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News He-Man anime series from Kevin Smith coming to Netflix

Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep! (And I hope Netflix deleted the real offensive comments).

Sadly, they didn't (said comments have to be pointed out to the YT mods so that they can be deleted, and usually, YT doesn't really do that.)

There are some really awful human beings with YouTube channels going off on this show. But I guess being toxic and hateful is profitable.

Case in point, this video 'review';

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Just a few thoughts...

People are review-bombing Kevin Smith and his dishonesty, not the show itself. The show itself is actually rather good.

From what I've gathered, people resent Smith for two main things:

A) his insisting that the show wouldn't be focused on Teela (the story is very much told from her POV, not He-Man's)

B) making a huge effort to sell himself as a lifelong fan of the franchise, even though HIS fans, people who had followed his career for years, know that it's bullshit (among other things, he tweeted about how he used to hate-watch He-Man, and even said he never liked He-Man in his own reality show "Comic Book Men")

Concerning A - a story told from Teela's POV is what I was personally hoping for. Neither the 1983. series, nor the 2002. reboot wrapped up her character arc, and Revelation appears to be on its way to do so. I love that she found out about He-Man's real identity early on and that the story dealt with the repercussions of it. Still, I wish Smith had had the balls to just come out and say "yes, we're doing a Teela show, and that's a great thing, here's why..."

Concerning B - I assume Smith revisited the franchise at some point in his life and grew to appreciate it. Fine by me. Still, lying to a fanbase that's considerably smaller than other notable fanbases (SW, ST, LOTR, Dune, Harry Potter etc...) was IMO pretty ill-advised.

I'll add some thoughts about the show itself later on.
 
The outrage makes sense. He Man and Skeltor are the main attractions. The Optimus Prime and Megatron of the brand so to speak. Do something were The main attraction isn't the main focus people will get upset. It's what comes with the territory with using old brands. People want more of the same with better animation and graphics more than they want something new or deconstruction. Quality doesn't matter. Look at the recent Bumblebee movie. Good movie but with little Optimus Prime or Megatron nobody showed up to watch.
 
Just a few thoughts...

People are review-bombing Kevin Smith and his dishonesty, not the show itself. The show itself is actually rather good.

From what I've gathered, people resent Smith for two main things:

A) his insisting that the show wouldn't be focused on Teela (the story is very much told from her POV, not He-Man's)

B) making a huge effort to sell himself as a lifelong fan of the franchise, even though HIS fans, people who had followed his career for years, know that it's bullshit (among other things, he tweeted about how he used to hate-watch He-Man, and even said he never liked He-Man in his own reality show "Comic Book Men")

Concerning A - a story told from Teela's POV is what I was personally hoping for. Neither the 1983. series, nor the 2002. reboot wrapped up her character arc, and Revelation appears to be on its way to do so. I love that she found out about He-Man's real identity early on and that the story dealt with the repercussions of it. Still, I wish Smith had had the balls to just come out and say "yes, we're doing a Teela show, and that's a great thing, here's why..."

Concerning B - I assume Smith revisited the franchise at some point in his life and grew to appreciate it. Fine by me. Still, lying to a fanbase that's considerably smaller than other notable fanbases (SW, ST, LOTR, Dune, Harry Potter etc...) was IMO pretty ill-advised.

I'll add some thoughts about the show itself later on.
Yes, if He-Man/Adam doesn't become higher profile in the second half of the show, it will look like he was lying outright to bait the incels. He-Man is possibly the least interesting character of the franchise - he's so powerful, it's a struggle to think of ways for him not to win easily. In the original comics he had magical harnesses - one to enhance his strength and one to provide a personal force-field. If he comes out of this diminished but still He-Man, relying more on slightly magical technology, I'd be perfectly happy. Maybe a sort of half Adam half He-Man could work.
 
Yes, if He-Man/Adam doesn't become higher profile in the second half of the show, it will look like he was lying outright to bait the incels. He-Man is possibly the least interesting character of the franchise - he's so powerful, it's a struggle to think of ways for him not to win easily. In the original comics he had magical harnesses - one to enhance his strength and one to provide a personal force-field. If he comes out of this diminished but still He-Man, relying more on slightly magical technology, I'd be perfectly happy. Maybe a sort of half Adam half He-Man could work.
It still won't matter because people I think are more into the character than the world building and all of that stuff. I don't think He-Man is something like Trek were exploring the world and setting is half of the fun.
 
Yep. He's virtually a Silver Age Superman/Green Lantern, but without Kryptonite or yellow weakness.
He-Man isn't really a character. He-Man is Prince Adam's "Hulkbuster suit", only even more powerful.

Revelation part 2 will likely give us more insight into who Adam is without He-Man, or at least I hope it will.
 
So, I was busier than I had hoped Friday and Saturday, but I finally got to watch it today. And luckily, 5 half-hour episodes aren't that hard to binge. Loved it.

I never played with the toys or watched the cartoon as a kid, as it was one of those things that my mom was not comfortable with introducing her children to (you know, barbarian hero, skull-faced villain, cartoon being a glorified toy commercial). I heared an episode of a series of audio dramas they did here in Germany back in the day, and I sometimes saw the toys at friends' houses.
But it wasn't until age 18 when I discovered the cartoon in re-runs, and immediately saw the potential for great Science Fantasy which the world had. But I also saw that most of that potential was left unfullfilled by the cartoon because of the limitations back then.
Not long after, the 200X series came out and it was a bit closer to what I thought MotU could be, but still not quite there. It was still kids' TV.
So I used to imagine what I'd do with MotU, and one of the things I swore I'd do was to make Orko cool. My version would have been more capable, and more mysterious, but mostly, he was more than just a comic relief.
And that is one of the things this new show really did well. Even better than I would have done. Where I would have just done a new version, Revelations took those dopey traits of the original version and build the character around that, giving even more meaning to the character's journey. So, yeah, very well done.

But my perspective is probably pretty similar to Smith's, as watching the cartoon with so much unfullfilled potential could be, in an off-hand remark, be described as hate-watching.

As for the "controversy", damn, when I visited YouTube last night, there were so many "Kevin Smith lied and he ruined He-Man and his show is a disaster" videos by people and channels I never heard of before listed on the front page, it was pretty clear most of them probably just jumped onto a bandwagon to get trending. I mean, Robert Meyer Burnett's live stream yesterday had a title like "Leave me alone with your He-Man outrage" (he changed it since, so I couldn't give the exact wording, but that was the essence), and when fucking Robert Meyer Burnett appears like the reasonable guy in the room, that says something. I didn't watch any, I mean I hadn't even gotten to watch the episodes yet, but it got to the point where I just spent five minutes to block any of these "Who the fuck are you?" channels doing one of these cry-baby videos.

So, anyway, as I said, loved the episodes. And I'm currently watching last night's Fatman Beyond, in which Orko voice actor Griffin Newman filled in for Marc Bernardin sitting next to Kevin Smith, and they naturally talk a lot about Revelations, giving some insight, and even dropping some hints (or outright telling) of what's to come in the other five episodes. So, there might be folks around here interested:
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I like Kevin Smith but I think he underestimated how much the fans of property like He Man as a character and how little interest their is in the idea of Teela as a series lead. You could probably get away with something like this in GiJoe when you got a Scarlett or Lady Jaye to work with or especially if you did a Baroness show or movie.
 
I like Kevin Smith but I think he underestimated how much the fans of property like He Man as a character and how little interest their is in the idea of Teela as a series lead. You could probably get away with something like this in GiJoe when you got a Scarlett or Lady Jaye to work with or especially if you did a Baroness show or movie.
Have you looked around this thread? The only thing he might have underestimated is the number of loudmouthed toxic gatekeepers who decide people interested in anybody but He-Man don't count as "real fans".
 
Some people are going to like the new version of course. I'm guessing most don't though or are like me and don't really care. He Man was never my thing as a kid. I was more into Speed Racer,Transformers, GiJoe,Gobots and Hot Wheels as a kid. I just know though when it comes to brand recognition it's always been about He Man and Skeletor. Those are the main attractions and why they put them into all the adds and half of the merchandise. I assume they are basically like I said the Optimus Prime and Megatron of this franchise. Still for me I have found the drama kind of interesting but at the same time it's also crossed the line and is now getting into the boring phase and people should just move on already.
 
Okay, first off, yeah, most people don't care. But that's true for almost anything, even the most popular stuff like the MCU or Star Wars.

As for "most" fans not liking the new show, I do not believe that. It's just that the haters are the ones getting the most attention. As is, unfortunately, so often the case.

Btw, didn't Optimus Prime die in Transformers: The Movie?
 
Okay, finished episode 2. I still find myself scoffing at how self-consciously dark and gritty they've made it -- which seems like a hell of a strange way to "honor" something that was originally quite wholesome -- but the final minutes were pretty impressive. Who knew that I'd be brought to the verge of tears by a speech delivered by Cringer?
 
Yep he died. Not just him but tons of favorites. It was pretty brutal and shocking back then. People love the movie but I don't think anyone ever came to like Rodimus Prime.
 
He-Man was the ultimate boys' wish fulfillment, and many fans (I guess) were hoping to relieve that part of their childhood. Revelation completely ignores that aspect and denies them that. Cue nerdrage.

There's a comment on another forum saying that "Revelation" is basically Teela's Quest part.2. Pretty accurate so far, as Teela's Quest never got a proper follow-up. I honestly never thought it would, and I'm anxious to see Teela finally go full circle, learn about her parentage, and embrace the latent magical powers that come with it (man, this part is gonna piss some dudebros off).

The Variety article confirms he's alive.
 
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