Zodac's Strange History Masters of the Universe MOTU vintage action figure review Mattel 1982
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 9 ต.ค. 2024
- Zodac? We Had That! When the first wave of Masters of the Universe figures came out in 1982, most of the characters were pretty clear cut, but Zodac was an extremely mysterious character! In this video, the secret history of Zodac will be revealed! We'll take a look at the history of the figure as well as his appearances in comic books and in the cartoon. What do you think about this enigmatic character? Let me know in the comments below!
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Zodac was my fav figure as a kid, I took him everywhere with me❤
Awesome!
Fun fact: Zodac was my favorite first wave figure! I loved his look and his unique body design.
He stood out from the rest!
Quite possibly the best head sculp of the whole line.
Your videos are brilliant!
Thank you!
Wow, this is one of your best researched and presented videos so far. You really elevated what I'd consider a throwaway character to a higher status in this. Bravo!
Thanks! This one took a lot of work. It really makes me happy that someone noticed -Haha!
I agree
He was my first MOTU guy. Originally I used him as a bad guy until the filmation episodes.
Seems like he would be a good figure either way!
I always played Zodac as somewhat All-powerful Neutral. Not really good or evil - just kinda indifferent. He kept the balance between dark and light, letting neither side get an upper hand, but he certainly didn't try to stop the never ending battle between the two. I guess that was very Hindu in thinking, even though I didn't realize it at the time.
I wonder if that was the original intent!
Zodac was one of my favorite figures, and I had the weapon pack too.
Fun video! Thank you!
I got into MOTU in 1983, and I had this guy, but between the variant spellings and the vague "Evil Cosmic Enforcer" title, I never knew what to do with him. Was he a hired thug for space gangsters? A bounty hunter? An interstellar cop gone bad? Part of a brute squad for an evil space empire? When he showed up in the Filmation cartoon and Point Dread storybook as a good / neutral guy, that only added to the confusion. So I just stuck him in with the bad guys as a scene-filler.
Since I never had him as a kid, I'm glad to hear about how other MOTU fans played with Zodac back in the 80s! Scene-filler sounds like some Star Wars figures that I had!
He appears in “The Power of Point Dread” 1983 mini comics
He was my first He Man fig. Got him and Battle Cat on Christmas Eve at the grandparents before getting Castle Grayskull, Battle Ram and He Man and Skeletor the next morning! Best Christmas ever. Last Christmas as a family before the divorce. Later on my Mom, who was a social worker, would steal my toys and take them to her work for the foster kids. I would spend weeks tearing the house apart looking for my things thinking I lost them and that I was stupid and I would feel guilty about it. I have since re-purchased everything as an adult. 😂🤦♂️
I can kind of understand since your mom was trying to help the other kids, but damn!
Nunca tuve de niño esta figura hasta ahora de viejo. Y justamente después de ver tu video lo conozco mejor y me gusta más. Lo valoro más. QUE BUEN VIDEO 🙌🏾
excelente
Zodak had three toed claw feet, he was evil.
I always loved that he was in the comics, a clone of Metron from the new gods.
one of the most awesome figures from that line. so strange and hardly touched on. left me thinking on his character for a long time. then his limited appearances on the show excited me when he showed up.
He definitely didn't show up much on the cartoon!
One of the mysterious characters in MOTU
Some more evidence that Zodac was going to be hoisted to the bad guy side at some point:
In some of the William George promo art, I think the piece called 'Grayskull', the image is split down the middle with bad guys on one side coming out of snake mountain, and good guys on the other coming out of Grayskull.
Zodac is lined up on the bad guy side of the image, clearly as part of Skeletors crew
Oh!
Great video. I have seen old Motu Action Figure Promotional Art that shows Zodac shooting his laser gun at one of the Heroic characters that were standing on top Castle Grayskull and some other Promotional Art showing Zodac running down a path with Skeletor's Evil Warriors and Snake Mountain in the background.
I think that's more evidence that he was at one point going to be a bad guy!
The Filmation series really elevated He-Man and the Masters of the Universe due to the demands for moral lessons woven into each story. Zodac as a wise sage figure, but with a different perspective of wisdom than that of other sages like the Sorceress, Man-At-Arms, and Granamyr, rather fired up my childhood imagination and gave the series a truly cosmic and lasting quality.
"The Search" remains one of my all-time favourite episodes, in large part due to that simple line, "I could use the Star Seed against you, Skeletor...but if I did, I'd be no better than you are." It seemed preachy and cliche in the '80s but practically brought a tear to my eye in later decades; the world needs that philosophy again.
Although I wasn't really all that into Zodac as the impartial cosmic keeper of balance in the universe, I still have to admit it was cool that Filmation included a character like this in the cartoon (and DC included this character in the comics). Sometimes those cliche lines of dialog hold weight because they're true!
We must be about the same age. I remember seeing "cosmic enforcer" then "evil warrior" later, which to me made him seem mysterious & cooler... I also remember when he first appeared on the cartoon, & that immediately cemented him as my favorite character. He was cool & mysterious.
Definitely mysterious!
I think my love of Zodac stems from that DC Comics preview. I pretty much used him in that way, and found his moral ambiguity fascinating. He's not good, or evil, he's above such petty matters. He just has his job to do,and that's to keep the universe in balance, and he's going to do it, damn the consequences!
It doesn't surprise me one bit that you had at least one of the comics with the Masters of the Universe preview story! If I had any of them, it was probably the Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew that featured the MOTU story!
@We Had That would it surprise you that it was the Batman issue? No, I didn't think so. Probably one of my favorite issues of any comic. Two Batman stories, one vs the Joker, the other a Robin team-up, He-Man, Superman, art by greats like Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez, Curt Swan, and Don Newton! All for under a buck? I was in heaven!
@@allenbelk6222 That's all I ask out of a comic - two or three great stories all for under a buck.
What an awesome and informative history video. Great job buddy. Very very cool
Thank you! I put a lot of time into this one! 😁
I had Zodac. He was a hero in my toys. I had the Point Dread record and book too.
It seems like he could have been on either side just depending on how you saw him as a kid!
When we grew up, This country was great
Carter/Reagan/Bush (the Dad) era.. Clinton too ;) ??
The corruption wasn’t as open and plentiful back then
@@jayworner795 💯
Yes!
Absolutely love the work you've done here in relating the figure and it's development to comic books and in rooting it to the context of the era it was created in. After watching Kevin Smith's new version, I have to wonder if Zodak, who did not appear in the series yet, will have a definitive role in the next season that expands what amounts to be a pretty unfocused background. Smith has certainly put the themes of science v. magic to use in the first few seasons, so I wouldn't be too surprised if Zodak emerges in his most prominent role to date.
I didn't get into the 2000s version of Zodak (with a "k"), but he was much more developed than the 80s Zodac!
@@WeHadThat I think the distinction I made there was unintentional... but good catch. I stand by my inarticulateness. lol
Well i was 1 in 1983 so i got to know him in the cartoon and i didn't start getting MOTU toys tell late 80's so i knew him as neutral. I have him in my collection now but not back when i was younger.
That makes sense if you knew him from the cartoon first!
@@WeHadThat Yeah bro so i use him like he is from the cartoon. :)
very cool channel! it's great to see some of the toys and action heroes that i used to have. keep it gup.
Thank you!
That Mo-Fo was a straight up mercenary in my world.
I would have LOVED it if Mattel had gone in that direction with this character in the mini-comics and cartoon!
In the TV show he reminded me of the time Lords
Oh yeah, I can totally see that!
Good thinking
3-year-old-me: "Mom, is Zodac a good guy or bad?"
Mom: "Neither."
3-year-old-mind-blown.
Looking at Zodac now - as "a watcher" trope, who rides on a flying chair - he seems very Jack Kirby inspired. (EDIT: just saw Jack Kirby scene!)
You nailed it! Although I would have preferred a bounty hunter, it is cool that Masters of the Universe had a Jack Kirby-like character!
@@WeHadThat You nailed it with this video! Thanks for the research and careful presentation.
@@ta0paipai Thanks, I appreciate it! This one took me a long time to put together!
When I was a kid, I always used him as a bad guy. He was always one of my favorites. Now given his odd history, I'd probably make him a neutral character. Whoever the heck he is, he's pretty damn cool!
Agreed!
Excellent character besides Skeletor my favourite of the 1st wave.
Zodac was cool and mysterious!
Glad they fleshed him out in the 200x series
Oh yeah. The 200x version really had a lot more depth than the original!
💯 more indeed! so awesome that new black version of him, like an old school martial arts monk cross with American comicbook powers ;)
I had the toy as a kid. I liked him, but admit I was confused about whose side he was supposed to be on. I mean neutral and maintaining balance. Does that mean if He-Man wins 2 battles in a row that Zodac is going to help Skeletor win the next two battles? It didn't make sense to me as kid. But I liked him because of his cool design and his gun with what appeared to me a mace head on the barrel. So, he could shoot people and then club them with the barrel of the gun if they got too close to him. LOL.
His story did seem confusing to me as a kid too!
"evil enforcer" so confusing to me then.
Definitely!
You forgot that Zodac also came with his own manifesto but it needed a decoder for you to read it.
That must have been a rare variant -Haha!😆
@@WeHadThat Yeah, they're still searching for it, Lol!
He was always a good guy with me
Open by chance brought me here. Great video. Greetings from a german Outlander. Sub and like is out
Thank you for letting me know how you found the channel! Welcome!
Just Scooped up from local flee market Mantenna, Webstor(COMPLETE),Roboto(COMPLETE and has mini comic). I ALSO got Man e faces without gun but got him for $2 Dollars. Paid $60 for EVERYTHING.
Excellent! Man-E-Faces for $2 is amazing! The Zodiac in black armor in this video was $2 (he had both black and red armor, but no gun...still, for $2, that's a deal!)
I like the name Sensor.
Yeah!
I had that guy
When you were a kid, was he a good guy or a bad guy?
My question is where did they come up with the name "Zodac "? Is it just zodiac without the letter I?
That's my guess!
I always thought he was a good guy but just how i took it as a kid when they first came out
I never really knew as a kid.
Do blast attak!!
That would be a good one, but I don't have him...yet!
I'm not sure why I'm commenting on this video. - _Superman_
😂😂
Sometimes you've just got to say, "Hey. I'm here." I get it.
Zodak is Kang to DC
I can see that being a good comparison!
zodac is like a jar jar binks lol. he is part of the story but not liked very much.
Haha! I think he has his fan base...but I guess that's also like Jar Jar!
5 y/o me: bad guy feet = bad
There is a lot of kid logic there!!!
😂😂👍