World’s Smallest Micro Figures Masters of the Universe 4 Pack- SpartanNerd Unboxing and Review

January 3, 2023 by spartannerd

That is the longest title I have ever typed!

Here is a product I didn’t even know existed! And the SpartanWife gave it to me for Christmas! I knew about “The World’s Smallest Figures” but haven’t been collecting them. Last year someone put World’s Smallest Battle Cat in my stocking. But this year, I got a four pack, which like I said I didn’t even know was a thing.

The front is a nice window box. The back tells us what a Masters of the Universe fan already knows, with artwork that I think is from the new Origins line of figures. And I am pretty sure the art on the sides is Emiliano Santalucia’s art from the DVD collections. (I might be wrong about that.). I appreciate how the Masters of the Universe logo with the exploding red rocks on the bottom is present.

There is a black blister on the inside. This four pack is a great display on its own because of this blister. We also get a pamphlet showcasing other products by Super Impulse. The Micro Figures are there most prolific product. I didn’t know there was as much of it out there. We did have the MTG Jace vs. Chandra decks once. Isn’t Super Impulse the best name for a brand of novelty products like this?

Here are all of the items outside the blister. I went ahead and opened the hinged boxes on the two cats so you can see how these each have their own collector friendly package. On He-Man and Skeletor, you get the little door on the back.

You can see how this works. There is a little pull tab on the back of the micro blister. A polybag has all of the accessories.

For some reason He-Man came with two power swords? A mistake at the factory? I am not used to photographing such small things. You will have to forgive me. It is amazing how different the lighting can be when you focus on tiny objects. And then I cropped what I had and adjusted the lighting using Apple Photos.

I want to say how hazardously small these figures are. I am not even kidding. It is a feat of toy engineering! They are about the size of a dime. The sculpt is pretty good. The arms and the head move, but the legs are stiff and unarticulated. The armor appears to be glued on…I didn’t try and remove it. He holds the sword reasonably well and the shield snaps onto his forearms and elbow OK. The armor doesn’t have a functional holster for the sword or the battle axe. The battle axe really, really, really is hazardously small. The handle is loose in He-Man’s hand. It is like the thinnest piece of plastic. It is about as thin as a high e nylon guitar string.

Here is a size comparison for you. Sorry, not opening the 200x He-Man for this! You can see how very tiny this is. Someone at a toy store told me that the World’s Smallest figures go well in the Hot Wheels vehicles. I’ll have to try that when it snow. (You can see how the 40th Anniversary Masterverse figure’s sword isn’t holding up too well. :(. )

Amazingly, I have one smaller figure! This one came with GI Joe Classified Sgt. Slaughter. If He-Man wasn’t on a stand, the Sarge’s hat would not even tough his belt. However, this tiny figure isn’t articulated.

I KNOW. THEY ARE DIFFERENT THINGS. Still, the detail of the head sculpt on the micro figure makes the MEGA minifig seem derpy and comical. World’s Smallest He-Man doesn’t sit on Battle Cat so well…

Here is the whole set. Skeletor also doesn’t fit on Panthor so well. Both cats have the same articulation. All four legs move. Their heads can turn but not go up and down. Their tails are articulated, and you can remove their armor. This Panthor is not flocked.

Here is Skeletor beside He-Man. Once again, sorry about the blur! Skeletor can’t hold the Havoc Staff so good either. It has the same handle thickness as the battle axe. Also, his armor looks kind of wrong. But I do enjoy the redness of his eyes.

I had lots of fun taking pics of these guys. As miniature action figures, these are the smallest you could get without becoming a rubber slug like Sgt. Slaughter’s micro figure. (Still puzzled about them including that. It is cool though!). The sculpts are great and they come with appropriate accessories. I guess the issues with them holding the Havoc Staff and the battle axe are ignorable. Just be careful. The axe is so small I was afraid of it getting stuck under my Macbook Pro keys! They go right back in their packages, and then that goes back in the blister no problem. Panthor was an exclusive for this set, another bonus!

I am giving it a 5/5. Do you agree or disagree, Hub City Geeks? Let me know in the comments!

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…Revisiting the Origin Stories of DC Masters of the Universe

August 21, 2016 by spartannerd

Coming in October, Masters of the Universe will have a crossover comic with Thundercats from DC. I can’t wait! Until then, I am revisiting the DC comics I already have. (I have them all! From the digital-only comics, through He-man and the Eternity War.)

I thought I would re-visit and comment on the three origins books.

First, the Origin of He-Man.

Of the three, this is the weakest. I remember reading this, and worrying about it. The art is jarring, and the story is disjointed. Thinking back a few years when this came out, this was also the book that dropped the bomb on us that Prince Adam wouldn’t be a secret identity. (When this was released, the ongoing story still had Adam and Teela trying to find their real identities.)

But the hardest thing about this book is the confusion about what happened in the panels below…

Adam “tricked” Skeletor into thinking the sword on the wall was the power sword. He swung it at the villain, who caught it in his bare hand, and crushed it. See the picture above. Doesn’t it look like the sword was crushed? Skeletor knocks a wall over on Adam, crushing him, and then we see him grab the power sword…What? How did it get there beside him? Was the sword Skeletor crushed the power sword? Did it heal itself? The moment Adam grabs it, Skeletor is looking at the tapestry that details King Grayskull defeating Hordak. Skeletor seems to think the tapestry hides the sword at that moment, and we clearly see its outline on the tapestry.

So in short. This is a confusing story. It could have been told in a clearer way. If you’ll recall, the early run on the DC MOTU comics was panned by almost everyone. This book wasn’t helping.

Let’s visit Skeletor’s origin now…

This is the first comic book I ever ordered online. The reason? I apparently missed it at the Tangled Web. Either they got only one or two copies, that were snatched up before I got there, or they didn’t get it at all. I purchased the digital copy. But only this summer, when I discovered MYCOMICSHOP.COM, did I actually come to own a physical copy.

This book starts off with Keldor, who has a face full of acid. The Mike Young productions cartoon had Keldor wounded in battle…with Randor’s shield splashing his acid back into his own face. They elaborated later that Skeletor was healed by summoning Hordak. This origin story takes that same vibe, but removes the combat accident. Instead, Hordak himself caused the burn using the communication link set up by Keldor between the two worlds. As Keldor melts away on his journey to find Randor, he reminisces about his first encounter with the Horde, how he saved Randor from the invading trooper, and then his accomplishment was quashed by their father, Miro, on account of Keldor being a blue gar.

Keldor eventually finds Randor, and stabs him, needing his blood to complete the transport to Etheria and be changed into Skeletor.

I like this book, but the art is a little jarring. It is similar to the origin of He-Man. The flashbacks have a different look about them than the main part of the story.

Now for my favorite. The ORIGIN OF HORDAK!

Why is this my favorite? So many reasons.

The art is classic. And looks like the rest of the series. Hordak becomes a god…he engineered an entire war between the Cosmic Enforcers and his Evil Horde, and then killed everyone on both sides. The Cosmic Enforcers seem to be “green lanterns”… In the end, only he and Zodac are left. And this is because Zodac is his brother. He wanted to relish in his death specifically.

Hordak is a cosmic vampire…he needed the millions of souls on both sides of the war to fuel his godhood. The book ends with him pronouncing “Let there be light!” Dang. A blasphemy fitting of such an evil character. (In the DC continuity, what actually happened was he began the “Age of Horokoth.” The bat symbol represents Horokoth, Serpos and Zoar being the other two cosmic totems.) This story sets the stage for the tremendous power that the Masters of the Universe are up against. King Grayskull was able to defeat THAT. And his heir, Skeletor would also kill him eventually.

There is one more very notable origin story. It is one of the digital only books. THE ORIGIN OF DESPARA.

Despara is the DC Comics version of Adora, the Horde Force Captain. DC made her a refined killing machine. In her origin story, she is having flashback memories of when she was kidnapped. Shadow Weaver keeps her mind wiped. It is cool that what we see is actually a female version of Hordak. She became his “Darth Vader,” as he is a disembodied spirit trapped inside some kind of life support machine. Eventually, she would find herself, as the good mother that Shadow Weaver apparently is allowed her to play in Eternia’s gardens with Teela. But this story, the last of the digital ones, raised the hair on the backs of peoples necks the same way “Vikor” the figure did. We never knew we wanted a really evil She-Ra working for Hordak until this story made that happen! When you read this, and then you go back and watch the Filmation “The Secret of the Sword,” you realize how silly Adora really was as force captain for Hordak.

Masters of the Universe Minicomics Collection

July 4, 2016 by spartannerd

I reviewed the Masters of the Universe Minicomics Collection back in May, after having a tough time getting my hands on a copy. Since then, I have slowly read through every page, and can give you more of a review of the contents rather than just the product.

VINTAGE MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE

First thing first. “Miniternia” is definitely a favorite universe of mine now. I was aware of it, and had read a few books from it. When I was a kid, these books just confused me because they were so different from what I was used to (the Filmation cartoon.) But reading these as an adult, there is a definite vibe to those books not found anywhere else. There are comparisons to Conan the Barbarian, but as a Conan fan, I don’t think so. Miniternia is a great comic story…an innocent story in a way, and in a way more pure of a story from a writers standpoint. Mattel gave the writers carte blanche, as long as they depicted the toys. The barbarian He-Man is awesome, and the miniternia Skeletor is more insane than his other versions.

I remember hearing that there were fundamentalist Christians boycotting and protesting He-Man and the Masters of the Universe. I was vaguely aware of this as a child (I AM a Christian, and was raised in a Christian home.) But as an adult, I heard people talk about it on the Roast Gooble Dinner podcasts. I can see how, after reading over half of the book, I’d bet the word “demon” and “devil” were invoked in almost every single story! Watching the Filmation show, this also comes up…I don’t know if that was daring on the part of the writers, or what?

You can clearly see transitional guidance between Miniternia and the comics that more closely resembled Filmation shows. The stories become even flimsier sometimes, and highlighting of the products becomes central, rather than story and character development. Then one day, out of nowhere, the Evil Horde becomes more prominent. As a kid, the Horde annoyed me because to me, Skeletor was supposed to be the ultimate baddy. And Hordak was apparently his teacher. I came to love the Horde as much as anything else in MOTU, but I can see why I felt that way. Mattel began to push the Horde in the mini comics, and there were more Horde figures on the shelves, and the commercials depicted the Horde more. They were supposed to be another faction…which worked well in a house with three kids. Hordes became She-Ra’s main villain, but I didn’t watch She-Ra…(yeah, right!)

I remember the Snake Men story vibrantly from when I was a child…my oldest brother was very interested in them. My mother (and grandmother) are deathly terrified of snakes, so…I never really thought of them as another faction…just as a side team that worked for Skeletor, which is exactly how the mini comics portray them. Throw in that Kobra Kahn and Tongue Lasher appeared on Skeletor’s team on the Filmation show working with Skeletor, and you can see why. It was the Mike Young 200x show that really highlighted them as another team…an even deadlier team that Skeletor’s bunch.

Of all of the things about He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, I rarely ever complain. But now is my chance. The “Three Towers” really annoy me. It is one of the rarest toys to be found, and is therefore a valuable item. But I don’t care. The whole concept is STUPID.

Lets replace Castle Grayskull and Snake mountain with two smaller versions, and put a stupid lion tower in the middle. We can connect the whole universe together with a roller coaster thingy.

There are SOO many reasons why I dislike the three towers. It is billed as “playset Eternia.” So the whole planet of Eternia can fit into one Playset? This was EXACTLY how it was depicted in the minicomics. I heard someone call it “Grayskull 2.0.” Castle Grayskull was supposed to be this ultimate place of power. But the Three Towers were meant to supplant all of that.

Eternia must be about the size of Spartanburg or upstate South Carolina…It seems it takes King Grayskull in the Mike Young cartoon about three days to cross the whole place. Maybe the three towers fit that scheme? There is a map in the He-Man art book, it came with certain characters if you subscribed to the “Club Grayskull” or whatever. That map shows the towers stretched out across a huge central continent. That MIGHT be plausible. But why would they all connect together by a vehicle? And if “Viper Tower” was meant to be Snake Mountain (It DID more closely resemble the cartoon version), and Grayskull tower was supposed to be the base for the good guys…just why? I believe Mattel sensed that the vintage line was coming to an end, and were getting desperate.

SHE-RA, PRINCESS OF POWER

The She-Ra comics were pretty cute. One of the interviews mentions that there were strict guidelines for drawing female characters. That is apparent…the depictions of all those she-ra women are not sexy at all. Sometimes they are child-like and pretty. The She-Ra comics “de-evolve” from Minicomics format into Storybook format. There is an incorrect footnote in the first She-Ra story, that says the Evil Horde is not mentioned in the comics ever again after the first one. But that was inaccurate as the final two She-Ra stories have Catra mentioning the Horde, and also depict Horde troopers.

These books give you less of a sense of “the great rebellion,” and more just sweet little stories. Catra, “the jealous beauty” is the main villain in these stories, but she can’t really do anything worse than children do to each other, it seems. She steals a treasure box, she crashes a party by spraying everyone with water. She spreads a rumor. SERIOUSLY?

I made it through all of the She-Ra books, and rather enjoyed them. But they are far too shallow. I enjoyed the way they usually depicted She-Ra with the mask and Adora with the headband…A device you never saw on the cartoon. And I thought the story of “Crystal Dimension” was interesting, where Swift Wind was transformed into a crystal version of himself.

I never really got a sense that The Crystal Castle was a She-Ra’s place of power? It seemed to be a place where she and her friends lived instead. The enchanted forest was there. But Catra seemed to be homeless.

THE NEW ADVENTURES OF HE-MAN

As a child, I was just getting “too old” for toys as New Adventures came out. My oldest brother wasted no time in getting a few toys, but I don’t think I ever saw a single episode of the cartoon. I DID remember reading the comic, however.

I wasn’t aware that there were only four comics ever produced for that toy-line. I DID know that it was short lived.

Basically, the vintage He-Man and Skeletor characters translated smoothly over to the futuristic versions, with Skeletor getting burned badly while witnessing Adam transform into He-Man, and having to “fix himself” with bionic parts. The only idiotic thing is that He-Man’s sword is already a “techno sword.” They should have been able to draw the classic sword in those few panels. I always thought it was kind of stupid that the power of Grayskull had to be transferred into that starship…Really? The art and the storytelling in these books is good, but different from the earlier ones. As we read through all of these, we really see Bruce Timm’s art style mature up. Once, He-Man even looks like we would see Batman on the nineties cartoon! (Not in a New Adventures book…one of the final vintage comics.)

200x COMICS

I almost forgot! The singular “pack-in” comic is included here. With Val Staples and Emiliano Santalucia forming the bond that would become MV Creations, (and eventually break apart into the saddest schism maybe in the whole brand.) There are two comics here, one that never made it to print.

These are similar to the 200x comics that Image and Cross Gen would publish, but shorter and having a lot less content. The art is just about exactly the same. Emiliano is great! (The second book was drawn by someone else, who somewhat emulated Emiliano’s style.)

MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE CLASSICS MINI COMICS

Before the collection, I had no opportunities to read these stories. I heard fans complain about them because they leave out a lot of story details that should be filled in. The first one is a modern retelling of the first vintage Preternia book, and the following two pull together the entire story to include even the New Adventures. An interesting detail, this story portrays He-Ro as the originator of the Power of Grayskull when he passes the Sword of He over to King Grayskull in death. Funny how it ended, with a remark about building a castle and naming it after He-Ro. (It would be named Castle Grayskull!)

I also thought the twist where Skeletor gets the techno virus from Bionatops in order to transform into his New Adventures form was also fun! I was confused about King Grayskull, King He-man (he makes an appearance!) and King Miro. What was that all about?

The art on these books are terrifically modern, and yes, they COULD have gave us more story. I see how these serve the same purpose as the earlier mini comics…justify more toys. They even introduced members of He-Ro’s team that have never been produced, simply to spark interest. Ultimately, mini-comics aren’t the best vehicle for telling a grand story…they are a place to jump off and use your imagination. And since Scott Neitlich was the guy in charge of these, that statement sounds exactly like something he would have said.

EXTRAS

The Mini-Comic collection contains lots of interviews…most of them seem to have come directly from Roast Gooble Dinner podcasts. Maybe the DID actually re-interview some of the people…and maybe these are redacted and edited versions of those interviews. I enjoyed reading them all, thought they didn’t teach me much of anything new because I had already heard it from the mouth of the person being interviewed.

So, just when I think James Eatock has astounded me with his intense Fanhood and knowledge of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, he surprises me yet again!

James “Bustatoons” Eatock apparently is the owner of a discarded and never produced mini comic, which is published at the back of this book. It apparently never made it to the coloring stage. I wonder if more stuff like this is out there? And what a find…AND how does someone like him find all this stuff? The comic is apparently the supposed pack-in with Flying Fists He-Man…it has some details issues, which might be why it was scrapped. But it is a terrific read.

And finally we have an outline of a never-produced mini comic, which would have featured Faker prominently. It is cool to read over, and I wonder if any fans who are good artists have made this book as fan art?

I enjoyed reading the Minicomics collection, and recommend it to anyone who is a fan of He-Man…a great value at under $30. Reading this kept me from purchasing other comics for awhile…I always had something new to read, and this will make its way to my office at work to read in my “spare time.”

SpartanNerd thoughts…He-Man and the Eternity War Issues #10 and #11

November 8, 2015 by spartannerd

I said way back in my 250th blog post that I would be posting a review of Issue #10. My apologies, readers…life has kept me away from the blog. And that is going to continue, it seems. I find blogging to be a relaxing thing, so, I will do it when I can relax.

I think I’ll start with this photo…

What….These two comics inspired me to produce and take this photo. (Never realized how hard it is to put an alternate head on King Hsss….)

The events leading up to issue #10 and #11…

Basically, the Horde conquered Eternia. Hordak had the Fright Zone infect the land, as he acquired the power of Grayskull and seemed to be bringing about the “Age of Horokoth”. (He used the blood of Grayskull to resurrect his body…previously his spirit was trapped inside a robot life-support casket.) He forged his own sword of power, etc.

The masters made allies with the Snake Men, who worship the Green Goddess (Teela) as the Sorceress of Serpos. He-Man decided to eschew the power of Grayskull and only use the power of Adam…bad move, because apparently King Hsss…devoured him off-panel. (So the main character of He-Man and the Eternity War has been killed….????)

Basically, Skeletor double crosses She-Ra into healing him from his missing jaw, and then uses the power of the Havoc Staff and the Well of Darkness to break into Hordak’s chamber of souls on Despondos. He steals the souls and leaves She-Ra there stranded with the souls of those she executed as Despara. Skeletor then teleports back to Eternia, unleashes those souls, which happen to re-possess their physical bodies (which are Horde Troopers,) and they mutiny. He uses this moment of distraction to kill Hordak with his Horokoth Sword of Power. (The moment I shouted for joy! I’ve never been a big fan of the Horde.) Also along the way, Evil-Lynn became the Sorceress of Horokoth. Meaning now there are two sorceresses.

Which brings us to Issue 10.

The front cover…

It has been hinted for quite some time that Skeletor was going to acquire the power of Grayskull. This is why it seemed so odd that Hordak acquired it first. And he acquired it in a very backhanded way…

I have this theory…I believe the writers are playing with the toys. In fact, I think they might be basing their stories on their old childhood versions of the stories, or similar.

Skeletor holding a power sword wearing He-Man’s armor. This is a strong hint. I went and tried to duplicate this photo. But I didn’t get a picture. It totally works, especially if you give him the pink Prince Adam sword. (However, I don’t have a blue body with gold bracers and a gold belt.)

It was hinted back in the art book…some of the images they released showed Skeletor transformed, and also had his transformation words, “Cry Havoc! I am Skeletor!”

We are seeing how that story unfolds.

Onto the plot.

Basically, Prince Adam (actually King Hssss) is inspiring the masters and the Snake Men to attack the Horde.

King Hsss/Adam is wearing the traditional battle armor of the Snake Men, a supposed way to inspire them. But we, as readers see King Hsss really flaunting who he secretly is.

Next we see an exchange between Skeletor and Evil-Lynn. Doesn’t she look cool!

And now for something random. Who is this mysterious soldier? “War Wraith.” And from my picture earlier, you see why I was inspired to do what I did! The War Wraith looks incredibly like Evil-Seed. And I thought he was until Skeletor used his name.

And then something else we’ve never seen. Evil-Lynn weeping. A very spiritual thing this time. Evidently as a manifestation of the Goddess, she reacts to things happening in the universe. I’m reading a parallel here to what the Green Goddess (Teela) did when guiding Despara to the point of drawing He-Man’s blood, an act that would ultimately result in the resurrection of Hordak. This seems out of character. But it is the way her newfound power is effecting her. Skeletor isn’t moved, of course. Except for in the same way the SpartanNerd is moved when the females are crying. Angry. I know it isn’t normal, but its true.

Next, the action cuts to the Masters using the Dragon Walkers to attack Grayskull. A ridiculous idea. If Dragon Walkers were real, they would be the clumsiest, stupidest kind of tank ever invented. They were fun toys, though! It is interesting that the details of the story mention the gear that makes them work. More evidence that the writers have been playing with the toys…that gear was a highly noticeable part of the toy.

And then we see the War Wraith flying on a Roton sniping snake men. Very cool. Who was this guy, I asked myself while reading. He never appeared in any lore previous to now?

A couple of pages over, and we see the Green Goddess Teela rescue She-Ra. Divine intervention was basically the only way that could happen. Deus Ex Machina, right?

The Dragon Walkers (predictable) couldn’t do the job on the Fright Zone, so Moss Man does it. He jumps out of the Wind Raider, and face-plants in a “Wrath of God” moment, sacrificing himself. More Divine Intervention!

(At this point, the comic has a steep death toll. I think I’ll do a death count on main characters the writers have killed off so far. We can add Moss Man, again.)

In the moments after while everyone is celebrating their victory, King Hss/Adam is experiencing pain. Lots of pain, so he sneaks off for a moment of privacy. But Rattlor follows him and lets on that he knows the secret, so King Hsss. blasts him with energy, killing him. (Another main character killed off.)

After this moment of pain and killing Rattlor, King Hiss/Adam is kicked in the head from behind by the War Wraith, who arrived just barely too late to discover the truth evidently. He then takes off his mask to reveal his identity as …. Duncan! (Man-At-Arms)!

Before moving on to Issue 11, which just came out this week, and I just read, let me tell you Hub City Geeks. I read this book OVER AND OVER. You might recall that I thought Issue 8 was terrible. That was a low point. This issue is a high point however, and Issue 11 is even greater! (Issue 9 had the Skeletor killing Hordak moment.)

Man-At-Arms has often been made into a bad guy. But not for Skeletor. Usually it is a Snake Man. The only thing that I don’t get is why did they make him look so much like Evil Seed? This is where I think they were playing around with the toys and maybe head swapping or something, and decided Evil Seed’s armor was pretty cool for Duncan. In my picture at the beginning, you see I only have the classic Man-At-Arms with a mustache. (Yes, I have the non mustache head.) But I don’t have the 200x head without the helmet, so that is as close as I could get.

Onto Issue 11. The best one yet! And I can tell I will likely read this one over and over as well.

The cover shows Man-At-Arms coming out of the shell that was Roboto. He is holding a blaster as well as his classic mace.

The colors evoke the split personality of Man-At-Arms. And he is in a target. Well, that is the First Person Shooter mode of Tri-Clops!

What you need to know is that previously, like, several issues ago, Man-At-Arms was the first Eternian is space. He retrofitted Roboto into a space suit with life-support, and went into space to destroy Horak’s version of Supreme Verdict, the “Orbital Disrupter.” however, by the end of the issue, Man-At-Arms and Roboto were plummeting to the surface in a ball of fire. And until Issue 10, we hadn’t heard from either of them. Issue 11 tells us the story.

Robots used all of his energy to protect Man-At-Arms with a type of force field. He said he had to sacrifice himself because his persona had the personality traits given to him by Duncan.

So basically, Roboto is another character killed off.

And here comes Tri-Clops. We’ve seen Tri-Clops working with Hordak recently. He takes advantage of his new opportunity.

So Man-At-Arms just destroyed the Orbital Disrupter, fought off an army of Horde satellite drones, re-entered the atmosphere, suffered an emotional loss of Roboto, and STILL can kick the crap out of Tri-Clops. That’s awesome!

Here is a total toy moment. Every kid knows that Tri-Clop’s sword was WAY COOLER than anyone else’s. Even He-Man’s. Now the writers have been giving Man-At-Arms Tri-Clops’ sword.!

And here is a big “duh” moment for Duncan. Of COURSE Tri-Clops was blind under that visor…

And Tri-Clops “duh” moment. Duncan talks too much. (He always did.)

And I get another shout for joy moment! SLIME PIT TIME!

Skeletor says “Spare me the lecture. I know how it works. I helped design it!” Duncan is getting slimed . OH YEAH. Into a ZOMBIE for SKELETOR. KA BAAAMMMM!!!!

The Slime Pit was always a toy that I loved to play with. But my mom wouldn’t let us play with the slime.

And then we see how Skeletor is going to get the blood of Grayskull. He is going to literally drain Hordak’s blood! The cool thing they’ve done with Hordak is make him into a celestial vampire. He was empowered by the souls of those he slew or led to their death for him. Now Skeletor is becoming more of a literal vampire. AND we get to see him without his hood.

And then back to the War Wraith. “Skeletor sends his regards.”

Duncan seems to be a total convert to Skeletor’s ways. He has no mercy on who he thinks is Prince Adam.

And he’s just about to slay him, when….

We interrupt this murder with a message from the Goddess and She-Ra, who both are flying on Swift Wind and talking.

So Evil-Lynn can’t have all this happiness. She busts up in front of Swifty.

And then transforms into a bat, the symbol of Horokoth. It appears, however that Teela the Green Goddess can transform into Serpos, the Snake God from 200x.

An intense elemental battle between forces of the universe. Now if only Zoar were to appear…

Nope. Back to the other battle. Of Course, King Hsss. wasn’t going to be bested by a zombified Man-At-Arms. He transforms and then kills Duncan. And then more of that pain happens.

And another strong hint that the writers are playing with the toys and getting inspired to write the characters after them.

As King Hsss fights to suppress Prince Adam’s essence, which is fighting inside of him, he explodes in a burst of energy and becomes…

NAKED!

(Recently there was a figure of Oo-Lar, the Jungle He-Man, who is all nude except for his furry shorts. He’s even barefooted.)

I can’t wait to see what happens next!

You see, it has been raining like crazy. I don’t really have anything to do except work and read comics when I get the chance, or maybe mess around with Magic cards.

I give both of these comics a 5/5. I believe the writers are MOTU fans. And I believe they are trying hard to give us an adult comic. They have tastefully set aside some of the things about MOTU that people call “silly”, and created a darker, edgier, more modern story and are doing things with the characters that haven’t been done before. Sometimes even taking inspiration from things seldom used before. (Like the Slime Pit.)

Hope to be back soon with a review of the new Masters of the Universe Mini Comics Collection!

spartannerd

A blog about everything "nerdtainment!"

Category Archives: He-Man and the Eternity War