Snout Spout

Infobox He-Man/She-Ra Character|Alliance=#87CEFA
Title=Snout Spout


Name=Snout Spout
Affiliation=She-Ra
Family=
Powers=Can use his snout to spray jets of water stored in a tank on his back
Weapons=
Actor= Lou Scheimer

Snout Spout is a fictional character in the popular Masters of the Universe franchise. He is a cyborg with a human body and a metal elephant head. He serves the Heroic Warriors as a firefighter, his main power being to spray jets of water, stored in a special pack on his back, from his trunk, which he refills periodically from rivers and lakes.

Character history

Cartoon

Snout Spout was introduced into the Masters of the Universe toy line in 1986. By the time his action figure was released, the accompanying cartoon series, "He-Man and the Masters of the Universe" had been cancelled to make way for its spin-off series, "". Therefore, Snout Spout makes his cartoon appearances in "She-Ra" rather than "He-Man".

Appearing in 3 episodes: "Small Problems", "Out of the Cocoon" and "Day of the Flowers", Snout Spout's roles are little more than cameoes and he receives no real character development. Several continuity discrepancies also surround his character, as in his first episode he is referred to as "Hose Nose", this being Mattel's working name for the character, yet "Day of the Flowers" refers to him as Snout Spout with no explanation for the name change. His first two appearances also seem to indicate he lives on Etheria, yet the latter episode ties him in with Mattel's continuity by depicting him as He-Man's friend, visiting from Eternia. He also made a cameo in the He-Man & She-Ra Christmas Special, shown extending his snout to place the star on the tree.

Other media

Although the cartoon offers no kind of consistency to Snout Spout's character, other media producing "Masters of the Universe" stories throughout the 1980s give the character more exposure, as well as a background story. A Mattel promotional card states that he was formerly an Etherian peasant who was captured by Hordak and subjected to fiendish experiments which turned him into the elephantine cyborg he is today. Although initially intended to serve The Evil Horde, he managed to throw off Hordak's brainwashing attempt and escape to Eternia, where he joined He-Man and the Heroic Warriors.

This backstory was adopted by the UK comic series published by London Editions, which introduces Snout Spout in a story entitled "The Unknown Warrior", in which he makes his way from Etheria to Eternia wearing a mask, refusing to remove his mask or reveal his identity until he has proved himself a worthy hero. He is presented in the comic series as insecure and paranoid about his appearance, yet never overly self-pitiful and determined to fight on against the Horde until he finds some way of returning to his human form.

In the Star Comics series, he only had one major appearance, in issue #4, "Snakes Alive". Here, he was shown as being in a constant, not-so-friendly rivalry with Rio Blast, with both characters constantly trying to belittle and outdo each other.

2002 series

Snout Spout was intended to be featured in the 2002 relaunch of the Masters of the Universe toy line and series; but both were canceled before his character could be introduced. However, toy sculptors the Four Horsemen, who sculpted the toys for the new line, designed a mini-statue of the character [http://www.oafe.net/yo/motusnout.php] which was distributed by NECA. The cartoon's accompanying comic series, meanwhile, featured royal firemen dressed in uniforms similar to Snout Spout.

Trivia

*Snout Spout's appearance has often been likened to the Hindu God Ganesh.Fact|date=July 2007
*An unmade episode for the "She-Ra" series was planned to focus around Snout Spout's race, to be called the Hosers, thus offering a completely different backstory to that given by Mattel.Fact|date=July 2007