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!

Mega Construx Snake Mountain Review part 1

December 17, 2022 by spartannerd

This is such a massive build, I am breaking up the review into sections.

You can find a review of the packaging and figures here.

Build Review part 1 (you are looking at it right now!)

Build Review part 2 (coming soon)

If it has been awhile since you checked in to the SpartanNerd blog, here is a link to the main page! I suggest starting with “catching up” from July 4, 2022.

Part 1 of this review is the “Filmation” side of the mountain.

I am also highly distracted, so I feel like this is one of the most ADHD reviews I have ever done. (’tis the season for chorus!)

It took me from mid-September until last week (second week of December) to complete this side. This is working in spurts of an hour and a half or two hours. when I felt up to it. I would get a couple of the polybags out and assemble those steps. Then put the whole project away until next time. I think there are 27 steps here?

This playset really gives you the scale of a mountain with the mini figures around it.

The trap door is pretty nice. But beware that the figures fall a long way. I had to wrangle with it so that the mechanism would work smoothly.

Webstor is doing the “trap door spider” thing. Notice these pink squirelly things and the horns. They look cool. This place “oozes evil.”

Grayskull with Point Dread and the Talon Fighter is only barely taller.

Snake Mountain is even taller than Master Grade Gundam Epyon EW on a flight stand with beam saber raised!

Shades of purple. The Land Shark and my custom “War Sled.”

I want to begin by saying that just like Castle Grayskull, each small section of Snake Mountain is packaged in its own plastic baggie. They give you this set in small and manageable chunks, and the instructions are pretty clear. Sometimes I personally have a hard time seeing the correct shape of a piece in respect of it’s orientation and position in the picture…But this is more of a SpartanNerd problem. Because it is in such small bite sized chunks, I don’t feel the need to always set out the pieces and organize them like I do smaller sets.

While the instructions are easy and the sequence is clear, the build HAS NOT been easy. I am of the belief that Mattel has opted to use cheaper or at least different plastic than they used for Castle Grayskull. The effect of that is…I really have to work hard to get the pieces to snap together! I mean…sometimes I set the pieces and the table and have to hammer them with my hand. And all of the SpartanPets go running. And then…If you make a mistake and have to take it apart…Let’s just say that the “brick separator” is our best friend. The forks on the end have worn out from me having to separate blocks that are wedged together too tightly.

I recently had to rebuild Castle Grayskull. (YAY. It has crumbled TWICE on me.). I managed to get the castle back together in about four hours. (Large pieces stayed together negating the need for a total rebuild.).

Rebuilding that set in the middle of working on Snake Mountain let me see the true difference of what is going on. Grayskull’s pieces don’t stick together so tightly…Hence the lack of durability. That roof is also dubious. It is barely attached to the playset, Snake Mountain…I probably could drop it from 8 feet in the air like I did Grayskull, and it would mostly stay together except for the little horn details and such.

(OK. I decided to move the castle to the top shelf to be beside the new Snake Mountain which is too tall for the better shelf on the lower level. I had also attached the Talon Fighter to the top of the tower. And I dropped it. In the closet. Pieces everywhere and underneath stuff in the closet. A real nightmare.)

Earlier I said cheaper/different plastic. This plastic has a problem. There is a tiny discolored nib on almost every piece. Sometimes it is on a stud. Sometimes it is somewhere else. But it is ugly and uncalled for in a set that costs over $300. Mattel knows they will get their money from people like the SpartanNerd. But every time I would see one of those ugly artifacts, I felt a little burned. I felt this bad enough to where I thought…”Would I buy a Fright Zone, Eternia Playset, or Crystal Castle?” All of those are possible sets on a similar scale and price point to Snake Mountain and Grayskull. They can do better.

Now probably the economy has to do with this. Oil/Petroleum shortage. Biden-flation. ETC etc. Maybe they purposely wanted the plastic to be more rigid so that the set wouldn’t crumble. I don’t know. But people who put pupils in the eyes of a Man-E-Faces Mega Mini Figure pay attention to details, and those ugly nibs are a problem.

Next up. I have a problem with this piece (First picture)

Notice how there is a white scar on each of these blocks.

@#!$%&*@. This large piece is stupid.

Maybe this was a reprinted piece from some earlier HALO set. Seems a little familiar. Mattel/MEGA, you missed an opportunity here. By giving us this large hollow piece you have deprived us of the ability to build that piece. And on this subject, there are some dubious design choices on some of the interior. Instead of solid blocks, they have us use large flat rectangular pieces back to back with a row of studs in between. MIND BOGGLING. WHY!? I think it might have been to save money on plastic? Maybe it made the set weigh less? I don’t know. But that design choice seems wrong on a building toy.

Last complaint. The wraparound snake. This is another missed opportunity. This snake should have been a complete snake. We should be able to remove it for a monster battle. You say, “SpartanNerd, it didn’t do that in Filmation.” True. But it did in 200x. My point is, if we received a proper tail piece, this snake would have been even more epic. We could have disconnected it from the mountain and used it. Too much fun, I guess.

On to some positivity. IT IS HUGE. A good problem, but also a problem. It is as tall as Grayskull with the Point Dread and Talon Fighter configuration. The figures look great posed on it. You get a real sense of “mountain” that I always felt that the vintage playset failed to capture. It is that sense that us collectors and fans crave that pushed the Super7 Snake Mountain to be so large and expensive.

The little horns and pink squirelly things make this really evil. Also the monster face at the base of the mountain just appears from the build, and as I mentioned before, I prefer that! The trap door is a nice touch, but the figures fall a long way down and can get busted.

The “faces of evil” are a Four Horsemen design if I remember correctly. In the middle, that purple support snaps off way to easy. It is only for looks…isn’t a functional piece for stability. I could not get the face on the left to attach without bulding up the layer underneath with spare parts.

The only “extra” on this side of the mountain is this “sarlacc pit” trap under the trap door. I put The Sorceress here, with Evil Lynn clearly summoning the monster. The Sorceress seems to wind up a prisoner quite often.

You can remove this trap and sit it other places. “The Well of Souls?”

So what is my overall feeling? Can I rate this yet?

I think it will be awhile before I begin on the second half. It seems kind of daunting. And that isn’t what a toy should be.

On the other hand, the other side has some of the cooler parts of this set. Skeletor’s throne for one. The magic table from Filmation is another. There are others…That lava slide. But I also never was a big fan of the face on the other side. Or the rat/wolf microphone. But I really liked the bridge.

Well, I am glad that we got this side with the snake, that really looks like a Filmation Snake mountain sort of. At least they gave us a little more snake.

I feel that a person might be able to customize this set a little bit. I am building it as it is meant to be first, for now.

So far Grayskull beats this set, however. It might be because of my own personal attachment as a child. But I find it is also just really awesome…in the sense that Mortal Kombat II was more awesome than Mortal Kombat I. It is more, More, MORE! I had Snake Mountain as a child, but this set departs from the vintage design enough to where it doesn’t hit me the same way that Grayskull does. I know that this is based on the Super7 Snake Mountain design, which summarizes the toy and the Filmation version. But that wasn’t “my snake mountain.” If it was dark black and gray with a giant snake wrapped around and lava coming out of its mouth…That’s “my Snake Mountain.” or if it was an exact copy of the vintage toy. It’s still cool and it’s still epic, though!

Mega Construx Land Shark…SpartanNerd Review

July 11, 2022 by spartannerd

It has been nice to get new Mega Construx! The Land Shark seems to be the flavor of the month for Mattel…they have released a new “Origins” version. (I am not collecting the Origins line). You have sharks here, Roboto, and Skeletor. How are kids not going to buy this. And also SpartanNerds…

Unfortunately, my box is a bit beat up. I was also a little unnerved at the tape on the side…it made me think someone might have stolen the figures and resealed it. (Luckily, not so.). It depicts the toys in what seems to be illustrated art. What is going on with the wheels is the question. If I remember the vintage toy, it only had cosmetic treads with functional wheels hidden on the bottom.

The sides of the box are also very nice. I keep these packages…some day I will have adequate space to properly display all of them. I do display them now, but it’s crowded.

Well, let’s get to documenting the build!

This is the instruction manual. It has the same art as the front, with less text. The back shows off two other sets. I don’t care much for that Battle Cat, and it is the only set from the Mega Construx Masters of the Universe line that I haven’t purchased. There is a Havoc Staff coming out soon in the same vein that I believe I will be skipping. I have the Monstroid, but haven’t yet built it. Stay tuned Hub City Geeks because likely by the end of the week I will have a blog entry for that one!

As with the other larger builds from this line, the pieces come in numbered baggies.

Number 1 has the mini figures…what a relief!

Let’s build Skeletor first.

The new Skeletor is exactly the same as the one that came with the Point Dread set. It is Battle Armor Skeletor. And I pondered not even opening the poly bag, but the axe and the sword were loose. But after studying the issue, I realized that this version has the scratched armor like you would get with two hits on the vintage toy. Also, this one came with the purple sword, which was a puzzling omission from the Point Dread version. Otherwise they are identical. Same colors, same face paint job. Maybe the elbows on this one are a little sharper. “monster arms?” But I think this might be my imagination.

On to ROBOTO.

I used to love robots as a kid. And ROBOTO here had something to do with that. I am a little bummed that the gears are just tampograft stickers…it seemed that when they revealed this they were looking at making the gears move, and bragging about it being “the smallest pieces ever in a Mega Bloks set.” I guess they couldn’t crack that for the price. Otherwise, this was the main reason for getting this set! Classic Roboto, with a clear body. We have a new Roboto on card…but it seems to be more 200x inspired. (See the post here)

I really enjoyed photographing Roboto. Here we can see him raising his axe to meet Skeletor’s. Notice that the gun attachment can fit in the hole in his back…making a jet pack sort of look.

On to the build!

As I said before, I have to separate all of the blocks and place them with others alike before I begin. This helps me be efficient and quick. I worked slowly, taking pictures as I went. I finished it in just over an hour.

After bag 2, it looks like we have a boat. Roboto’s other hand could come off…a new trick. You couldn’t do this with the vintage toy! These other pieces were left over.

I was a little bummed that the teeth were in large pre-fab pieces. But I was also psyched that there are real rubber treads!

And here is step 23! We get to put the treads on. And the first thing I did was roll it and marvel at how cool it is to have real treads on the Mega Construx Land Shark! The little hook spinning around was a mystery though…I hadn’t seen any string or anything like that. A definite improvement on the original design. (You can see pics and the patent diagrams for the original toy on the BattleRam Blog.)

Here it is with the chomping mouth open. So, here’s how it works! When you push the tank, the little hook spins around. At the back of the shark’s throat there is a smooth dome…the hook bumps against the smooth piece which causes the jaws to snap! I shouted for joy when I saw this happen, and took it to the SpartanWife to show off. But what color is this? She says it’s fucia. The kid says it is light purple. Notice Roboto here doing a Terminator pose! Also, notice the growing collection of leftover parts.

We arrive at poly bag number 4, and Skeletor has Luke Skywalker’ed Roboto! These pieces are all silver, and will surely be the guns.

Here is the completed Land Shark, in action making Roboto into spare parts!

What a relief…right!

Here is the Land Shark compared to other vehicles.

You can see the scale is very similar. It makes me wonder how they might do Stridor and Night Stalker. Would they be more of the size of Panthor (pictured above) or more the size of the Land Shark?

I feel that this version of the Land Shark stands a head taller than its predecessors. (And besides the Hot Wheels one, this is the smallest!) It has working treads, and the mouth snaps with an ingenious design. The only thing I don’t like about the build is the holes in the top of the profile above the sticker eyes. I do wish we got a toy accurate Trap Jaw instead of Battle Armor Skeletor…I feel like Trap Jaw goes better with this vehicle, with the snapping jaw action. (We don’t have Trap Jaw in toy colors either.)

What do you think, Hub City Geeks? I am rating this … I mean, can I give it a 4.5 of 5? I really like it, and there aren’t enough negatives to lose a whole point. 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.

SpartanNerd Review…He-Man and The Masters of the Universe Minicomic Collection

May 15, 2016 by spartannerd

Thanks for all the views in my absence! The SpartanNerd has been really busy with his real job. But now, back to blogging.

Masters of the Universe “mini comics” were truly my introduction to comic books. I had no Spider-man, Superman, or Batman comics as a small child. The only comics I specifically remember were those packed with Masters of the Universe figures. Me and my brothers would read these, and they would get stepped on, crumpled, left in the car. Pages torn out. Staples let loose. Crayon marks. Holes. All kinds of abuse. I cringe to think about it now, but I don’t think I would have had it any other way. As a teacher, I know that these experiences led me to a whole-language approach to reading, and it helped my brothers as well, who weren’t as good at reading as me.

The other thing about the mini comics…they told inconsistent stories. I didn’t understand that there were different artists, writers, and publishers with different ideas. The public at large didn’t know all of the details that have been unearthed in recent years about the workings behind the scenes. So when Skeletor says he and his people are from another dimension…that didn’t make sense with my largely Filmation understanding of the story. This didn’t turn me off of the mini comics. But it made me wonder “why?”

The story behind me getting He-Man and the Masters of the Universe Minicomic Collection is sort of a frustrating one…I actually ordered it at The Tangled Web in Spartanburg SC back in November, before it came out. This was supposed to be my anniversary present…It wasn’t a pre-order, so I didn’t pay up front.

But somehow, it didn’t arrive. And so they re-submitted the order for me, at least three times. I heard rumors online that the production run was shorter than expected…that demand couldn’t be met easily. I was tempted to order from Amazon, go to Barnes and Noble maybe. But I am loyal if nothing else, and in time I accepted that rumor as truth, and that the mini comic collection would be another rare thing I wouldn’t have a hold of. I would pick it up eventually…(maybe.)

Apparently, sometime in the last month (While I have been away from the blog) the owner of The Tangled Web came across, and ordered the upcoming art-book thing that is all about the Filiation cartoon…He was telling me about it, and knew I would definitely want a copy. (I DO!) And so I asked him to look again about the mini comic collection. A quick look on his computer and he said. “We’ll have it in a week!” He was right this time. You have to love small business!

Does the mini comic collection deliver up to my expectations? Keep reading!

Here is the front cover…still sealed with cellophane! The Tangled Web sold this to me for a slight discount, considering my situation. I am quite appreciative! Long live small business! Love that store, and any of my readers who ever come through Spartanburg should come by and purchase something. (Would Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or Wal-Mart have cared ? Of course not.)

The cover makes it clear what you are getting. It is probably wrong to put She-Ra mini comics (storybooks?) in this and just call it He-man and the Masters of the Universe. But they did. I suppose by now, though most She-Ravers consign themselves to this.

Here’s the back, featuring an image from “The Terror Claws Strike!”

And the spine…showing that this is a Dark Horse product, as well as offering you a glimpse at how very thick this book is! It is in fact 1232 pages long!

A little comparison for you. On the left is the Minicomic collection (now unwrapped.) And on the right is my only extant mini comic. “King of the Snake Men.” A gift from my wife…the italian version no less! But anyway. Look at the size difference!

I found a page from “King of the Snake Men” in the collection, so you can further see the incredible difference “blowing this up” makes! Good thing too. The SpartanNerd’s vision fails him in his old age.

For a book that is thicker than many Bibles, Harry Potter books, and encyclopedia’s…its a good thing they included this ribbon-bookmark! And it is a very handy addition as well. (I am reading the collection straight through. I use this to mark where I left off.)

Now for the contents.

As you read, you get little footnotes. See the bottom here. This information helps you see the mini comics as pieces of Masters of the Universe history. And they appear to be in chronological order, starting with the first “storybooks” given out…drawn by Alfredo Alcala. These show “miniternia.” The first story depicted in media about He-Man. And this story is vastly different from Filmation and later stories. He-Man is a barbarian hero in a post-apocalyptic situation, where technology and magic are lorded over the populace by experts such as Man-At-Arms, The Goddess (Sorceress), and Skeletor.

The book takes some time to share interviews with the artists and writers. Here is a pic of the interview with one of the earliest writers, Gary Cohn.

I haven’t read past “mini-eternia” yet. (Just got to Filmation era.) But I will go ahead and show you what else this book consists of. Here is some of the She-Ra stuff. They seem to have included it all!

Tons of pink and pastels. Not sure what the image below depicts. But there are several pages of this book which I assume is some part of She-Ra lore preserved here. AND, in a similar vein, the “read with me” story with a record about the Talon Fighter is in here too. I remember owning that and reading it as a kid, and being terrified. (A terrified as you can be of a comic book. Hey…I was like six years old…or younger!)

Here is what I considered the sad story from the first New Adventures of He-Man mini comic. Prince Adam is No More! It depicts He-Man transforming in the presence of Skeletor, knocking him down and frying his skull. (Which necessitates the “cyborg” version found throughout that particular incarnation of the story.) All of the New Adventures stories are chronicled here.

The comics by Val Staples and Emiliana Selucia from the 200x series are here. These were the pack-in comics, not the monthly comics. But the art is very much the same. (The second Pack-In was drawn by Enza Fortana)

The rarest of the mini-comics is here. “The Power of the Evil Horde”

And the Masters of the Universe Classics mini comics are here. I haven’t been fortunate enough to own or read any of these. I was very happy to get to see the maps in the Masters of the Universe Art Book. And since I am reading straight through, I am avoiding the temptation to go ahead and read these. (My readers should know…I am also re-reading the recent DC comics again.) I don’t want too much fantasy bouncing around in my head!

And here is what is on the last pages of the book. Not sure what this is about. A book that didn’t make it to print?

Reading what I have read so far has been extremely satisfying. The larger pages lets me have a deeper appreciation for the art. I have no trouble reading the script, either. The colors seem to be “restored.” I love the chronological nature of the collection as well, unfolding a history of the brand. What a great way to pay homage to something so fundamental to He-Man and the Masters of the Universe.

I have read some of the mini comics online over the years. (Is that piracy?) I don’t buy many digital comics…I do use ComiXology and its associated apps, but what I read on that is usually Spawn or Conan the Barbarian books…things I don’t want laying around for my children to read. But there is nothing like having the physical book in your hand.

If I had a choice, own a copy of every single mini comic, OR own this collected edition. I would go for the collection. Simply because of the large size. And they are all collected in one volume, so that is convenient!

If I could rate anything higher than 5/5, then the He-Man and the Masters of the Universe Minicomic Collection would be a 6/5. It is perfect! I love the large pages, the chronological order, the interviews…all of it is spectacular!

spartannerd

A blog about everything "nerdtainment!"

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