Sunday, July 29, 2007

One Tough Lady

[He-Man & The Masters Of The Universe: the original starting line-up]
Written by GL

Several things about the He-Man cartoon series were cool: the sword, the magic, the power, the toys and Teela. I am very, very sure that many of us remember the hottest female on the planet of Eternia (how could we forget?).

Teela was the Captain of the Royal Guard at the palace of Eternos. As part of her job, Teela is responsible for training and protecting her best friend, Prince Adam, prince of Eternia. However, she isn't aware that Adam is also He-Man. Teela usually assists He-Man in his battles against the Evil Warriors or the Evil Horde, but never, ever seems to catch on that He-Man conveniently appears after Adam disappears.

[Teela: the hottest Eternian ever]

Teela was also the daughter of Teela-Na, the Sorceress. When Teela was an infant, the Sorceress gave her to Man-At-Arms, because the she felt that it would be too dangerous to have her child living at Castle Greyskull. Greyskull was always under attack by enemies such as the evil forces of Skeletor - it was too dangerous a place for little Teela.

Teela's true father is never revealed, although Man-At-Arms says he was one of Eternia's greatest men. Teela was adopted by Man-At-Arms, who raises her to be a fearless warrior devoted to King Randor, and the protector of his kingdom, Eternia.

[Orko & Teela: acting like nothing's wrong, the coy monkey]

Despite her excellent fighting skills and generally being sensible and level-headed, Teela has a reckless streak like that of a wild tomboy - totally different from her mother, the Sorceress. Her recklessness and quick temper in bad situations often lead to Teela making bad choices. And that leads to Teela getting captured quite a lot.

Not realizing his duel identity as He-Man, she often scolds Adam for being lazy and cowardly and not attentive to his training, while holding a crush on his alter ego, He-Man.

[Original Packaging: you gotta love it]

Teela was one of the first characters featured in the Masters of the Universe toyline, although her figure was not released until the second half of the first wave - launched in 1981. Teela's figure action was a power punch that allowed her to twist at the waist.

As with a lot of Mattel's He-Man characters, Teela does not appear with all the weapons she has in her action figure package. She doesn't use her cobra staff at all in the cartoon. She is more remembered as using a shield and a sword. Yet, apart from all that, Teela was a very classic action figure - its likeness followed the cartoon character greatly, and this added to the quality of the toyline.

[Teela's Snake Staff: awesome accessory detail]