Retro Spins: Masters Of The Universe

I don't know about you, but when I first heard about a new Masters Of The Universe film in the works, my immediate thought was, "They'll screw it up." However, when the trailer finally dropped, my mind immediately started to change, and instead I was optimistic, thinking, "Well, maybe this won't be so bad after all.

Things only got a little more hopeful from there, when I learned Brian May of Queen was going to be contributing to Daniel Pemberton's soundtrack for the film. If nothing else, this could be pure hotness. Then came the first track, providing a little taste for everyone.

It's an interesting track, if I wanted to put it politely, and it took me a few listening sessions to really appreciate it. I think what threw me off at first was the disco like groove it was going for, followed by the choir. May's guitar does fit over it nicely, but I think the real question for me was, "Is it really necessary?" I don't know. I'm still feeling it out.

While I do think Pemberton crafts a soundtrack that captures the sound and feel of not only fantasy, but a battle background, almost reminiscent of Conan The Barbarian, I do find one major flaw in it all. That would be the consistent repeating of themes. It's as if he wrote three or four pieces, and then asked, "Okay, how can I use these thirty-five different ways?"

I don't know. Maybe I'm just spoiled by an era of John Williams, where every scene, character and faction had its own unique theme. One that allowed you to picture exactly who or what was being represented just by the musical piece. That aspect simply doesn't exist in this soundtrack. However, to be fair, that aspect hasn't existed for quite some time in any soundtrack. I immediately think back to my listening session of Solo: A Star Wars Story, where that was biggest complaint with it.

The end result is that there really isn't enough variation to make the soundtrack worthwhile. That's not to say it's all bad. The song, A Job For He-Man really scratched the nostalgic itch for me. It builds softly with a piano but quickly builds to a massive overture that had me on the edge of my seat.

The end of the soundtrack is unique, to say the least. It contains the song, Masters Of The Universe, which seeing, one would expect an epic iteration of the classic theme. A massive sendoff so to speak. Well, it's epic all right, but not in a good way.

Look, I like The Darkness. In the 2000's they ushered back in a style of music that had been forgotten since the 70's, and I dig a lot of their tunes. However, Justin Hawkins misses the mark with this one. It's as if he's channeling his inner Flash Gordon. It's so out of place in the album as a whole.

Between themes that repeat ad nauseam, and the track from The Darkness, the whole thing just feels like a mess. Yes, there are some unique themes to be found within it, but it's definitely not enough to extend into thirty-five tracks. That in and of itself just feels unnecessary.

If it's something you want to check out, it's available for digital purchase and download only. A physical release has not yet been announced. Which in and of itself is also unappealing.

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Disclaimer: They Toy Box does not endorse or contribute to piracy. Retro Spins posts are intended for educational and entertainment purposes only. None of the music discussed here is available for sale, downloading or distribution.

Limited Edition Masters Of The Universe Heroes Vs. Villains Gummies - Huer

While walking through my local Safeway, I came across an endcap that caught my eye. Mainly because of its familiar package from my youth. I knew right away it was Masters Of The Universe related, but what, I wasn't sure. As I got in closer, I discovered that what was before me was a display full of pouches housing Huer brand gummies.

Naturally I wanted to take a bag (or ten) home with me, but that was when I noticed the price. Regularly priced, these were $4.99 a pouch. Safeway was feeling "generous" and had them on sale for 2 for $7.00.

Getting the bags home, I popped one open to see if the gummies looked just like they showed on the package. I mean, kind of. The Evil-Lyn and Power Sword are probably the most accurate. Though I'm not honestly understanding why they would do Evil-Lyn. It would seem more appropriate to cast Skeletor's Havoc Staff to mirror the Power Sword of He-Man.

What kind of miffed me was that there was only one Skeletor in the pouch, but five of all the others. That's bogus!

Flipping the bag over, it gives you information on each of the gummies flavor, He-Man being orange, the Power Sword being strawberry, blueberry for Evil-Lyn, and grape / lemon for Skeletor. While He-Man definitely had his flavor going on, the Power Sword tasted more like cherry to me, and Evil-Lyn more like grape. As for Skeletor, I unfortunately didn't get to try him. More on that below.

What I will say is that they have a very thick syrupy flavor, laden with sugar. It leaves a rather unpleasant aftertaste in the back of your throat. Overall, pretty awful. I can't believe I used to eat this type of stuff as a kid.

The other side of the back of the package tells you just how unhealthy these are for you. With three servings in each container, this isn't what we'll call good for you (on any level). Further, with how bad they are, it's not worth the calories. I definitely would not buy these again.

Being a collector first, I did do what collector's do. I collected. My second, unopened bag, got vacuum sealed, and the set of four gummies from the bag I opened also got that treatment. Will these last on my shelf? Well, time will tell. But as you can see, this is why I ultimately didn't get to try the Skeletor one.

Collectors gonna collect!

If you're a He-Man fan, I would definitely recommend grabbing come bags for your collection. However, if you're looking for a tasty snack with a nostalgic flare, while these hit the latter mark, the flavor is horrible. Still, this was fun to pick up and add to my ever expanding and overstuffed shelves.

Being limited, I'm not sure how long these will be around, but I don't suspect it will be long past the movie's release in theaters. For now, the Safeway near me had an entire display full of them. They're not exactly flying off shelves, and I suspect that's mainly driven by the price point. They're far pricier than they should be, and don't really deliver on the value.

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Birthday Second Outing And Lunch

 

From McKays, we headed down the street to a place I'd not heard of, Kerbobble Toys. Based on the photos, and the generic looking building, had you told me this place would be special, I would have said, "Nah."

The few online photos showed minimum vintage stuff, and rather, focused on late 90's and beyond items. I wasn't expecting much. Then I walked in the door, looked up, and saw this...

Okay, Kerbobble. You have my attention now.

Just when you thought you'd seen it all while walking through this place, you found another room jutting off of a hallway. The place was meticulously organized, and everything neat and tidy. To top it all off, the two young ladies working there were as nice as could be.

While the store didn't have "everything", it had enough. There were gems, and then there were common items, but when combined, made for a fun walkthrough.

Not interested in toys? That's cool. They had a good selection of vintage video games too. What stood out here was that things, for the most part, seemed reasonably priced. They weren't low end, but they also weren't ridiculously high end, as is prone to happen at brick and mortar stores. Things were priced to sell.

They even had a fairly decent amount of comic books, and among them were some pretty big major keys. The two standouts I came across were the first appearance of Lobo, and the first appearance of John Constantine. These are two hard hitters that many comic collectors are on the hunt for, and much like everything else, prices seemed reasonable.

While I dug through the front of a few boxes, I didn't necessarily see a lot of stuff that interested me, but there was at least a vast collection available.

Overall, Kebobble turned out to be a gem find for the day. It was a lot of fun to walk through, and while I didn't drop a wad of cash here, I did end up picking something small up. The post of what I got for the day is coming up later.

From there, we started to feel a bit rumbly in our tumbly, so we made our way back to our neck of the woods. First and foremost, we had to pick up the birthday cake to have for later. Boy, that was a problem. But, much like our earlier trip to McKays, the mindset was, "It's not going to ruin our day." Being an ice cream cake, we first had to drop it off at home, but then immediately headed right back out, and stopped at a local Mexican buffet for lunch. Boy, if you think finding vintage toys is a rare find, try finding a Mexican buffet.

The "specialty" offerings vary from day to day, but the main staples stay. It's always hearty, and best of all, on the cheap side. If you leave here hungry, that's on you. Granted, we by no means took full advantage of the buffet. One plate was sufficient.

Refueled, and ready for more, we hit the road again to continue the adventure. Since this one's gotten a bit long with all the photos, that post will come in the afternoon.

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