that looks like it is a symbol for the Sorceress herself.
It looks a lot like the end of her staff. It has some runes further
down that may or not mean anything. I think I remember a podcast with
one of the 4 Horsemen on it saying it meant something.
It also looks like a magic bird bath
which frankly makes sense. Maybe she likes to take baths as Zoar.
Don't judge. It's a lonely job. It does means now you can kind of
fulfill any Sorceress bath fantasies you might have, kind of. So
there's that.
Castle Grayskull will also come with
another shorter orb pedestal. So then I can have two pedestals for an
orb I don't have.
So there you have it, ToD Sorceress. I
could totally have lived without her but I am thankful for her and
seeing her is always a lovely reminder of such a wonderful surprise.
3 out
of 5
Thanks again to Phantom for letting me
do these!
Join me next time for a review of the
Oldest and Wisest of all Dragons, Granamyr!
Good Journey,
-Beau
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