Ram-Man
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| Ram-Man | |||||||||||||
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| Ram-Man, an early ally of He-Man | |||||||||||||
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Ram-Man is a fictional character from the popular Masters of the Universe toy line by Mattel.
He is a member of the Heroic Warriors, 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 knock opponents or obstacles down with his super-hard helmet.
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[edit] Early mini-comics
Ram-Man's first appearance is in the early Mattel mini-comic "He-Man Meets Ram-Man". In this comic Ram-Man is portrayed as a loner who lives on a stretch of barren land. He will attack anyone who crosses his land, believing their intention is to fight him, and although his past is not delved into it is 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 disbelieves him and attacks him. Left with no choice but to fight Ram-Man, He-Man fights back and quickly beats him.
Humiliated by this defeat, Ram-Man swears to get revenge on He-Man, and his confusion is taken advantage of by Skeletor, who was spying on the fight. Skeletor tricks Ram-Man into believing He-Man is evil, and leads him to Castle Grayskull, where he forces Ram-Man into ramming the jaw bridge repeatedly to gain entry to the castle, where Ram-Man believes He-Man is. When The Sorceress witnesses Skeletor's attempt to break into Grayskull, she calls He-Man to her aid, who releases Ram-Man from Skeletor's clutches and drives away the villain. Realizing he had been tricked and that He-Man means him no harm, Ram-Man befriends He-Man and joins the Heroic Warriors.
Ram Man's minicomic appearances decreased as new characters were showcased, with only one of his ten appearances being in the last two waves.
- He-Man Meets Ram-Man
- The Terror of Tri-Klops
- The Tale of Teela
- The Secret Liquid of Life
- Double-Edged Sword
- The Temple of Darkness
- Skeletor's Dragon
- Hordak: The Ruthless Leader's Revenge!
- Mantenna and the Menace of the Evil Horde!
- The Treachery of Modulok
[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 depicts him as a small, dwarfish figure, which is actually closer in appearance to his action figure.
In order to make the character more child-friendly for the sake of the show's intended audience, Ram-Man's aggressiveness is toned down for the series. He is 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 appears alongside Stratos in early episodes, and later episodes flesh 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 a memorable 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 has other cartoonish features such as his legs actually uncoiling like springs on occasion and making "boing" sounds when he used his abilities.
[edit] 2002 series
Ram-Man features in the modern revival of Masters of the Universe, and his portrayal in the contemporary series is something of a mixture between his Filmation portrayal and his original mini-comic portrayal. Here he is once again drawn as a large and bulky rather than a dwarfish character, and is 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 depicts him in a more macho fashion more in-keeping with the original concept of the character, his slow-wittedness and comic appeal is left intact. There is still a child-like dimension to his character, made most evident in the episode "Night of the Shadow Beasts", which reveals he is 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 dimension added to Ram-Man's character in the 2002 series is his apparent fondness for fishing.
