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The Nineteen Eighties have been rife with loopy cartoon properties that have been all about huge battles, loopy style settings, and over-the-top characters. These properties usually arose from the necessity to promote associated toys, however the energy fantasies they engendered additionally occur to be wonderful fodder for video video games. Whereas I may level to any variety of fallow cartoons as fertile floor for revival, none is as prepared for the massive time as Masters of the Universe.
He-Man and the Masters of the Universe debuted as an animated sequence in 1983, delighting youngsters like myself who have been excited by the myriad characters, colours, autos, and playsets that frequently flowed out from Mattel. To at the present time, few kids’s playsets match the model and pleasure of the Fort Grayskull set, with its trapdoor, opening “jawbridge,” and different methods. With out fail, afternoons introduced the chance to see the fortress dropped at life within the cartoon, with He-Man, Skeletor, and the remainder of the heroes and villains duking it out, usually towards the backdrop of that acquainted construction.
Our child selves acknowledged by intuition what our grownup selves can now look at and acknowledge; Masters of the Universe is unabashed enjoyable, tying collectively science-fiction and fantasy tropes in a wonderful mixture of lasers, swords, spells, tanks, and extra. The characters, little question fueled by Mattel’s want to find ever-more cockamamie issues to seize childhood consideration, have been a delight. Ram Man was a literal battering ram, springing throughout the ground to smash into targets. Two-Dangerous had – you guessed it – two heads. Moss Man was coated in inexperienced fur. Stinkor was a skunk – and the toy really smelled dangerous! No concept was too on the market.
However for all its foolish enjoyable, Masters of the Universe was additionally potent moralistic mythology, full of impossibly heroic good guys and laughably maniacal dangerous guys. Like lots of the greatest comedian e-book characters, it featured a principal character with a secret identification, whose heroism was usually unheralded by those that knew him greatest. And regardless of how bonkers the character ideas received, there was no denying the way in which these gimmicks stored issues recent, letting each the cartoon and the toy play periods it inspired take off in every kind of instructions.
The primary episodes of the brand new animated sequence have launched on Netflix
Following anticipation from followers, as we speak introduced the primary episodes of Kevin Smith’s (Clerks, Chasing Amy) revival of Masters of the Universe. Reasonably than rebooting and beginning recent, the brand new Revelation animated sequence picks up the place the 80s cartoon left off, telling a extra grownup story and concurrently celebrating, poking enjoyable at, and critiquing what got here earlier than. Revelation is an effort focused at grownup followers who grew up with these characters however at the moment are wanting to see it refreshed.
That very same philosophy ought to information the potential for a brand new online game set inside the Masters of the Universe setting. Through the years, a number of makes an attempt have been made to convey the franchise to life, together with every part from a 1987 arcade recreation to a 2012 cell launch. However the franchise deserves extra. Think about an open world of Eternia, full of magic and expertise to find and equip. Elective playable characters or allies may increase the potential to achieve new places and websites, from confronting Mer-Man within the oceans to flying with Stratos to go to with the chicken folks. Melee fight sequences may be wealthy with potential and with no scarcity of colourful and bizarre enemies towards which to battle.
Current licensed recreation properties have confirmed {that a} consummate love of a franchise, married to technical and design know-how, can result in superior video video games. The Batman Arkham video games leveraged an evocative setting and a powerful rogue’s gallery to modernize and embody the Darkish Knight in a brand new method. The makers of Star Wars: Knights of the Outdated Republic acknowledged the stark moralistic tilt of the Star Wars universe and reworked it into one among video gaming’s most acknowledged morality methods. The builders behind the South Park video games have been unafraid to play with humor, brightness, and parody to reinvent what gamers would possibly anticipate finding in an RPG. Excessive Moon’s Transformers video games reinvented an older Nineteen Eighties cartoon sequence as a grittier story of conflict and loss, however with out shedding contact with characters and story.
Whereas there are many examples of licensed video video games lacking the mark, Masters of the Universe is uniquely located to be a hit story. Not solely are its larger-than-life characters and setting an ideal match for giant online game motion, however different mediums are actively bringing the previous sequence again to public consciousness. Revelation is simply the primary of two introduced Netflix animated sequence. New toys are again in shops. A tabletop role-playing recreation is within the works. And long-quiescent fan communities have remained quietly lively for many years, able to see these tales introduced again to life.
Kevin Smith’s Masters of the Universe: Revelation proves that you just don’t must abandon the enjoyable and vibrancy of an previous franchise to convey it new alternatives and assist it step into the trendy age. Like that new animated launch, a high-end online game adaptation can discover success if it updates the themes and characters with out abandoning what makes them memorable. Greater than most of these previous 80s cartoons, Masters of the Universe comes ready-made for the kind of motion and depth {that a} huge new online game wants. I’m crossing my fingers that a few of the different makes an attempt to revitalize the Masters of the Universe discover success; maybe, once they do, the fitting recreation maker can come alongside and convey He-Man, Skeletor, and all the remainder to life on the thumbsticks of my controller.
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