King Grayskull

Infobox He-Man/She-Ra Character
Alliance=#87CEFA
Title=King Grayskull


Name=King Grayskull
Affiliation=Queen Veena, Council of Elders, Battle Lion
Family=Queen Veena ("wife")
Powers=Super human strength, and speed, as well as inherent mystical energy
Weapons=Sword
Actor=Cam Clarke

King Grayskull is a fictional character from the 2002 version of "He-Man and the Masters of the Universe".

Fictional character biography

In the 2002 remake of "He-Man", it is revealed that Castle Grayskull was once home to King Grayskull, an ancestor of Prince Adam. He appears in the episode, "The Power of Grayskull", waging battle and ultimately defeating the Snakemen led by King Hiss. He triumph was shortlived and he would die defending his kingdom from a subsequent campaign waged by Hordak. During his lifetime, King Grayskull ruled with wisdom and compassion.

Upon his death, King Grayskull transferred his mystical energies into his Power Sword which now forms the basis of He-Man's power, thus the transformation cry "By the power of Grayskull!", (at least in this version) refers to the king, not the castle. His wife, Queen Veena, became the first Sorceress and his advisers became the Council of Elders. The Sorceress first introduced the story to Prince Adam by showing him a previously unrevealed statue of his titanic ancestor inside the bowels of Castle Grayskull.

King Grayskull's character design was originally an early prototype for He-Man himself. His appearance is largely the same as He-Man's but with much more exaggerated muscular body proportions resulting in an enormous stature, with long hair gathered into loose ponytails framing his face, and wearing a ling brown cape with fur-topped shoulders. The producers liked it enough that they decided to use it for King Grayskull. Whereas He-Man rides the green tiger Battle Cat, King Grayskull rode a giant green lion, and during his war with the Snake Men he was shown also wearing the same "Snake Armour" He-Man used in the second season. King Grayskull was voiced by Cam Clarke, He-Man's voice actor for the 2002 series.

The packaging for the King Grayskull action figure included a character bio that largely recounted the aforementioned story from the 2002 series, but also included the additional information that Grayskull had fought alongside He-Ro (implicitly the Preternia version), a fact - and character - unmentioned in the cartoon. This information, as well as the inclusion of classic rather than 2002-style accessories, may indicate that the toy of King Greyskull represents a hiterto nonexistent version of the character situated in the classic 1980's continuity as opposed to the 2002 remake.

Action Figure

At the 2008 San Diego Comic-Con, Mattel offered an exclusive King Grayskull figure, due to fan requests. However, as the figure served to launch Mattel's new "Masters of the Universe Classics" collector toyline, he is depicted more in the style of the other forthcoming"Classics" figures rather than that of the 2002 toyline, resulting in more standardised body proportions than his enormous cartoon physique, although it is still slightly taller than the 2002 He-Man figure. Furthermore, his Power Sword accessory uses the design from the original 1980s version of MOTU (in which his character did not exist) rather than the larger, more mechanised 2002 design. He does, however, feature the correct "asterix/letter-H" chest emblem rather than the classic Maltese cross.The figure was packaged in an elaborate box which can be unfolded to create a simplified cardboard playset of Castle Grayskull, with the figure included behind the drawbridge which, when opened, triggers a strobe to simulate lightning and a sound recording of the famous catchprhase "I have the power".

King Grayskull's production run included a chase variant of the figure cast in a uniform bronze colour to emulate the statue which Prince Adam first viewed. An additional ultra-rare "Spirit of Grayskull" variant in transluscent blue was given as gift to Mattel's team that worked on the new toyline, with only two copies available to the general public: one was raffled at SDCC, the other will be auctioned to raise money for children affected by AIDS through the Dream Halloween charity event. [http://he-man.org/site_sects/archives/news/2008b.shtml]