PICTURED: Guitars on the album. Top row-Jamstik Classic “J-Chis-A”, Washburn Dime Slime “Ms. Slime”, BC Rich NJ Series Warlock “Hope”, Ibanez Jem Jr. “The Ibis”, next row- Gretsch Electromatic “Heven”, Homemade Kit Strat “Cringer”, Godin Multiac “The Impatien”, Washburn Bass “Big Georgia”, and bottom crossing next the Fender JD Telecaster “Geri” and the Martin Concert Grande “Princess.” Also on the album cover are featured action figures from the SpartanNerd blog, and some of my comics collection.
It has literally been 15 years since I last released an album, and the world of self-publishing music is totally different now than it used to be. For instance, back then in 2009 people still bought CDs. YouTube was a baby…Amazon was still chiefly to sell books. And so the SpartanNerd used a color printer and a CD burner to distribute. But now everything is digital streaming, so now maybe I can reach a wider audience.
Go have a listen for something different. It is mostly instrumental guitar rock, with some more New Age music stuff and a lot of synth. I hope you like it!
Keep an eye out on my YouTube page, where I will be making videos about recording the album and what the songs are about.
Upcoming content here on SpartanNerd…Review of MASTERVERSE New Eternia Kobra Khan, New Eternia Mosquitor, and New Eternia Mantenna.
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.
NEW ETHERIA HORDAK FRONT PACKAGE
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.
NEW ETHERIA HORDAK SIDE OF PACKAGE
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).
NEW ETHERIA HORDAK BACK OF PACKAGE.
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.
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.
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)
Nothing could taint the experience of finally seeing the Ninth Symphony performed live! The Spartanburg Philharmonic absolutely nailed it…It may be the highest art Spartanburg has ever experienced, and this is an artsy place. Worries about three of my students who didn’t arrive couldn’t scar it. Neither the hazardous weather; neither the annoying synthetic buzz of the speakers in Twitchell Auditorium at Converse College: neither the horrible parking situation or record crowd audience. No. Beethoven’s music transcended it all. This is a piece that I have purchased several times over the years, the first of which when I was sixteen years old and had my family scratching their heads. A piece that I have taught about since my career began with glowing reverence. A piece that I have never seen performed except in odd snips and pieces, and never with singers.
The program started with the unconnected Modern piece, Charles Ives’ “The Unanswered Question,” which provided a point of variety and contrast, and set the stage for conductor Stefan Sanders’ remarks about the nature of life…the What, How, When, Why, and Where of life. This piece has a pretty and controlled strings component, and “questioners” who played from the balcony, disconnected from the rest of the players, and playing with differing keys and tempos. He explained that Beethoven strived to give us the answer that Charles Ives was also looking for with his greatest and final symphony. He described the first movement as having an urgency, the second movement as a type of demonic dance, the third movement a tribute to love, and the fourth movement all about brotherly love. I personally have always given deeper explanations of each movement…more technical ones. But Mr. Sanders let his orchestra do the talking…
As the first movement began, the straight sounds of open violin strings, the droning of the winds, the feeling of the orchestra being tuned, (a revolutionary idea in the great master’s day), the power of it all was too much for me. My heart began to race and, yes, I began to cry. How many times have I just sat and listened to recording of big-name orchestras? How many rides from college back to Pacolet have I let this play? (Yes. Years ago.). I remember listening to this to go and pick up a pet rabbit with one of my sons, and I explained each movement and what was going on to him. All of this crashed down on me at once. To me the Spartanburg Philharmonic’s rendition was devastating, powerful, and unashamed to make statements in every way. And the tempo that they played it in was perfect, not dragging at all. And as annoying as that droning synthetic speaker sound in that room was, It was completely washed away by the raw strength of the orchestra.
During the break between the first and second movements, you could hear a torrential downpour as a storm raged outside. This was God smiling at us as we listened…the second movement evokes a tempest, and this heavy rain made a perfect backdrop. As I listened, I noticed how perfectly balanced this orchestra is. I have a few recordings that sometimes when I listen to, and feel like the recording or the players don’t sound as spot on as they could. We had good seats for this concert…it’s true. But the orchestra itself was pristine. Never all night was there a single time that a horn was too loud, a section overpowering, or even a drum too tight. I mention that I have never seen the Ninth Symphony performed live before, but I HAVE seen this movement performed a few times. But the Spartanburg Philharmonic brought the greatest performance tonight.
As there was another break before the third movement, something odd happened that I didn’t understand until later. Four singers entered the stage and took a seat at the front. For this event, the choir that was to sing the Chorale at the end was seated onstage for everyone to see. But these four entered and took a seat up front, undoubtedly the soloists who would sing in the final movement. And suddenly I had a slight panic. There was to be no singing until the fourth movement? Were they skipping the third movement? (Blasphemy!). No. Nothing like that at all. I felt my tension ease as the orchestra began to play the prettiest part of the the Ninth Symphony, the Pastoral movement. I do enjoy the melody of this part…it reminds me of some of Beethoven’s other work. But I will be the first to tell you as a teacher that this is also the least exciting part of the whole work. After listening to the thing several times, you know the real treat is in the fourth movement, and sometimes it feels like some of the extended phrases and sections of the third movement are hoops Beethoven has you jump through to keep you anxious for the end. The orchestra delivered this movement nicely, and then…
So why did those singers come onstage so early? Mr. Sanders had about a fifteen second break in between the third and fourth movement. I don’t even think the players rested their instrument or turned pages. He froze in place, as many times I have done in conducting different groups…and then, with more electricity than the raging storm outside, the fourth movement began, and I jumped to the edge of my seat! And so the conversation began between the low strings and the rest of the orchestra, and it is like every single note is stamped on my soul. I look over at the cellists and bassists at the right, and then back at the other players on the left, anticipating and reveling in it all. Beethoven wrote this when he was COMPLETELY DEAF! And the classic themes of the three movements before, Orchestra Tuning, Thunderstorm, and Pastoral are all shot down, and then the low players begin to play the hymn of the ages, the Ode to Joy, and the rest of the orchestra follows suit. Then on cue. My kinsmen, the singers, they all stand in one accord at the right moment…the same electric music that made me sit up in my chair had me moving again as they all sprang into action. I was pleasantly surprised to hear that wonderful bass singer singing the classic German text as we hear the conversation yet again, with words. And how did this great chorus sound? I was worried about the balance. But it was sparkling and as pure as the greatest recording I have ever listened to. And did I mention that I was glad to hear them singing in German? My wife, sitting beside me the whole time, elbowed me in the side during the Turkish March and asked me if I was alright, and I realized again that I was crying. The quartet delivered part beautifully, and when It was time for the rest of the chorus to come in with those notes…the ones with the droning trumpet…the notes that let you know a cathartic moment is upon you, it was ecstatic. And the coda section of the piece, (should we really call it that?). This terrific group made it the greatest “mad dash” of all time. Literally, the second that it was over, the audience roared in applause and stood to its feet. The clapping went on for…five minutes? And then it kept going! Of course there wouldn’t be an encore, not after all that. But what a rush!
Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony was the closing performance of the 2018-2019 orchestra season for the Spartanburg Philharmonic. I want more. Our city needs more. Please keep this happening Spartanburg!
spartannerd 