Trigore

In honor of ugly toy month, I present Trigore! The Power Lords is a strange property. In 1983, Revell, the ubiquitous model company, threw its hat into the action figure ring with the Power Lords, a fantasy themed series roughly in the vein of Masters of the Universe.

Revell enlisted the talents of science fiction illustrator Wayne Barlowe to develop the designs. Barlowe’s designs are some of the strangest ever created for the mass market. The Power lords were creepy, sinewy, organic space aliens, more like nightmares than the muscle-men of the He-Man roster.

I remember being disturbed and intrigued by the toys as a child. I was too fixated on the Transformers and G.I. Joe to pay much attention, and the Power Lords were on shelves for about a half an hour, but they were some of the first figures I picked up off of ebay as an adult. To be sure, these figures are an acquired taste. Trigore is an excellent example of the Power Lords aesthetic.

Trigore is both a monster and a spaceship. In the terrible comic book miniseries, whole fleets of Trigores attack our hero, Adam Power, in space.

No pilots or riders are ever shown. Trigore is articulated at his front leg, which swivels a little, and his feet all have wheels.

His pincers are spring-loaded, and will lock open until you press his horn down, in which case they snap shut.

A portion of the creature’s back can be removed to reveal a non-descript hatch. I guess you could imagine this as a cockpit, but none of the figures really fit. Ditto for the “saddle” area.

The figure’s sculpt and finish are exceptional. The brainy skin, the protruding eyes, those creepy organs on the side of his body, all beautiful.

Trigore is ugly and weird and charming in his way. He makes He-Man look like something for children.