126 – Masters Of The Universe Revelation Part 1 (SPOILERS!!)

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.