#129 PRINCESS OF POWER – ENCHANTA (1985)

INTRODUCTION TO THE PRINCESS OF POWER LINE:

The Princess of Power line is, to say it short, the girl’s equivalent to the Masters of the Universe for boys. Both lines were designed by Mattel, and to unify both universes, She-Ra and He-Man are siblings. They’re more than siblings, they’re twins! She-Ra was stolen from Eternia as a child, and now lives in Etheria. She also has a double personality: Princess Adora turns into She-Ra with the spell: “For the Honor of Grayskull!”. Etheria, by the way, is also the native planet of Hordak and the evil Horde, that’s why in the She-Ra cartoons, the evil Horde appears very often.
The toy line started in 1985, three years later than the MOTU line. In those three years, Mattel had made a lot of money with the figures, so when they decided to launch She-Ra, they created a huge first series: 8 figures, 4 creatures and the Cristal Palace playset, which is as big as the Castle Grayskull.


The lifespan of the series was not as large as probably Mattel would have liked. There were only three waves ever released, being the third one much shorter (and now very hard to find) than the previous ones. This last series was released in 1987, year in which the MOTU series was also cancelled in most parts of the world, so even if the PoP line was selling good (which I doubt), it didn’t make much sense to keep producing it. It’s a shame that the line didn’t start earlier, because much more characters and figures would have been released.

In these two pictures, the saddle is not correctly placed, it should be "closed" at the breast of the swan.

Today I want to focus on the creatures. Since these figures were aimed for girls, no vehicles, like jet planes, tanks or walking dragons were released, and the creatures, that in the MOTU line were Panthers and Eagles, were replaced by horses and swans, which are much more beautiful animals. Note also that none of the figures came with firearms, but only with swords or bows.

The creatures carried no weapons, but were equipped instead with combs and brushes to comb their mane. In this case the creature is a Swan, (that is, a bird!) but it has some mane in the neck too.

The saddle is correctly placed this way

The figure is made of hollow, hard, plastic, very similar to the battle cat. The wings and tail are made of a rubber plastic, and can be inserted in two holes and a slot. A saddle, a bridle and two combs are its accessories. Note that the saddle is actually made of silver-coloured cloth and pink plastic, and decorated with hologram-stickers.

This is a toy I found in an old toy shop. The box is complete but it was already opened, and the toy had been displayed. At the bottom of the swan, there’s a price tag marked 3575 pesetas, which is around 21,45 Eur. That was a lot of money in 1985 or 1986. All instructions, quality control sheet and parts are included. The box front is slightly sun-damaged.

Original Spanish Instructions

Quality Control sheet

Very interesting is that this toy is made in Spain, as you can see in the next pictures. I don’t know if all Enchantas were made in Spain, or if only these for the Spanish market were made in Spain.

FACTS and FIGURES:

• Name: ENCHANTA
• Toy Line: She-Ra: Princess of Power (wave 1)
• Alternate Names: She-Ra y el Reino Mágico (Spain)
• Year: 1985
• Company: Mattel (U.S.A.)
• Size of the figures: 29 cm