THE WALKING WEAPON SYSTEM
Artilla
The armored android of the Galactic Guardians, with a cannon on his arm and a past he refuses to go back to.
Artilla is the armored android of the Galactic Guardians in The New Adventures of He-Man (1990), voiced by Garry Chalk. Hydron introduces him as a walking weapon system.
The record
The facts
WHERE HE COMES FROM
A machine that came to Primus
Artilla is a Galactic Guardian from The New Adventures of He-Man, Jetlag Productions' 1990 series set on the planet Primus, far in He-Man's future, where the Guardians hold the line against Flogg's Mutants of Denebria. The Filmation He-Man that anchors this encyclopedia never mentions him, so everything here comes from that later, non-canon series.[1]
He is an android, with a boxy armored body in brown, blue and red, a pale face with a blue patch over one eye, and a red crest along the top of his helmet. In the flashback "The Galactic Guardians," Hydron, showing Flipshot the recruits, introduces him in a single line, "His name's Artilla, a walking weapon system," and adds that he is visiting Primus at the scientists' request. The Guardians are short of soldiers in that story; one officer wants to see what the newcomers can do before taking them along, and Flipshot is reminded that they have to be open to new ways, because they desperately need recruits. The test laid on for Artilla is a wall of paladurium steel, and the wall comes off worse.
He joins the team in that flashback with two other recruits, Tuskador and Spinwit, whose spinning arms can raise a controlled tornado. They are already Guardians by "The Pen Is Mightier Than the Sword, Or Is It?," and after that Artilla is the heavy gun Hydron sends for.[2]
[1] ^ For The New Adventures of He-Man, epguides gives a first-run window of September to December 1990, and Wikipedia has dates for the earliest episodes, from December 1989. Most episodes have no air date on record.
[2] ^ The guide to "The Pen Is Mightier Than the Sword, Or Is It?" marks it as the first appearance of Artilla, Spinwit and Tuskador, and "Dreadator" has the three of them as silent cameos. The flashback "The Galactic Guardians" is set earlier than both, though it shows Artilla and Tuskador flying Battle Birds, which the scientists first build in "The Battle for Levitan."
THE SIGNATURE EPISODE
There's Gems in Them Hills
Jack Olesker's "There's Gems in Them Hills" is the one episode that looks at where Artilla came from, and it slips the question into a story about something else. Skeletor and Flogg want Primus attacked without risking their own troops, so they have Korac tell the renegades of Gorn City that the planet is full of gem mines. A distress signal brings He-Man, Flipshot and Artilla to Gorn City, with a small pink alien riding along in Artilla's astrosub because he wants to repay what the heroes have done for his planet.[3]
He-Man sends Artilla back to Primus with the warning while he and Flipshot go off in disguise to join the Mutant armada. Before he can leave, a squad of robot bounty hunters steps out of the street and greets him like a runaway: "Artilla, we were so worried about you when we heard you were lost." His answer is the most he ever says about himself, "I did not get lost. I escaped," and they tell him it is time he returned, because the Great One is concerned about him. Held captive for the trip home, he is given one last chance to say whether he will serve the Great One.
Artilla is a weapon who belonged to someone else once and chose to stand with Primus, and this is the only episode that says so out loud. The little alien he had told to run comes back and gets him out, and the breakout is the episode's best action, Artilla bringing the cannon on his arm to bear while his rescuer grins up at him. Instead of flying straight home as ordered, the two of them come back to help against the renegade fleet. The closing scene belongs to the alien, who has dreamed of joining the Guardians: He-Man reminds them that they were told to go directly to Primus, and then tells the alien that he is a Galactic Guardian now, while Artilla cheers with the rest.
The script never says who the Great One is or what Artilla escaped from, and the few episodes left after it never come back to the question.[4]
[3] ^ The alien's name is spoken in the episode, but the English subtitles spell it two different ways and no published cast list names the part.
[4] ^ Who the Great One is, and what Artilla escaped from, is never explained. Wikipedia's episode list places "There's Gems in Them Hills" 59th of the series' 65 episodes.
Artilla aboard the starship in the 1990 series.
Clipped from our own copy of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, No Easy Way (The New Adventures of He-Man, 1990), 2:54 to 4:35, 1 minute 41 seconds. Nothing is added and nothing is sped up. Copyright Mattel.
THE SECOND ANGLE
A weapon that stores what it takes
The flashback in "The Galactic Guardians" shows what he is for. A ship loaded with poison gas from the chemical wars has been knocked out of its safe orbit by a solar storm and is falling toward Primus, and a cocoon of light has wrapped itself around the ship and is tightening. He-Man draws the energy away with his sword, and when someone asks where it all went, Artilla has the answer: "It's stored in my weapon system for later use." Someone answers, "I'm glad this guy's on our side."
Other episodes use him the same way, as the specialist who handles the dangerous part. In "Skeletor's Revenge" he is beamed into Primus's new Master Computer alongside He-Man and the scientists, and once the creature living inside it, Argy, agrees to help, someone asks whether the two of them can turn every machine on Primus against Skeletor. "With pleasure," Artilla says. In "No Easy Way" he flies with the expedition to Fytrion's new moon, and when an asteroid field blocks the way, it is Artilla who asks permission to send an astrosub out after the laser barrage to pick off the rocks that get through. Hydron answers, "It has to be done, Artilla, but it's too dangerous for me to order anyone to do it," asks for a volunteer, and gets three.
He turns up for smaller jobs, too. He and Sagitar are sent to back up the Starship Eternia in "The Test of Time"; Master Sebrian sets him, He-Man and Tuskador to watch a visiting wizard in "The New Wizard in Town"; he fires his arm blaster in "The Guns of Nordor," turns up in a cave in "Planet of Junk" and sits in the cockpit in "The Call to the Games."
THE VOICE
He-Man's other part
Garry Chalk voices both He-Man and Artilla in the series, so the scene in "There's Gems in Them Hills" where He-Man sends Artilla back with the warning has one actor on both sides of it.[5]
[5] ^ Garry Chalk is credited as both He-Man and Artilla in IMDb's full credits for "The Test of Time", and Wikipedia's cast list for the series agrees.
THE FILMS
Off the big screen
There is no Artilla in either live-action film: the 1987 Masters of the Universe has no Galactic Guardians, and the 2026 names on the film cast page do not include him.
IN PLASTIC
Artilla, or Weaponstronic
Mattel made Artilla for the third New Adventures wave in 1991, the same wave as Spinwit and Tuskador, with Sagitar as the wave's one deluxe figure. The card calls him a Primian Protocol Android reprogrammed for battle, which fits the cartoon's version of him, and outside the United States he was sold as Weaponstronic. A tab on the back of his head pops his face out to show the circuitry underneath, the Hyper-Blaster swings out from under his right arm, and moving his left hand pops out a mini-missile.[6] No later Artilla has followed that we can find, and the 1991 figure is long retired, so there is no Artilla on sale new.
[6] ^ The Toy Collector's Guide lists the Heat Seeking Mini-Missile and the Hyper-Blaster as his accessories; Action Figure Barbecue's review notes that both are built into his arms, so nothing comes loose in the box.
IN BRIEF
From audition to escape
The Pen Is Mightier Than the Sword, Or Is It?
Artilla, Spinwit and Tuskador first turn up among the Guardians.
Skeletor's Revenge
He goes into Primus's Master Computer with He-Man and helps turn its machines on Skeletor.
The Galactic Guardians
A flashback shows his audition against a wall of paladurium steel.
No Easy Way
He commands an astrosub on the expedition to the new moon of Fytrion.
There's Gems in Them Hills
Bounty hunters come to take him back to the Great One.
The Artilla figure
Mattel adds him to the third New Adventures wave, sold abroad as Weaponstronic.
Questions
Artilla questions, answered
Who is Artilla in He-Man?
An armored android who serves with the Galactic Guardians on Primus in The New Adventures of He-Man.
Is Artilla in the original 1983 He-Man cartoon?
No. He joined the cast in the 1990 New Adventures, years after the Filmation run ended.
Who voices Artilla?
Garry Chalk, who also voices He-Man in the same series.
Is Artilla a robot?
Mattel's packaging calls him a Primian Protocol Android reprogrammed for battle. The cartoon treats him as one of the team and never explains how he was made.
How did Artilla join the Galactic Guardians?
The flashback "The Galactic Guardians" shows him passing his test for the Guardians, along with Spinwit and Tuskador.
Who is the Great One?
Nobody knows. In "There's Gems in Them Hills" bounty hunters say the Great One wants Artilla back, and Artilla says he escaped, but the series never explains either.
What powers does Artilla have?
He carries an arm cannon and can absorb energy into his weapon system to use later, which he does after He-Man draws off the cocoon of light in "The Galactic Guardians."
Why is the figure called Weaponstronic?
That was his name on the figure sold outside the United States. In America the same 1991 figure was sold as Artilla.
Can you still buy an Artilla figure?
Not new. As far as we can find, the 1991 figure is the only one Mattel has made, and it is long retired.
Is Artilla in the He-Man movies?
Not so far. He is absent from the 1987 film and from the 2026 film's announced cast.
Compiled by the heman.org desk from The New Adventures of He-Man episodes and their English subtitles, and the guides to There's Gems in Them Hills, The Galactic Guardians, Skeletor's Revenge and No Easy Way. The voice credit follows IMDb's episode credits and Wikipedia; the figure follows The Toy Collector's Guide and Action Figure Barbecue; air dates follow epguides and Wikipedia.
Alongside
