[Opening Title: glitter is really retro]Written by GL
Ok, we're all grown up around here, so I believe we all should be man enough (or woman enough, to be fair) to admit to embarrassing things. I will openly admit that I had (some) She-ra: Princess of Power action figures growing up - and on top of all that, I'll say that I'm proud of it.
Mind you, I will draw the line at She-ra, in terms of action figures that boys should be allowed to buy; if you're a guy and you played with My Little Pony or Polly Pocket, that's your business and I want no part in it.
And besides all that, She-ra was hot. But this evening's blog isn't about She-ra. This entry is about an action figure character that I had from the She-ra: Princess of Power line that I have no idea about. This entry is about Kowl. Now, what the devil is a Kowl?
[Kowl: like Superman but more pink]Kowl was an Etherian creature that looked a little like a cross between a koala and an owl (hence the name). He's much like a pet of the Rebel, and yet, Kowl's species is never named in the series. There are only a few of Kowl's species left on Etheria. Three of the fortunate few have been introduced (in the cartoon) as: Kowl himself, a female called Kowla and our favourite bird's cousin, Red-Eye.
Whilst Kowla helped Kowl open his eyes to romance and the value of freedom, Red Eye
challenged his relative by hooking up with the Horde to defeat the Rebellion. The thing is, Kowl's nameless species have the ability to read each other's minds, and see and hear what they
do if they possess a selection of the opposition's feathers. This almost helped the Horde conquer their only enemies once, but the quick-thinking mind of She-Ra put a stop to them.
[Kowla & cousin Red Eye: one's owl-hot, the other's owl-not]Although Kowl lacks courage and plays the part of comic relief in the cartoon, this does not stop him from trying to help his friends when they are in need. The character that Kowl seems to have the best developed relation with is Bow. The two appear to have known each other for years and share a plainly clear love/hate relationship - they were also the first Rebels to be seen on She-Ra: Princess of Power, as a brief side-note. They would exchange jokingly nasty comments with one another, but would never let these come between their seemingly eternal friendship. Can I get an 'Awwww!'?
[Bow and Kowl: discussing the Brunei's new economic policies]If not for the fact that he's scared of almost anything the moves, Kowl can fly faster than a speeding bullet.
[The Faces of Kowl: crying like a punk or flying like a skunk]It should also be noted that Kowl is one of three people on Etheria that know of Adora's secret identity as She-Ra. Kowl is also one of the only three people to have been allowed into the Crystal Castle to see the mysterious being known as Lighthope.
Created by Mattel, Kowl was one of the first characters to appear in the debut wave of She-ra: Princess of Power action figures in 1985. Needless to say, Kowl was the smallest action figure on the line and his points of articulation were shoddy at best. However, the interesting aspects of Kowl's action figure were the fact that he was skinned with some kind of synthetic, rough velvet and his chest-plate could be lifted up to reveal a kind of jack-pot window beneath, anyone remember that?
[The Original: quite an effeminate action figure]Each time you lifted Kowl's chest-plate the symbol with the window would change - I had no idea what the monkey's this meant. I suppose Kowl was an action figure I just had no idea what to do with.
That just goes to show that kids just don't care about the bio of a character as long as they looked cool on television.
