Hi, this is Larry Dottilio, writer for He -Man
and Beast Wars, and you are listening to the
Geekcast Radio Network. He -Man and the Masters
of the Universe! I am Adam, Prince of Eternia
and defender of the secrets of Castle Greyskull.
This is Cringer, my fearless friend. Fabulous
secret powers were revealed to me the day I held
aloft my magic sword and said, By the power of
Grayskull! Cringer became the mighty Battle Cat,
and I became He -Man, the most powerful man in
the universe. Only three others share this secret.
Our friends, the Sorceress, Planet Arms, and
Orko. Together, we defend Castle Greyskull from
the evil forces of Skeletor. Hello and welcome
to an all -new generation of the Powers of Greyskull
series, as we get the origins of any and all
Masters of the Universe fans that we can. This
is our 135th episode, or chapter, or whatever
you want to call it. Of course, I am one of your
hosts, TFG and Micah, and joining me as always
is... Optimus Solo. That's right. And today's
guest for the origins, well, we're starting with
ourselves. So instead of us asking the questions
to each other... I have Skeletor here with us,
and he's going to be asking the questions. So
when you find folks are hearing this, you'll
hear Skeletor ask us the questions, and then
you'll hear us give the answers to the 30 questions
we have for Masters of the Universe fans from
all generations. Yes, even new adventures. So
it's time we got into the Grayskull goodness
and we're kicking it off with the first question.
Take it away, Skeletor. Did you grow up with
Motu? At what age do you remember first noticing
the franchise? Well, of course I grew up with
Masters of the Universe. What are you, crazy
Skeletor? Because you're old. I was three. Huh?
Because you're old. Yes, yes. I was three years
old when the Filmation cartoon debuted. I know
the toy line debuted a year earlier in 1982.
We were both very young when this thing started.
Yeah, I don't really have any memories pre -Transformers,
pre -He -Man, or Transformers really, but especially
He -Man. I do remember He -Man. being exposed
to it before transformers. It was around since
I was like one or two. So obviously I don't remember
much from when I was one or two. So my earliest
memories masters universe would have been part
of, um, because we were already watching them.
I had older cousins that was not just watching
it, but also collecting the toys and things like
that. So I remember going to their house and
being exposed to the toys and then obviously
having toys myself afterwards a little bit. So
it's the earliest memories I have are masters
of the universe. So at what age do I remember
first noticing the franchise? Whenever my first
memories existed, I would say for me around the
sweet spot. And even though this is kind of sad,
but. The sweet spot from my memory of watching
it as a kid is probably close to when it actually
ended, even though I didn't know it was ending.
I kind of picked it up. I had the toys. I had
the castle. I had all that stuff. But as far
as watching the show as a kid, Syndication was
the king in the 80s. It's not now, but it was
then. And you could always catch an episode wherever.
At some point or another, they always reran those
because, you know, as long as you have 65, you've
got 65 half hours you can rerun. And I remember
watching it all the time. I remember, you know,
like I said, I've said before on the show, basically
breaking the Secret of the Sword VHS video because
I rented it way too many times from the adventure
and video store that we had had. So, yeah, I'd
say somewhere around five, six. Yeah, I mean,
that's obviously when most memories are forming.
Four, five, six. So it's probably the same age
for me. Give us the next question, Skeletor.
Which Motu series have you watched in their entirety?
Filmation, She -Ra, New Adventures, 2002, Netflix
She -Ra, Revelation, live action movie. I think
question two is just funny for us since we're
doing this podcast. Yeah, I would say so. But
there has been a lot of new stuff recently. So
I guess when it comes to which ones have we watched
in their entirety, everybody should know that
we've seen all of the ones that we've done the
podcast for, which would be the Filmation He
-Man She -Ra New Adventures 2002. Plus Revelation.
Yeah, but we didn't do an episode -by -episode
review of that. No, and we were never going to.
That's just too painful. What? I don't even know
what that means. Revelation is incredible. No,
I mean doing it episode by episode. Oh, I would
do it. But anyways, so the Netflix She -Ra, The
Revelation, and I guess there's another series
that attaches a He -Man name to it, even though
it's nothing to do with He -Man. Do it! Masters
of the universe, all your power on me! We have
the power. That would be the CGI Netflix. So
which of those newer series have you seen all
the way through? I've seen all the way through
all of them, except as we're recording this,
we're about a week away from season two of the
CGI series on Netflix. So I've seen all of them.
Okay, I need to catch up on the end of She -Ra,
the Netflix She -Ra. I haven't seen the last
little bit of that. I did watch the first two.
How many seasons were there? Four? Five. I've
seen the first three seasons, so I need to catch
up on the last two seasons. I've seen all of
Revelation twice, and I refuse to acknowledge
that He -Man and the Masters of the Universe
exist because it's just He -Man in name only.
So it's whatever. We're going to agree to disagree
on that, but... It's garbage. It's such a cash
grab. Don't get me started on that bullshit.
They just put He -Man on there so they can get
some money. It should just be called whatever
else other fantasy sci -fi name you want to throw
out there. It should just be called whatever.
Masters of the Realm or something stupid because
the only reason they put He -Man on there was
to get money. Anyway. Okay then. Skeletor, what
say you for the next question? What Motu series
is your series? And why? All right. Which one's
mine? I mean, that's clearly the one I grew up
with. So it's Filmation, He -Man, the original,
the OG. But that's not to take away from anything
else that's come after it. The only ones I despise
are the New Adventures and the most recent one.
And for me, Filmation will always have my heart.
However, as an adult, I have to say 2002. 2002
and Revelation for me are so neck and neck. They're
so good, both of them. Yeah, 2002 is so good.
And Revelation. No, it has too much Kevin Smith
in it. You were singing us praises when we did
the review for it. You've had a change of heart
apparently recently. No, I was not. No, I was
not. I was not seeing... I liked certain things,
but there were also many things in there that
like... The whole Kevin Smith and Evelyn thing.
Skeletor and Evelyn thing. No, that was very
Kevin. I can't believe you prefer the CG bullshit
over the revelation. I don't. No, no, no. Okay,
so I'll get into it since you said that. I didn't
say I preferred it. What I said was. The new
He -Man and the Masters of the Universe CGI cartoon
from Netflix is to what I think kids of today's
new, their new journey as to what Filmation was
for us back in the 80s. There was nothing like
He -Man before the Filmation cartoon. And that
started us on this whole 30, 40, 50 year journey.
I think the new CGI series is... Kids of this
era is their version of that. That's what I said.
I feel sorry for them. Anyways. My God. Skeletor,
please. Give us the next question. What is your
opinion on the other series? I mean, if I haven't
made my opinion clear on what the other series
are, I don't know what you guys have been listening
to. But Filmation has got great moments. It's
got some dud moment too, obviously. It was early
on and it was what it was. It wasn't trying to
be this continuity -based storytelling, which
a lot of people prefer. So if you judge it on
an episode -by -episode basis, which is how it
was meant to be viewed, there's good episodes
and there's bad episodes, just like every series.
I kind of feel neutral to positive on Filmation,
both He -Man and She -Ra. I think the New Adventures
is an abomination. I think 2002 was phenomenal.
If it would have been able to finish, it would
have been the best series, but it wasn't able
to. So for me, it's neck and neck with Revelation
so far, which I'm waiting to see where they go
from next. Yeah, Revelation has some bad moments
as well, but overall it's really good. The visuals
are fantastic. I think the characterizations
are great. And I'm just looking forward to seeing
where that goes. I think the Netflix She -Ra
is good for what it is. I think that is what
you would say is an introduction to kids of these
days into that realm. And it is made for the
youth of today. And I think that does a phenomenal
job of still staying true to what He -Man actually
is, unlike the CGI version, which is called He
-Man and the Masters of the Universe, which is
He -Man in name only. Skeletor, next question.
Did you own any Motu toys as a child? If so,
do you remember what your very first Motu toy
was? Of course we own the toys. Why would we
be doing this if we didn't own the toys, Skeletor?
Yeah, I mean, I own more toys now than I did
as a child for that series, obviously. And I'm
talking about the actual vintage toys. I have
more now than I did before. Right, yeah. Before,
when I was growing up, I can almost tell you
exactly what I had because I think it was like
a half dozen. I had the actual He -Man and She
-Ra, or excuse me, He -Man and Skeletor. as well
as like a battle armor, battle damage, He -Man
and Skeletor. And I think I had another one,
which was like a flying fist or whatever. So
I think I had like three Skeletors and three
He -Mans. So I had Sorceress. I had Rattler.
I had one of the rock people. And that might
have been it there. I think I'm missing like
one or two other ones that I had, but that was
about it as far as when I was a child. So I think
my first one was just the original Human and
Skeletor figure. I believe I got them both at
the same time, which was probably either at my
birthday or Christmas. Very cool. For me, I was
very lucky. My mom bought me everything. And
I've told this story before, but I, for some
odd reason, I kept most of the good guys at my
mom's house and most of the bad guys at my dad's
house. I mean, obviously there would be some
cross -pollination with having a hero. blah blah
blah but gray skull was at my mom's house and
i was lucky enough to have both gray skull and
snake mountain snake mountain was at my dad's
house and i've told this part of this story over
and over and over in the last 14 years that i've
been podcasting when i was six years old my dad
said you were too old for toys and he sold them
all all the ones that i had at his house i had
gray skull i had he -man i had battle armor he
-man i had battle armor sky i It was so weird.
We were creating our, you know, they always talk
about the multiverses now and the this verse
and the that verse and the whatever verse. We
were creating multiverses when we were kids in
the 80s because I had the regular He -Man, like
I said, the battle armor, regular Skeletor, battle
armor Skeletor, you know. You had all four of
those versions. I had Battle Cat. I had Panthor.
I had the sorceress, I think. I know I had two
different versions of Zor. I had the... Yeah,
I didn't have the sorceress. I had Zor. I should
correct that. Okay. Yeah, the little Zor accessory
or the little Zor... It was tiny. It wasn't even
like a super large thing. It was a tiny little
bird thing. I had that. What I ended up... There's
an infamous picture that's been going around
since I've been online with... me and my toy
box with castle gray skull. And I have like the
Raven from mask and Dick Tracy and James Bond
jr. And cap basically any, any other figures
other than masters of the universe figures in
front of my castle gray skull. Yeah, I did. I
think I had Tila as well. And I had a couple
of the vehicles. I had like the bones thing that
you could put like as a carry in thing for all
of the figures. And then I had, I think it was
called laser bolts. or something the red uh laser
bolt is the only thing i can think of it looked
like a like a mouth like a thing and then i had
two guns next to it i had three wheels i had
one in the wheel in the front and two wheels
in the back so i had that it was a red one with
eyeballs on the side uh so that those were like
the only ones i have but currently i have like
i don't know 150 of the masters of the universe
toys from different lines and stuff like that
including almost Probably 75 to 80 % of the original
line I think I have. I need to do a check to
see what I'm missing. Yeah, I'm going to talk
about what I have now later because all the stuff
I have now is Funko and it doesn't really, it
relates, but it doesn't relate to when we were
kids because we didn't have Funko when we were
kids, sadly. Right. All right, Skeletor, what's
question six? Growing up, did you ever express
your fandom in the outside world? Friends role
-playing? dressing up on Halloween, et cetera.
Yeah, I think I remember at least one Halloween
dressing up as He -Man. The classic, like, 80s
Halloween costume where you just had the plastic
mask type thing that you wore and then whatever
outfit they gave you. So I think I was He -Man
once. I don't remember, like, 100%. For me, though,
He -Man was more of something that I did play
with my cousins a couple times because, like
I said, they had a big bench in their dining
room and you could open the bench and it was
storage and it was full of all of his He -Man
toys. So I remember playing with those, but it
was more so the early. toys and cartoons that
i was watching so it wasn't like transformers
and gi joe where i actually played with those
uh outside with my actual age friends and we
would role play like with the thundercats claw
and like different things like that so those
cartoons that came afterwards were more of the
ones that i expressed outwardly whereas he -man
was more of when i was like really young so it
wasn't something that i really had a lot of uh
outward expression, I guess, in the outside world.
And for me, it's kind of the same thing. I was
more so doing the whole role playing thing at
school or the playground or whatever with other
franchises like Transformers or whatever else.
Funny you said you were He -Man one year. I was
Skeletor one year. No surprise there, guys. Yes.
I'm not as good as the Skeletor we have asking
us the questions, so take it away, Skeletor.
Who is your end -all, be -all favorite character
from any Motu incarnation? Let it be known there's
only one true choice. All right. End all, be
all, hero and villain. So we each get two choices.
For me, it's so hard. No, it really is. For the
hero side, it's so hard because... There were,
like, he's not really the hero of the series,
but for irony's sake, I almost want to say Orko.
Maybe that was for comedy's sake, not irony's
sake. Sometimes I feel that I am not appreciated.
I mean, how can you go wrong with classic Filmation
He -Man or even any of the other versions of
He -Man? Except I think that... I think with
He -Man and Prince Adam, even though technically
they are the same person, it isn't like, it is
and it is not like Bruce Wayne dressing up as
Batman. I'm kind of equating it to that where
He -Man is more of the adult side of the character.
And while He -Man can still have character growth
as He -Man, really the character growth we end
up seeing in most of the cartoons is all about
Adam. So. Yeah, for me, for the heroes, I did
like Stratos as a child, but I wouldn't put him
as like my end -all be -all. I did like the sorceress.
I did like Orko, but I think if I had to pick
like my end -all be -all favorite character as
we have watched the entire series back and all
the different incarnations and whatnot. I think
I have to still go with Zodak as my favorite
hero. I know he is somewhat of an anti -hero
because he kind of stays on the outskirts, but
he never is really a villain. So I would put
him as my all -time favorite hero character would
be Zodak. Villains, man, that's tougher because
I guess I liked a lot more of the villains for
some reason, it seems like. I liked some of the
Snake Men. I liked Merman was probably my favorite
as a child. But I think after the rewatch, it's
really a toss -up between Skeletor and Evil -Lyn,
depending on which version of each it is, depending
on what series it is. Some series I prefer Skeletor
slightly, and some series I prefer Evil -Lyn
slightly. Hurry, Skeletor, hurry! I am hurrying,
I'm hurrying! So from any Motu incarnation...
I'm going to kind of cheat, and I'm going to
pick a toy version because I am going to pick
Tongue Lasher for my villain because I love that
toy. I don't know what it was about the Tongue
Lasher action figure. That is one action figure
I brought everywhere we would go. Yeah. A lot
of the kind of. Goes into the overall appeal
of the toy line and the series in general is
that the toys did things that other toys before
that didn't. Like when you got a lot of the lines
that came right before this, such as Black Star,
I think was a little bit before this, but like,
or any of the toy lines in the seventies, really,
you know, you think like the big 12 inch GI Joes
and things like that were very similar to like.
what girls were playing with in their Barbies
and things like that, which is you could change
the outfits. You could change some of the accessories,
but they were very static. They were, they didn't
do things. They didn't have a lot of articulation.
And then they, obviously the, the original He
-Man line doesn't have a lot of articulation
either, but what they did is they started giving
individual figures, different abilities to do
things, whether it was a tongue that came out,
whether it was the, the tail that rattled for
Rattler, whether it was Triclops' eye change
or Manny Face's face change or different things.
There was a lot of different, especially some
of the more tertiary characters that weren't
the main cartoon characters, especially when
you started adding in all the horde and stuff
like that. They had a lot of different abilities,
whether it was Mosquito or with the blood, things
of that nature. So it was something that made
it so that you could... have an enjoyment of
both a character that you saw on TV, but you
could also have a separate or sometimes similar
attachment to toys and the characters that did
certain things. So that was kind of interesting
way that they kind of differentiated themselves
from what had come before. Yeah, absolutely.
All right, Skeletor. What are some other Motu
characters you like? I mean, I've mentioned some
of them. I was not the classic He -Man fan. I
didn't just love He -Man and Adam because of
whatever. He would probably be down, although
I appreciated him and realized his importance
and was probably rooting for him at times. If
I was listing my favorite characters, he wouldn't
be in my top five at all. Whereas Skeletor on
the one way is just because of how he was portrayed
and how funny he was in certain series and things
of that nature and the voice work, et cetera.
So I wouldn't tend to go to He -Man, but I would
go to some of those other characters. But since
it's Motu in general, I think one thing that
I should mention that we've kind of ignored a
little bit was the She -Ra characters and some
of that. So I did. have a liking because, hey,
this was the series for females, I guess, for
girls. That didn't mean that I wasn't exposed
to it because I had a sister and things of that
nature. And a lot of these characters were semi
-attractive or had powers or things of that nature.
So I was a fan of a lot of the She -Ra characters,
both She -Ra and probably Glimmer a little bit.
And then there was a lot of the other ones like
Lee Frosta and I can't remember all their names,
but some of those that I thought were cool. I
didn't have a strong attachment to them, but
I thought they were likable. I didn't like the
She -Ra villains as much as the He -Man villains,
though, so I still wouldn't put any of those
in there. For me, as far as other characters
in the MOTU franchise, the overall series, the
overall whatever, I more so was interested in
Adora than She -Ra. I mean, don't get me wrong.
She -Ra is She -Ra. Right. I wanted there to,
and I know this is not the way it was ever going
to be in filmation because syndication, blah,
blah, blah, writing for television was not really
continuity driven at that point. And I mean,
yes, there is continuity to it, but the biggest
reveal that we got was that she's the twin sister
of, like, there was no other, other than the
explanation of Hordak stole her as a baby. We
didn't see, we never saw how Shadow Weaver and
Hordak raised her or anything like that. So,
I mean, there's character development for Filmation
Adora, but there really isn't either at all.
Other characters, Cringer, Battle Cat. Even though
I know Panthor is technically supposed to just
be there to growl and fight Battle Cat, I wish
there was a little bit more to Panthor. I agree.
You know, other characters, I'm trying to think.
We saw a whole lot of Mossman. We saw a whole
lot of, like you said, Stratos and Buzzoff and
all that. I liked Merman simply for Alan Oppenheimer's
voice. Right. Basically Seaspray, but still,
same thing. Absolutely. So there are plenty of
other characters that I just... I just don't
know if at this point at 42 years old, even though
I like the characters, they're not so fresh in
my mind. Even though you and I have spent the
last decade or so covering all of this stuff,
I can barely remember four hours ago, let alone
10 years ago. And I guess that's kind of why
we have the podcast. Maybe I should go back and
listen to those old episodes. We understand,
Mike. Yeah, I know. I'm broken. I get it. All
right, Skeletor. Are there any Motu characters
you hate? Most preferably the blonde, beefy type.
Hate's a strong word, so I don't know if I'm
going to go all the way to that. But if I was
forced, let's just say just He -Man -wise, if
I was forced to list three villains and three
heroes that I wasn't huge on, for villains, it
would be Clawful, Whiplash, and Jitsu. I think
Jitsu is just a problematic character in general,
just stereotypes, et cetera, et cetera. But clawful
and whiplash just are blah to me. They just don't
bring much pizzazz or they don't have that it
factor that you're looking for. Yeah. They're
basically dumber versions of beast. And then
for the good side, I was never a fan of Tila.
She has been represented better in certain. stories
on certain lines or whatever but i was never
a fan of her growing up but if i had to go with
uh two other ones i wasn't huge on fisto it's
a weird name first of all and i was never big
on queen marlena and some situations she's been
real bad that's one of the downfalls of or not
downfalls that's one of the downsides bad points
of revelation is how they do queen marlena and
that and i'm sorry the voice work is terrible
on her but those were some that i didn't gravitate
towards A whole lot. I think if you're talking
She -Ra, I mean, Bose, whatever. Like, not great.
And then the voice work of, shoot, what's Glimmer's
queen? Angela. Angela was kind of a blah from
a voice standpoint. And then there was a couple
of villains in that series that were just kind
of whatever. But those are the ones that come
to my mind. What about you? If you had stopped
talking earlier, I would have said. As if. Oh,
God. Anyway. Yeah, you're right. I mean, hate
technically is a strong word. In general, I'm
not a fan of the Snake Men, even though I put
Tongue Lasher as one of my favorite characters.
I just like the way the toy is and whatever.
But overall... I liked Rattler and Cobra Khan.
They were all right. Yeah, I was never a fan
of them. And King Hiss was the worst. Yeah, King
Hiss is probably one of the worst out of them.
I just could not. Snake face. Yeah. Oh, no. You
know, for good side, I don't want to throw him
under the bus, even if I could find him to throw
him under a bus. But, Lukey, guess? I don't know.
Like, I mean, there are, if people go back and
you listen to our Filmation He -Man episodes,
episode 1 through 30, 1 through 45, there's a
couple of, like, Other characters, like Ed Weiner
and other characters that we can't stand that
we don't like. And Cousin Jeremy. Oh, fuck Cousin
Jeremy. A lot of side characters that you didn't
like. Yeah, there were a lot of side characters.
But for the main characters, there weren't a
lot. It depended on what they were doing. It
depended on what Skeletor was doing to them because
they didn't do the job right kind of thing. Agreed.
It is what it is. All right, Skeletor, you can
stop punishing your minions now and give us the
next question, please. Over your lifetime as
you get older, did your interest in the Motu
franchise grow stronger or get weaker? I think
for this one, as does everything in life, it
comes in waves and, you know, it goes up and
it goes down type of thing. There are some things
that I've watched and then it was basically hit
a point where I was done with it forever type
thing, I guess. But most things that I was a
big time fan of as a child have come in spurts.
So it's like it faded away because it got overtaken
by other stuff. So like, for example, this one,
you know, as Transformers. GI Joe, Thundercats,
Silverhawks, Turtles, etc. Each new flavor of
the week came, another one gets knocked down
and stuff like that. I think the difference between...
this one is that it has popped up at specific
points. So it's not necessarily my interest that
has gone. My interest has always been there with
Motu. I've never had a moment where I was just
like weak on it. It was just, was it relevant?
Was there something new for me to bite into,
et cetera. And the He -Man has a little, Motu
has a little different story than say Transformers
or GI Joes, which I think we'll get into in a
future question here. But yeah, it's grown stronger
and weaker, but that's not because. My interest
was less. It was just there was less of me to
partake in. Yeah, it's one of those things that
I've said recently is that the 80s for us was
full of choice and full of waves. So if you take,
let's say, G .I. Joe, Real American Hero, He
-Man, Transformers, Thundercats, Silverhawks,
and Turtles. So that's 1982 to 1987. Even though
those shows had whatever runs that they had during
those five years, that's five years of content
for kids that you could go from one to the other.
And we enjoyed so much of it as kids. And for
me. And you have so much time as a child. We
don't think of that. Like when you're an adult,
you don't have a lot of time, but when you're
a child, five years is a long time. Think of
your life from your fifth birthday to your 10th
birthday or from your 10th birthday to your 15th
birthday. You consume a lot. Yeah, absolutely.
So I, I don't think like my fandom is still there
and my, you know, my, my love of the franchise
is still there. But like you said, it depends
on if there is like, we've been waiting. If it
hits 2027 and there's no live action film, 40
years we have been waiting for a new live action
film. Yeah, I know. I just have a feeling it's
not going to do it justice when we finally get
it. I don't think it is either because I don't
think the problem, and I don't want to get on
this whole soapbox, but I'm just going to say
this as a blanket statement. Hollywood from the
late 70s up until the year 2000 and maybe five
years past that. Amazing. You had all these actors.
You had all these movies. You had everything,
not just He -Man, not just whatever, but just
the whole gamut of the entertainment industry
from 1979 to 2008. Those years we had, like,
you could envision Dolph Lundgren as a, you know
what? As long as he's still alive in 2027 and
he wants to reprise. I've seen Dolph Lundgren
in a lot of good movies lately. The man has kept
up his physique and this, that. So I wouldn't
mind seeing Dolph as He -Man again. But my point
here in saying this is that nowadays. Every time
I see a casting news for anything Motu, I'm like,
who is that person? Because I'm not so in tuned
to like, oh, Eddie Murphy, Beverly Hills cop.
Oh, Mel Gibson and Danny Glover, lethal weapon.
Oh, Bruce Willis and the worst Christmas movie
of all time. You know, that kind of thing. Like
it was more, even though we had less access to
it 40 years ago, it was more of. And those actors
and actresses doing more – like you saw Bruce
Willis in so many films. You saw Mel Gibson in
so many films outside of the ones that they're
famous for kind of thing. Like we knew who they
were. Now that we are the ages that we are, 40s,
whatever, you know, I don't know what these,
you know, kids and their – Did you just call
Die Hard a bad movie? Yippee -ki -yay, Mr. Falcon.
I don't know what these young kids and their
hipping and their hopping are doing anymore.
Anyway, Skeletor, let's ask us the next question,
please, sir. Was there ever a moment in your
life where you were through with everything Motu?
And the thing with this question is, it's more
of a moving on thing. Like I was mentioning earlier
about those five years that we just moved on
from one thing to the other thing to the other
thing. As far as watching it when it aired with
those five things I mentioned. Moe 2 has never
gone anywhere for me because the stuff I love
and enjoy has always been there and will always
be there, at least until I die. Who knows when
that's going to be? But point is, what I love
about the franchise is still there, no matter
whether they create new stuff or not. Yep. All
right, Skeletor. Question 12, sir. When there
wasn't a current Moe 2 series airing, how did
you keep your fandom alive? Rewatch old series,
write fanfic, draw art, toys, comics, etc. I
think that's an interesting one for me because
this is where I'm going to go back to what I
was saying earlier with the reason it was different
from, say, Transformers, G .I. Joe, a few things
like that. Okay, I didn't know new adventures
existed, I don't think, for... decades until
we did this so i will take that out because for
me that was like that was akin to like generation
two transformers like that's not a real thing
that's just like uh that's just a weird like
thing that they're doing to like whatever so
like i don't know like so take new adventures
out of the equation in my mind when i think about
he -man we had a series in the early 80s This
isn't like Turtles. This isn't like whatever,
whatever that was in the mid to late 80s. This
was early 80s. Granted, we had syndication at
different times for different series that would
reruns, et cetera, et cetera. But its main run,
its main relevance, toys being on the shelves,
people talking about it, et cetera, was early
80s. We go until 2002 before there's another
thing that brings it back into the forefront.
When you think about, let's just use two things,
for example. When you think about Star Wars and
Transformers, you can maybe even throw G .I.
Joe in there. But especially Star Wars and Transformers,
there has almost never been a year, a full year
in my lifetime where those things haven't been
on the toy shelves. So Star Wars has always been
on there. Yes, there was expanded universe and
some weird stuff going on, you know, in the late
80s, early 90s before we started getting the.
prequels and the sequels and the Disney verse
and all this other stuff. But Star Wars has always
remained on the shelves. Transformers for the
most part has always remained on the shelves.
There might've been a little brief, brief time
periods where they weren't, but it was basically
G1, G2, Beast Wars, Beast Machines, Unicron Trilogy,
you know, Prime, Classics, et cetera, et cetera.
It's always been reinventing itself and going
on live action movies, et cetera, et cetera.
He -Man, we had a 20 year stretch with nothing.
So it's just a little bit different. So it's
not that I didn't it wasn't relevant for a long
time. It wasn't that there was no interest. It
was just buried under other stuff. So there was
a long time where there was no series airing.
So how did I keep my fandom alive? I didn't necessarily
do anything to keep it alive. It still was existing.
It still was there. But it wasn't there wasn't
anything that I did to try to I didn't do any
fanfic. I didn't draw art. I didn't really even
collect the toys for a long time. I didn't rewatch
the series that much. Until later on, this was,
you know, after 2002 probably spawned me to watch
that and then rewatch some of the old stuff.
And then we did the podcast, et cetera. So there
wasn't much active involvement in me in the fandom
in any ways. I wasn't visiting message boards
or websites like I did with Transformers fandoms,
et cetera. As I've mentioned throughout the last
40 minutes of the episode so far, for me, things
come and go in waves, as you've already said
as well. By 1980. Seven when She -Ra ended. Because
there were several He -Man crossovers in there
outside of Secret of the Sword. So we did see
some of He -Man continuing on in animation in
86 and 87. 1987, Turtles hit. 1989 to 1990, Simpsons
hit. In 1990, when I saw the intro. Just the
intro. Not even the full episode. The intro music
and the intro whatever to New Adventures, I'm
like, ooh, my He -Man is back. And then 22 minutes
later or 30 minutes later or whatever it was
with commercials, this is not my He -Man. And
I just moved on to other things, you know. By
that time, I was in the middle of the Nintendo
cartoons, so Super Mario Bros. Super Show, Super
Mario Bros. 3, Super Mario World, Legend of Zelda,
Captain of the Game Master, all that kind of
stuff. And my enjoyment of Masters of the Universe
has never, ever faded, nor will it ever. But
it's just, like you said, it's not... so much
in the forefront of your mind. It's funny you
mentioned message boards. When I got fully into
fandom somewhere between 2006 and 2008, between
2006 and December of 2008 when I started the
TFG1 podcast, at some point or another I learned
about He -Man .org and their message boards.
At that time, and I still have this email address,
and it is what it is, not that I really care,
but it was, you know, My hotmail address. I went
on He -Man .org to join their forums. We're sorry.
We don't accept applications to join the forums
from this email. I'm like, wait, what? Huh? I
couldn't even get into the damn He -Man .org
forums. So I had no... It isn't like TFW2005
.com, which is the Transformers forums, and I
don't even want to get into that discussion.
It isn't like that where I got in and I realized
how much of a Toxitron that board is at times.
But the He -Man forms, I could never get in.
I could never get on them. And I just, okay,
sure, fine. And by that time, we were about ready
to start Powers of Grayskull series. And, you
know, it's funny because... We're recording this,
and hopefully I can have him on to do this with
me for his own personal He -Man journey. I just
recorded and released an episode of ToyCast a
couple of weeks ago with Scott ToyGuruNightlyk,
who used to work at Mattel, who worked on classics
and everything else, and we went through the
ToyCast toy collecting questions with him. So
I'm sure he'd be up to come on here. There you
go. Yeah. There you go. All right, Skeletor,
what's the next question that we got? With the
internet giving birth to the fans all having
a voice about what they like or don't like about
Motu, do you find that your voice gets lost in
the shuffle, or do you just shout louder? I love
hearing Skeletor ask that question. So, folks,
the origins questions when it comes to Transformers
and now here with Masters of the Universe, I
have always had this question, and I've always
phrased it the way that it is phrased, with the
internet giving birth to the fans all having
a voice, yada, yada, yada. So, for me, I like
surrounding myself with like -minded people for
the most part. I would say, 85 % of the time,
the people that I surround myself with, we generally
agree on the same things. It's perfectly fine
that we disagree on things. It's not the end
of the world. I mean, am I going to throw away
a 14, 15 year friendship just because Mr. Solo
over there wants, you know, would rather have
mac and cheese than watch He -Man and the Masters
of the Universe on Netflix? No. I don't care.
That's his opinion. I have a different opinion.
It's fine. It's not the end of the world. Yeah,
I mean as podcasts go, it would be boring if
we agreed on everything. So I prefer to have
differing opinions as long as it's respectable
and this, that, and the other. So like the nonsense
that was being spouted on almost all social media
outlets when Revelation was coming out or before
it came out was nauseating and that type of conversations
I want nothing to do with. So I will shout louder
than or just leave. those conversations because
that's just nonsense. Just stupid. Yeah. But,
uh, I, I don't feel like we, we, I'm going to
speak for you. I don't feel like we have needed
to talk louder. We've just talked more. We just
have more because we have like 150 episodes of
this nonsense talking about Motu. 135. This is
the 135th chapter of the Powers of Ice. So we
have over 125 chances to talk to you about Motu.
So we didn't need to talk louder because we were
just talking to ourselves anyways. You couldn't
talk over us because we're recording it separately.
Right. And I think the same thing with this question
is more so, again, on those message boards. Like,
okay, let's say, for example, I was able to get
in with my Hotmail email address back in the
day. And most forums have like a, hey, introduce
yourself to us kind of thread. At the time in
2007, 2008. I would have said, my name is Mike.
I'm blah, blah, blah. I grew up watching He -Man,
blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I like this, this,
and this. Hope everyone has a nice day. And this
is what I meant about the Toxitron stuff that
ends up sometimes on the other boards. If I say
I like something and somebody comes back and
says, oh, you can't like that. That's wrong.
I'm like, I don't have time for that. I don't
have time to argue. Arguing over... Whether the
sword needs to be silver or purple. That's just
dumb. There's a purple sword. There's a silver
sword. They were toys. That's it. Yeah. And I
like how they work those into the fiction too.
Even though originally those, the two have thing,
like I think over the, over the times that Motu
has been, how they've worked that aspect of the
fact that it's just two halves of the same sword.
I like how they've worked it into the fiction,
so. Yeah. So, yeah. All right, Skeletor. Is there
any music from the franchise that stands out
to you the most? For half a second there, I was
expecting him to play a flute. I have to be careful
here because I know how I am, even though I may
only include a three -second clip or something
with this question, because I generally love
all of the Filmation. He -Man music. I know you're
a very musical person. I've seen your wedding
video when you were singing and everything else,
and you like music in general. But you know what
I mean. I know that you are a musical person.
I just don't know. Music is not something you
and I have talked about. For me, when my musical
tastes are such that I prefer music that has
lyrics, I prefer songs, I prefer singing, I prefer
that side of it. I'm very much anti -instrumental
stuff. I shouldn't say anti, but I don't gravitate.
I'm not going to listen to instrumental music
in my spare time. Now, that doesn't mean I don't
appreciate soundtracks and instrumental music
that is attached to things like Star Wars and
Indiana Jones and Lord of the Rings and things
of that nature because they're just iconic and
they set the mood and that type of stuff. But
for me, when I'm asked, is there any music that
stands out to me, it's always going to be ones
with words. So for me, it's the intro, the original
Filmation intro, and it starts and ends there.
Not to say I didn't like some of the instrumental
stuff done throughout the series, but I could
never point. to my finger to like a specific
theme and be like well this music they play when
they're in eternia or something like that like
i'm not going to be able to do that because it
doesn't stick with my mind the overture for returning
it is great for filmation the orco music that
that that i'm doing it wrong but you know what
i mean Every time Orko pops up, he has his own
theme. I like the royal theme. I wish they used
that a little more. And I wish whatever the next
series ends up being past Revelation and past
the CGI stuff. I want to get more. You know how
we always, most of us, not all of us, but a lot
of us will remake. And I'm one of these people,
so I'm lumping myself in here too, folks. Remake
again. Reboot again. Why isn't there anything
original in Hollywood? Well, that's because IP
needs to stay up and whatever else. So my point
here is. We have always focused, and I know this
is probably never going to happen again. This
is like, what's his name? Kyle Higgins. asking,
even though he was able to write it, but asking
for an adult version, a more adult Power Rangers,
not Kyle Higgins, Jason David Frank, who played
Tommy Elwood. I know you're out of the Rangers
thing, but the point is Jason David Frank, who
played the original Green and White Ranger on
the original 90s Power Rangers series, has always
said as a person and as an actor, he wants a
more adult. So for me, if they were ever able
to do something, because most toy companies now
have two lanes. They have the child lane to hook
all your kids, and they have the lane for us
adult collectors who want to be children in our
40s so we can relive our childhood kind of thing.
So for me, what I would love to see, even if
it was just an opening three -parter, not necessarily
repeating what 2002 did, I want to see, basically,
as bad as this is going to sound, because I know
it sounds like me asking for Anakin and Padme's
love story in Attack of the Clones. I want to
see Randor and Marlena. I want to see how, like,
before they had Adam and Adora kind of thing.
And then you could always flash forward it, too,
after they've had them. I would prefer to see
much... further into the future than much in
further into the past but that's just me oh so
you want to see king he -man with queen tila
got it no no no i want to see uh like a he -man
shira crossover where they were both just you
know whatever doing stuff to save the world together
for a while yeah the reason why i say that is
that happened in the comics from dc anyway all
right skeletor Take it away. Have you ever rewatched
any of the series later on in your life? If so,
how often do you go back and rewatch any of the
Motu cartoons? I think with this one, we've kind
of already answered. 135 episodes. If we don't
have an answer by now in the last decade. As
far as how often are we going to go back and
rewatch it, though, it has dwindled to almost
nothing now. See, that's the thing. When you're
a podcast host and you decide to do a specific
overall genre podcast on a show and you've spent
the last decade of your life going through every
aspect of all of it, you're not going to want
to go through with it again. You're not going
to want to go back and rewatch. I'll watch the
live action movie every once in a while and I'll
probably watch Revelation again at some point.
But I'm pretty good on the rest of it for a long
time. Yeah, and that's kind of what I was saying
in another episode you and I recorded recently
about the Transformers. Because I went through
for our countdown and watched all 98 episodes
of G1 last year in 2021. It's probably going
to be the 40th anniversary before I'm going to
want to watch. Even though I have episodes that
I love that I could go back to watch, I'm in
the process of moving on and doing other podcast
things and doing other stuff. So, yeah. I mean,
right now we don't go back and rewatch most of
it, but if we had not done this podcast series,
you know, I'd probably go back maybe every couple
of months and catch an episode here or there.
All right, Skeletor, what do you got? Have you
ever read any of the Motu comics? If so, which
ones? Do you have any favorites? This question's
for you. My answer is the ones that Mike has
forced me to. Yes. I don't have time for reading.
Sorry. So, okay, here's the thing with you and
I. It's not that you don't have, don't say you
don't have time for reading. It is so hard. I
have three novels of Star Wars that I've meant
to read for the last year and a half that I can't
get to. Well, yes, but that's also because you've
had a child, you know, and all of that. But the
thing of it is, is your media focus is, again,
you can correct me if I'm wrong, but your media
focus is the cartoons, the movies, the this,
the that. And obviously it's not just on. He
-Man, Transformers, it's on whatever visual medium
you're, you know, whatever. And the only reason
why I've offered you the comics is because I
don't, you know, this is our show. I don't want
to sit here and say, I'm TFG1 Mike and I am the
master of powers of grace. Like, the whole point
is it's our show. As long as we generally agree
and I bring something to you and you say... yeah,
I don't have time for that right now. Maybe you
could find, and you've said that a couple of
times and that's fine. And I make up some excuse
of how you've gotten dragged off to the, you
know, fright zone or something or other, whatever,
you know? So I do plan on reading most of the
comics at one point. Yeah. I mean, we do have
a, a future plan that you'll hear a little bit
of at the end of this episode, folks. So the
comics keep it short and sweet. Uh -huh. Yeah.
I wish Skeletor was actually here live with us
because he would have a whole lot to say on this.
So, ladies and gentlemen, this is question number
16. And for those of you that may or may not
know, my buddy A. Das Baron is the voice of the
Skeletor you've been hearing. He does – I had
to voice direct him. I wanted him to go darker,
more towards 2002, less of the Filmation funny
kind of thing. So, anyway. He is the one that
generally joins me for the Motu comics and we've
covered most of them. I enjoy them. They're okay,
but I have not gone back and reread any of them.
Just haven't. Yeah. All right. But I mean, they're
not, again, it isn't like I read a comic and
was like, oh my God, I could never be it. associated
with He -Man ever again. It's not that at all.
Some of them were good. I enjoyed some of them.
They're alright. Okay, Skeletor. Quit playing
with your toys and ask us the next question,
please. How? Big is your Motu toy collection.
How big is my what? How big is my Motu toy collection?
It is 125 plus. So it was 125 last time I counted.
I've bought some stuff since then. So it's more
than that. Most, let's say probably a third of
that is the original line. Third of that is probably
the classic slash origin slash lines that have
come out in the 2000s. And then I have almost
all of the Revelation figures that have come
out except for one, I believe. I'm missing one.
And then I have some random other stuff, kind
of offshoots and whatnot. So over 125. I have
10. My toy collection is bigger than yours. Yes,
it is. I have 10 Funko Pops of Masters of the
Universe. And so, again, trying to keep this
short, but from... 2005 to 2011, I had a regular
everyday action figure robot Transformer He -Man
collection. Sometime in 2012, just after we started
this podcast, my mom said, I've been carrying
this thing around for 30 years. It's your turn.
And she gave me my original Castle Grayskull.
Now, my original Castle Grayskull, sadly, is
just a shell of its former self. It didn't have
the plate, the frame, the holder where you put
the chair, where you open the trap door. It didn't
have any of that. It had one of the two turret
stands, so basically the left one above the window
or the right one above the window. It didn't
even have the jaw bridge anymore, sadly. My mom
had been lugging this thing around, moving from
city to city, town to town over the years, over
30 years, and she's like, yep, nope, I'm done.
So in 2012, I grab it, and by, I think, the time
my mom passed away, it died with her. So, fun
fact, folks, I try my best to keep my apartment
as clean as I possibly can, except sometime at
the end of 2014, the beginning of 2015, right
before my mom passed away, I had just gotten,
and I'm sure I have these years right. I don't
remember, and somebody can correct me. This is
right as the Queen Marlena SDCC figure came out
from Masters Classics. Hello, ladies and gentlemen.
Future TFG1 Mike here, and what I'm saying about
Queen Marlena when she was released versus when
I had to give her up or let her go, she was actually
released in 2011. Can you believe that Comic
-Con 2011 is now just a few days away? Yada,
yada, yada. This is coming from the foosh. I
will put the link in the post on the website.
And yeah, the Queen Marlena action figure was
SDCC 2011. So even though I ended up giving her
up or letting her go because of the bugs in 2014,
she was actually released in 2011. So now...
Back to the show. God, I forgot how good this
figure was. Anyway, back to the podcast. As if.
Where she had both the queen outfit and the outer
space outfit. So I'm like, ooh, yeah, I have
a Queen Marlena now. And I had had other classics
figures at the time, so I was just, you know,
posing them with, you know, the old castle. And
picked up Queen Marlena one day and picked up
Castle Grayskull one day in late 2014, early
2015. a bug came out of Queen Marlena's dress.
And then I looked at Grayskull and I'm like,
give me a big garbage bag. See you later. Just
could not deal with it anymore at all. Dun, dun,
dun. Yeah. So my Motu toy collection right now
is basically Funko Pops. And I enjoy it. I think
it's fun because I try my best not to just get
the standard He -Man, Skeletor, blah, blah, blah,
blah, blah, blah. I have the Prince Adam. I have
the King Randor. I have the blue. I originally
had the purple, the more show -accurate version
of Evil -In. And I think I still have that. It
might be in storage. But out of the ones here
that I have, I have the new blue, the more toy
-accurate version. I have Slime Pit He -Man from
Funko. So Slime Pit not included. Slime Pit not
needed. They already did it for me. So I've got
that. I've got Terror Claws Skeletor. And then
I've got Grizzlor and Merman. Nice. And then
the other two I have, which I still have to take
out of the box, but Funko does this art series
stuff where they do all kinds of designs and
whatever. Well, He -Man is like... Grayskull,
green color. And Skeletor is purple snake mountain
color. So, you know, gotta have those. And then
I have He -Man on Battle Cat flocked. There you
go. Yep. Good stuff. Absolutely. Skeletor, take
it away. What is the one Motu toy you could never
part with ever? Or the one toy you wish you had
that you'd... I don't know if there's a toy I
could never part with ever, but any of the original
vintage line that's in good shape, if they're
not loose, if they're in decent overall shape,
I probably would not part with those just to
part with them. As far as something I wish I
had that I didn't, I don't really have a big
wish list when it comes to Motu. Maybe the Fright
Zone playset from the original or the Eternia
playset, because I have Snake Mountain and Castle
Greyskull, so I don't have those other two playsets.
I don't have a lot of the vehicles, but it's
not like it's something that I'm dying for. Once
I do my run -through of what I have from the
original line, there will be some that are on
a wish list of completing it, I guess. But yeah,
I'm not selling anything or getting rid of it
unless it's in bad shape, and I'm trying to replace
it with a better -shaped one, I guess. Yeah,
absolutely. I also phrased this question as in,
like, if the house is on fire but every human
and pet is safe, what would you run in and save
kind of thing? And for me, if I'm only picking
one, it's got to be that Slime Pit He -Man. Because
that Slime Pit He -Man Funko Pop, again, like
I said, our parents loathed that Slime Pit. That
Slime Pit made things so dirty. Yeah. It was
such a mess. It would be hard for me to grab
just one thing. I don't have one that stands
out above the other, so that's hard. And for
me, just out of design standpoint, if I was only
going to grab XXX, it would be that the art series
pops, because I need to make my next YouTube
video on the Funko Pop Masters of the Universe
art series, He -Man and Skeletor, because they
really are cool. All right, Skeletor, get your
wallet out. What was the most money you spent?
on a Motu toy item ever. You know, you would
think with as many toys as I have that I'd have
some story of one that cost a bunch or something
like that. But I actually hit the gold mine or
the jackpot, whatever you want to say, a year,
year and a half ago on eBay. I found somebody
that was selling off almost their entire collection.
It seemed like they were in spectacular condition,
great shape. And there was ones that I got for
like a dollar, $5, $6, $8. So overall, the entire
haul was a little expensive, but each individual
component was not very expensive. I think probably
the most I've ever spent would be when I was
building my hero and villain collection. I think
I re -bought either He -Man or Skeletor, the
original one, because mine was a little bit more
loose and I wanted one in a better condition.
So I think maybe that was probably 40 bucks,
maybe 30 bucks. I don't spend a lot on my Motu
stuff. Yeah, and for my Motu stuff, I mean, in
relative to what Funko actually has stores charging
for figures, I would say that the art series
pops were the most expensive ones at... just
around $50 each only because it, and Funko is
this whole other realm of things, but that was
the aftermarket eBay price. Yeah. And you know,
it is what it is, but this question here is more,
again, when we do the all things transformers
episodes of origins, when I can tell the story
of, I spent $800 on the 2008 botcon set. Along
with everything to go with all the extra things.
But that was a set of five figures plus, you
know, three or four more figures. But as far
as like one individual item, I think the most
that was ever spent was whatever the original
price of Castle Grayskull was in 82. Yeah. I
did buy Birdman Dodd's collection of He -Man
stuff, including Castle Grayskull, just to kind
of do him a solid and to add some pieces to my
collection. But again, that was a haul. It wasn't
just an individual thing. So there was multiple
things together. All right, Skeletor, time to
get fictitious on us. If you could create any
Motu fiction toy, cartoon, comic, etc. what would
it be and what story would you want to tell with
it? I kind of have already said it. I want to
see something. If I'm creating fiction specifically,
I want to see something before the twins are
born. I want to see how Marlena and Randor are
before all that happens. And then I like, so
that would be like the first half of the story.
Let's say if I'm getting Netflix 30 minutes time,
no commercials, the first 15 minutes would be
pre -birth of children. The last 15 minutes might
be like 40, 50, 60 years in the future when they're
almost dead and Adam and Adora are doing whatever
they're doing as adults kind of thing. What about
you? This would be fairly easy for me. I would
finish the 2002 series. Me too. So I would write
a conclusion to it. I would take on after the
fact, go with the Snake Man, introduce Hordak,
and we would finish that story. Yep. All right,
Skeletor, don't get all parental on us. Do you
have a my parents got rid of my toys story? I've
kind of already told this story. I said it at
the beginning of the episode, but do you have
a my parents got rid of my toys story? My mom
had a garage, so once upon a time, she knew better
than to put any Transformers in it. But I did
lose, I think I lost a couple G .I. Joe things,
but I lost most of my Motu collection, which
wasn't huge. But I believe Teela, some of my
He -Mans and Skeletors, the various ones I had,
things like that. Luckily, some of it didn't
sell, so I got to hold on to it. But I know I
lost a few figures there. I lost a Silverhawks
figure there. I was pretty angry when I got home
from my friends and realized that she had even
done that. But at least she knew not to put my
Transformers in there. There you go. All right,
Skeletor, you've been very vocal to this point.
Let's talk about some more acting. What are some
of your favorite voice performances over the
course of the franchise? This question is too
hard to answer. We've talked about this in Ad
Nauseam. In all the other podcasts. So, I mean,
I think when it comes to Alan Oppenheimer, that's
the first name that pops into my head. Just because
of all the different stuff he did for Filmation.
Mossman, I guess, in the most recent with Revelation.
But he's the one that comes to my mind first
and foremost. I think there's been individual
performances, though, that have been good in
each series. And there hasn't been a lot of garbage
outside of I wasn't a big fan of Orko's voice
in the 2002 version. I wasn't a big fan of Queen
Marlena and a couple. There was one other voice
that drove me nuts. I can't remember which one
from Revelation. But overall, Alan Oppenheimer.
I think there's been other good versions of Skeletor
and He -Man along the way. Merman's voice has
usually been pretty good. So those are the ones
that come to my mind right away. Except when
he's dressing up for Halloween as Batman. I love
you, Kevin Conroy. And I know it's not your fault,
but that was a miscast role. Yeah, not my favorite
Merman. Well, it's just more misdirected. It
wasn't that it was miscast. They just didn't
tell him to do anything to make it Merman. And
again, I... Okay, there are, you know, we should
do a whole episode on another show all about
voice acting, but there are voice actors like
Rob Paulson, Maurice LaMarche, obviously Mel
Blanc and Frank Welker that can do a thousand
different character versions. Even when he's
just speaking in his normal, regular voice. I
hear Bruce Wayne Batman with Kevin Conroy. It
doesn't matter what role he's in. That's what
I hear. I think Lena Headley, though, as like
Eva Lynn in this most recent one. Fantastic.
Man at Arms in The Revelation. I'm blanking on
the name of the voice actor, but he was phenomenal.
The other dude from Game of Thrones. I can't
remember what his name is. We'll look it up later.
For me, if I'm going to pick a favorite voice
performance, I love Alan Oppenheimer. I do. I
absolutely love him. But I love that darkness
that Brian Dobson did or Michael Dobson, one
of the Dobson brothers. I forget which one it
is off the top of my head from 2002. So if I'm
picking, I'm going to pick John Irwin He -Man
and the 2002 Skeletor. Sounds good. All right,
Skeletor, maybe you should be answering this
question. Who is He -Man's most formidable enemy?
Skeletor, Hordak, or King Hiss? I mean, seriously,
who's writing these things? I thought there was
only one possible answer. Like, a snake man?
Come on. This is my favorite part of the episode
here. We're getting to the fun questions now.
Who's He -Man's most formidable enemy? Skeletor,
Hordak, or King Hiss? This is an easy one. If
you've watched all of the episodes of all the
different cartoons, Hordak is more powerful than
both of those other two. He is, but who's the
more formidable one? Like, you're right. Skeletor,
never best He -Man, really. I mean... Yeah, that's
true. Hordak bests both Skeletor and King Hess.
That's true, but the question isn't about who
Hordak is going up against. It's about, you know,
we never really... I mean, technically, He -Man
handed Hordak his ass in The Secret of the Sword.
I mean, yes, Hordak trapped him, but once he
got loose, it's kind of all over for Hordak.
I don't know. Yeah. It's kind of like the Tootsie
Roll Pop. It's an answer we'll never know. Yeah,
I guess it depends on how much you're going to
go by, like the 2002 series, because that one
certainly sets it up for Hordak to be the end
-all, be -all. All right, Skeletor, who are you
questing with? If you had to go on a quest and
could only have three evil warriors or masters
of the universe with you, Who would you select
to be on your team? No He -Man or Skeletor. Mike,
what do you got on this one? I know mine. I am
going to pick Man -at -Arms. Decent pick. Stratos.
And just for fun, Tongue Lashore. That makes
no sense. I get, I get your man at arms one cause
he's resourceful engineering style, et cetera.
Maybe you need Stratos to fly. What purpose would
tongue lash? I don't know. All right. Mike and
my tribe will beat yours easy. Then I'll go with
Zodak. I'll go with the sorceress. And with the
third one, I guess you can throw him in and I
can't speak. Nope. Nope. Zodak, Sorceress, and
since that's a lot of magic, I guess I won't
throw Hordak or Evil Lynn in there. I'll just
go with Man -at -Arms like you did. I was going
to pick Mechaneck, but there's only so many ways
you can use a long neck. All right, Skeletor,
look out. I need a roommate. If you could live
in any of the following places, which would it
be? Castle Grayskull, the Royal Palace. Snake
Mountain, the Fright Zone, or Bright Moon? So
from a comfort level, it depends on what you're
choosing. From a comfort level, the Royal Palace
would be your selection because there's nothing
that's more with it more amenities and more people,
staff, and things of that nature. Castle Grayskull
would be the place where you're most protected.
Yep. Snake Mountain in the Fright Zone would
be odd choices for somebody to pick. I could
see somebody picking Bright Moon if they like
the outdoors, they like camping, or they just
want to be around, I guess, a lot of girls type
thing in that situation. Bo included. So for
me, I guess it would come down to either the
Palace or Greyskull. Yeah, I'm right there with
you. I guess I'll pick Greyskull. It's not that
far of a trek to Grayskull, so I guess I'll pick
the palace. All right. Skeletor, are you sure
you have your license yet? No way, does he? No
way. If all of the MOTU vehicles existed in real
life, which would you want to own, drive, or
pilot the most? All right, I'm going to answer
question 26 first, because as a kid, even though
I know I could never do this, but... Most of
us had big wheels as kids in the 80s. I always
wanted to drive or ride on the Sky Sled. Yeah.
So much of the stuff that was available, especially
in the toy line, was more land vehicles with
wheels and things of that nature. So there would
be a lot of those to choose from, but I don't
think you can pass that up when you have something
like the Wind Raider. Skyslade would be similar,
but either one of those, something that's going
to fly is going to be where I'm going to choose.
Yep, absolutely. All right, Skeletor, get planetary
here with us. Which planet would you choose to
live on? Eternia, Etheria, or Trala? So thank
God this is coming to a close soon because your
puns keep getting worse and worse. They're not
even dad jokes on your standpoint. So, all right.
Eternia, Etheria, Trala. The safest place? Trala.
That would be the one where you have to least
to worry about. There's not any evil stuff coming
after you unless they go through like portals
and things of that nature. But it's also like
living at like Willy Wonka land. So I don't know
how much you want to do that or not. I'm still
deciding. What do you think, Mike? I don't think
I would ever pick Etheria only because. I mean,
if it's Etheria after Hordak's defeat, sure,
I'll pick Etheria. But if it's Etheria before
Hordak's defeat, you're basically an enslaved
people. Yeah. You know, so Trella has too much
magnets, too much magic, and dumbassery at times.
I found the way to answer this question, Mike.
Okay. All right. if I am 10 years old or less,
I'm living in trial because that seems to be
a good place for kids to live. Lots of fun, et
cetera, magic, et cetera. If I am like 12 to
25, I'm living in the theory because hormones.
And then if I am an adult, I'm going to live
in eternity. Yeah. That's a good way to answer
that question. Obviously, the 80s was a great
time for action cartoons aimed at boys. Why did
Motu stand out amongst the crowd for you? What
made you a fan? All right. Oh, boy, the 80s.
Yeah, the 80s was a great time for action cartoons
aimed at boys. That is for dang sure. So what
made Motu stand out for me amongst the crowd?
here's where I will go with that since it came
first for me, as far as action cartoons that
I gravitated towards was a fan of was number
one on my list before anything else came out.
Why did it do that? Well, up to that point, obviously
I wasn't alive in the seventies, but the stuff
that came before it that I would have been exposed
to and things of that nature just came across
more boring to me. The stuff like thunder, the
barbarian black star. All the stuff that's kind
of in that He -Man mold that came first just
didn't have that it factor, didn't have that
wow factor. And something about Motu, and maybe
it was because of the toys and all the different
things you could do with it, like I talked about
with the blood and the necks and the eyes and
the things that you could play with and ram in.
You could make them ram into things and all that
different stuff just separated it from the static
toys, the dolls. They weren't dolls. This is
action figures. almost more than any other line
i know some people would say star wars but like
this is the line that transitions from being
a doll to being an action figure and so that
helps separate it and then there was just something
about the voice work something about the music
and the intro and something about it where it
was just like the thundar stuff and the herculoids
and the black star and all that kind of stuff
for me was more conan the barbarian type it was
more Almost in the vein of superheroes. And I
didn't gravitate towards superheroes back then.
Because they just all seemed the same to me.
So like this was something where I got. To see
something different. And something crazy. And
I don't know. It just was something that broke
the mold for me. So I think that's what kind
of made it stand out. Now it doesn't stand out
as much. As you get that other stuff going into
it. Because obviously Transformers did different
things with the toys. Mask did different things
with the toys. Etc. Turtles tried to do different
stuff with the toys. As you go through the 80s.
Maybe it blends more into the crowd, but in the
beginning, it really stood out about what came
before it. You just want to say ditto? No, I
mean, I agree with what you said. I just think
it's animation has come so far in the last almost
40 years or hell, let's just say the last 40
years from 82 to 2022. And the way animation
is presented has changed. You look at filmation.
You look at He -Man and or She -Ra, either one.
I'm Prince Adam, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
Go through all of that. You get that entire opening
theme. And then you get the title card. But you
also get music on top of that. So, yes, you have
the vocal slash instrumental theme for Filmation
He -Man. But as soon as that's done. You get
a title card to see what the episode title is,
and maybe that's all you focused on was the title.
Not you specifically, but in general. Not a lot
of us as kids are focusing on how many episodes.
May the man rest in peace. Larry Dottilio wrote
for Filmation He -Man, but that title card with
that little jaunt of music got me so excited.
And nowadays it's kind of not there anymore because
they've kind of switched about a decade or decade
and a half or so ago. They switched to doing
like a cold open and then a theme song and then
something else or they whatever that sometimes
some shows forego an entire theme altogether,
like an opening credits thing. So it is what
it is. What made. stand out the most was because
it was action -packed for both boys and girls.
Yeah, I agree with that. I think the intro in
and of itself is such a hook to get you in that,
so it really had a way of getting your attention,
for sure. Absolutely. Okay, Skeletor, don't go
casting yourself in the new live -action movie,
please. If the long -rumored live -action movie
were to ever happen, what story would you want
it to tell? Who do you think should play the
role of He -Man, and why is or isn't it Chris
Hemsworth? This question. This movie has been
rumored for almost 40 years. There have been
things happening, there have been things aren't
happening. And you're of the opinion that Thor,
of all people, needs to play He -Man slash Prince
Adam. Yeah. Don't agree, but that's okay. That's
because you're dumb. But here's the situation.
If this was a movie that was done legit with
a real director, a legit director, quality director,
and was done in the same vein as, let's say...
the marvel cinematic universe where it's something
that we're going to take something that's fantastical
and we're going to try to put a spin on it and
make it for a modern audience and make it believable
and make it visual visually appealing and this
that and the other and it's all seriously done
trying to be successful there is nobody in hollywood
that looks more natural as he -man like he literally
looks like he -man so that would be and he's
a legit seasoned actor that has done this type
of stuff then that's who we would get unfortunately
what we're going to get is we're going to get
some second rate director because it's the only
person that'll take on the project for some reason
and then it's going to be some no -named actor
that may or may not be good but he's not going
to look like him so that's my problem like it
is Right there in front of you. Like if you did
a lineup, like a police lineup, Law & Order style,
and you put all these different actors in there,
and you were to try to use a computer program
and say which one, like specifically from a science
standpoint, which one matches the most features
of He -Man, it is fucking Chris Hemsworth. I'm
going to let you have it, but my problem with
Hemsworth is it has nothing to do with him. It
really has nothing to do with him. What it has
to do with is his portrayal of Thor in Thor 1
and 2. Thor 3 is a little different, but Thor
1 and 2, I just can't deal. And again, as of
this recording, I just recently rewatched Avengers
Infinity War and Endgame. Now, if you want to
put Chris Hemsworth... You know, at the end of
his He -Man – I know this is not what you want,
Kevin, but if you put Chris Hemsworth as He -Man
at the end of his career and basically use drunk
Thor from those Avengers movies, that I would
pay to see. Yeah, but I think you're associating
too much of the character that he plays. Chris
Hemsworth is an actor, so he can play other roles.
Yeah, but – So he's not going to play Thor. He's
going to play He -Man. I haven't seen him. He's
an actor. He can do it. I haven't seen him in
too many other good movies, though, besides.
Fair enough. From a look standpoint, he's perfect.
And the girls would like it, so maybe they would
go see it. Okay, so if this is live action and
this is basically, let's just say it's 87 -ish
where it's He -Man all the time. So you're saying
you want him as He -Man all the time and no Prince
Adam? Or you want somebody else because... Hollywood
can do it. So he was Prince Adam too. That'd
be a lot of CGI. I actually cast this whole live
action movie on cinema geeks a long time ago.
So you can search it on Google. I did the whole
thing. I have perfect people for everybody. Remember
what episode that was? Oh Lord. I'll try to find
it by the end of the show so that we can get
it in there. All right. Final question, Mr. Skeletor,
sir. What? Is one piece of advice that you'd
give the Motu fandom and the Motu collectors
in general? This question. Question 30. Wow.
Calm the fuck down. Yeah, I think I think the
biggest thing for me is and this is obviously
came to big time awareness when Revelation came
out that. we really need to stop thinking that
everything has to be exactly how it was in the
past. So like, just because it was this way or
that way does not mean that it has to be that
way. You can make minor tweaks. People can evolve.
Characters can take on new tasks, new roles,
et cetera, et cetera. Right. So I think that's
just something that we all need to like appreciate
and everybody needs to calm. When it comes to
just a little, like you said, like the color
of a sword or the fact that Tila was promoted
to the man at arms or whatever, things like that
are just silly. Now I get it. Sometimes if you
completely change and make it so it's nothing
like the original one, like the Netflix CGI does,
where it's just like work, there's no similarity
between what that is and what he meant has ever
been. And that, that why call it he, man, I get
that. But when it's just minor little tweaks
and things like that, Everybody calm down. Like
they were freaking out because somebody got a
haircut. I think the problem with specifically
to revelation, I'm going to put revelation and
filmation in the ring, basically Rocky and Apollo
in the ring. Okay. The problem with Rocky is
that you had a guy, we now live in the internet
age. We've been living in the internet age, but
you got a guy as a show runner, whatever. in
Kevin Smith that I get he's excited for it. I
understand that. That's fine. Great. I want the
showrunner to be excited about the show that
they're doing. Just like I want a podcast host
like myself or yourself or Steve Megatron or
anybody to be excited about the podcast that
they're doing. But if he would have just come
out and said, Mattel owns this. We are going
off of the toys that Mattel owns. Nobody ever
would have said a damn thing about filmmation
rehash or filmmation continuation or any of that
stuff. But he didn't say that until after it
had already been. on netflix right but that's
the that's the problem is that people get so
wrapped up in what they see in a poster what
they see on a trailer what they see in a teaser
what somebody says in an interview that they
always have prejudged something before it ever
actually happens and like that part is just like
infuriating because like you should actually
see the thing you should watch the thing before
you've come to a predetermined you know course
of action on what you think it's good or bad
and they do that all the time and the sickening
part about it these days that always goes on
it always gets warped into some stupid political
thing where you're either right or you're left
or you're trump or you're not trump or you're
republican or democrat and they brought that
into he -man and that makes me want to punch
people because it just has nothing to do with
it like so that's the problem no yeah Yeah, so
anyway, like I said at the beginning of this
final question, everybody just please calm down
just a little bit. A little bit. A little bit.
Tiny bit. All right, so we're going to take a
quick break. You're going to hear some ads and
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I'm your host, Ryan. And I'm Chuck. That's right,
everybody. We're the Star Joes. We host a podcast
called Star Joe's Podcast. where we talk about
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of all the 80s properties. Star Wars, G .I. Joe,
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ToyCast. All right, folks, we are back here on
the Powers of Greyskull series. And before we
close, I wanted to look this up because I know
this was a piece of news that happened back in
December. Sadly, as of December 2021, Masters
of the Universe designer Mark Taylor has passed
away. I know this is old news, folks, but we
haven't done an episode of this podcast in a
long time. He was basically, you know, if you
look at the first like 10 minutes of the powers
of gray skull documentary that we covered, he's
in that talking about how he man and Conan and
mixture of both. And he's basically the guy that,
you know, he was credited with shaping much of
the Motu aesthetic. And turtles. And yeah. And
turtles. So may the man rest in peace. I didn't
want us to do this episode and not. acknowledge
that that guy passed away. We just keep, I know
death is an everyday thing, but we just keep
losing so many awesome, awesome, awesome people.
So, with that being said, if you, now that Kevin
and I have our stories out there, if you would
like to be on the Origins episode here at POGS,
send an email to feedback at geekcastradio .com
with the subject line POGS Origins Guest Spot.
You must have one year or more of podcast experience
and have a decent microphone, please. I use Skype
or Zencaster to record these. Anything else you
want to say, Optimus Solo, before we get the
heck out of here? Nope. Just bring on the live
-action movie, bring on the next season of Revelation,
and let that other thing die and fade away. Ladies
and gentlemen, in the future, mixed in with these
Origins episodes, we will be doing all five seasons
of Netflix She -Ra. And, and the two seasons
of the new show. Nice. Oh, Hey, by the time we
get to it, it may have three seasons. I don't
know. Be gone by the time. We'll stop it. So
thank you for listening to us as we are the powers
of gray skull series podcast here on the geek
cast radio network. If you'd like to get in contact
with us, leave feedback for the show. There are
several ways to do so. Visit the website geekcastradio
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at geekcastradio for the network, at powofgrayskull
for the show. I'm at TFG1. Mike, what is your
Twitter? At Optimus Solo. You also want to promote
the other one you use? Um, not too much yet,
but be on the lookout for something called the
geek showcase. It's going to come soon. You're
going to be able to see a lot of vintage He -Man
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as well. I finally set up a, uh, a Facebook page
for this show. We hope you enjoyed the gray skull
goodness today. And don't forget to join us in
our next adventure when we will be doing something.
I don't know. Comics, maybe. She -Ra, maybe.
Comics, maybe. It might be... I don't know. It
just depends on when we can actually record one
of these things. Dun -dun -dun. So, for now,
I am TF2 and Mike with... The one and only Optimus
Solo. By the power and for the honor of Grayskull,
we have the power. Amen. But only now do they
understand. It was all for Skeletor. That'll
teach you to fool around with magic. Curse you
all! Once I've restored evil linen faker, I'll
be back to have vengeance! So swears Skeletor!