Stratos
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Stratos is a character from the popular toy line and cartoon series Masters of the Universe (MOTU).
He is a member of the Heroic Warriors. Stratos is the leader of a race of Bird People from the land of Avion, humans with the power of flight and other bird-like abilities. The Bird People are close allies of He-Man and Stratos is one of his most trusted warriors. Besides the power of flight and his aerial acrobatic skills, Stratos is also a handy spy for the Heroic Warriors due to his sharp, bird-like eyes.
Stratos was unique in the toy line because he used Beast Man's mold. This gave Stratos a gray hairy body. Also, the mold had unusual "brass knuckles" on the right hand. In the minicomics, Stratos often fired lasers from this device. It was not seen in other media though.
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[edit] Character history
[edit] 1980s
Stratos' portrayal in the 1980s cartoon series by Filmation is generally consistent with his portrayal in Mattel's mini-comics. He is the leader of the Bird People, who inhabit the airborne land of Avion, located high in the Mystic Mountains. Although he rules over the Bird People, he is frequently called away from Avion to aid He-Man in his battles against Skeletor.
In the mini-comics, Stratos was married to an ordinary human girl, Delora, who also appeared in numerous storybooks of the time (in the Ladybird Book "Wings of Doom", she appeared as a blonde avian with blue clothes, but still Stratos' wife). However, the cartoon made a significant change to Delora's character by making her Stratos' sister rather than his wife, and therefore one of the Bird People as well. This change was made because the show's producers did not feel their target audience of young boys would react well to love interests within the show. Stratos appeared regularly in the early episodes, often fighting alongside Ram-Man. His most significant episode of this stage is "Reign of the Monster" which focused around his kingdom coming under attack by Skeletor. This episode featured the only cartoon appearance of Delora. Despite being established as one of He-Man's leading battle comrades, Stratos received little character development in comparison to other characters, and as a result gradually faded into the background of the series, to the point that his character was almost forgotten, his appearances sparse at best. However, in the middle of the show's second season another episode was finally written around him: "Betrayal of Stratos" in which he was exiled from Avion after being framed for a crime by a vengeful Birdwoman, Hawk. This episode revealed that his people gained their power of flight from the Egg of Avion, a large egg which presumably powered the jetpacks on their backs.
[edit] 2002 series
Stratos was used in the contemporary relaunch of He-Man. His appearance was here slightly modified. Whereas in the old continuity his wings seemed to be artificial and merely attached to his body, the relaunch depicted him with large, widespread wings which were undoubtedly part of his body, and his jetpack served to enhance, rather than produce, his power of flight. In the new cartoon series, Stratos was seemingly one of the older members of the Masters, and was given a Scottish accent remarkably similar to that of actor Sean Connery's (apparently intentional). His Bird People once again featured in the new series. The most prominent bird person besides himself was a birdwoman named Hawk, who seemed to be a combination of the 80s series' characters Hawk and Delora. Although she shared her name with the classic character Hawk, her personality was different - she was close and loyal to Stratos rather than power-hungry and vengeful like her '80s counterpart. And although their family relationship was never actually mentioned in the series, she was also Stratos' sister, like Delora in the '80s cartoon. This was stated in the series bible as well as the comic books that accompanied the show.
Stratos' most significant episodes of the new show were "Sky War" which featured his people being manipulated by Skeletor into entering a war with Buzz-Off's race, and "Trust" in which he was forced into forming an uneasy alliance with Trap-Jaw to cross the Ice Mountains.
[edit] Trivia
Mattel originally intended the character of Stratos to be evil, as is evidenced in early, unreleased promotional material for the MOTU toy line.
At one point Stratos was going to be re-designed as being black for the 2002 relaunch, by toy sculptors the 4 Horsemen, in response to Mattel's demand for racial diversity within the toy line. However, the 4 Horsemen decided the racial change did not go well with Stratos' overall design, and so the character Zodak was made black instead.
