Point Dread Talon Fighter Box Art Ruby Obrero

Point Dread and the Talon Fighter somehow completely slipped off my radar as a kid. I probably saw it represented in cross sell art grade at some point in my childhood, but I don't think it ever made an impression. And that's a shame considering it'south one of the coolest items ever produced for the Masters of the Universe toyline. It'due south certainly 1 of my favorites now.

Design & Development

Point Dread and the Talon fighter was a rather unique item, in that information technology combined a pocket-sized playset with a vehicle also as a story volume with record.

The commercial (above) shows a prototype that seems to have less overspray on both the vehicle and the playset than the mass produced toys did. The cross sell art seems based on that prototype:

Indicate Dread & Talon Fighter cross sell art

From my interview with Mattel designer Ted Mayer, I learned that the idea for the Talon Fighter originated with a sketch for the Eternia playset. There are a couple of those in beingness, and both seem to characteristic a flying vehicle that bears some resemblance to the last Talon Fighter design, although the shipping in the 2d epitome likewise resembles the Blasterhawk. The 2d paradigm is dated February 5, 1985, and so it would not have been a source used for the Talon Fighter. I would guess that the starting time image (called Mount Eternia) dates from some time in 1982.

Mount Eternia, prototype courtesy of Ted Mayer

Mountain Eternia's flight vehicle – closer view

In that location is also some rough similarity to the 1983 Large Jim Space Spy Vehicle (chapeau tip to Jukka for pointing this out), which also featured the radar dish on the top, a handle in the back, stubby wings, and a similar (but not identical) overall profile:

Bespeak Dread seems to accept been conceived at ane point as the home of Skeletor and his Evil Warriors. From the Filmation Serial Guide:

"Indicate Dread is a craggy peak emerging from the Eternian Bounding main. It is an extinct volcano with a tunnel leading down to a fantastic ruined, Atlantis-like metropolis hidden beneath the ocean floor. Inside Point Dread, Skeletor keeps all the treasure he has plundered from a chiliad worlds. There are also mines and structure sites waiting for the slaves Skeletor plans to accept once he has seized control of Eternia.

"Simply the centre of Point Dread is the great quango chamber where Skeletor summons the sinister Masters of the Universe. Here Skeletor sits on a raised platform in a higher place the round table where are gathered the likes of…"

Discover that at the evil warriors are referred to equally the "sinister Masters of the Universe".

The same guide describes Talon Fighter equally an agile air vehicle that only He-Man tin can control, and says that information technology is frequently perched atop Castle Grayskull. The top of what we would refer to equally the Betoken Dread playset is also shown – perhaps at the time the rocky base of operations for the Talon fighter was non yet named. It may have taken on the name of Point Dread after Skeletor's habitation base was identified as Serpent Mount.

The 1985 UK Annual again describes Point Dread as the lair of Skeletor (images courtesy of Jukka Issakainen):

Production Toy

Permit'southward take a look at the actual toy and its packaging and accessories:

Perched majestically atop Castle Grayskull

The Talon Fighter seems to be based on something like a hawk or an eagle. It has a rather wide trunk, stubby, downturned wings, and curved talon anxiety. In that location is room for two figures inside the roomy cockpit, and it features a handle on the dorsum for like shooting fish in a barrel zooming around the house.

Signal Dread (tag line: frontier outpost) is a unproblematic two-piece shell with a window and rather small stairs leading upwards on the top slice. The top piece tin can clip to the tallest turret on Castle Grayskull. Within the lower half is a cardboard command panel.

The box art is rather magnificent, in my stance. The artist is unknown, merely they seem to accept been trying to imitate the style of Rudy Obrero. The artwork features Skeletor, Tri-Klops and Mer-Human launching an attack on Betoken Dread. He-Man and Teela are inside the Talon Fighter, and Man-At-Arms seems ready to have on the villains from the ground while his friends attack them from the air.

Comic Books

The comic book included with the playset is i of my very favorites. It's 2 stories in one book – The Ability of Point Dread and Danger at Castle Grayskull. The artwork is past the incomparable Alfredo Alcala, and features some fun and colorful stories that introduce us to non simply PDTF, but new characters like Human-East-Faces, Trap Jaw and Tri-Klops. Zodac has a rather prominent function to play in the outset story, which is a nice touch.

A record was included with the book, to aid immature readers read along with the story:

You tin can ready both stories in their entirety here and hither.

Confusingly, there was a mini comic produced with substantially the same title – The Ability of… Point Dread. The plot of the story is entirely unlike, however. It was penciled by Mark Texeira and includes some pretty heady combat scenes:

While it's truthful Signal Dread was at one indicate intended to be the home of Skeletor and his minions, the Masters of the Universe Bible, written at the end of 1982, portrayed Signal Dread as it was in the mini comics released the next year:

TALON FIGHTER – this winged flying vehicle carries 2 passengers and is able to execute decease-defying aeriform acrobatics. Equipped with a special bombpack nether its abdomen, He Man can call the fighter when it'due south needed. Its resting place is atop a far height called PT. DREAD which materializes whenever the Talon Fighter comes to remainder. Only He Man has the physical fortitude and strength of will to control information technology. The flying machine goes out of control unless He-Human'due south in command.

Animation

Point Dread never made an advent in the Filmation cartoon, and the Talon Fighter was used quite rarely.

Model Kit

There was also a kit version of the Talon Fighter produced past Monogram (which was endemic past Mattel at the time). Information technology had a much more bird-like design than the toy, and a simpler xanthous and reddish color scheme. It also has a canon mounted on top of the cockpit, rather than the radar design of the toy version. Monogram also produced versions of the Attak Trak and Roton. The Monogram Attak Trak is based off of a concept version of the Attak Trak, so I wonder if the same isn't truthful of the Monogram Talon Fighter.

The above design, but with toy-accurate colors, shows up in Dangerous Games, published past Golden Books:

There was also an illustration of the Monogram Talon Fighter kit that was apparently created for advertising purposes (images via Plaid Stallions). In this version the vehicle has a gold-colored body and light-green cockpit windows: