Leech

Recommended music: Staind – Mudshovel

Happy Monday, MOTU fans! Hope you all had a great weekend. For this #MastersMonday, we’re checking out another 1985 release from the vintage Mattel Masters of the Universe line. Today, let’s take a look at Leech!

The “Evil master of power suction” was one of my favorite villain action figures when I was a kid. As a completely new sculpt, the figure looked even bulkier than previous releases, and his freakish monster design appealed to me. While his suction pad hands and feet didn’t really do anything besides look cool, his suction cup mouth actually worked well on smooth surfaces, even on your cheek or arm, thanks to a hidden button on his back that created a vacuum inside a rubber bladder connected to the mouth.

Since Leech was created after the original Filmation He-Man and the Masters of the Universe cartoon, I first discovered him and the other Evil Horde members through Golden Books and the mini-comics that came with the fourth wave of MOTU figures. Later, Leech appeared as one of Hordak’s henchmen in 17 episodes of the She-Ra: Princess of Power cartoon and in the Secret of the Sword movie. He also appeared in the 2003 Mike Young Productions He-Man series, the 2018 Netflix series She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, and in flashbacks in the Revelation comic book before returning in a couple of episodes of Masters of the Universe: Revolution.

Leech, like Hordak, was first sold on a standard-sized card in 1985. The back of the card gave a short backstory about The Evil Horde and showed the first wave of Horde figures with the Fright Zone playset. Later, he was also sold in a two-pack with Mantenna, available only at JCPenney stores.

Like the other Horde members, Leech’s design has a bold bat theme on his chest armor, boots, and arm bands. He also came with the classic Horde Crossbow, made from dark red plastic. Early versions of the figure had extra black paint on the belt, but the shoulder pads were never painted on the vintage toy, which would have matched most of the Leech artwork from that time. Even though Leech seemed much weaker after I watched the She-Ra animated series as an adult, he still stands out as one of my favorite figures from childhood.

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