He-Man and the MOTU Origins One Shots

[TFG1Mike]

So far we have He-Man, Skeletor, and Hordak... hope they do more!!!!!!!!!! Although I wasn't a fan of the Hordak story.

[Riding Ghost]

I really wasn't a fan of the origin one-shots..He-Man and Skeletor were really hard to follow exactly what the hell was going on. I liked the Hordak one since for the most part I could understand what was actually going on, plus the Kirby-ish art.

[TFG1Mike]

wow we are polar opposites there. I barely got the hordak one, I did love the art though. The story just felt weird. The he-man and skeletor ones were good because it's giving more of their actual backstory. At least that's my thoughts. I do hope they do more though.

[TFG1Mike]

So here are my written reviews of the one shots. As well as a podcast ep I did about them. Please keep in mind I'm one of those types of people that I either LOVE, find it passing, or HATE something. You can see the meanings of the GCRN Universal Ratings System here


Origin of He-Man
Origin of Skeletor
Origin of Hordak

The Pull Bag Episode 22: Origins He-Man, Skeletor, and Hordak

[Jukka]

I really hope they will continue making them.
Mostly because the ones we got so far are like previews.

As far as "origins", they rely heavily that the reader knows about the characters and mythos from 2002 or even from MOTUC, where DC based parts of their telling.
Which is funny, because so far I get the sense that Mattel wants to obtain NEW readers with the DC Comics. That's why they have complete new versions of the characters. As in they are not in continuity with anything that happened in 80s, nor do the characters act based on the long history for them.

And one one hand I get that they want to attract new readers and see how that goes..
But yeah, the Origins don't exactly tell origins for characters. Many fans have commented this so it's not like it's a suprise either. Hordak one-shot was more obvious with it, that it was a snippet of a moment between Hordak and Zodac.
Skeletor comic never explains his face burning or where he wonders. If you are a fan of the 2002-cartoon then yes. You have the added wealth of information to know it alludes to Hall of Wisdom-scenes with Keldor and Randor. For a new reader who goes "oh I always wanted to know how Skeletor came to be", they may find it confusing.

He-Man comic has a good idea in the sense that Adam's first Transformation to He-Man would be in very first encounter with Skeletor. That concept is great. But the execution was very lacking. Adam as a character isn't explored -- they say he is a coward but we don't really know that (and the whole scene lacks gravitas).
Adam knows he has to stop an intruder who put magic-spell on his parents. And he has to grab an item before the intruder. But in this version he isn't made aware of the threat Skeletor has against Eternia and Grayskull. He's not making the choise with all the grandiose it deserves. Which I think is a shame.
They make some things painfully obvious, like having characters talk out loud "blah blah blah blah... nephew" and "son of such, brother of this..."
I feel they should do caption-boxes. Just like X-Men might have in a splash-page at a beginning of a comic. So the forced awkward dialogue could breathe more and concentrate on the story.

[Eterniandreams]

Do the digital shorts also fall under this thread? I loved Randor and Battle Cat.

[TFG1Mike]

Do the digital shorts also fall under this thread? I loved Randor and Battle Cat.

do you mean the series Masters of the Universe? No, but I can make that thread for ya!

[Eterniandreams]

Tnx! •○•○•○•○•○•

[Nankeiro]

I really hope they will continue making them.
Mostly because the ones we got so far are like previews...

I think that they (the characters) deserve to have better stories. And yes, i think they need to keep making them too. But, i think that they don't... need to re-make the characters or the stories to have "new" readers... Oh, well...