User:Colonel Warden/Spikor

Spikor is a fictional character in the popular Masters of the Universe toy line and accompanying cartoon series He-Man and the Masters of the Universe.

He is a member of the Evil Warriors, whose head and torso are completely covered in razor-sharp spikes. It is not clear whether the spikes are a natural part of his body or some kind of special armor. In place of his left hand is a trident, which can extend and in some media fires a laser beam.

Character history
Spikor was introduced into the Masters of the Universe toy line in 1985. His action figure' feature is his spring-action waist, which propelled his trident to shoot out of its socket when his torso sprang back. His first appearance in the story media is in the Mattel mini-comic "Spikor Strikes". This portrays him as a deadly warrior whose spikes and trident are a formidable weapon, but gives him no real character development. He is given more development in the mini-comic "The Terror Claws Strike!" in which he is portrayed as a blacksmith who lives in a mountain cavern in which he fashions various weapons for Skeletor. This comic shows he is the creator of the Terror Claws, which come with the action figure variant, Terror Claws Skeletor.

Spikor was introduced into the cartoon series by Filmation shortly after his figure was released. While it is standard for Skeletor's henchmen to be portrayed as dim-witted and bumbling, Spikor is portrayed as undoubtedly the most stupid and useless of them all. He is given a comical voice, frequently altering in tone and emphasizing every second syllable as if singing, and an almost childlike personality. It is quite probable that this was intentional on Filmation's part, in order to make his character more suitable for a children's audience given his potentially frightening design. Appearing in three episodes, "The Gambler", "Visitors from Earth" and "The Games", never once does he actually use his spikes. The only episode to give him a main role is "The Games" in which he is infused with the villainous energy of all of Skeletor's minions so that he can be chosen to represent the side of evil in a series of games set by aliens, but he is clearly a bizarre choice for the role given that he is shown to foul up repeatedly and is used as mere comic relief through the whole episode.

However, despite the heavily toned-down portrayal of his character, he comes across significantly differently in the episode "Visitors from Earth". Although he only appears briefly, in this episode he comes across as a silent, menacing, zombie-like character in complete contrast to his other appearances. At one point, the screen fades to black as Skeletor sets him towards a captive, hinting at some kind of horrific use of his spikes; the only point at which Filmation acknowledged the character's potentially deadly abilities which were too extreme for them to show. Another notable point of this episode is that it is the only episode in which he has the trident arm of the toy; in other episodes, the trident is excluded in favor of a normal hand so he could appear symmetrical, thus allowing the animators to flip over the character cels.

While his exposure in the cartoon is minimal (since the cartoon was drawing to a close by the time his figure was released), Spikor features more predominantly in various comic series, including the UK comics by London Editions. Surprisingly, Spikor was completely excluded from the 2002 relaunch of the MOTU toy line and cartoon. In He-Man and the Masters of the Universe Vol.3 cartoon DVD released in August 2008, during the Four Horsemen interviews, sketches are shown on screen at different times and an updated colored Spikor concept is one of them. So it looks as if he would have eventually joined the line at some point.