Tag Archives: Skeletor

Masters of the Universe (1987 Movie)

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The SpartanNerd’s copy on VHS. Don’t know when the last time I watched this tape was. This time I streamed it on Tubi, which was free except for a singular commercial at the beginning.

I have recently picked up two Evil Lyn figures…one MASTERVERSE Revelation, and the other MASTERVERSE “Movie Inspired.” I will be doing reviews of those figures soon, but I thought I would stop and watch the movie again…maybe the twentieth time ever. But this time with a more critical eye and thinking about recent toys.

As I watched, I jotted down some “quick notes.” I have a habit of doing this nowadays, especially on a second or third viewing of a film. I am commenting on a film that is 37 years old (as of 2024), and I am very aware of the “cult classic” effect of the movie on a modern audience. There are things about it that are forgivable, and others that are not so much. Below you can see my observations as I watched the film in bold, and my commentary a few weeks later in italics.

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The Castle Grayskull matte painting is very epic.  You can get a scope of the scale by seeing the Sorceress standing in the right eye socket.

We only see the castle a few times. That they chose this more tower design is interesting. I wonder if they were thinking of the Eternia Playset or something like that. And while the sorceress, in white clothes reflecting the Temple of Darkness colors, can be seen in that eye socket, I believe she is still too big!

The set of Grayskull isn’t very epic.  The throne room has steps that appear like average hardwood.  The throne and the Great Eye of the Galaxy look very dramatic, with nice hieroglyphics on obelisks on either side of the seat.  But the surrounding environment really takes away from it.  I’ll have to keep watching, but isn’t the great eye similar to Skeletor’s ship?

That there is this circular design behind Skeletor actually did confuse me as a child. Because Skeletor’s invading space ship also has this circular design. What?? is he flying around with the Great Eye of the Galaxy? I wonder why a better design wasn’t created. Why not something closer to “The Collector?”

Teela and Gwildor had never eaten meat or considered it.

This always has bothered me. Teela says that Earth is “Barbaric.” Isn’t that what Masters of the Universe is supposed to be? Even as a child I thought it was odd that Teela hadn’t eaten meat. Gwildor is a wierdo. He gets a pass. But the Captain of the Guard? She would know what rib bones were. She would have at least seen animals eating meat. And we know she enjoys Roast Gooble. But Movie Teela has to be straightedge I guess.

Weapons He-Man uses.  Up to the high school scene, we have seen He-Man wield the storm trooper rifle twice.  The blaster that he handed Julie was evidently set to stun, or Saurod’s armor is lazer proof.  She shot him point blank in the back, but it only jarred him.

He-Man stole Blade’s sword and duel wielded!

Another note…there is a “backless” part of the cape, good design choice for us to still be able to see the sword.  Haven’t seen the scabbard yet.

He-Man is a heavy gun user in this movie. I know my mother didn’t approve of this. And we never see him use guns in other media much…he hardly uses weapons including his sword in Filmation. I notice that the gun that came with the new figure is solid black, but He-Man’s blaster in the movie has silver parts on the bottom. I will probably customize this. Why didn’t they just give us accurate stuff? They could use GI JOE Classified for pointers! Eventually we do see the scabbard, and it is indeed only a half-sheath. Very strange, but the figure is accurate. Dolph’s backless cape is more dramatic than that on the figure…the backless part is almost ignorable. I know why that is there… so we can see the power sword, a necessary compromise. They wanted to give him a cape to make him more superheroic, but stay true to the roots that his main weapon is supposedly a sword.

The Cosmic Key has a handle like a gun.

I don’t own the Masters of the Universe Classics Gwildor, but I don’t think we have had a toy cosmic key that really captures what it looked like in the movie. It has that cylindrical shape, with tuning forks around it, and rows of buttons, with one big red light that activates it. And what looks like a blaster handle or rifle stock sticking out perpendicularly also. But no one uses the Cosmic Key like a gun. The little strap on the two MASTERVERSE Cosmic Keys we have isn’t a gun handle or stock.

39:18 into the movie, there is a cool scene of Julie and He-Man sitting and talking in the storage room at the high school (or a nearby construction site?) The rubble and items around would make a good photo scene for figures.  I wonder if there is a Courtney Cox figure out there in scale?  She is wrapped in He-Man’s cape

I have been making dioramas lately, and this scene caught my eye. I haven’t looked into a Courtney Cox figure very hard. I would be a cool idea, though! I also don’t know if He-Man’s cloth cape can detach from the armor. Something I might feel up to messing with. What is the worst that could happen? I have to gorilla glue it back?

5’5” short hair pink sweater

This is Kevin’s description of Julie to Lubick. He really narrowed it down, didn’t he? (NOPE)

Gwildor in a ’57 Chevy…pink.  “Primitive land boat.“

l love some ’57 Chevy action. The very first model car I build was of a ’57 with flame decals. This idea in this movie calls out to so many other things, from Christine to the Delorean to Grease.

42:30. Skeletor and Evil Lyn staring into each others eyes.

 Evil Lyn is agging on his obsession with He-Man.  This tracks with modern portrayals.

Indeed modern depictions of Evil Lyn contain this seductress element. The best is the depiction in the comics, where she used that guy to gain access to the Eye of Grayskull, and to get revenge on him for betraying Trap Jaw. In 200x Mike Young cartoon, she clearly strikes something up with Keldor, and adoringly gushes over Skeletor’s power later on, seemingly to regret the loss of that relationship. And in Masters of the Universe Revelation seducing Skeletor is her way of gaining the power of Grayskull for herself. This intimate scene in the movie is probably the first time we saw such a relationship between the two. In filmation, she was clearly second in power and ability, but no romance.

Skeletor’s force lightning evaporates Saurod.  My thought about Sauron…he is the least likable of the mercs.

As a child I had this toy. I remember throwing him up in the air and getting it stuck in a pine tree. So he got zapped here and “sapped” there!

Possible accessories for evil Lyn: Scanner, Hologram projector, (The image of the Cosmic Key actually looks a little bit like Gwildors vintage toy), Collar of Aldrabad

Evil Lyn IS NOT wearing pink.  It looks gray actually

Why am I pointing these out? Because the MASTERVERSE Evil Lyn woefully didn’t come with anything except that unpainted, “translucent”, Cosmic Key…the same sculpt of Skeletor’s without paint. They could have included all of these. In fact, the hologram projector would have been a no-brainer. The wand that she has in so many depictions, with the dragons claw and spherical crystal could have been easily modified. Just give it a flat top! So the SpartanNerd has a bit of color blindness…sometimes I don’t see shades so good. And as I watched the movie, I kept looking to see if she was wearing pink this whole time but somehow I missed it. But no I’m pretty sure it’s gray. There is a lot of lighting that makes it look pinker, purpler, redder than it actually is. Also, it is definitely a skin-tight garment. She isn’t showing much skin, something else I wondered.

Skeletor’s army has a control tablet that blows up the microwave because of its interferance. Why is Kevin putting Burger King trash in the sink?  But he is microwaving a fresh bucket of Robbie’s Ribs…

One of those nonsensical things you might miss if you don’t look for it. Probably Burger King paid for product placement. Another great question. Why hasn’t a Gwildor figure ever come with a bucket of ribs?

Evil Lyn leaves right as pink Cadillac arrives.  Classic 1980’s

Seems like this gag comes up in many movies. It is a classic.

Music Store destruction!   The music store scene has some of THE WORST acting

It’s true. So true. As a guitar player and musician, I looked closely at what kind of instruments were being destroyed. These are cheapies. I wonder if this was a set or an actual store somewhere. The shouted lines, the over-acted anxiety from He-Man to Gwildor to Karg. This is the hardest scene to watch.

Beast Man leads the stormtroopers.  Like twenty.

There are alot of extras under those costumes. Seeing Beast Man as a commander is a little bit different. He doesn’t speak, only growls and grovels in this movie. And yet the storm troopers (this is what they are, but it isn’t clear what their actual name is,) follow his lead. The guys in the air are called Air Centurions

Evil Lyn has a round ship.  Skeletor has a round ship.  The great eye of the galaxy is round.  Dumb design choices

Just pointing this out again. They did build a different Eternia for this movie. I get it. I suppose they didn’t want it to look like Star Wars or Star Trek, (both in peoples’ minds at the time.) I heard someone say that Gary Goddard wanted a New Gods story, disguised as Masters of the Universe. Maybe that’s why. From a filmography standpoint, and I am not an expert…this is the Christopher Reeves era, so the camera tricks to convince you that they are flying might have relied on that gimmick, where the rear view of the ship had to be obscured. (For some really bad Superman style flying effects, check out Robocop 3. Very cringy.)

One of the most heroic fights is when He-Man steals the centurion’s flying disc.  This movie so far has been kind of light on He-man solo action. But we see him use the blaster, lose the blaster.  Then use his sword to take out some guys.  When he lands to where Skeletor has his friends hostage, he throws like five stormtroopers off of him and grabs his sword, but then Skeletor blackmails him with the old “It’s you or your friends” routine.

He-man’s only true “weakness” is that he is bound to protect his friends.

He-man does indeed have half of a scabbard that hangs down awkwardly. He has no cape when Skeletor takes him away and you can see it well.  Also, what are those gems on his arms?

Teela remarks when He-Man throws down his sword. What is the story here? Does she know about Adam and He-Man at this point? Is it because it is easy access to Grayskull? Is it necessary to open The Great Eye of the Galaxy? That this is a power sword isn’t really addressed in this movie. It is hinted at. And He-Man does raise it for a “I have the power” moment in the movie, but does this give him more energy? Does the blast drive back enemies? Unclear.

Skeletor winces as He-man takes the beating.  A good detail.  It makes Blade seem more sadistic.  It reflects that Skeletor knows what that whip feels like.

Frank Langella was truly, truly a master in this role. This year he is 86 years old. I haven’t seen any other movies of his. But he really did Skeletor right. Menacing, calculating, diabolical. Also just over the top.

Gwildor has two strong ET moments. When he puts on the women’s clothing. And when he rigs up a cosmic key (like the communicator made from a speak n spell in ET).

That Kevin is a “master songmaker” kind of brings the high fantasy of “The universe is made of music” into realistic earth terms. Many people are musicians…this is something we can relate to. And every kid watching this movie would have a music class at school. This was the age of hair metal and synth pop. Guns-N-Roses was huge. Van Halen. Etc. And Hip-Hop. And every cartoon from He-Man and all of the upstarts underneath him had a theme song. And kids would sing those every day. This part of the movie makes the power everyones.

Some of Skeletor’s best acting is in the whip scene.  Also, he said He-Man’s friends should rot.  When a skeleton tells you this that hurts…but he also calls sorceress an old crone.  Her old-lady-look mirrors his sunken-in face look

The fight at the end where Skeletor declares himself a god.  Skeletor keeps zapping He-Man.  But he is seemingly indestructible.  Even the Darkseid eye beams.  When He-Man grabs his sword, we see it absorb Skeletor’s lightning. 

This tracks with the idea of the power sword being a conduit of the power, however this isn’t really talked about until later fandom, for instance The Four Horsemen designing the techno sword to harmonize with Grayskull.  

Skeletor draws the dark sword at the end of the fight, after He-Man breaks the Havoc Staff.

I brought this up because I asked the question “Did Skeletor even use this sword?” when I reviewed the movie figure. I didn’t remember when. This is the only time, when He-Man offers to save him.

The time paradox problem. He-Man’s armor is extra gold for the end

OK. Here goes. If Gwildor had the ability to send Julie and Kevin back in time, so that Julie could prevent her parents from crashing on the plane, then couldn’t this whole movie have been avoided? Evil Lyn duped him into giving up the Cosmic Key, but he had a prototype. So, why not go back in time and…tell himself not to fall for the trick? Tell himself how dangerous the Cosmic Key is? Or hire bodyguards? Or any number of solutions that would have by-passed the bulk of the movie. I suppose this is the problem of all time-travel movies.

Julie wakes up in a gown in her bed.  And walks down the stairs to her huge surprise…she can stop her parents!   But the way it is framed.  Like Christmas morning when you are going to get presents…this is the feeling of the scene!

As I watched this final scene, this was my thought. I mean, we just had Christmas here. And some of my fondest memories was going down the stairs on Christmas morning to find presents. 

Julie is wearing a frumpy gown…it looks a little bit juvenile for a teenager. These are the pajamas that kids are supposed to identify with. She sees her parents. And the smile, the reaction. Even if her parents go and fly…even if she goes with them this time. She has already made a difference in the timeline so that they won’t die. And what better present could there be?

But like I said…why?

“I’LL BE BACK!”

Sadly, Skeletor never got that return, did he. I remember talking to my friends. “When will He-Man 2 come out?” I was in denial that the movie wasn’t well received and He-Man was going underground. I lumped this sequel into the Back To The Future (Two sequels happened) category of possible movies. Rocky had tons of sequels. There were rumors of Bill And Ted’s Excellent Adventure sequels (This happened). There were rumors of Star Wars movies that would tell of Darth Vader becoming evil. (These were only rumors of children! Surely this would never happen. That would be too crazy!) But no He-Man movie ever came out again…or since. I became aware of “New Adventures,” and my younger brothers had He-Man and Slush Head. I disliked the different, wimpier design. I never watched the cartoon but once. But I jumped for Joy in my first year of marriage when they announced the trailer for 200x. I spent hours downloading that trailer over dial-up!

I just heard today on the ForEternia Podcast that the Netflix live-action movie that seemed to be the closest ever to a movie was just shelved. WHY?!

MASTERVERSE Trap Jaw

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I already mentioned that I picked up two MASTERVERSE figures on my birthday. Then came Black Friday/Cyber Monday sales which were wrapping up near the end of December. But I missed Trap Jaw from Mattel Creations. This led me to looking around somewhere else to purchase figures, and turns out that this was BigBadToyStore. They had a huge Cyber Monday sale, and I went looking for Super7 Ultimates actually. There was a huge and controversial sale on those. I wound up instead seeing how inexpensive the MASTERVERSE figures were. So I purchased Trap Jaw and Beast Man. Both of them are New Eternia. A video of the packaging below, with me giving commentary.

CLICK HERE FOR THE VIDEO

So I am pretty tired of using the MASTERVERSE packaging as photo backgrounds. Trap Jaw here is giving us a nice new red background. I am going to use that this time, but next time, something different entirely. You’ll just have to wait on my review of Movie Evil Lyn! 

What they have done with the packaging is more like modern Transformers of similar size. There is a small window in, with wraparound artwork. I like it…it is a departure from what we have had so far. But I was surprised to find something else when I opened the box!

There was a contents graphic on the inside. Furthermore, instead of displaying all of the accessories, they put them in this black box piece of packaging. (Actually packed in a little paper bag). I know this is a concession to cut down on the waste plastic. And I don’t dislike it. It is like a compromise between the windowless Hasbro boxes and classic packaging.

So what do we have?

This is everything you get. The figure, a hook hand attachment, a lazer gun hand attachment, and a claw-mouth hand attachment. And a short sword or dagger, which was a real surprise to me.

Looking a Trap Jaw reminds me of all those re-uses of the leg sculpt in Masters of the Universe Classics. I didn’t have many MOTUC figures, but it seems like several had his legs. Which isn’t a bad thing. They look good. Let’s turn him around. They are more science fiction-y.

You can see that behind him we have the expected clips for the hand attachments, and also a strap for the sword. Once again, what a nice new addition! Trap Jaw to me is the kind of guy who never needed a weapon…I mean, his arm does the trick. Mattel really gave us a nice update here.

As you look around the packaging, sometimes the jaw appears silver and sometimes red. So this begged the question…could we swap the classic “stock” jaw with the one on his arm. YES!

This is a bigger jaw, but looks even more “heavy metal.”

Just for fun, here is a comparison pic. (MEGA Masters…Mattel needs to give us more of this. Soon.)

Here’s another comparison. That is Eternia Mini Trap Jaw from the Snake Mountain exclusive set.

So how long is that machine arm? It almost extends his body twice as tall.

So here is a question. How compatible is he with other figures of a similar gimmick? It always bothered me as a kid that Roboto and Trap Jaw couldn’t swap parts. (I don’t have MASTERVERSE Roboto. Going to wait on a New Eternia version).

New Eternia Trap Jaw does not work with Super7 Ultimates Metal Head. You can see that the pegs are a way different design.

How about Super7 Ultimate Cobra BAT (Comics colors)? I really wanted this one to work. NOPE. You can see I have BAT’s gun arm on there, but it is very loose and holding there by gravity/balancing. There is a little ring on Trap Jaw’s peg that keeps it from working. BAT’s design is like a “straight plug.”

Trap Jaw is the perfect addition to the bad guys. Just like Beast Man, this New Eternia Trap Jaw is a real update. I love it and give it a solid 5/5. 

Hub City Geeks, I just joined the ForEternia.com website. I discovered that He-Man.org is no more. So there you have it. It isn’t like I posted there much since they took everything down except for the forum. I actually lost my log in. I got some feedback from Val Staples a couple of times when I e-mailed him questions, so that was cool. And best of all, one of my songs was on the Roast Gooble Dinner CD they took around to PowerCon, San Diego Comic Con, etc. Not that anybody is beating down the door to listen to my music. Just the same, it is an end of an era in my mind. I started with Adam Tyner’s page all the way back in high school, and that morphed into the org. It was the driving media for MOTUC it seemed. There were toxic elements of it for sure also. Fans seem to want a forum divorced from the industry, and I get that. So I am going to try ForEternia. You might see me on there sometime as the username SPARTANNERD, of course!

MASTERVERSE New Eternia Beast Man

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Yay! New MASTERVERSE figures on sale for Black Friday/Cyber Monday. I picked up New Eternia Beast Man and New Eternia Trap Jaw. You can see a video of the SpartanNerd showing off the packaging and waxing poetic below!

CLICK HERE FOR THE VIDEO

(Anyone catch the huge mistake I made?)

So there you have it! This is one of the final figures in the boring package that I have complained about. Maybe they were reading the blog?

Here’s what you get. Beast Man, who this time sports a headdress and furry armor (real soft goods!), a giant spiked club, traditional Beast Man armor. Two fist hands, and the whip.

I paid under $20 for this, but I feel that all of the value is there. I passed on the Revelation Beast Man, finding it too humble and untrue to the original. But this deluxe figure feels like a sequel in the same way that Mortal Kombat II outdid Mortal Kombat. The whole of Beast Man is here, and you also get more bonus play for your money! If I were a sealed collector, I probably would pass on this one though. He would need to be dressed traditionally without the headpiece on.

I mean, the loin cloth looks kind of oriental, but other than that this vintage style is wonderful. I also like the loin cloth here, but if a collector wants a modern representation of the original, they won’t be happy with that.

Oh yeah. I forgot to mention. He’s Huge! He feels like a real chunk of plastic. With the fur on, he appears even more broad chested than 40 anniversary He-Man! Question, Hub City Geeks…Is that bat too big?

And now you know. Savage He-Man cant be properly strapped down for a beating!

The armor and the headpiece fit best on 40 anniversary He-Man, with that huge chest and all. I tried it on Savage He-Man, but he is just too skinny. The headpiece really can go on anyone.

I mean, what’s this story right here? It is fun to mix and match! (MASTERVERSE Two Bad, New Eternia Beast Man, MOTUC Despara body, modified Battleground Teela head, MOTUC Sir Lazer Lot mace, MASTERVERSE Movie Skeletor Cosmic Key, and New Eternia Beast Man helmet). So what animal is the headdress? At first I thought it might be whatever Battle Cat’s armor is. But that’s not it.

They are presenting this Beast Man as kind of a potential outlier from Skeletor. I really liked the MASTERVERSE comic where Battleground Teela saves Beast Man as he too is a shaman, and can interpret prophecies about He-Man. (Now that I think about it, I have a representation of all the characters except for the unicorn!)

But he just belongs here!

My rating of this fantastic figure is a solid 5/5. MASTERVERSE New Eternia Beast Man kills it like Mortal Kombat II. You get the classic look as an option. You get the New Eternia look as an option, (which is a real treat). You get a spiked bat and substantial whip. A headdress. The figure feels like a chunk. You really have something! I spent less than $20. Any gripe I have with the packaging is being addressed. (They are moving away from the GI JOE Classified style to the more Transformers style.). So 5/5. Do you agree or disagree, Hub City Geeks? Let me know in the comments. (Too bad no one ever does…)

MASTERVERSE Revelations Tri-Klops

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What is on December 21? The darkest day of the year? The Winter Solstice?

Nope. The SpartanNerd’s birthday!

So I went to the Toy Federation in Greer. I intended to pick up a Mythic Legion or two. Instead, I picked up two MASTERVERSE figures, and one Mythic Legion. So here is my review of Tri-Klops.

This figure is of the Revelations design for the figure. I got him for $20, specifically because I had a lonely Trap Jaw at the house that seemed to need a Tri-Klops.

[VIDEO OF THE PACKAGE]

Tri-Klops came in the package you would expect. It is blue and boring around the window. There is artwork of the character on the side, and some information and art on the back.

I think it worthy to mention that they have the figure in the vintage style armor…with the priest of the techno cult clothes and armor beside him. Mattel knew they couldn’t sell this toy if he was in that robe.

Here he is out of the package…

As you could see in the box clearly, he came with this armor and sword, an alternate “pope hat” head, alternate “praying” hands, armor with a cape, and a robe. The cape and robe are soft goods.

I almost lost my temper, though. It took me awhile to get the visor on both heads to spin. I thought, “surely they didn’t sculpt this without that specific action feature!” It seemed like it, but then, with enough force, I got the visor to move. And I feel better about it now. The eyes should turn more freely than they do. But at least they DO move.

This sword…

It is the only accessory besides the alternate hands and costume. I am underwhelmed. I prefer this extra sword from the MOTUC weapons pack. What do you think, Hub City Geeks?

Tri-Klops’ sword…the thing about this sword was that as a kid, when I rarely lost He-Man’s sword, I gave Tri-Klop’s sword up to him. While traditionally it was green, it was bigger and perhaps cooler designed.

Check out this little comparison…just for fun!

This is a Super-Deformed, a Mega Bloks (Ok, MEGA,) and the MASTERVERSE Tri-Klops.

As just this…the MASTERVERSE figure is in fact just fine. He is is a bounty hunter, after all.

And he fits right in with this lot…(The only characters I am missing are Whiplash and Evil-Lyn.)

But there is this…

Yep. Tri-Klops has been ordained to the ministry! ”Reverend T.E. Scope,” I presume! We hope he turned over a new leaf…

So this was actually Kevin Smith’s doing. Both Tri-Klops and Trap Jaw are devoted to a goddess they call “Motherboard.” There is a figure for sale of Motherboard, but I probably won’t be picking that up. Essentially, it is a giant robotic woman with techno-angel wings. And she is apparently the herald of the Evil Horde. We saw this in the final scene of the Revelations cartoon, and this figure is set up to prominently drive the “Revolutions” sequal season. 

Am I a fan of this story? I never figured Tri-Klops to be a religious kind of guy. Kevin Smith has lined it up so that it is team magic vs. team technology. Which is different, I guess.

I guess I wish there was another accessory here. Maybe the chalice from the cartoon?

To me, this is the bonus character. I would trade this dumb head sculpt and costume for 200x drones, or a maybe a Grayskull ring accessory, or something else. A shield. A ray gun. 

As a costume, it is OK. The robe covers the whole figure, even if you keep the green armor on underneath. The rubber of the ribbons on the vestment wants to curl. If you pay close attention, you can see that the shapes on the ribbons are the same ones from Tri-Klops’ eyes. Just this Pastor ‘Klops don’t do it for me. 

I am rating this figure 3/5. It loses a point because of how tight it is to turn the visor. THE ACTION FEATURE for Tri-Klops. The other point because of the priest costume. Maybe I am looking at it wrong…now I have the robe to put on someone else. For instance the inner robe reminds me of what “Hamburgler” He-Man might wear. Couldn’t they have made the Pope hat into an accessory somehow? Then it could maybe go on anyone’s head! 

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

SpartanNerd Unboxing and Review …Masterverse Haul.

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I couldn’t help it. I received an e-mail from Mattel Creations about a clearance sale, and went to look around. I was pleased enough to buy what I wouldn’t have bought at regular price. The three items here were each under $10. In the video above, I am showing off the package. It seems like the easier thing to do with the amount of things I am reviewing. These are all in the “sporty” packaging that I complained about before, but at least it is collector friendly. I have waxed poetic about the line that is never coming back…Masters of the Universe Classics. After thinking about it for awhile, I believe they are probably doing the correct thing. There is symmetry between this line and Star Wars Black Series and GI Joe Classified, as well as some of the newer Transformers. This box seems pretty similar if you think about it. You get a nice artwork profile on the side, an illustration on the back, and in the window you can see what you get. If you were a collector of this line in package, you could file them on the shelf easily like books and take them out when you want. This is the way I see especially GI Joe Classified on the shelf at places like the Toy Federation in Greer SC.

As you can see, I picked up New Eternia Skeletor, Revlations Stinkor, and Revelations Mer-Man. I also have Revelations Savage He-Man with Orko on the way in the mail. After the shipping, I spent $55. You know, Super7 Ultimates cost $55 each, without shipping… See where I felt this was a good value? Looks like I missed Trap Jaw and Tri-Clops…these were already sold out. But today, I just browsed Big Bad Toy Store, and they have all of these at similar prices. It seems like it might be because of the Black Friday sales going on.

Let’s begin with Skeletor.

This “New Eternia” Skeletor has a barbarian vibe that I really like. Sort of stupid and cool at the same time that he has a goatee. (Skulls can’t do that can they?) The concept that they are referring to on the package is of what became Demo-Man, an early concept for Skeletor. In MOTUC they mish-mashed the story up so that Skeletor is Keldor plus this Demo-Man demon. This begs the question of how much of Skeletor’s evil is his own. Not a big fan of that story. The MOTUC Demo-Man figure was bright green and really evoked the concept art. This one only hints at it. I went back and looked and there really isn’t much resemblance.

You can read the article on Wiki Grayskull here

Above is a similar stance with the scimitar sword.

This figure has loose leg joints. It seems that the thigh cut is loose, and the bottom shin is also. So there is a complaint there. I really had to wrangle to get him to stand. The cape is an interesting piece. It has a large neck hole with a hard piece of bat armor meant to go over the top of the regular armor, really making this figure seem like a two-for-one. It is a soft-goods cape. (On thinking about this line vs. Classics, the soft goods have to be cheaper than those plastic capes. Think about all of the plastic and paint that went into those! With these, its a piece of fabric. The cost is less, and it does the job. However, there is something to be said about the plastic sculpted capes. They are impressive and it keeps a consistent look to the figure.

This is the way that I will generally keep him on display. This alternate head is more jovial but campy evil. The red eyes stare aggressively. The havoc staff is pretty heavy, and the pole is thick. I didn’t break any fingers, but you really have to stretch them. Skeletor also has a trigger finger but no gun accessory.

Look at how evil the goat head appears. This head is so different, like I said before, it could be a different character. Check it out on Movie Skeletor’s body.

Here I have a scene where movie Skeletor is summoning some help. See how this viking type of Skeletor can go as a generic kind of guy? Here is a good comparison now. Look at how much more detailed the paint is on the Mythic Legion army builder skeleton. With the Four Horsemen figure did they scrimp on the paint? No where. Skeletor has mostly unpainted blue plastic. The face is ok. But do you see why this figure is so much cheaper? To be fair, Movie Skeletor has many more paint hits. Maybe more than the Mythic Legion.

Oh the barbary!

This is the kind of thing I am after! Vikor fits pretty good with Skeletor. Yes, Skeletor is more articulated. So why didn’t I buy the New Eternia He-Man that was also on sale? Why would I? It is the same basic figure as Movie He-Man with different paint and a horned helmet.

The New Eternia He-Man doesn’t have a cape or the daggers. Essentially I also didn’t really like the way it looked.

Let’s move on to Skinkor

Here’s what you get. That mouth has a hole in it to plug that mask into. Without the mask it looks like he has an open mouth, giving you another option for display.

Notice anything missing? NO GUN. I think he should have some kind of spray gun. And no. He doesn’t stink. One thing I do like about this figure is the paint job. They really caked it on this time, which makes him fluffier looking.

So I wanted to see if he has a skunk stripe down his back?

Nope. No skunk stripe. No stink. No gun. BOOO.

There would never be a time when these two would fist bump! His hands are larger than the other figures. He has gloves obviously. But He-Man’s fist…I said it before. Deadpool baby hand.

The vintage Stinkor was a repaint of Mer-Man. Here you can see that isn’t true, at least between Revelations Mer-Man and Stinkor. There is some resemblance, and perhaps a different version of Mer-Man has the same head.

Speaking of…

My review of Mer-Man

This is the Revelations cartoon version of Mer-Man. Here’s what you get. Mer-Man, who has no removable armor. Four extra hands. These hands are four fingered and feature webbing. An aquatic scimitar type of sword. And a bident. (I mistakenly said “trident” in the packaging video. SHAME!)

This figure is a wizened and grisly motif for the character.

The box for Skeletor’s scimitar sword mentions that his is a “legendary weapon.” Mer-Man’s is likely generic. But it does look cool!

Never bring a bident to a gun fight!

He can even swim! (Just kidding…photo magic!)

SpartanNerd’s ratings of these three figures.

Skeletor is by far the best. That is exactly what I wanted! The undead knight look of that head is great. I do wish his legs were more sturdy, and that Havoc Staff has a little too much plastic in the handle. Taking off for the weak standing…4/5.

Stinkor is the weakest. I picked it up for just over $8. But no gun or other weapon? No stink. Why? You get a skunk themed biohazard suit character with a blue shield and some hands. 2/5. Pretty low. At least he stands well and the sculpt and paint are good.

Mer-Man is OK. I appreciate that he comes with a couple of weapons…pretty cool weapons. And he does look like the cartoon. I really like that color. Whatever it is … blue. Green. Aqua? The scratches and scars are a new and welcome touch. If they included yellow armor and a corn-cob sword it could be better. I am awarding 3/5. I’m glad to have him.

Savage He-Man and Orko are on the way. Keep an eye on the SpartanNerd Blog for my review!

Masterverse 1987 Movie Figures- He-Man and Skeletor SpartanNerd Unboxing and Review

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I remember going to see the 1987 Masters of the Universe movie. I would have been nine years old. But such a memory! We went as a family, mom and dad, me and my two brothers, and we ate at a cafeteria style restaurant. Back then we had a mall on the east side of Spartanburg, “Hillcrest Mall.” The same theater is there, but the mall is gone. I remember when the movie was over and we got out to eat at the place, my father expressing dislike for the movie, which was shocking to me. I thought it was great! I may have been experiencing a hype fantasy…not hard for an extreme fan like 9 year old SpartanNerd. I had most of the toys and watched the show every day. I got the magazine.

I remember this being a hard time…we were seeing less and less of the toys at the stores. I would keep getting some MOTU toys for a few years…when I was as old as eleven or twelve I got Tyrantisaurus Rex and Evil Lyn for Christmas, and was made fun of by my uncles. I didn’t care.

I just wanted to set the scene for you. We would eventually get the movie on BetaMax and I would watch a blurry copy a whole lot. Sure, when I was 13-16 years old, not much toy business for me. A few legos, and some models cars and things. But I remember clearly being a Senior in high school and getting on the internet for the first time. Our teacher said, “Go to Yahoo.com. There you can type anything you want and the internet will search for it.” And what did I type…”He-Man.” I found Adam Tyner’s page, or what must have been the beginning of fan pages, and ever since that is how I have stayed afloat. In college I took my Mosquitor toy with me. I have no idea what happened to it. But Masters of the Universe have been my jam.

Why this trip down memory lane?

I saw these on sale last week during the Comic Con…I saw it online of course. But Movie Skeletor had the ominous “Only a few left.” At $33 each, I didn’t want to miss out.

I didn’t get the Super7 MOTUC version of He-Man, and their Skeletor was God Skeletor from the final scenes of the movie. (Was there a MOTUC of regular Skeletor?) But these were so cool I couldn’t pass them up.

I don’t collect this line. I have mentioned a few times that I was immediately put off when I saw the first images of He-Man. And it isn’t as elegant of a line as the Masters of the Universe Classics. The only one I had before these was 40th Anniversary He-Man. I don’t have the Skeletor, but I picked up that figure at Target for $20. I was drawn to the packaging and just the 40th anniversery-ness of it. But these guys come in the “boring” packaging that is one of the things that put me off of this line.

But I might be evolving on that…I will need to have a look at some other boxes next time I make my unfortunate visit to the department store (probably Wal-Mart.)

The side of the boxes give us some images. I won’t say they are wonderful, but they could be worse. He-Man looks like a member of 1980’s hair metal band. Skeletor looks like the mascot for Iron Maiden or similar. He-Man DOES NOT resemble Dolph Lundgren in the art. (The other side of the package just has the name of the character.)

The two boxes on the back can combine to create a scene…this represents the Great Eye of the Galaxy. Or something like that from the movie, where Skeletor is about to open up the power of Grayskull. As a piece of comic book art, this is great. I was about to throw this box away…instead I am going to cut off the back of the boxes. This would be a great poster. HINT HINT MATTEL!!! And at this point, isn’t this rare official art? The last official movie art we had would have had to have been Erle Norem’s work from the magazine, or maybe some movie posters.

LET’S LOOK AT HE-MAN

The inside of the box isn’t bad either. This rock texture makes for a good diorama. Here is what comes with He-Man. This figure boasts of 30 points of articulation, and it’s true. But it isn’t pretty. You can see the joints all over the place. He-Man comes with two knives (sheathed in the picture), a lazer pistol (in the holster), the power sword, two extra fists, and a classic toy sculpted head.

I remember after seeing the movie that my mom was concerned about a couple of things. The cursing, and He-Man used a gun a good bit of the movie, which was uncharacteristic of the character. We had toy guns, GI Joes, Transformers, but she didn’t like us playing with them. But our uncles kept giving us stuff…You can see that He-Man has no problem getting into this classic lazer gun pose. You can see the armor on his legs…this is sculpted on. It has good details on it. Very busy. What do you think about this head sculpt? Does it resemble Dolph to you? Not to me. You can tell they were trying really hard to capture his likeness. But it just isn’t quite there.

These two knives…I don’t think He-Man used these in the movie? The one on the boot keeps coming up. It is from an early He-Man design, and it must have been present in the movie version. The one on his belt seems superfluous. But I guess He-Man is “EXTRA” like that. Notice the cape. It is soft goods. It reminds me of old Batman toy capes. Just a note, it was taped to the blister card in the box, and I was freaked out a little removing it…I was afraid I would tear it. The pauldrons on the shoulders don’t hinder the articulation much, but his joints are very tight. His shoulder joint is massive, and I was worried I would break something in moving it around. But he is tougher than you think. I am uncertain what the design on the center of the chest is or on the belt. A dragon? A tornado? A lightning bolt?

You can evoke a more cartoon vibe by putting on the fist hand and the classic head. Once again, this looks a little bit too…something. Naive? Oblivious? Is he smiling? Is he talking? To me there is something about this head sculpt that takes away from the character of He-Man. Maybe he seems too “soft” or something. I will also say, this is the same “baby hand” fist that we got with the 40th anniversary figure. (Comparison below. Notice that 40th anniversary has a much larger chest.)

And I guess I have to show this off too.

The sword goes through a look at his neck, and the point end fits in a scabbard on the bottom under the cape. Why not a whole scabbard? Maybe this is what the movie props did? I don’t know? You can see that the armor is removable. They missed an opportunity here to put some stripes on his back from Blade’s Lazer whips. Then I would be inclined to remove the armor!

LET’S LOOK AT SKELETOR

Skeletor comes with what you see here. The Havoc Staff, a dark version of the same sword as He-Man, the Cosmic Key, and a fist and a chopping hand. Was this sword in the movie? I guess I need to go back and watch again. Pay attention SpartanNerd!

Skeletor’s articulation. isthe same as He-Man’s, but there is a problem…The Samurai armor that he has hanging down is stiff and so Skeletor can’t be on his knees. Which is fitting…Skeletor kneels for no one!

You can’t do much with the Cosmic Key. But it looks nice. It really can’t be held and doesn’t have anywhere to hang on Skeletor’s belt like it did in the movie.

Here we can compare the two swords. I guess they are similar, but they are. a little bit different at the hilt.

The sculpt of Skeletor is terrific! You can remove his head, but the hood remains attached. Under that is the ribbon chain, and under that is shoulder armor, and the soft goods cape…all removable. There are bone details sculpted onto the chest armor. Like He-Man, I can’t make out what the symbols on the armor are. The missed opportunity here is another hoodless Skeletor head, so we can do the post-credit’s scene “I’ll be back!” (Of course this turned out not to be true…very sad.)

So how does the SpartanNerd rate this sort-of impulse purchase?

Like I said, Skeletor is just about perfect as far as a sculpt. He-Man misses the mark as far as Dolph Lundgren goes…but the rest of him is pretty good. He-Man is very articulated, but you can see every joint in exposed detail, which is unsightly. Skeletor’s sculpt is so busy that you don’t see the seams so much.

There were missed opportunities on both figures. A hoodless head for Skeletor, and stripes on He-Man’s back.

The packaging was surprising. The art is good, but He-Man looks a little too “Motley Crue” to me. The scene on the back is epic…it reminds me of the big Todd McFarlane splash pages. (But no art is as good as McFarlane’s! Well…Maybe Norem’s.)

I felt like I had good value. I am going to go with 5/5!

The SpartanKid (College kid now….) He said “What other figures like this would you get. There is no market.” I disagree!

Give me a Kevin, Julie (Courtney Cox fans rally!), Music Store Guy, Lubbock, Movie Man-At Arms, Movie Teela, Movie Sorcerous (old crone!), Movie Evil Lyn. Surely there will be a Karg, a Movie Beast Man, a Saurod, a Blade, and a Gwildor. Maybe a dark shock trooper with a flying disc. Maybe even a Robbie’s Ribs cow!

Are you as enthusiastic as me, Hub City Geeks? Do you own these? Are you into the 1987 movie? Let me know in the comments!