Masters of the Universe Hot Wheels and Matchbox- SpartanNerd’s Collection

July 9, 2022 by SpartanNerd

Here is the most recent “toy-etic” Hot wheels set. Only He-Man and Teela seem to be possibly real-life cars. The others are patently ridiculous. But a kid would really enjoy them, and they roll very fast…faster and smoother than I remember Hot Wheels did when I was a kid.

I got these in a box set for really cheap off of Amazon. This might be the third time I opened it.

While these are cool, and certainly identifiable as the character they represent, This isn’t what I want the most out of Hot Wheels. This is what I want!

And we only have these three so far. I thought really hard about getting the Comic Con two pack that included a tiny He-Man and Skeletor, but I didn’t really want it for the price, when these were on the Wal-Mart shelves for $5 or $6.

They need to come out with one of these for each and every vehicle…guess who would buy them all? The SpartanNerd would, that’s who! Do you know that we haven’t had an Attak Trak in FOREVER. In any form. There was going to be one in the Mega Construx Advent Calendar last year, but look what happened there…

Most of my collection isn’t as extravagant. I will list these in order from oldest to newest.

You can see I got these at Big Lots, and I got them right around the time the 200x property was winding down. Each comes with a post that I have been tempted to open, but NAH. It is that little picture you see beside the blue burst.

I picked these up in the past five years. The cards were in pretty bad shape when I got them. I know there were more in this line because their is an eight back on the reverse side. Could these be real cars? It seems like they are. There is a brand, title, and model year beside the vehicle.

Why did they choose these specific vehicles is a question I ask myself more recently, as I have been playing Gran Tourismo 7, and you can edit the “livery” of your cars. (If I ever figure out how to do Masters of the Universe graphics, I will share here!)

I picked up He-Man, Skeletor, and Teela at Ingles Grocery Store. I got Evil-Lyn at the Barnyard Flea Market. All within the same six months. But Beast Man was elusive. I went to conventions, toy stores, flea markets. I couldn’t find him. It seems that Hot Wheels collectors go after Volkswagens. And then you have the MOTU collectors going after Beast Man, and this created a bottleneck. When I ordered the most recent Mega Construx, I ordered it along with them for a steep price. All in the name of completion…

I mention above that I wonder why they chose the cars they picked for each character car design. I don’t know, but at Ingles right now on peg they have Superman, who is the same Mercedes Unimog truck. So either it is the heroes get this truck, or maybe it is the graphics.

I am in no way an MOTU die cast car completionist, but there IS one out there I am still looking for. It is a box truck with the simple Masters of the Universe logo on the side. I saw it somewhere for $10, and didn’t pick it up. (Oh I should have…). So now this is what I am on the lookout for.

I really enjoy looking at my Hot Wheels/Matchbox collection. How about you, Hub City Geeks? Let me know in the comments!

SpartanNerd Review…Mega Construx Slime Pit

July 5, 2022 by SpartanNerd

Back two years ago, when I decided to begin collecting the Mega Construx Masters of the universe, I frantically searched to find everything I could. But the hardest thing to get was this guy.

I’m talking about Battle Bones…Not the Wind Raider. (You can frequently still find the WR in stores.)

When building the Battle Bones (a San Diego Comic Con item), I couldn’t help but think, “They could re-purpose this head into a Slime Pit.). And I thought surely they would.

But that’s not what we got. Keep reading to see my experience!

We got a Skeletor Head Slime Pit.

Now this was an unexpected idea. I suppose I was thinking larger. But in scale, I guess this makes sense in context to the scale and size of Grayskull. But not in respect to the vintage toy, but in respect of the size of the Mega Construx minifigs. On the other hand, the Talon Fighter dwarfs this.

This Skeletor head is the same mold as the others, only this time in slime green. The picture on the package shows us Horde Zombie He-Man, and also the Slime Pit. At first I thought the green behind the mouth was a wall, but I realized that it was just the hollow inside of the Skeletor head. I kind of wish that was different. That it was a proper wall. Oh well! We are talking about something that costs less than $10. And I could build that wall if I really want to.

When you get the package off, this is what you see. The gray brick will be the floor. Here is the instructions with something else in there.

Here are all of the contents. I am thinking, “He-Man must be in the bag with the green stuff, with some other slimy pieces.” Nice extras, you know.

So I opened the instructions next.

It turns out that something extra in the instructions was rubbery slime pieces. The only slime that came with this set. BOO! Here are all of the pieces separated out. This is what I must do when I open a building set. Set them all out, sort them by type and color. But there aren’t many pieces with this Skeletor Head. The package said 70 pieces, but each minifig is around 20 pieces. (When I counted, I counted 73 when including the head and the floor. Am I wrong, Hub City Geeks?)

This is a cool, green slime He-Man. As I assembled, I couldn’t help but think about The Green Goddess, who apparently shattered when people opened her MOTUC package.

No extra slime pieces here. And here is the second thing I would improve about this set. There should be more “sliminess” to it. It isn’t even very gross. I remember the toy as a child really freaking out my mother. And she took that slime away from us and we never got to play with it. (Hope you are reading this now, Mom.). I believe this should have come with more things to make it even more gross-out. Maybe a can of slime. Or just more rubbery pieces. Or even green pieces. OH WELL.

Now on to the assembly. Let me preface this by saying that I prefer building LEGO’s to any other bricks like Mega Blocks/Construx. I have put together plenty of the different kinds over the years between the SpartanNerd and the Spartan Kids. Lego bricks have aesthetic principles and roundly stick to a certain vision of kid friendliness and pop sensibilities. (SpartanNerd takes a bow for that sentence!) It isn’t like Mega Construx doesn’t have this, but the Lego thing never does anything that involves winging a piece on a stud, or other questionable hi-jinx that might compromise the structural integrity or even make a more difficult build. The Mega Construx I suppose is aimed at an older audience, so I guess older customers might not even care. But who am I mostly writing this blog to?

It also is notable that LEGO doesn’t even acknowledge their competition. But right on Mattel’s website, you can see where people post their customs and proudly give the formulas, which mix the Mega Construx blocks with Lego, Kreo, and other brands. It is like Lego is the more serious “fun” brand. And Mega Construx is us casual fans. I just wanted to say this first and get it out of the way. I knew going into this I would encounter some things that feel questionable or are nonintuitive. (I built the largest set ever- Castle Grayskull. I know very well what I might see.)

BACK TO THE BUILD

It began as I expected. Build the bottom first. These red pieces make me wish there was more red here. The Slime Pit is partially a Horde thing. Black, gray, and red are their thing. And with the bone pieces, you really evoke Hordak. (See an upcoming post!)

This connection is one of those that felt kind of janky. But after I snapped them together, it remained firm.

And here it is. Step 9. Notice how the four studs don’t line up with the five. This strictly seems to be the kind of thing Mega Construx does that Lego doesn’t seem to do. The solution works out in the end, but it just seems wrong when you are building it. That piece on top with the two studs and then the three studs is also an unusual piece.

Here are the drawn-on eyes. Tampograft I suppose. I remember when I did the Battle Bones eyes, and the Talon Fighter’s eyes, the eyes just kind of emerged from the build. This is a cheap trick, though. Yes…I know. >$10.

See those pieces that are at the nose? These are the stuff of nightmares sometimes. This time no drama. But when I did the Battle Bones and other sets, it seems like they would flick off, be backwards or hard to tell what to do from the instructions. Also, notice here that one has a different angle than the other. How are we supposed to know which to use? I figured it out, with the instrutions and all. But what if I lose the instructions? What if it is a kid building this? (What would happen would be I would help my kids build it, and then about an hour later all of the pieces would be mixed in to a giant bucket.

I definitely see how I can improve this set. It isn’t terrible, and it is clear what is going on here. But could it have been better? Absolutely. “Horde Zombie He-Man” or “Slime Pit He-Man” is actually kind of obscure, being found only in like one mini-comic, but Mattel has made him ubiquitous as a toy in recent years. He is translucent green. Who doesn’t like that? But the rest of this set. I just feel underwhelmed. I actually said to my kid “I am thinking about getting a few more of these to add the slime pieces. And I could strip down the He-Man figures to make other zombies.”

Here are two other Skeletor Head sets to compare this to. I have them all, but these two are in the most presentable condition. And I’ll tell you why they are better!

He-Man and the Jet Sled. What wasn’t great about this? It completely captures what the original toy was. It even came with the exclusive blue armor. Placing it on a propeller at the top of Skeletor’s head makes for a goofy gimmick, but it makes good use of the real estate, and you can display your Jet Sled flying. I give it a 5/5. NEXT!

Here is something I don’t remember having as a child. But check out the diorama piece that this is! I don’t know why they chose to do Zodac this way. I would have rather had the 200x Zodak, especially since we got a Zodac with the Talon Fighter. (An astute MOTU fan will know the difference!). I guess he looks like he is wearing a scuba mask all the time anyway. Still, I enjoy the diorama. There is fun to be had here. I don’t remember this toy as a child, but it perfectly encapsulates the adventure. I will give this one a 4/5 really only because there aren’t more water features in this line.

But I feel I can only give the Slime Pit a 3/5. It is good to get the green He-Man. But the Slime Pit leaves much to be desired. It isn’t gross enough. MORE SLIME. The build has some weakness to it. I had pictured something like that Battle Bones head on a mighty horror movie wall, perhaps with some green pieces to replicate slime if not a rubber puddle or even actual slime. Instead, we get this sort of soul -less offering.

So. Hub City Geeks. Do you agree or disagree? Let me know in the comments!

SpartanNerd…Catching Up…

July 4, 2022 by SpartanNerd

Has it really been three years since I posted anything?

This means that throughout Corona…throughout the last several MTG releases…Throughout the ending of MOTUC and the new Masters of the Universe lines that have come out. I have written zilch.

Well, it isn’t because I stopped being nerdy. Believe it or not, online teaching and also attending classes took all of my energy out for this project.

So here’s a few new things that have happened.

Masters of the Universe.– As the Classics line ended, I began to realize I just didn’t have enough space anymore. MOTUC items are pretty large. And I got lots of joy especially from my He-Man and Battlecat and also Skeletor and Panthor. But also the Griffin was one of my favorites. Vikor. But some of the others…I decided I could part with them. And then I decided when I saw the price I could fetch to go ahead and sell my core items. All I have left is Vikor and my custom Battleground Teela. I sold it all in May 2020. For $600. I use that money to re-invest in MOTU Mega Construx. I have the Castle Grayskull and basically every item they have released in that line. A downsize in square footage, it is easier to get these just by walking into a store. There are other advantages.

*Sorry about the backdrop-less pic. This is a very large item. Kitchen table will have to do.*

I decided early on that the MOTU Origins figures look too crappy…I don’t like the colors. And the Masterverse figures on first reveal, I thought “That He-Man looks “gutsy.” Meaning, the way the belt is that pale color yellow, it blends in too well with He-Man’s skin color on his belly. It looks like he has a gut. The other figures, the one that came out with the new CGI Anime line, do not appeal to me at all. I hear fans (Scott Neitlich) accepting what is going on apologetically, that this line is meant to appeal to the kids. But kids just don’t watch the cartoons anymore. Trust me. I know. Middle school teacher. So they are messing around with beloved source material and creating something “corrupt.”

I have picked up some of the MOTU Minis, and the Hot Wheels.

Magic the Gathering- For something that took up so much of my life and my children’s time, this has become a much rarer treat. Since the COVID-19 lockdowns, there haven’t been as many tournaments. We pretty much decided that SpellTable pretty much stinks. Arena isn’t a strong alternative. Now some tournaments have returned, but we have to drive a long way to get to them. Mostly these are Commander League events. And we haven’t really paid into the leagues on account we can’t reliably attend. Just the same, we have played EDH some. But the thrill of the old Modern tournaments is gone. I have done a few drafts and sealed. But it is doubtful that we will go and draft Double Masters II this weekend. That is $50 or more. To play maybe three rounds. Which I will have to drive a distance to get to … meaning I can’t stay out late in my old age driving home sleepy.

Oh yes…Secret Lair. At first I bought it all. I bought the super bundle…the one with the cats and the goblins. The Walking Dead. After awhile, I realized that this isn’t sustainable for me. They have churned out so many Secret Lairs, each with an enticing value usually, but then if you start adding all that up, you better be rich if you are a completist. I figure the Wizards/Hasbro weren’t achieving their bread and butter anymore on packs because people stopped playing. And Commander is so popular, but you can play virtually any cards you can find competitively even, that they had to capitalize on that crowd the best they could by dangling lots of shiny, pretty, artsy, and seemingly charitable carrots in front of them. So I certainly had to start pacing myself on this one. The last one I got was the Dracula one. I got my kid the pixel art lands. These things…they take forever to arrive. All the shipping delays and production delays that have plagued the past couple of years…Which brings me to the next big one.

Playstation 5. I got the money together for this…in fact some of the money from my MOTUC collection, plus some gifts, etc. I had the funds in hand right before Christmas 2020. And went to buy it, only to find…THERE WERE NONE. ANYWHERE. When did I finally get mine? OCTOBER 2021. Used! I am grateful…it has performed like a champ! You wouldn’t know. It didn’t come with a proper stand, so I had to get a third party one, which was supposed to charge the controllers and add extra fan-power. But none of that seems to be working. Still, it stands very well. The best two games for me have been Horizon: Zero Dawn, Horizon: Forbidden West, and Gran Tourismo. But I have lots more games. Spider-Man, Terraria, Mortal Kombat. I paid for the streaming services, but haven’t hardly used them…which brings me to

DISNEY+. Since this launched, I bundled with HULU (Which I already watched) and this has been what I have watched on TV. I have hung on to NetFlix for Stranger Things and Masters of the Universe: Revelation. (More on that on a different day.). The Mandalorian has been a terrific show! Obi Wan was pretty good. The Book of Boba Fett might as well have been season 3 of the Mandalorian. I haven’t watched anything else much on the service, though.

Comics- I have moved back into collecting these. I picked up IDW’s “Best of” TMNT books. I am looking to get a frame to display them in.

I have been collecting all of the IDW Transformers books…this was actually how I got back into collecting comics. IDW decided to reboot the franchise, and I felt it was a good “jumping in” place. Highlights of this have been “Shattered Glass” and “King Grimlock.” The main story kind of meandered a little bit. I was introduced to a bunch of characters I didn’t know or had forgotten. I also got into “Beast Wars”… which was admittedly NOT MY CARTOON. Unfortunately, IDW passed on the license, and all of these stories have come to a wrap up, which has seemed very rushed. But my love of getting the covers and important/valuable books has become rooted again. I collected up all of the “Batman/Catwoman” story, got back into Spider-Man and Ghost Rider. But I have dropped DC for the most part. In fact, almost everything they have been publishing in any form is tripe that panders to anyone except the classic fan. I thought “The Batman” was a much slower slog than it needed to be. My next problem is the amount of room this hobby is taking up…

Gundam- I built my first Master Grade…EW EPYON. I am still applying decals. But this has been a terrific project! I eill post pictures when I finish.

It is good to be coming back to the blogosphere…an I hope to have a review tomorrow!

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.

The Grieving SpartanNerd

June 23, 2015 by SpartanNerd

Today, (June 22) I just learned that Earl Norem passed away. (He died on June 19, 2015, at the age of 91.)

Earl Norem was the incredible artist who did posters and covers for the Masters of the Universe magazine back in the 1980’s. My mother subscribed to this for me, and I never knew why I stopped getting it. (Later as an adult I would learn that it was discontinued.)

Norem leaves a legacy of Masters of the Universe work, not only including magazines, but all kinds of books. Think “Little Golden Books” type. Also the paperback kind you could get at Book Fairs in elementary school.

I reconnected with Norem’s work back in the late 1990’s, when I was just learning to explore the internet. I was a part of Adam Tyner’s page, which eventually evolved into He-Man.org. (I am only a member of the forums there now. Oh. And one of my songs was published on the Roast Gooble Dinner soundtrack.) Back then, I scoured the internet for images of He-Man, and kept a folder on my computer so I could look at them anytime and reminisce. This folder would follow me to today, where I have it on my mac to circulate desktop pictures. Norem’s work is the most classically spectacular of all of Masters of the Universe paintings.

Eventually, I would listen to Roast Gooble Dinner, and Val Staples, Emiliano Santalucia, Eamon O’Donahue, and Pixel Dan Eardly would interview Norem. I listened to this interview at least three times! Just to hear him talk about his work…and the guy was almost completely clueless that he was revered as a great artist!

To hear his story, he was a painter for advertisements. It was cheaper for magazines to print artistic work than photographs. Eventually he landed the gig to do some Marvel comics, and then pick up with Conan the Barbarian, eventually leading to He-Man.

He worked in paints. I recently visited Bob Jones’ University’s Classical Art Gallery, and I dare say Earl Norem’s painting is on par with the great classical masters. A person might argue that his subject matter didn’t lend to the best examples of classical art, with exaggerated muscles or femininity. But he always made He-Man, Skeletor, Teela, Gwildor, or whoever look tasteful. His work emphasised action…his painting always give a sense of energy.

I came up with the idea to try and emulate some of Earl Norem’s paintings with the incredibly posable Masters of the Universe Classics figures. I will be featuring some of my results here on SpartanNerd.com in the future.

Until then, please go by Earl Norem’s fan page. (You can see some of his art. I believe Eamon O’Donahue runs this site.) Also swing by He-Man.org.

spartannerd

A blog about everything "nerdtainment!"

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