One of the few Christmases I really remember well is the Christmas of 1982. The plan was for the family to drive out to California for a few weeks on Christmas day. A nasty snow storm was moving in on Christmas Eve and the decision was made to start the drive at midnight instead of the next morning to stay ahead of the storm. Which paid off. We ended up spending a few weeks in sunny California while those back home got the fun of a really bad blizzard.
I very much remember that as I waiting at the kitchen table that Christmas Eve, I was playing with my new Christmas presents, He-Man and Battle Cat. This was before the cartoon, so there was only my first mini comic to follow and I don't really remember being worrying about following it. After the vacation I used my Christmas money to get Skeletor and Castle Grayskull. In a few months I had all the figures and the battel ram. I didn't stay interested in the line at that time, although I would every so often get back into it briefly. In Junior High, when I was not supposed to be into toys (I have never actually not been into toys through out my whole life), I acted out a full on story line that ended with the death of He-Man (And many other characters) leaving Skeletor being victorious, as King Randor (A figure that is one of the more valuable ones today) went into hiding in with the powersword in hopes of finding another worthy to wield it. This inspired me to plot out a trilogy of books based on the concept, although I obviously could not use the Masters of the Universe, so I had to comes up with my own universe for it. I have notes and such about it and maybe one day I will actually write it all out.
The point being, I was a fan of the Masters of the Universe (MotU) from the beginning and while I went in and out of interest in the franchise over the years, I was still a fan.
In 2002 (Known as the 200X line by the fans) they did a reboot that was brilliant and got me back into the franchise. I collected the toys. Regretfully it was short lived.
Not too long ago my oldest got interested in the franchise and the two of us got together a impressive collection of vintage and a line they called Classics, as well the retooled line of figure based off the idea of improving the original molds called MotU Origins, as well as the Mega Bloks line. We now have four versions of Castle Grayskull in the house.
We were excited about the MotU: Revelation series, especially with how big of fans we are of Kevin Smith, who was announced as the show runner.
And he did not let us down. MotU: Revelations was extremely well done, despite the nonsense being put out by toxic fans.
The story was just great. They took chances, going against over used tropes (Even though they use classic tropes as well), keeping things interesting with some noticeable surprises. They give us a fun, unique adventure in we world we are familiar with.
The character development in MotU: Revelation was remarkable. They took Orko and Cringer, two characters that were little more than basic comic relief in the original series, and made them meaningful with some serious depth to them. They are not sidekicks here, but fully realized characters.
One of the real displays of inspired story telling is that He-Man is not the focus, so we get to see the world of MotU with other characters being guiding the story, including Prince Adam. Not that may sound a little weird, as Prince Adam is He-Man, but with Revelation they make Adam worthy on his own, without the power of He-Man. After death, when most heroes choose to be the most heroic visions of themselves, Adam stays the unimpressive looking Adam. How much character development is shown in that one revelation? When you look at what they did with Adam you get to see a truly heroic character that is not in it for the glory and fame and is willing to make serious sacrifices for those he cares for. By removing He-Man and letting use get to see Adam at his best, we are given a inspired look at who the character really is without needing muscles to be a hero.
I do have a few complaints.
They made a big revelation about Castle Grayskull, showing us its true form and that did not work. Castle Grayskull needs to be this old, run down looking castle of mystery, not some shiny, new age castle. I have no idea where such a bad concept came from. This was one thing I am surprised Mattel let happen, as it does against their established stories of the castle and effects the greater mythos of the franchise. It is one retcon that I personally will ignore and pretend was only a dream.
Another part that really bothered me, although it was regretfully very much playing off of the original cartoon, was that the only scene of any interaction between King Randor and Prince Adam, was Randor making it clear, in a very condescending tone, how disappointed he is in his son. It was a harsh scene early on that was not needed. The thing is this was how Randor treated Adam in the original cartoon. Adam took a lot of abuse from his father and Teela back then. Both of them were highly guilty of being out right cruel to him and it did bother me to see it done again this time around. That was an aspect of the original cartoon that is best moved on from. While it was there in the 200X show, it did not feel as harsh or as over done.
I have started reading the prequel comics for Revelation and have some issues with the story line, especially the attempt to rewrite Skeletor's history, going against a far stronger and more interesting origin that has been put together over decades. Not going to go into details on that as there are still a few issues to come out to finish that story, but so far I am not impressed with it.
Of course the five episodes they gave us left off at a major cliffhanger, so we are waiting patiently for them to get the other five episodes out to finish up the storyline. I have faith they are going to keep the same level of story telling and inspired character development going. By the end of it all, I foresee it being an exciting, enjoyable ride
