Tung Lashor
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Tung Lashor is a member of the Snake Men, villains of the Masters of the Universe franchise, who has an extending tongue. His main power is to spit poisonous venom from his tongue.
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[edit] Character Profile
Tung Lashor was introduced into the MOTU toy line in 1986. He first appeared in the "King of the Snake Men" minicomic, in which he and Rattlor are called from another dimension by King Hiss. When they appear, Kobra Khan says they "are from the Evil Horde on Etheria!", but both Snake Men swear allegiance again to their former leader King Hiss, explaining that after his banishment they felt they had nowhere to go other than to serve the Horde...
[edit] 1985
Although the Snake Men as a group never appeared on the line's accompanying cartoon series (the He-Man series having been discontinued by this point) Tung Lashor appeared in the She-Ra TV series as a member of the Evil Horde. He was one of several newer characters from the toy line to be featured on She-Ra's series in order to promote the toy in the absence of the He-Man series, discontinued to make way for She-Ra. (Clearly the mini-comic alluded to his allegiance with the Horde to avoid confusing viewers.) His cartoon appearance came prior to the release of his toy, and as such it is clear that he was in his prototype stage at the time of production, for his appearance in the show was completely different from that of his toy, unrecognizable aside from his extending tongue. There is also discrepancy between episodes over his name- although the episodes "Micah of Bright Moon" and "Welcome Back Kowl" refer to him as Tung Lashor, "Book Burning" refers to him as merely 'Tung' while in "Gateway to Trouble" he is called 'Tung Lash'. This indicates that Mattel were probably undecided about the character's name at the time the show was in production. He was portrayed in the show as an exuberant and excitable warrior always eager to help out his masters, with an almost teenage personality. His ability was often used for comic effect, particularly in "Micah of Bright Moon" in which he annoys Hordak by using his tongue to clean the computer consoles, and in "Book Burning" in which he was tied up with his own tongue. Despite his comic value he nevertheless came across as a fairly responsible villain, particularly in "Book Burning" in which he leads an entire Horde fleet in their invasion of a small village. Another continuity discrepancy occurred in the episode "Gateway to Trouble" in which he was seen on Eternia, on the side of Skeletor rather than Hordak, despite still wearing the Horde bat symbol. However, he did state in the episode that he knew Etheria, which was clearly intended to establish some kind of continuity with his other appearances. It is possible that he defected from the Horde to Skeletor's services, but later episodes showed him back in the service of the Horde, suggesting his alliance with Skeletor may have been carried out in secret. Irrespective of episode order it is possible to explain this discrepancy in terms of the minicomics, assuming it takes place after he and Rattlor were brought to Eternia (Skeletor and King Hiss were allies in the minicomics).
[edit] 2002 series
Tung Lashor also appeared as a member of the Snake Men in the 2002 update of the series, where he looked more like the original toy. He was depicted here with a more powerful, dominant personality and was fiercely loyal to his King. There were occasions where his tongue was cut off, but it grew back. A "staction" figure of Tung Lashor was released by the toy company NECA.
[edit] Trivia
- Tung Lashor can regenerate his tongue. In one episode of the 2002 series, his tongue was cut, but in a later episode, he had it again, but the part that had been previously cut was in a lighter tone of green than the rest of the tongue.
- The series bible for Lou Scheimer's unmade sequel series "He-Ro, Son of He-Man" in the mid-90s featured a character by the name of 'Tongue-Lasher' whose power was identical to Tung Lashor's...except he's not a Snake Man.
- In the minicomic "Snake Attack!", Tung Lashor's tongue had a venom that hardened on the victim's skin, turning it into a statue (this could be reversed just breaking the upper layer of the hardened venom). The "turning people into statues" idea was later carried on other member of the Snake Men named Snake Face.
