Category Archives: Subscription

SpartanNerd’s MOTUC He-Man Review

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My first ever TOY REVIEW!!!!

Masters of the Universe Classics He-Man!

I really hoped my boys would dig into this.  I bought them a few, but they simply don’t have that much interest.  They like the way they look.  But the magic isn’t there that existed when I was a kid.  Every once in a while if I put on a MOTU cartoon, their interest will spark up.  But that is it.  They are just not as into the property as I am.

I mention being into the property….I have followed He-Man.org since I got onto the internet!  (It was Adam Tyner’s page then!  )  I was thrilled to find others that longed for the days of MOTU.  And I was so happy when they put out the 200x cartoon, and I got a few of the toys then.  (I was REALLY BROKE then.)

I don’t own many of these new figures….I mean, they cost nearly $40 a pop from Mattel!  But I fell in love with the idea as soon as it was announced, and it wasn’t long before I had a tiny collection of basic figures.  I am going to start with He-Man!  (Where else would I start?)

I don’t care much about the packaging….I usually look at it for a second, and then throw it away.  The MOTUC bios are OK with me, but I can read those anytime on the internet.  AND, I can also look at the packaging if I want to look at it for some reason.  So I normally feed the packaging to Oscar the Grouch!

My He-Man figure is the first “re-issue” of He-Man.  Apparently the “first edition” had backwards shoulders, and too much red around the eyes.  (He has been given the loving nickname of “Pepper Spray He-Man!)  Mine has none of these problems…Mattel saw to go ahead and fix their flagship character.

I have been playing with this guy for about….10 months?   He is properly broken in!  I can still hear a tight little click sometimes when I move his joints after he has sat for awhile.  His ankles are getting a little loose, though.  (He has “pin” style ankles.  You can see the pin in his shoes at the joint.

But WOW.  What an update!  You only had five articulation points on the vintage He-Man figure.  Basically on all of them.  But the MOTUC design has an articulation point on every major human joint!  There is also an ab crunch, and boot cuts so that you can point He-Man’s shins.  So a MOTUC figure is more like a vintage Gi-Joe figure, only exploded to a 6 inch (7 inch) scale.  This is the greatest He-Man we’ve ever seen,…..Heck, it is just about the greatest action figure we’ve ever seen!

Ab Crunch!

He came with the same accessories that the vintage one came with, with an updated “full” power-sword, so that you can properly display him when he is alone.  He also came with a half power sword, a throwback to the vintage figure who had a sword that could combine with Skeletor’s to open Castle Grayskull’s door.  This idea remains….but the swords do not fit together so well  😦

He also comes with his iconic battle axe, shield, and power harness.  (armor)  I think I prefer seeing He-Man hold the Battle Axe nowadays in my old age.

So what don’t I like about it?  Well, I feel guilty about owning such a luxury item….I mean, I paid nearly $50 for my He-Man in the after-market.  I have bills to pay, family to feed, and I’m a grown up.  I don’t really “play” with toys.  I think they are cool.  I like to display them.  He-Man makes a good Magic the Gathering table piece.  I even like to poke around with them, which I guess IS playing with it.  But I don’t play with it like I did as a kid.  SpartanNerd though I am, to have a full on Eternian War is sort of beneath me, I suppose I am sad to say.  To display such a war would be cool, if I was rich.  I could display him at work, but I found out quickly that he is a bit to naked for my clientele.  (Elementary School)   Maybe during a movie year!

So how will I rate my He-Man figure…..He gets a 4/5.  The point was lost because the ankle joints have become weak.  This won’t do on THE MOST POWERFUL MAN IN THE UNIVERSE!

I will bring more of these figure reviews in the future!

“With great power there must also come — great responsibility.”  – Amazing Fantasy #15 (August 1962)

How I see comics……

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          The SpartanNerd is a bit of a cheapskate.  So his comics come by the old fashioned snail-mail…..(I save a little money that way.)  Such is the way of a breeder.  What does this mean for a blog about comics?  Well, it means that after ComicVine, Pop Culture Network, and whoever else has already reviewed them, I will have my two cents to add….Literally two cents.  On a RARE occasion, I will get a book on the Wednesday that it comes out.  Sometimes, I get them over two weeks late.  This sucks pretty bad….

          So what books am I subscribed too?  I jumped on DC Comics The New 52 wagon when all that news dropped.  I began buying the digital books.  This was OK, but I missed the nostalgia of owning the actual paper books I stockpiled as a kid, thus the subscriptions.  I started here because 1) Marvel messes around too much with Spider-Man, who I love just as he was in the 1990’s pre-clone          Todd MacFarlane era, 2. Big Iconic characters that used to be too intimidating with a 50 year back-story…such as Batman and Superman, would now be more accessible.  3.  It seemed like a good place to start with stuff I wasn’t SOOO familiar with in the first place.  So I subscribed to five titles that I read the most.  Detective Comics, Batman, Batman and Robin, Action Comics, and Justice League.  I have since dropped Justice League (too much Shazam) and picked up Aquaman.  Why no Batman: The Dark Knight?  I didn’t care for the art, but I have picked up a couple of the books.

           It also turns out that here at the edge of the world there are a couple of fine establishments that sell comics, closest to me is Mad Max’s Comics and Games, but also on the west side of Sparkle City there is the highly regarded and established Tangled Web.  I STILL find myself darkening comic store doors on Wednesdays and weekends.  What books do I pick up?  Believe it or not, Batgirl!  I started reading Justice League of America.  I bought Ninja Turtles for awhile.  I picked up every Masters of the Universe comic I could.  I also bought a major haul of books from a Tangled Web recently in a doorbuster sale.  I grabbed almost every associated title that went with “The Court of the Owls,” and “Death of The Family” when those stories were hot.  I also began reading the new Thor book, which has been pretty cool so far.

           Part of my thinking in this was of course that I would not miss any important details.  So How did I miss THE DEATH OF DAMIAN WAYNE/ROBIN?  DC really ticked me off on this one.  Here I am a near hardcore fan of Batman, loving the whole New 52 take on Robin….And they kill him off in the one book I haven’t been reading…..Batman Inc.  AND I find out by reading Batgirl…which I picked up at the store thinking it would be spoiler free (even though it said “Requiem” on the cover?  That was cold, DC Comics.)

          In the next few posts over the next few days, I will try to bring anyone who cares…. (anyone out there?)……up to date on what I have thought about each of my regular titles.  I might just distill the Bat books down into their story elements of Court of the Owls, Death of the Family, and Requiem.  I’ll address Justice League, Superman, and some of the other books I have picked up as well.  Stay tuned, Hub City Geeks!

SpartanNerd