Multi-Bot

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Multi-Bot
Statistics Name Multi-Bot Affiliations Evil Horde Hordak Notable powers or skills Multiple body parts can reform at will Created by Mattel

Multi-Bot is a character in the popular toy line Masters of the Universe by Mattel.

A member of the Evil Horde, he is a robot composed of multiple individual body parts which he can reform at will, forming into thousands of different shapes. He is a robot equivalent of the character Modulok whose action figure, like the latter character, consisted of numerous different body parts which could be locked together in many different ways. He was marketed as the 'evil robot of a thousand bodies'.

Contents 1 Character Profile 1.1 Toy line/Mini-comics 1.2 Cartoon 2 Trivia

[edit] Character Profile

[edit] Toy line/Mini-comics

Multi-Bot was introduced into the Masters of the Universe toy line in 1986 to cash in on the popularity of Modulok. His figure came, like Modulok, packaged in a cardboard box consisting of two heads and many different body parts, with enough to form two separate robots. Whereas the general shape for Modulok as depicted on promotional material showed him with two heads atop one torso, Multi-Bot was given a more absurd general shape, with two torsos atop a base unit to which was attached the legs. An added gimmick was that Multi-Bot's body parts could be combined with those of Modulok himself to form an extra complex creature called the Megabeast. No story medium ever seized upon the idea of the two characters combining into one, besides the minicomic "The Menace of Multi-Bot", and the combination was shown just as a trick of Modulok to show Multi-Bot abilities (that means that Modulok and Multi-Bot never combined in battle).

Multi-Bot was packaged with the mini-comic "The Menace of Multi-Bot", which introduced him as a creation of Modulok, whose shape-changing abilities were used to confuse his opponent. His appearance in the mini-comic was significantly different from that of the toy, for the mini-comic was drawn while the character was still in development, and thus he was given his prototype appearance.

[edit] Cartoon

Multi-Bot also appeared in the She-Ra: Princess of Power series by Filmation, the spin-off series from MOTU in which the Horde were the main villains. Since the show's first season was produced while his figure was still in development, he appeared in the show with the same image as the mini-comic, almost unrecognizble from the toy.

As in the mini-comic, he was showcased as a creation of Modulok, although as was the case with Modulok, he was a challenge for Filmation's animators with their limited budget, unable to afford to produce multiple animation cels to represent numerous different shapes. Therefore, like Modulok, he was given one general shape for the show, but whereas Modulok's shape-changing abilities were only ever alluded to in the series (in the He-Man episode "Happy Birthday Roboto"), the animators were more adventurous with Multi-Bot and showed him moving his body parts around in the episode "Black Snow", which involved a comical scene featuring him sticking his heads on upside down. The episode also added a new dimension to his shape-changing abilities by showing him transforming himself into a tank-like vehicle in a fashion reminiscent of the Transformers. (A similar dimension had been added to the abilities of Modulok, seen to transform his arms into weapons.)

The general portrayal of the character was comical- whereas Modulok was a highly intelligent inventor, Multi-Bot was merely an incompetent robot who served as Modulok's bumbling assistant throughout the episode, blowing Modulok's cover by accidentally telling She-Ra the whereabouts of Modulok's hideout. Aside from "Black Snow" he also made a brief cameo in the episode "Horde Prime Takes a Holiday". The positioning of the latter episode in the show's production order creates a continuity discrepancy, for it actually comes before "Black Snow" despite the latter episode being written as his introduction, and to make things more complex it even comes before "Gateway to Trouble" in which Modulok himself arrives on Etheria, thus presenting Multi-Bot as being present on Etheria before his creator arrived! It is clear, therefore, that the episodes were not intended to be screened in this order, although no official order of airdates has yet been found so it has not been confirmed exactly what sequence the episodes aired in.

[edit] Trivia

An apparent prototype redesign of Multi-Bot was made by toy sculptors The Four Horsemen for the 2002 relaunch of the MOTU toy line, but since the line was cancelled before the Horde could be introduced, the character was never included. Given the design's lack of resemblance to the original character, it has been speculated that this was actually intended as a brand new character, and the name of Multi-Bot may have been merely reused from stock as a working title.[1]