Well...as we all know, "the best intentions something something something," so despite hoping to get back to the blog after yesterday's post to continue the tour and maybe even get caught up...here I am well over 24 hours later seeing that there's almost no way that happens. Because this next question...oh boy, does it make me want to ramble.
So there's your warning. Now let's see where this takes me...
Day 5 - Can you tell us about the campaign's history?
(In the real world and within the universe.)
Day 5 - Can you tell us about the campaign's history?
(In the real world and within the universe.)
To start off: Why am I so adamant about gaming with action figures?!? (And what is it about He-Man?)
I have imagined making action figure skirmish gaming a major part of my hobby life for years now. It might have emerged soon after I first discovered minis gaming, when I started to work on a universe and system to support battles among garden gnomes in actual gardens. Since then, the idea to set up a game in whatever outside environment I happen to find myself in has crept into my thoughts over, and over, and over. And the more I've thought about it, the more I've idealized the dream scenario in my mind...like the more I've thought about running outdoor miniature scenarios with toys being something that I could do to legitimately add a bit of positivity to the world. (Even though I know that sounds a little...eh, pretentious...?)
Several years ago, I read an online piece about Masters of the Universe-styled figures' making a bit of a comeback. I wish I could find that article again now...but the main things I remember are the emphasis on the unique figure anatomy (I think the author may have referred to them as "chunky") and the specific reference to their being perfect to play with at the beach. This hit home because I remember doing exactly that! Back in the early '80s, my family spent a day (I guess multiple days over the course of my childhood) at this "beach" in south Georgia called Crystal Lake. (And this was after Friday the 13th had become a very well-known cultural reference point, so I don't know what they were thinking. Maybe it existed before the first movie...? Not sure, as I think it was actually an artificial body of water...)
Anyway...the brother of one of my sister's friends was also going to be there for one of these trips, and either through fortune or the kind foresight of our parents, he and I both ended up with chunky action figures to play with in the sand and water. I had the one that was my first MotU figure (maybe my only one at the time?), and potentially the one that many people would find most appropriate to bring to such an outing...Mer-Man:
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| Photo from the Motu Vintage Variants page |
Christopher, meanwhile, brought a figure that I wasn't yet familiar with...
I believe The Warrior Beasts were made by Remco alongside their Warlord (and other DC Comics fantasy property) action figure line, perhaps to serve as villains. (I definitely find that little "PLAY WITH" box mentioning Arak and the Warlord alongside Masters of the Universe pretty interesting...!) Gecko here was also a great choice for the day of play in the sand and Sun.
Now, add in a few other bits of info:
1. The absurdly exaggerated bodies of these figures reinforce that they are meant for play, not accurate representation of reality;
2. Masters of the Universe as an IP is arguably the strongest connection I have to what might be called 'classic fantasy' from my entire childhood. (The fact that it's really Star Wars-influenced science fantasy only makes it cooler to me now, just as it did back then. I mean...it's also basically a superhero setting, so it has elements of pretty much every type of adventure story I enjoyed as a kid!); and...
3. The snowstorm across the American Northeast a couple weeks ago has left everything around me covered in snow for a while now, and as I'm driving, I can't help but think about how much fun it'd be to set up adventure scenarios in the yards, fields, and hills stretched out around me.
Put all of these things together, and I truly have this specific, archetypal experience playing out in my mind where strangers are brought together by the unbridled fun of rolling big dice outside to play out stories with action figures. And while I'll probably always gravitate toward roughly 1:18 scale toys due to the fact that in my childhood, that was simply the default size for an action figure, it's definitely possible that this unbridled fun would be amplified even more if they happen to be ridiculously muscular 5.5" figures!
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Okay...and one more thing about Masters of the Universe that has struck me so powerfully lately that I felt it deserved an entirely new section of this post: I am kind of blown away by how easy it is to find similarities between things happening in old episodes of He-Man and She-Ra and things happening right now in my own country. I know that sounds...hmm...alarmist, maybe...? But...I really didn't start my recent stretch of watching the old series with this connection in mind...yet it was impossible to ignore. The Great Rebellion led by Princess Adora (that's She-Ra, in case you don't know) is fighting against a tyrannical government that ignores all manner of compassion and dignity to exploit its residents...even occupying villages with faceless troops who demand complete obedience. Hell...I watched an episode of He-Man last night that had this kid talking about how great Skeletor is (while his father or grandfather was there telling him Skeletor couldn't be trusted), and I swear you could just replace "Skeletor" with a certain American celebrity/politician's name every time the boy spoke, and it would sound exactly like the sort of things being said in the United States right now.
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| Image from Wiki Grayskull |
And y'know...maybe that's the craziest part of it all, the part that REALLY makes it resonate. At some point, as I was aging out of the target audience range for Masters of the Universe, I started to recognize how ridiculous the caricatured portrayals of its villains really were. I guess that could be said for a lot of cartoon "big bads" that were meant to be invariably selfish and occasionally bungling, but somehow powerful enough to be the biggest threats to their respective settings. And it seems like that's exactly what I'm watching in the U.S. right now. It's pretty easy to say, "Yeah, but how could someone like Skeletor gain so much power and inspire such loyalty in his lackeys?" It's absurd...and kind of funny...but we're now seeing it every day in the real world. It's un-freaking-believable at times...
Hmm.
So, yeah...He-Man and She-Ra really hit home these days. Uncomfortably so. However, the goofy heroism and kindness emphasized by their stories is as good a remedy as I can find to shake off the despair that discomfort brings with it.
So let's play with some chunky figures!!
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Heh. There, I guess I'm done with the rambling. I need to cover the other part of the question, though: What is the in universe history of the Fifth Moon of Elysia? I'll see if I can make this quick...
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| The planet Elysia; art by Decster1 |
Elysia is the fifth planet in a system centered on a Class G star in a distant spiral galaxy. It was what drew humanoid explorers to the system in the first place; while essentially an ice planet, huge deposits of etherealite with a variety of chemical compositions have been found just below the permafrost layer, in many spots around the globe. This led The Corporation to send legions of miners and their families to live on the planet, exploiting the galaxy's many citizens in need for cheap labor and simultaneously mounting an incessant propaganda campaign that has influenced many of these very workers to develop great Corporate loyalty. You might think, with a name like Elysia, that the planet would be a pretty fantastic place to live. That certainly is not the case, but it is why The Corporation settled on that name.
Over time, other planets in the system have also been populated to varying extents, and a highly advanced civilization of metallic dragons was discovered on the system's third planet, Chalcothon. In addition, the many moons of Elysia have been settled and offer a wide spectrum of experiences and adventures. The Fifth Moon, aka AB-5.5, is the center of the system's resistance movement, a collection of warriors, mages, and citizens of all walks of life who recognize the uncaring and occasionally downright malicious intent of The Corporation's policies and are determined to bring a more progressive and democratic way of life to Elysia and its nearby planets and moons.
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Thank you for making your way through all of that (or even for skipping down to this sentence...)! I shall be back tomorrow(?) with a focus on where we'll start our tour of AB-5.5...
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