Horde Trooper
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The Horde Troopers were the infantry of the Evil Horde in the Masters of the Universe franchise. They look like stormtroopers, but with a Juggernaut-esque helmet and a Horde insignia. The Horde Troopers first appeared in the She-Ra TV series, probably to show a Horde bigger than only Hordak and three warriors (Leech, Grizzlor and Mantenna). Some time later, a Horde Trooper figure was made, one of the rarest figures of the toy-line. It had a button on his Horde insignia that made him "self-destruct" (his torso collapsed) when it was pressed. In the minicomic "The Hordes of Hordak", Hordak launchs a mass-attack of Horde Troopers, but He-Man and Sy-Klone discover the Horde Troopers' weakness (Sy-Klone: they can't take a punch to the chest!) and defeat them.
There has been a lot of speculation over whether the Horde Troopers are robots or men in armor, for although they are generally seen as robots, the early episodes of the She-Ra cartoon series seemed to indicate they were men in uniform. They were shown engaging in human-like activities such as socializing in bars and expressing a dislike for particular music, and were given human-like names (one Trooper was addressed as 'Marv' by his companions). However, in later episodes they were shown to be robots, their working components seen clearly. It would seem likely that Filmation initially conceived them as men in uniform, but as the series progressed they were changed to robots to justify them being 'killed off', given that Filmation's rules forbid the writers from killing off living beings in their scripts, but robots could be smashed apart. Fans, meanwhile, have speculated that some of the Troopers are indeed human, but Hordak created more robotic Troopers as he preferred to command robots, incapable of independent thought or opposition to his instructions.
[edit] 2002 He-man Appearance
The Horde Troopers briefly appeared in the 2002 series, in the episode "The Power of Grayskull", with a different appearance. This version of the show differed from the previous style as the Horde was an ancient army that fought against King Grayskull for dominance of Eternia. These Hordesmen seemed more like humans wearing medieval forms of armour and carrying swords. Though there is no confirmation on whether they were machines or intelligent beings within the armour itself as the only appearance was the troopers being commanded to fight.
