Gwildor - Episode 80

Make Eternia Great Again

It's easy while talking about all the muscle-bound heroes, warriors, and monsters of MOTU to forget about the "little guys". The ones who are all too easily looked over and taken for granted, and then, before you know it...BAM!! You have either a gigantic strawberry stuck on your head, or you're being whisked away through a portal, taking you from Eternia to mid 1980's Earth!!! It's in this spirit we felt the need...no, the DUTY to discuss the often overlooked, but never quite loved, Gwildor!!! Gwildor was a NEW character, the creative staff over at the "Masters of the Universe" film were basically forced to create after they realized that faithfully getting a believable Orko onscreen was impossible considering the special effects technology of the 1980's. So we got Gwildor! A Thenurian (a race of troll like being on the planet Eternia) who is equal parts bumbling as much as a genius inventor, who in a rush to avoid capture by the evil forces of Skeletor, accidentally sends himself, He-Man, Teela, and Man-at-Arms into a portal through space and time, where they land on Earth, circa 1987! And then the hilarity ensues! Burning High Schools, shifty pawn shop owners (this baby's from JAPAAAAN), and barbecue ribs! Never featured in the animated series, Gwildor DID make it into one comic (the one the vintage toy came with) and frankly, seeing Orko have to interact with his cinematic replacement is sorta heartbreaking. Not much care seemed to go in his vintage toy as well. Hollow, and not necessarily matching the aesthetic of the original Mattel figures, Gwildor seems woefully out of place. He was re-released in the early 2000's in the "Classics" line with a much cooler looking sculpt and a "cosmic key" that looked waaaay closer to the original film version. You know, the device the aforementioned pawn shop owner believed to a funky Rick Wakeman style keyboard. Ahhhh those silly, know it all pawn shop dealers. Please enjoy our thoughts and take on the one and only Gwildor!