Teela

SUMMARY:

Teela, the “warrior goddess,” was produced in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Mexico (Aurimat), Argentina (Top Toys), Venezuela (Rotoplast), Brazil (Estrela), Spain, and India (Leo). Teela has a spring-loaded waist that swings back with a power punch, a snake harness, a shield, and a staff.

The Taiwan Teela was one of Mattel's first eight figures released in 1982. It only came on an 8-back card (There are no 12-back Teelas).

The figure features bronze armor highlights over an off-white bodysuit, light tan skin tones in the same color as the Taiwan He-Man, bright red or reddish brown hair and boots, and semi-translucent, dark red accessories. Behind the neck, the figure is marked © M.I. 1981 TAIWAN, followed by a batch number (it could be 1, 2, 3, or 4). All accessories are unmarked.

The initial release has fiery red hair and boots, candy red translucent accessories, and green eyes on the snake harness as its main identifier. The staff is shorter than normal, and the shield has a slight deformation on the edge. The dots in the eyes are hand-painted, resulting in uneven pupils. This figure is so rare that it has only been found a handful of times in collections and has never seen MOC.

Curiously, these accessory molds have been transferred to Mexico, since the Aurimat Teela has a short staff and indentation on the shield. This mold can also be seen in the Spain Teela’s accessories.

The next version was released on the initial 8-Back card, and the figure is just like the previous, except without the painted green eyes on the harness, and with a now corrected shield mold. The staff is the normal size, yet these accessories are still translucent, and dark red. 

As the Taiwan Teela production moved along, the hair and boots began to change from a bright red to reddish-brown, to brown colors. The hair and boots don’t always match in tone, so you can have red hair/brown boots Teelas, and vice versa. The accessories became more opaque, and a lighter red color. The eyes are applied evenly, with pupils of the same size and distance (probably applied now by paint mask).

DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERISTICS:
1. Bronze armor highlights on an off-white bodysuit
2. Light-tan skin tones (similar skin color as He-Man Taiwan)
3. Bright red or reddish-brown hair and boots
4. Semi-translucent dark-red or mid-red accessories

MARKED: © M.I. 1981 TAIWAN (along with 1, 2, 3, or 4 batch numbers)
ALL ACCESSORIES: BLANK

EARLY RELEASES:
(Uneven hand-applied eye paint, bright red hair, and boots, spray painted boots)
1. Green eyed Harness, Red Boots and Red Hair, Spray painted (uneven) boot paint
2. Red Boots and Red Hair, Spray painted (uneven) boot paint

LATER 8-BACK RELEASES:
(Even eye paint, darker hair, and boots, mid-red opaque accessories, paint-dipped boots)
3. Red Boots and Brown Hair
4. Brown Boots and Red Hair
5. Brown Boots and Brown Hair