Masters of the Universe (1987 Movie)

January 22, 2024 by SpartanNerd

The SpartanNerd’s copy on VHS. Don’t know when the last time I watched this tape was. This time I streamed it on Tubi, which was free except for a singular commercial at the beginning.

I have recently picked up two Evil Lyn figures…one MASTERVERSE Revelation, and the other MASTERVERSE “Movie Inspired.” I will be doing reviews of those figures soon, but I thought I would stop and watch the movie again…maybe the twentieth time ever. But this time with a more critical eye and thinking about recent toys.

As I watched, I jotted down some “quick notes.” I have a habit of doing this nowadays, especially on a second or third viewing of a film. I am commenting on a film that is 37 years old (as of 2024), and I am very aware of the “cult classic” effect of the movie on a modern audience. There are things about it that are forgivable, and others that are not so much. Below you can see my observations as I watched the film in bold, and my commentary a few weeks later in italics.

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The Castle Grayskull matte painting is very epic. You can get a scope of the scale by seeing the Sorceress standing in the right eye socket.

We only see the castle a few times. That they chose this more tower design is interesting. I wonder if they were thinking of the Eternia Playset or something like that. And while the sorceress, in white clothes reflecting the Temple of Darkness colors, can be seen in that eye socket, I believe she is still too big!

The set of Grayskull isn’t very epic. The throne room has steps that appear like average hardwood. The throne and the Great Eye of the Galaxy look very dramatic, with nice hieroglyphics on obelisks on either side of the seat. But the surrounding environment really takes away from it. I’ll have to keep watching, but isn’t the great eye similar to Skeletor’s ship?

That there is this circular design behind Skeletor actually did confuse me as a child. Because Skeletor’s invading space ship also has this circular design. What?? is he flying around with the Great Eye of the Galaxy? I wonder why a better design wasn’t created. Why not something closer to “The Collector?”

Teela and Gwildor had never eaten meat or considered it.

This always has bothered me. Teela says that Earth is “Barbaric.” Isn’t that what Masters of the Universe is supposed to be? Even as a child I thought it was odd that Teela hadn’t eaten meat. Gwildor is a wierdo. He gets a pass. But the Captain of the Guard? She would know what rib bones were. She would have at least seen animals eating meat. And we know she enjoys Roast Gooble. But Movie Teela has to be straightedge I guess.

Weapons He-Man uses. Up to the high school scene, we have seen He-Man wield the storm trooper rifle twice. The blaster that he handed Julie was evidently set to stun, or Saurod’s armor is lazer proof. She shot him point blank in the back, but it only jarred him.

He-Man stole Blade’s sword and duel wielded!

Another note…there is a “backless” part of the cape, good design choice for us to still be able to see the sword. Haven’t seen the scabbard yet.

He-Man is a heavy gun user in this movie. I know my mother didn’t approve of this. And we never see him use guns in other media much…he hardly uses weapons including his sword in Filmation. I notice that the gun that came with the new figure is solid black, but He-Man’s blaster in the movie has silver parts on the bottom. I will probably customize this. Why didn’t they just give us accurate stuff? They could use GI JOE Classified for pointers! Eventually we do see the scabbard, and it is indeed only a half-sheath. Very strange, but the figure is accurate. Dolph’s backless cape is more dramatic than that on the figure…the backless part is almost ignorable. I know why that is there… so we can see the power sword, a necessary compromise. They wanted to give him a cape to make him more superheroic, but stay true to the roots that his main weapon is supposedly a sword.

The Cosmic Key has a handle like a gun.

I don’t own the Masters of the Universe Classics Gwildor, but I don’t think we have had a toy cosmic key that really captures what it looked like in the movie. It has that cylindrical shape, with tuning forks around it, and rows of buttons, with one big red light that activates it. And what looks like a blaster handle or rifle stock sticking out perpendicularly also. But no one uses the Cosmic Key like a gun. The little strap on the two MASTERVERSE Cosmic Keys we have isn’t a gun handle or stock.

39:18 into the movie, there is a cool scene of Julie and He-Man sitting and talking in the storage room at the high school (or a nearby construction site?) The rubble and items around would make a good photo scene for figures. I wonder if there is a Courtney Cox figure out there in scale? She is wrapped in He-Man’s cape

I have been making dioramas lately, and this scene caught my eye. I haven’t looked into a Courtney Cox figure very hard. I would be a cool idea, though! I also don’t know if He-Man’s cloth cape can detach from the armor. Something I might feel up to messing with. What is the worst that could happen? I have to gorilla glue it back?

5’5” short hair pink sweater

This is Kevin’s description of Julie to Lubick. He really narrowed it down, didn’t he? (NOPE)

Gwildor in a ’57 Chevy…pink. “Primitive land boat.“

l love some ’57 Chevy action. The very first model car I build was of a ’57 with flame decals. This idea in this movie calls out to so many other things, from Christine to the Delorean to Grease.

42:30. Skeletor and Evil Lyn staring into each others eyes.

Evil Lyn is agging on his obsession with He-Man. This tracks with modern portrayals.

Indeed modern depictions of Evil Lyn contain this seductress element. The best is the depiction in the comics, where she used that guy to gain access to the Eye of Grayskull, and to get revenge on him for betraying Trap Jaw. In 200x Mike Young cartoon, she clearly strikes something up with Keldor, and adoringly gushes over Skeletor’s power later on, seemingly to regret the loss of that relationship. And in Masters of the Universe Revelation seducing Skeletor is her way of gaining the power of Grayskull for herself. This intimate scene in the movie is probably the first time we saw such a relationship between the two. In filmation, she was clearly second in power and ability, but no romance.

Skeletor’s force lightning evaporates Saurod. My thought about Sauron…he is the least likable of the mercs.

As a child I had this toy. I remember throwing him up in the air and getting it stuck in a pine tree. So he got zapped here and “sapped” there!

Possible accessories for evil Lyn: Scanner, Hologram projector, (The image of the Cosmic Key actually looks a little bit like Gwildors vintage toy), Collar of Aldrabad

Evil Lyn IS NOT wearing pink. It looks gray actually

Why am I pointing these out? Because the MASTERVERSE Evil Lyn woefully didn’t come with anything except that unpainted, “translucent”, Cosmic Key…the same sculpt of Skeletor’s without paint. They could have included all of these. In fact, the hologram projector would have been a no-brainer. The wand that she has in so many depictions, with the dragons claw and spherical crystal could have been easily modified. Just give it a flat top! So the SpartanNerd has a bit of color blindness…sometimes I don’t see shades so good. And as I watched the movie, I kept looking to see if she was wearing pink this whole time but somehow I missed it. But no I’m pretty sure it’s gray. There is a lot of lighting that makes it look pinker, purpler, redder than it actually is. Also, it is definitely a skin-tight garment. She isn’t showing much skin, something else I wondered.

Skeletor’s army has a control tablet that blows up the microwave because of its interferance. Why is Kevin putting Burger King trash in the sink? But he is microwaving a fresh bucket of Robbie’s Ribs…

One of those nonsensical things you might miss if you don’t look for it. Probably Burger King paid for product placement. Another great question. Why hasn’t a Gwildor figure ever come with a bucket of ribs?

Evil Lyn leaves right as pink Cadillac arrives. Classic 1980’s

Seems like this gag comes up in many movies. It is a classic.

Music Store destruction! The music store scene has some of THE WORST acting

It’s true. So true. As a guitar player and musician, I looked closely at what kind of instruments were being destroyed. These are cheapies. I wonder if this was a set or an actual store somewhere. The shouted lines, the over-acted anxiety from He-Man to Gwildor to Karg. This is the hardest scene to watch.

Beast Man leads the stormtroopers. Like twenty.

There are alot of extras under those costumes. Seeing Beast Man as a commander is a little bit different. He doesn’t speak, only growls and grovels in this movie. And yet the storm troopers (this is what they are, but it isn’t clear what their actual name is,) follow his lead. The guys in the air are called Air Centurions

Evil Lyn has a round ship. Skeletor has a round ship. The great eye of the galaxy is round. Dumb design choices

Just pointing this out again. They did build a different Eternia for this movie. I get it. I suppose they didn’t want it to look like Star Wars or Star Trek, (both in peoples’ minds at the time.) I heard someone say that Gary Goddard wanted a New Gods story, disguised as Masters of the Universe. Maybe that’s why. From a filmography standpoint, and I am not an expert…this is the Christopher Reeves era, so the camera tricks to convince you that they are flying might have relied on that gimmick, where the rear view of the ship had to be obscured. (For some really bad Superman style flying effects, check out Robocop 3. Very cringy.)

One of the most heroic fights is when He-Man steals the centurion’s flying disc. This movie so far has been kind of light on He-man solo action. But we see him use the blaster, lose the blaster. Then use his sword to take out some guys. When he lands to where Skeletor has his friends hostage, he throws like five stormtroopers off of him and grabs his sword, but then Skeletor blackmails him with the old “It’s you or your friends” routine.

He-man’s only true “weakness” is that he is bound to protect his friends.

He-man does indeed have half of a scabbard that hangs down awkwardly. He has no cape when Skeletor takes him away and you can see it well. Also, what are those gems on his arms?

Teela remarks when He-Man throws down his sword. What is the story here? Does she know about Adam and He-Man at this point? Is it because it is easy access to Grayskull? Is it necessary to open The Great Eye of the Galaxy? That this is a power sword isn’t really addressed in this movie. It is hinted at. And He-Man does raise it for a “I have the power” moment in the movie, but does this give him more energy? Does the blast drive back enemies? Unclear.

Skeletor winces as He-man takes the beating. A good detail. It makes Blade seem more sadistic. It reflects that Skeletor knows what that whip feels like.

Frank Langella was truly, truly a master in this role. This year he is 86 years old. I haven’t seen any other movies of his. But he really did Skeletor right. Menacing, calculating, diabolical. Also just over the top.

Gwildor has two strong ET moments. When he puts on the women’s clothing. And when he rigs up a cosmic key (like the communicator made from a speak n spell in ET).

That Kevin is a “master songmaker” kind of brings the high fantasy of “The universe is made of music” into realistic earth terms. Many people are musicians…this is something we can relate to. And every kid watching this movie would have a music class at school. This was the age of hair metal and synth pop. Guns-N-Roses was huge. Van Halen. Etc. And Hip-Hop. And every cartoon from He-Man and all of the upstarts underneath him had a theme song. And kids would sing those every day. This part of the movie makes the power everyones.

Some of Skeletor’s best acting is in the whip scene. Also, he said He-Man’s friends should rot. When a skeleton tells you this that hurts…but he also calls sorceress an old crone. Her old-lady-look mirrors his sunken-in face look

The fight at the end where Skeletor declares himself a god. Skeletor keeps zapping He-Man. But he is seemingly indestructible. Even the Darkseid eye beams. When He-Man grabs his sword, we see it absorb Skeletor’s lightning.

This tracks with the idea of the power sword being a conduit of the power, however this isn’t really talked about until later fandom, for instance The Four Horsemen designing the techno sword to harmonize with Grayskull.

Skeletor draws the dark sword at the end of the fight, after He-Man breaks the Havoc Staff.

I brought this up because I asked the question “Did Skeletor even use this sword?” when I reviewed the movie figure. I didn’t remember when. This is the only time, when He-Man offers to save him.

The time paradox problem. He-Man’s armor is extra gold for the end

OK. Here goes. If Gwildor had the ability to send Julie and Kevin back in time, so that Julie could prevent her parents from crashing on the plane, then couldn’t this whole movie have been avoided? Evil Lyn duped him into giving up the Cosmic Key, but he had a prototype. So, why not go back in time and…tell himself not to fall for the trick? Tell himself how dangerous the Cosmic Key is? Or hire bodyguards? Or any number of solutions that would have by-passed the bulk of the movie. I suppose this is the problem of all time-travel movies.

Julie wakes up in a gown in her bed. And walks down the stairs to her huge surprise…she can stop her parents! But the way it is framed. Like Christmas morning when you are going to get presents…this is the feeling of the scene!

As I watched this final scene, this was my thought. I mean, we just had Christmas here. And some of my fondest memories was going down the stairs on Christmas morning to find presents.

Julie is wearing a frumpy gown…it looks a little bit juvenile for a teenager. These are the pajamas that kids are supposed to identify with. She sees her parents. And the smile, the reaction. Even if her parents go and fly…even if she goes with them this time. She has already made a difference in the timeline so that they won’t die. And what better present could there be?

But like I said…why?

“I’LL BE BACK!”

Sadly, Skeletor never got that return, did he. I remember talking to my friends. “When will He-Man 2 come out?” I was in denial that the movie wasn’t well received and He-Man was going underground. I lumped this sequel into the Back To The Future (Two sequels happened) category of possible movies. Rocky had tons of sequels. There were rumors of Bill And Ted’s Excellent Adventure sequels (This happened). There were rumors of Star Wars movies that would tell of Darth Vader becoming evil. (These were only rumors of children! Surely this would never happen. That would be too crazy!) But no He-Man movie ever came out again…or since. I became aware of “New Adventures,” and my younger brothers had He-Man and Slush Head. I disliked the different, wimpier design. I never watched the cartoon but once. But I jumped for Joy in my first year of marriage when they announced the trailer for 200x. I spent hours downloading that trailer over dial-up!

I just heard today on the ForEternia Podcast that the Netflix live-action movie that seemed to be the closest ever to a movie was just shelved. WHY?!

Mega Snake Mountain Review part 2

July 21, 2023 by SpartanNerd

This is the third part of a huge review.

Part 1- Packaging and Minifigures (Click)

Part 2- “Section One” (Click)

Part 3- “Section 2” and final thoughts (You are here!)

I mentioned in the Part 2 review that this is a “daunting” project. I kept putting it off. I actually figured it would snow some during the school year, but that never materialized, and so a lot of the projects I would work on never happened. But this one…the first part took hours and hours. And I knew this part would also. Throw in that this is my least favorite looking piece of Snake Mountain, and it finally just took me getting tired of the box taking up all the room in the closet.

This build took about 10-12 hours. I would work on it for 1.5-3 hours and then stop. (I would take brief breaks to do normal things, of course. I mention the box was taking up my space. I ultimately decided to throw it away. I kept some of the more “diarama”-ish pieces, which is why you see the build sitting on the black and gray “brick” packaging. Going forward with vehicles and such, this will be nice! I saw someone on FaceBook used HeroClix floor pieces to fill out their displays, and that looked fantastic! Using the box this way gives a similar vibe I think. The other thing…I used a large poster board we had sitting around as a backdrop. It is kind of beaten up and has a conspicuous label on the side, but I blurred that out in case anyone was wondering what that was about.

I have never been a big fan of the “face” on the vintage toy Snake Mountain. As a kid it was kind of confusing to me that the Filmation version had such a radically different design. All these years later, in order to make the most fans happy, they have amalgamated the designs. I don’t dislike it. But I still am not a fan that stupid face. As a kid I think I supposed it to be a snake…only the ugly face we can see. As an adult I learned that it was supposed to be a demon face. Well…it is a stupid face either way. It has a lever that you can used to open and close the mouth to make it “speak,” but I thought it more fun to have it eat Ram Man.

Up at the top where He-Man is being eaten, I still don’t know if that is a rat or a wolf. The original toy featured a removable microphone “voice changer.” This is still removable, and you can move its mouth also.

I like to joke about the Battle Bones having a “secret action feature.” One or two of the claws, they just launch off! I guess it is the type of plastic, the thickness of the pieces. But usually when I move it around, I lose some toes. Well, the back cheeks of the rat/wolf also have this problem. Eventually, not really caring as they aren’t that necessary of pieces, I just took them off.

I’m getting ahead of myself! What about the build.

I almost had a seizure when I saw the discoloration on these bricks. The SpartanWife decided I shouldn’t complain…it was probably on purpose. Turns out she was correct! Easily some of the most rewarding Mega building I have ever done was the lava slide!

You can take a flashlight of some kind and shine it behind and it makes a really cool glowing effect! The way the pieces are layered is also very fun and satisfying. The mix of translucent yellow/orange, opaque red, plus those unsightly paint splotches are what makes this work. (Isn’t the bridge a cool feature. And it is designed to break down like this also!)

Fans will sure get the picture reference of the above!

I don’t have pics of the other two sections alone. But the lava slide was just fun!

As you can see, there is a nice stairway going in front of the face that leads up to the bridge that crosses the lava slide. There is a ledge with shackles…actually a piece of the vintage design that I had forgotten about! In order to get a minifigure on it correctly, you pretty much have to take the chains off and attach to the arms, and then put them back on the wall. Beneath the ledge there is a false wall so that prisoners can bust out! It has a much better switch to cause it to open than the ones that came with Grayskull.

There are lots of pink squirel-ly things and a couple of “faces of evil,” as well as pink horns all over the place making this place into a corny, campy, obvious base for bad guys. One of the problems I had more than once in both sections of this build was getting the “faces of evil” to work. I wound up adding a round or square stud piece in several instances to make them fit. (You can’t tell I added a piece.)

Let’s look at the inside.

We have a jail. (Guess who is inside…) Filmation’s magic table. (Notice I placed Filmation-type figures around it. You don’t get more 1980’s than this!). A ladder leading from the top floor. The top floor also has the computer, which I think was in the vintage toy (maybe?). And the bone throne!

I love that more is going on here than in the vintage playset, where there was nothing but a hollow shell.

The magic table. This is the most worthy item! And the bone throne! If you watched the unfortunate “Some Kind of Monster” rockumentary about Metallica’s “St. Anger” disaster, I think I remember Kirk Hammet having a similar item. He said he likes to sit on it and think. In Filmation, we saw Skeletor sit on this quite often. I love the design…so evil! I like how Super7 made one for their MOTUC Snake Mountain, and was positively envious as it would be something I would never have. But this is great for Mega! Now, I do have a complaint. There is almost no floor space in front of the chair.

The throne rests on some flat gray pieces that have a single stud, so it is easy to take it out to set in other places or on other playsets. Traditional Skeletor works better. (Hub City Geeks, do you think this havoc staff is a darker color than the carded one?)

Notice that we have the correct stand for Screech also. It is red, and he (she?) has dark blue or black feet. Sorry, the SpartanNerd isn’t great with colors!

Thoughts on the whole set.

When you put it all together, it is massive!

You can store your figures in here. But there isn’t really that much room. For instance…

By the way, the instructions state that this table is supposed to lock in here. NO WAY! It doesn’t, and I don’t want to.

Ultimately, in the interest of space, I am going to keep it on display like this…

The table, the throne, and the sarlacc pit monster are ultimately cool pieces to use anywhere. I don’t recommend relying on this castle to stay locked together as you move it around. Remember, the SpartanNerd has dropped Castle Grayskull and had rebuild it. On the other hand, the pieces here are very tight. Almost unreasonably tight. The little pink horns and teeth and such…those things break off very easily. But also, that is an area where you kind of have artistic liberty also if you wanted to change them around.

FINAL THOUGHTS

I mentioned I might have to think twice about building an Eternia three towers or Fright Zone on account of some of the frustrations I had with building this set. But if you have been reading my blog, then you know I already have Eternia tower. In other words, it wasn’t bad enough to deter me from getting it.

The box got on my nerves enough to finally toss it out.

Do I regret this castle? Not really. As a Mega set, it has its quirks. The pieces not fitting together well, or fitting together TOO well. For. the price, looking back, I know I gave the minifigs a 5/5. I can stand by that, but why didn’t this set come with more? Where are the Snake Men? Why did we get another Evil Lyn?

In total, it probably took 24 hours to build this set. Your mileage may vary. I am an adult with the responsibilities of jobs and a family, and do other things also to be entertained. Some things have to give sometimes, and Section 2 of Snake Mountain kept getting procrastinated in favor of spending time with my wife, playing Magic the Gathering with my son, building other sets, playing with my dogs, fishing, etc. When I began building section 2, it sat on the kitchen table taking up everyone’s space for several days.

I guess I am saying, this was probably too much. There are complaints that the new Eternia Tower is too small…even I said this. But looking back after building this behemoth, I don’t think I want anymore sets this large. It is too tedious, and I think Mattel/Mega believes the same thing.

Let’s consider $300…and. it has been almost 365 days since it first arrived.

The packaging was a fail.

The selection of minifigures…Dragonblaster Skeletor (Great), Thunder Punch He-Man (Great), Ram Man (Great), Webstor (Great), Trap Jaw toy colors (should have been available apart from the set), Evil Lyn (meh), Screech (OK I guess. Why can’t we have open wings?). Snake Men (MIA). Skelcons (MIA).

(Rather than a Battle Cat large set build, they should give us Zoar and Screech. That would be worthy!)

The Filmation Side was terrific.

The more toy accurate side had a cool lava slide and terrific accessories.

A lot of hours of work. I am going to give the whole set a 3.5/5. Why the decimal? I believe there is alot of fun ahead with this set. I already have plans to make a comic! But the build was daunting, tedious, and lengthy, perhaps moreso than the feeling of accomplishment when it was done. More like “I’m glad I am finally finished.” I know I am old and such, but who is this marketed towards? The mid 30’s to mid 40’s crowd. I am optimistic that I will really enjoy it as a part of my almost complete set (Battle for Eternia II is hard to get). This piece is essential to having a complete set on account of the minifigures and on account of being a Masters of the Universe fan.

Thanks for reading if you did follow all of this! Do you agree with my 3.5/5 rating? Let me know in the comments or let me know of FaceBook!

Masterverse 40th Anniversary He-Man- SpartanNerd unboxing and review

November 5, 2022 by SpartanNerd

I am going to take a moment away from Snake Mountain, which is slowly coming together, to review the 40th Anniversary He-Man I didn’t know existed. It was at Target, where I was looking for some Christmas presents for one of my sons. At $21.00 I decided this was a good purchase

Here are some pics for reference. The big one is the 40th anniversary He-Man. You can see the art on the back of the box, and how the cardboard tray can slide out revealing the blister with the action figure inside. You can also see my sealed 200x He-Man, and also my vintage He-Man. (Might be the re-issue. I know that the Grayskull door was mine from childhood.)

I have mostly avoided the Masterverse line of Masters of the Universe toys…The first wave, which featured He-Man and Skeletor, just threw me off. He-Man’s belt was colored too closely to his skin tone, making it seem like he had a “gut,” which just wasn’t right for the character of course. This one item, plus too much focus on the Revelation show just kept me from wanting it. It seemed to me right away that this line was going to be far inferior to the Masters of the Universe Classics line, which it was supposedly replacing.

Let me settle this up front: Mattel, Masters of the Universe Classics was the line of toys the fans deserved. It was a high bar that you set yourself. Now whatever you do that is pointed at adults has to match it. The Masterverse line does not match it. I have watched Scott Neitlich’s videos and I understand what is going on…that it was a small line aimed at collectors only and sold online. I get it. But you have set a gold standard as far as highly desirable action figures.

So now that I got my sermon posted, which they will surely never read or care about, here are my thoughts on this 40th anniversary figure.

This is my first purchase of a Masterverse figure. I have seen the boxes and all of the other figures, and thank you Mattel for giving us a good box for this one. The other figures in the Masterverse line come in boring and ugly blue boxes with plain text. But this box is not only great, it is collector friendly too! You can see from the above pic that you just open the top flap (mine had a little piece of tape) and slide the tray out. I was carefully able to remove the figure without damaging the bubble. I sold all of my MOTUC figures when I ran out of room. (This is where the funding came from that got me into the Mega line). If there is anything that this Masterverse line is doing better, it is this collector friendly package. On all of the MOTUC figures you pretty much had to destroy the package if you wanted to touch the figure. After selling the MOTCU collection, I have been collecting the Mega figures on card and also off card. This is economical enough, and helps me feel like a real collector. I have since picked up San Diego Comic Con She-Ra that had a similar collector box, and also GI-Joe Classified Cobra Commander. I am sad that in the instance of the 200x He-Man that I have on card he has to just stay on the card. (That figure seems to have come down in value recently. My box is in awful shape anyway. Notice my version is the more rare “cross” on the chest version.)

The figure looks OK in the box. Let’s get him out and play awhile.

He-Man comes with this: Power Harness (armor), Power Sword, Shield, and Battle Axe. He also comes with a fist hand and a chopping hand. I guess I should count the left hand Wrist Bracer that also comes off.

His articulation is pretty good. Shoulder, biceps, double jointed elbow, and wrist with a 360 rotation as well as a hinge for up and down. The hands just pop out of their socket, and as mentioned, the left hand bracer comes off which might help you to display him equipped with the shield. The classics version didn’t have the double jointed elbows…but…I’ll say in a minute.

He-man’s head has 360 rotation and can nod up and down. He has a torso that is more likely to bend backwards rather than ab crunch. (Remember what I said about the first Masterverse He-Man having a gut?)

You get a waist swivel, legs that come out to do a split, and now thigh cuts. Double-jointed knees, boot cut, and rocker and hinge ankles.

Go have a look at my review of MOTUC He-Man from 2013. Now let’s talk. The double-joints are supposed to be an improvement on the design. But they look bad. Also, the thigh cut doesn’t do anything for me. It is kind of similar to what we had with the female figures in the MOTUC line, where when you moved their waste, you had a flat surface that just “looked wrong.” The thighs here just look wrong. No other way around it.

The top left pic shows He-Man in the same pose as the artwork on the back of the box. (very nice art, by the way.). He has no trouble getting into this pose. The second pic shows a near-transformation pose. But can you see what I see? The arms are out of proportion. His hand is too long. This head sculpt has an unsettling facial expression. You can compare the original sculpt to the new one in the third pic. The original looked menacing. Barbaric. They have given him a more vertical head, larger eyes, and distinct eyebrows, making this He-Man appear less confident. And He-Man should exude confidence. You can really see this when posing the fist. This fist looks like Deadpool’s baby hand compared to the rest of the arm (don’t look it up if you don’t know). The backside pic shows off the way the sword fits in the harness, and the muscle flexshows the off-proportions. I will say, the furry shorts and boots have a nice wash. But there is a contrast between the molded plastic belt and bracers that seems incongruent.

He-Man goes back in the box nicely, where I think he will stay.

I didn’t have any trouble getting him back in the box. Here he is with my other carded Masters figures.

I think I believed this purchase would scratch the itch of collecting He-Mann figs again. In the box, maybe. But he just isn’t as inspiring as was the MOTUC figures were. I don’t think I am likely to remove him from this package again. Maybe when it snows.

So what do I rate this figure?

The packaging is a 5/5. The toy is about a 2/5. So this puts it in the 3/5 camp. You would think that a 40th anniversary figure would be a solid 5/5. It should be. At least it was affordable, unlike the Magic the Gathering 30th anniversary fake cards (60 fake cards for $1000). Thanks professor! I didn’t know this product existed, so it was kind of an impulse buy. I wonder if they will make a Skeletor. Surely they will. But I will probably pass on it.

UPDATE: I had a good look at the first release of the Masterverse He-Man today unsealed in a case in a store. This 40th anniversary figure has a MASSIVE chest in comparison.

ONE MORE THING: I was just moving the MEGA CONSTRUX Castle Grayskull to the top shelf…It crumbled. I guess I am taking even more of a commercial from Snake Mountain.

SpartanNerd Review…Mega Construx Slime Pit

July 5, 2022 by SpartanNerd

Back two years ago, when I decided to begin collecting the Mega Construx Masters of the universe, I frantically searched to find everything I could. But the hardest thing to get was this guy.

I’m talking about Battle Bones…Not the Wind Raider. (You can frequently still find the WR in stores.)

When building the Battle Bones (a San Diego Comic Con item), I couldn’t help but think, “They could re-purpose this head into a Slime Pit.). And I thought surely they would.

But that’s not what we got. Keep reading to see my experience!

We got a Skeletor Head Slime Pit.

Now this was an unexpected idea. I suppose I was thinking larger. But in scale, I guess this makes sense in context to the scale and size of Grayskull. But not in respect to the vintage toy, but in respect of the size of the Mega Construx minifigs. On the other hand, the Talon Fighter dwarfs this.

This Skeletor head is the same mold as the others, only this time in slime green. The picture on the package shows us Horde Zombie He-Man, and also the Slime Pit. At first I thought the green behind the mouth was a wall, but I realized that it was just the hollow inside of the Skeletor head. I kind of wish that was different. That it was a proper wall. Oh well! We are talking about something that costs less than $10. And I could build that wall if I really want to.

When you get the package off, this is what you see. The gray brick will be the floor. Here is the instructions with something else in there.

Here are all of the contents. I am thinking, “He-Man must be in the bag with the green stuff, with some other slimy pieces.” Nice extras, you know.

So I opened the instructions next.

It turns out that something extra in the instructions was rubbery slime pieces. The only slime that came with this set. BOO! Here are all of the pieces separated out. This is what I must do when I open a building set. Set them all out, sort them by type and color. But there aren’t many pieces with this Skeletor Head. The package said 70 pieces, but each minifig is around 20 pieces. (When I counted, I counted 73 when including the head and the floor. Am I wrong, Hub City Geeks?)

This is a cool, green slime He-Man. As I assembled, I couldn’t help but think about The Green Goddess, who apparently shattered when people opened her MOTUC package.

No extra slime pieces here. And here is the second thing I would improve about this set. There should be more “sliminess” to it. It isn’t even very gross. I remember the toy as a child really freaking out my mother. And she took that slime away from us and we never got to play with it. (Hope you are reading this now, Mom.). I believe this should have come with more things to make it even more gross-out. Maybe a can of slime. Or just more rubbery pieces. Or even green pieces. OH WELL.

Now on to the assembly. Let me preface this by saying that I prefer building LEGO’s to any other bricks like Mega Blocks/Construx. I have put together plenty of the different kinds over the years between the SpartanNerd and the Spartan Kids. Lego bricks have aesthetic principles and roundly stick to a certain vision of kid friendliness and pop sensibilities. (SpartanNerd takes a bow for that sentence!) It isn’t like Mega Construx doesn’t have this, but the Lego thing never does anything that involves winging a piece on a stud, or other questionable hi-jinx that might compromise the structural integrity or even make a more difficult build. The Mega Construx I suppose is aimed at an older audience, so I guess older customers might not even care. But who am I mostly writing this blog to?

It also is notable that LEGO doesn’t even acknowledge their competition. But right on Mattel’s website, you can see where people post their customs and proudly give the formulas, which mix the Mega Construx blocks with Lego, Kreo, and other brands. It is like Lego is the more serious “fun” brand. And Mega Construx is us casual fans. I just wanted to say this first and get it out of the way. I knew going into this I would encounter some things that feel questionable or are nonintuitive. (I built the largest set ever- Castle Grayskull. I know very well what I might see.)

BACK TO THE BUILD

It began as I expected. Build the bottom first. These red pieces make me wish there was more red here. The Slime Pit is partially a Horde thing. Black, gray, and red are their thing. And with the bone pieces, you really evoke Hordak. (See an upcoming post!)

This connection is one of those that felt kind of janky. But after I snapped them together, it remained firm.

And here it is. Step 9. Notice how the four studs don’t line up with the five. This strictly seems to be the kind of thing Mega Construx does that Lego doesn’t seem to do. The solution works out in the end, but it just seems wrong when you are building it. That piece on top with the two studs and then the three studs is also an unusual piece.

Here are the drawn-on eyes. Tampograft I suppose. I remember when I did the Battle Bones eyes, and the Talon Fighter’s eyes, the eyes just kind of emerged from the build. This is a cheap trick, though. Yes…I know. >$10.

See those pieces that are at the nose? These are the stuff of nightmares sometimes. This time no drama. But when I did the Battle Bones and other sets, it seems like they would flick off, be backwards or hard to tell what to do from the instructions. Also, notice here that one has a different angle than the other. How are we supposed to know which to use? I figured it out, with the instrutions and all. But what if I lose the instructions? What if it is a kid building this? (What would happen would be I would help my kids build it, and then about an hour later all of the pieces would be mixed in to a giant bucket.

I definitely see how I can improve this set. It isn’t terrible, and it is clear what is going on here. But could it have been better? Absolutely. “Horde Zombie He-Man” or “Slime Pit He-Man” is actually kind of obscure, being found only in like one mini-comic, but Mattel has made him ubiquitous as a toy in recent years. He is translucent green. Who doesn’t like that? But the rest of this set. I just feel underwhelmed. I actually said to my kid “I am thinking about getting a few more of these to add the slime pieces. And I could strip down the He-Man figures to make other zombies.”

Here are two other Skeletor Head sets to compare this to. I have them all, but these two are in the most presentable condition. And I’ll tell you why they are better!

He-Man and the Jet Sled. What wasn’t great about this? It completely captures what the original toy was. It even came with the exclusive blue armor. Placing it on a propeller at the top of Skeletor’s head makes for a goofy gimmick, but it makes good use of the real estate, and you can display your Jet Sled flying. I give it a 5/5. NEXT!

Here is something I don’t remember having as a child. But check out the diorama piece that this is! I don’t know why they chose to do Zodac this way. I would have rather had the 200x Zodak, especially since we got a Zodac with the Talon Fighter. (An astute MOTU fan will know the difference!). I guess he looks like he is wearing a scuba mask all the time anyway. Still, I enjoy the diorama. There is fun to be had here. I don’t remember this toy as a child, but it perfectly encapsulates the adventure. I will give this one a 4/5 really only because there aren’t more water features in this line.

But I feel I can only give the Slime Pit a 3/5. It is good to get the green He-Man. But the Slime Pit leaves much to be desired. It isn’t gross enough. MORE SLIME. The build has some weakness to it. I had pictured something like that Battle Bones head on a mighty horror movie wall, perhaps with some green pieces to replicate slime if not a rubber puddle or even actual slime. Instead, we get this sort of soul -less offering.

So. Hub City Geeks. Do you agree or disagree? Let me know in the comments!

SpartanNerd Unboxing and Review…Masters of the Universe Classics Evilseed

September 5, 2015 by SpartanNerd

When Evilseed went on sale, I decided I would get him, only to be held off by circumstances. I thought I would have to catch him on Cyber Monday, maybe. But he remained on sale…perhaps he didn’t sell out? Regardless, I ordered mine, and over a week later he arrived in this mailer.

I quickly opened it, to reveal the sealed packaging.

The front of the box has a nice window that has Evilseed on display. You can clearly see his accessories…he has the tag line of “Evil Master of Plants.” And that’s about it. Just from seeing here…he is quite incredible looking, if you are a MIC collector. But that’s not me.

I flipped the box over, and check it out! For the first time, I own all of the characters on the back of the box!

Evilseed gets a new “real name” and bio, photographed here for you, oh Hub City Geeks. But I’m just throwing away the package. Notably, the bio says that Moss Man created Evilseed. A good story. But I prefer the Mike Young version that this figure is based on.

Removing Evilseed from the package isn’t difficult. He did have some rubber bands, and the vine-whip accessory had to be wrangled out of the blister. But other than that, it was all good. Notably, there was no “smell” associated with this figure. (If you will recall, Moss Man” had a very strong pine scent.)

Here he is in the first pose I made for him.

Evilseed has a terrific sculpt. When I first saw this revealed, I knew I had to get one to go with my Moss Man. The Four Horsemen hit a homerun every time! Check out all of the little scaly looking parts. Check out the thorns and vines. I went back and watched “Orko’s Garden,” “Council of Evil” part 1 & 2, and “The Last Stand” today to check my facts. I have ready other reviews, and there is some criticism of this version being too bulked up. In the MYP cartoon, his IS skinner at the torso and waist, but the entire upper body looks almost perfect. The thicker torso here is welcome, if you ask me. While they could have used some amalgamation of Lizard Man’s parts, I think this was the way to go. It doesn’t look wrong at all. Maybe he’s been working out?

Evilseed has that terrific sculpt, and also the standard articulation that all of the other MOTUC figures have. Rocker joint ankles, hinged knees, ball jointed shoulders, waist twist, ab crunch, ball jointed shoulders, bicep swivels, hinged elbows, a swivel wrist, and a ball jointed head that can rotate freely and be swapped out.

The cool new addition to the articulation is the way the vines look on the legs. They are made of a more rubbery material, and are a continuation of the waist piece. These come down and loop around the knees, which means Evilseed has both loose vines on his knees and articulation there!

How about this face! If he had a mother….

For real, this is one of the most evil faces ever sculpted for MOTUC. Evilseed’s overall green color is a stark and EVIL contrast to this sinister eyes and mouth, which are bright red in color. This is the only red on the figure…everyghing else is green, black, or brown. This highlights the evil human nature of the figure, and even makes him appear alien. Where his hair should be, we have this bunch of creepy looking vines/grass/seaweed.

The torso is evidently just the same sort of Torso that He-Man or most of the others have. But this time there is non-removable armor sculpted with he specific viney details demanded of Evilseed. There is a very striking collar that comes up beside his head on both sides, giving him a plant/vampire look. You can see the vine details on his back, and also two mysterious green thorns in the middle of his back.

One of Evilseed’s two accessories is “The Scepter of Power.” My research tells me that this Filmation artifact was in the episode, “The Magic Falls.” I don’t personally own this episode on DVD. I started to watch it on YouTube, when I discovered that all of those videos appear to be playing at too fast a clip, giving a chipmunk effect to most of the music and voices. It was unbearable to me. And As a music teacher, the difference in key created by the effect was just too jarring. Anyways, Evilseed looks really good with the Scepter of Power. It is supposed to be for King Randor, but since I am not a fan of “Throne Room Randor” and, nor the Burger King version of the regular Randor, I decided to settle on letting Prince Adam hold it. (He would inherit it anyway, right?)

Not bad at all.

The other accessory is this vine-whip creature. You can position it almost anywhere on his body. I think I might try and order more of these! I think he should have come with more of them. Watching the MYP version made me realize how ridiculous and over-exaggerated the vines that Evilseed controlled were. But it worked really well in that cartoon. Evilseed even made T-Rex sorts of plants, and hydra plants also. He also would use them to transport around on…Mattel could have given us an interchanging waist so we could display him as seen transporting around on a “trunk” of vines!

In getting this figure, one of my aims was display him in battle with Moss Man. Here is my first attempt!

Even with the “plant god” head on, Moss Man appears to be from a different line entirely. Both are green, but the flocking on Moss Man blurs his details.

Evilseed looks pretty good with Moss Man’s weapon, but the seed-bag armor with knife doesn’t fit properly across Evilseed because of the collar piece of the armor. It fits loosely around his waist, which is something I do with Moss Man sometimes.

It might be better to use it to imprison him…

Heheh…looks like Orko is going to set him free…

Evilseed was a part of Skeletor’s Council of Evil…We can compare Evilseed to Count Marzo and Skeletor by reenacting a scene from the cartoon.

SpartanNerd Rating of Masters of the Universe Classics Evilseed.

Evilseed has terrific sculpting. He is highly articulated, even specifically for his figure. (With the vines around his knees.) His paint looks good, and there was no “pee plastic” smell like I detected from King Hsss and Snake Armor He-Man. He comes with two accessories…the only complaint I can level is I wish we had MORE vines. But this can be easily done.

So I give MOTUC Evilseed a 5/5! I am not the least bit disappointed in this figure. Every detail matches my specifications! There are some people who complain that this isn’t Filmation’s “turnip head” version. But I don’t even like that version…it was even a reason I might not subscribe to that little add-on sub. This 200x version looks evil, not goofy. He is ready for battle…ready to kick some plants!

The SpartanNerd gives Masters of the Universe Classics Evilseed a 5/5. Do you agree or disagree? Let me know in the comments!

SpartanNerd… Thoughts on Toyfair Reveals

February 17, 2015 by SpartanNerd

Toyfair usually has a few things that catch my eye. This year though, I think is going to get me to purchasing.

To start with, there is a new MattyCollector Subscription being offered…a “200x Masters of the Universe Classics” line. (Not sure the official name.Oh yeah. Club 200x.) I think I am going to subscribe. I skipped on the Anniversary Line, and the Filiation line, AND the minis line. But considering the figures planned, I am game. Revealed so far is Calix (he needs a red shirt), Ceratus, and EvilSeed. I speculate that we will get Old Man Marzo, a Skeleton Warrior, and Stratos’ sister or similar. There is also a head pack coming, with the 200x head for Snout Spout (AWESOME!), Buzz Off’s 200x head (ALSO AWESOME!) I figure we might get 200x Prince Adam in the main Classics line, as this subscription specifically says that the characters will be never-before-released.

I’m so excited I went ahead and purchased the Snake Armor He-Man and 200x King Hsss two pack today…(review coming as soon as it arrives!)

(I could care less about Peek-a-Blue and Angela. Angela could be much more awesome. Mara is cool though, maybe the best New Adventures side character so far.)

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