Rebels That Rock - And Dance!
Monday, July 3, 2017 at 05:51PM I've finished some more illustrations for my Great Rebellion Series, and offered a couple new group shots as well. First off, we have the Rock People, which also contain the two "Comet Warriors," which Stondar and Rokkon were also known in the vintage Masters of the Universe toyline. However, at the time that the toys came out, new episodes of the He-Man cartoon were no longer being produced, and so the characters ended up being featured on the She-Ra cartoon - along with Granita, a female Rock Person, who was planned to be produced in the vintage Masters of the Universe, only Mattel decided that boys couldn't handle *ANOTHER* "icky girl" in the line. I mean, those poor boys of the 80's did have their precious and frail masculinities threatened by the introduction of THREE other females in the line, Teela, Evil-Lyn, and Sorceress, so goodness knows what sort of villainy and ararchy would have resulted if a FOURTH female had been introduced, so Granita was cut.
But she showed up on the She-Ra cartoon - TWICE! Stondar showed up twice, and Rokkon only showed up once. Also, another member of the Rock People showed up in an episode, a young female named Facet. As far as I'm aware, there was no other appearance of Facet in any other media. Stondar, Rokkon, and Granita all showed up in the Masters of the Universe daily newspaper strips, where they were all depicted in their simplified Filmation designs, but we wee told that Stondar is the father to both Rokkon and Granita.
For these illustrations, I wanted to largely begin with the Filmation design as a base, but add in a lot of details that the two Comet Warriors had in their vintage action figure and Masters of the Universe Classics action figures had. And in that, to make them all cohesive, I added more details and elements to the designs of Granita and Facet to bring them closer to the two males. All illustrations in this post are available on a variety of products such as T-shirts, hoodies, dresses, kids/babies clothes, posters, prints, phone cases and skins, iPad cases and skins, mugs, tote bags, drawstring bags, pillows, studio pouches, scarves, duvet covers, skirts, journals, clocks, acryllic blocks, and more at my RedBubble store. You can click the text link there to go to my store, or you can click on each picture to go to that illustration's listing at my store directly.
"Rebels That Rock" by Kevenn T. Smith featuring Granita, Stondar, Facet, and Rokkon
Pencil, Ink, Photoshop
©Kevenn T. Smith 2017
Characters ©Mattel and Classic Media 2017
"The Gracious Girl of Granite" by Kevenn T. Smith featuring Granita
Pencil, Ink, Photoshop
@Kevenn T. Smith 2017
Character ©Classic Media 2017
"The Reckless Young Warrior of Rock" by Kevenn T. Smith featuring Rokkon
Pencil, Ink, Photoshop
@Kevenn T. Smith 2017
Character ©Mattel 2017
"The Stoic Leader of Stone" by Kevenn T. Smith featuring Stondar
Pencil, Ink, Photoshop
©Kevenn T. Smith 2017
Character ©Mattel 2017
"The Fearless Faceted Femme" by Kevenn T. Smith featuring Facet
Pencil, Ink, Photoshop
©Kevenn T. Smith 2017
Character ©Classic Media 2017
Another character that I completed an illustration of is of one that I call "Bubblerina." This character was previously only seen in one illustration in a German catalgoue that featured the never-produced Bubble Carriage. The illustration depicted She-Ra riding inside the carriage along with this mysterious new character, and Spinerella riding on the back of the carriage. For years, fans speculated whether this was a new character or a mis-colored Mermista, but I was of the opinion that it was indeed, a different and distinct character, and that the bubble morif on her was similiar to the bubble motif of the carriage and Bubble Power She-Ra. I suspected that this character was a dancer (because of the ballerina tutu) and for some reason, the bubble motif was given to She-Ra to make the Bubble Power She-Ra variant in Wave 3, and the character was cut from the wave but her dancing elements were given to Spinerella, and the element of her being Spinerella's sister and the largely blue color motif were taken up my Netossa.
This was all confirmed at 2016's Power-Con convention, when the Sander Brothers ended up revealing a lot of research that they did into Mattel's archives on the She-Ra: Princess of Power line, and said that this "Bubble Carriage Maiden" was a character initially named Joya, and that her bubble gimmick was given to Bubble Power She-Ra, because the gimmick for the Wave 3 She-Ra variant was not working. However, I do not think that if Joya had gone to production, that she would have been released with the name "Joya." It doesn't have the descriptive and pun-filled nature of the other She-Ra characters' names. We leared from that Power-Con that Perfuma's original name was Terra (like the earth). I feel that if Joya would have been released, she would have been released under a name that describes her abilities and who she is, thus "Bubblerina," which combines "bubble" and "ballerina" together to give us an idea of what she's about. In my illustration, I did want to give her a couple more details to make her fit better with the other female Rebels in this series. I gave her a belt that's reminiscent of the belt worn by Bow or most of the male figures in the Masters of the Universe line. I also wanted to make sure there was a gem in her costume's bodice like nearly all of the vintage Princess of Power figures had. So without further ado, I give you Bubblerina!
"The Joyous Bouyant Bubblerina" by Kevenn T. Smith featuring Bubblerina/Joya
Pencil, Ink, Photoshop
©Kevenn T. Smith
Character ©Mattel 2017
I also created a group shot featuring Bubblerina and the wave 2 vintage She-Ra characters and a few other characters from the cartoon. The Wave 2 characters were very much representative of the elements, and I felt Bubblerina worked with that as well. Mermista as water, Sweet Bee as fire (her sting), Perfuma earth, Flutterina wind, and Peekablue spirit with her psychic abilities. Bubblerina has elements of water and wind. Sprittina also represents Earth, while Kowl and Kowla are wind. Madame Razz is spirit and wind. Loo-Kee is spirit.
"Wave 2+ Rebels" by Kevenn T. Smith
Pencil, Ink, Photoshop
©Kevenn T. Smith 2017
Characters ©Mattel and Classic Media 2017
