Power Lords

[SofaMan]

Being one of the older members of the board, it's quite possible that most of you don't remember this short-lived line from Revell in 1983. I remember them coming out here roughly the same time as MotU or TF.

Anyway, I managed to pick myself up a complete Arkus, and a complete Disguyzor yesterday. They're in sweet condition too, since these toys were notorious for coming apart at the joints (they are only riveted). I'd actually never even seen a Disguyzor before, or any of the second wave toys! I had to be persuaded that it was a Power Lord toy.

When I was younger I had an Arkus, but that one fell apart, and I also had a Sydot who is long since vanished. I've got an Adam Power that I picked up at a garage sale a couple of years ago.

For the time, they were an interesting line. They were designed by famous sci-fi artist Wayne Barlowe. They had quite good gimmicks that preceded similar gimmicks in other lines like MotU by a couple of years. Their articulation was excellent, with most toys having full articulation (with some allowances for gimmicks). Unfortunately, as mentioned earlier, this articulation created durability problems; the riveted joints were notorious for becoming extremely loose and even falling off altogether.

This page has pics of the released toys:

http://www.action-figures.ca/power_lords.htm

[SofaMan]

Arkus - The Evil Dictator

Has a button at the base of his back that makes his wings flap.

[SofaMan]

Raygoth - The Goon of Doom

Spins around at the waist when a spring loaded trigger is pressed.

[SofaMan]

Ggripptogg - The Four Fisted Brute

Has two faces, one on each side of his head. Very Beast Wars Mutant Head-like.

[SofaMan]

Adam Power - Leader of the Power Lords

Press the button on his waist, and his torso spins around changing him from a normal human into this blue veiny dude.

[SofaMan]

Shaya - The Queen of Power

Similar to Adam Power, in that she has a Power mode where she gets all fiery. No gimmick though, you just take her helmet and cape off, and put them on her the other way, revealing her alt mode on her back.

[SofaMan]

Sydot - The Supreme

I had this one as a kid, and I liked him. Has a trigger on his neck that opens and closes his mouth.

[SofaMan]

From here are all the cool Wave 2 toys I never saw when I was a kid. Wave 2 only had freaky alien villains - there was only ever the 3 good guys from the first wave.

Disguyzor - The Deadly Deceiver

Came with two gimmicks. Had 4 different faces, which rotated vertically using a trigger in the spines on its head (in contrast, Man-E-Faces from MotU has 3 faces that rotated horizontally). Could also change in height, extending at the waist and knees a la Extendar.

[Sky Shadow]

Ah, Power Lords - I remember that as a kid in the early eighties, the advertisements made them look pretty cool (at the same time as Machine Men were actually cool, before Transformers came out.) But like Machine Men, Power Lords were well and truly in the shadow of another toyline (in their case, the Masters of the Universe.) And I never 'got' Adam/Lord Power - he's a creepy guy with six digits on each hand and a face on the back of his head. At the time, I assumed he turned from a hero to a bad guy because a good guy couldn't be a creepy blue humanoid monster. (I was like... six years old.)

(SofaMan - I'm glad you're getting some nostalgia out of them.)

[SofaMan]

(SofaMan - I'm glad you're getting some nostalgia out of them.)

I know! I'm having flashbacks, and felt the need to share.