Category Archives: Dolph Lundgren

SpartanNerd Vintage Review. He-Man and the Masters of the Universe Magazine, Summer 1986.

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See a video review of this vintage magazine at my YouTube channel HERE.

A bunch of these have come up on MyComicShop, and so I got one! Probably there is a spike in demand because of the new Masters of the Universe movie!

This is from Summer 1986, exactly 40 years ago. Also, this one announces the contest where a kid will get to be in the movie! This came true as Pigboy was indeed a child who won the contest! (Follow the link for more information…I’m not taking any responsibility for anything you encounter in your searching around with that.)

The main idea of this one…”King Hiss and the Snake Men challenge He-Man” features fantastic Earl Norem artwork of the toy-style Snake Mountain, King Hiss, Cobra Kahn, Tongue Lasher, and Rattlor. He-Man anatomically swings into action with his battle axe and shield! (Yes…Norem was a master of anatomy…as my art friends say). Meteorbs are a minor push in this issue, Create a vehicle has promise, while Start a Summer Power Club sounds ambitious for a bunch of kids under 10.

I have another one of these magazines, and I collect them only for nostalgia purposes. No one should ever pay more than $20 for one of these except for possibly issue #1. You never see these graded, but if you do (I have) then it will be a low grade…more trouble than it is worth. And besides, the fun of this is going back into the past, reading the stories and letters, and seeing the old ads. You can’t do that if you have your magazine slabbed and are asking more than $75 for it, most of that value being upcharge.

You can tell that my copy is well worn. But it is all here! I am going to present photos and then some commentary behind them.

I can’t drink that red dye anymore…but Looney Toons were still popular back in the 1980s. In recent years, the most popularity you see of them is Space Jam. The erosion of values!

The table of contents…pictures on the right would indicate a Meteorb, He-Man with a tree, Kobra Kahn in a cool vehicle, and the Snake Men and Skeletor on the bottom.

There are two posters in this issue!

A Letter from He-Man, Orko Earth Report, and He-Man of the Issue are regular columns, you can read the features for yourself, but we have a movie article here not really mentioned on the cover.

Another add, this time for the Walt Disney Home Videos. You have Alice, the Cheshire Cat, Mickey Mouse in a tuxedo, and Winnie the Pooh. I believe the only feature movie here is Alice in Wonderland if you look close at the photos. Are these BETA-MAX? I looked close, and there’s no indication of Beta or VHS.

He-Man, Grayskull, and the Jet Sled. The Jet Sled was a recent accessory offering in 1986, Do you think maybe they pasted the Jet Sled over He-Man somehow?

I am keeping my magazine together, but removing the posters takes a big chunk out of the included comic book…something that bothered me big time as a child. So I never took them out until the magazine was falling apart. And then my mom WOULDN’T LET ME HANG THEM UP!

The Snake Men poster is the same as the cover, but here is the Meteorb poster.

This was already ripped and then re-stapled by fingernail obviously. The Meteorbs…we didn’t have them as kids. I felt like they were stupid anyway. If you look into it, you will find that they were actually a different, failed toyline that Mattel folded into MOTU. I feel like they were already seeing the need to have transforming toys in order to compete with the Transformers. I also never had Rokon or Stonedar. (Looking at the posters was skipping ahead…, oh reader).

A nice letters column. Notable that I have a letter published in Transformers #10...I have every cover that I could get. And I wonder if these kids still have their copies of this magazine?

I don’t remember which of these I actually had as a child. I had a subscription, though. If I had only known…In fact, if we all would have known we would have bought two of everything and kept one pristine in storage…

So is this our first look at the movie that would be come Masters of the Universe: The Movie? This is so relevant to today because of the recent Masters of the Universe just released on June 5 this year.

Because I already talked about Pigboy, let’s talk about Dolph Lundgren. As a kid, I had seen Rocky IV, and was truly sad when the evil Russian steroid-user boxer killed Apollo Creed, who was dressed in the American Flag, and so happy when the Italian Stallion who actually worked out fair and square took him down. We all knew the USSR were the bad guys…see Top Gun for instance. When I was told that the same villain was going to be He-Man…I didn’t…get it…if that makes sense. I was only 7 years old. He looks nice enough in these pictures. And I am now a big fan of Dolph. I also thought his He-Man was really good back then and now. But it was hard for me to digest everything…I was forming my ideas about what was real and what was fiction. Could I grok ideas behind the making of movies? Casting choices? Budgets? Limitations? No, I could not.

As we go through this magazine…be ready for this to be pushed some more. Kids loved the Statue of Liberty back then…the world was more patriotic. I remember cheering when the Ghostbusters made it come alive using a NES Advantage controller in Ghostbusters 2. (Yep. I out nerded you, readers!) It was apparently the 100th year of the anniversary of France giving the United States the statue. And I guess it was time to capitalize on that also to the smart kids who read magazines.

ORKO’S EARTH REPORT

Labyrinth– I have seen this a few times…they used to show it at school. It is similar to The Dark Crystal and The Never Ending Story. Kind of scary to see at times. When kids see things like that song reference in Stranger Things today…I mean…we lived it.

SpaceCamp– NASA had a real Space Camp, I’m pretty sure. If you were rich! I don’t remember this movie.

Ulysses 31– What amounts to an ad for a different fantasy cartoon…what? But no one remembers Ulysses 31, but everyone remember He-Man. I’m sure it was great, though.

Reading Rainbow– If you are reading this blog, you probably have had the theme song for Reading Rainbow stuck in your head before. I remember discussing LeVar Burton in college with my friends, and how we loved him in Star Trek: The Next Generation. One of my friends said he cried the first time he heard him cuss…

Oh yeah…

This is a cool picture of He-Man. I was glad to see this still in the magazine.

Never heard of any of this. NOTICE. This is the second time we see The Statue of Liberty Magazine pushed.

The USELESS Prince Adam. Now you know why I probably blog with all-caps a bunch of times.

Jet Sled, Cyclone, Spydor, Tongue Lasher, Rattlor, Kobra Kahn, King Hiss, He-Man, and Skeletor. The marketing strategy was SOLID in 1986.

Remember the “Meteorb” from the Table of Contents. Nope. It was a bait-and-switch. Spydor is throwing rocks and He-Man hits them like a baseball player. So 1980’s!

Trunk of Tree a Serpent Be!

He-Man shows a new power with his sword. He breaks King Hiss’s spell and changes the tree back to normal. I also like how he won’t hurt the snakes. The strong women in my family are so terrified of snakes. Deathly terrified. And typically a strong man would use a hoe or shovel to chop off their heads if one was around to ease their minds.

(I find this truly horrifying, Hub City Geeks. Poor snakes. I do feel this drastic action is necessary if it is a poisonous snake that will be around where kids or pets are playing. Most of my family hasn’t had the knowledge to tell the difference, and besides that my mom, grandmother, and aunts were so afraid. But there is a 6ft+ long black snake likely under my house right now…I don’t mind! It needs to be worried about my German Shepherd.)

Seriously…we used to swim at a lake house that my grandparents owned (Sadness!) We were told to stay on one side of the dock, because the other side “had snakes.” OK…the logic…

He-Man won’t hurt the snakes because they are innocent creatures…I love it!

I was a science nut as a kid. And I heard about tornadoes picking up frogs, fish, even people and dropping them in other places as hail stones. So, someone has a hailstorm of snakes. My grandmother and mom would have a true nightmare!

King Hiss’s gimmick…as a kid…me and my brothers generally thought King Hiss was disguised as a good guy, but then would reveal himself as evil. The mini comics and magazines like this pointed us in the correct direction. Also, at this point, shouldn’t the Snake Men have already been prepared for battle? The point here was to roll-call them for marketing purposes.

A classic Filmation move. Bowl the enemies over with a round boulder.

So…are they presenting the Blasterhawk as a potential fan-created vehicle? This was a toy you could buy in 1986! So this doesn’t seem fair. (I never had a Blaster Hawk)

The Bat Pak- I had to look up and see if this was ever produced. It seems so…logical. But they didn’t make it.

Rattle Trap- Wouldn’t this one have been cool to have?! They didn’t come out with any vehicles for the Snake Men faction, and so it makes you think…was this an idea that they decided not to go with?

Up-Scaler- With Moss Man driving. Also, this one looks kind of logical…why didn’t they ever make it? Leech was an action figure with suction cups…in fact suction cups and sticky toys were “cool” in 1986.

What vehicle would the SpartanNerd make…OK. The Sound Shocker. With Rio-Blast driving it. It is shaped like the Battle Ram (without the Sky Sled), but has giant amplifiers on all sides. Rio-Blast or WHOEVER can sit up front with the included guitar accessory, and assault everyone’s ears with glorious noise!

And here is our third mention of The Statue of Liberty Magazine. This time they are giving you a card to bug your parents with.

POWER PUZZLES- This page was all worked by a previous owner. The color-by-number is a picture of Orko. Matching…some of these characters go to more than one place.

True story. My first-grade-self had a true saint for a teacher. She isn’t with us anymore (she’s with Jesus). But I remember taking one of these magazines to her and telling her that she could run copies of the puzzles for the class to do. She just looked at me, and then said “I don’t want to!” I still remember it… But think about it. We were always doing word searches and coloring pages. A kid would like to contribute. So now as an adult, I include any reference to He-Man that I can into work that I create. For instance, Skeletor is one of the multiple-choice answers on my substitute worksheet response to a video about The Human Voice. I even included a picture of the more recent Golden Book “I Am Skeletor!”

This page wasn’t worked, but you can easily tell that the puzzles here are more difficult.

It says there are 17 power swords…they aren’t as easy to see as you think. It took me a minute to find them all.

Mystery Meteorbs. Once again, not a fan of the Meteorbs. In Norem’s poster, did you notice that one guy is a big red ball? He looks orange here. I don’t know…when I see these guys, they look like general 1980’s toys. Like they are an oval ball with an animal coming out. The robot guy and the lion are the best ones…Maybe the elephant. I mean…the crocodile? What croc looks like this? That is one fat bear. I know that Brontosaurus was a hefty boy, but not round like this.

The He-Man club. Anybody remember the movie The Little Rascals. They had a no-girls club called “The He-Man Woman Haters Club“.

So this brings up a question…because in 1986 this was when She-Ra came out…What if…

No question about Mary Lou Retton being an awesome athlete. I didn’t know, but just spent some time on Wikipedia. $30? for a 30 minute video? Notice that Mary Lou is apparently an olympic athlete wearing red, white, and blue. I’m just saying…this vibe with the Statue of Liberty. Wikipedia seems to indicate that she was a big supporter of the Reagan Administration, also very 1980’s. (NOTE: The Disney videos already mentioned in the magazine were also $30).

This is a cool story about Jason Isroff. It was good public service, and it was good that the publishers recognized this to encourage others to do right. I remember the principal of our school had a “Tiger of the Day” award to someone who served the school community. (Tigers was the mascot at Clifdale Elementary…glad they changed that when we became a middle school!)

Yep. I’m a rare kind of guy who has had three careers in the same place. I attended Clifdale Elementary, then as an adult I taught music at Clifdale Elementary. After moving to Cowpens Middle School to teach chorus, what was decided? To move Cowpens into a re-formated Clifdale Middle School. I say often, “The Lord Jesus really wants me to be at Clifdale!”

Check this ad. I remember Rainbow Brite fondly…and I remember the toys of the Popples. But I don’t remember anything about Ulysses 31. All three of these are worth looking at on Dan Larsen’s “Secret Galaxy” YouTube channel.

The back cover is yet another ad. This one doesn’t jump out at you as an ad, however. It invites you to order one of these personalized storybooks. But as you look closer…BAM…Fruit Rollups and Fruit Bars.

I felt like this trip down memory lane was fun, and am thinking about getting more of these magazines as people are putting their copies out for sale or trade while demand is up. Do you have any of these, Hub City Geeks? Let me know in the comments!

Masters of the Universe 2026 Movie- SpartanNerd’s Review

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This is a review with SPOILERS. You can see my video review of this movie if you click this link HERE.

First of all, I was one who for years has said that if they do a Masters of the Universe movie in the modern style of Marvel and DC, Star Wars, or Transformers, then they will certainly ruin it. I like the Michael Bay Transformers movies (at least the first two) but have some objections to things, like for instance Optimus Prime chopping peoples heads off. You see how I didn’t talk about the “insect-formers” design…I came to enjoy it. And while Marvel has mostly hit it right and DC getting it sometimes, everyone who reads this blog surely knows about all of the controversy around Star Wars starting with Disney. I figured a MOTU movie would have statements and content that rub the SpartanNerd the wrong way, like the movies Rise of the Beasts and The Last Jedi. I figured there might be “bad CGI” like in Aquaman.

But all of my fears were mostly wrong. This movie addresses Masters of the Universe in a modern style very well. The acting is top notch, and if the CGI is a little off, I feel that the producers wanted it to be like that to remind us that this is largely based on a Filmation cartoon from the 1980’s, I say mostly. It was a good move to stick to the Filmation fanbase. Watching that cartoon and playing with action figures are the things that the 40-something year-old fandom remember best. Mattel and Amazon needed to skew away from the super-nerds like me, and cater to a general audience of more casual fans. I am going to break this down.

  • Idris Elba’s Man-At-Arms is an incredible character, and Elba and the producers did something different with Duncan while maintaining the “mentor” aspect essential to who he is.
  • Jared Leto’s Skeletor was a surprise to me. I hadn’t heard his voice…it isn’t the same as Filmation or Mike Young Productions nasally voice. Instead it is a deeper voice with Shakespearean elements. Skeletor is overdramatic and retains his comedic villain self, but is also someone that everyone walks on eggshells around.
  • Allison Brie’s Evil-Lyn was kind of the exact same character that Brie plays as a wrestler on the Netflix show GLOW. In that show, she is an actor playing a wrestler with the character of “The Mad Russian” or something stereotypically grating. But when you see her go from her normal self to wrestler lady…that is where Evil-Lyn is. It is important to say that I don’t believe she was written to be as strong of a character as Meg Foster played in the 1987 movie.
  • Nick Galitzine’s Adam Glenn…that’s right…not Adam of the House of Randor. I have never seen this actor in anything before. I believe he is a little bit too small to play He-Man. He has muscles…that isn’t it…but they aren’t Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Conan the Barbarian muscles. Adam is a can’t-do-anything-right who becomes OP when he transforms into He-Man. Are Adam and He-Man different people? No…I think this is partially on what the movie hinges on. He-Man is inside of Adam. The movie handles this idea without hitting us over the head with it.
  • Camila Mendez’s Teela is a headstrong friend for Adam, the same as always.
  • Of the evil warriors, Trap-Jaw has at least THREE big fight scenes. Which brings up fight scenes…this movie feels like a bunch of action figures fighting against each other! Besides Skeletor, he is easily the strongest of the villains. We see the others fighting…Spikor has plenty of humorous scenes where his spikes are more of a liability. And there are scores of skeleton guys and monster men who are just fodder. Review of Chronicles Trap Jaw coming soon!
  • The Eternian Family- Randor and Marlena are indeed presented as Adam’s parents in the opening, with Randor being way too hard on Adam as he trains. Marlena doesn’t get much, but when it is time to protect Adam, she helps him get to Castle Grayskull.
  • Castle Grayskull and Snake Mountain…these places don’t feel as epic or weighty as they should. They are overshadowed by the drama of the relationships between the characters.
  • Vehicles- They didn’t give us much. A bunch of Fright Fighters and Rotons, along with Teela’s Talon Fighter and a Sky Sled. The Collector gets a moment, and the good guys show up with a bunch of generic ships.
  • The good guys…do you call them the Masters? There is a lot of self-deprecating humor.
  • Cringer- Really, Battle Cat doesn’t appear until the final scene. Cringer is a reluctant scaredy cat like he is supposed to be, but he also fights pretty hard against Beast Man. (Review of Chronicles Battle Cat HERE.)

So this brings up one of the criticisms. There is a lot of humor in this movie. Like every couple of minutes there is a jab, joke, pun, or zinger. This is in line with The Guardians of the Galaxy or Deadpool. It isn’t horribly dirty humor like Deadpool, but it is on the innuendo side, and as far as language there is a GD right at the beginning of the movie that makes Reverend SpartanNerd feel like throwing up.

THE PLOT- MAJOR SPOILERS!

Adam was sent to Earth by the Sorceress at the suggestion of Marlena during the opening attack on the palace. Part of this opening attack was Man-At-Arms being defeated by Trap Jaw and Randor being captured by Skeletor. Adam was separated from the sword when he exited the portal…touching the sword was his way home! Luckily, Adam never forgot where he came from, but as an Earthling he had a hard time adjusting to the boring life of Human Resources. I believe Adam Glenn works at a staffing agency, where he is good with people and helps them find a place in the workforce that is a fit for them. But he gets roasted by his boss, Susie, who has a problem with him looking for the Power Sword on the clock. Adam gets ghosted by “Julie,” advice at the gym from Dolph Lundgren, and admonished by his roommate Hussein. He gets a text at work to find the sword at a toy store called “The Fright Zone” and on touching it, a signal was sent to Eternia, where both Teela and Beast Man received it. The Earth scene really doesn’t take long in the movie…probably less than fifteen minutes.

On Eternia, Adam is worthless as a fighter. The good guys disbelieve Teela enough to throw her in jail along with Adam. Fisto seems to be the leader, with Ram Man second in charge. Mekanek and Moss Man are around also. In jail, Man-At-Arms is passed out drunk, and Roboto is a maid. I believe this scene takes place at Point Dread? Skeletor’s army attacks the base, and Roboto helps them bust out. Once again Adam is useless, and as Trap Jaw comes out, Man-At-Arms begins to have a panic attack. But Adam raises the sword and becomes He-Man, having a brutal fight with Trap Jaw and ripping off his arm, then using it to shoot down Skeletor’s army. There is a vehicle chase as Teela, Man-At-Arms, Adam, and Roboto escape in the Talon Fighter, only to be shot down. Skeletor stands there wondering who the new barbarian is that took out his men. Skeletor has all of the Masters taken to prison at Snake Mountain.

At the crash sight of the Talon Fighter, Adam and Teela have a tender moment as he picks up the ship with one arm, (but he does complain that it is heavy). Man-At-Arms breaks out his foot locker and puts on his armor, that has a flask hidden in the front of the chest plate that as kids we always wanted to know what that was. He says he would rather be a drunk than a failure. Skeletor appears in a hologram just like in the 1987 movie telling the new barbarian to come to Snake Mountain and surrender the sword to see his parents. Apparently they had crashed near the secret passageway to Snake Mountain…

Goat Man is guarding the entranceway, but Adam gets by him. At Snake Mountain’s iconic mouth, Skeletor has Randor. He-Man decides to fight, and another huge battle takes place, but Evil-Lyn traps him with a force field. He-Man breaks the spell with his incredible strength, but the shock causes the roof to collapse on everyone except for him. He rushes to save his dad, but his father dies. During the drama, Skeletor comes up behind He-Man and clocks him on the head with the Havoc Staff.

When Adam wakes up… yes…he was hit hard enough to revert back…he is in the Snake Mountain prison with all of the Masters. His Mother and Cringer are also there. Adam uses his Human Resources skills to rally the Masters to work together with their powers to break out.

Skeletor can’t make the power sword work. Evil-Lyn suggests taking it to Castle Grayskull to perform a ritual. The final battle takes place at Grayskull. Adam manages to get the sword from Skeletor, but before he can change, Skeletor blasts him with the Havoc Staff. Adam uses the sword to block, but the force breaks the sword. Skeletor uses the hilt with the shard-end of the sword to stab Adam in the chest. Then proceeds to read his mind.

As Skeletor reads his mind, he is dreaming about the gym, but instead of Dolph, it is Skeletor lifting weights, wearing an athletic hoodie! Next he is on the date with Julie, and Julie asks about Eternia. When Adam looks up, it is Skeletor wearing a dressy suit. he drags him out of the restaurant. Adam finds himself in Susie’s office, where she says something about having a performance review with Doug…when Adam looks over to where Doug was earlier in the movie, it is Skeletor drinking a thermos of coffee! (This was my favorite part of the whole movie!). Finally, Adam is passed out in his room, where Hussein comes in and places a drawing of the Sorcerss on his chest. Next Zoar flys in, and encourages him that He has the power…it isn’t really the sword!

This is enough to wake Adam wake up in the real world and remove the sword from his chest. As he begins to transform, the sword comes back together. And then instead of fighting, he tells Skeletor he just wants to talk. But Skeletor declines, saying that he is always going to be the villain. Adam actually punches Skeletor out like a boxing warmup, then turns on the Thunder Punches complete with lightning. Finally he palms the Havoc Staff like Michael Jordan, and then shatters it. The explosion is extremely powerful and appears to kill Skeletor as his skull bounces around on the floor.

The next scene is six months later. There is a celebration as Eternia has been rebuilt, which also includes Hussein. Adam gives everyone a pep talk. He also expresses his name as He-Man…the first time it appears in the movie. Then there is news of a problem at Avion. Adam and Cringer then run off to Grayskull to transform where nobody can see them, (but the characters question why?).

Three Credits scenes. The first is Orko presenting a moral that is something like “Muscle Guys are probably heroes and skull-faced guys are probably villains) as Mer-Man is arrested in the background. The second is a reveal of She-Ra about to attack the Fright Zone (Filmation design). And the final scene is Evil-Lyn returning to pick up Skeletor’s skull, and we hear him laughing maniacally.

MY THOUGHTS

You could take the first Thor movie and follow the plot…they are pretty identical, with Randor taking Odin’s place. There is also a little bit of Lion King in there. There’s just no doubt that Skeletor really takes this show. We saw more of Adam/He-Man, and it was good, but a reason to watch this is to watch Skeletor! I like how they started with the Man-At-Arms we expect, then deconstructed him and built him back up. Teela is also different in a way because this time she is compensating for her father giving up rather than the typical path to becoming the captain of the guard.

One thing…there is no origin story for Skeletor. There is no reason why he is evil. We get that he is greedy and power-hungry. Evil-Lyn serves as someone who can talk to him…the only person who CAN talk to him. And he is toxic to her, burning her skin with his hand in two scenes. But I question…do we really NEED to know why Skeletor is evil? Do we NEED a Keldor story? Do we NEED to know things like how old is Castle Grayskull? Where did the henchmen come from? Not really in my opinion. We didn’t know any of that in the Filmation show…we just took it for granted that Skeletor was evil and Castle Grayskull had to be protected. There was some canon to this story, like Marlena being from Earth and the Sorceress secretly being Teela’s mother (not directly addressed, but there). But for the most part, it was about seeing our favorite characters on the screen, probably fighting.

Some things that I appreciate…Roboto is a GIRL! Two of the Credits scenes are setups for sequels…We have references to the 1987 movie including Dolph Lundgren, The Great Eye of the Galaxy (did you catch it?), Pigboy, and Karg.

What did this movie add to the story of Masters of the Universe?

  • This is the first time we have ever seen Skeletor sleep
  • Skeletor is also is a mind-reader
  • Dian- This is a strong female character from the Newspaper strips. In Kevin Smith’s show there has been a strong female lead “Andra” recycled from the Filmation show. Dian is a similar character
  • Goat Man is now officially one of the Evil Warriors in my mind

SPARTANNERD RATING

As a MOVIE, I give this a 4/5. As a Masters of the Universe movie, I give it a 5/5. Not everyone is going to “get it.” There is a lot of talk about the viral movies Backrooms and Obsession…two sleeper movies that scored big at the box office, taking some market share. And this is unfortunately true…not even a fan-excuse (I saw Backrooms…it is pretty good!). Masters of the Universe is for 40-somethings, but Scary Movie 6/7 is for a 2000’s crowd. And up ahead is Toy Story 5, Moana (live action), Supergirl, and then Spider-Man Brand New Day. I kind of think Masters of the Universe is cooked in this box office environment. HOWEVER, it won’t be lost on people streaming. I predict Amazon is going to make MINT streaming this movie.

Do you agree or disagree? Let me know in the comments!

Masters of the Universe- Thoughts on MOTU story iterations before offering a review of the new movie.

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See my video review of the 2026 Masters of the Universe movie HERE. (Spoiler warning)

I am going to give you a quick synopsis of my thoughts on every iteration of this fiction. Just a couple of sentences before I drop a review of the new movie with spoilers. This might help someone understand my take on things.

This is my copy of the mini comic collection. I have several of these modern “coffee table” kinds of books, but I have read through this one several times. It is always entertaining!
  • Minicomics generation 1- “Mini-Eternia” or “Miniternia.” These original stories were wonderfully barbaric, with more violence than we would see until the 1987 movie and some truly twisted plot points more fit for adults than kids, but sold to children no less. No Prince Adam. No Orko. No Cringer. I love most of these for their violence and weirdness.
I don’t have a whole lot of these mini comics (I do have a few…) but the large images and print of the minicomics collection is superior to the SpartanNerd’s old eyes.
  • Filmation- He-Man and the Masters of the Universe was the beginning-of-the-end for Filmation studios…a legendary studio that competed with Hanna Barbara in the more “budget” style of making cartoons with stock images. (Rather than through-drawn like Disney or Warner Bros.) As such, the animation was the peak of that cartoon factory’s life, and was truly wonderful by the time they were animating their final show, She-Ra: Princess of Power. These shows were light-hearted and aimed at a cautious children’s market with a demographic at the time of 2-10 year olds. And this, along with the toys, is where the CORE MOTU fans really are at. Very important when discussing everything else here on this blog entry and discussing the 2026 movie.
Image from superherotoystore.com Never have shopped there. If you are reading this, you likely know what it is all about.
  • Minicomics generation 2- These really are just smaller Filmation cartoons, but they are more laser-focused on representing current toys on the shelf. This is the nature of how they were made…kind of in the packaging department. So a wave would come out with a few new comics that represented the other stuff in the wave. They all generally kept the schema of Filmation in mind, each having a transformation sequence and most having at least Teela, Man-At-Arms, Orko, and Skeletor.
Multi-Bot is one of my favorites!
  • Print Media- These are all of the “other books.” DC Comics had a line that was closer to Miniternia. Marvel had a line that was closer to Filmation. The He-Man and the Masters of the Universe Magazine (American) also featured more of a Filmation style. This was more blatantly an advertisement, however. I like looking at these for nostalgia’s sake. Not only is it He-Man centric, it also brings up old cartoons, snacks, movies, etc. in the environment it was printed. (like old comics do). There were storybooks also, and these didn’t have ads! Golden Books, and others. Usually Earl Norem did the cover, which to me was worth the price. They were all Filmation-context, but usually had even more outlandish fantasy settings and problems. There was also a record-with-storybook. I loved the art in this as a child!
I still have my original copy of this from when I was a child, but it is missing the cover! I bought this complete copy at a comic con. Earl Norem did most of the cover art on these books. The image below is from the back cover, and shows off Time Trouble, one of my favorite He-Man images.
  • Non-USA Media- I don’t know a whole lot about this, but the regulations overseas (not-in-the-USA) were different, for instance Teenage Mutant HERO Turtles because the word NINJA was banned for children in Britain. For Masters of the Universe, they printed most of the same mini-comics but with localized language. There was an entirely different British magazine, and notably made use of a letters-from-Scrollos column that had a different take on characters that have been folded into the overall lore. Also, Goat Man was a prominent character in a British storybook. If you have heard of Anti-Eternia He-Man, that is from German audiobooks that were read on-air over the radio.
My VHS copies of the Masters of the Universe 1987 movie and an unopened Mike Young Productions He-Man and the Masters of the Universe “The Courage of Adam,” which was the opening story arc.
  • 1987 Masters of the Universe movie- Sometimes called Masters of the Universe: The Movie. This one is its own thing. It threw out much of the Filmation story and became more of a science-fiction action film. The story wasn’t driven by He-Man so much…to me it feels like the “side characters” of Julie (Courtney Cox) and Kevin (Robert Duncan McNeil) were the leads, followed by Skeletor (Frank Langella) and Evil-Lyn (Meg Foster) and then Gwildor (Billy Barty) and then He-Man (Dolph Lundgren) as points to drive the story forward. It filled a lot of holes that budgets couldn’t address at the time in ways that have a cult following similar to the Mini-Ternia crowd commands. No Orko, so we have Gwildor. Most of the story takes place on Earth…in LA apparently. No Battle Cat. No classic vehicles. There are Star Wars-like Storm Troopers. The villains include Beast Man, Karg, Blade, and Saurod…Blade is pretty cool, and Beast Man is scary. The other two are “just there”. The real gem here is Langella’s Skeletor. You can see a my full analysis from a couple of years ago HERE.
I own this newspaper strip collection also. It would run everyday, with Sunday’s edition in color.
  • Masters of the Universe Newspaper Comics- I never saw these “in the wild” as a kid…our news didn’t print them. As an adult, I have the collected edition…and talk about a narrative that is kind of hard to follow. The problem is they have to often stop and remind the reader what is happening…you might have missed the day prior. So there is this slow movement on what happens in the story…it takes awhile to get through an arc. I have read two of these arcs, and I find it tedious and exhausting. However, there are plenty of funny moments!
  • New Adventures- As a kid we had a couple of the toys, and the first mini-comic that had Grayskull destroyed and replaced with Starship Eternia. That is all I have to say about it. I have never watched the show ever except for possibly a snip of an episode. Some of the character designs are cool, but those toys were very different from the originals. And destroying Grayskull is akin to killing Optimus Prime.
  • Mike Young Productions He-Man and the Masters of the Universe (200x)- There was a long break with no He-Man action after New Adventures flopped out. And this is what scares fans like me. I remember seeing the commercial for this well before it came out, and was completely overwhelmed! But then I couldn’t see it all until it was released on DVD because of the way Cartoon Network scheduled it. It was done in the style of “American Anime” which was a fad for cartoons for awhile. (Nickelodeon’s Avatar: The Last Airbender is an example). The designs were updated to be more EXTREME. I liked the tight continuity…kind of like three or five episode story arcs. And they built out a new map of Eternia with new races and creatures. Of everything, I like this about as much as I do Filmation, but some people criticize it for that forced style. (Hyper detail, hyper sexualized female characters, and lots of weapon twirling).
  • Masters of the Universe Classics bios- This was Scott Neitlich’s baby. He tried to pull everything together into a concise story. (In Transformers they call this “aligned continuity”). I feel like he did pretty good, but took a lot of flack from fans also. This was Scott giving everyone his “head canon”, but people like to make up their own…and that is one of the criticisms that his ideas were printed on the backs of official products. But he was successful enough to use this as a platform to introduce new action figures. Some were from “development hell” like Dare (He-Man’s son), and some were new ideas, the best of which had to be Draego Man, and the worst…probably The Unnamed One (Dark Orko). By the way…the current line of Origins figures…these are similar characters…brought about from production sketches, discarded stories, etc.
  • Modern Comics- DC had a good long run alongside the Classics line that was its own story. I have this entire collection, and love how they explored the Snake Men and the Evil Horde more in depth. If you see Despara, this is a character born from DC comics. (This is Force Captain Adora remixed into a much darker design). They also began the comics crossovers mostly using the artist Freddy Williams II. Dark Horse has been doing Masters comics for the past couple of years. Several of the crossover series feel a little “bad” to me sometimes, especially the Thundercats one. Dark Horse currently has a new ongoing comic with a new story that begins with “The Sword of Flaws,” which is kind of a story about Skeletor’s sword.
One of my prized comics! Not many people have this one…I was sent this cover when I complained about the issue that I subscribed to being ruined in the mail. DC sent this one…and I have never seen another.
Freddie Williams II has been my favorite MOTU artist for awhile, though he is stepping back. He describes his process as taking sharpies and letting the ink bleed and smear on the paper. The other stack is my complete collection of DC.
  • Netflix She-Ra and the Princesses of Power- I have watched most of a season of this and find it enjoyable. You don’t see many modern “magical girl” shows…this one has Adora saying “For the Honor of Grayskull! (What does that even mean?)” Which sums up the relationship of this show and other Masters of the Universe property. Netflix “divorced” it from the larger universe because of rights issues. You still have Hordak and the Evil Horde. The relationship between Catra and She-Ra is a main story in this show.
Image from The Verge.
  • Kevin Smith’s Masters of the Universe: Revelation season 1 and 2, and Revolution- What Kevin did was TICK EVERYONE OFF with the first five episodes. First of all, this is the most beautifully animated cartoon of Masters of the Universe. It is like Filmation 5.0, but with no-holds-barred in the fighting. And there is an all-star voice cast, including Mark Hammil as Skeletor and Henry Rollins as Tri-Klops. Oh yeah…William Shatner as Keldor. Making this the first project with Luke Skywalker and Captain Kirk together! But back to him ticking us off. Imagine…the guy who created the movie “Dogma” making people mad…It was like he did EVERYTHING to rub everyone wrong in the first five episodes, including killing off He-Man and Skeletor right at the beginning. And then when the five episodes were done, there was a followup episode where he appears to be high as a kite and gloating about it! (Netflix took that down pretty quickly). There was so much hatred for it, it seems that Netflix paid attention and had Smith rectify a lot of what was done in Season 2. But I have to question the heart of that. If Smith wanted Teela and Andra to be a thing, or for Andra to be the next He-Man, that should have been his creative license. But at the end of the day it is all about the Benjamins I supposed, and making people mad doesn’t sell toys or keep people streaming. The Revolution show…now this was a beautiful follow-up. And it wraps up all of the Filmation/Kevin Smith storyline neatly with He-Man and Tri-Sorceress Teela apparently husband and wife. I have become a fan of Smith’s whole project, and wish he would make more using the cliffhanger of the Horde and Despara, but it doesn’t look like that is going to happen. One thing is certain, I would purchase figures of the Tri-Sorceress and He-Man in their design that appears at the end. Also, the Sorceress of Havoc is an AWESOME design.
Image from CBR of Kevin Smith’s Masters of the Universe project.
  • CGI Netflix show- Never watched it. Ram Ma’am? Orko is a robot? Hard pass on this one.

I have seen the new movie twice as of this writing, and have a review with spoilers coming soon. Thanks for reading!

Masters of the Universe Chronicles King Grayskull

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See the video review HERE.

It makes me wonder…

Mostly I haven’t been too pleased with Mattel Creations “Club Grayskull” subscription. It is $10 a year with the promise of exclusive pre-release access of products. But most of this has been Origins figures that pretty much nostalgia fans aren’t that interested in. I mean, Geldor, and He-Ro. And even more obscure that I did get, Sharella. What Masterverse figures did they offer this year? Panthor, Moss Man, and … Dragstor? Well they offered Blade but even I, a club member, missed that one.

So they announced the club at the beginning of April last year, and behold they knew they would get most of their renewals in April this year IF THEY OFFERED SOMETHING GOOD. Well here he is. Masters of the Universe Chronicles King Grayskull.

There has been a few leaked Chronicles Scare Glow figures out there, but King Grayskull is the first official Chronicles release. So all members surely ordered one to you know, have, a Chronicles figure, but also King Grayskull is pretty cool of a character anyway. It is still a mystery if he will make an appearance in the film, but there seems to be a possibility, possibly played by Dolph Lundgren. It seems like an odd choice to undo the race-swap they gave him for the Kevin Smith show. (That was an excellent rendition, and has been my favorite King Grayskull…no I think favorite KING figure. And that is saying something for a guy who has a few figures of kings.)

So how did he turn out?

PACKAGING

This packaging is similar to other offerings from Mattel Creations in that it doesn’t have a blister bubble or window box. it is all artwork, and the figure is tied into the box using paper strings. A great way to give us non-retail figures in appealing packaging that we will want to keep using.

The front features a great illustration showing us the Pharaoh King Hiss, Lady Slither, Sqquueeeze, a REMCO DRAGON (or similar, cool!), the Turbodactyl, Battle Lion, and of course the king himself on top of some skull cave stuff channeling lightning between not only his power sword, but also the battle axe. And that is AWESOME! The Mattel guy at Toy Fair told Pixel Dan that the red Masters logo means movie focus, and the blue logo means cartoon. But this figure wasn’t revealed there, and it is a black Masters logo. Just interesting.

Some of the things I wondered going into this was how much this figure would share with the previous King Grayskull. This package gives is in illustrated form much of the same details. KG has the 200x asterisk symbol on his chest, and also sports a cape with comfy pauldrons. The previous King Grayskull had a problem with those pauldrons being soft goods…

The back shows us some of that photoshop artwork I am not too fond of. We can see King Graskull decked out with the shield in the side window, and in action with the battle axe on the other.

The side has another barbarian illustration. And it invites you to look inside to see any changes to the character.

As you open the box, you can see this same illustration covering the figure. But you now have a logo-free poster if you want. Also notice that you can see King Hiss. Flipping this over lets us have this scene also.

This is the Snake Lair. All of this about the Snake Men kind of burns, because in MASTERVERSE, the only Snake Man we got was Kobra Kahn, and he was a pitiful figure. Maybe this is all a hint that Snake Men will be coming out soon. But we have seen them repeatedly on Masterverse packaging, but have really none to show for it. (See Snout Spout’s packaging, as well as Terror Claws Skeletor)

FIGURE REVIEW

Here he is in the package

Right between Revelation King Grayskull and King Conan. On the YouTube version of this video, I actually play the Palace Theme on this piano, in case you were wondering. I wanted to do something different!

What do you get in the package?

  • Chronicles King Grayskull Figure
  • Power Sword
  • Battle Axe
  • Shield
  • pair of punching fists.
  • You could count the gauntlets on his wrists as well.

I am going to go about this two ways. First I want to know about this new format. How is he different than a Masterverse Figure? And then I want to talk about this specific figure an offer a rating at the end like I do always.

PICTURED: MASTERVERSE Revelation King Grayskull and Masters of the Universe Chronicles King Grayskull. I am showing them in the same basic pose. Notice the 200x sword I have is from the 200x Castle Grayskull set that belonged to my brother. (I never owned this myself, but only wound up with pieces of it somehow. I am not a fan of the design.)

When you compare the Revelation KG to the new Chronicles KG, the scale is very slightly smaller. Where the size difference makes its appearance is in the knees and elbows. It is like there might be a slight “shave” off all around the figure for this new scale. It is something you notice if you look for it, but you probably wouldn’t at a glance. But it is enough to make black King Grayskull feel just a little bit more beefy and muscular than caucasian King Grayskull. (Just so you know, I believe the OG Masters of the Universe Classics figure would be shorter but still appear more muscular than either of them. I don’t have that figure, so…)

PICTURED: MASTERVERSE New Eternia Fisto riding Mythic Legions Boreus, and Masters of the Universe Chronicles King Grayskull riding Masters of the Universe Classics Battle Cat. I title this one “Sunday Ride.” You can see a good size difference in these two, even though it isn’t as drastic when comparing to Revelation King Grayskull.

Revelation King Grayskull had stunted articulation at the knees, but the new knees on the Chronicles King Grayskull are perfect to hinge all the way back to where he can kick himself in the butt. The forearms on the new figure are also new and skinnier, and no longer is there a hole at the end for a fist to peg in…now the fore-arm is a peg, and the hand is a double-jointed wrist. Nice improvements! As a consequence, the new hands are even smaller than before and could get lost easier. (But I haven’t lost these…yet). So what I am saying, you kind of feel the difference in scale around the wrists, knees, and feet most of all.

The only soft goods on the new figure is the cape. The pauldrons are thankfully sculpted in plastic. And I thought this power harness might be 1-to-1 the same, but it is a new sculpt.

So what about this figure specifically. I like the new thing they are doing with his hair. The 200x version had these long viking ponytails coming down, like a barbarian Wendy’s mascot. The Revelations version had Native American-type of braids. This figure has a sloppy top-knot with long locks, and so it is different. The face sculpt is passable for He-Man, but obviously a different character. Dare I say more “American” looking (as opposed to European). I mean, I am trying to see Nick Galitzine here, but he doesn’t look like him. He also doesn’t look like Dolph Lundgren. I think he kind of resembles Vanilla Ice.

PICTURED: “Mammals vs. Reptiles.” MASTERVERSE Revelation Sorceress Teela, Mythic Legions Ninian Infantry X2, Figura Obscura Monkey King, MASTERVERSE New Eternia Whiplash, Masters of the Universe Origins Sharella, and Masters of the Universe Chronicles King Grayskull.

His muscles are chiseled very nicely why the same ab-crunch that most MASTERVERSE figures have. He wears a girdle over his furry shorts making a more royal look. This new figure doesn’t have a thigh-cut, something I don’t think we will miss. I already mentioned the knees, but the elbows are also double-jointed. He has the furry boots you expect, with a leather strap look to them. The power harness has a ring on the back that allows the sword to be displayed outside of the cape. This cape is not removable without removing the harness as far as I can tell. (I haven’t done this). It does appear that the pauldrons have pegs that might make them swappable in the future. He doesn’t have trouble with articulation…he stands very well, but his lower legs…like at the boot cut is slightly loose, he can go pigeon toed pretty easily. Still I am giving him the full point for articulation. No real problems! He even has decent head articulation considering the sculpted hair that he has. And Mattel made a lot of that this figure can grab the sword while it is in the holster on his back…that no other figure could do that. But I think 1987 Movie He-Man might have something to say about that.

PICTURED: Masters of the Universe Chronicles King Grayskull and MASTERVERSE 1987 Movie He-Man. Contrary to what Mattel asserted at Toy Fair, King Grayskull is not the first figure that can grab the sword on his back.

ACCESSORIES

PICTURED: Masters of the Universe Origins Cartoon Collection Faker and Masters of the Universe Chronicles King Grayskull. Seriously, Faker’s sword is slightly bigger than King Grayskull’s, and this is wrong. KG’s sword does feel like it has more finesse somehow, though. Here is also a chance for you to compare an Origins figure to the new Chronicles figure.

We have the three main accessories that every He-Man needs. I even think they should include them with all the variants, but they don’t unless your company name is MONDO. I wondered if at least the shield would be the same as Revelation King Grayskull, but no it is a different sculpt. Larger and less cartoony, with gold highlights and fancy, barbaric texture.

The battle axe is pretty nice, with some color on its inner texture and the cap (don’t know what it is actually called) a circle with the 200x asterisk symbol.

But here is the big problem…maybe I should say small problem…This Power Sword is shorter than all of The Masterverse swords. It is a step backwards. Honestly, it almost feels like an Origins Power Sword as far as its size. Why did they do this to the most iconic weapon outside of a lightsaber?

For what it’s worth, I also think it is a missed opportunity to give us a new version of the 200x Power Sword.

SPARTANNERD RATING OF MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE CHRONICLES KING GRAYSKULL

PICTURED: MASTERVERSE New Eternia Battle Armor Skeletor vs. Masters of the Universe Chronicles King Grayskull. They are battling in Skeletor’s throne room (Also a New Eternia piece)

If I separate my feelings about differences in this and MASTERVERSE figures, it is a solid 5/5. He checks every box I ask for. Sculpt looks good, and paint also, if it isn’t conservative. He is better articulated than the MASTERVERSE KG. His accessories are what you expect, but the sword is too small. But he gets the Feels Point also…mostly because I generally like the character and also am excited to be one of the early reviewers.

PICTURED: Cosmic Legions Anthophilees (Buzz-Off KO), Mythic Legions Ne’Ve’ (Review coming soon), MASTERVERSE New Eternia Panthor, and Masters of the Universe Chronicles King Grayskull. Also notice there are sculls scattered around, these are from the Mythic Legions skull head pack.

So I award this figure a solid 5/5. Do you agree or disagree, Hub City Geeks? Let me know in the comments!

PICTURED: “Eternia Throne Room”. Mythic Legions Ne’ve’, Mythic Legions Kitbash “Gamecocks Knights” X2, Masters of the Universe Classics Sir Lazer Lot, MASTERVERSE New Eternia Ram Man, Masters of the Universe Classics Kitbash Battlefield Teela, and Masters of the Universe Chronicles King Grayskull. The throne is the Throne of Atlantis that goes with Super7 Ultimates! King Conan.

New Eternia Whiplash- SpartanNerd Review

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Click here to see the video version of this review

When I first began to collect MASTERVERSE figures, this one was…around. I saw Whiplash, but was determined to save my money for Masters of the Universe Mega Blocks. Well…we all know how this turned out. The MEGA went away. And one fateful day at Target, I picked up 40 anniversary He-Man and became sort of ravenous for MASTERVERSE figures. I started cherry picking the ones I wanted, of course. No Sun Man…no Netflix CGI figures. None of those. I wanted to recollect my childhood figures.

There weren’t that many of them out there, though. And suddenly I remembered passing up on all of those times I saw Whiplash at Walmart or wherever. So I went to order it online, only to have my order canceled. Ultimately looking at pictures on the internet, etc. he looked really scrawny. And they always show him with a horned helmet and holding a torch…kind of wacky. Then I saw the Cosmic Legions SSKURGGE at the Toy Federation in Greer, and decided this was a better Whiplash figure. I thought I might find a better head somewhere or even have a custom made. (All of the people I contacted about making a custom for this declined, not wanting to work in the Ogre scale.)

But here we are. At the apparent end of MASTERVERSE in the wake of the upcoming Masters of the Universe The Movie. And at the SCMEA (South Carolina Music Educators Conference) that happens in Columbia, SC, I visited LT Toys and Games where they had this on the shelf. I might have seen this sometime in the past three years before, but this time I got it along with GI Joe Classified Series Beach Head. (I ALSO saw Combiner Wars Thundercracker but passed on that…more to come!)

(Both links above refer to Todd Venture videos)

After having the figure in hand, do I have better feelings about it?

PACKAGING

PICTURED: New Eternia Whiplash in box. this box shows evidence of damage. Also we can see recently reviewed figures, Mythic Legions Terpiculi, Transformers Studio Series Soundwave, and GI Joe Classified Series Retro Cardback Beach Head.

MASTERVERSE New Eternia Whiplash comes in the sporty original packaging that the early run of figures used. It has blue a blue window with little call-outs to various Masters of the Universe elements in faded graphics. You can see the figure very well in the window. Unfortunately, there are signs that this Whiplash has been opened before. The cardboard shows some damage and the tape isn’t factory. And also, the crease in the window of the box is cracked. And on opening it, it became apparent that the figure has been at least partially removed. The little ties were loose and the blister was crumpled. But there are more details about this package to cover. You can see the figure inside, but also can see that the weapon appears to be dislodged.

There is artwork on the side depicting the classic appearance of Whiplash…important because this tells us that that helmet is removable!

The back shows Whiplash in New Eternia action with excellent art that reminds me of the art we got with the New Eternia Clawful, which is to say…awesome stuff that the line has been lacking for a few years. The bio reminds us that Whiplash is of the Caligar race, but also gives us a new dimension know as “The Demon Zone.”

The cross sell art shows Mer-Man, Grizzlor, Buzz Off, and Faker. I have all of these figures other than Grizzlier, who I don’t want. They didn’t do him right by not giving him rooted fur.

FIGURE REVIEW

What do you get in the package?

  • Whiplash Figure
  • Torch
  • Spear
  • Axe
  • Punching hands

NOW….he comes with the armor on default from the package. But in my mind, these are technically accessories…I won’t be displaying him with these much. The armor is typical Skeletor type of stuff in purple and blue, but has brown straps. There is a gold belt with purple “stille” (probably misspelled) hanging down. And then there is the helmet, which looks cool and fresh, but is thankfully removable. OK…one more thing. The tail isn’t an accessory, though it is packed away from the figure. You assemble this into the octagonal hole beneath the already installed backpack looking piece of tail hanging from his shoulders.

FIGURE REVIEW

As a figure, my example is very loose. Usually figures are stiff when taken out of a package. More evidence that this specific Whiplash figure has been out of the box already and played with. Important. By design, his legs can’t extend out straight. Mattel wanted him to remain in a squat stance by default evidently. But I am going to count this as a stupid problem. Other figures in this scale can extend their legs out. It makes it seem wrong and a person could try and force it on Whiplash and wind up breaking something.

PICTURED: The Bounty Hunters. MASTERVERSE New Eternia Two Bad, Trap Jaw, and Whiplash. Cosmic Legions Kannox Vull. MASTERVERSE 1987 Movie Beast Man, MASTERVERSE Revelation Triclops and Stinkor (armed with AWOK shotgun). Find all of these reviewed at SpartanNerd.com

The tail is made of a heavy rubber material, and I don’t know how much abuse it could take or if it will break down over time. It IS posable, but also stiff enough that you feel like you could overdo it.

PICTURED: MASTERVERSE 1987 Movie He-Man and Evil-Lyn, with New Eternia Whiplash

This tail is a balance point, just the same way that the tail of a real animal is sometimes used. Whiplash has big, flat feet, and this is helpful, but that tail really makes it work. You can prop him up with it, or use it to counterbalance.

PICTURED: MASTERVERSE New Eternia Terror Claws Skeletor and Whiplash fight against Thunder Punch He-Man.

Whiplash’s sculpt is very nice. but his paint is lacking except for in his face and on his armor. In the above photo I have him fighting Thunder Punch He-Man with his own raised fists. And Terror Claws Skeletor has his hilarious claws read also.

PICTURED: Mythic Legions Ninian Infantry and MASTERVERSE New Eternia Whiplash

You can see a real quality difference between the Masterverse figure with a lower price point, and the Mythic Legions figure with a higher. The paint and sculpt on the Ninian Infantry soldier is just incredible, making Whiplash’s seem to be $30 less of value 🙂 I wanted to use this example because of the tail. the Mythic Legions tail is more bendable. But I have also broken one of these snake guys’ tail off. There won’t be any danger of that happening with Whiplash.

Whiplash’s colors could be worse.

Yes. You can remove the fire from the torch. PICTURED: Masterverse New Eternia Moss Man and Whiplash. Both menacing green extreme. But Moss Man is so DRAB. Whiplash has accomplished it with style!

A BIG COMPARISON

So, as I mentioned above, I already have had a Whiplash figure…I should say “Whiplash” figure.

PICTURED: Cosmic Legions SSKURGGE and MASTERVERSE New Eternia Whiplash.

So, once again…the Mythic (Cosmic) Legions is clearly MORE incredible than the MASTERVERSE figure. We have to set that aside, however and be subjective for one. SSKURGGE is not the same person as Whiplash. And this is a real difference. He isn’t “The Real Slim Shady,) only a copycat. You should watch my video as I do headswaps and get cracked up…it is pretty funny. Otherwise, these guys are the exact same colors of green. (Find the review of SSKURGGE here).

WHAT DOES HE ADD TO THE COLLECTION

I mean…He’s Whiplash. An essential character!

A great bounty hunter…look as he and Cosmic Legions Kannox Vull bring in GI Joe Classified Series Zarana on Cybertron.

PICTURED: Cosmic Legions Kannox Vull, GI Joe Classified Series Zarana, and MASTERVERSE New Eternia Whiplash

He belongs with a certain trope of characters.

SPARTANNERD RATING OF MASTERVERSE NEW ETERNIA WHIPLASH

PICTURED: MASTERVERSE New Eternia Whiplash, Vintage Masters of the Universe Whiplash, and 200x Masters of the Universe Whiplash.

Above is my original whiplash toy. As a kid I had countless hours playing with this. So he doesn’t have a tail anymore 😦 I picked up the 200x version right before I got SSKURRGE. Whiplash gets the feels point all day because of who he is.

I don’t think he is as good as the Cosmic Legions KO version. But then we are really comparing wildly different things that are just in the same color scheme.

I am awarding MASTERVERSE New Eternia Whiplash 4/5. My logic for the lost point…his paint could be better, and his articulation is strange. I feel like the knee issue is a stupid problem especially, and one that is “baked in.”

He has been a blast to play with…way more fun than Thunder Punch He-Man or Moss Man in this same blog review. And there is a nostalgia factor that is also present that I love.

THE SPARTANNERD RATES WHIPLASH A 4/5…do you agree or disagree? Let me know in the comments!

SpartanNerd Blog- Best (and worst) of 2024

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I actually did this one as a YouTube video first! So you can check that out here, or keep reading for practically the same content.

I’m not ranking these. They are all great! Someone on here might have gotten a 4/5, but over time have grown to be among the top. So no haters…OK!

FIGURA OBSCURA Father Christmas (review link)

After taking off the red and white costume, and putting it in the terrific packaging for storage until Thanksgiving or Christmas In July…(or maybe some other reason, who knows?) you have a generic elf knight body that you can continue to use all year. YAY!

Cosmic Legions SSKURR’GE (Whiplash homage) (review link)

This thing is just great! Amazing sculpt and green paint. He fits the MOTU need for Whiplash very well. It is just too bad that neither head that he came with really looks like Whiplash. I can find a customized version out there, or maybe eventually something will come out that will work.

Super7 ULTIMATES! King Conan (review link)

I could have put any of my Conan action figures here. I chose the king because he is really different…one of the most “clothed” versions of the character. I could have thrown Thulsa Doom in here easily, though. I have him holding the axe (in the video) from the Battle of the Mounds Conan, just because I like my Conan figures to hold an axe 75% of the time!

MASTERVERSE New Eternia Snout Spout (review link)

I almost passed on this. He was available for so long, and I kept waffling. Then I finally pulled the trigger on the Mattel Creations purchase and I am glad I did. He is HUGE. And that sculpt doesn’t look anything like a “sad Dumbo.” I had the chance over the weekend to pick up the 200x Staction version, but this version is better simply because it is an action figure. It’s true the Four Horsemen sculpt is better, but this MASTERVERSE version takes design cues from that and is superior in articulation and accessories.

MASTERVERSE New Eternia Mekaneck (review link)

You can see that my Mekaneck has more neck than he came with stock. I’ll get to the reason why later…

Mekaneck is just great. That we got all of those neck joints…great! His paint is flashy and his armor is just right. And how they are presenting him story wise is also different, with him now taking on underwater responsibilities, getting him away from just “reconnaissance,” as if that wasn’t important. (reconnaissance is VERY IMPORTANT, Hub City Geeks). And that he fills the essential role of Mekaneck in the lineup of heroes is also very nice.

Cosmic Legions Wal-Torr the Mad and T.U.5.C.C. Pilot (review link)

Hey. My list and my rules. I am including Carolina and Clemson on this one! Both have terrific sculpt, paint, and accessories. AND if I was rich I might army build these guys.

MASTERVERSE New Eternia Skeletor’s Throne (review link)

I could have considered Conan’s throne or Boreus (the horse at the top with Santa) as Diorama pieces, but Skeletor’s Throne is the best. It generally sits in the middle of the bad guys, and any of the many versions of Skeletor that I have can fit well on it.

WHO ELSE SHOULD I HAVE INCLUDED IN MY VIDEO? Probably Snake Sorceress Teela, (who I call the Green Goddess.) (review link)

NOW FOR THE WORST OF THE YEAR. (review link)

MASTERVERSE New Eternia Sy-Clone

Remember when I had more necks for Mekaneck? That’s because Mattel Q.C. Sent me another copy of him to atone for the missing mask on Sy-Clone. Mattel didn’t bring us a product that matched past versions…no lenticular sticker on the chest like the vintage one, no ring on his back like the 200x and Classics version. What was supposed to be new and different was that mask. They included these fire effects that can fit on the shield or on his wrists, and they are cool, but they should be IN ADDITION not in place of. He just feels uninspired to me, and with the missing mask, I feel this figure is one of the lowest of the year.

MASTERVERSE Movie Beast Man (review link)

Ugh.

He looks like the salesman for beef jerky or the Geico caveman. He doesn’t look like the movie representation. They should have gone with rooted hair and more of a Grizzlor approach to have done him right. Now we probably won’t get another version of this in the next 15 or 20 years. And that makes this an extra bummer. The design choices of making those hair-mats out of plastic armor pieces…I hope we don’t see those again. And that armor is kind of crappy. And the face sculpt is off. I hate to be negative, but WHY? Probably has to do with rights, etc.

SO DO YOU AGREE OR DISAGREE, HUB CITY GEEKS? LET ME KNOW IN THE COMMENTS! Also, please support the new YouTube video formats coming for 2025.