New Eternia Mosquitor- SpartanNerd Unboxing and Review

November 22, 2025 by SpartanNerd

See the video review of New Eternia Mosquitor here! I wrote this blog entry about two weeks after I unboxed it.

I know a guy has the market cornered on Mosquitor (Pixel Dan), but I also have fond memories of the mosquito member of the Horde. Mosquitor was one of the final MOTU figures I ever had. The last few I had were Rio Blast, Extendar, Evil-Lyn, Tyrantisaurus, and Mosquitor.

I am CONVINCED I saw Laser Power He-Man and Laser Light Skeletor on some clearance sale at a discount store, but didn’t get them. Maybe this is a Mandela effect thing? (The SpartanNerd is from Spartanburg SC, not Sparta, Greece. Not from Europe…)

I remember getting Mosquitor as an Easter present of all things. I loved the blood sucking gore effect, unique to this figure in the whole of Vintage Masters of the Universe. So how did he turn out for Masterverse?

PACKAGING

Mosquitor comes in the usual MASTERVERSE packaging. There is nice art on the front showing him with wings up and a long curly nosepiece. You can see the figure clearly in the window, which unfortunately for MOC collectors (not me) doesn’t have a full nose piece on. So it looks like his nose is sawed off.

As you look around the side you can see Imp, Hordak’s pet, sitting on the top of a cannon. This is definitely not safe for the little guy! Of note and interest…this figure is labeled “New Eternia” not “New Etheria.” The pet that came with the NE Hordak was not Imp. So it is odd that they used Imp in the art on Mosquitor’s packaging.

The other side shows the library image for easy storing, sorting, or otherwise alphabetizing your figures. (Just joking.). It is nice to have this as a feature, and showing off additional looks for the figure.

The back of the figure features a photoshop of Mosquitor with an animated style background featuring a large skull. We are given windows into how the “action features” of the figure works.

There are cross sell images on the bottom that show us Anti-Eternia He-Man, Mosquitor, and Hordak. I don’t know if I will get get Anti-Eternia He-Man or not. I don’t have a strong connection to him, and I have some other problems with the figure. For instance, we already have Faker. He-Man doesn’t need another doppelgänger. Especially not one more frightening. I have more rant about this offering, but this is a review of Mosquitor, so I will keep it at that. However, if someone gifts me Anti-Eternia He-Man, then…

FIGURE REVIEW

Mosquitor comes with everything you see here in the package.

MASTERVERSE Mosquitor Figure
Three alternate nose pieces
An alternate chest plate “dripping blood”
A laser gun
A hose
Should I count the wings as accessories?

The hose is the same hose that came with New Eternia Snout Spout. It plugs into the back of his head and connects to his armor. What would have been cool would have been the “blood tanks” on Emiliano Santalucia’s design…and then this hose would have been more logical and epic.

The paint. Well, there isn’t much. He is molded in the colors he is supposed to be. There are paint hits on his boots, and he has these red spikes on his shoulder armor which are one of the best details of the new design. After spending some time with the figure, I have noticed some paint slop.

There are two options for displaying Mosquitor. You can have a full tank on his chest, or a partially bloody “dripping” chest. This isn’t a pumping action feature, but instead a chest plate similar to what Battle Armor Skeletor has. The bat shape just pops off and can be replaced. Some of the paint slop mentioned above is on the full tank chest piece. At the same time, I wonder if in that case it was purposeful? It adds to the effect of “blood tank.” But I suspect this was accidental, by the same factory worker who did the other red paint on the figure.

Mosquitor has the same eye effect that some other recent MASTERVERSE figures have had (NE Panthor’s is the best). A 3-d effect where it is like a translucent cover that gives the illusion of a real eye. Except that in the case of Mosquitor, his eye doesn’t look realistic because it looks like the vintage toy’s eye.

All of his articulation is what you would expect from a MASTERVERSE figure, “30 points of articulation.” But it brings up a tired complaint. These figures are lanky, and yeah, they have good articulation, but the net effect is that they are not that posable. Most of them are standing on the shelf in a similar pose. Balancing well on their feet with their arms forward holding something. Maybe this is me not being creative? Don’t get me wrong…I prefer the option to pose as opposed to a statue. I just think it a little bit ironic.

PICTURED: MASTERVERSE New Eternia Mosquitor attacks New Eternia Thunder Punch He-Man. NE Snout Spout takes on New Etheria Hordak. And Panthor is just there.

ACCESSORIES

The wings attach to the back of the armor, and are interchangeable with Hordak’s wings. These wings are opaque muted pink, the same size as Hordak’s, and are just as posable. It is important that they remove or are easily hidden because some collectors might prefer to display him without this.

The gun…this is NOT a Horde crossbow. Instead it looks a little bit like the gun on Emiliano Santalucia’s 200x He-Man.org Christmas wallpaper artwork from like 20 years ago. (Once again, I wish this figure had those bloody tanks for his back more than I like the wings.)

PICTURED: MASTERVERSE New Eternia Mosquitor takes on Four Horsemen Studios Figura Obscura Monkey King. In the background you can see McFarlane Mortal Kombat Khotal Khan and Masters of the Universe Classics Sir Lazer Lot

The nose pieces can go on either the end of his nose or on the end of the gun…in fact on both ends of the gun. (This gives you the option of fashioning the gun into a melee weapon. One looks like the vintage mosquito nose. One looks like a curved dagger, and the other is a tentacle, which anatomically is a “proboscis” I believe.

RATING

I awarded MASTERVERSE New Eternia Mosquitor a 5/5 when I filmed the video two weeks ago, and I am going to stick to that notwithstanding the paint slop I began to notice. ***He has an asterisk :)***. I feel like he fits right in with NE Hordak and Mantenna.

He is one of my “need to have” figures, and he does it well. My “need to have list of” members of the Horde now only has Grizzlor, Modulok, and Multibot left to go. I didn’t have that many of them around when I was a kid. (I know there is a Grizzlor, but that molded plastic hair sucks.)

Do you agree or disagree with my 5/5* rating? Let me know in the comments!

MASTERVERSE New Eternia Mantenna- SpartanNerd Review

November 9, 2025 by SpartanNerd

See YouTube versions of this and other reviews HERE

I grew up with two younger brothers. Being the big brother and general winner, I usually had the good guys when it came to Masters of the Universe. One brother had Skeletor’s guys, and another Hordak’s guys. But near the end, neither of them were getting Masters figures. There were a lot more GI Joes, Ninja Turtles, and other stuff happening. So I got a few baddies of my own, and Mantenna was one of them.

I’m unsure of when I realized the character had four legs. The figure only had two…but if you look closely you can see that they are actually skinny legs sculpted together. Kind of genius. I probably realized it after watching She-Ra, but maybe from the mini-comic. But all around…one of the weirdest looking dudes. And he had a lever on his back to make his eyes pop up. So very cool to a 10-11ish year old.

So how did the MASTERVERSE version come out?

PACKAGING

You can see above that this is the same kind of packaging as we have gotten now for around three years. Why isn’t he from the “New Etheria” line? The recent Hordak was.

The wraparound image shows the Evil Horde attacking Eternia. The Horde mothership flies above the palace with a fleet of Klingon Birds of Prey (not). Isn’t that the Temple of Shakoti in the background?

The other side has the library image, with the alternate eyeballs extended on their stalks.

The back shows a photoshop of the toy, with what might be the Whispering Woods in the background. Mantenna is searching for pieces of Castle Greyskull. Interesting!

You have some action feature images…it shows off the weapon he has, which isn’t a crossbow (BOO) and his alternate looks with different eyes.

The cross sell features Anti-Eternia He-Man and Mosquitor (Review coming soon.)

I probably won’t get Anti-Eternia He-Man. Just…Why? I’ll accept it as a gift from someone, though!

FIGURE REVIEW

What do we get in the package?

Mantenna Figure
Eyeball Ray Gun
Two eye stalks
One alternate eye.

He was $23. So I’m saying this up front. He is a good hunk of plastic. But not much paint. Most of the resources here went to the four legs and the swapping eye feature.

I am actually showing you the closest you can get the figure to appearing like the vintage member of the Horde. You can’t pose the legs parallel to one another. Otherwise all of his articulation is good. I do wish you could close his mouth instead of him having this static toothy round cavity.

The good thing is, though, this may be a hint of how we will get Modulok and Multi-Bot. Both guys had four legs in their default mode. But here is a question…these legs have single jointed knees, and furthermore the knee area looks quite a bit like the Origins figures. So … are these legs swappable? I am not going to risk it, but if they are, then that is another hint about those two lego-type characters.

All around, the blue plastic…it is too dark and just needs paint. This was a cost-cutting measure I’m sure. I’m not a fan of Webstor or Zodac. Why? BORING colors. Mantenna wasn’t in that category for me, but they managed to do it wrong. Maybe the plastic is too dark…or maybe it needs a “wash” of some lighter color blue. I can’t really tell…photos and such that Mattel provides have super good lighting and it kind of offsets the effect. But if you don’t have it under that perfect jewelry store condition, you have overpowering dark blue.

ACCESSORIES

Is it really that hard to give us a crossbow instead of this dumb weapon?

You’ll have to make up your own story for this one. BUT…Snout spout can easily win by spraying water in his eyes. Thunder Punch He-Man can use that sword and … chop… the stalks… Same with Battle Armor Skeletor and the axe. If Mantenna shoots eyeballs with that gun, couldn’t Panthor just pounce on it? I’m just saying…PICTURED- MASTERVERSE New Eternia figures, Battle Armor Skeletor, Panthor, Two-Bad, Snout Spout, Thunder-Punch He-Man, and Mantenna. I DO appreciate that he is as big as Snout Spout, but at a lower price point.

I really wish they were giving us crossbows. Maybe updated ones. I wouldn’t mind this eyeball gun so much if they also included a crossbow. Or maybe if the gun was an eyeball-crossbow arrow or bolt.

The eye-swapping feature…to do it, you have to remove the upper face of the figure. THEN the eyeballs are in the socket pretty good. I had to use a guitar pick to wedge them out.

They alternate eyeballs they give us feel like a down-grade from the main eyes he is packed using. I don’t much see the point, these may be a reflection of the She-Ra cartoon. I haven’t watched it enough and don’t have much memory about it.

SPARTANNERD RATING

It’s a shame, but I just don’t have that much more to say. The blue darkness overpowers the positives. Mattel has opted to cut the paint and promote the plastic…something we see more and more. Kobra Khan was bland for this exact reason. That shiny green was OK on a snake, but not spectacular when seen through the larger lens of other available figures. GI Joe Classified…same price point, always better paint than this. Mythic Legions cost more, but face it…MASTERVERSE is competing against that brand, and all of the figures from plain skeletons to royalty have exceptional details in the sculpt and the paint.

It’s like Mantenna hits the big point from the 1980’s. He has bug eyes and a bizzarre head. Mattel hit these points, and everything else was an afterthought. I remember hearing the Four Horsemen talk about laboring to design figures. To make them epic. I’m afraid Mantenna doesn’t feel epic. It feels like a chore to take pictures of him…and that is a definite bad thing.

PICTURED: MASTERVERSE New Eternia Mantenna and Mer-Man. Do you see what I mean about Mantenna’s paint? Some of the same design elements are present in Mer-Man, but somehow it works better. Obviously more care was put into it. I feel like I have to add paint to Mantenna so that it will be right.

Mantenna decided to crash the office party. And you see what I mean. PICTURED: MASTERVERSE 40 Anniversary He-Man (retail), MASTERVERSE New Eternia Teela, Man-At-Arms, and Fisto. MASTERVERSE Revelation Sorceress Teela, King Greyskull, and Captain of the Guard Teela alternate head on MOTUC Battleground Teela body, and Super7 ULTIMATES! Battle of the Mounds Valeria.

You can see in the above picture different lines and even companies. And the colors on Mantenna seem to be more plain than anyone else. He’s big, blue and red. But that doesn’t make him epic.

Even if he is worse than these two, he does feel like he belongs with them.

I am awarding MASTERVERSE New Eternia Mantenna 3/5. He just doesn’t do it for me. The lack of accessories and the boring colors make someone who should be amazing rather bland. He gets a feels points because I NEEDED Mantenna on my quest to recollect the toys I once had. He doesn’t have stupid problems, but if a kid gets this they might have a hard time swapping those eyes. His sculpt is OK. Points subtracted because of accessory count and paint apps.

3/5…Do you agree or disagree? Let me know in the comments!

MASTERVERSE New Etheria Hordak- SpartanNerd Unboxing and Review.

October 12, 2025 by SpartanNerd

See the video review here

I grew up with two younger brothers (There is another even younger that I was as adult when he came along). Anyways, when it came to Masters of the Universe I was the leader with the most love, and so I took on the heroic characters almost exclusively. My oldest brother naturally took Skeletor’s guys, and third in line took on the Horde. Which wasn’t to say that I didn’t have any bad guys. I certainly did, with Evil-Lyn, Modulok/Multi-Bot, and Mosquitor to name a few. Oh yeah. Mantenna.

Just the same, we shared them all. So I played with Hordak plenty. And then there is the controversial thing for little boys at the time…She-Ra. Hordak was She-Ra’s version of Skeletor on that show. The only time I played with She-Ra was with my cousins, and it was like…Who are the evil characters? Catra, the “Jealous Beauty?” Not violent enough for my masculine tastes!

I picked up New Etheria Hordak (not a spelling error) when I ordered NE Teela and NE Kobra Khan. Does he do justice to the second-rate bad guys? (Yeah I always prefer Skeletor’s team) Keep reading!

PACKAGING

Hordak came in the typical MASTERVERSE packaging, with a very strong bat motif all over it. No other characters are depicted in the art this time, but the Fright Zone is the setting of this artwork you can see the figure clearly in the window, with a magic staff and pet on his left side. The image depicts hordak with the iconic cannon arm. In the corner is a foil sticker that tells us that this Hordak is a part of the She-Ra 40-year anniversary.

This time the wraparound on one side doesn’t show us anything but more bats, but there is a reference image on the other side, typical of MASTERVERSE for those who like to file the figures on a shelf or something…GI Joe Classified does this with a number system.

On the back you have a photoshop image of the figure at the Fright Zone and cross-sell images for this wave on the bottom, notably ignoring New Eternia Moss Man. (I have reviewed Teela already, and Kobra Kahn is coming soon).

This bio tells us that Hordak is what devastated New Eternia, and is now moving on to Etheria.

I rather liked it better when he was banished to Despondos, a dimension where Etheria was pulled into.

WHAT DO WE GET IN THE PACKAGE?

Hordak is Cold Slither’s biggest fan! Notice the Roast Gooble CDs. The SpartanNerd last had music published on this CD. A new release, “PREACH!”, has been sent to the publishers! The first album in fifteen years.

Cold Slither Review was video only.

Here’s what you get:

New Etheria Hordak figure
Bat Wings
Cannon hand
Bat shield
Staff with a creature
Technically there is an arm band and two bracers also.

The big story here is the wings. They peg into holes on the back of the armor. And you really have maximum posability with these. They are molded in thin red plastic, with what may be gloss paint over the bones. Or maybe I’m imagining that. They look really batty.

And the battiness of this figure is what makes it awesome, but also kind of a complaint. Can you be TOO much of a bat? This guy out-bats Batman!

The paint on the figure is exactly perfect for Hordak. The Hordak I remember playing with as a kid was these colors. I know some people prefer a more blue-black-white color scheme from the cartoon, but this was awesome enough for me in the 1980s and it is for me today as well. There is a big red bat on his front armor, and some painted on his boots also.

As a kid I remember debating with my friends what exactly was Hordak. I said alien. One friend said robot. Another said vampire. I thought the vampire explanation was crazy, but this is what Mattel has went with in the past few iterations. In DC comics, he was a cosmic vampire, draining the life force of entire civilizations, and had made Zodac’s Galactic protector force (basically Green Lanterns) his enemies. Pitting both factions against each other having them fight to the death, he absorbed Zodac’s life force last…it was revealed he was his brother! A surprise twist. In the end he seemed to share a lot of cues with Emperor Palpatine.

The Kevin Smith show depicts him as a non-magic user but a people abuser just the same…another kind of vampire. His Motherboard virus basically enslaves everyone, and the way he manipulated Skeletor could easily be seen as vampiric.

The Masters of the Universe classics figure had something up on this guy because the “hood” was a separate part. In this MASTERVERSE figure his armor is all one piece.

I don’t have that MOTUC Hordak anymore, but I do have MOTUC Despara who is practically a girl Hordak figure. New Etheria Hordak wasn’t four horsemen sculpted and you can tell it, but it is cool to have both to display together.

ACCESSORIES

I decided the wings weren’t really accessories…more like a part of the figure. The Bat Shield has similar paint, and let me say I think both the wings and the shield could have more painted details. If that is indeed gloss red painted over the bony pieces, they could have chose a different shade or something. And if it isn’t paint then it should be. Your best bet to get the shield in his hand is to remove the hand and the bracer, then place the hand back on. So you see why I kind of counted the bracers as an accessory. The bracers are nicely painted in silver with the bat motif, and while I’m at it he does have an armband on his bicep that also has a bat.

You remove a hand to peg the cannon hand in. This one doesn’t have a bat motif, and looks good on Roboto and also on Trap Jaw. Notable that their accessories also peg into Horde’s wrist, and this is Mattel taking full advantage of what they should have done in the 1980’s.

Hordak’s arm cannon looks great on Roboto. Roboto’s paint sprayer…

And now…about the staff and the creature. Hordak was always depicted as having a pet. Imp…was this little pig with wings…probably a demon. This animal on the staff is NOT Imp. It is a skull similar to the Havoc Staff, but it has bat wing (of course) but also a snake tail. It is a rubbery piece that can be put on other figures or wrapped around arms or pencils or whatever. The staff has a peg on it, and the pet has a hole to keep in on the top. You can use the staff as a perch for a bird, however. I don’t remember the vintage toy having a staff. Maybe it did? I do know it came with a crossbow…most of the Horde members had a crossbow, most of them with a bat motif. Nowadays Hordak doesn’t seem to look right without having a staff of some kind. I think this might be because of the Classics version or something.

PICTURED: MASTERVERSE New Etheria Hordak with Masters of the Universe Classics Temple of Darkness Zoar.

SPARTANNERD RATING OF MASTERVERSE NEW ETHERIA HORDAK

HORDAK gets a point for this terrific sculpt. Mattel needs to bring this A-Game to most MASTERVERSE figures. There are a lot of re-used parts, and I suspect the way that they make figures nowadays is different than back in the Masters of the Universe Classics days. Like, maybe they have a computer that can mock up and produce molds and tools faster or something. The worse detail is the wings, which could have more sculpted details.

His paint is great. The gray, black, and red details are accented by the white face that could either be some kind of bone or what I used to believe a tribal mask. There is a pop of chrome on the arm cannon, and there is glossy paint on the bottom of his boots, with matte paint on most of the figure…but all of the red is glossy.

His articulation is usual. Which is pretty excellent actually. Hordak has double-jointed knees and elbows. He has a head swivel on a ball joint. Boot cuts, thigh cuts, hyper-articulated ankles, swivel and hinged wrists, and I’b bet underneath that armor there is a torso cut. Add the wings…and Hordak is one of the best figures for poses in the line.

He comes with all the accessories listed above, PLUS his bracers are removable and he has a removable Horde bicep wrap. Like I said, the wings are weakly sculpted and painted. Not so much as weakly sculpted, but they are sadly very symmetrical, which makes them seem more like a cheap detail. I’m not subtracting a point, but if one were subtracted it would be because of lack of paint on the wings or shield.

PICTURED: MASTERVERSE New Etheria Hordak usurps the Havoc Throne from Skeletor, and takes over his undead empire. Hordak is armed with the blast effect from New Eternia Thunder Punch He-Man, and New Eternia Skeletor is knocked to the ground with various Mythic Legions skeletons. There are also three grim reapers here, with MASTERVERSE Revelation Scare Glo, Mythic Legions Maxxilius the Harvester, and Marvel Legends Lady Death. And Panthor looking cute with a leg bone.

The “feels point.” Hordak gets this for me because of who he is. And he is a toy I used to play with a lot as a child, and watch on cartoons and read in mini comics even until today. I felt very burned when the 200x series ended the way it did, where we didn’t get a full story arc for Hordak. (It is said that Skeletor would have kicked his butt and took over.)

So the SpartanNerd rates MASTERVERSE New Etheria Hordak a 5/5. Do you agree or disagree, Hub City Geeks? Let me know in the comments! Also be sure to go over to YouTube to like and subscribe to my content. There you will find this review in a different form, as well as other recent reviews of MASTERVERSE, Mythic Legions, and other 6”/7” figures. (Six-Seven)

Mega Construx She-Ra vs. Hordak and Mostroid…SpartanNerd Review

July 17, 2022 by SpartanNerd

The Monstroid. Here is a toy I DID NOT have as a child. I had around 80% of He-Man and Masters of the Universe items. But the Monstroid wasn’t one of the things I had. I was aware of it from catalogs and the He-Man magazine. And the Monstroids were the giant robots He-Man and She-Ra fight at the Fright Zone in the He-Man and She-Ra Christmas Special. This toy doesn’t resemble them much, however.

So this is my first Monstroid.

Don’t you love the title. Is there another character here?

Here is the back of the box.

I didn’t spend much time looking at the back, as will become evident as I document the build.

Here are the sides of the box. Very nice artwork on these Mega Construx Masters of the Universe sets, I must say.

Enough gawking. Let’s open it up!

You get these four baggies. Because I have been building these, by now I know that the minifigures will be in bag number 1. So let’s get them out of the way first.

This is our very first Hordak in Mega Construx minifigure form. Also, our first Evil Horde member. Here we have the toy-accurate Hordak. I am a little disappointed that we didn’t get the bat staff. But we did get the Horde Crossbow, which is important for all Horde members in the future.

She-Ra. As I assembled this, the first thing I said was… “Those boots are so stinkin’ cute!” And they are indeed! Of course, I didn’t own She-Ra growing up, nor did I care to. As an adult, now I have TWO! (200x in box.). One thing, though. Check out the head sculpt.

It’s all one big thing. With the male characters, you can remove their hair. But She-Ra keeps with the apparent standard that the girls have to have their hair sculpted to the head and non-removable. Why, exactly?

One more thing. The cape. Both Hordak and She-Ra have a cape, and they are interchangeable. But Hordak looks pretty dumb wearing that short cape. The long cape looks good on She-Ra, and will look good on other characters as well. (Sorry, no pics of the cape swap.)

Was there another character? He wasn’t mentioned in the title. OH WELL…

Must

Not

Be…

Just kidding. Here is Prince Adam in his Mini-Eternia blue vest.

Nobody asked for this…and because the set is titled She-Ra vs. Hordak and the Monstroid, it is like he was tossed in last minute. I’m glad to have him, but we already have a Prince Adam in toy accurate/Filmation style. (Pictured, we also have the first extra piece. An extra handle for the shield.)

Here I would have rather had an ally for She-Ra from her girls toy line. Or maybe another Evil Horde member. I would have rather had Prince Adam on card in this style. It just doesn’t make sense what they did here. Do we even have a Prince Adam on card? Notable, he does have the Alcala-style Sword, but in black.

Here is the set of all three.

Let’s look at how the build went, and I will let you know what I was thinking as I worked.

Here is the front of the instruction booklet. It is the same art as the front, with less textual clutter.

Below is the art on the back. It shows off the Battle Cat that I won’t be getting, and the Land Shark that I reviewed already here on SpartanNerd.com.

It’s time to talk about how we name things, boys and girls. Here is the Brick Separator tool. NOPE. WAY TOO NEGATIVE. It has been re-named the BUILDING TOOL. See what they did there? They went from a negative description of what the item is to a positive description featuring something it can’t do. It can’t build. It can only separate. But, there is hope!

Here is the contents of baggie 2. If you have been following my blog, then you know I have to set all the pieces out classified in order. So here that is.

Here is the infamous “impossible” slab of three and then two.

The next picture shows off what has to be the dumbest face in all of MOTU. And that is saying something. These are tampograph stickers…I know it is of the original toy, that I don’t have emotional attachment to. Perhaps people out there disagree with me?

I mean…the Monstroid is a crab, right? Here is baggie #2 completed, along with the included extra parts.

I made another funny joke! (Notice I included Prince Adam as an extra part. When I got MOTUC Orko, Prince Adam was included as an “accessory.” That must be what they are doing here also.”

Here are the contents of Bag #3.

“I’m not seeing it.” The thought that ran through my head.

Remember when I said I didn’t grow up with this toy, and also I didn’t spend time studying the back of the box? Well, as I built this part, I thought, “What is this? It looks like a transmission?”

Turns out I was kind of correct. Here is the rest of Bag #3 assembled with extra parts.

What that part is…it’s a “winder.” When you turn it with your fingers, it makes the yellow axle spin. Except, it didn’t work for me…(More on that as you keep reading.)

On to Bag #4.

As I organized these on the mat, I coudn’t help but kind of be reminded of assembling the Lego Batmobile so many years ago. And then Castle Grayskull. All these parts are the same color, and they kind of intimidate me.

Here is bag #4 assembled, which was the legs. It reminds me of a Dwarf Spider Droid from Star Wars: Attack of the Clones and Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith.

Here is the full set in a mock of the front cover. Also, the extra parts.

One problem, You are supposed to turn the winder, which turns the axle, which is plugged into the bottom of the main body with the arms. When you wind it, the monstroid spins around on top, swinging Prince Adam around. But mine wouldn’t work. I wound up disassembling it again, where I had to finagle with that “transmission” piece and make sure the gears lined up correctly. This didn’t take that long, because it is really a simple build. But I was alarmed.

Now for some shots of the Monstroid with other similar sets.

Point Dread and the Talon Fighter is a couple of hundred pieces larger. Monstroid doesn’t feel as grand either.

Maybe it’s not fair for me to compare the Monstroid to the Battle Bones. Battle Bones is close to a hundred more pieces, but look how much “more” it is. I am fond of the face on the Battle Bones…I mean, I guess the head is one of its main features. And then I have the emotional attachment to it also. Also, I paid three times as much for Battle Bones…(San Diego Comic Con exclusive.)

So here is the Wind Raider. I could just compare the Talon Fighter just as well, I suppose. The Monstroid was $30, while the Wind Raider was $20. Both have great action features. The Monstroid doesn’t have a good place to seat a figure, though, except in the claws. So the Wind Raider winds that one. But then, the character is artificial intelligence, I suppose…(Notice, I had some more fun with Roboto!)

So how do I rate this set?

I want to be unbiased here…Like I said, Monstroid wasn’t much a part of my childhood. On the other hand, getting Hordak was outstanding, and the future looks bright for Princess of Power toys in this Mega Construx line. On the other hand, the Prince Adam here seems to be a misguided choice. I am an on-card collector, but I guess Prince Adam in blue clothes might not sell that well as an individual. The Monstroid’s mechanical problem was my error, so I won’t count off on that.

I don’t feel like this is a solid five points. Four points easily. Monstroid is reasonably cool, except for the face. I kind of wish the crab claws had springs that would really make the hands pinch though. We get Hordak and She-Ra. Prince Adam is OK with the Alcala sword. It took me an hour and a half to build, but I was mildly interrupted a few times, and I also took pictures as I went. And like the Slime Pit, I feel it should be bigger.

So I am going for 4/5. Do you agree or disagree, Hub City Geeks? Let me know in the comments. I also would like to know about your experiences with the Monstroid as a child, because I missed out evidently, and none of my friends seemed to have this either.

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

November 8, 2015 by SpartanNerd

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

I think I’ll start with this photo…

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

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

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

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

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

Which brings us to Issue 10.

The front cover…

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

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

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

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

We are seeing how that story unfolds.

Onto the plot.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

So basically, Roboto is another character killed off.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

NAKED!

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

I can’t wait to see what happens next!

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

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

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

SpartanNerd Review…He-Man: The Eternity War #8

August 1, 2015 by SpartanNerd

DC’s remix of Mattel’s classic property has recently received a lot of love from fans and critics, including the SpartanNerd. However, this time, I don’t feel as good.

Some background.

In issue #5, The Goddess/Sorceress/Teela reveals that destiny has three faces…Serpos, Zoar, and Horokoth. Serpos was the ancient god of the snake-men. Zoar has been Serpos’ replacement for ages for the Eternians, and Horokoth a god for the Horde. The Goddess thinks the Age of Horokoth is inevitable, and wonders if He-Man could, or even should prevent it.

Issue #6 shows us a dystopian future where Adam becomes King He-Man, and rules with an iron fist. He has enlisted his former enemies, Skeletor’s minions, to be a big part of his army, and is fighting against She-Ra, who leads the former Masters of the Universe as rebels against him. We see him married to Teela, who reverts to green Goddess mode and we realize it was a vision given to Adam of what the future is to become if He-Man beats back the Horde himself. So He-Man breaks the sword!

Issue #7 is more back-story for Skeletor and the Havoc Staff. Evidently, strangely, Skeletor became the Evil Overlord of Destruction by breaking the time-space continuum and preventing his own murder at Hordak’s hands…an event that had to happen because the skull on the Havoc Staff is his own skull, only twisted by demonic magic. Skeletor also tells us that he helped raise Despara/Adora/She-Ra, but because it is Skeletor who is talking, who knows if he’s telling the truth?

After all of these exciting stories, we get issue #8.

A break in the jaw-dropping revelations.

We get some fighting and some narrative in the first few pages.

We see Adam leading the charge with a gun-arm reminiscent of what Man-At-Arms uses.

We see King Hsss/Randor….(But why?)

And then the war is over. We see the next day, Adam sitting on the throne petting Battle Cat. (Not Cringer…hmmm…)

Basically, just one day after the war, and the snake-men seem less loyal to Adam. They were showing astonishing loyalty to He-Man. Now, not so much. Fisto has to call down this snake man who is about to execute Imp. Evidently, the snake men are supposed to know that prisoners are to stand trial.

Adam is catching cold. The Goddess thanks him for relinquishing his power.

I didn’t photograph the next parts, but here is a summary. Skeletor turns on She-Ra like we all knew he would. They transport into Hordak;s “Vault of Souls,” where he steals most of the souls, and then entices She-Ra to fall into the vault by throwing a locket with Marlena’s picture into it.

Act III…, Hordak finally makes his intentions known. The Eternians have one day of peace granted by him, (I guess because he’s such a nice guy.) Next he shows the future of those who are going to escape him to the planet Primus.

He uses the Eyes of Grayskull…

And destroys their future lives and their offsprings lives on Primus.

Wait another month, fools, for the next installment.

My quandary with this book comes in several ways.

First of all, why was King Hsss there? Is he making the snake men less loyal? Did Adam meet him in battle? All we get is a strange picture of him saying “sssso weak,” referring to Adam.

My next problem is…we didn’t see HOW Adam led them to defeat the Horde at Eternos Palace. All we get is “The day after liberation.” A whole book could have been devoted to just that. And SHOULD HAVE. We would have seen Adam as the strong leader he evidently is, apart from the Power of Grayskull. But the writers took the lame way out. “The next day…” “The day after Liberation,” “After the battle.” But we see none of the action. And action is one of the reasons why I like comic books. BOOOOO!!!! And just think how much more the rest of the story elements in this book would have meant?

My third gripe…this isn’t a stand-alone book in any way. Lets just say, for instance, a person goes into a comic book store and says, “Wow! A He-Man comic! I remember He-Man!” and picks this up. They will be put on their tail. Without knowledge of the series pretty much as a whole, you couldn’t understand what was happening in this book. The stupid looking Fright Zone/Castle Grayskull abomination isn’t self explanatory enough. The Green Goddess isn’t the Filimation Sorceress, or even Teela. The Snake Men are fighting WITH the good guys? A major nostalgia parade is rained on with an issue like this. Sometimes Nostalgia is the only thing that sells books about 1980’s properties. But this didn’t have to be the case. The book could be much more accessible if there was a brief page at the front that explains what has been happening. This has been done in MANY comics before. Basically all of the Conan comics. The modern Star Wars comics. Marvel’s current Secret War also give you a little background and some premise. But here, it is “jump in and read for the first time, and leave confused.”

My fourth gripe…New Adventures never does seem to be able to get ahead, does it. I never watched the show, but read the few mini comics that were printed. My brother had Slush Head and New Adventures He-Man. I myself am not completely unattached, and hope the best for New Adventures because there are hundreds of fans. But those fans just got dumped on. Hordak destroyed Primus. And we just got to see it in one panel! We could see it, and the future Masters of the Universe, who were also evidently destroyed.

Oh Hub City Geeks, I believe this comic was necessary for the advacement of the story. But there are many things wrong here. I hope things don’t turn south from here on out. The only redeeming quality here is the art, which is consistent with the better art printed in DC’s run of Masters of the Universe.

The SpartanNerd rates He-Man: The Eternity War #8 a 1/5. This is one of the lowest scores I have given a modern comic. It is a necessary read to have the story. But pitiful delivery.

spartannerd

A blog about everything "nerdtainment!"

Tag Archives: Hordak

New Eternia Mosquitor- SpartanNerd Unboxing and Review

MASTERVERSE New Eternia Mantenna- SpartanNerd Review

MASTERVERSE New Etheria Hordak- SpartanNerd Unboxing and Review.

Mega Construx She-Ra vs. Hordak and Mostroid…SpartanNerd Review

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

SpartanNerd Review…He-Man: The Eternity War #8