By 1986, after four years on the market, the Masters of the Universe toyline was taking a turn to the technological. What started as mostly fantasy, with some technology in the mix, started to flip that ratio with the introduction of characters like Dragstor, Roboto, and, the figure we have here, Extendar.
The big gimmick with Extendar were his extendable body parts. His arms, legs, and torso all had hollow areas where extensions would nest until you pulled on his extremities.
As with a lot of He-Man lore, Extendar’s origin differs slightly depending upon what you’re reading. In the mini-comic included with the figure, Extendar is a knight who longs for the same type of power he sees in heroes and villains like He-Man and Skeletor. He goes to Hordak to take part in an experiment that gives him the power to extend his body, giving him an advantage over his foes. But instead of serving Hordak, he escapes and joins up with He-Man.
In other sources, he is an athlete named Doodon, who, along with his fellow athlete and friend, Theydon, are captured by Hordak and experimented on. Doodon becomes Extendar and breaks free from Hordak. Theydon becomes the wheeled warrior Dragstor, but remains under Hordak’s control. Extendar takes it upon himself to try to free his friend.
I loved (and still love) knights and armor and all that stuff, so Extendar being a knight meant I had to have him. His shield is cool and all, but I really would have liked to have seen him come with a sword of some kind, too. Unfortunately, my Extendar is seeing the same sort of greening degradation on the arms that is very common with this figure. Still, he looks pretty good for being almost 40.
When Extendar was re-released in 2014 for the Masters of the Universe Classics line, the figure looked and operated quite a bit differently. Instead of pulling on his body to extend his limbs, you actually popped the figure apart and snapped separate extensions into place. This made it so that Extendar’s extension was longer than in the original figure, but loses a little bit of the fun factor. He also came with a lance, which isn’t quite as cool as a sword, but still better than just a shield.
