In the center of the universe, on the planet
Eternia, looms Castle Greyskull, ancient fortress
of mystery. Its power sought by the dark forces
of Snake Mountain, sanctuary of sin and sorrow,
ruled by the demon Skeletor and his evil acolytes,
and the only thing that stands in their way.
is prince adam who defends the secrets of castle
greyskull as he -man the most powerful man in
the universe only four others share this secret
guardians of greyskull all amidst an army of
the honorable Committed to guarding Castle Greyskull
from the havoc of destruction. For those who
control Greyskull control the power. The power
to be Masters of the Universe! Hello, this is
Optimus Solo, and welcome to the 126th chapter
in our Powers of Greyskull series. With me for
this journey, as he has been for the other 125
chapters, is TFG1 Mike. Hello. This wasn't the
plan. You screwed up the plan, man. You definitely
changed the plan. That is true. And today we
are bringing you a very special episode. And
because of that, we thought it would be fitting
to bring back a very special guest. So with us,
like he was in episode 125, crossing over from
the planet of Cybertron once again, none other
than Steve Megatron. Hello. Hello. And today
we have the privilege of bringing you another
very special look at the new Netflix series from
Kevin Smith, Masters of the Universe Revelation.
Last episode we gave you a sneak peek, spoiler
-free discussion of the series, but now that
the series has been released and you've had the
chance to watch it, we are finally free to spoil
the heck out of it. So you have been warned,
if you have not yet seen the series, please go
watch it first. Then come back so you can enjoy
an unfiltered discussion on all things Revelation.
You cannot get mad at us anymore for spoiling
this. So we hope you're ready, because it's time
to go back to eternity. Spoilers. Alright, so
it is time to spoil Revelation. You've all seen
it. We don't have to hide anything. We can talk
about everything that happens, goes -ons, the
ups and the downs, the deaths and everything
else. So let's get right into it. I'm going to
try to do this somewhat in order of what we kind
of are revealed through these revelations as
they happen. So the first major thing that we
get to see is Teela being promoted to man -at
-arms. And this is where people freak out and
they're saying we're changing He -Man and we're
making Teela a main character and blah, blah,
blah. This is going to be Teela in the Masters
of the Universe, not He -Man, et cetera, et cetera,
et cetera. Mike, what did you think? They are
taking her on a journey. Like, this is not Filmation
Teela. This is not 2002 Teela. Better than both.
There are aspects of those, like her friendship.
maybe future relationship with Adam, whatever.
There are hints there and everything, but this
is not the old school stuff. This is taking her
characters, her character traits and her character's
journey that's supposed to happen and putting
her on a path. It's no different, though, in
a way than what they did, Mike, with Filmation.
When they did go through Tila's backstory, they
did hint at things about her relationships and
her family and stuff like that. This is, in a
way, no different than that. Except for they
happen to promote her to Man at Arms. But guess
what, guys? As life happens, people age. Things
happen. People quit their jobs. People retire.
People get promoted. People do new things. So,
like, this isn't changing anything. It's just
a progression. And it's logical. It's a continuation
of the story. It's a logical progression. Who
else would take over for Man -at -Arms besides
the number two person to Man -at -Arms, which
has always been Teela? I think the difference
is that we always assumed, or I personally always
assumed, that Man -at -Arms was his codename,
not his position. It's always been said that
he's kind of... the military leader of for, you
know, for Randor and, and all of that and everything
else. And I think that people on the internet
are, Oh my God, she's now going to be blah, blah,
blah, blah, blah. And there are like chief executive
officers. There are plenty of female chief executive
officers out there that have nothing to do with
the fact that they're. A woman. Yeah, it's a
knee -jerk reaction nowadays. Anytime you take
a character that was male before and now make
it a female, everyone's like, oh, you're just
trying some liberal bullshit, and blah, blah,
blah. Anyways, I don't think it's anything to
do with that. I think it's just she was the natural
choice to take over for him, and that's where
this story needed to go. Steve, what did you
think of her kind of taking on this new role
and kind of being a central figure to this whole
series? I honestly didn't mind it. I always kind
of, I mean, I didn't see that much of it in the
past, but I didn't feel like her character had
all that much going on anyway, and so it kind
of gives her more of a third dimension than what
we've gotten to this point. Yeah, before she
was always more cardboard, so let's add some
layers to her. Yeah, and I mean, for the fact
that, one, He -Man's always been the center.
You know, him, Orko, and Sorceress and Man -at
-Arms. I mean, that's pretty much it. I mean,
them and Cringer. So, I mean, to flesh out everybody
else, it was really different. Absolutely. I
don't think it was bad, though. And I'm like,
with most things, I'm going to go in with an
open mind and let me watch it and see what happens.
And I'll judge it after the fact. But I had no
problem with that at the beginning. You know,
Man -at -Arms is a term that's existed for a
long time, so it is a title. But I can see how
some people thought that was the character's
name instead of not realizing it was Duncan,
you know, et cetera, et cetera. So I get that.
But if that wasn't enough of a shock in the first
episode, let's get to the main reveal, the main
shock, which is... Something that's always been
a part of Filmation and all of He -Man's stories
is that only select people know He -Man's identity.
It's the same thing in She -Ra. Only select people
know She -Ra's identity. So there was a very
small, knit, central group that knew He -Man's
secret. And there was all kinds of ways that
they hinted at this throughout Filmation. Like,
what if we put He -Man in this situation? How
is he going to not reveal his secret? Or what
if we do this? you know, capture Adam. And then
there's no way for human to be a part of this
episode. They, they hinted at it all the time.
Like, you know, through a film, this is, this
is what I was talking about last episode, specifically
with Marlena. I love what they did because if
you remember, and I know you know this, but if
people go back and watch the 2002 Mike Young
productions series, Marlena knows. That whole
episode with her being stranded in the forest
and her having to be rescued by Cringer and Randor,
and Cringer knows these forests and everything
else, she figures it out. So by the end of, even
though it didn't technically get an ending, by
the end of 2002, we already know that Marlena
in the background knows. And I love that she
already knew. Yeah, so basically after Filmation
teased it probably a hundred times of are they
going to figure out He -Man's secret, we finally
put He -Man in the situation. that he cannot
avoid. He has to reveal his secret. So Teela
finally learns that He -Man and Adam are one
and the same. Not only does Teela learn this,
King Randor learns this for the first time, etc.
So, Steve, what do you think of them finally
breaking that secret right off the bat here,
first episode, and also some of the reactions,
whether it be Teela's reactions, the King and
Queen's reactions. Did you think those were justified,
or what was your reaction to those? Oh, I definitely
think it was justified. They were betrayed. I
mean, or they felt that way because it had been
the secret, except for the select few that were
close to them, too. And they just didn't tell
anybody. And so, yeah, I mean, I could see where
their reactions were legitimate and where they
would be upset by it. Yeah, I can see them being
upset, being thrown off. Mike, do you think it
was warranted to basically banish Duncan and
Orko and just fly off the handle like the king
did? Or what was your reaction to that? I have
the power. I have to say, and I know everybody
in this room is going to groan and do an eye
roll when I say this. I do not lie. And I meant
to mention this last episode. I do not like Oswald,
a .k .a. Batman the Brave and the Bold, as King
Randor's voice, because his reaction, the way
he reacted, and the anger that he has, it, like,
I felt like he should have, like, he may not
have had known like Marlena knew, but I think
he should have had a better reaction. I don't
think he should have banished them. Being upset
with somebody is more than fine. You give them
some time to relax and maybe come back and have
a conversation. But just I don't like the reaction
of Randor. I didn't like it either, but only
because I felt like it went from zero to 100
really fast. But at the same time, he is reacting
also to the fact that his son is dead. So, I
mean, see, that's that's the problem. Right.
That's that's the biggest problem. I feel like
that's the the icing on the cake that makes it
so that he's so like that's why everybody's really
betrayed is because not only did they find out
he's He -Man, but that he died. Right. So let's
get in right to that then. Like Skeletor and
He -Man die in like the introductory to the series.
Where are we? This is the heart of the castle
where the Council of Elders buried the secrets
of Grayskull. All the magic that flows through
Eternia starts here. And it's going to be all
mine. Let this be our final battle. Obviously,
it's a cartoon and there's different ways that
some stuff's not always finalized or whatever,
but Steve, what did you think when they just
immediately take the main two characters and...
Get rid of them. I was genuinely shocked, especially
with how Skeletor staged it so that He -Man would
purposely stab him. Yeah, I was like, how did
that work? And unlock the... Whatever it was.
Yeah, the chamber of magic, as it were. This
particular plot point, though, does come back
to roost in the other Netflix series we'll talk
about later. because there's a scene where they
do something very similar. Not unlocking something,
but it's just... Yeah, that's true. There's a
lot of parallels between the two that I noticed.
Yeah, I noticed it too. But yeah, that aside,
I thought it was rather convenient, but I also
was kind of shocked that they... did that. And
then all of a sudden there's this big boom and
then there's nothing. Right. Here's the thing.
The internet, this is where they lose their mind,
right? Because they've been talking all this
crap for months now about this better not be
a Tila story. He -Man better be the main thing,
blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And then in the
first episode, we promote Tila and we kill off
He -Man. So they're going to lose their minds,
right, Mike? Yes, they are. And again, as I watched
this, I was like, okay, that makes sense. You
need to kill off He -Man in order to get the
emotional resonance from Marlena and Randor and
everybody else. You need to send Teela on a journey
of, oh, I'm just going to say this because I
know they won't. Fuck magic. Like, seriously,
that's what she's all about, the technology.
She doesn't give a shit about magic. After this
happens, where they take her on her journey,
she... basically goes off everywhere else other
than staying in Eternia and protecting the kingdom.
Of course, what do you have to protect the kingdom
from? Because Skeletor is dead. We'll get into
that. I know, but I'm saying like you said, they
kill He -Man, they kill Skeletor, they promote
Teela. I think it worked well for the story that
is told so far in these first five episodes because
it gives her a character It gives her a way of,
I have so much emotion this way that I'm going
to, like, perfect example for me personally.
Podcast I listen to, the Radiant Black podcast,
is about Kyle Higgins' ongoing series at Image
Comics called Radiant Black. Well, the hosts
of that lovely podcast, in their fourth episode,
they mention another comic book that... influences
and whatever else they mentioned Invincible.
And they mentioned Invincible in this podcast,
in this 40 minute podcast episode, like 20 times.
And I'm like, oh, I should take a drink every
time they mention it. For me personally, if someone
says, oh, oh, oh, watch, watch, watch. Oh my
God. Oh my God. It makes me want to go the other
way. Obviously this is a little different because
hello, He -Man and Adam are dead and Skeletor
to a lesser extent is dead and she needs to go.
on her path so they're giving her a path to go
on which is much better than just saying oh teela
go do the dishes well and here's the thing like
okay so we have this main secret that has been
kept for decades and all these different tv episodes
etc nobody knows you know you know clark kent
superman and all this stuff so we don't know
prince adam's he -man and the main people that
don't know if we look at it The people that don't
know for the most part, at least on the good
side, are, like Steve said, tertiary characters.
They're like side characters. Like, yes, King
Randor is involved here and there, but he's not
a main character, right? The majority of the
good characters, the main ones, already know
his secret. Orko, Battlecat slash Cringer, Man
-at -Arms, Sorceress, they all already know.
So who's the most important character that we
have that doesn't know the secret? It's Teela.
There's no other person that it could have had
the same emotional resonance with outside of
Teela. The only other main person that doesn't
know the secret is Skeletor, and he is part of
the disappearing act here. So he's not going
to have an emotional reaction, plus he's on the
opposite side. So the only person on Adam slash
He -Man's side that this works with is Teela.
It had to be Teela. Yeah, absolutely. I agree.
What are they going to do? Bring Cousin Edwiner
in here or something? Right. So basically from
that point on, we get this whole story that's
basically about magic and no magic. Because the
magic has been taken out of Eternia. It's causing
all kinds of chaos. Orko, Evelyn are having reactions.
Sorceress is having reactions to it, etc. And
we have a little bit of a technology versus magic
that we'll get to. So we kind of fast forward
a little bit to Teela and her friend Andra, who
are going to be like... like the main two friends
going through this journey, I guess. In a way,
it's a new character and that usually bothers
me, but I get that in this way it doesn't because
Teela's trying to get away from all the characters
that we know. So it makes sense that she would
run into somebody and make a friend that she
doesn't know. Although I still think this could
possibly be the daughter of Man -at -Arms' best
friend in the Filmation series. that's just speculation
and me trying to be a fanboy i guess but um but
obviously they're going on this journey they're
they're collecting and they do they do a cool
thing here because they start doing like the
the MacGuffin of the week type stuff. They pay
homage to the fact that in the Filmation series,
almost every episode was trying to get the amulet
of this or the crystal of this or the blah, blah,
blah of that. So they go on these little missions
to get goblets and different stuff. I thought
that was funny. It was kind of a neat way to
work that in, but also be like, that's not what
this is about. We're not going to spend a whole
episode on this. We're just kind of introducing
the fact that we're doing this magic storyline.
So I'll let you guys react to that, but also
then react to the cult of Snake Mountain, because
that's where we go next, basically, is this Snake
Mountain without Skeletor, which has now become
Triclops as the cult leader for tech. This is
the one part that is almost too bizarre for me.
It was super creepy, for sure. This is creepy
as heck, and he's brainwashed some of the evil
warriors, not all of them. But he has Trapjaw
there. And he has some... There's like an evil
warrior that I don't even know who that was.
Mike, did you know who the random evil warrior
that explodes is? I don't know who that was.
No, I don't. I think they just created that character
for this thing. But what did you guys... Mike,
what did you think of Triclops' cult? And did
it fit for you? Or how did you react to that?
First of all... Again, it's going in the whole
thing of the magic versus technology thing and
everything else, which is fine. They can do that.
I did not at all. It says it's Henry Rollins
as the voice of Triclops. I did not hear. When
I think of Henry Rollins, I think of all the
movies he's been in, all of the wacky characters
he's been. Specifically, Steve, you may or may
not remember or like this. 1994 is The Chase
with Charlie Sheen. He was one of the cops in
that movie. And his voice resonates. I almost
forgot that he was the voice of Triclops because
it didn't sound like him to me. Yeah, he's done
a decent amount of voice work. So I think he's
fairly good at kind of doing different characters.
So I didn't necessarily pick up that it was him
either, like you, but then when I saw it, I was
like, okay, I kind of get it. But yeah, I didn't
have a problem with him as a voice. It was a
weird thing they did with his character. Not
all about the cult of Snake Mountain. It was
almost too weird for me. I was like, I don't
know if I'm going to stay on for this ride for
a second, but luckily they don't stick with it
too long. I guess it's good to show that something's
happening at Snake Mountain without Skeletor.
And kind of what that is. But from there, we
kind of go to the main juxt of the rest of the
series, which is the hero's journey almost. They're
going to basically build up a squad or a party
to go on this adventure where we're basically
trying to... Recover the two halves of the sword.
Yes, the power sword has broken into two halves.
Spoiler, this is what we're doing here. And half
of it is in subternea and half of it is in preternea,
heaven and hell. And we are going to assemble
a group to go get that. The spoiler part or the
interesting part there is that Evil Lynn is going
to align with the good people, the heroes, as
they go through that. So, Steve, what did you
think of the gist of the rest of it where we're
trying to recover these two halves of the sword
to see if we can save the magic? I thought that
the journey was kind of cool because it kind
of took you on that almost Lord of the Rings
type vibe of, you know, yeah, they had some opposing
forces and people coming along the way to help.
I mean, and then, of course, you know, you get
multiple deaths along the way of main characters
that you would have never thought would have
died. Yeah, and I have a rundown that we're going
to react to each one of those in a second. it
was just, it was kind of cool seeing, you know,
sorcerers helping evil in, and then, um, Granger
also helped evil in, in that section. Yeah. I
mean, and, and so they're, they're guiding Tila
and, uh, her sidekick along the way. And it's,
I don't, I don't know. I just, I thought it was
kind of cool just sending them on this quest
and to, to rebuild the two halves of the sword.
Mike, what did you think about like that hero's
quest type thing that we're going on? I liked
it. I thought it was interesting. I wish that,
again, this is going to the voice acting, and
I know there's nothing we can do about it now,
but I really wish it was Terra Strong as Teela,
because you would have Terra Strong as Teela
pre -summer as Andra, and they could team up
again like they used to do in various other animated
series. But anyway, I love this quest where everybody
has to team up, like Evelyn and Orko teaming
up. Who would have ever thought of that? But
that is awesome. I love that. I think it's interesting.
I love the way it is written. I love the way
the writing basically says, okay, He -Man's gone.
Skeletor, quote, gone. We need to work together
to save the planet. Right. So I like that. I
was trying to find some of the writers, but because
we're doing this before the show actually gets
released, I don't remember because I don't have
the screenshots who the writing staff was for
this, but I love how it's written because Kevin
Smith is the show runner. He's the one that puts
the ideas together or brings the people together
that have the ideas for it. So I really want
to praise the writing. It is very well done.
That whole episode where they're in Subternia
and they have to face Scareglow and they have
to each go off in this two by twos and I keep
having to tell the rabbits, only two, only two.
The whole adventure thing with the questing,
I thought that was very well done. I think they
did a good job of balancing when the whole group
was together and then also splitting them up
at times so we can get some characterization
and some relationship building. Sometimes they
do that too much in a show or a movie where they're
split up the whole time and you never get them
teamed up. And I think they had both in this,
which helps. So along the way, we pick up. So
we have Eva Lynn. We have obviously Tila and
Andra. We have them pick up Man -at -Arms in
a way, Orko, Beastman. Roboto, those are the
main people that are along for... I don't think
I missed anybody. Those are the main people along
for this journey. And we go to Hell first, and
then we go to Heaven. So we go to Subternia first,
and then Preternia. Before we get into the character
deaths, which Steve brought up, which we're going
to run down here in a second, just one last thing
before that. Mike, they also reveal Greyskull's
real appearance. So, to me, this was a genius
move. Because something that I was always thrown
off... during the series was like why does grayskull
look like it does why is it so if it's so important
and it's such a magical place and this that and
the other why does it look so old so run down
so evil in a way it almost has a sinister look
to it and they reveal that that's all a disguise
it's all a ruse it's a mirage that they're doing
to try to keep it hidden and unassuming so what
did you think of that reveal Yeah, I thought
that was great. Because, again, they're working,
like, as we said last episode, yes, it is trying
to pay homage to Filmation. But where they also
are working from is 2002, because they're hiding
the Temple of Wisdom or Council, whatever, with
the Council of Elders kind of thing. So they're
working everything in to give it all to us. And
I thought that finally we actually have an explanation.
I mean, the explanation we were given in 2002
was more than fine. Whatever. I didn't necessarily
need to know where the giant castle came from,
but because they are trying to not only get us,
they're also trying to reel in new viewers to
the franchise. I love that they called back to
the temple of wisdom. I thought that was great.
That a grace bill is essentially just a disguise.
Steve, what did you think of the two images of
Greyskull? I was always curious why it looked
like a dump and just this terrifying place. And
then to see it in its pure... glory there, I
was like, oh, so that's what we're supposed to
be seeing. So we're going to go through all the
deaths, and then I'm going to talk about some
characters that show up that we didn't want to
spoil in the first part of this. So we'll get
into some characters that do appear, how the
ending goes, and kind of the cliffhanger it leaves
us on. And then we have a couple of other little
things towards the end to kind of put a bow on
it. So, man, there's some stakes in this series.
Characters do die. It's like, Transformers the
movie all over again. So legit people are dying
here. And there was even some people that I thought
were dying that apparently didn't. But let's
go down the line here. Man, they tease us. They
give us Mossman. They give us Alan Oppenheimer.
And then they immediately kill him. I was like,
no, I want more Alan Oppenheimer. Luckily, we
do get him in heaven. But Mike, what did you
think of them burning Mossman alive? You defile
the heart of Grayskull with your very presence.
Leave this place and never return. That's one
way to go. I mean, you know. It's, uh... That
would have been the only way you could have killed
Mossman. Smells like pine. You can't tend the
garden without pulling a few weeds. It kind of
makes sense. Again, as I mentioned last episode,
I'll mention it here. With the voice cast, you
have Alan flippin' Oppenheimer. I know he only
plays one role. He could have played at least
two. But it's just one of those things where...
I love that they made him Mossman, but like you
said, the fact that they kill him is like, oh
boy. It's like the movie where you get that cameo
where you're like, oh great, this guy shows up
and you know that they're only going to have
one line because that's all they were going out
of retirement for or whatever. Perfect example
is, even though he didn't have any lines, it's
like Optimus Prime running thrust over with his
truck in the movie going to face Megatron. But
yeah, no, that was ooh. burned a lot. That was
like the first time where you're like, I mean,
obviously we do have He -Man and Skeletor dying
right off the bat, but then... Obviously, but
some of these deaths are pretty gruesome. Well,
in He -Man and Skeletor dying right off the bat,
you're like, well, that's probably going to come
back in some way, shape, or form. I'm not convinced
that they're 100 % dead. When Mossman gets killed,
it's like, no, he's dead. That's it for him.
Just to run down the rest and then get your guys'
group reaction. So we had He -Man, Skeletor...
kind of die uh mossman dead dead roboto dead
dead and orco dead and buried so um steve what
were you thinking as they're just killing off
characters left and right i i was definitely
going well no one is safe uh but i but i did
have that that feeling that they weren't going
to keep skeletor and he -man gone For very long.
I mean, I figured that they would keep them as
gone as long as they did. Um, but yeah, I always
had the suspicion that they were going to, uh,
um, bring them back. Right. Yeah. It's kind of
odd too. Like I get Mossman and Roboto cause
there's a lot of masters and you know, they can
go through cycle through other ones. Orko for
me was like, Whoa, like. That's one of the main
guys, guys. He's not supposed to die. He's part
of the main group. He's part of the party. You
can take off Mossman and Roboto and throw in
Ramman and Stratos or something, and it's fine.
We still have enough characters. But when they
killed off Orko, and then they buried him, and
I'm like, well. I mean, they do find ways to
kind of bring back Mossman through preternia,
because that's where he goes, and that's where
we re -meet Adam. not He -Man, but Adam in Preternia.
So they kind of bring them back. We also get
a lot of, I think their other thing to do, because
they knew people were going to flip out that,
Hey, He -Man's not here because they killed him
in the first episode. And now we're going to
get five episodes or however many episodes without
He -Man. So they went out of their way to do
all these flashbacks. where they can show He
-Man and Teela interacting or different things.
And it got He -Man more screen time. It added
more action and battles and things like that.
We see them, you know, interacting with Merman
before they actually do in this timeline, et
cetera. So what did you feel about, um, any of
those flashbacks or Mike, you can also comment
on any of the deaths you didn't get to talk about.
Orko dying. Well, I loved everything they did
with Orko in this because they, Showed what a
bumbling magician he is. They also showed that
he actually can grow and learn without a PSA
at the end of the episode. Sometimes I feel that
I am not appreciated. They showed his trolling
roots kind of a little bit. And as far as the
flashbacks go, again, that's how storytelling
is done today in most things, especially when
you kill the main character in the first episode.
The way you're going to get the main character
in the show. is to do a flashback. But the way
the flashbacks are told in these first five episodes
is it's giving you story. It's giving you more
reasons to like Tila, more reasons to, like,
you know, she's figuring all this out. She's
remembering back to certain points, even when
they go to Preternia and she sees Adam and everything.
It's like, hmm, okay. It's adding to the overall
story, which is, You don't ever want to take
away from the story. You don't just want to put
in a Havoc staff just to have it. Right. I also
think it was the least annoying version of Orko
we've ever gotten. It was the most that you could
relate to him and not be driven crazy. Usually
80s cartoons get the rap of, you always have
the annoying sidekick, the T -Bob or the Orko
or whatever. Orko was not annoying to me at all
in this. No, I loved Orko in this. You could
easily relate to him. I also think he has the
best line in the whole series, or at least the
one that hit home for me. I thought this series
does a very good job of touching on the concept
of time. And how time passes because this series
is decades old, right? Like it's a revisiting
of a series that happened during our childhood.
And for those that are our age now, we are adults,
et cetera. We have our own children or whatever
the case may be. And Orko makes a comment about,
you know, he's talking to Tila when he's kind
of sick and worn down when they're first meeting
him. And he's like, you know, I had the best
times of my life with you. And something about
the way he delivered that line and what's going
on right there was a bigger statement about the
series as a whole. This series, when it was playing
in its original time, those, for some of us,
were the best times of our lives. When we're
kids, when we're playing with toys, when we don't
have to worry about anything but coming home
and watching our cartoons. That line that Orko
delivered just resonated with me huge. And it
just kind of talked about the whole idea that
this series... is kind of a conceptualization
of time passing, um, and kind of how that's gone.
So I thought that was a great line. I thought
Orca was great. Um, any thoughts on any of the
other characters that showed up that we didn't
get to mention? Cause we get to see hero. We
get to see Faker. We get to see actual, the character
Greyskull, King Greyskull. You know, their names
are Vykor and Kudak, but the older version of
the sorceress that we do get to see in one of
the, in Filmation, right, Mike, that we saw her?
And stuff like that. So we get to see those.
We get to see Strider right off the bat. He -Man's
riding Strider. So, Mike, what did you think
about some of these other characters kind of
at least being addressed or shown? I liked that
they were done. And I have to say that Griffin
Newman as Orko, that line you just mentioned,
it's like shades of Lou Scheimer. It really is.
It really is going back to what we've already
had. And, you know, throwing in the other characters,
again, it's great. It's done well. It's not just...
This was my ultimate fear with this show. Because...
Kevin Smith is the showrunner. Hey, kids, look.
It's Mark Hamill. Applause. That was my ultimate
fear. After I saw one of the first trailers,
I was kind of okay with it. Was this going to
be fan service, you mean? Yeah. It was just going
to be, hey, guess what? They were going to beat
you over the head with the homages, with the
characters, with this. The fact that they even
get Wondar in here, I mean, Mr. Wonderbread He
-Man, like, that was awesome. The way they put
this together, these first five minutes. And
Scarecrow. I forgot Scarecrow. Yeah, exactly.
We've never seen, to my knowledge, we've never
seen Scarecrow in animation. He's only always
been in toys or in the comics or whatever. So
having that was awesome. Again. dealing with
heaven and hell, with preternia and subternia.
The only thing, even though they were more so
making subternia hell versus what was done in
2002, the only thing I'm missing is... Oh, who
are the races, Kev? I know what you're talking
about. That was weird that they weren't there.
Yeah, so basically in 2002, it was Buzzoff's
people, the Andrinids, and... Oh, fuck. Anyway.
There's two underground. Right, right, right.
Basically, it was Gary Chalk as a leader of one,
and Richard Newman as... Basically, Optimus Primal
and Rhinox were the voices of the lead characters
of each of these races who were at war. The Caligars
and the... Caligars and the... Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Anyway. The point is, is... I know they couldn't
have done that here, but I still wish we would
have seen that. But I love the fact that we have
scareglow and animation for the first time. And
the fact that we have a story that is basically
telling you, you have to go to the worst place
in order to, you have to go to your worst place
before you can come back and be what you were.
It's all kinds of interesting subtext and interesting
storyline of how they tell the story. And Kevin
Smith is, is not one to shy away from going against
anybody. Yeah. I'm just like dogma. I mean, dogma
was a slap in the face at religion, which is
fine. Whatever. It was funny. I loved it. But
it, but my point is, is they've not only taken
the IP characters of he man and the masters of
the universe and given us new things with them.
They've told a story in these five short episodes.
That is. Very well done. And the last thing before
I can let Steve get back in here, Mike, you know,
this is what we begged for throughout all the
filmation. We're like, give us more of the history.
Give us more of, you know, King Grayskull. Give
us more of what the backstory is, what the relationships
are. And this series does that. So there's no
way I can hate on this for doing what I've been
begging other series to do. So then we go to
Subternia, we go to Preternia. Preternia gives
us, you know, the hero and King Greyskull, Vykor,
Kudak, and Adam, who are all dead, Mossman, you
know, all these characters that have earned...
the afterlife of being in paradise basically
um versus those that don't and so we get to see
them all kind of in a group they go on this hunt
which is kind of an interesting thing um and
then we learned that you know adam's the one
that did not choose the the larger form he did
not choose to stay as he -man he's there as adam
whereas everybody else is their bulky you know
strong version so that's kind of interesting
and then we get adam deciding to go back with
the group to try to help, even though he knows
by doing so, one character says you may not be
able to come back, one character says you will
not be able to come back, so we don't know exactly
how that works, but there's a chance that he's
never going to be able to go back to this paradise,
and he's going to take that chance. Steve, that
leads us to the ending cliffhanger, which is
basically, we killed He -Man in the first episode,
he comes back in this last one, back to Eternia,
and then Skeletor kills him again. Yeah, I thought
the twist on how they did that, because that
left another conundrum, because not only was
he killed as Adam before he could finally utter
all the words, but Skeletor was just biding his
time in the staff. Right, which is crazy. and
just waiting for that moment. Like, I'm just
in hibernation, waiting for enough magic. So
he probably was just draining it while everybody
else was suffering. Look at my face, child! It
has furnished for me a lonely life in which none
would have me as a man. So, then let me be a
god. By the power of Greyskull! I have the power!
Now I, Skeletor, am master of the universe! he
takes the sword and becomes Skele -God. Which
I don't know about the look of Skele -God. It's
a little bit crazy, but like... Well, and the
funny thing about that is, is they're like, in
the embargo, they're like, don't tell anybody
about Skele -God, but... The toy's out on the
shelf. The toy's out on... Again, that's what
I was saying last episode. So, yeah, it makes
no damn sense. Like, I understand embargoes.
Trust me, I get it. But it's like, it's like,
hold... You know, if you're going to have something
monumental like this, hold the toy until after
the show. Right, right, right. So my thought
is this. Obviously, we don't know where it's
going to go from here because that's kind of
how it ends. And, you know, he raises the sword
of power, becomes Skele -God, says, you know,
I have the power and I am the master of the universe.
And they do the cool little animation thing where
he's like superimposed or whatever, which I thought
was pretty cool. But I feel like they've almost
drawn themselves into a corner because you already
pissed everybody off, probably, by killing He
-Man in the original first part of this. He's
gone in a way, even though he's in flashbacks
and even though we see him in preternia, etc.
So he's still part of the show, but it's like,
okay, we kind of killed him off. You bring him
back, you stab him, and either you have three
options. Your first option is that he doesn't
really die because somebody with magic now saves
him. Which I think has to be what they do, because
the only other options are either he is dead
again and dead for good, which would piss off
everybody, or he's dead and you bring him back
to life a second time. Which seems like a weird
thing to do. So I'm assuming somebody's going
to save him before he dies, but that's the cliffhanger
we're left with. I don't know. I am not sure.
I have no clue what they are going to do in episodes
6 through 10. I am excited to learn and find
out what they do. After watching this, I was
like, okay, that's part one. And that's, uh -huh,
okay. It would have been so easy for them to
bring He -Man's back. You let Skeletor out of
the thing, and then the cliffhanger is now we
have our good guys and our bad guys again, and
they're going to battle in the second part. But
they completely flipped the script the second
time. You weren't expecting him to die once.
You definitely weren't expecting him to die twice.
So again, here's the thing with putting action
figures and merchandise out before seeing what
actually happens in the show. It's much like
I think I mentioned this on one of the more recent
HGTF episodes that we released. When we were
talking about Mirage from War for Cybertron,
Siege, Earthrise, all that. When they released
the toy with him with a Decepticon symbol on
it, everybody was like, Mirage is a Decepticon?
What's going on here? Kind of thing. It's the
same thing here with Skele -God. Like, what's
going on? How is this happening? What are we
going to do? And I think, personally... We now
live in an age where seasons are either split
up or seasons are short seasons where we get
13 episodes or less. So far, as far as we know,
this series is only going to be 10 episodes.
It may be 10 episodes and then it doesn't get
a second season or whatever. I don't know what
Mattel and Netflix and everybody else is going
to do. I personally wish we had. All 10 right
now because of the fact that you have the toys
already showing this character. But nobody knows
what the hell is the deal. But they've also got
this little other conundrum and that I can't
say in this episode, but there's another franchise
where certain figures that have been released.
play no part whatsoever in the entire series
and yet we have them released and people are
like those are going to be cool when we see them
in there that's going to be awesome and then
nothing like there's no payoff and we already
had people with this one that got completely
sold on the fact that it was He -Man instead
of Faker which anybody with a brain should have
been able to figure that out but like people
were already like kind of thrown off by stuff
that they put out promotionally with this one.
So I wanted to have a chance to go through just
some, you know, final notes and stuff. I have
some character talk that I'd like to get to just
real quickly. And then a little bit of the dialogue
that I appreciated. And then I have a couple
of nitpicks, so we can go through those as well.
But we already talked about Queen Marlene and
King Randor. I wasn't a huge fan of them. But
I do like the fact that Marlena kind of knew
because that kind of, like Mike said, works.
I want to talk real quickly because I do two
things with both Tila and Eva Lynn, which is
they allow them to take their helmets, crowns,
et cetera, off and see their hair, which is something
I don't feel like we ever got to do. Tila with
long hair, Eva Lynn with long hair, and then
Tila cuts it off and goes with like a shorter
hairstyle, which is always different. It was
like a lightbulb moment when Tila let her hair
down. Because I was like, who knew that that
was all it took for her not to be looking like
a character I hated throughout all of Filmation.
As soon as she had long hair, I'm like, oh, you
don't look like a bitch anymore. Because in Filmation,
she was naggy. I wasn't a fan of her character.
I liked her fine in 2002. But I thought she looked
amazing with long hair, and I thought she looked
good with the short hair afterwards. I know people
are going to freak out about them changing her
hair, but I thought it was cool. On the Evelyn
side, really quick, people are more freaked out
that it's long and not short, because we did
get the reveal of Evelyn with short hair in 2002.
And she gives up her helmet at one point. She
leaves it at Orko's grave. At his grave. That
was cool. The other thing, character -wise, and
then I'll let you guys talk a little bit if you
had anything else, I think this is the best Beastman
we've ever gotten. The most competent one anyway.
Yeah, because I like the fact that he's competent.
I like the fact that he's kind of a badass. So
I love Beastman in this. And then we also, we
were talking about Oracle before. I forgot to
say that the thing that they threw in about his
real name being Oracle. So I thought that was
a kind of a neat little clever thing to do. I
don't think that's been ever talked about before
in the franchise. No. So, Mike, what did you
think about those things? Anything else character
-wise you wanted to bring up? I really like the
characterization with Tila and Andra. Like, they
are the kick -ass team. They are the ones that
are going to help each other bring the best out
of each other. With Orko, like you said, no.
Oracle has never been a thing to my knowledge.
His just name was Orko. I mean, you know, it
is what it is. I love, love what they did with
Evelyn. She's not... just... She is evil. And
I love how they even did this. I think it's Teela
or it's probably Orko. Can I call you Lin? No,
you cannot. And then later in the show, she says,
oh yeah, I added the evil part later. So again,
that layers to her character again. We now live
in a world where character development and story
development and continuity is king. And I love
that. I think that's great. It's just, yeah.
And Andra has a line, too, where she's like,
so we're supposed to be following the person
whose name is Evil Lynn? Yeah. I love that, because
it's never mentioned in the original series.
Nobody ever, like... Yeah. understands that and
it's like they call that out immediately so that
was kind of a fun thing um steve anything else
character wise that you wanted to talk about
uh no i mean i was just kind of enjoying the
the changes and the transformations of the various
characters as the series progressed because you
never got a lot of that just the the evolution
and the the characterization changes that that
were made in this compared to the original stuff
you just stuff that wasn't really a part of the
storyline so it didn't matter whereas here it's
kind of thrown in there for like little bits
of added uh right added elements for the story
and for the characters so that it's not just
growing for a set storyline. Yep. I agree with
that. Um, in the last episode, I mentioned some
things about some dialogue that I thought was
paying homage to the fact that there's a lot
of cheesy stuff in the information series, but
they didn't go so far to make fun of it. Um,
one of those things was Mike, you'll appreciate
a couple of these probably, but at one point
they talk about, uh, carrying a skeletor around
in her closet. Instead of a skeleton in the closets.
That was funny. With Triclops, there was a line
that said, pity we don't see eye to eye. That's
great. I also thought a couple more Kevin Smith
-like lines. They find a way to say Three Marlenas,
like the song Three Marlenas in the beginning,
because that's the Queen's name. That was funny.
The most Kevin Smith line in the whole thing,
though, and I'm glad there wasn't more of this.
At one point, they literally say, no glove, no
love. I was like, are you really throwing sex
jokes in here? This is why I'm glad certain showrunners
are only just showrunner in name, producer in
name. I don't know if he wrote that line. He
might not. I don't know. And again, as I mentioned
last episode, and I think I mentioned earlier
in this episode, That was my fear going in with
Kevin Smith attached. Kevin Smith, like me and
like a lot of other people, when they want to
do projects or when they are asked to do projects,
they want to make it their vision. They want
to make it their style. And I'm so glad. So glad
that they did not turn Tila and Adam into Veronica
and Dante. I'm 37? I'm so glad that was not a
thing. They did get the no glove, no love line
in there, though. Three last things I like before
I get into the nitpicks. Number one, I thought
great display of Skeletor and Evelyn's magic.
I thought they did a better job than they have
in the past of really showing what their powers
are and kind of what their abilities are. I thought
that was cool. I thought it was clever that never
have we ever asked ourselves what would happen
if He -Man, while in He -Man form, held up the
sword and said the magic words. Like, how did
that never cross any of our minds? Like, what
happens if he does it when he's already He -Man?
So I thought it was cool that they addressed
that. And then what we were kind of alluding
to earlier, Mike, the Teela still gets that close
to learning who her mother is and gets interrupted.
Like I said, I love the path that... They are
taking her down. I love the way that they are
telling the story with her by taking everything
over the last 40 years that has been done with
her and combining it in interesting ways. And
I'll say one thing about the split of five episodes
and five episodes. You get just enough with Tila
here, enough mystery with it between her and
Man -at -Arms and Sorceress and all of that and
everything else, whereas I'm hoping in the next
one we see more of that and more of that revelation
kind of thing, no pun intended. Yeah, no, it
was done very well. And it also is a way that
you know that there's fans involved or somebody
that really likes the series involved somewhere
because they're picking up things. that were
never finished in the original series, or that
didn't get to be resolved, and they're addressing
those things. So we never got to see that storyline
finished, so it's unfinished business, and I'm
glad they're addressing it. Some quick nitpicks.
You were the first champion? No wonder they called
the place Castle Grayskull. When the elders first
cast the illusion to hide the Hall of Wisdom,
they named it Castle Grayskull, to honor them.
But if you've ever seen the castle... You know
it's a dubious honor at best. Somehow Skeletor
learned about Greyskull all of a sudden. Like,
they don't set that up as well, very well at
all. Like, he's there, and he's like, I know
that this is just a facade, and I'm gonna stab
my thing and show the true vision. Like, we saw
40 years worth of him not knowing that, so for
him to just know that immediately was weird.
There was, like, horde bots. I don't know why,
because Hordak's not here. And when did Skeletor
get foot soldiers? That was literally like the
turtle's foot soldiers. All of a sudden he has
this army of weird things that really never existed
in the original. Was there a Wolfgate in the
original, Mike? Not to my knowledge. Oh, I forgot
to mention, at one point I thought Trapjaw died,
but then he shows up later. Also, Andra should
not know Roboto's abilities. Because at one point
she's like, activate your advanced talent...
I can't say that word all of a sudden. Telemetry?
Whatever. Telemetry. She's like, activate that.
How do you know he has that power? You just met
him a day ago. I don't remember the Thundercats
lair being in He -Man, but it showed up here.
And the last thing was Man -at -Arms' gun there
at the end. He literally moves it from left to
right and somehow destroys 20 vehicles. What?
That was a little far -fetched. I don't know
what kind of gun he had, but he just took out
massive vehicles with it. That's not how lasers
work. Although they worked underwater in this
series, too. And it's funny, because they're
like, the guy with the underwater lasers? I'm
like, well, at least you addressed the fact that
that was weird. The only reason, and I don't
know what's going on with the toy line, I don't
know if they're going to put Horde Troopers in
either Origins or Revelations toy line or whatever.
I do know that there is a horde trooper Funko
pop, I believe, or it's coming or it's whatever.
I think I've seen that. I can't find it here
on the app right now, but I don't know what,
maybe it's just, again, it's, it's what I said
earlier about them throwing the homages in, but
not beating us over the head with a havoc staff
with them. Like it's there. Maybe we can, like
if they get a second season, if they get another
10 episode pickup, Maybe they'll, since it's
all about story and character and tying back
into the last 40 years, maybe they'll bring in
She -Ra and the Horde and Hordak and all of this.
Okay, so really quickly, this is just speculation
on all of our parts. Who do you guys think could
voice Hordak well in comparison to Mark Hamill
as Skeletor? Oof, I'd have to do some thinking
on that. That's a hard one. I will tell you,
though, that if they could somehow bring Hordak,
if they could somehow bring She -Ra, there's
lots of characters they haven't touched, obviously.
If I had a wish list, the three characters I
would want to see are Hordak, She -Ra, and Zodak.
I was surprised Zodak wasn't in this one, because
he's right up the alley. Whenever they talk about
the council and whatever they're talking about,
the sorceress, Zodak's usually there, and he's
such a powerful character that I was surprised
he wasn't there. I was also a little surprised
they didn't work Stratos into this. But it just
leaves other things to show up here in the second
part, so I'm hoping that we get some cool other
characters that show up. But I'd have to get
back to you on the voice work. That'd be an interesting
one. Any other questions or wish lists or what
you're looking forward to with the second part
before we get out of here as the rest of the
internet freaks out that they killed my He -Man
and it's Teela now in the Masters of the Universe?
Nope. Mike? No, I think I'm good. I thoroughly
enjoyed this. Yes. I think that people who are
like us, and like I said, the fact that Kevin
Smith is the showrunner, other than the fact
of what he did to hype it up, that's my problem,
is how it was hyped up. The fact that he's the
showrunner, and like I already said, thank God
they didn't have him on full writing, because
whatever. When I was watching this, I felt like
this was 1983. in 2023, even though it's not
40 years yet for the cartoon, but it just felt
like this is what if filmmation was still around
today, like today's capabilities, say, say powerhouse
is the new filmmation kind of thing. Like this
is what we've been wanting for 40 fucking years.
And I love it. I think it's great. Yeah, I'm
a big fan. I know people are freaking out because
of everything they did, and those people should
go hide in caves. No, those people should watch
it and learn what actually happens. That's what
they should do. It's good. If you give it a chance,
I think it's good, and I can't wait to see what
they do with it in the second part. Absolutely.
All right. Thank you for listening to us here
on the Powers of Greyskull series. If you'd like
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We hope you enjoyed the Grayskull goodness today,
and don't forget to join us in our next adventure
when we will be bringing you some sort of Powers
of Grayskull content. I have no idea what the
hell we're doing next. For now, I am... Whenever
that's released, I mean, could be October 28th,
could be November 27th, who knows. For now, I
am TF2 and Mike with... Optimus Solo. Steve Megatron.
By the power and for the honor of Grayskull,
we have the power.