Masters of the Universe Classics Eternos Palace King Randor Review (Mattel)

The review included in this blog entry was originally published way back in June 2013 on Poeghostal.com. It was written specifically for Poe Ghostal's site so may contain specific references to the site etc. Due to the age of the article, some of the information contained within may have dated somewhat. For posterity (in case Poe's site ever goes offline forever) I have included screenshots at the end of the article of a selection of the 20+ comments I received for this guest review; to date, still a comments record for anything I've written. Booooooo. You can check out the originally published version on Poe Ghostal's site here.

SPOTLIGHT ON: HUGGINGTONS TWISTED TOYS PART TWO featuring THE SAVAGE BOBBY PIN! (RAGE BEAST EDITION)

Note: The Filmation-style MOTUC Trap Jaw in this photo shoot was created many years ago by Hunter Knight Customs. P.S. I love the way The Savage Bobby Pin is packaged.

Yesterday (hopefully) you read about Frankentrooper and PINCER M.D. in part one of our Spotlight on Huggingtons Twisted Toys.

Today I bring you another fantastic piece of Toy Art in the conclusion of our very special Spotlight on Huggingtons Twisted Toys.

Huggingtons Twisted Toys is the brainchild of artist J-F Tranquille (you can check out his new blog that goes behind the scenes of his work HERE) who is based in Melbourne, Australia and has had displays and exhibitions of his art, sculptures and toy creations all over town (most recently, and most often, at the awesome Art Boy Gallery).

All of the independently produced Toys you see in this Spotlight are either available to purchase now (or will be very shortly) from the Huggingtons Twisted Toys Storenvy.

Let's get started, shall we?

SPOTLIGHT ON: HUGGINGTONS TWISTED TOYS PART ONE featuring PINCER M.D. & FRANKENTROOPER.

Note: The Filmation-style MOTUC Trap Jaw in this photo shoot was created many years ago by Hunter Knight Customs.

It's been far too long between pop cultural drinks here on Hoard World.

To be fair, while I frequent the Facey B often, and update The Hoardstagram so regularly that one magnificent Hoard Worlder instituted the catchphrase "Hoard World: Bringing you toy insanity on a daily basis!", I have been rather lax with The Blogging and such.

Until now.

And golly gee willikers is this a doozy!

For today I bring you TWO fantastic pieces of Toy Art in Part One of our very special Spotlight on Huggingtons Twisted Toys.

Huggingtons Twisted Toys is the brainchild of artist J-F Tranquille (you can check out his new blog that goes behind the scenes of his work HERE) who is based in Melbourne, Australia and has had displays and exhibitions of his art, sculptures and toy creations all over town (most recently, and most often, at the awesome Art Boy Gallery).

All of the independently produced Toys you see in this Spotlight are either available to purchase now (or will be very shortly) from the Huggingtons Twisted Toys Storenvy.

Let's get started, shall we?

HOARDAX DREAM CASTS THE NEW MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE LIVE ACTION MOVIE

Hoardax is such an egomaniac, he second-screens his own site when watching ANYTHING.

In 1987, one of Cannon Film's finest filmic moments was Masters Of The Universe starring Dolph Lundgren and Frank Langella. I saw it at the cinema as a child-like Hoardax. It blew my eight year old mind right in half. Cleaved in two like the power swords of the original MOTU storyline.

However, I realised pretty early into the flick that it was different from the Filmation cartoon and I was fine with that. I remember realising years earlier that the Filmation cartoon was also very different from the mini-comics and toyline I had already grown used to.

It was all a great lesson while I was young and impressionable that if you're a big enough fan of something you will adapt to various interpretations and find something to like in all of them. Sure, you don't have to, but it's entirely possible.

The original Masters Of The Universe motion picture is not why we're here today.

We're here to talk about the inevitable new film.

The highly anticipated and possibly-never-actually-happening modern interpretation of the 30ish year old Mattel kids toy line. Hasbro have had massive amounts of success with their licenses regardless of quality. Sci-fi / Fantasy / Superhero movies are the toast of the town right now. 80s nostalgia is peaking. Verily, we are living in a golden age that can only truly peak with a Masters Of The Universe live action film.

Personally, I think it could work better as an ongoing, dark, tongue-in-cheek Fantasy/Sci-Fi show with a macabre sense of humour that doesn't shy away from the existence of characters like SNOUT SPOUT. Maybe even on a US cable network. But that'll probably never happen.

So instead, let's CAST the future blockbuster attempt to create a new film franchise based on literally one of the weirdest and oft-maligned concepts in toy (and probably sci-fi/fantasy history).

This is my casting for the Masters Of The Universe film. The first film. If the powers that be ever read this and heed my words, there will be sequels. Verily.

QUICK UPDATE: GUEST SPOT AT POE GHOSTAL.COM - SPIRIT OF HORDAK REVIEW - HOARDSTAGRAM - VALE LOU SCHEIMER

It's been a pretty tumultuous time over here on Hoard World of late. The last six weeks or so have been spent attempting the biggest HQ move of your pal Hoardax's entire six millennium lifespan! Have you ever tried moving planets before? Intergalactic relocation is a real beast! I almost passed away on several occasions. I wish I was joking.

Let this be a lesson to all of you, but especially me: DON'T HOARD.

Meanwhile, I managed to pen a guest review, that was literally three of your human months in the making, over at PoeGhostal.com. It may have felt like a three month wait to Poe, but as we will endeavour to explain in a future blog entry, time works differently for Hoardax. In the time it takes most people to live their entire existences, I have only eaten a baloney sandwich, watched half an episode of Charles In Charge and had a nice lie down. More on that, another time.

If you missed this guest review, you should totally check it out.

And you can, right here at this LINK.

Whoever wins.....nobody cares.
It's just a blinking contest.
Stakes aren't very high at all.
Pretty sure the victor just gets bragging rights, a greater sense of self and $1.80.

Due to lack of a decent internet connection in the purgatory that was the last month or so, the majority of Hoard World's new content has been via The Hoardstagram. You should take a look at that as well.

You don't wanna miss out on the time my friend Batros-Batros Ghali was arrested by Eternian Palace Guards for impersonating Batman in an area where Cosplay is banned. 

This might look amusing to you, but you didn't have to bail him out at 3am on a school night.

Anyway, that's it from me, for now. I hope to return you to the regularly unscheduled Hoard World that you've come to know and love, sooner rather than never.

Hope you've all been keeping well.

YR PAL,

HOARDAX.

RIP LOU SCHEIMER 1928-2013

ENTER THE LOST WORLD OF WARLORD....AND HE-MAN?

Probably one of my favourite toy companies of all time was REMCO.

At least the REMCO that I grew up with in the 80s was. 

I mean, they did a bunch of great stuff like the fascinating (at least to me) MAN-TECH  series. They were highly playable, way before Centurions or Modulok and they had their own cool Archie comic. I'm pretty sure they also came with mini-comics that may or may not have been the same as the Archie comic.

And who could forget their line of Karate Kid toys? The Mr.Miyagi/Daniel-san Two-pack came with breakable scenery for them to practice Karate on and a giant plastic pair of chopsticks with a fly on a string. 

For real, yo.

But to me, their fantasy figures were as iconic as Masters Of The Universe. Obviously as a kid you're not so discerning. A toy is a toy. And when you're growing up through the He-man phase of 1982-1987, one heroic or evil warrior is as good as the next.  

The Warlord was one such series. The line was based on Mike Grell's DC Comic of the same name but it also included characters from other cross-over DC characters who had their own comic like ARAK and HERCULES.

THE REAL GHOSTBUSTERS MONSTERS FIGURES AND MYSTERIA FROM FILMATION'S GHOSTBUSTERS WERE AN EARLY 90s MUSIC GROUP?!?!?

So when I was just a Hoardling, I had a few toys. Just so you know, in case it wasn't obvious to you already from the story so far. I was by no means one of those rich kids whose house you went to and they had EVERYTHING but, I reckon I did alright. Heck, I didn't do much of anything else. My life was going to school, taping things off the television, reading books and playing with my toys. I never got into any of your bourgeois sports! Although, I must admit I had a soft spot for ten-pin bowling, table tennis and pool because I'd seen the adult Hoarders do it. You gotta get to 'em while they're young.

But, I digress.

I could write tens of thousands of pages on the sorts of games I used to play with my toys and, maybe I will. But when I found one particular posse in my collection last week, I remembered something that I'd known was bizarre, even at the time.

The Real Ghostbusters line of toys by Kenner were short on characters to begin with but towards the end of the line they were really stretching it. I've read other blogs like this one here that have already done a decent job of pointing that out. I personally was a big fan of the toys of the evil Granny Ghost (it was both relevant and terrifying), The Bum-licker Toilet Ghost (I'm sure it's not actually called that) and Quasimodo. Not having had the first two even though I lusted after them, my nostalgia for them ends right there. But I had The Hunchback.

Oh yes, I had The Hunchback.

The Hunchback and most of his friends. And I LOVED them. 

They were based on Universal Monsters (the Dracula even looked like Bela Lugosi) and when you pinched their legs together they had an action feature. 

What's not to like?

But I never played with them in the way that you'd think.

As a Hoardling growing up I was also obsessed with Morticia Addams and Elvira. I don't want to out myself here but they were probably my first big crushes that weren't Wonder Woman or Evil Lyn or Debbie - my Aunty's friend (childhood photo of me and her COMING SOON. She bought me an awesome Pepsi Truck. I would use my Fozzie Bear puppet to woo her. It didn't take).

So given these Addams Family and horror hostess based obsessions, it was sad for me that I never had a figure of some kind. That was until Filmation's Ghostbusters came out with the character of Mysteria - who was a total rip-off.

And finally, my band line-up was complete.

What?

Now, I couldn't tell you how this started and it couldn't have lasted for THAT long but one Saturday morning during an episode of Video Hits I decided that the music videos just weren't cutting it.The music needed something else. 

It needed Frankenstein's Monster, The Wolfman, The Hunchback, Count Dracula and Mysteria to be miming along.

For quite some time.....

.....probably most of  the running time of Video Hits (which was usually three hours).

Naturally, the Kenner figures were perfectly suited to miming songs because all their mouths opened and closed when you squeezed their legs together.

But you know what? I was just a young Hoardling. What's wrong with that? Kids play with toys.

The weird thing was the song choices. Now this is going to both age me and possibly prove I was slightly too old to be doing this but it's necessary to this tale.

I VIVIDLY remember doing these songs in particular:

Shakespeare's Sister - STAY

C&C Music Factory - HERE WE GO LET'S ROCK AND ROLL

Black Box - FANTASY

Black Box - RIDE ON TIME

George Michael - FREEDOM

Yep. And now you know.

Now that we have the internet and YouTube video capabilities, perhaps we should force Hoardax to re-enact some of these music videos? We know he still has the action figures for it! If we get enough votes....

THIS. COULD. HAPPEN.


NEXT EPISODE: REMCO V.S. MATTEL! WARLORD AND HE-MAN MEET!