Castle Greyskull Lego Build by Owen Burnett

I have great memories of my childhood, especially all the toys that were available to kids for them to play with. The late 70s/early 80s were a golden age of toys & action figures. All you have to do is search Joe Esq's 'Takin' You Back' columns on CCD to hear all about them. But those memories are all present in people my age... so any callback to those days always puts a smile on my face. While I had many loves when it comes to toy lines of my youth, one stands out among all the rest: He-Man and the Masters of the Universe !!! It was a great cartoon, and even better toy line. The figures were very much like their cartoon counterparts, they had killer vehicles and weapons, and the line was super expansive... yup, they pretty much made a toy of every character. But the highlight of the line were the Castle Greyskull and Snake Mountain play sets. Those two castles were to cool for their own good. They were big play sets that can be used with multiple figures (which was impressive because He-Man figures were much bigger than any others on the market. While Snake Mountain, with its sinister looks and spooky voice mic, was a better play set (in my humble opinion)... Castle Greyskull was majestic, and it was such a well executed replica of the original from the cartoon. So when my buddy, Reddit master Joe Fletch, sent me over this epic He-Man Lego build of Castle Greyskull.... well, lets huts say it warmed the cockles of my heart. The best parts have to be the Lego mini figs that were created for this build. They are beautiful (Jeff Bond, what say you on these given you're area of expertise). You can see all the pics by clicking on this Owen Burnett's Imgur page, and you can see my faves after the jump...

Master Ladies Of The Universe by Shana Bilbrey

I post a ton of fan art up here on the blog, but I really like when people put simple twists on old classics to come up with cool properties. Masters of the Universe is a property that always comes up, but very rarely do we see the women of the show being highlighted. The Sorcerer, Evil Lynn, and Teela are all integral parts to He-Mans mythos, yet when the fan art comes out they are often left out in the cold. We see tons of Skeletors, a bunch of Beast Men, some dope Ram Mans... goodness gracious, what about the ladies!!!! Well artist Shana Bilbrey has decided to give two of the chicks from the show a shot, and her cartoony style does them justice. Evil Lynn & Teela, check em out after the jump....

80s Toys by Hartter

My geeky man love for the art of Sean Hartter is well known, but the more I go through his back log of pieces over at his site the more I realize I need to share this amazing stuff with the world. I can't wait for October to roll around and we have our first CCD table at the New York City Comic Con in collaboration with my main man Sean. Today we will take a look at some of the retro 80s toys that Sean has created over the years via digital manipulation and his own unique stylings. Some of these are so well suited (Maximum Overdrive Optimus Prime? Yeah... that is perfect!), and some are a bit more ambitious (Leon the professional MOTU figure? WTF!!!!). either way, all of them are awesome. Enjoy them after the jump, and get on over to Sean's site and buy some of his prints. Like now....

He-Man & The Masters of the Universe by Gerald Parel

Is it so crazy that I would love to see a CG adventure involving these characters that doesn't play the concept for a joke but just plays it straight?  On this weird planet of Eternia, good and evil are locked in a struggle for the greatest power source there is - power enough to make them Masters Of The Universe. Click here to see more wonderful work from Gerald Parel, and click aftter the jump for some killer MOTU art...

He-Man & The Pixelated Masters of the Universe by Caleb Hystad

I love me some cool ass animation, especially when something so simple comes out so perfect. In this case I am talking about animator Caleb Hystad's pixelated version of the opening credits to he-Man and the Masters of the Universe. MOTU is one of my favorite cartoons ever, but seeing it get the 8-bit treatment makes it a bit cooler. Thanks to Shez Crafti for posting this cool video, and thanks to Caleb for thinking outside of the box with his art. He has a great site, so make sure you click here to check out all he has to offer. The He-Man video appears after the jump...

Hordak Is Such A Pimp...

One of the most underrated cartoons of the 80's has to be She-Ra: princess of Power. Even though it has princess in the title and was made primarily to open the He-Man market up to little girls, the series has some strong characters & episodes that put it right on par with Masters of the Universe itself. One of the best parts about the series: Hordak. Hordak was Skeletor's mentor and chief adversary to She-Ra as well as a regular pain in the ass to prince Adam himself. He is also leader of The Horde and the main reason why The Slime Pit was such a big part of all kids alive in the 80's lives (probably the coolest toy I ever owned). So what if Hordak had captured Tela & She-Ra and turned them out, Jabba the Hut style? Artist Mike Powell imagines that scenario quite well with a very unique look to his art... looks like colored pencils to me (Tommy l, help me out). Powell has a ton of sexy themed comic book art over at his Deviant Art page (some really sex heavy stuff), so go check that out. You can see the Hordak piece after the jump....

Masters Of The Universe & Princess of Power Fan Art by Nebezial

Honestly, He-man & She-Ra were both pretty awesome cartoons... and the majority of that came from teh fact that the character designs were very original and cool to look at. Whenever I see fan art that makes these characters look even cooler, it just piques my interest even more. Croatian artist Nebezial has done some amazing things with the guys & gals of Eternia, so I decided to highlight my personal faves here on CCD. Click after the jump to see which ones that I liked the best... BY THE POWER OF GREYSKULL!!!!

Masters Of The Universe Gets An 8 Bit Makeover by Sound of Design

More and more people are doing 8 bit versions of our favorite comic book and cartoon characters, but not everybody is doing a great job on capturing the details in the simplicity that is 8 bit art. One artist, Sound of Design (aka Ty Lettau), are doing it... and doing it well (LL voice!!!) There are tons of prints for sale in their Society 6 page, but the ones that I like the best were the Masters of the Universe pieces. They made three... one for the her, one for the villains and one for Hordak & the Snake Men. They are so cool... check em out after the jump!

Artist Profile: Flaviano

We post a lot of artist's works from around the world. Many different countries have seen their work portrayed here on this site. To my knowledge, Flaviano is the first Italian artist to get some love here. Boy does he deserve it. Jeff sent me this tip about this guy and I was taken by his off kilter style and well thought out ideas for his re-imaginings of classic characters from the 80's. His "Masters of the Ghetto" series portrays some of the coolest characters from He-Man in distinctively different looks then how we are used to seeing them. The greats are all here (Beast Man, Mer Man, Skeletor, He Man, etc), but the highlights come from the obscure characters that Flaviano created (Roboto, Cyclone, and Tri Clops... yes please!!!). His next project is going to be based on the Transformers, so stay tuned. Click after the jump for some of my faves from his blog...

'I'd Buy That...As a Tee!' Vol 24

Always on the look out for inspiring art... emblazoned across the chest of humanity. Here's some of the t-shirts I have my eye on to do just the trick but, there's only one problem....they aren't for sale yet! Please click the links below to the Threadless.com voting pages for each and give these beauties '5' ratings so I can throw 'em on my charge card one day.

***Please click READ MORE below for more terrific tees from Threadless!***

These Masters of the Universe Toy Posters Will Take You Back

Way back... god I loved me some He-Man back in the day!!! The best part about being a kid back in the 80's was the cool posters that the toy companies used to put out to promote their new lines. Here are 5 to take you back down memory lane. Hope you enjoy them as much as I did. Thanks to Io9 for digging these bad boys up. (Click all of the posters to enlarge)

He-Man Likes Bounce Houses Too!!!

Check out this wonderful T shirt over at MySoti by Griggitee.

LIke! Like?: The Art of David J. Cutler

Artist, David Cutler, is not just your average, run-in-the-mill, comic artist he's also a true fan and the work he does for fun proves it. He's a regular artist for Moonstone Comics 'Northern Guardian' series but, the work that I liked best, of his, were of characters from our youth. Click on his name above for more of his work let 'em know we sent ya'!

'A Bizarro and His Dog'

'In Another Mission'

'Masters of the Universe'

'SF Cammy and Zangief'

'She-Hulk' (Commission)

'The Victorian Aquaman'

'Turtle Power'

Like! Like?

Awwww... It's A Baaaaa-by Skeletor!!!

Check out artists Dave Correia's version of Skeletor as a lil' baby... and he even has his trusty sidekick Panthor right by his side!!!! Via SuperPunch

What's That Yor Spelling Skelly???

Maybe Axl Can Get These Guys To Make A New Guns & Roses Album....

Being that it took over 15 years & countless new members for Axl Rose to put out a new studio album (Chinese Democracy) from Guns & Roses, maybe if he shifted to this Eternia based lineup he could cut that time down a bit. From artist Joebot, I present "Masters of Paradise City":

JBond with another nice catch... nice job kid!