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AceRogers — My take on Masters of the Universe Revolution

Published: 2024-03-27 03:54:25 +0000 UTC; Views: 1545; Favourites: 4; Downloads: 1
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Description        Welcome back, everyone! Kevin Smith's "Masters of the Universe Revolution" has been out for a while, and I figured I should talk about it, since I eventually talked about Kevin Smith's preceding "Masters of the Universe Revelations." I'd actually like to hear The Critical Drinker talk about this, as he talked about Revelations, but given how bad, or at least poorly received, Revelations was received, I wouldn't blame him for not checking it out. That said, I DO think this series was better. Now, there are going to be some spoilers, but first, I want to recap the good and bad that happened in Masters of the Universe Revelation. 
        Probably the most memorable thing in Revelation is the way He-Man was sidelined in favor of pushing Teela as the main hero. Now, like I said in the review of Revelation, I actually didn't have as much of a problem with that as the reviewers I saw on Youtube talking about it. I mean, it's something you have to adjust to, and the people attracted to a show in He-Man's world most likely wanted more than a half an hour with He-Man in the entire 10 episodes, but similar to She-Ra in the 1980's, the important thing is that, like He-Man, Teela is a good person who tries to be a hero.
        As far as I'm concerned, more significant problems include heroic and/or beloved hero characters actually dying (Not to mention actual blood, and occasional bad language), Prince Adam dying not only as He-Man, but then fatally stabbed before he can turn back into He-Man, Heaven itself getting destroyed, and everything going on with Evil Lynn and Skeletor. And there is a LOT going on with Evil Lynn and Skeletor. Unlike literally ANY of Skeletor's other warriors (Including Beast Man, who was actually supportive toward Evil Lynn, but ended up being turned into a riding beast and unceremoniously thrown into the abyss around Castle Grayskull by Battlecat), Evil Lynn is given special attention, considered something like an antihero or even a hero, given a tragic backstory and made suspiciously similar to Harley Quinn, including having a dysfunctional relationship with her more evil boss.
        (Sigh) If you've watched Revelation, you know Skeletor seized the Power Sword and became super-powerful and was sinister at first, doing things like killing the sorceress, and turning innocent people into an army of undead. However, he kinda lost some of his sinister points, in my opinion, when he got his bony butt-kicked by Savage He-Man. Yeah, Savage He-Man was basically a discolored version of The Incredible Hulk, or a completely berserk, unarmed version of He-Man. It was what Prince Adam turned into by calling on the power of Grayskull without his sword. 
         In some ways, Savage He-Man was kind of cool, like how he could stand up to a god, and how Skeletor referred to him as "The power incarnate". It was also interesting the way they defined him as being all emotion and no reason. However, the character more than disgusted Teela and terrified Prince Adam, and, for better or worse, we didn't see Savage He-Man again. Meanwhile everyone seems to be nothing but sympathetic toward Evil Lynn because of her toxic relationship with Skeletor (Which, there was no romance or anything in the 1980's animated series, but okay...), and the fact that she wasn't BORN evil ((Tsh) Like anybody IS born evil...). Well, granted, Teela was more edgy and suspicious of her, but still... Anyway, then, Evil Lynn stole the Power Sword and showed herself to be significantly MORE evil (Or at least more ambitious) by literally destroying Heaven, and then trying to destroy the entire universe for no higher reason than that she was depressed. 
        In the end, Teela has to become The Sorceress to beat Lynn, He-Man appears very briefly and most certainly does NOT save the day on his own (Or even otherwise) Skeletor still has a bitter rivalry with He-Man, but nobody cares, even He-Man, who tosses Skeletor away while shouting: "It's not about us!" And Lynn relinquishes the power of the Power Sword, but she doesn't get much punishment, not even jail time for everything she's done. That said though, there were a lot of things I could appreciate about Masters of the Universe Revelation, including the impressive animation and music, the various guest stars from the franchise's history, the expanded lore of Eternia, including the underworld of Subternia, and the heavenly afterlife of Preternia, and... Well, that's all I can think of right now.
        Anyway, Masters of the Universe Revolution wasn't exactly perfect either (Particularly in the story and script), but it was better than Revelation. First and foremost, while Revelation sidelined He-Man and showed very little of him in the entire ten episode series, Revolution included him a more active hero character. Revolution also gave a positive rationale for making Teela the only sorceress to be able to leave Castle Grayskull, as she needs to do so in order to work to recreate Preternia (A.K.A. Heaven). Also, while Evil Lynn STILL wasn't punished proportionately for trying to destroy the entire cosmos and successfully destroying Heaven, it seems she was banished to the world of Trolla, which is at least SOMETHING. She also admits that she caused the destruction of Preternia, and actively tries to restore it, although she seems to do so less for the sake of others than for self-interest as she knows that, unless she can go to Heaven after she dies, she'll either go to Subternia or fade from existence after she dies (Most likely the Subternia one). Regardless, she's also seen as altruistic as she takes care of the dying king Grannamyr, and gets him to help Teela.
        Another cool thing about Revolution is the way it begins with He-Man and his allies rescuing the souls of his friends from the underworld. (Oh, yeah. I forgot to mention that, in Revelation, Skeletor not only killed He-Man's pals, Fisto and Clamp Champ, but he sent their souls to Subternia instead of Eternia) Revolution also has its share of drama, as Prince Adam's father, King Randor, dies, in spite of the fact that Teela is now a sorceress who could most likely have saved his life with magic (Yeah. King Randor actually CHOSE to die. He didn't look that old, though. His beard wasn't even white). Prince Adam now finds himself having to choose between being a warrior and a king, although in the real world, plenty of rulers throughout history have been BOTH. I can also appreciate how they delved into Skeletor's history. Seriously, in the 1980's animated series, Skeletor was simply an evil demon from another dimension, while in the comics and in the post 2000's remake, Skeletor began as King Randor's blue-skinned older brother, Keldor, but Masters of the Universe Revelation kind of combined them together, saying that Hordak erased Keldor's memories and made him THINK he was an evil demon from another dimension. I just think that's cool.
        That said, I don't know about the ending, where Skeletor is reverted to Keldor and then imprisoned instead of being redeemed like Evil Lynn. It's not something I'd fight, though, since Skeletor is the kind of guy we all love to hate, but still, it might've looked better if Evil Lynn wasn't the only villain to get redeemed. Moving on, the presence of Hordak as a primary villain was pretty gool, and some scenes, such as when a conquest challenged him and he had his henchmen kill said conquest (Although there was no sign of Skorpa or Cattra in that scene), but the fact that Skeletor ends up killing him makes him somewhat wasted as a villain. The robot villain, Motherboard, was, unfortunately, not seen in any major fight scenes, but at least she succeeded in making the audience desire her destruction, especially by Skeletor not long after abusing him. Orko and Cringer actually do better as comic relief in Revolution even though Orko has been established as an actual competent spellcasting ally as opposed to a clown. The comic relief is further aided by Gwildor, a character from the "Masters of the Universe" movie made in the 1980's. I liked how the guy kept calling Orko short even when they were about the same height.
        Seeing Sorceress Teela in different forms depending on the staff she used was interesting, and I can appreciate that, when she became The Tri-Sorceress, it looked like He-Man got an upgrade as well. The actual threat of Revolution was slightly underwhelming to me. I mean, don't get me wrong, nanobots that take over people and machines that are part of a huge empire that's conquered countless planets seems impressive enough, until you consider that, in Revelation, literally all of existence was in danger of getting erased and even universal conquest by nano-technology doesn't quite measure up. Regardless, Revelation tried to make it look like a cybernetic version of Skeletor (Known, cleverly enough as "Skeletech") was even more powerful than Skeletor when he used the Power Sword to become a God. It's not really bad writing exactly, but the way Revelation set the bar too high makes you have to suspend some belief. Still, the giant robots known as "The Mech Titans" help the process, as does the way Castle Grayskull became cybernetic somehow. Also, the way they try to make Skeletech seem stronger is that he uses technology to synthesize magic, thus combining both magic AND technology. Synergy, using two significant forces together, and the power of more than one, seem to be recurring themes in Revolution, as both Teela AND He-Man do impressive things, both magic and technology are combined by both Skeletor and He-Man, and in the end, He-Man decides to do away with monarchy and make Eternia a democracy.
        Okay, I heard on a youtube video review about how unfeasible the whole "Eternia democracy" thing was, given their government and infrastructure, but it looked good anyway. Another thing I liked was how the heroes who died came back as ghosts to fight the Mech Titans, and how Grannamyr died with dignity destroying one of them and in doing so saving Lynn and allowing Teela to finish recreating Heaven. Also, in Revelation, Duncan was stripped of his title of Man at Arms and never given said title back as it was given to Teela's friend (Or sidekick depending on your view), but in Revolution, he was outfitted with a badass mech suit and gave himself the title of "Man of War", which was pretty cool. Some of the story didn't add up, like the way Prince Adam just handed over his kingdom to Keldor even without checking any facts from his story, or the way that, at the end, he never learned how to become a good ruler and instead gave the city to the people, but I find it easy not to think about those things and to get immersed in the experience. One of the things that helps with that is the fact Revolution has less deaths and no blood, though the language can be questionable at times (Particularly when Teela turns into the sorceress of the snake goddess of carnal desires).
        He-Man and Teela finally get out of the closet about being romantic with one another, which, I wouldn't call a surprise to anyone at this point, but it's validating to have a relatively clean heterosexual relationship now and then, considering we haven't had one in a Disney animated movie in so long. Anyway, the end-end of all available episodes of Revolution shows Hordak being not as dead as we thought despite Skeletor killing him in battle, and being revived by a member of his horde. The one reviving him is implied to be the character that Adora, A.K.A. She-Ra, A.K.A. He-Man's twin sister, used to be, having been brainwashed similar to Keldor, before realizing the truth about her past. I don't know if Masters of the Universe will have another season, but it would be cool to see She-Ra brought back as He-Man's sister, flying on Swiftwind the alicorn with her sword that she can change into numerous things. It might also have the amusing effect of making Teela jealous before she finds out Adora is Adam's sister (Or She-Ra is He-Man's sister, depending on your view). Anyway, Revolution may not be perfect, but I'd still recommend it more than Revelation, particularly for He-Man fans, and I'd suggest only watching Revelation as a prequel to that. But, that's just MY opinion. Feel free to let me know which one you liked better and why in the comment section. And until my next post, thanks for clicking! 
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sytac [2024-03-28 22:00:43 +0000 UTC]

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