He-Man and the Masters of the Universe

After the disappointing and divisive "MOTU Revelations" earlier in the year I was certainly apprehensive about this new take on the He-Man franchise.

The art style and re-working of certain characters concerned me as an "OG fan" even if it was clear this version would be aimed at a much younger audience.

But not only was this show a hit with my 7 year old son, but I found myself really enjoying it too!

As is quite often the case with most nostalgic properties and comic book adaptations, there seems to be a current trend of "subverting" expectations, gender and sexuality politics being shoehorned in and well, just changes for the sake of making changes.

What I loved about this show is I really didn't feel any of that. Yes Ram Man has been gender swapped and Teela and The Sorceress (The Eldress now) have been race swapped, but I honestly felt these changes served to strengthen the show instead of detracting from it and brought some more balance to the cast of characters which in this day and age can only help to attract that all important new generation of fans.

The main reason I liked this show way more than Kevin Smith's effort was that although the emphasis is on teamwork and family, He-Man is still front and centre in his own show as he should be.

He was proactive, caring and above all else GOOD.

I'm sure this version of MOTU will also be divisive among the core fanbase but I believe the spirit of the original was upheld and properly respected.

I hope this show is a hit with kids and we can all enjoy more He-Man in many years to come.

We have the power.

Here we have an actual reboot with some tone shifts and reimagined points from the original done in an enjoyable and interesting way. It's just as cheesy as the original would seem to most now, buts it's fun and the characters are likable. It was almost immediately charming for me despite going into it with a negative impression of the trailer and freshly stinging opinion of Revelations. The animation will be the biggest obstacle for the shows popularity and for new viewers; it comes across as outlandish in its exaggerations and is obviously meant to also appeal to younger audiences. The action and transformation sequences still look nice and are appropriately flashy. It grows on you. He-Man and the Masters of the Universe also runs a fantastic cast with every voice feeling natural and appealing. A special shout to Ben Diskin who does an incredible and hilarious job as Skeletor. (weighted score: 8/10 and a solid 7/10 all things considered)

First things first. This is way better than Kevin Smiths revelation! I can actually see myself watching the entire season after watching the first 5 eps.

It will not appeal to everyone, it is clearly aimed at a younger audience with it's animation style and its characterisations, but the dialog is wonderful and the animation fluid and dynamic.

I found myself liking the characters quite quickly which is something Kevin Smith never managed. Some of the the female characters are a tiny bit over-macho as if the things we would call a boy dumb or possibly suicidal for make a girl appear strong, but don't get me wrong, compared to a lot of what we have been getting lately this is surprisingly balanced. I never felt like I was being beaten over the head with a woke bible at any point.

The aesthetic grew on me, a bit like clone wars 3d did and the vehicle designs are pretty cool. Some good toys coming for Christmas no doubt.

My biggest annoyance was that cringer constantly forgets he has teeth, you will see what I mean.

Overall once I got over the initial shock of just how different it was to the established He-Man universe It managed to put a smile on my face.

Thumbs up from me.

Because it's a complete reboot, I'm giving it a lot of slack. If I were a kid today, I would probably love it. As an adult who grew up with the original, it's a bit disappointing.

They do give reasonable story lines to some of the changes they made, if a little cliché at times. I don't know that the cyberpunk feel is right for the property. It's grown on me over the 10 episodes, but it's still a little weird. It really bothers me that He-Man skips leg day. EVERY DAY IS LEG DAY! And the wannabe "imagine dragons" theme song is just awful.

Also, making the shift from a hero-focused story to an ensemble team story, somewhat reminiscent of power rangers dynamics, feels odd.

This is not at all the He-Man I grew up with, and it's not how I would have done a reboot. I don't believe we needed a hard reboot like this. The 200X series was the right way to do a reboot (and it had things I didn't love as well...) But it's not terrible, and it's orders of magnitude better than Kevin Smith's travesty.

Having grown up watching the original, I didn't care for this show at first. I didn't like the first few episodes because they were more Troll Hunters and Clone Wars than Masters of the Universe. I think it wasn't until around the 4th episode that I started to like the show. It finally felt like MOTU, but in a different universe.

I recommend giving this show a chance. Battle Cat is the best part of the show. The whinny, insecure He-Man, not so much.