MOTU Origins - Minicomics Discussion Thread

[facet]

I stated it in previous text, but i feel the ROTS characters are getting abilities even more powerful then MOTU characters, and that shouldnt be the case. Dulipco recreating Eternias sun, you needed four or 5 super powerful speel casters to try and prevent eternia from spliting, this guy it with a clap of his hands and hes not even winded after, im sorry but its just too much feel like space sumos was the same. Im not cool with these characters overtaking the abilities of TRUE Motu characters, its not cool, they gotta scale back their powers.

[He-Metayer]

Because Duplico's figure looks mean and badass, part of me wishes they'd have made him a villain instead. It would put a fresh spin on the old "Aryan hero" stereotype.

I agree that would be cool!

[Dice]

I stated it in previous text, but i feel the ROTS characters are getting abilities even more powerful then MOTU characters, and that shouldnt be the case. Dulipco recreating Eternias sun, you needed four or 5 super powerful speel casters to try and prevent eternia from spliting, this guy it with a clap of his hands and hes not even winded after, im sorry but its just too much feel like space sumos was the same. Im not cool with these characters overtaking the abilities of TRUE Motu characters, its not cool, they gotta scale back their powers.

This is one of my main reasons I'm disinterested in them but I kinda understand they why. Each of these characters was created to be their own "He-Man" not just a side character.

But as a person who's personal head cannon really evens the playing field between the good and bad guys I'm not interested in a new group of Supermen Prime.


Edit: I DO like most of the figures though

[Stinkor]

Do we know who writes these mini-comics? I’ve never seen one in person. Are there writing credits that I’m missing in the scans?

[Ultimate Sorceress]

Do we know who writes these mini-comics? I’ve never seen one in person. Are there writing credits that I’m missing in the scans?

Joshua Sky is the writer. You can find him on social media.

[Smitty.81]

Joshua Sky is the writer. You can find him on social media.

I wonder if he's got a longer story in mind and there are "deleted scenes" he could tell us about?

Sent from my SM-G981U using Tapatalk

[Bear]

A guy can hope. Also they did it for Wun-Dar.

Sent from my SM-G981U using Tapatalk

Well only sorta. They did Wun-Dar's origin story like they did Frog Monger, Space Sumo and Duplico and it's shows how he got his armor. It's not like it was variant of alternative head of Wun-Dar. It just happens that you can remove his armor to get more-less (he still has boots and stuff) recreate his pre-Heman look. It's like taking away Adam's sword to recreate his pre-hero days.

How would you handle this anyway? Would you want every comic to give explanation for changes every time there is variant repaint or when deluxe has alternative head? Would you have them be temporary changes or permanent? Should they be promoted on box? Say, Roboto rather than focus on his minicomic roots would advertise it as "Roboto rebuild after being destroyed by Grizzlor"? How would you change the stories? For example Sucker Punch wouldn't focus on new characters, Fisto and Faker, but rather explain why Evil-Lyn and Mer-Man have designs?

Because Duplico's figure looks mean and badass, part of me wishes they'd have made him a villain instead. It would put a fresh spin on the old "Aryan hero" stereotype.

They probably were worried that making token white guy bad would send a bad message.

(also a bit of self-fullfilling prophecy on "bad guys get all coolest toys", huh?)

I stated it in previous text, but i feel the ROTS characters are getting abilities even more powerful then MOTU characters, and that shouldnt be the case. Dulipco recreating Eternias sun, you needed four or 5 super powerful speel casters to try and prevent eternia from spliting, this guy it with a clap of his hands and hes not even winded after, im sorry but its just too much feel like space sumos was the same. Im not cool with these characters overtaking the abilities of TRUE Motu characters, its not cool, they gotta scale back their powers.

I think Duplico didn't so much recreated the sun as took its power from gun and put it back in its place. TBH, most characters that aren't He-Man or Skeletor tend to have pretty weak powers - stretchy neck, wheel chest, spikyness, a big fist, tail, etc - so it's not that hard to outdo them. But I agree that making every single Ruler of Sun this grandiose superpowerful figure doesn't work for them. It gets less impressive and more tiresome. Digitino is probably closest to being cool since he actually needs to put some leg work and creativity.

[Smitty.81]

Well only sorta. They did Wun-Dar's origin story like they did Frog Monger, Space Sumo and Duplico and it's shows how he got his armor. It's not like it was variant of alternative head of Wun-Dar. It just happens that you can remove his armor to get more-less (he still has boots and stuff) recreate his pre-Heman look. It's like taking away Adam's sword to recreate his pre-hero days.

How would you handle this anyway? Would you want every comic to give explanation for changes every time there is variant repaint or when deluxe has alternative head? Would you have them be temporary changes or permanent? Should they be promoted on box? Say, Roboto rather than focus on his minicomic roots would advertise it as "Roboto rebuild after being destroyed by Grizzlor"? How would you change the stories? For example Sucker Punch wouldn't focus on new characters, Fisto and Faker, but rather explain why Evil-Lyn and Mer-Man have designs?

New looks like 200X and LOP don't need an explanation, but new weapons and armor do. The 200X cartoon had just a few lines of dialogue between Adam and the Sorceress to explain the snake armor and the vintage mini comics did something similar for Thunder Punch and Flying Fists. The Origins mini comic gave explanations for Battle Armor He-Man, and Terror Claws Skeletor. So it cane be done.

What I would do for Mossman is have it start with He-Man fighting the Snakemen, then have Mossman show up is his unarmored look, he joins the fight and quickly learns the the Snakemen are stronger then he thought, so he grows the armor out of his body. It's made from the strongest wood and has the sharpest thorns, the same for his weapons. He-Man and Mossman defeat the Snakemen and the story ends and an epic hand shake between the two heroes and the vow to work together until all the Snakemen are driven back underground.

[Bear]

Ok, fair point but consider this is a franchise where new heroes and villains pop out of nowhere - we just read next He-Man adventure and he's out of nowhere like "Oh, hello, Sy-Klone and Slamurai, my good friends" even though we've never seen them before. Snout Spout even complains in his minicomic that he doesn't feel like part of the team as if he existed for a while. So I think new weapons, just as new vehicles can just pop-out with little warning and we can assume that Man-At-Arms build them. Do we need origin for Clamp Champ's mini-clamp or Ram Man's second axe? Or what is in-universe explanation for two different heads for Road Ripper?

Im not saying I'm opposed to explaining Moss Man's yellow armor but I won't lose sleep if they won't do it.

[Smitty.81]

Ok, fair point but consider this is a franchise where new heroes and villains pop out of nowhere - we just read next He-Man adventure and he's out of nowhere like "Oh, hello, Sy-Klone and Slamurai, my good friends" even though we've never seen them before. Snout Spout even complains in his minicomic that he doesn't feel like part of the team as if he existed for a while. So I think new weapons, just as new vehicles can just pop-out with little warning and we can assume that Man-At-Arms build them. Do we need origin for Clamp Champ's mini-clamp or Ram Man's second axe? Or what is in-universe explanation for two different heads for Road Ripper?

Im not saying I'm opposed to explaining Moss Man's yellow armor but I won't lose sleep if they won't do it.

We're also dealing with a franchise with 40 years of history. Some things don't need explanation because we already know. I'm just saying simple lines like "He-Man your armor has adapted to help you fight..." or "Take the new vehicle I just finished working on it"

Sent from my SM-G981U using Tapatalk

[Smitty.81]

Frog Monger...

[facet]

Couple intreasting things about this comic.
first why is there a frog monger with the snakemen in this shot(?)
frog.jpg
who is this king and when did he reign (had to be before King Grayskull)
frog1.jpg
Who are these guys ( Dark Sorcerers, they look awesome, Guy casting the spell sort of looks like Damon)
frog2.PNG
How is this dragon inside randors mind and what does that mean
frog3.PNG

Overall, I didnt comic was written that well, wish they spent more time in the dwell of souls and spoke about the prison, just dont feel that the writer gets the feel of the mini comics and how to write it. think alot of these fall that way, although really enjoyed the wundar and koldarr comics

[Bear]

Writers changes lately so that might affect things.

[zodak74]

I enjoy the mini-comics for what they are, but yeah- some of them are pretty disjointed and don't always make a whole lot of sense (which is a shame... it doesn't seem like it would be hard to source a modern day writer with a working knowledge of MOTU to make some of these more coherent). In spite of some of them being wonky though (I mean, to be fair it's in keeping with the originals a bit, isn't it?), I like the overall vibe moreso than what the Classics bios were putting out there, so even this shoddy plotting and writing for me is a big plus .

[Sketchy Skeletor]

I enjoy the mini-comics for what they are, but yeah- some of them are pretty disjointed and don't always make a whole lot of sense (which is a shame... it doesn't seem like it would be hard to source a modern day writer with a working knowledge of MOTU to make some of these more coherent). In spite of some of them being wonky though (I mean, to be fair it's in keeping with the originals a bit, isn't it?), I like the overall vibe moreso than what the Classics bios were putting out there, so even this shoddy plotting and writing for me is a big plus .

The Classics bios are like a MOTU fever dream, absolutely awful.

[zodak74]

The Classics bios are like a MOTU fever dream, absolutely awful.

Right?!
"And then... and then... Mermista grabbed the trident and charged at Mer-Man, sticking him in the throat... and jerking it back and forth... back and forth!!! Until at long last, she finally decapitated him WITH HIS OWN TRIDENT!!!" Cocaine much?

[Smitty.81]

Right?!
"And then... and then... Mermista grabbed the trident and charged at Mer-Man, sticking him in the throat... and jerking it back and forth... back and forth!!! Until at long last, she finally decapitated him WITH HIS OWN TRIDENT!!!" Cocaine much?

Mature story telling.

Sent from my SM-G981U using Tapatalk

[He-Metayer]

I actually like the Classic bios. I appreciate the fact they tried to tie all these disparate stories into one cohesive narrative. which was generally successful IMHO. The best was bringing the New Adventures stories to the relatively current timeline.

[Durendal]

I think the advantage of episodic mini-comics that tell independent stories is that they allow a much greater level of creative freedom than the crushing constraints of trying to fit into a complicated and endlessly intertwined narrative. I have nothing but the greatest respect for the Classics bios attempting to fit all previously existing MOTU lore from multiple sources under a single story arc and linear timeline because it took sheer gravitas to even attempt such a gargantuan undertaking, and for the most part they pulled it off, even if the writing itself was occasionally weak (though the concepts and ideas weren't)...yet at the same time I can certainly understand why new MOTU lore created since Classics shies away from it almost out of sheer necessity, and needs to be in its own continuity as a result. The Classics timeline is just far too vast and complex to expect someone at Mattel to spend an insane amount of time analyzing and strictly following. Those people are paid to make toys and include simple stories giving characters some kind of basic background story, nothing more. That's the beauty of the multi-verse concept.

That said, I think the Classics lore has great potential to be expanded into an epic, LOTR-esque novel. I'd love to see that. There are some threads on this forum that have already organized the timeline so that it's easier to follow, and those would make a great sequential guideline to adhere to. Maybe somebody will be crazy enough to attempt it some day (not Scott!)!

[MCX-Eternia]

That said, I think the Classics lore has great potential to be expanded into an epic, LOTR-esque novel. I'd love to see that.

I think my favorite part would be when Hordak married Queen Marlena so Adora becomes his stepdaughter, then 5,000 year-old Catra seethes when her boss's little stepdaughter gets promoted ahead of her.