Battle Ram Chariot from the Masters of the Universe 200x Modern Series toy line. The newer version of the vehicle is a radically different design, capable of standing one standard figure. A button shoots the rams at the front of the chariot forward, while rolling the chariot forward causes the rams to ‘gallop.’ A passenger stand pulls out at the back, and the vehicle came with an exclusive Skeletor figure, complete with Havoc Staff.

The Ram Chariot appeared early on in the cartoon series and was used by Skeletor as his personal transport. He seemed to favor it over Panthor for transportation. Not to be confused with the Battle Ram from the original toy line, the Ram Chariot (sold as the Battle Ram Chariot in the 2002 toy line) had three spiked wheels and two horned ram heads used to charge through enemy lines as it sped across Eternia’s landscape. The chariot’s origins were left a mystery in the cartoon series, but it had no reins or steering wheel to guide it and seemed to move independently without any commands given to it. This apparently invisible control system was possibly based on magic.

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.