Bashasaurus

Recommended music: Miley Cyrus – Wrecking Ball

Happy Monday, MOTU fans! I hope you had a great weekend. For this #MastersMonday, let’s take a look at a 1985 vehicle release from the vintage Mattel Masters of the Universe line: Bashasaurus!

When the “Heroic Combat Vehicle” showed up for Christmas in 1985, I was beyond excited. The year before, I’d had chicken pox, so this Christmas already felt like an improvement, even before I found new MOTU toys under the tree. I wasn’t into dinosaur toys just yet, but having a big, sturdy ride for He-Man was awesome!

Battle Cat and the Road Ripper helped He-Man travel around my toy room, but the Bashasaurus had a big yellow button on top that even my little three-year-old thumbs could press down and unleash a walloping boulder to smack down Skeletor and wreck the other Evil Warriors. The dinosaur look was cool, it rolled smoothly, and it even had a sword holder on the side—though it appears I totally forgot to put Battle Armor He-Man’s power sword in it before snapping the photo. 😄

The William George artwork on the packaging really sparked my imagination for Bashasaurus-related storylines, and the vehicle was also familiar to me from its appearances in several mini-comics. ‘The Battle of Roboto’ showed Bashasaurus in action (bashing, of course), and it was included again in ‘Hordak: The Ruthless Leader’s Revenge!’ and ‘The Treachery of Modulok!’ I didn’t realize it back then, but Bashasaurus was also in the hardcover Golden Book: The River of Ruin and the Spring 1986 issue of Masters of the Universe Magazine.

I would have loved to see this vehicle appear in season two of the Filmation He-Man and the Masters of the Universe cartoon, but it never got the chance. Filmation President Lou Scheimer famously refused to include it in the show because of its early working name: Ball Buster. 😛

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