Ram-Man
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Ram-Man is a fictional character from the popular toy line and cartoon series Masters of the Universe (MOTU).
A member of the Heroic Warriors, Ram-Man is characterized by his bulky, spring-legged appearance and flat-topped metal helmet. Originally tagged by Mattel as the 'human battering ram', his special ability is to spring forth and knock opponents or obstacles down with his super-hard helmet.
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[edit] Early Mini-comics
Ram-Man's first appearance in any MOTU medium was in the early Mattel mini-comic "He-Man Meets Ram-Man". In this comic Ram-Man was portrayed as a loner who inhabited a stretch of barren land. He would attack anyone who crossed his land, believing their intention was to fight him, and although his past was not delved into it was implied he had retreated to this stretch of land after being continuously victimized by others. The story began with He-Man crossing his land, and despite stating his peace, Ram-Man disbelieved him and attacked him. Left with no choice but to fight Ram-Man, He-Man fought back and quickly beat him.
Humiliated by this defeat, Ram-Man swore to get revenge on He-Man, and his confusion was taken advantage of by Skeletor, who was spying on the fight. Skeletor tricked Ram-Man into believing He-Man was evil, and led him to Castle Grayskull, where he forced Ram-Man into ramming the jaw bridge repeatedly to gain entry to the castle, which Ram-Man believed He-Man was inside. When The Sorceress witnessed Skeletor's attempt to break into Grayskull, she called He-Man to her aid, who released Ram-Man from Skeletor's clutches and drove away the villain. Realizing he had been tricked and that He-Man meant him no harm, Ram-Man befriended He-Man and joined the Heroic Warriors.
[edit] Cartoon
Although Ram-Man had been depicted as large and aggressive in his mini-comic appearance, the 1980s cartoon He-Man and the Masters of the Universe by Filmation depicted him as a small, dwarfish figure, which was actually closer in appearance to his action figure. Ram-Man is notable in the cartoon for resembling his action figure closer than most other characters, whose appearances tended to be modified for the screen.
In order to make the character more child-friendly for the sake of the show's intended audience, Ram-Man's aggressiveness was toned down for the series. He was portrayed generally as a comical character, slow and dim-witted with an almost child-like mentality, but also strong-hearted and easily likeable. He often appeared alongside Stratos in early episodes, and later episodes fleshed out his character more, particularly the season 2 episode "Not So Blind" which shows a degree of humanity in his mostly slapstick personality. Another notable moment for Ram-Man is the episode "House of Shokoti part 1" in which he gives the series' most absurd moral at the end of the episode: telling kids not to hit things with their head like he does in case they hurt themselves! This Ram Man also often had other obsurd features such as his legs actually uncoiling like springs on ocasion and making "boing" sounds when he used his abilities.
[edit] 2002 series
Ram-Man was featured in the modern revival of Masters of the Universe, and his portrayal in the contemporary series was something of a mixture between his Filmation portrayal and his original mini-comic portrayal. Here he was once again drawn as a large and bulky rather than a dwarfish character, and was actually larger than even He-Man in size. In episodes were he removes his helmet, he appears to have a metal plate on top of his head. Although this series depicted him in a more macho and 'harder' fashion more in-keeping with the original concept behind the character, his slow-wittedness and comic appeal was left intact. There was still a child-like dimension to his character, made most evident in the episode "Night of the Shadow Beasts" which revealed he was afraid of the dark. Perhaps his most significant episode of the modern-day series is "Siren's Song" in which he falls under a mesmerising spell by Evil-Lyn which results in him coming under suspicion of being a traitor to the Masters. Unaware of the crime he has committed under a trance state, Ram-Man is shown as excitable and overly-defensive as the Masters try to identify the traitor in their ranks. Another interesting demention added to Ram-Man's character in the 2002 series is his apparent fondness for fishing.
[edit] Trivia
In the contemporary series he seemed to be best friends with Man-E-Faces, possibly influenced by the '80s episode "The Shadow of Skeletor" in which the two declared themselves best friends.
In the '80s series Ram-Man's legs were actually compressed springs, in-keeping with his comical appearance. This was scrapped for the contemporary series in which his legs were normal, albeit bulky.
