Tag Archives: Orko

SpartanNerd Vintage Review. He-Man and the Masters of the Universe Magazine, Summer 1986.

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See a video review of this vintage magazine at my YouTube channel HERE.

A bunch of these have come up on MyComicShop, and so I got one! Probably there is a spike in demand because of the new Masters of the Universe movie!

This is from Summer 1986, exactly 40 years ago. Also, this one announces the contest where a kid will get to be in the movie! This came true as Pigboy was indeed a child who won the contest! (Follow the link for more information…I’m not taking any responsibility for anything you encounter in your searching around with that.)

The main idea of this one…”King Hiss and the Snake Men challenge He-Man” features fantastic Earl Norem artwork of the toy-style Snake Mountain, King Hiss, Cobra Kahn, Tongue Lasher, and Rattlor. He-Man anatomically swings into action with his battle axe and shield! (Yes…Norem was a master of anatomy…as my art friends say). Meteorbs are a minor push in this issue, Create a vehicle has promise, while Start a Summer Power Club sounds ambitious for a bunch of kids under 10.

I have another one of these magazines, and I collect them only for nostalgia purposes. No one should ever pay more than $20 for one of these except for possibly issue #1. You never see these graded, but if you do (I have) then it will be a low grade…more trouble than it is worth. And besides, the fun of this is going back into the past, reading the stories and letters, and seeing the old ads. You can’t do that if you have your magazine slabbed and are asking more than $75 for it, most of that value being upcharge.

You can tell that my copy is well worn. But it is all here! I am going to present photos and then some commentary behind them.

I can’t drink that red dye anymore…but Looney Toons were still popular back in the 1980s. In recent years, the most popularity you see of them is Space Jam. The erosion of values!

The table of contents…pictures on the right would indicate a Meteorb, He-Man with a tree, Kobra Kahn in a cool vehicle, and the Snake Men and Skeletor on the bottom.

There are two posters in this issue!

A Letter from He-Man, Orko Earth Report, and He-Man of the Issue are regular columns, you can read the features for yourself, but we have a movie article here not really mentioned on the cover.

Another add, this time for the Walt Disney Home Videos. You have Alice, the Cheshire Cat, Mickey Mouse in a tuxedo, and Winnie the Pooh. I believe the only feature movie here is Alice in Wonderland if you look close at the photos. Are these BETA-MAX? I looked close, and there’s no indication of Beta or VHS.

He-Man, Grayskull, and the Jet Sled. The Jet Sled was a recent accessory offering in 1986, Do you think maybe they pasted the Jet Sled over He-Man somehow?

I am keeping my magazine together, but removing the posters takes a big chunk out of the included comic book…something that bothered me big time as a child. So I never took them out until the magazine was falling apart. And then my mom WOULDN’T LET ME HANG THEM UP!

The Snake Men poster is the same as the cover, but here is the Meteorb poster.

This was already ripped and then re-stapled by fingernail obviously. The Meteorbs…we didn’t have them as kids. I felt like they were stupid anyway. If you look into it, you will find that they were actually a different, failed toyline that Mattel folded into MOTU. I feel like they were already seeing the need to have transforming toys in order to compete with the Transformers. I also never had Rokon or Stonedar. (Looking at the posters was skipping ahead…, oh reader).

A nice letters column. Notable that I have a letter published in Transformers #10...I have every cover that I could get. And I wonder if these kids still have their copies of this magazine?

I don’t remember which of these I actually had as a child. I had a subscription, though. If I had only known…In fact, if we all would have known we would have bought two of everything and kept one pristine in storage…

So is this our first look at the movie that would be come Masters of the Universe: The Movie? This is so relevant to today because of the recent Masters of the Universe just released on June 5 this year.

Because I already talked about Pigboy, let’s talk about Dolph Lundgren. As a kid, I had seen Rocky IV, and was truly sad when the evil Russian steroid-user boxer killed Apollo Creed, who was dressed in the American Flag, and so happy when the Italian Stallion who actually worked out fair and square took him down. We all knew the USSR were the bad guys…see Top Gun for instance. When I was told that the same villain was going to be He-Man…I didn’t…get it…if that makes sense. I was only 7 years old. He looks nice enough in these pictures. And I am now a big fan of Dolph. I also thought his He-Man was really good back then and now. But it was hard for me to digest everything…I was forming my ideas about what was real and what was fiction. Could I grok ideas behind the making of movies? Casting choices? Budgets? Limitations? No, I could not.

As we go through this magazine…be ready for this to be pushed some more. Kids loved the Statue of Liberty back then…the world was more patriotic. I remember cheering when the Ghostbusters made it come alive using a NES Advantage controller in Ghostbusters 2. (Yep. I out nerded you, readers!) It was apparently the 100th year of the anniversary of France giving the United States the statue. And I guess it was time to capitalize on that also to the smart kids who read magazines.

ORKO’S EARTH REPORT

Labyrinth– I have seen this a few times…they used to show it at school. It is similar to The Dark Crystal and The Never Ending Story. Kind of scary to see at times. When kids see things like that song reference in Stranger Things today…I mean…we lived it.

SpaceCamp– NASA had a real Space Camp, I’m pretty sure. If you were rich! I don’t remember this movie.

Ulysses 31– What amounts to an ad for a different fantasy cartoon…what? But no one remembers Ulysses 31, but everyone remember He-Man. I’m sure it was great, though.

Reading Rainbow– If you are reading this blog, you probably have had the theme song for Reading Rainbow stuck in your head before. I remember discussing LeVar Burton in college with my friends, and how we loved him in Star Trek: The Next Generation. One of my friends said he cried the first time he heard him cuss…

Oh yeah…

This is a cool picture of He-Man. I was glad to see this still in the magazine.

Never heard of any of this. NOTICE. This is the second time we see The Statue of Liberty Magazine pushed.

The USELESS Prince Adam. Now you know why I probably blog with all-caps a bunch of times.

Jet Sled, Cyclone, Spydor, Tongue Lasher, Rattlor, Kobra Kahn, King Hiss, He-Man, and Skeletor. The marketing strategy was SOLID in 1986.

Remember the “Meteorb” from the Table of Contents. Nope. It was a bait-and-switch. Spydor is throwing rocks and He-Man hits them like a baseball player. So 1980’s!

Trunk of Tree a Serpent Be!

He-Man shows a new power with his sword. He breaks King Hiss’s spell and changes the tree back to normal. I also like how he won’t hurt the snakes. The strong women in my family are so terrified of snakes. Deathly terrified. And typically a strong man would use a hoe or shovel to chop off their heads if one was around to ease their minds.

(I find this truly horrifying, Hub City Geeks. Poor snakes. I do feel this drastic action is necessary if it is a poisonous snake that will be around where kids or pets are playing. Most of my family hasn’t had the knowledge to tell the difference, and besides that my mom, grandmother, and aunts were so afraid. But there is a 6ft+ long black snake likely under my house right now…I don’t mind! It needs to be worried about my German Shepherd.)

Seriously…we used to swim at a lake house that my grandparents owned (Sadness!) We were told to stay on one side of the dock, because the other side “had snakes.” OK…the logic…

He-Man won’t hurt the snakes because they are innocent creatures…I love it!

I was a science nut as a kid. And I heard about tornadoes picking up frogs, fish, even people and dropping them in other places as hail stones. So, someone has a hailstorm of snakes. My grandmother and mom would have a true nightmare!

King Hiss’s gimmick…as a kid…me and my brothers generally thought King Hiss was disguised as a good guy, but then would reveal himself as evil. The mini comics and magazines like this pointed us in the correct direction. Also, at this point, shouldn’t the Snake Men have already been prepared for battle? The point here was to roll-call them for marketing purposes.

A classic Filmation move. Bowl the enemies over with a round boulder.

So…are they presenting the Blasterhawk as a potential fan-created vehicle? This was a toy you could buy in 1986! So this doesn’t seem fair. (I never had a Blaster Hawk)

The Bat Pak- I had to look up and see if this was ever produced. It seems so…logical. But they didn’t make it.

Rattle Trap- Wouldn’t this one have been cool to have?! They didn’t come out with any vehicles for the Snake Men faction, and so it makes you think…was this an idea that they decided not to go with?

Up-Scaler- With Moss Man driving. Also, this one looks kind of logical…why didn’t they ever make it? Leech was an action figure with suction cups…in fact suction cups and sticky toys were “cool” in 1986.

What vehicle would the SpartanNerd make…OK. The Sound Shocker. With Rio-Blast driving it. It is shaped like the Battle Ram (without the Sky Sled), but has giant amplifiers on all sides. Rio-Blast or WHOEVER can sit up front with the included guitar accessory, and assault everyone’s ears with glorious noise!

And here is our third mention of The Statue of Liberty Magazine. This time they are giving you a card to bug your parents with.

POWER PUZZLES- This page was all worked by a previous owner. The color-by-number is a picture of Orko. Matching…some of these characters go to more than one place.

True story. My first-grade-self had a true saint for a teacher. She isn’t with us anymore (she’s with Jesus). But I remember taking one of these magazines to her and telling her that she could run copies of the puzzles for the class to do. She just looked at me, and then said “I don’t want to!” I still remember it… But think about it. We were always doing word searches and coloring pages. A kid would like to contribute. So now as an adult, I include any reference to He-Man that I can into work that I create. For instance, Skeletor is one of the multiple-choice answers on my substitute worksheet response to a video about The Human Voice. I even included a picture of the more recent Golden Book “I Am Skeletor!”

This page wasn’t worked, but you can easily tell that the puzzles here are more difficult.

It says there are 17 power swords…they aren’t as easy to see as you think. It took me a minute to find them all.

Mystery Meteorbs. Once again, not a fan of the Meteorbs. In Norem’s poster, did you notice that one guy is a big red ball? He looks orange here. I don’t know…when I see these guys, they look like general 1980’s toys. Like they are an oval ball with an animal coming out. The robot guy and the lion are the best ones…Maybe the elephant. I mean…the crocodile? What croc looks like this? That is one fat bear. I know that Brontosaurus was a hefty boy, but not round like this.

The He-Man club. Anybody remember the movie The Little Rascals. They had a no-girls club called “The He-Man Woman Haters Club“.

So this brings up a question…because in 1986 this was when She-Ra came out…What if…

No question about Mary Lou Retton being an awesome athlete. I didn’t know, but just spent some time on Wikipedia. $30? for a 30 minute video? Notice that Mary Lou is apparently an olympic athlete wearing red, white, and blue. I’m just saying…this vibe with the Statue of Liberty. Wikipedia seems to indicate that she was a big supporter of the Reagan Administration, also very 1980’s. (NOTE: The Disney videos already mentioned in the magazine were also $30).

This is a cool story about Jason Isroff. It was good public service, and it was good that the publishers recognized this to encourage others to do right. I remember the principal of our school had a “Tiger of the Day” award to someone who served the school community. (Tigers was the mascot at Clifdale Elementary…glad they changed that when we became a middle school!)

Yep. I’m a rare kind of guy who has had three careers in the same place. I attended Clifdale Elementary, then as an adult I taught music at Clifdale Elementary. After moving to Cowpens Middle School to teach chorus, what was decided? To move Cowpens into a re-formated Clifdale Middle School. I say often, “The Lord Jesus really wants me to be at Clifdale!”

Check this ad. I remember Rainbow Brite fondly…and I remember the toys of the Popples. But I don’t remember anything about Ulysses 31. All three of these are worth looking at on Dan Larsen’s “Secret Galaxy” YouTube channel.

The back cover is yet another ad. This one doesn’t jump out at you as an ad, however. It invites you to order one of these personalized storybooks. But as you look closer…BAM…Fruit Rollups and Fruit Bars.

I felt like this trip down memory lane was fun, and am thinking about getting more of these magazines as people are putting their copies out for sale or trade while demand is up. Do you have any of these, Hub City Geeks? Let me know in the comments!

Masters of the Universe 2026 Movie- SpartanNerd’s Review

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This is a review with SPOILERS. You can see my video review of this movie if you click this link HERE.

First of all, I was one who for years has said that if they do a Masters of the Universe movie in the modern style of Marvel and DC, Star Wars, or Transformers, then they will certainly ruin it. I like the Michael Bay Transformers movies (at least the first two) but have some objections to things, like for instance Optimus Prime chopping peoples heads off. You see how I didn’t talk about the “insect-formers” design…I came to enjoy it. And while Marvel has mostly hit it right and DC getting it sometimes, everyone who reads this blog surely knows about all of the controversy around Star Wars starting with Disney. I figured a MOTU movie would have statements and content that rub the SpartanNerd the wrong way, like the movies Rise of the Beasts and The Last Jedi. I figured there might be “bad CGI” like in Aquaman.

But all of my fears were mostly wrong. This movie addresses Masters of the Universe in a modern style very well. The acting is top notch, and if the CGI is a little off, I feel that the producers wanted it to be like that to remind us that this is largely based on a Filmation cartoon from the 1980’s, I say mostly. It was a good move to stick to the Filmation fanbase. Watching that cartoon and playing with action figures are the things that the 40-something year-old fandom remember best. Mattel and Amazon needed to skew away from the super-nerds like me, and cater to a general audience of more casual fans. I am going to break this down.

  • Idris Elba’s Man-At-Arms is an incredible character, and Elba and the producers did something different with Duncan while maintaining the “mentor” aspect essential to who he is.
  • Jared Leto’s Skeletor was a surprise to me. I hadn’t heard his voice…it isn’t the same as Filmation or Mike Young Productions nasally voice. Instead it is a deeper voice with Shakespearean elements. Skeletor is overdramatic and retains his comedic villain self, but is also someone that everyone walks on eggshells around.
  • Allison Brie’s Evil-Lyn was kind of the exact same character that Brie plays as a wrestler on the Netflix show GLOW. In that show, she is an actor playing a wrestler with the character of “The Mad Russian” or something stereotypically grating. But when you see her go from her normal self to wrestler lady…that is where Evil-Lyn is. It is important to say that I don’t believe she was written to be as strong of a character as Meg Foster played in the 1987 movie.
  • Nick Galitzine’s Adam Glenn…that’s right…not Adam of the House of Randor. I have never seen this actor in anything before. I believe he is a little bit too small to play He-Man. He has muscles…that isn’t it…but they aren’t Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Conan the Barbarian muscles. Adam is a can’t-do-anything-right who becomes OP when he transforms into He-Man. Are Adam and He-Man different people? No…I think this is partially on what the movie hinges on. He-Man is inside of Adam. The movie handles this idea without hitting us over the head with it.
  • Camila Mendez’s Teela is a headstrong friend for Adam, the same as always.
  • Of the evil warriors, Trap-Jaw has at least THREE big fight scenes. Which brings up fight scenes…this movie feels like a bunch of action figures fighting against each other! Besides Skeletor, he is easily the strongest of the villains. We see the others fighting…Spikor has plenty of humorous scenes where his spikes are more of a liability. And there are scores of skeleton guys and monster men who are just fodder. Review of Chronicles Trap Jaw coming soon!
  • The Eternian Family- Randor and Marlena are indeed presented as Adam’s parents in the opening, with Randor being way too hard on Adam as he trains. Marlena doesn’t get much, but when it is time to protect Adam, she helps him get to Castle Grayskull.
  • Castle Grayskull and Snake Mountain…these places don’t feel as epic or weighty as they should. They are overshadowed by the drama of the relationships between the characters.
  • Vehicles- They didn’t give us much. A bunch of Fright Fighters and Rotons, along with Teela’s Talon Fighter and a Sky Sled. The Collector gets a moment, and the good guys show up with a bunch of generic ships.
  • The good guys…do you call them the Masters? There is a lot of self-deprecating humor.
  • Cringer- Really, Battle Cat doesn’t appear until the final scene. Cringer is a reluctant scaredy cat like he is supposed to be, but he also fights pretty hard against Beast Man. (Review of Chronicles Battle Cat HERE.)

So this brings up one of the criticisms. There is a lot of humor in this movie. Like every couple of minutes there is a jab, joke, pun, or zinger. This is in line with The Guardians of the Galaxy or Deadpool. It isn’t horribly dirty humor like Deadpool, but it is on the innuendo side, and as far as language there is a GD right at the beginning of the movie that makes Reverend SpartanNerd feel like throwing up.

THE PLOT- MAJOR SPOILERS!

Adam was sent to Earth by the Sorceress at the suggestion of Marlena during the opening attack on the palace. Part of this opening attack was Man-At-Arms being defeated by Trap Jaw and Randor being captured by Skeletor. Adam was separated from the sword when he exited the portal…touching the sword was his way home! Luckily, Adam never forgot where he came from, but as an Earthling he had a hard time adjusting to the boring life of Human Resources. I believe Adam Glenn works at a staffing agency, where he is good with people and helps them find a place in the workforce that is a fit for them. But he gets roasted by his boss, Susie, who has a problem with him looking for the Power Sword on the clock. Adam gets ghosted by “Julie,” advice at the gym from Dolph Lundgren, and admonished by his roommate Hussein. He gets a text at work to find the sword at a toy store called “The Fright Zone” and on touching it, a signal was sent to Eternia, where both Teela and Beast Man received it. The Earth scene really doesn’t take long in the movie…probably less than fifteen minutes.

On Eternia, Adam is worthless as a fighter. The good guys disbelieve Teela enough to throw her in jail along with Adam. Fisto seems to be the leader, with Ram Man second in charge. Mekanek and Moss Man are around also. In jail, Man-At-Arms is passed out drunk, and Roboto is a maid. I believe this scene takes place at Point Dread? Skeletor’s army attacks the base, and Roboto helps them bust out. Once again Adam is useless, and as Trap Jaw comes out, Man-At-Arms begins to have a panic attack. But Adam raises the sword and becomes He-Man, having a brutal fight with Trap Jaw and ripping off his arm, then using it to shoot down Skeletor’s army. There is a vehicle chase as Teela, Man-At-Arms, Adam, and Roboto escape in the Talon Fighter, only to be shot down. Skeletor stands there wondering who the new barbarian is that took out his men. Skeletor has all of the Masters taken to prison at Snake Mountain.

At the crash sight of the Talon Fighter, Adam and Teela have a tender moment as he picks up the ship with one arm, (but he does complain that it is heavy). Man-At-Arms breaks out his foot locker and puts on his armor, that has a flask hidden in the front of the chest plate that as kids we always wanted to know what that was. He says he would rather be a drunk than a failure. Skeletor appears in a hologram just like in the 1987 movie telling the new barbarian to come to Snake Mountain and surrender the sword to see his parents. Apparently they had crashed near the secret passageway to Snake Mountain…

Goat Man is guarding the entranceway, but Adam gets by him. At Snake Mountain’s iconic mouth, Skeletor has Randor. He-Man decides to fight, and another huge battle takes place, but Evil-Lyn traps him with a force field. He-Man breaks the spell with his incredible strength, but the shock causes the roof to collapse on everyone except for him. He rushes to save his dad, but his father dies. During the drama, Skeletor comes up behind He-Man and clocks him on the head with the Havoc Staff.

When Adam wakes up… yes…he was hit hard enough to revert back…he is in the Snake Mountain prison with all of the Masters. His Mother and Cringer are also there. Adam uses his Human Resources skills to rally the Masters to work together with their powers to break out.

Skeletor can’t make the power sword work. Evil-Lyn suggests taking it to Castle Grayskull to perform a ritual. The final battle takes place at Grayskull. Adam manages to get the sword from Skeletor, but before he can change, Skeletor blasts him with the Havoc Staff. Adam uses the sword to block, but the force breaks the sword. Skeletor uses the hilt with the shard-end of the sword to stab Adam in the chest. Then proceeds to read his mind.

As Skeletor reads his mind, he is dreaming about the gym, but instead of Dolph, it is Skeletor lifting weights, wearing an athletic hoodie! Next he is on the date with Julie, and Julie asks about Eternia. When Adam looks up, it is Skeletor wearing a dressy suit. he drags him out of the restaurant. Adam finds himself in Susie’s office, where she says something about having a performance review with Doug…when Adam looks over to where Doug was earlier in the movie, it is Skeletor drinking a thermos of coffee! (This was my favorite part of the whole movie!). Finally, Adam is passed out in his room, where Hussein comes in and places a drawing of the Sorcerss on his chest. Next Zoar flys in, and encourages him that He has the power…it isn’t really the sword!

This is enough to wake Adam wake up in the real world and remove the sword from his chest. As he begins to transform, the sword comes back together. And then instead of fighting, he tells Skeletor he just wants to talk. But Skeletor declines, saying that he is always going to be the villain. Adam actually punches Skeletor out like a boxing warmup, then turns on the Thunder Punches complete with lightning. Finally he palms the Havoc Staff like Michael Jordan, and then shatters it. The explosion is extremely powerful and appears to kill Skeletor as his skull bounces around on the floor.

The next scene is six months later. There is a celebration as Eternia has been rebuilt, which also includes Hussein. Adam gives everyone a pep talk. He also expresses his name as He-Man…the first time it appears in the movie. Then there is news of a problem at Avion. Adam and Cringer then run off to Grayskull to transform where nobody can see them, (but the characters question why?).

Three Credits scenes. The first is Orko presenting a moral that is something like “Muscle Guys are probably heroes and skull-faced guys are probably villains) as Mer-Man is arrested in the background. The second is a reveal of She-Ra about to attack the Fright Zone (Filmation design). And the final scene is Evil-Lyn returning to pick up Skeletor’s skull, and we hear him laughing maniacally.

MY THOUGHTS

You could take the first Thor movie and follow the plot…they are pretty identical, with Randor taking Odin’s place. There is also a little bit of Lion King in there. There’s just no doubt that Skeletor really takes this show. We saw more of Adam/He-Man, and it was good, but a reason to watch this is to watch Skeletor! I like how they started with the Man-At-Arms we expect, then deconstructed him and built him back up. Teela is also different in a way because this time she is compensating for her father giving up rather than the typical path to becoming the captain of the guard.

One thing…there is no origin story for Skeletor. There is no reason why he is evil. We get that he is greedy and power-hungry. Evil-Lyn serves as someone who can talk to him…the only person who CAN talk to him. And he is toxic to her, burning her skin with his hand in two scenes. But I question…do we really NEED to know why Skeletor is evil? Do we NEED a Keldor story? Do we NEED to know things like how old is Castle Grayskull? Where did the henchmen come from? Not really in my opinion. We didn’t know any of that in the Filmation show…we just took it for granted that Skeletor was evil and Castle Grayskull had to be protected. There was some canon to this story, like Marlena being from Earth and the Sorceress secretly being Teela’s mother (not directly addressed, but there). But for the most part, it was about seeing our favorite characters on the screen, probably fighting.

Some things that I appreciate…Roboto is a GIRL! Two of the Credits scenes are setups for sequels…We have references to the 1987 movie including Dolph Lundgren, The Great Eye of the Galaxy (did you catch it?), Pigboy, and Karg.

What did this movie add to the story of Masters of the Universe?

  • This is the first time we have ever seen Skeletor sleep
  • Skeletor is also is a mind-reader
  • Dian- This is a strong female character from the Newspaper strips. In Kevin Smith’s show there has been a strong female lead “Andra” recycled from the Filmation show. Dian is a similar character
  • Goat Man is now officially one of the Evil Warriors in my mind

SPARTANNERD RATING

As a MOVIE, I give this a 4/5. As a Masters of the Universe movie, I give it a 5/5. Not everyone is going to “get it.” There is a lot of talk about the viral movies Backrooms and Obsession…two sleeper movies that scored big at the box office, taking some market share. And this is unfortunately true…not even a fan-excuse (I saw Backrooms…it is pretty good!). Masters of the Universe is for 40-somethings, but Scary Movie 6/7 is for a 2000’s crowd. And up ahead is Toy Story 5, Moana (live action), Supergirl, and then Spider-Man Brand New Day. I kind of think Masters of the Universe is cooked in this box office environment. HOWEVER, it won’t be lost on people streaming. I predict Amazon is going to make MINT streaming this movie.

Do you agree or disagree? Let me know in the comments!

Major and Minor- SpartanNerd Commentary and review of Mythic Legions Magic Effects

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Pictured: MASTERVERSE Revelation Orko, armed with Animal Warriors of the Kingdom magic staff, displaying Heroic and Evil Magic blast effects.

Maybe you didn’t know, but in addition to being a SpartanNerd and Reverend, he is also a chorus teacher…Yep. With a MMED in Music Education with an emphasis on sight reading music.

Now that I got that qualification (perhaps dis-qualification) out of the way, here is something they teach you at Music Teacher school. You shouldn’t tell the kids that Major sounds happy and Minor sounds sad. They can be either one. A great many country songs with sad subjects are in a Major key, and plenty of party-down rock and pop songs are in a Minor key. So…where is this going in regards to reviewing toys?

Did you catch what I might be talking about from looking at the above four images? The Four Horsemen are presenting the primarily blue and green magic effects as good, and the red and purple as evil. I have learned that the image on the back of the heroic effects depicts Aracagorr, who is a good-guy boss, and the one on the back of the evil effects depicts Poxxus, a bad-guy boss. Why are they pigeon-holing these effects? Outside of Star Wars, this kind of color-coding doesn’t happen much. I mean, it does. It seems like GI Joe might have green-blue blasts and Cobra has red-pink blasts. But some things turn this thinking on its head. The Joker looks cheery and happy, and someone who never saw him before might not think he was evil, but Batman might be construed as evil with the black cape and dark armor. Magic the Gathering flips this script also, Liliana is part of The Gatewatch and is a black-aligned character…White-aligned Heliod showed himself to be a Villain. Final Fantasy X and X-2 also have black mages on the good side. Elden Ring…is anyone good and evil?

How about this? Elemental magic. Lightning is orange or yellow. Ice is clear or white or blue. Life magic tends to show green. Fire orange, red, black. My point is that magic effects is one of the areas of the toy collecting and photography hobby where the fans can be more creative. Right off the bat I disagree with the philosophy the Four Horsemen are giving us for magic and blast effects. And I intend to prove that in the review below.

What do we get in the boxes?

Both are identical, but with different color schemes. You can see them in the packaging clearly, but here is one unpacked.

I’ll go from left to right. A long stringy swirl. 2 large discs, 2 medium discs, and 2 small discs. 2 swirling mists. (I believe the one on the left to be warped…even better then). A long lightning effect and a short lightning effect. A long magic snake effect. And a short skull effect.

Photos of the Mythic Legions Magic Effects in action

I am not going to show that many Mythic Legions toys in this review. So brace yourself. I don’t actually have that many, but I have wanted magic and blast effects for a long time for my action figures. These are the perfect size of six-inch scale. So prepare to see Masters of the Universe Classics, MASTERVERSE, Marvel Legends, and maybe some other things, as well as Mythic Legions.

Pictured: Marvel Legends comic book Thanos with Infinity Gauntlet hand. Mythic Legions Evil and Heroic magic effects skulls.

The little skulls are my favorite. The different colors highlight that Thanos is holding two different souls. Not necessarily good and evil. Because I am talking about mixing it up, why couldn’t one be Green Lantern and the other The Flash!

Pictured: Marvel Legends comic book Thor with Mythic Legions Heroic and Evil lightning effects. What we really need is that lightning in yellow, orange, or white.

Marvel Legends comic book Thor is my worst action figure. The lightning effects really add something to a character like this!

Pictured: MASTERVERSE Revelation Evil Lyn and Teela, both with their hair-down head scupts, and MASTERVERSE Revelation Sorceress. Teela is also armed with the MOTUC Great Unrest Staff of Ka. Also pictured are a variety of Mythic Legions Heroic and Evil Magic effects, and the two halves of the Power Sword from MASTERVERSE Revelation King Greyskull.

That “Pictured” caption took forever to type. Anyway, here I depict a scene where the Sorceress tells Teela and Evil Lyn about the two halves of the Power Sword. The magic effects add a lot to the scene.

Pictured: MASTERVERSE Revelation King Grayskull with Mythic Legions Heroic and Evil magic effects.

The back of King Grayskull’s box depicts an image that looks something like this. (I suppose I need to post a review of King Grayskull and the Sorceress soon.)

Pictured: Four Horsemen Studios Demistros, Mythic Legions Skeleton Legion Builder, who is armed with MASTERVERSE New Eternia “Viking” Skeletor’s scimitar and MASTERVERSE Revelation Teela’s shield.

Here they are with some actual Mythic Legions figures. Demistros is bringing this skeleton warrior back to life. The swirling mist adds something. It is given life by the green soul skull escaping from the red portal. If I had used the red skull, would that story be as clear? Nope.

Pictured: MASTERVERSE Comic-Con exclusive Scareglow with diorama box, MASTERVERSE Revelation Teela, armed with The Great Unrest Weapons pack armor and staff of Ka. Cosmic Legions Silver Figure Stand, Mythic Legions green snake effect and green skull effect. An aquarium plant hides the stand.

I didn’t realize that the snake effect was actually a snake until I took this picture. While I am at it, notice that I have Scareglow mounted on the Cosmic Legions Action Figure Stand. So I am going to take a break for a quick review of that as a bonus under the ratings section below.

Pictured: MASTERVERSE Revelation Evil Lyn and Teela. Evil Lyn has Mythic Legions swirling mist effect. Teela has the red snake effect.

It seems to me that the red snake effect is perfect for the Staff of Ka. Which brings up another point. The Four Horsemen sculpted the Masters of the Universe Classics, and there were a bunch of snake staves sculpted for that line especially for the Snake Men faction. Dare I assert that this magic effect calls back to that?

SpartanNerd Rating of Mythic Legions Heroic Magic Effects and Mythic Legions Evil Magic Effects

Before this review, I actually already used some of the effects in my pictures in reviews on this site. This is a new and very useful item. It adds so much to really so many toys. I only scratched the surface! We need more things like this. The Mythic Legions Magic Effects plays nice in any sandbox. You could definitely use that lightning in Star Wars. You could put those smoke effects behind a Hot Wheels car or something. Disney Barbie dolls. Maleficent. Pokémon. Zelda action figures. I don’t own any of these, but oh the potential! Multiple scales, too. And apply them to the vintage toys like you always wanted.

My hangup is the assertion that the red effects are evil and the blue effects are good. That’s like saying you could only use Metallic crayons for transformers. You can only put ketchup on french fries. You can only add rubber ducks to Jeeps, not Ford trucks (I saw one today with ducks on the dash). I am surprised that this assertion came from such a well-rounded studio.

The sculpts are nice. The product does seem a little bit brittle. I am careful, but some kid out there probably wouldn’t be. But these were made for adult collectors, so…

I bought both sets and am scoring them the same. 5/5. They add very much to all of my collection, and I know they will to yours too!

BONUS: Cosmic Legions Silver Figure Stand.

After such a glowing review…time for a not-so-glowing one, lest you assert I am some kind of loyalist…(Everyone who reads this stuff knows I am honest to a fault perhaps.).

The stand stinks!

The stand came in this polybag with a yellow sticker- (see the photo near the top of the page.)

When you assemble it, well…it seems like the vertical end of the stand should be flush with the platform, doesn’t it. And in fact I have seen pictures of other peoples stand where it is. But mine would not click in. And I used a good screwdriver and a good wife to try and tighten it up. No matter what pressure I put, no matter how tight I made the screws, this “daylight” wouldn’t go away. I was afraid I was going to break it if I kept trying to force it.

If only that was the only problem.

When I was posing my figures outdoors reviewing the Animal Warriors of the Kingdom Red Weapons Loot box, I made a picture of Man-At-Arms using the bow and arrow. (See the review with the picture here.)

I put Duncan in the stand, but realized a problem.

The business end of the stand has this metal claw. Now there were these little rubber bits that covered the metal “points” of this claw. As I was posing the figure, they came off! Luckily no damage was done, and miraculously I kept them from being lost in the grass. But they didn’t make it this review, did they? Now if I use the stand, I have to consider that it might scratch the paint or damage the figure. (You can see these rubber pieces in the Scareglow picture).

My advice, SKIP THIS ONE!

Rating of the Cosmic Legions Silver Figure Stand: 1/5. This thing is awful. I know it is for the science fiction version of Mythic Legions, and I don’t even mind the silver metallic stand. That is fine for whatever. But the assembly went wrong. The rubber things came off and have since been lost while using the stand for its intended function. I worry about damaging figures if I use it. There are better stands out there for your money.

One might argue that it is because I used MASTERVERSE figures instead of Four Horsemen figures. To that I assure you that there isn’t enough difference in the thickness of their waists. I also assert that a figure stand should be versatile. Any action figure within reason should work. Thanos wouldn’t be within reason, so I didn’t try that one. Man-At-Arms should have been fine.

MASTERVERSE New Eternia Man-At-Arms

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To see video of Man-At-Arms packaging, click here.

Ah. Man-At-Arms. One of the favorites! And one I picked up for Valentines Day. Yep. It’s April. Almost May. Just now getting to it. (That Disturbed concert really did a number on me!)

Mattel has really done a good job of cutting the blister plastic down. Inside the box you not only get Man-At-Arms, but also a box that contains the other accessories. I said it before, but this is similar to GI Joe Classified.

Here’s what was in the box. Two fists. A non-mustached head. An alternate helmet. And a ball-and chain alternate mace head.

The head sculpts…neither looks very Duncan-ish to me. The mustache is my preference, but it looks too much like the guy who might tie someone to the railroad tracks. The mustacheless one looks like it could be a generic guard, especially with the helmet off. I get that it is supposed to be the two main looks for Man-At-Arms, but this is a miss.

Man-At-Arms has a huge removable pauldron and arm protector, and I really love that. The alternate helmet is welcome…in fact, that we can even remove the helmet and swap it out is cool. Unfortunately, the leg armor is hard-sculpted on.

Pictured: MASTERVERSE New Eternia Man-At-Arms and MOTUC Battleground Teela with customized head. She is wearing the alternate helmet that came with Man-At-Arms, and is armed with weapons from The Great Unrest weapons pack.

My feelings on what they’ve done with the mace…I get that this was inspired by an early prototype. But this is faulty execution of a good idea. We should have had a real metal chain instead of this sculpted plastic “stick”.

Pictured: MASTERVERSE New Eternia Man-At-Arms and Man-E-Faces.

I like how they are messing around with the accessories in this line. Man-At-Arms has a little clip on his back to put weapons. But that clip can come off, and it looks like he is holding some kind of Filmation device. Looks like Man-E-Keldor is going to try and steal it. No one will ever notice with that blaster on his head…

Pictured: MASTERVERSE New Eternia Man-At-Arms and Man-E-Faces. Also MASTERVERSE Revelation Orko, who came with Savage He-Man.

Now for some fun!

Pictured: MASTERVERSE New Eternia Man-At-Arms and Trap Jaw. Notice that Man-At-Arms is using the 200x gun from the MOTUC Great Unrest weapons pack.

The caption says it all! He holds this weapon just fine and looks great doing it.

SpartanNerd’s rating is 4/5. Why? The head sculpt isn’t quite right. And that is a key thing to me. I used to have the MOTUC Man-At-Arms, and he was spot on. However, this figure comes with so many options that it is truly outstanding otherwise.

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

MASTERVERSE Revelation Teela

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Boom! I found a Teela I can support. I didn’t even know they made this one.

So this is “Captain of the Guard” Teela, who is being knighted “Man-At-Arms.” The Teela that becomes angry and angsty. She throws that crown down in a tantrum of a fit in the Revelation show. Rightfully so, I suppose. But all of the Teela figures I saw before this one in the Masterverse line has had that “emo bodybuilder-bounty hunter” look. To me, Teela should be pretty. In fact, usually. Generally. Masters of the Universe females should retain a certain level of feminine attractiveness. I am a fan of the curves on the Filmation show, and as great as the animation on Revelation and Revolution is, that classic female form was abandoned probably on grounds of modern tastes.

But this Teela doesn’t appear manly at all! Keep reading to see how this figure has been one of the best figures I have gotten in a long time.

Packaging

OK. So this is the boring blue package. You can see in the window box everything she comes with. Also, the sword has come loose from her hand.

I got this figure at Toy Federation in Greer, SC. It seems like they had another there also. At $20 for a 7-inch scale A-list character, you can’t beat that.

The art on the side is outstanding, but check out the art on the back of the box.

Once again. BOOM! Whoever did this (Eamon O’Donahue?) great work. Wonderful fantasy artwork feminine beauty. You can see some Wind Raiders flying overhead and some castle to her right. The bio here is a summary of her role in the Revelations cartoon.

The bottom of the package shows off some other figures you can get. At this point I have Teela (of course), Mer-Man, and Skeletor (viking). I don’t care for that inferior Viking He-Man. (That’s no Vikor.). Notice that the Teela in the picture looks fairly different than the actual figure.

Figure Basics (with comparison)

Below is a “Two-for-one” pic. I am showing you everything you get in the box, PLUS what the alternate head looks like on Masters of the Universe Classics Battleground Teela. So, Comparison time? There are things I like about both. But I am into that long red hair. This is the best head I have put on Battleground Teela. Yes…it is loose on that ball joint. But that doesn’t matter. MASTERVERSE Teela has knobby knees and fat elbows. But MOTUC Teela has unsightly pin joins. I have pointed out before when speaking of Despara vs Evil Lyn. The MOTUC females seem more rigid, and it’s true. They are less posable. It is a tradeoff for superior sculpting and paint, I guess. MASTERVERSE Teela also has bigger muscles, but they don’t ooze the manliness. MOTUC Teela is bustier, and I appreciate the more skin shown here. But MASTERVERSE Teela has a classic costume reminiscent of Filmation and also of the vintage figure…a figure I never had. I really never even saw on a shelf until I was an adult.

Pictured: MASTERVERSE Revelation Teela with extra hands and holding the sword and shield. MOTUC Battleground Teela with alternate “hair-down” head from MASTERVERSE Teela, also holding her original sword and the Great Unrest weapons pack shield.

Action Pics

Here you can see Teela in battle against Mer-Man from the same wave. You can see how the skirt does hinder some of the posing. (You can also see that she and Mer-Man wear the same color of underwear!)

Pictured: MASTERVERSE Revelation Teela vs. Mer-Man. Mer-Man is armed with not only his scimitar, but also MOTUC Sir Lazer-Lot’s shield.

Finally, I can properly display the father and daughter pair. (You can see Man-At-Arms review here.)

Pictured: MASTERVERSE Revelation Teela and MASTERVERSE New Eternia Man-At-Arms. Teela is wielding The MOTUC Great Unrest Weapons pack sword and pistol, while Man-At-Arms is wielding MOTUC Sir Lazer-Lot’s sword and MASTERVERSE New Eternia Two-Bad’s pistol.

So here she is with a classic group of Filmation friends. I like this kind of “disarmed” picture.

Pictured: All are MASTERVERSE figures. The He-Man shown is my favorite in the line, 40th anniversary.

Why the SpartanNerd believes this is one of the greatest action figures.

At the beginning of this post, I made a bold assertion. This Teela is one of my very favorites. The next picture is going to show you why.

Pictured: MASTERVERSE Scare Glow con-exclusive with Subternia backdrop and an added plant detail, MASTERVERSE Revelation Teela, who is armed with the MOTUC Great Unrest weapons pack snake armor and Staff of Ka. Both characters are using Mythic Legions magic effects, and Scare Glow is on the Cosmic Legions figure stand.

Whoa! Alot going on here! I had to take out the hair dryer because the MOTUC armor is getting some age, but new MASTERVERSE Teela’s head fit right inside after a little blast, making this my preferred way of displaying her. She looks just like the cross-sell art I saw on the cardbacks as a kid. Yes. This is getting into serious collector territory. After all, you are looking at years of building up this figure. But I love it!

SpartanNerd’s rating of MASTERVERSE Revelation Teela

You might have guessed that I would give this figure a rating of 5/5, and you are correct. It hits all of the boxes just as it is.

The two head sculpts are beautifully crafted and painted. The sculpt of her clothes is also very nice. She has great articulation. You have options for displaying her hands. The weakest thing here is that yellow shield, which could use some paint. I threw away the box, but this is beautiful artwork worth keeping a pic of in your Apple library.

But it is the world of possibility that makes this figure fun. Right now that “hair-down” head is on Battleground Teela, who is riding Battle Cat. EPIC! Right now, MASTERVERSE Teela is doing battle with Mythic Legions Demistros wearing that MOTUC armor.

So Hub City Geeks, were you as enthused about this Teela as me? Let me know in the comments!

MASTERVERSE New Eternia Man-E-Faces

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Click here to see a video of Scareglow, Man-E-Faces, and Khotal Kahn’s packaging.

I really don’t have many “good guys” from MASTERVERSE line yet. (So far, three versions of He-Man, Orko, and Ram Man.). This is a little odd, because it was the good aligned characters that appealed to me the most as a child from Masters of the Universe. But as I have gotten older, I find that the villains are definitely more interesting designs. As a child I always stuck with the Decepticons as toys, and Cobra also I believe because of the color scheme. And for Star Wars I am generally a dark-side type. But the good guys have nostalgia for me more because these were the toys I owned. One of my brothers had Skeletor’s guys and the other had the Horde. Meaning the big brother SpartanNerd always got to “win” at something else!

Man-E-Faces was yet another Valentines item for me. I picked it up in Columbia South Carolina along with Scare Glow and Khotal Kahn (from Mortal Kombat.)

And I have so many questions…I remember having this guy as a child. And I remember the filmation episode vaguely. It seems like 200x had a proper story where he could be controlled by Beast Man when he had on his monster face. So I looked him up on the internet to review some details. Wow…there is alot to this character that I either never knew or forgot. For instance, Peek-a-blue is his wife. European stories are more psychological, giving him a split personality, while American stories are lighter…he is an actor. But there are other questions. Is that his skin, or is it some kind of space suit? If it is his skin, then that is kind of gruesome that he has these hoses all over him. His face is orange…which is why this might be his skin. Other questions, who are the three extra faces?

Well, I should back up.

So the bio on the back of the box also says that Man-E-Faces has a shattered mind. Throwing back to those multiple personality issues European stories gave him. That his faces are the key to learning to restore Eternia is another mystery.

(Let me point out now that made a mistake in the package video, referring to Pig Head as a movie figure. Evidently Pig Head is Sun Man’s version of Skeletor. It is Pig-Boy that I was thinking of.)

Anyways, back to the figure review.

Here is everything you get in the box. The figure with the traditional Human-Monster-Robot faces. Three additional faces in a case, which are Prototype Man-E-Faces (so I hear), Keldor’s face (assumed), and Skeletor’s (assumed) face. The extra faces have a storage case. You also get two fists, a laser gun, and also his helmet is necessarily removable. That shiny blue paint is no joke!

I almost missed this detail in the packaging…(I was in the process of throwing it away)

So they made the gun into a tool! I don’t need it to turn the knob, but some kid might. What utilitarian purpose the laser is useful to me for is getting the faces to pop off of the turning drum or the carrying case.

Don’t know why you would, but the helmet looks pretty good on other characters. I feel like this is a space suit helmet.

The case has an unsightly problem. It is a perfectly fine item except for the hinge. That white stripe is where the plastic has stressed…this could have been handled differently. It seems like vintage GI Joes had this problem alot when they came with some type of ammo case. It has this “eye” design on it that fits right in with Masters of the Universe. In fact, this case reminds me a little bit of the one that held the Power Sword from 200x in the Mike Young show. (a different complaint from the Scareglow review…look how big that sword is on He-Man’s back.)

I mean…is this Skeletor? The color scheme is definitely different. But who else is a smiley skull-face? (OK. Scareglow.). Masters fans would automatically assume this. And if so, then the blue mustache has to be Keldor, right? Maybe this is a Mandela effect thing. I am remembering something from the “correct” universe. (Because if there are other universes, this one is definitely not the correct one!). What I think I remember is Man-E-Faces showing Skeletor and even Orko faces to Orko to prank him. Anyone else remember this, Hub-City Geeks?

I already mentioned the 200x story. I got to thinking, though. If he is primarily a man or a monster, and it is a split personality…couldn’t the robot version be something Man-At-Arms devised to “regulate” the two personalities?

(This pic shows an actual self defense tactic… Also, this is Metalhead from Super7 Ultimates TMNT)

So who is this?

Somewhere on the internet people are saying this is a prototype or design sketch artwork. It reminds me of Space Ghost…The colors match very well, and you can tell who he is. Would I have rather had a different face? Beast Man would have been cool, or Man-At-Arms. Or Orko. Or even He-man.

Here you can see Man-E-Faces can carry the case on his back.

How do I think this figure can be improved? The sculpt and paint are good, and there is variety of what you can do with the figure. He is very posable…no problems there. The gun is faithful to previous versions, and the carrying case is cool, but flawed at the hinge.

Hear me out, Hub City Geeks! What if you could remove this drum like you can the other figures’ heads. Just think. Now Man-E-Faces could be anyone, literally! I don’t know the logistics of it. But this is how this figure could be improved. I already show how the “space helmet” works on other figures. How much of a stretch to think about totally changing this mechanism?

I am giving Man-E-Faces a 4/5. What I say above is actually my imagination thinking of possibilities, not so much of a criticism. My criticism is that we could have had more faces, or at least different faces, and the hinge on that carrying case…as issue that Mattel would have known better than produce. They should have created a different design.

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