Ungrateful Beaaaaatch!

[ThryllSeekyr]

Today, I had to take hike to the neighbouring suburb to pick up some books I ordered thru Amazon.

The Art of He-Man & the Masters of the Universe

This limited edition book that should contain a lot of the original art that came with the action-figures, vechiles, their mounts,  play-sets & other accessories. As well the eventual cartoon series & film. Which were both disappointing & the series initially so. I never liked it that he had weaker alter ego called Prince Adam. The same goes for Cringer & Battle-Cat, & Orko. If they stuck to original concept that perhaps was too close to the niche occupied by Conan the Barbarian which the toys were original meant to actually be. Yet, that never worked out & so we have He-Man. Aside from initial impressions, the series still did grow on me & looking back on it all I admire it more now. I did stop collecting the figures and their accessories or more likely lost interest in them in early high school if I remember correctly.....

Skip the next two paragraphs if you don't wish to read the waffle below...

Like, I have the main ones, like Stratos (The bird-man or the one who had wings attached to his wrists & could fly via a rocket jet-pack! I think I lost the wings. Was the very first of these AF's I purchased on late night trip into the city with my folks. The rest were present that were given to me in the subsequent years from 82 onwards!) He-Man (He doesn't stand up now more!), Battle-Cat (Went Missing!), Teela,(Cobra-Snake-armour?) Men At Arms, Skeletor, Merman, (of the last three, I had left chew marks on the plastic straps that held their armour on, because it was too hard to strap it on with my fingers!)  along with Castle-Gray-Skull, (It got thrown out or stolen when somebody left it back landing & I 'm trying to source the Italian version of that playset that was better made & came with a brown-wood coloured front door......

....)  Snake-Mountain (It's not lost, but I have left it at home. Right now, I only have the plastic snake that was supposed to be attached to the top of the thing swing around. It had this micro-phone shaped like Wolves Head). Which was kind of cool, I guess, but this set up was never as cool as the original Gray-Skull-Castle. Additional action figures....Man-E-Faces & Ram-Man. The Battle-Ram (Still there, with it's detachable flying sled (Kind of like that flying sled from the Flash-Gordon film, but rest of it that had these thick wheels that that had these short appendages that would make short work of anything that got too close to the side. It had cannon that would fire these large red cylinders adorned with the head of monsters or demons (Kind of like mini-Gronds!). I think there were three of those.) A flying boat called the Wind-Raider, that must have belong to Mer-Man. (Had body like a convertible green car with out the top, and these yellow aero-plane wings that could be pulled off. (Only one remains!) & a significant yellow fin like rudder making it seem more like a boat than anything else. There is also a anchor that can be fixed to the hood. When not in use & pulled off & out by it's long piece of cord that is kept wound up inside. A zip cord motor bike like transport that I think is called a Road-Ripper. (Remember those Smash Up Derby Cars that were made to fall apart & re assembled again. I had those as well! They work the same way.) The Dragon-Walker which best described with a photo....

(The head piece would move along that track via cog & engine while the long green part would spin around propelling the thing in a unpredictable wide circle. It's easier to imagine if you just look at the picture. It was my favourite piece & it the engine inside soon rusted from disuse. It had ran on batteries & I think they might have leaked inside the thing, causing the damage. It's a unfeasible design even the head could be more securely attached because the that track would need to be kept clean of debris for the thing to run continueously.) The very last thing the jet-plane sculpted to look like a Eagle a with perch that could be attached to the top castle tower. (One of the wings went missing with that one too!)

Anyway, I look back fondly on the television series, the silly & some times inappropiate voices & He-Man's customary end of show monologue. discussing what ever relevant moral that was covered over the current episode.

Back on the subject of the book. The regular edition is pictured down below the special edition if you follow the link above.  I'm looking forward to opening the damn thing some time some time soon.

Which I'm still trying to figure out how to open, from that picture it appears the door on the front should unlatch or slid down, but I can't budge it for some reason. Might look for a unboxing video on You-Tube later if I can't get it open. Unless somebody has some sage advice about that.

Related compilation of all his mini-comics brought together into one big bumper book.

Thinking it would be filled with a compilation of all those mini-comics that were packaged with each action figure. Each figure got a random comic, which meant I have a couple of the same ones. I can only find one of them now & I think have with me in the pile of books, novels & comics I'm still sorting through here.

There is double DVD packaged together into one slim case containing of the entire collection of episodes  from the related cartoon. Only the earlier cartoon series, you see. I'm not just sure about the latest series yet. While it certainly looked better drawn/coloured & animated. It never appeared to depart from the idea of having a hero with a duel identity, and I think Orko is still in this one as well. Aside from now showing you how Skeletor got his head defleshed, taking more mature stance. I haven't paid it much attention apart from the bits n pieces I've seen on You-Tube. I'm planning On getting it, but I have soft spot for the old series and that special where he met his twin sister She-Ra-Princess-of-Power. The music was as colourful & campy as it was. These always bring me back.

Best of He-Man & the Masters of the Universe

Anyway, in my haste to order these earlier last week. I forgot to check the regional information with this one. I made this mistake before with video tapes, but at least they would still work, but only in black & white.

I'm too tired to write any more & I've get told this is too long for anybody to read anyway. Next up, Ghost-Busters -The Ultimate Visual History.

[Michael Knight]

Hey loved your review. I bought this recently and thought it fantastic! Thats two great MOTU books in a row they have brought out!