- Released: 23 July 2021
- Total amount of seasons: 2
- Seasons watched: 2
- Rating: 3/5
Synopsis
The continued story of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, in which magic needs to be restored to the world and Teela needs to walk her own path.
My Thoughts
For some context: I have very little experience with the old He-Man and She-Ra cartoons. I've watched a few episodes and watched a few reviews of the old stuff, but never actually sat down to enjoy the full show. But I get the gist, it's cheaply-animated and campy but has a dedicated following, albeit small.
When Revelation was announced, I fully expected it to be a full-on reboot like with She-Ra and the Princesses of Power. However, it is not. Rather, it's (somewhat) a continuation of the original He-Man storyline. Somewhat.
So obviously getting into this cartoon was a bit hard for me. I do obviously know the basics of each character and their dynamics, but since this show throws everything right at you as if you are already familiar with everything, it's much harder for (almost) new viewers to get attached to them. But even then, it also clashes with the old show.
The tone is much different, being much more serious. There's still some moments of comic relief, but overall this really feels like it's trying to make you invested in this deep and dark storyline. Heck, even goofy characters like Orko and Skeletor are (mostly) made into much more serious people than their OG counterparts. Then there's the lore clashing. I am not ultra-versed in the OG He-Man lore as you can probably gather, but I've seen enough people point out the continuity mistakes in Revelation when compared to the '80s stuff. For example, Orko has a completely different backstory, and I've also heard Evil-Lyn has a different take on her in this modern incarnation as well.
So it doesn't really make sense to me why they went with trying to continue the story, only for them to make up new stuff and ignore pre-established lore and tones. It doesn't even feel like a continuation, it feels like a reboot that's semi-trying to be a continuation. So I honestly think they should've picked either one: stuck to the tone and backstory of the '80s cartoon (though hopefully with better animation), or do an all-new darker take on this story and its characters. Because this half-and-half thing just doesn't really work for me.
And to get the other elephant out of the way: this isn't the He-Man show anymore. Our formerly main character has been demoted to a deuteragonist at best. You've probably heard many people go on and on about how he is killed off in the first episode and while he is later brought back, the main focus in this show is on Teela, his (former) love interest who now has to live in a world of lies where He-Man and Skeletor are gone, some kind of tech-cult is arising, magic is almost gone and she has to learn about her heritage.
Granted, the show's title isn't He Man: Revelation, so it does make sense that it focuses on the Masters of the Universe more, but I don't know if they really needed to push Adam out of the way in favor of Teela. Even after he returns from the dead he still feels like a secondary protagonist at most, with Teela being the central one.
I've seen a lot of people cry about "feminism having gone too far" and blah blah blah, and honestly, the fact that they made Teela the protagonist isn't the issue to me here. It's how the showrunner and teaser trailers lied about Adam/He-Man being a very central part when (at least in season 1) he isn't. I have a feeling with him returning in season 2 and having control of his He-Man powers again, he may become a co-protagonist alongside Teela in seasons in the future, but for what we got for now it really feels like the "Teela & Friends"-show.
So how is the other stuff? The characters, the writing, the visuals? Let's tackle them one by one. The characters: decent. I had a very hard time getting into them in season 1 due to so many old faces being either dead or gone, and me lacking some context to know the ones that were present, but by late season 1 and early season 2 I grew to like quite a few of them. I like Andra, I like Teela, I like Adam, I like Evil-Lyn. But, like said before, they do feel a whole lot more serious and less campy than in the original show, even comic reliefs like Orko. Which had its own kind of weird charm to it.
The writing was...okay? I mean, I don't care that much for the whole Masters of the Universe world. I don't know why, but it just doesn't particularly appeal to me. There's some magic and tech stuff going on, but it just doesn't catch my interest. I was mainly here for the characters and their conflict, and to see how it'd connect to the old series (if it did at all). We definitely get some interesting world-building (such as Preternia), but overall I just don't care that much about the world. The conflicts we are introduced to are more engaging to me, but not enough to hold my full attention, either. I was definitely more interested in the plotline of season 2 than the one in season 1, however.
And now for the best part: the animation. Say whatever you want about this show and the choices that were made regarding it, one thing cannot be denied: it looks great. The style still looks semi-realistic enough to be reminiscent of the original '80s style, but it's not longer stiff and much more expressive and diverse, with a decent amount of what looks like anime influences. The characters look fantastic in this style and this is definitely the biggest upgrade when compared to the original. The animation itself is also really good.
I don't think this series is great, I even hesitate calling it good, but I definitely think it's decent. The visuals are definitely something to write home about, but of course it made some questionable choices regarding tone, continuity and of course advertising He-Man as the main character like in the original cartoon. Is it great? No, but I think that if it peaks your interest it deserves a watch, at least the first episode. If it doesn't catch your interest after that or the choices they make piss you off too much, yeah, this probably isn't for you.
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