Mon*Star was pretty much the gnarliest, most brutal, and more importantly, most METAL villain from any cartoon/toy line of the 80's (he appeared in the short-lived series Silverhawks, created by Rankin/Bass in 1986). A "quintillionaire" alien mob boss, Mon*Star managed to escape from the dreaded Penal Planet to wreak havoc on the innocent citizens of Limbo and cause chaos and disorder in general. Kept in check by the shiny, psuedo-android Silverhawks, he still managed to fuck shit up on a pretty regular basis, assisted by his henchmen Buzz Saw, Mumbo Jumbo, and Molecular. Rocking a decidedly Hessian appearance (see above) which included a butthole-esque eyepatch similar to that of G.I. Joe's Golobulus, Mon*Star harnessed the power of Limbo's "Moonstar" to transform into a spikier, armor-plated version of himself by uttering the words "Give me the might, the muscle, the menace, of MON*STAR!" (using a magical quote to transform was a gimmick also used by the Thundercats' Mumm-Ra, another Rankin/Bass creation). 
Mon*Star was packaged with only one "weapon", his attack-bat, Sky Shadow. Sky Shadow hooked onto his wrist, and had pinching action on his front claws to incapacitate his enemies. But the Mon*Star action figure's main selling point was that he had two heads, one on his neck and another hidden in his chest. By pressing a button on his back, you could switch heads automatically, hence "transforming" him between Hesher mode and spiky-space-guy mode. Obviously, to an 8 year old kid, this was the coolest thing EVER.Oh yeah, did I mention that Mon*Star flew around the galaxy in a giant biomechanical squid called Sky-Runner? Fucking. AWESOME.
Behold, the transformation of MON*STAR!!!:
I loved this dude because he was so glossy. I always called him "Red Devil," and he scared my brother. Admittedly, he was four.
ReplyDeleteMon*Star still kinda scares me. And I'm 30.
ReplyDeleteMon*Star was awesome. It is extremely criminal that Silverhawks hasn't been revived. A lot of the good 80's action series like Centurions, Sky Commanders, and Mask haven't been touch for any kind of animation revival. Its mostly been Transformers and the usual flavor of the month superhero from DC or Marvel Comics.
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