Masters of the Universe is all about Teela and Spoilers

 I am a sucker for good animation and I love the stories told and watch them unfold. Even if a lot of them are very cringy and have sketchy transitions. Some say it is for kids, and to those I say pox upon you. Animation is just a different medium of storytelling, just like books, games, comics and whatever else we can get our grubby mitts on. He- Man is no different. It is an amusing show that plays fast and loose with the rules of what the main protagonist is capable of achieving. It seems mostly related to throwing rocks and punching things hard. The animation was simple and clearly based on a limited budget and those weird rules american television imposed upon shows. Characters rarely died, suffered any fatal wounds and pretty much every episode was a standalone story that never went anywhere. Just like kids playing with the toys the show intended to sell.

Skeletor attacks the castle Greyskull in his latest plot to become a master of the universe. By tricking He-Man into stabbing the source of magic and opening up the conduit by impaling Skeltor. Then a brawl for the power of magic ensues and He-Man absorbs the power with his sword, which splits in half as he himself reverts to Adam and is turned into black smear on the castle floor. Skeletor vanishes as well and Teela is turned into a bit of a bellend and Man at Arms is punted out of the castle and Teela quits. Now magic is dying and if magic goes, the universe ends.
First we have to turn the heroine into a ruthless mercenary with a fairly pleasant and likable companion that brings a bit of levity to it all.

Eventually Evil-Lyn join in on the action, because magic is her thing and because she is evil, and evil is always looking for more power. 

Teela is turned into a snarky asskicking asshole, I suppose it is an improvement from what little I have seen of the original show. It was never televised in Norway as far as I can tell, probably for the best, localized dubs tend to be of inferior quality. A bit like nails on chalkboard, plust it often deprives children of the joys of being exposed to another language. Anyhow Teela has turned into a generic fanfiction stereotype. Moody, broody, with a tough exterior that kicks ass, is snarky as heck and quite unlikable. Sure the secret of Adam being He-Man was kept from her, but apparently the betrayal turned her sour. Why he kept the secret though is just due to bad writing in the original I dare say. Anyhow this type of character is so common these days it is getting stale like milk. Oh and they killed He-Man in the first episode to make the story all about her finding herself and becoming a strong female hero. To make the story even more generic, they killed off Orko, because that is edgy, right? From the mouth of the writer no one liked the character in the first place.

Man at Arms just kicks ass and is a caring father and at least twenty years older than before.

Cringer is just being a coward and is mostly ignored, which is for the best. I have no idea why these shows insisted on a wacky animals sidekick with a speech impediment. 

Evil-Lyn shows signs of becoming good, until Skeltor returns. Now if the writer keeps this up, I expect her to eventually backstab Skeletor and claim the power for herself. Because the age of a bulky purple man with a skull for a head is problematic. Female empowerment I suppose. Oh and Adam returned from the afterlife, only to get penetrated from behind by Skeletor's phallic spear.

Aside from killing off characters and making the story into one long continuity that is intended to put a coherent end to the Masters of the Universe, or is it a new beginning? I honestly can not tell. I have to give the animation praise though it is absolutely gorgeous and the action is top notch. The minor villain turning people into cyborgs is fairly interesting. The body horror potential itself is just fantastic. The scenery is also breathtaking and I hope the animation studio was paid handsomely for their superb work. All in all I was entertained and the show is not bad, but the main character leaves a lot to be desired.

Njål #Zaceron Signing out

Back of the head love tap

 Tropes are good, tropes are bad, but one trope that really grates on my nerves is one that is as old as humanity itself. For some unfathomable reason heroes always have to be knocked out and captured. If there is action it is virtually guaranteed to happen. It is a very convenient way to put the hero at the place of the plot required to progress the story. In stories such pesky things as physics and logic take a back seat to reality. I know this fact well, especially since I’m an author myself. In stories getting a good knock on the back of the head is always enough to put someone in a well timed coma. Yes according to human biology and the sturdiness of the human skull, getting hit in the back of the head might in fact be lethal. The good old blackjack used to give someone a good knock on the noggin can kill a human, or at least cause irreparable damage and bleeding wounds, the kind that requires stitches. Essentially there is always a chance that any sort of way to make a human fall unconscious will have a fatal outcome. We are all remarkably fragile after all. This also ties into the old cliche of the damsel in distress, with a chance of a villainous dialogue once the character wakes up, or a conveniently slow death trap to escape. You have seen it, I have seen it and quite frankly in my opinion it is getting very old. I mean seriously I grew up on this crap and have been guilty of doing it myself. There are two comics I grew up on that is especially guilty of this. One is Conan the Barbarian, he is way too often knocked out at the end of a story as the perky female of the story walks away with the loot. The other series is that of Tintin. The story of a perky adventurer and his white dog, allegedly he is a journalist, but I’ve yet to see him write an article. Unlike the dynamic duo of Spirou and Fantasio. The reason for this rant is that I recently watched Resident Evil on Netflix and this trite and slock plot point happened towards the end. Also sorry for spoilers of the most cliche franchise ever. are you in Bergen at the right time and love comics? Visit the Raptus comic expo this year.

http://raptus.no

Njål Signing out #zaceron