Tooned In : Masters of the Universe – Tales from Eternia (Episode 3)

Happy Saturday Morning!

Well the big news coming from this past week was that I could cross off a Bucket List celebrity meeting, because I got to meet Melissa Raccoon herself, Susan Roman! And she followed up on Instagram chat in the following days! She was so nice, and we talked for minutes on end about The Raccoons (she pointed out that I was probably the first person to primarily come with that show in mind), Rock and Rule, and Sailor Moon. It’s no secret that I love the series version of Melissa because of how she performed it, and she really did bring the character away from the quieter, more housewife-ish version seen in the specials to the more outgoing, take charge career woman she’d become.

Now, back to He-Man minisode watching. Last week was pretty much a light comedy short, with Orko debuting how couldn’t it? I will say the running gag of Trap Jaw not knowing his name dropped the ball by not including “Gorpo” as one of the incorrect names he gives. But they make up for it with Trap Jaw somehow guessing “Orlando”. Well, onto the latest adventure…

TROJAN FAKER

At Snake Mountain, which has nods to Filmation but actually kind of looks more like the in-name-only toy counterpart. But what’s no longer in-name-only compared to his action figure is this blue-skinned He-Man who is laying waste to the Evil Warriors while robotically spouting heroic words and phrases. No really, this might be the first toy-accurate Faker to be seen in animation, while others were just total He-Man duplicates with glowing eyes or something. Despite qualms about the unimaginative name and, well, the blue skin (Skeletor : “He looks perfectly normal to me!” Beast Man: “No eyeballs…”), Faker is sent to Eternos regardless. Oh, and Evil-Lyn makes her debut this week, and sounds like rebellious teen version of Teela.

While He-Man is fighting a Dragosaur that looks suspiciously like Granamyr, Faker arrives under the pretense that his blue skin is because “He-Man” is sick and needs to be cured at Castle Grayskull. Instead, Orko uses his magic and gives Faker an appropriate flesh-colored tone, but Man at Arms still thinks a trip to Grayskull is needed based on “He-Man’s” mechanical stuttering. And I guess there’ll be no slow burn reveal to the Sorceress, as she’s in plain sight above the Jaw Bridge, warning the heroes that their friend is in fact a faker. The Evil Warriors attack, and overpowering Teela, Duncan, and Orko, Skeletor demands the castle be opened in exchange for their lives. Sorceress is all “my friends are more important than stopping you,” and lowers the Jaw Bridge once more…only for the real He-Man to arrive (on the debuting Battle Cat) and note that the situation “is like looking into a very handsome mirror.” Let me take this moment to say that my ideal presentation of Faker would have been to just have him as a Bizarro-type imperfect duplicate. And speaking of Bizarro, him being a feral Superman in My Adventures With Superman is certainly different but it works somehow. Generally, MAWS is now my go-to 2020s Metropolis depiction, as it is the one with a good balance of comedy and what makes Superman, Superman. Kind of like this compared to the MOTU movie trying to fit in MCU-isms and fourth wall stuff in its first half. I’m also watching X-Men ’97’s second season of course, and it takes a while to regain my footing with the storylines, but also worth it. Marked out for the X-Force version of the intro, and having read The Marvels, appreciated seeing Jubilee rescue “Maggie.” However, I actually have enjoyed MAWS a bit more. But…for most of comic book cartoon history, DC has always been a bit ahead/consistent at having better animated shows. I’ll leave that open for discussion and debate. Sorry for the aside, we have a battle to finish.

So He-Man and Faker fight, with Adam somewhere in there challenging his existence by asking why he fights for evil if he’s a perfect clone. He plants him with a super uranage (no, really), but when he spares his life because that’s what heroes do, that turns Faker to the good side and they run off Skeletor and his henchmen. Faker prefers his blue skin and so Orko does the honors, then Everybody Laughs for reasons, and I wonder if we’ll see Faker again or after dealing with Orko’s magic, will he probably f—ing deactivate himself? And Skeletor reveals his Faker 2.0, a clone of…Skeletor.

Another solid showing from Tales from Eternia. Still a good quick watch every week.