She's Fantastic: MOTU Origins

Sunday, May 14, 2023

MOTU Origins - SNAKE TEELA!

Masters of the Universe Origins - Wave 13 - Snake Teela (200x) - Mattel 2023

I like that Snake Teela has become a unique variant of the traditional Teela character. This design originally appeared in a single Second Skin episode of the 200x show where several characters were temporarily turned into Snake Men. She was likely a visual nod to the early 80's Goddess character, but she was unique in most ways apart from the green hue. The 200x Snake Teela had actual scaly skin, reptilian eyes, fangs, and a forked tongue. In 2003 there was a ToyFare Magazine exclusive repaint of Teela in this scaly form and, in my mind at least, that solidified her as a unique iteration separate from the Eternian Goddess. That said, I still kind of groaned when this was announced as the next Origins female. With so many characters unrepresented in the line, a fourth Teela wasn't the most exciting option. But the figure actually has a new torso and boots, and uses the 200x head which we've only seen once. Combine that with the distinctive green coloring and she makes for a very unique variation.

Snake Teela comes with her Snake Staff and her 200x Sword, both in metallic green.

The Green Goddess character got a second life in the 2013 He-Man comic series from DC.

In the original vintage minicomics, the Sorceress character was a green-skinned snake-themed woman known as the Goddess. When the toy line was being planned, Mattel decided to give us two characters in one and have Teela and Goddess share the same figure (with removable snake armor being the differentiating feature). But with the Goddess replaced by the falcon-themed Sorceress in the cartoon, the origin of Teela's mysterious snake armor was lost. Ever since, the armor was just assumed to belong to Teela.