Fanart by nebezial AKA Stjepan Sejic

Originally Posted by fantombe

Exactly. It shows although you were being arrogant, you're not in a position to think you know more than the target audience. Especially when you say one thing but do the opposite.

As long as you're a "swing enough times" artist, you should be taking note of as many lectures as you can.

I'm sorry you wouldn't allow me to take the high road, but it's up to you which way you want to take this discussion from here.

I would need to care about what you think in order to have a discussion! And gasp...I don't!

Originally Posted by ZexisStryfe

However, barbarian stories are not the only type of S&S. As Pat stated, I place most S&S in middle ages/renaissance times where as barbarian stories and personas are a very speciallized sub-genre of S&S.

Well, the term "Sword & Sorcery" was specifically created to describe the genre of the Conan stories. So, calling anything medieval or renaissance inspired "Sword & Sorcery" is a little far fetched.

Originally Posted by Eamon

I would need to care about what you think in order to have a discussion! And gasp...I don't!

It was very gracious of you to make my point for me. Certainly saved me time.

This is all very stupid.
Neb created pictures for fun, but to also show that yes MOTU could be translated to the big screen and this maybe one way of doing it. I cannot recall him ever saying this is how its done...the end.

Now we have a ******* match about the style of the movie...a movie that hasn't even been made. A movie that is somewhere in limbo, yet the fanboys still fight about it.

I like the style and dont have a problem with it.

But, the bigger picture is this...It doesnt matter what the hardcore fanboys think. Mattel will make a movie for a WIDER AUDIENCE not a bunch of hardcore fanboys who **** and moan if something isn't exactly like the ..eh mini comics, no wait Filmation version..no wait the 200x version..no the new toy line. Christ on a cracker we can't even agree among ourselves on which look to go with.

So really, you can ***** all you want, and you guys are doing a great job of it, but the bottom line is...its Mattel's call. And they may very well go with these designs or something like it.

But does it even matter? We have no film.

So keep fighting boys, I'll just admire it for a fun pieces of artwork.

Originally Posted by Irian

Well, the term "Sword & Sorcery" was specifically created to describe the genre of the Conan stories. So, calling anything medieval or renaissance inspired "Sword & Sorcery" is a little far fetched.

Well, there's Solomon Kane and Death Dealer which are very S&S but no men in furry shorts.
I agree though that when folks here the term S&S, the will most likely go to Conan which is fair enough given his status.

But I think the fear of MOTU being too Conan like is rather pointless. Without Conan and more specifically Frank Frazetta we would not have MOTU.
So I am puzzled why folks fans woudl not want the stuff of origin. Fan always rave about staying trough to the source. Well Frazetta is the source and Frazetta is the king of S&S.

I agree with both of the current voices right now.


the thing is, Eamon. though I would particularly love what you wish for this movie to be, your want to drop out the filmation/color aspect of it almost completely drops out the FOR EVERYONE/KIDS aspect of it.

I understand that as children we thought these things were cool, and now, seeing the "possibilities" it is very easy to see a 300 kind of He-Man. But i can guarentee that we will get more of a mix between ironman and LOTR.

when it comes to marketing, and consumers you have to admit that they are going to want KIDS to love this... NOT just because their "parents do"

their mentality in making this movie will be: we want the kid to either DRAG their parents to see this, or the parent will want to see it also cause it looks good.

instead of your: parents want to take their kids to see it, cause WE like it.

i mean. honestly. I loved 300, but on a personal level i wouldn't let my son see it until he was in his teens. at LEAST. thats a personal opinion, but i know that opinion is echoed across the country.


I am completely with Dice on everything he said. including his "perfect heman" (hulk cap. thoughts) everything in those pictures is great. He-Man is a little bit too Luke Skywalker ish.......

Originally Posted by Eamon

Well, there's Solomon Kane and Death Dealer which are very S&S but no men in furry shorts.
I agree though that when folks here the term S&S, the will most likely go to Conan which is fair enough given his status.

But I think the fear of MOTU being too Conan like is rather pointless. Without Conan and more specifically Frank Frazetta we would not have MOTU.
So I am puzzled why folks fans woudl not want the stuff of origin. Fan always rave about staying trough to the source. Well Frazetta is the source and Frazetta is the king of S&S.

i agree. but in all honesty, i think people that want a Conan movie (not a "knock off" - in their minds) would be ****** if He-Man went straight S&S....

and yeah, staying true to the "source" but that would make daredevil in yellow, hulk grey, and Robin in the next bat movie. but we all know that even though those are all "source" things. those do not make up the biggest fan base of the property.

I am with you Eamon. but we are not at all the "majority" here. or in the general public. but yeah... give me beastmaster he-man anyday.

I already said that using the 300 way of making films, I think you could acheive the look and feel of the box art and Filmation cartoon. This is what I want in the movie ok??!

I am strictly referring the great use if matt paintings, colour filters and effects used in 300 to get it that great painted look and atmospehere that is MOTU.

I am not talking about the same level of violence, the story or anything esle. Just the way the movie is executed!

Use your imagination guys!!

Originally Posted by Divia

This is all very stupid.
Neb created pictures for fun, but to also show that yes MOTU could be translated to the big screen and this maybe one way of doing it. I cannot recall him ever saying this is how its done...the end.

Now we have a ******* match about the style of the movie...a movie that hasn't even been made. A movie that is somewhere in limbo, yet the fanboys still fight about it.

I like the style and dont have a problem with it.

But, the bigger picture is this...It doesnt matter what the hardcore fanboys think. Mattel will make a movie for a WIDER AUDIENCE not a bunch of hardcore fanboys who **** and moan if something isn't exactly like the ..eh mini comics, no wait Filmation version..no wait the 200x version..no the new toy line. Christ on a cracker we can't even agree among ourselves on which look to go with.

So really, you can ***** all you want, and you guys are doing a great job of it, but the bottom line is...its Mattel's call. And they may very well go with these designs or something like it.

But does it even matter? We have no film.

So keep fighting boys, I'll just admire it for a fun pieces of artwork.

We have actually acknowledged that Sejic. It's because the quality and "realism" is good enough that people can see it as live action that the discussion has gone down that road.

I've only seen two other pieces of work that was of high enough quality and "realism" that people linked them to a potential movie. One of them split people right down the middle (me I wasn't a fan of "crop-top" He-man, but loved the guy's buildings and landscapes), and the other one didn't warrant discussion. Neither (just like this I'd wager) caused anyone to get genuinely heated.

Can't speak for anyone else, but I'm fairly sure no-one is going to get emotionally charged about anything written on an internet forum. The medium prevents it. We don't actually know each other, can't actually look each other in the eyes (so to speak), and as a result have no emotional investment in someone else's point of view. That's not to say we're not interested in the other point of view, after all that's why we're here, just that what seems agitated is unlikely to be in real life.

So I think you can rest easy that, although it may look heated, we're actually just having a simple discussion about our own particular MOTU tastes. I doubt anyone's getting raised blood pressure over it!

And just to doubly clarify in case it wasn't clear, I agree with everything you said (you'll see that from my posts, but if you're like most people, I'd wager you skimmed because who in God's name would read this long thread from beginning to end?), and actually posted this just because I've never seen so many asterixs (asterixes... asterixii... anyone know the plural for asterix?) in one post and would hate to see someone genuinely aggravated over something so minor.

Originally Posted by Eamon

I already said that using the 300 way of making films, I think you could acheive the look and feel of the box art and Filmation cartoon. This is what I want in the movie ok??!

I am strictly referring the great use if matt paintings, colour filters and effects used in 300 to get it that great painted look and atmospehere that is MOTU.

I am not talking about the same level of violence, the story or anything esle. Just the way the movie is executed!

Use your imagination guys!!

Can definitely agree with this. I think 300 would be a great template visually.

Unfortunately I've not seen anyone else replicate it successfully since, so it would be great to see someone pull it off, and especially for a franchise we care about.

Neat! Now I know who made these awesome Fanarts. And it was the dude who put clothes on Witchblade. Well, covered her up a lot more, anyway.
I think the Art Looks fantastic, but certainly there are a few things that don't look quite right. Mainly Skeletor's head, The Idea of Skeletor with hair is just annoying to me, He doesn't have a head, He has a creepy disembodied Skull.
And the Battle-Cat looks more like a giant green Saint Bernard. That said if I had anywhere near Stjepan Seijic's talent I'd draw whatever i wanted whenever I wanted and not give a hoot. I'd also like to put forward that they're drawn like that because IT LOOKS COOL. I don't understand why people can't get that through their heads. It doesn't have to make sense, it's just something shiny to meant amuse you. That's it.

I don't disagree on the origin of the term S&S. Perhaps I just like a healthy dose of high fantasy in my sword and sorcery. While it is true that the term was coined by Lieber to apply to Howard's Conan stories, nowhere in his definition did it state such stories require the barbaric elements- hence my statement that is is a sub-genre (sub-genre of a sub-genre... oh boy...). Sword in sorcery is defined on wikipedia as- "generally characterized by swashbuckling heroes engaged in exciting and violent conflicts. An element of romance is often present, as is an element of magic and the supernatural. Unlike works of high fantasy, the tales, though dramatic, focus mainly on personal battles rather than world-endangering matters." I have always floated closer to that definition than requiring a barbarian style to define the genre.

As for the gladatorial nature of the Snake Armor- I would love it if you could point me to some documentation of that (I am not trying to be snarky, I want to know for my own edification. ) since I have never seen any reference to that origin for the design and visually the only similarity I see is the one large shoulderpad. I can see centurion influences for sure... not so much gladatorial.

Overall what I was trying to say (my have we strayed) was that everyone has their differing opinions of what aspects of the mythos is most important. Be it the Conan-inspired history, the Star Wars inspired movie or anything in between, there are plenty of versions of He-man to go around to make everyone happy! Stjepan's is just another which certainly seems to appeal to many

Tallestblue- You know, its funny- the Skeletor thing is one of my favorite parts of that pic.

Originally Posted by ZexisStryfe

As for the gladatorial nature of the Snake Armor- I would love it if you could point me to some documentation of that (I am not trying to be snarky, I want to know for my own edification. ) since I have never seen any reference to that origin for the design and visually the only similarity I see is the one large shoulderpad. I can see centurion influences for sure... not so much gladatorial.

I think the fact that one side is heavily armored while the other side has no armor at all is what makes it look like a gladiator armor. This assymetric look is what many people automatically associate with gladiator style armor.

It's funny that a few people have singled out the hair on Skeletor. Between the look of Keldor and NA's Battle Blade Skeletor, I think there's enough precedent to justify that approach to his design--but even so I prefer he wear a hood at all times.

He-Man's snake armour shield was also quite long as apposed to round much like a gladiator.

Mmm... k.

If one armored sleeve makes something gladatorial, then so be it. I don't necessarily agree. Personally I always thought that this version of the armor was a much more of a video game influenced style of asymettrical armor with an oversized pauldron on one side and a giant extending claw on the other... but to each their own.

And where do you think video games got that look from??!

I'm not sayin that there's not a video game infleunce in there also. Why can't it be both?
But I will say when Snake armour He-Man came out I remember folks here referring to it as gladitorial in infleunce and that is one reason why it's cool.
To me that is the reason why it's cool!

One arm armored is a SIGNATURE gladiatorial look. There are enough examples of that everywhere. Most obvious that comes to mind is king/emperor hulk. its just the snake hook in the armor that makes it a bit tech, but the look is gladiatorial.. that is for certain. And as far as video games go i have difficulty remembering any character using the one arm armor/tech look other than nathan spencer, provided you dont include jack krauser and alex mercer.

Originally Posted by Caedus

One arm armored is a SIGNATURE gladiatorial look. There are enough examples of that everywhere. Most obvious that comes to mind is king/emperor hulk. its just the snake hook in the armor that makes it a bit tech, but the look is gladiatorial.. that is for certain.

Never said the armored arm wasn't the signature gladiator look. However, there is alot more of He-man armored in the Snake Armor than just his arm.

As for the video game influences, I was speaking more about the exaggerated features of the armor, such as the oversized pauldron, as well as other design elements. Play any MMO out there and you will see very similar looking armors. Heck, EQ2 actually has a very close representation of the Snake Armor He-Man pauldron as an armor model (not to mention the fact that he-man, skeletor, prince adam and cringer are actually referenced/seen in the game).

I am more than willing to take Eamon's word that the armor was designed to look gladatorial though. Just because I don't see it doesn't mean that isn't the case.

Originally Posted by ZexisStryfe

Never said the armored arm wasn't the signature gladiator look. However, there is alot more of He-man armored in the Snake Armor than just his arm.

As for the video game influences, I was speaking more about the exaggerated features of the armor, such as the oversized pauldron, as well as other design elements. Play any MMO out there and you will see very similar looking armors. Heck, EQ2 actually has a very close representation of the Snake Armor He-Man pauldron as an armor model (not to mention the fact that he-man, skeletor, prince adam and cringer are actually referenced/seen in the game).

I am more than willing to take Eamon's word that the armor was designed to look gladatorial though. Just because I don't see it doesn't mean that isn't the case.

Yeah, there is more to the armor than just the arm. I dont know if it was supposed to look gladiatorial, but that was most definitely a big inspiration for it. But the colors on it do make it borderline knight-ish.

i would agree that MMOs usually do feature stuff like this, and asymmetrical armor is pretty popular, probably because it looks so cool, but i think those designs too are influenced from a whole lotta places, including other MMOs.

Originally Posted by Eamon

Patreek questioned earlier weather kids would like how 300 and Spartacus looks! When do kids ever not want to watch something like what their parents watch? Kids always want stuff that 'feels' grown up.

Well I definitely didn't find that to be true as a kid. I found a lot of stuff that was devoid of color like that to be really boring as a kid. Maybe I was just a really odd kid? ... probably was a really odd kid... ok i was. I just always think of MOTU as being really based in Gem tones. 300 seems so washed out and brown and tan with just a few colors here and there. But... i actually saw a trailer for some crazy movie last night that made me think that maybe it COULD be ok... there were chicks with guns and swords fighting robots, dragons, and other things and it seem reminiscent of 300's filming style. Anyone know what I'm talking about?

Originally Posted by Divia

This is all very stupid.
Neb created pictures for fun, but to also show that yes MOTU could be translated to the big screen and this maybe one way of doing it. I cannot recall him ever saying this is how its done...the end.

Now we have a ******* match about the style of the movie...a movie that hasn't even been made. A movie that is somewhere in limbo, yet the fanboys still fight about it.

I like the style and dont have a problem with it.

But, the bigger picture is this...It doesnt matter what the hardcore fanboys think. Mattel will make a movie for a WIDER AUDIENCE not a bunch of hardcore fanboys who **** and moan if something isn't exactly like the ..eh mini comics, no wait Filmation version..no wait the 200x version..no the new toy line. Christ on a cracker we can't even agree among ourselves on which look to go with.

So really, you can ***** all you want, and you guys are doing a great job of it, but the bottom line is...its Mattel's call. And they may very well go with these designs or something like it.

But does it even matter? We have no film.

So keep fighting boys, I'll just admire it for a fun pieces of artwork.

Actually... thats all very true.: its a fun thing to discuss but you are right we shouldn't be taking it SO seriously... we all have our opinions and Mattel cares about none of them in the end probably

Originally Posted by Patreek

But... i actually saw a trailer for some crazy movie last night that made me think that maybe it COULD be ok... there were chicks with guns and swords fighting robots, dragons, and other things and it seem reminiscent of 300's filming style. Anyone know what I'm talking about?

Sucker Punch! Also from Zack Snyder

Originally Posted by Irian

Sucker Punch! Also from Zack Snyder

ah ha! Makes sense then. Yea I could see a he-man like that... but maybe with a little bit more color in there some how. But something similar anyway...

i don't like his he-man, but i think everyone else in that group pic is pretty spot on. i'm not nuts about skeletor with hair, but i could live it. and i doubt i'd see a better interpretation of mer-man or beastman. on the she-ra pic, i LOVE leech, mantenna feels right from the neck up, scorpia looks pretty cool though i'd like to see an organic element to her, i could live with hordak. she-ra is a bit too 'wonder woman' for me, but i could also live with it, POP always felt more sci-fi to me (which is one of the reasons i don't like it).

but i'm with Eamon. he-man is not a knight, and should be much bulkier/ more barbaric, with furry pants i've always preferred the original mini-comics to anything done since. but we each have our preferences, i started with he-man as soon as they hit shelves and remember even being mad when the cartoon gave him a secret identity.

EDIT: oh, and meant to point out. while the technical skill in his art is outstanding in that first pic, that has got to be the least passionate kiss i've seen. a piece like that, with an end of days feel to it, should have the subjects engaged like he's going off to die, not going off to take the kids to soccer practice.

I had a really cool idea late last night. Gonna put my money where my mouth is.... sort of!

Originally Posted by Eamon

I had a really cool idea late last night. Gonna put my money where my mouth is.... sort of!