The Takara Tomy Unicron is Exciting,
but NOT THAT EXCITING.

The following review, provided by Optibotimus.com, gives a relatively rave review of the new more G1 accurate 2010 release of Unicron. I agree with most of the points that this version of the Unicron mold (released previously in the Transformers: Armada line) is an improvement of its predecessor. But with the 3-figure price point, and the toy just being little more than a repaint with some new molding, I'm not going to rush and buy.

I will save my $$$ for when they release a Unicron that is perfectly spherical, like his "brother's" figure Primus. We know it's possible Takara/Hasbro. Give it to us! We'll buy it.



-M

2010 hasn't been the greatest year for top-of-the-line blockbuster, popcorn flicks. Of course, everyone has an opinion like they have an asshole, so I'm sure there's room for disagreement. What's left for 2010 that MAY drive me to the theatre you ask? Let's see if the following titles catch your eye...


Machete
Resident Evil: After Life
Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole
Saw VII
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows I
Chronicles of Narnia
Tron: Legacy.

2011's year promises to be a better one for movies. 2011's Summer Blockbuster season alone promises to be a spectacular one:
Thor
Pirates of the Caribbean 4
Green Lantern
Transformers 3
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows I
Captain America
Smurfs*

Why "By the Power of Eternia"?
Adam says "By the Power of Grayskull" in the first episode of The New Adventures of He-Man. But by the second episode, the phrase is inexplicably dropped and replaced with "By the Power of Eternia".

The toy line's explanation is revealed in a mini comic, where the Power of Grayskull is channeled into Starship Eternia. But by that point in the comic, He-Man sheds his Adam persona. Obviously the mini comic continuity is NOT in sync with the cartoon...

There is thus no definitive answer for the cartoon series, as the Starship Eternia does not serve the same purpose as in the mini comic.

Here are my theories:

1) It's possible that in this future, Castle Grayskull no longer exists, and so the Power comes from the planet Eternia itself.

2) With the big focus in the previous toyline shifting to the Eternia playset (in the mini comics, I believe the playset was more powerful than Castle Grayskull - since in the mini comic "The Ultimate Battleground", the Eternia playset becomes more important than Grayskull), perhaps "By the Power of Eternia" refers to it.

3) This is a retroactive idea: Maybe "By the Power of Eternia" is the original summoning cry that was used before and during King Grayskull's claiming of the sword of He (this idea ties into the concept of the Power being a force created by, or existing within, the planet Eternia itself).

Who should have been Catra cohorts?
It has always been strange that Catra and Entrapta were the only villains in the She-Ra toy line. Is it because girls aren't allowed to be bad? Looking at that prototype video, and reading up on some of the characters on wikipedia has made me write this entry.

From the prototype video, it looks like Catra, Glimmer, Double Trouble and Castaspella (villainous Castaspella a precursor to Filmation Shadow Weaver?) were supposed to be the first wave of villains - leaving She-Ra, Bow, Angella and Frosta as the heroes. This makes more since, establishing both sides with an even number of characters.

So who do you think would be the heroes and villains for waves 2 & 3?

I go for this line up (some choices enfluenced by events in the show):

Wave 2
Peekablue - Villain
Sweet Bee - Villain (nemesis of Flutterina)
Entrapta - Villain
Flutterina - Hero
Mermista - Hero
Perfuma -Hero

Wave 3
Spinerella - Villain
Netossa - Hero (nemesis of Entrapta)

MikeJenkinsDesign.com Updated

I just updated my website, check it out: http://www.mikejenkinsdesign.com

It's been a long time coming...

Collecting: Double Trouble

Double Trouble is one of the She-Ra figures I collected in February. I always thought this character was interesting - BECAUSE of the fact that she was rarely used (she doesn't even appear in the cartoon series). Hopefully, she finds her way into the MOTUC series.

I consider Double Trouble to be the Zodac of the original She-Ra toyline. You see, Zodac was labeled as the "Evil Cosmic Enforcer" when he was first released, but his character would evolve over the years to be Neutral to Heroic - never evil. So the evil interpretation of the character was short-lived. Speculation on Zodac's allegiance-shifting points to Mattel wanting to balance out the number of evil figures to good ones (see the Wikipedia bio http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zodak). Though Double Trouble was labeled as good in the toy line, I consider her to be evil (her name and role as a spy help, as well as her original prototype color scheme) - Catra needs all the help she can get.

Here's my fleshed out bio for Double Trouble
(influenced by her Wikipedia entry):

Double Trouble was born as the princess of the Kingdom of Green Glade. She is cousin to Glimmer, and similar to Glimmer, was born with magical abilities. Double has the ability to make a magical duplicate of herself. Before she explored the extent of her own powers, she witnessed her cousin Glimmer's growing abilities and became jealous. She sought out a way to increase her abilities. She ventured to Mystacor for the guidance of Castaspella, only to be told to "be patient". She was soon approached by dark Horde magicians, who promised her exactly what she sought.


Through Horde magic, Double's powers were augmented, allowing her to cast powerful mirror-like illusions, and change her appearance to look like anything she could think of. There, however was a side affect: Double could still split herself into two entities, but her personality was split between the two. One entity polarized into the inherently good-natured persona (Green Double Trouble with blonde hair), the other was inherently evil (Blue and Purple Double Trouble with black hair - prototype colors). Because of the Horde magic, the evil Double Trouble was the more powerful portion, and could force the good portion to merge into one at will.

Double Trouble is most powerful when merged into one entity. With the evil portion in command, Double willing serves the Horde. But if the evil portion experiences physical trauma, or becomes incapacitated, the good portion can "split" off and escape (and work with the Rebellion), or take control of the one body. Both portions of Double's personality are eternally struggling to control the one form - which is when they are at their most powerful.

Entertainment: Finished watching The NEW ADVENTURES OF HE-MAN

I finished watching THE NEW ADVENTURES OF HE-MAN (NA) this week. The series contained 65 episodes, most of which were written by series creator Jack Olesker. NA was quite a departure from the original HE-MAN AND THE MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE cartoon series in just about every way - new animation and design style, new characters, new voices, a more cohesive story line... Now, keep in mind, this is a show that was created for kids to promote toys, so to be a 30-something criticizing the quality of the show could be questionable.

HOWEVER, there have been cartoon series over the years that have not sacrificed story and character development for the sake of keeping it dumbed-down for the kids, and just selling toys. BEAST WARS and BEAST MACHINES, the Beast Era Transformers cartoon series, were successful in attracting adult collectors and new kids alike...

But we're talking about the late 80s here, and NA came at a time when something new was happening to all those great 80s toy franchises that sprung up and created a marketing phenomenon- the nececessity to recreate the toy lines for a new generation of kids.

This was the challenge presented to the creators of the NA toyline - bring in a new generation of kids. What they DIDN'T consider was that: just because there was a need to draw in a new target audience didn't mean that the original target audience had to be sacrificed. NA was launched only 2-3 years after the original He-Man line was ended...not necessarily long enough for the fans/collectors to grieve and completely move on. Action figures are made for Ages 4+ Boys, so if you're 12-15 you don't necessarily fit in this bracket. What was later discovered was there were kids going well into their 20s and 30s that were still ravenous about this stuff.

The decision was made to make NA more or less a totally different show from the original - there are the basic connections - He-Man is Prince Adam from the planet Eternia, son of King Randor and Queen Marlena, and sworn enemy to Skeletor of Snake Mountain. That's about it. Everything else is pretty much left in the past. He-Man, Skeletor and even The Sorceress's costumes change without any explanation. Even He-Man's iconic sword is changed. In retrospect, not a good move. But the age of the original He-Man had passed - his sales had declined significantly. Mattel figured by casting the futuristic barbarian in a more futuristic design and esthetic would appeal to new audiences. It may have worked had they not purged the entire franchise of all those iconic characteres that made the He-Man brand so great.

To old fans, it was a slap in the face. To new fans, well they were lost. Mattel didn't reboot the franchise for the new fans to pick up and delve into. The NA franchise was more or less codependent on it's predecessor, although it did everything to be nothing like it.

In Mr. Olesker's defense, he made due with the commands he was given. The show is more cohesive than the original ever was. We were never treated to an origin episode or mini series for He-Man in the original - we were just dropped in. The NA series had a definitive beginning and ending, showing He-Man's journey into the distant future as he joins forces with the Galactic Guardians to defend them against the relentless attacks of Skeletor, Flog and the Evil Mutants. He-Man learns more about his powers under the guidance of Master Sebrian and the Sorceress. The hero experiences homesickness, but stays true to his mission. The villain Flogg even comes to see the error of his ways in attacking the Galactic Guardians and the planet Primus, realizing that over the course of the series it was Skeletor that was manipulating and dragging out the conflict to advance his own devious goals.

What makes this show work in my mind is that it is one adventure - though a rather long one - that He-Man experiences in his career. It's a time travel adventure that many fans loose sight of. The main fan criticism is: How could He-Man just leave Eternia behind to go help Primus? And I've always held that with this being a time travel adventure, He-Man could easily return to his own time only seconds after he had left. Time travel stuff always gets tricky doesn't it?

New Adventures of He-Man has a hero's journey, and the characters do have development over the course of the show. However, there are the weak points - the annoying scientists, and a few other characters like the Mites and the Gleenons, meant to cater to the kiddys, and the departure of the show from the original. The show is watchable compared to the painfully plotless Voltron series for example, and deserves recognition in the history and story continuity of the He-Man franchise.

Those are my thoughts on the matter. I'd like to hear from you what your thoughts are about the New Adventures of He-Man and it's place in the Masters of the Universe franchise?