Grayskulls Are Gonna Clear Up – Cooper Barnes Visits Power-Con & Thunder-Con!

I was never molested as a kid. I didn’t have a creepy uncle and all of my baby sitters were on the up-and-up, so I missed out on the moment in my adulthood that so many of my generation experience- where they unlock, usually through therapy, a long-forgotten memory, buried deep down in the catacombs of the mind that forces them to re-examine the life that they live and the childhood from which they were spawned.

However, as I walked through the halls of the first annual Power-Con/Thunder-Con this past weekend (a fan-made celebration of all things “He-Man” and “Thundercats”), I did experience similar mind-blowing recollections. Not so much “that bastard, he ruined my life” feelings, but more of an “Oh, yeah! ‘Attack-Track’! I used to have that when I was four!” kinda thing. While not nearly as traumatic (okay, while not at all traumatic), it certainly made me realize that it has indeed been a while since dem’ days. It has been almost 30 years, it would seem, since the “Masters of the Universe” toy line was launched, and little boys across America like me became fascinated with an oiled-up man riding a fantastic tiger. Come to think of it, the social damage was already done by Mattel. No molestation required.

The show started small, as is to be expected with any inaugural convention, but Director of Events Val Staples was pleased with the response and told me a little about how the idea came together earlier this year. “You’ve got Bon-Con, Gem-Con, My Little Pony Fair, I mean, everything has a convention but He-Man…He-Man fans and Thundercats fans have always sort of worked in tandem with each other. It just made sense to have the two of them come together as one show.”

“Someone let us out of this case!”

That being said, I think I saw a couple Lion-O figures and a Snarf doll and that was about it.  Which was fine by me. I knew what I was there for. As much as I dug on “Thundercats”, it was “Masters of the Universe” that dominated my earliest memories.  This also seemed to be the case for a majority of the attendees, like long-time MOTU fan Augie Pires, who took a break from drooling over Mattel’s new Classic figure line to sum up his thoughts on the con. “The sense of community… having a weekend where you get to be a nerd with other nerds and just relive your childhood. Just being a kid for a couple days.”

And that’s basically what we all were doing. There really should have been snack-time or a place to take a nap because we all essentially reverted to infant-status for the day. Not since crawling around in my parent’s attic the summer after college had I seen so many He-Man figures and playsets- some of which had aged like fine wine, like a boxed “Road Ripper” that was going for $1,000, which made me pray mine didn’t fall victim to the garage sale of ’98. Also in abundance were fan-made custom figures- characters who we’ll probably never see in production, like my personal favourite, “He-Bro”, a flat-top sporting warrior who I assume has the power to bitch-slap any jive-ass turkey in Eternia.

“Buy back your childhood… for $1,000!” – The Evil Skeletor

“I’m basically Sun-Man… ‘cept he’s browner.”

In addition to the alleys of merchandise and action figures, thirty-somethings- geeks from far and wide lined up to meet Melendy Britt, the voice of She-Ra, and Alan Oppenheimer, who lent his shreiking pipes to Skeletor back in the day, and a score of panels ranging from Filmation and Rankin-Bass retrospectives to a celebration of the artwork of  Earl Norem,  who provided many of the original paintings that made up the merchandise artwork that wowed me as a kid, and impressed me even more as an adult.
 
Along with never being molested, I was also never on Ritalin, but you’d never know it from my behavior in the convention hall. The flood of memories that kept pouring in kept me constantly drifting off as I interviewed people for this article, as did the random thoughts that they inspired. I found myself imagining how unreliable Man-E-Faces would  have been in battle, and then how oddly similar the “The Masters of the Universe” and “Remingston Steele” theme songs were. How come the Man-at-Arms action figure didn’t have a moustache? Was it STINK-Or or SKUNK-Or? Remember how squishy Skeletor’s head was? Oh shit, this fucker is still talking. Thank God I had my tape recorder.

Augie Pires has a breakthrough. Now the healing can begin.

As for what is in store for the future, fan and vendor John Sharkey is hopeful. “By all indication, I’d say this is the first of many.”  And Staples says he has big plans for 2012: “Next year you’re going to have the 30th anniversary of the classic He-Man, you’re going to have the 25th anniversary of the 87’ movie… the 25th anniversary of the Power Tour, the 10th anniversary of the 2002 line…so it’s all these reasons to want to experience it. And once you have one, you feel out a vibe about what people like- how it goes, what works, what doesn’t, and you can go in more full-steam for the second year. “
 
As I found my way to the exit I realized why I was having such a good time- it wasn’t the cheap plastic junk or the goofy animation cells – it was remembering the time my mom and I designed a minotaur-like villain named “Horri-Bull” for the 1986 “Create-A-Character Contest”, and the life-size cardboard “Talon Fighter” that my Dad made for me in our basement when I was five. It was the remembrance of a childhood that was pretty damn good, and how lucky I was to have had that.
 
Sharkey took a break from hocking mini-comics and action figure accessories from his personal collection to tell me what the legacy of MOTU meant to him. “It means a lot, honestly. It’s something entertaining that I’ve always loved but still has a really strong message. (He-Man)’s the ultimate good guy. Kindness, always treating people with respect. Just generally doing the right thing.” To that I would add “always wear hairy underpants”. It’s a good motto. One that worked for me, at least.