Moss Man
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Moss Man is a fictional character from the popular toy line and cartoon series Masters of the Universe (MOTU).
As his name indicates, he is a man made of moss, whose power is to camouflage into greenery backgrounds as well as control all plant matter. He lives in the Evergreen Forest in harmony among the animals and plants.
The figure was essentually a green Beast Man covered with fuzzy "moss" with the fangs painted over and a pine scent. Like many figures released toward the end of the series, he had a mace that was a recast of a weapon from the original Castle Grayskull.
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[edit] Character history
[edit] 1980s
Moss Man was introduced into the Masters of the Universe toy line in 1985. Given that the accompanying cartoon series was drawing to a close at the time his toy was released, his role in the cartoon was minimal and he appeared in only two episodes; "Here, There, Skeletors Everywhere" and "The Ancient Mirror of Avathar". The former portrayed him as a spy who could secretly observe danger by turning into a plant. The latter showed him using his abilities to rescue others by turning his arms into vines, as well as communicating with plants.
[edit] 2002 series
Moss Man featured in the 2002 relaunch of Masters of the Universe as part of the cartoon series. He was not a part of the new toy line, for it was cancelled before his figure could be released, although a limited edition figure was given away as a Mattel exclusive.
The cartoon series depicted him as one of the most powerful beings on Eternia, possibly even more powerful than He-Man himself. He was introduced in the episode "Orko's Garden" in which he was an urban legend; an Eternian equivalent of the Green Man. He seemed to be a kind of spirit who farmed and looked after the Eternian forestry and kept it in harmony. His rival in this episode was Evilseed, an evil counterpart to himself who wanted the plant world to overcome the human world. Moss Man's incredible powers helped He-Man to save the day, his power over all forms of vegetation able to overcome just about any obstacle. In a subsequent episode, "The Last Stand" he used his abilities to save all the Masters from Skeletor's strongest trap yet. Given that he was so powerful, his appearances were sparse; only coming to the Masters' aid in times of desperation. This was a considerable boost from the humble Heroic Warrior of the '80s line.
[edit] Trivia
Moss Man was originally conceived by Mattel in the '80s as a heroic foe for Stinkor, both of which had action figures which were scented. But since the latter never appeared in the original series, the two only came face-to-face in the mini-comic "The Stench of Evil".
The original Moss Man figure was a repaint of Beast Man covered in green fur, with a brown version of the commonly-used mace mold. Likewise, the limited edition exclusive of the 2002 toy-line also uses Beast Man's mold, again covered in green fur. This version used a brown repaint of Mekaneck's club. It was reported at the time of its release that there would be an all-new version of Moss Man (i.e. not a recycling of other figures molds) available as part of the regular toy-line, but the line was cancelled before this new version of Moss Man appeared.
