Fusion Wayang Kulit's He-Man-inspired shadow puppet has the power

Fusion Wayang Kulit's new shadow puppet character Per-Kasa is based on the He-Man character, which has returned to the spotlight in a new Netflix series. Photo: Fusion Wayang Kulit

Fusion Wayang Kulit has finally revealed its new shadow puppet character, after several teaser posts in the past week. “Who is HE? He is strong. He is the champion,” it said on its Facebook page, in a series of posts.

Today (July 15), the team introduced Per-Kasa, a character that looks like it landed right out of action figure land, complete with bulging muscles and with a mighty weapon in hand.

How fitting a name, one borrowed from Perkasa, the Bahasa Malaysia word for "strong".

“I am a fan of the 1980s Masters Of The Universe (MOTU) series, I love the (Mattel) action figures and cartoon. My He-Man action figure is 40 years old. I have been wanting to make MOTU puppets for a while, as I feel it is very suitable for shadow puppets - strong characters battling each other using sword, hammer and magic,” says Tintoy Chuo, founder of Fusion Wayang Kulit.

A close-up of Fusion Wayang Kulit's Per-Kasa, which is based on the He-Man character in the 'Masters Of The Universe' series. Photo: Fusion Wayang Kulit

What made him put this plan into action was the trailer of Kevin Smith’s new Masters Of The Universe: Revelation series on Netflix.

“I was blown away when I saw the trailer. I felt very excited, it was like I was six years old again. It feels like the production team really love MOTU and they are doing it with love and respect, keeping to the original concept and expanding it properly,” he notes.

Masters Of The Universe: Revelation takes place right after the last original episodes of the Masters Of The Universe, holding true to the same character dynamics and mythology, with an updated animation style.

Like the iconic He-Man, Per-Kasa wields a sword that has the same signature shape as the Sword of Grayskull, but with Malay decorative motifs to give it a more traditional look. It is painted in silver to achieve a metallic look, like a real sword.

“The name Per-Kasa, is written with a dash, so it is similar to He-Man. It is a clever solution suggested by my friend, Prince September,” shares Chuo.

Per-Kasa's version of the loyal 'Battle-Cat'. Photo: Fusion Wayang Kulit

According to Fusion Wayang Kulit’s Facebook post: “Hardcore fans will know that his left wrist armour is bigger than the right one (in the vintage 1982 action figure and Revelation series), so it is in our puppet. As traditional Malaysian puppets stand on a dragon or creature, we have him standing on his loyal ‘Kucing Perang’ (Battle-Cat)”.

Fusion Wayang Kulit, founded in 2012 by Chuo and Take Huat, is a contemporary pop culture outfit which has been reviving traditional shadow puppetry art by merging it with digital/multimedia content. It keeps the tradition alive by using different subject matters as the basis of its creations, implementing well-known pop culture icons of the modern age, such as Star Wars, DC superheroes (Batman, Wonder Woman) Predator and Japanese mecha/robot anime (Evangelion, Zaku of Gundam) and Tokusatsu (Ultraman, Kamen Rider).

After Per-Kasa, a second puppet will be unveiled soon: the blue muscle-toned Skeletor, the arch enemy of He-Man.

“If the response from the public is good, then we will make more puppets and maybe even have a performance,” says Chuo.