Category Archives: Mike Young

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!

MASTERVERSE New Eternia Fisto-SpartanNerd Unboxing and Review

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Follow the SpartanNerd on YouTube. Click Here!

Fisto…Total FOMO.

I didn’t have Fisto as a kid. BUT, the character has always resonated with me. A guy with a huge prosthetic fist. That is a cool power! And that it is a metal tank of a weapon.

Back to the FOMO. When they released the Masters of the Universe Classics version, he was one of the first that you had to order online only, and like no one got him. Matty Collector crashed, and just like that. Bots or something snatched them all up when the site came back online, and just like that, all of them were sold.

The MOTUC version was REALLY COOL. He looked awesome, with some 200x flare, which was unusual for the time in the life of the MOTUC line, and also he came with this huge Final Fantasy VII kind of sword….Just an extra incredible detail. And I think that sword was designed for 200x but didn’t ship or something?

And so after-market MOTUC Fisto is a very high priced toy. Then they came out with a kind of lame version for Masterverse Revelation. What a letdown.

When they showed off this new Fisto, I was shocked and completely knew I would be getting it. No regrets this time.

Or are there? Keep reading, Hub City Geeks!

PACKAGING

Fisto comes in this awesome package, this time showing off some cartoon baddies not often seen. These are the orcs from the mini comic “Masks of Power,” where these little monster guys put on the masks and turn into big monsters. This mini comic was the pack-in with Fisto, and so it is a nice homage on the box. It would be TOTALLY AWESOME if they gave us these orcs sometime in the future. And why not? They are doing Skelcons.

The sides also show some of this action, with one panel featuring He-Man throwing one of the bad guys. There are also some notable flying enemies.

The back of course features a photoshop of the toy.

It is a cool addition to the story that he has bonded with the “mystical Iron Fist” in his bio. The three images on the cross sell art…I am passing on Flying Fists He-Man. Never been a fan. And this is the same bad face treatment as Thunder Punch He-Man had. Big Bad Toy Store has charged me for Evil-Lyn, but she hasn’t shipped yet. I expect she might be here before the end of the week. (What is it with me and Evil-Lyn? This will be number 3.)

One more thing. Inside the package is a little bag for his accessories, and I think this is the first time we have this specific style of baggie.

It features the modern font for Masters of the Universe in black over blue.

FISTO FIGURE REVIEW

Here’s what you get in the box

  • Fisto figure
  • Alternate vintage-style head
  • Alternate left hand (fist)
  • Curved sword (cutless?)
  • Battle hammer

The head that comes on him out of the box is an older, more wizened portrait with gray details on his beard, especially coming down from the “soul patch” to the goatee. There is also a mask that reminds me of something from She-Ra. That mask is not removable. He also has a top-knot ponytail.

PICTURED: MASTERVERSE New Eternia Man-At-Arms and Fisto.

The second head is the classic Fisto portrait. Younger and what you expect.

PICTURED: MASTERVERSE Revelation Sorceress, New Eternia Fisto, and their daughter Teela (this is a mash-up Teela) I am following the 200x story here, where Fisto and Sorceress are deadbeat parents and Man-At-Arms has to raise her.
PICTURED: MASTERVERSE New Eternia Fisto rides on Mythic Legions Boreus. It just seems right to have Fisto ride on a horse. This is because he is often pictured riding Stridor, who we don’t have a proper MASTERVERSE version of yet.

This arm is also what is different. Fisto not only has a metal fist, but now for New Eternia has a whole robotic arm. This reminds me of the whole “techno-virus” story angle from the pre-ternia mini comics and more recently from the Revolution cartoon. In other words, watch out. Perhaps Fisto can be easily controlled by the likes of Motherboard and Skeletek.

ACCESSORIES

This is a character where the accessories and the figure kind of run together. The battle hammer has modular business ends. That spike looks like it could do some damage, or at least bust up some ice. The other “dome” end is similar to Man-At-Arms weapon. Now these two pieces can be swapped out. You could just have half a hammer, or you could remove Fisto’s metal fist and swap it with one of the hammer heads.

The other accessory is the purple “cutless.” Not a giant buster sword. BOO! This was a missed opportunity, Mattel! As a weapon on its own without that context, it is just fine. I think it might be a copy of the one that comes with New Eternia Jitsu, (which I don’t have…Maybe I should get?)

SPARTANNERD’S RATING OF NEW ETERNIA FISTO

The sculpt looks good. The paint looks great, with two heads for different looks taking that piece beyond the expected. I DO think the fist might be just a little bit too small (Beast Man, Snout Spout, and Ram Man have similar sized hands.) The accessories are fine even though I wish it came with an anime sword…but this can’t figure in to the rating. It is novel that you can swap the hammer heads with the fist, and as a bonus, Trap Jaw’s parts (and Roboto’s?) can also go with Fisto. And already the pirate hook looks cool, if just a little bit rustier of a finish.

PICTURED: MASTERVERSE New Eternia Fisto and Trap Jaw

And also importantly, he represents another good guy to go with the inferior force that the SpartanNerd has. (Still missing, Stratos, Buzz-Off, Extendar, Rio Blast, Roboto, Moss Man, Prince Adam, King Randor, and Queen Marlena. Yes, some of these exist but not in a proper form. OK, Zoar also.) As a contrast, I have every important bad guy represented except for Modulok and Cobra Kahn. OK, Screech. The Snake Men should be coming out soon in MASTERVERSE, at least there have been hints.

So with great sculpt, paint, accessories, no problems along the QC area or with articulation, and that he represents something special to the SpartanNerd, he gets a 5/5. We start the new year off with a bang of a punch.

PICTURED: Super7 Ultimates! Battle of the Mounds Valeria (Spirit), MASTERVERSE New Eternia Mekaneck, and Fisto. We all know that Mekaneck had it coming…

Do you agree or disagree, Hub City Geeks? Let me know in the comments! Also check out the SpartanNerd’s new video content on YouTube.

Skeletor’s Throne

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Skeletor’s throne…

I remember watching the Filmation show as a kid, and wondering why we didn’t get this throne with Snake Mountain. It was clearly awesome, and Grayskull came with a chair. What was the deal? I didn’t ponder too much, though. I was just a kid!

As an adult fan, who was watching the 200x Mike Young production show, I noticed Skeletor’s throne was massive. Ridiculous, actually. Such were the times of the early 2000’s, when Dragon Ball Z and similar were the flavor.

With Masters of the Universe Classics, people were making custom bone-thrones for their figures to sit on. These looked so cool, but the ones for sale required a wait time, and you talk about something pricey too.

And then…and OFFICIAL Classics throne for Skeletor came with the Super7 Snake Mountain. The very final MOTUC product. And at that price tag ($700?) no way did it feel the SpartanNerd was ever going to have this thing. And people weren’t selling the pieces off of the gigantic Super7 thing.

BUT…a little tease. The MEGA Snake Mountain came with one! (Sigh)

So to actually have this MASTERVERSE Skeletor with a throne is pretty incredible. Watch the video below to see my unboxing and packaging commentary.

UNBOXING (Also includes Movie Beast Man, review soon)

I took the box cutter to that top box and got the art pieces off to take pictures. This is great stuff!

REVIEW OF SKELETOR

Here is everything you get in the box

  • Skeletor figure
  • Alternate hands…one punching the other open.
  • The Havoc Staff
  • Armor with cape attachment
  • Removable hood

Maybe this next photo will explain this a little more

Skeletor getting ready for…church…

This is exactly the same figure we got with New Eternia Skeletor (Viking). It just has different, arguably better paint. But this head is different. And as far as I know, this is the first non-hooded, bare-boned Skeletor head. The New Adventures design had techno parts. There is also an articulated jaw.

I hear a prominent fan criticizing this head sculpt as appearing to be a chimpanzee skull. And then taking a hair dryer to it. DON’T DO IT! This is by design. Go back and read some of those early Alcala mini comics. I always felt that some of those Skeletor designs of his had that protruding top mouth part, and it looks very chimp-y. But that was how he drew it.

The only criticism I have here then is the one I have gradually gotten from the other New Eternia Skeletor. His left leg is loose at the boot cut and thigh cut. And they didn’t fix it for this offering…his is already loose and he has some trouble standing on two feet.

INTERLUDE

Mattel seemed to celebrate this product just a little bit. Check out the covers of this month’s comic!

So I decided to make a photo of the green cover using the figure. I had the SpartanWife paint his nails. I am not showing this, but when I removed his battle harness, there was purple “bleed” left on his back. It was faint, but it looks like I am seeing some of these kinds of issues recently.

The photo turned out pretty good. I took off the armor and hood, laid the figure on some “green glass”. And placed a green gel in front. I shone a flashlight on it and the surprise imperfections in the gel plastic film made the image extra good.

REVIEW OF SKELETOR’S THRONE.

It didn’t take long for me to assemble it. The diorama card was the hardest part…I had to cut some of the tabs off of the bottom. They come with a design that isn’t supposed to disassemble once put together. But that didn’t suit my storage needs.

But as I stepped back and took a look at it…Then back at the instructions and some promo images…The skull head on top is TOO TALL. We are led to believe the back wall is taller than the chair. NOPE.

So you can see, I had to put some black cardstock from other packaging up behind the head to get proper photos.

You can see the furry seat cushion, and this is a solution to a problem. If you have been following the SpartanNerd blog, then you know that King Conan’s throne can’t be properly sat in by MASTERVERSE figures, making me worry about this. That seat cushion disguises the awkwardness of their butt not being perpendicular to the chair. Cool solution, Mattel! There are also foot pegs on the platform under the chair, so you can peg him in for even more stability.

Here is some more description. Look near He-Man’s feet. Two alien insect skulls with antennae. There are these mandibular halves with teeth coming up beside the throne…this must be the jawbones of wyvyrns. And no way around it…that is a demon skull on top.

…Let’s be real for a minute. Why did Bob Jones University types protest He-Man and the Masters of the Universe as being demonic back in the 1980’s?…

On the back side of the throne there are two stands made of cobra snakes where you can place the Havoc Staff and the Staff of Ka. These are rubbery, and press down and spring back to shape when you load the weapons for display.

Skeletor SHOULD HAVE come with a Staff of Zoar. That has to be what Mattel was going for with the lighting effect. Orange for Zoar, green for Ka, and blue for Havoc. Each a type of magic presented on the Revolution cartoon. But you can give him the Sorceress’s staff. It is too small, but it works.

I swapped the head for this New Eternia (Viking) alternate head. This has been my main Skeletor head, until now…

At first I thought the lighting effect was broken on mine. I put some batteries from the junk drawer in, so I swapped them with new ones from the store, and it still wasn’t working right. I would hit the switch, and it would turn on orange. But it wouldn’t change colors. I walked away for a day to think about it.

I recently had a QC issue with Mattel regarding Sy-Klone. (Review yet to come!) Essentially, they listened to my complaint and offered me a Mekanek to replace him (complimentary) or my money back. I didn’t want to go through this again with the much larger and more expensive Havoc Throne. I didn’t want them to say I was defrauding them or something. I thought…”I can fix this. And if I can’t, I’ll call them then.” So I got to work. I removed the bottom screws, and that was it…it worked! I put them back in loosely and haven’t had any trouble since. Evidently the screws were too tight or something. If you have trouble with yours, try my fix.

You can watch the lighting effect by clicking this link

LINK TO VIDEO OF LIGHTING EFFECT.

You can see I went ahead and cut up the box so I could make a larger display. Evil Lyn, Beast Man, Mer-Man, Panthor, and Screech look on as Skeletor charges his Havoc magic.
Here is Mythic Legions (NOT!) Demistros sitting on the bone throne, energizing the Staff of Ka. His giant devil head looks like it might be a brother to the one on the top of the chair.
And here’s Black Falcon, holding the Staff of Zoar which would surely be his weapon of choice.

SPARTANNERD RATING OF NEW ETERNIA SKELETOR AND HAVOC THRONE

I have to take this objectively. Subjectively, I am really, really happy to have this thing. I have basically all of the bad guys now, and this throne pulls them together on display. (I don’t have Screech or Panthor. My Whiplash is a compromise. Review coming soon!)

Anyway. Objectively.

Skeletor’s new head with an articulated jaw and removable hood is excellent. His new purple and gold paint details are also very good on the battle harness and cape armor. This is also metallic purple paint on the Havoc Staff that matches his armor. This figure didn’t come with any other new accessories, and is in fact exactly like the New Eternia (Viking) Skeletor that we already had, take away the Viking skull and classic head. The packaging is nice, and is slightly different than what is on the cover box, featuring the battle harness instead of the cape armor (I didn’t point that out in the video.)

I gave the original New Eternia Skeletor a 4/5, taking off a point for loose leg joints. It is the same here with this “new” New Eternia Skeletor. 4/5. He has the same leg problems. The new paint and the head with removable hood are very good upgrades, however.

Objectively, about the Havoc Throne. I have to set aside my love for this item and instead point out the strengths and weaknesses.

It is very well done. Easy to assemble. Nice packaging that falls short in the tallness category (see what I did there!) But the artwork on it is wonderful. The furry seat cushion is a novel design that solves the problem of figures sitting awkward, and really any 6-inch figure sits nice on it. Super7 Ultimates!. Mythic Legions. Very nice! The Staff of Ka is a little bit thick, and we are used to seeing it smaller, say for instance in Teela’s hand.

If I am messing with this, I never leave the LED fire lights off. I mean, clear fire is fine. But the colors add much depth, and if you turn off the lights, a real evil atmosphere can be created.

I am giving this throne a 5/5. Sure, I did have to take a screwdriver to it, but I can’t say if that will be everyone’s experience. Maybe mine was an exception. I DO wish the diorama was taller than the skull head. But the packaging is so nice otherwise that it kind of cancels that out. The throne can be stored in that box, or you can use it to display the throne with Skeletor kind of as a statue.

So 4/5 for Skeletor and 5/5 for the throne. What do you think, Hub City Geeks? Am I justified in this rating? Let me know in the comments!

MASTERVERSE New Eternia Snout Spout- SpartanNerd Unboxing and Review

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For unboxing and initial review of the packaging for Snout Spout and Vykron , click here.

INITIAL THOUGHTS

Snout Spout is one of them characters. Yep.

So I have owned every version of Snout Spout ever released EXCEPT for the 200x Staction, which looks totally awesome! I picked up the Masters of the Universe Classics version at Big Lots that time that a bunch of Matty Collector stuff landed there…But I sold that when I did my mass sell off of MOTUC figures. (I am really starting to regret that. It wouldn’t be so bad if Mattel would support MEGA a little more). As a vintage character, I remember using that squirting action feature all the time. The Classics version didn’t have that, but came with the awesome Jaws of Life weapon. I didn’t get that “Heads pack” with the awesome 200x design.

When Mattel Creations listed Snout Spout for $33 a few months ago, I thought about it. Wouldn’t they just eventually mark it down? It did look cool, but did I like the character that much? Remember, I picked up the Classics version for $20…that was really a steal and a deal that will probably never come back up. the MASTERVERSE version didn’t look quite as fierce as the 200x version, but it didn’t look like a Dumbo either as the vintage one and stock MOTUC one did. I finally decided to when I saw Vykron on a Mattel Creations sale and thought, “what else should I get” while I was on vacation. Not getting Motherboard at $65 of Dark-lyn. Snout Spout was the winner.

So what did I think of it when I had it in hand…keep reading to see the SpartanNerd’s review, and also his first ever Special Effects Toy Photography!

ADDITIONAL PACKAGING REVIEW

When you open the box, you get to see a poster of the same artwork on the cover. BUT the other side features (EXCITEMENT!!)

YEP. SNAKE MEN! Now there is no reason to have snake men here. Snout Spout (presented as a firefighter) doesn’t have much to do with them. Mattel will have to do some explaining. He does look cool standing between King Hiss and the lady (Lady Slither?). But more importantly, this art seems to point to Snake Men coming soon to MASTERVERSE!

Snout Spout was tied in just like Vykron. No blister bubble. One thing that is an improvement on the package is the smooth black poster finish on the cardboard. But the way the trunk is wrapped…it makes it look like he was injured.

You can open the little box, which doubles as a stand, to see the rest of the items.

FIGURE REVIEW

Here is everything you get.

  • Snout Spout figure. He has a power harness and belt that is removable.
  • Fire fighter’s axe
  • Backpack
  • Three hoses
  • Alternate fist hands
  • Water blast effect

A good bit of items! And look how impressive he looks! This orange and pink and metallic purple, silver, and bright red. It all works so well!

Those eyes use “Light Piping.” And this is kind of a bummer. Mattel tries to play it up as great, but it would be better if there was some kind of battery. When you don’t have a light right overhead, you get the “dead eyes” look.

So the hoses can be attached all over the place. You can connect them from the bottom of the backpack to the power harness. You can connect the shorter one from the top of the backpack to the back of his head. You can connect one to the bottom of the axe to make it into a nozzle. You can use your imagination! You can also attach the water effext to the power harness to make it seem like he sprung a leak. Or you can put it on the end of the axe.

Speaking of imagination, the SpartanNerd is a middle school chorus teacher…one of the things that almost kept me from purchasing this was the belt. What might a middle school student (especially a boy) say about that pressure gauge?

The hose nose (this is Snout Spout’s alternate name). His real name…Jaxston. Awesome! This nose is very posable, made of several hard plastic joints. Not foam. Not rubber with wire. This was done right!

ACCESSORIES

I really already talked about them, didn’t I!

But not including the Jaws of Life…that is a missed opportunity. Now I realize that item was roughly an homage to The Four Horsemen…it was in the shape of their symbol. Still…we have Clamp Champ. There could have been some parts re-use.

The axe is pretty cool. It looks kind of dinged up and used. There could be more paint apps.

REAL SPECIAL EFFECTS PHOTOGRAPHY!

This is my first time. I watched of few YouTube videos, especially about adding explosions and fire to GI Joe Classified and Star Wars Black Series figures. I knew there would be plenty, and I could apply those here.

I took a trip to the Dollar General Market to find some dollhouse pieces or something to destroy. It would have to be really cheap. Would you believe the only thing they had was an off-brand Barbie doll house that was $25! No way. Not for this project. So I went back home, and took the to box cutter to some Amazon boxes. And some spray paint…

You can see what I did if you watch this video! Snout Spout to the Rescue video.

Here are some of the pics I got when I lit it all up!

PICTURED: New Eternia MASTERVERSE Snout Spout rescuing MASTERVERSE Revelation Evil-Lyn, who is dressed in Tri-Klops’ robe as “Eternian Winch.”

I did two special effects videos… the fire and a snow one for the barbarians. But the fire one was truly a blast! No, this Snout Spout can’t really squirt water. But he looks great fighting fire!

SPARTANNERD’S RATING OF MATTEL CREATIONS MASTERVERSE NEW ETERNIA SNOUT SPOUT

Not kidding. Snout Spout turned out to be one of the coolest figures I almost punted on. I’m glad I didn’t! He looks impressive. So tall and heroic. He is taller than anyone else besides Mekanek with all the pieces. At first I thought this torso was a re-use of 40th anniversary He-Man, but it can’t be because the neck is different and larger. It is similar size to Beast Man, but isn’t the same either. The only re-used parts I see are the pauldrons, which are Vykron’s but with all red. The head sculpt doesn’t look like the 200x, but it also doesn’t look like the sad elephant from the vintage line. Those are huge feet…he stands very stable for what is a heavy build and big head. The trunk is very posable.

The light-piping isn’t very great, some kind of electronic design would be better. I am considering modding this with some LED’s. I seem to be living dangerously lately. The Jaws of Life would have been a good include. But the many options for display, plus the bonus promise of snake men over-rides these weaknesses. Snout Spout is one of the best figures I own now! I highly recommend him. 5/5!

Masterverse New Eternia Mekaneck – SpartanNerd Unboxing and Review

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I kept putting this purchase off, but didn’t want another faker situation. I caught Mekaneck on sale on BigBadToyStore, and boom, here was my chance

Here was a character that I owned and played with everyday as a child..not only was he cool to imagine a spy, you could also use the action feature to head butt other characters and knock them down. Another memory about this character. The armor was stiff plastic, which was better than the typical rubber armor. But the tabs broke and so my Mekaneck went shirtless a lot. Stinkor’s armor was the same but orange, so you could mix and match

Who is featured on the bottom? Battle Armor He-Man. This makes the second version in the MASTERVERSE line. Tri-Klops. This makes the second version in the MASTERVERSE line. I concede that each version has its strengths, but don’t feel the need for another Tri-Klops. I predict a big clearance on Battle Armor He-Man eventually because of the glut of product out there. Then I will pick up both version. I actually have King Keldor now, and will be posting a review soon.

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PACKAGING NOTES

You can see the packaging art is very nice, and you can see that the blue Road Ripper is featured heavily. Also, whatever species that Clawful is, there are lots of those guys around, so the illustration makes it seem that Mekaneck is spying on their camp. If you read the little bio story, you can see that New Eternia Mekaneck is part of a submarine squadron, a very cool new spin. (This makes the Road Ripper an aquatic vehicle too! Maybe…maybe!!! We can get a MASTERVERSE Road Ripper! How hard could it be?) You can see in the illustration some classic pieces of Castle Grayskull, namely the weapons, and that chest has the same design as the classic trap door.

This is another one of those boxes that is akin to what is going on with Transformers, and I like this very much. It gives more room for story art, and you can see the figure just fine if you wanted to keep them in box. It is also semi-collector friendly. The blister bubble inside isn’t worth much, but the character can stand in there and be seen without it, and there is a storage compartment for accessories to boot.

FIGURE REVIEW

Here is everything you get in the box:

  • alternate fist hands
  • five(!) telescoping neck pieces
  • classic mace, with a new twist (see below)
  • shield featuring the blue Road Ripper

The figure stands well and has very good paint. But something especially striking is the VAC METAL or SHINY FOIL goggles! They can do it here, why not on say…Thunder Punch He-Man? It is notable that this is only on the goggles. The other chrome details on the armor are painted. I like the contrast of the dark “furry shorts” and the green-ish belt. I like the silver straps on the boots also.

ACCESSORIES

The shield has “patina” already on the sticker as a part of the design, which is appreciable. These kinds of stickers wear and fade with age, often showing that white paper backing. So they just built it in to this shield, which is the very opposite of some of the boring shields they have given us on some figures. This shield has a peg instead of a strap, making this the second design like this I have seen. There is hole in the wrist and one on the back of the armor where the shield can go. And like I said, could we get a blue Road Ripper?

And now for the new spin on the mace. This mace is presented as a telescope. This is something that never occurred to me, and I wonder if there was a discarded design precedent in the past for the vintage or 200x line. This mace is in two pieces, so the big diamond-y part can detach just like the head or neck pieces. This will make a great new way to display alternate head sculpts. I didn’t get a photo of it, but the shorter “handle” piece is a convincing telescope by itself.

As you can see above, you can use just one of the neck joints to create a classic vintage feel. Or…

You can go more 200x with this one. And I’m not kidding, if I see Mekaneck on clearance in December or sometime, I am picking up more just to get these neck pieces to play with! So this is a big win, Mattel. Thank you for paying attention to what we probably want.

AND…

PICTURED: MASTERVERSE New Eternia Mekaneck and MASTERVERSE Revelation Mer-Man. Mer-Man is wearing Clawful’s alternate armor, and holding Super7 Ultimates! Black Falcon’s bident spear.

yep. You can use the neck pieces to extend the telescope!

SPARTANNERD’S RATING OF MASTERVERSE NEW ETERNIA MEKANECK

Are you kidding me? This is one of the best MASTERVERSE figures. Why did I put off this purchase? I think I have been holding out for Faker or Whiplash.

PICTURED: MASTERVERSE New Eternia Mekaneck and Mythic Legions Balthor the Tower Ogre. I wanted to highlight just how tall Mekaneck can be…that is like a nine inch figure! Balthor is armed with McFarlane Toys Raven Spawn’s chain.
PICTURED: MASTERVERSE New Eternia Mekaneck and Man-E-Faces. I am titling this one “Two Wierdos.”

Really the fun doesn’t stop. The figure is sculpted and painted well. The articulation is more than great considering the neck joints. The accessories have been riffed on in the best possible ways. And there is extended funtionality because the end of the telescope can be used to display some of the alternate heads in the future. My rating of this figure is a solid 5/5.