Battle Hawk from the Masters of the Universe 200x Modern Series toy line. Battle Hawks were fast, flying assault crafts used in defense of the Eternos kingdom. Mimicking the appearance of a bird, the single-occupant vehicle could land on its large metal claws. Its dual laser cannons reached out on either side of its beak-shaped nose to deliver punishing energy bolts upon its targets. In Eternia’s past, Battle Hawks aided Captain Miro’s army of the Royal Eternian Guard to defeat Count Marzo in his assault of the Hall of Wisdom. Years later, He-Man and Teela flew Battle Hawks in battle against the Evil Warriors’ Terrordactyls over the Vine Jungle. In addition to their combat role, the Battle Hawks were also used to provide relief, transporting supplies to the Royal Palace after a disaster and carrying the Masters of the Universe quickly and safely across Eternia. Many Battle Hawks were damaged and destroyed in the cartoon series. In one scene, three Battle Hawks were vaporized by an explosion created by the destruction of the Coridite Crystal outside of Castle Grayskull.

Toy Line

In 2002, Mattel launched a new Masters of the Universe toy line most commonly referred to today as the MOTU 200x or MOTU Modern Series. The figure sculpts featured the talented designs by the Four Horsemen who remained faithful to the original Masters of the Universe toy line. The figure design was a modern version of the classic figure that featured sharp angles and sculpts that were unique to each figure.

Animated Series

Accompanying the toy line was a new animated series that featured only 39 episodes in total from August 2002 to January 2004. This version of He-Man featured a young Prince Adam that was physically smaller in stature, height, and appearance and was part of a group called the protectors known as “The Masters.” Man-at-Arms headed up this team and consisted of He-Man/Adam, Battle Cat, Teela, Orko, Stratos, Ram-Man, Mekaneck, and Man-E-Faces. In later episodes, traditional with most animated series that have toy lines, later characters were added, which included Buzz-Off, Roboto, and Sy-Klone. King Randor, now a general, was pronounced ruler of Eternia by the Elders of the Hall of Wisdom, which have gone into hiding inside the depths of Castle Grayskull.

You see the transformation fans have been waiting for when Skeletor, now confirmed as Keldor, heads up the charge with his evil forces. Evil-Lynn, Beast-Man, Mer-Man, Trap-Jaw (now a cybernetically repaired henchman, formerly known as Kronis), Tri-Klops (now an inventor/scientist, somewhat akin to an evil Man-At-Arms), Claw-ful (now a very large and extremely dim-witted thug), and Whiplash (now also of larger size and of the subterranean Caligar race) are the main evil forces in the series until Skeletor is sidelined in favor of the leader of the Snake Men, King Hiss. The reptilians consist of Kobra-Kahn, General Rattlor, Tung-Lashor, Snake-Face, and Sssqueeze, with He-Man and many of the characters now bearing a new “Snake-Armor” look. Hordak and the Evil Horde were to be the main antagonists for the third season if the show had continued, but it was not renewed, unfortunately.