Man-at-arms is my favorite of the Masters and I got to say, that's a twist I really didn't care for. He doesn't even get a badass heroic death. They do him dirty!
@@spectorcreative1872 I understand that, especially making him a snake-man as a way for vehicles. But I would have much preferred a heroic death. I guess I wouldn't have enjoyed season 3 very much had it happened. Ha.
It still baffles me how your videos get dislikes when you're providing information directly from the source material. Keep up the awesome videos! As a original Masters of the Universe fan, I love every moment of them
That’s some legit good storytelling there. And Man At Arms becoming a sorta Robocop type character actually makes perfect sense. Almost to the point that it feels like the character was always designed to go through that arc.
Thanks for the backstory. He was also a huge father figure for Orko in Filmation. It’s overtly present now, but as a kid I thought he was an irritant to Duncan.
I never liked MMA becoming a Snake Man and being killed in the bios. Just wasn't satisfying to me. I'm glad it never happened in any of the media. I also didn't like how OTT all the missile launchers and things were that would pop out of his armor in 200X. Not keen that they've brought that over into the Netflix cartoon.
Found myself with only He Man and Battle Cat to fend off at least like a half dozen of Evil Warriors. Duncan was the first of He-Man’s friends to enter my Eternia. May be one of the coolest figures ever. He’s a tech-paladin really.
I always liked the asymmetry of him having armor on only one side of his body. It’s actually practical to have less armor on your dominant side to more easily wield a weapon and maneuver. I guess Filmation changed that so they could flip the animation cells.
FEAR OF CHANGE I think there is a misconception here, most fans aren't that afraid of development for their favorite characters. They are afraid of been told unsatisfying stories for those characters. In this case having Man-at-arms turn into a snake man and dying at the end it's not the problem. Having him die in combat with Clamp Champ in a non transcend way it's. I have reimagined the scene in my toy shelf a little differently: --- King Hiss made Dunkan create the ultimate eradication weapon and it's ready to unleashed on the Ultimate Battle Ground against the Masters, at the same time Teela and a small elite group of guards advance on their position to try to stop them and to deliver an untested cure for Man-at-arms curse. Unfortunately she and the guards are defeated and the snake-men take the survivers to King Hiss so he can test a new repaired Serpent Ring on them. It's here when Duncan has a Vader moment, seen her daughter about to share his destiny something snaps on him and he quickly modifies something in the doom machine and turns it on King Hiss. I'm imagining him shoving a hose conector with several spikes like hypodermic needles into Hiss back so he can be injected with some mortal toxin (an ironic snake bite). When King Hiss feels the attack, he turns into his hidra form and several of his heads bite Dunkan. Still Man-at-arms continues resolved on his task. And as the last of the toxins go into Hiss, he has turned completely into a gigantic hydra snake. But it's too late, the monster is dying and crushing anyone unlucky enough to get in the way of his dead spasms. Several snake-men die this way. Fortunately, Teela manages to get away with his wounded father and administers the cure in hopes it also helps him fight the hydra venom. Unfortunately, it's not enough and Dunkan dies in her arms. But not before having a chance to say some feel last words and goodbyes. Duncan passes with the satisfaction of knowing he saved his daughter and that in his last moments he was a father and man. --- Any way... I have my personal tastes (who knows if anyone else likes my idea), hindsight, lots of time, and no pressure from a company to deliver a product. So I not complaining for what we got, I'm actually glad we got it and also glad that it helped keep MOTU alive so we can still get Masters of the Universe to this day.
Interesting. The story I was working on is obviously different. In mine. Duncan is cloned before the snake transformation and sent to the past it is later revealed that he is sir lazer lot. Remember on that classic bio? Real name unknown
@@spectorcreative1872 after watching the first five episodes of revelations. I think my statement unfortunately stands. In this case I wished I wasn't right. 😢
I for one liked Fisto getting a better backstory and was looking forward to seeing more of him in the 200x toon. I thought it was interesting to find he was Teela’s biological father. And as for the end that was planned for man-at-arms I was ok with it. Surprised tho
Aspirational , a word that you have engrained in my brain. If a character achieve that status in the Fandom changing his primary characteristics will cause havock in the fandom. I still want a really good story with completed arc's, but I believe I belong to a minority of the fan base
So Man at Arms got the old Nick Valentine treatment? It would be a fun crossover Fallout/MOTU I'd love to see what Skeletor could do with the Enclaves tech.
I came across a highly detailed Man-at-Arms with chipped paint and dinged armor. It looked like a guy who salvaged power armor and was using what he found. It made be think of the suit in Castle Greyskull particularly the part of chest that sticks out in front of his face. I checked the an image of the castle suit. The chest piece matched very closely. It had the upper part jutting out and the air tank and hose. The armor armor matched as well with a similar bumpy design for the shoulder. The only thing real different was the foot armor but it did match a bit. Going with in information with the original bios, In my head canon, Man-at-Arms is in an organization sorta like the brotherhood of Steel from fallout. An organization that has passed down the knowledge of ancient technology from before the Great War. He doesn’t know enough or perhaps lacks the means to create new power armor but can make use of salvaged bits he finds in long forgotten places. If he were to gain control of castle Greyskull he would be very pleased with the tech within including a complete power suit. With this in mind, I think a complete power suit on a Duncan figure is in order. It would be a nice way to tell his story. Even just extra pieces that lets you cobble it together on your figure is a more ‘toyetic’ way to tell a story for an action figure. Adding or removing armor from your figure shows you hero’s power level and attainment. Man-at-Arms as head guard does him a disservice. He’s a master of the universe. A master of technology and uses that technology to be just strong as any other master of the universe. I think it’s things like making Man-at-Arms head guard makes the franchise more He-Man and less Masters of the Universe.
I could relisten to this but I'm gonna be lazy, but did you say early on that the Injured Warrior with no memory of who he was married the Sorceress before vanishing so she doesn't know who he is, to then saying that the Sorceress gave Duncan her Child knowing he was the child's living relative?
@@spectorcreative1872 I know that, but you made it sound like the Sorceress didn't know her husbands True identity, but still somehow knew that her daughter was related to Man-At-Arms
Is there no way to convince Mattel to return to Classics to truly finish the line?? Meaning giving us the characters we didn't get such as King Miro, Lady Slither, Ice Armor He-Man, Fire Armor Skeletor and others??
Great story telling. However, in my case, I wouldn't mind Duncan dying peacefully in Teela's arms. The whole concept of inserting someone's memory in a robot is kind of creepy, very reminiscing of Robocop, especially the character of Kane in Robocop 2.
I remember someone saying that they would hate to being a warrior for Eternia because if you got seriously injured Man-at-Arms experimented on you like Rotar.
I'm sure enough people voiced their dislike of Man at Arm's fate here but imma throw my beef in anyway. I would have personally preferred Duncan straight up dying like what would happen to the sorceress, rather than become an unwilling traitor for the rest of his life. And you could still have his role succeeded by clamp champ and replace him with robot at arms even. If King Hiss needs a mechanic so bad have him pay for Kobra Khan's tuition at a good trade school.
Is Robot at Arms in fact Duncan in a robot body or does he have more of a simulation of Duncan's personality? I always wonder about stuff like this. Thanks for another great video!
Question, which color is correct for Duncan's mustache; in the Filmation cartoons it's brown but in Action figure an 200X cartoon it is black? Would like to know your thoughts on which you prefer and why.
@@spectorcreative1872 I agree, the black 'stach seems to match the eyebrows on the helmeted MAA classics head. I wish that the unhelmeted head was black too for more consistency in the line. Any reason why that one was different?
Great video :) O, No Duncan died?!!! But it's a good thing that his personality and memory were downloaded into Robot at arms. Really great video :) Hope there is 1 for Evil-linn about her soon :) Who did King He-man marry eventually and had a son with?
I guess people get upset because he's a character they grew up with. Look at the 1984 Transformers movie, Prime, Ironhide, Prowl, Ratchet and others. If I'm not mistaken, it got so bad that writers begged to keep Bumblebee alive. They changed the GI Joe film, they kept Duke alive due to the Transformers backlash. In 1988, people were shocked when Robin was killed off. Granted, they didn't know that it wasn't Dick Grayson. Yeah, you're right, people really don't like change especially when it comes to favorite characters.
@@MichaelMartin-qe5ye True, They had to do that because I don't think a lot of folks like Rodimus. I mean really, if the were going to make a new leader, why not upgrade Bumblebee? And seeing how he's become so popular, it would have made ore sense (hindsight vision of course)
@@TitularHeroine From what I remember, Rodimus seemed like the reluctant leader trying to measure up to Optimus' accomplishments. Ultra Magnus had to reassure him a lot.
I fear that your frequent toy talks may be subliminal advertisements to me. The night prior to the release of this Man-At-Arms episode, I went at Target to purchase some household items. I made my serpentine walk through the toy aisles when I discovered Masters of the Universe Sky Sled & Adam on one of the clearance end caps at $14.99 (essentially half off original price). Then I searched the other regularly priced MOTU figures. I managed to resist the temptation to buy any them, but the thoughts linger...
@@robd1329 I thought about typing "mmmmm, pizza" as a joke here. Then I over-thought it. Now I want pizza. I am going to *have* pizza. Curse you for reflecting my subliminal advertising onto me!! 😂😂
How were you going to do Man at Arm's face on the robot version? Would have been cool as a hologram inside the helmet, or a TV screen like Cain in Robocop 2.
I'm a little confused. If the Sorceress met Malcom as a wounded amnesiac and later had Teela...did he get amnesia again and that's why he didn't remember her? Thanks.
I used to not care as much about MaA but after having re-watched the classic cartoon & your videos I have a greater appreciation of him. Perhaps if he had inserted something inside his body to keep the snake DNA @ bay we could have gotten Iron Man @ Arms! It was awesome to have him turn & brought such gravity to the lore. Yes part of me wanted him back, but liked the concept! Also now I can't get the image of Tom Selleck playing Duncan out of my mind, Maybe the mustache is like Hypno-Toad...
While I 100% agree with your narrative point (things MUST move along), I don't know that Anakin is the best example. Anakin had to move on to become Darth Vader, yes.....but I think a fair amount of people might argue that we would have been ok with Darth Vader just being Darth Vader and having the arc that he did in the OT. Seeing Darth Vader say "Weeeee!" wasn't a thing that was needed to move anything along. Lol I am an original MOTU fan and have been an active one over the years with Matty Collector etc. I have trepidation regarding the new series. It is hallowed ground for me, and while Kevin Smith has some entertaining movies his comic writing is spotty and meh. His post regarding episodes referencing different classic 80s movies made my blood run cold (I hope it was a joke, but feat it was not). MOTU has enough story, history etc. on its own.....I really don't want to see it used as yet ANOTHER dumping ground for pandering 80s references (outside of references to its own characters and vast universe). The over use of this referential narrative crutch just detracts from the real story telling and creates a sort of generalized false nostalgia.....more for an era than the thing in question itself. I want MOTU to be handled with the love and respect that people like YOU put into it....not someone looking to capitalize on a thing that he was adjacent to, but in past interviews admitted wasn't fully his thing.
When I was a kid and I watched how Duncan had raised Teela, it made me want to be a good father to my kids in the future. I did end up becoming a single father too. Sadly, there was no Sorceress involved. I'm glad my kids turned out better than Grimmace. I mean... when you're raised by a psychotic clown and his nightmare creature posse, you kind of expect 1/2 way genocide to be a possibility.
Do you know if the inspiration behind turning Duncan into a snake man was the vintage Snake Face figure? They both wear really similar helmets. I just wonder if the writers of the 200x series looked at the old toys to help them develop their progressing storyline.
Okay, it's come up enough times (5+ maybe?) that I'll ask: maybe an episode sometime on why Savage Dragon, and what bits, was an influence on your work? Thanks again!
Well, nobody ever said that the role of Sorceress had to be passed down strictly by bloodline. Sure, Teela herself is destined to take the role of Sorceress from her mother, but that doesn't necessarily have to have happened with all the other previous Sorceresses. It may be from another continuity, but in the Filmation cartoon the Sorceress' predecessor, Kuduk Ungol, was not related to her.
@@spectorcreative1872 Nah, I get it. Just as a Duncan fan, I hated it 🤣 You know how it goes! You don't always have to like where the story goes to respect how well crafted it is. It's nothing short of modern day mythology.
I really like what the DC comic line did with his story. He ends up going on a suicide mission to destroy the Horde's orbital weapon, and ends up having his corpse thrown into the slime pit where he comes back as War Wraith and sent to assassinate Adam.
@@spectorcreative1872 Sometimes characters can mature while their fathers still survive. if anything, the dynamic between an adult child and retired dad is underexplored.
Thanks for the video! Man-at-arms was always one of my favourites. so both Man-at-arms and Sorceress died because of the Snake men, that sort of makes them the top heel team, doesn't it?
This is one of the things why I am glad that MPTUC ended - Man-At-Arms returning as a robot makes his death and his sacrifice meaningless, imo. To clarify, I understand why you created Robot-At-Arms and I respect you for it as you were catering to the fans who hate change. I feel that a Robot-At-Arms would work if he isn't a carbon copy of Man-at-Arms, personality wise. Perhaps, a version who is having an existential crisis that he is a clone or one that has the belief that he can never be Duncan and grows from it by being a bit like Duncan, but also his own person. I feel that would bring new life to the character without having the same old Duncan back, but with an alloy skin.
@@spectorcreative1872 So true. Also, more use of the tooling. As such, if one were to make a Robot-At-Arms customs, which existing MOTUC/Origins tooling would be used? Asking for a friend.
Wait, wait, wait!! Fisto got with the Sorceress and she had Teela? Skeletor and Evil-Lyn are He-Man's aunt and uncle? Man-at-Arms is Teela's uncle? What next? The blood bond between He-Man and Teela?
I'm collecting MOTU 200x and I'm missing(not willing to pay a ton for) two major characters in this video... Fisto and Roboto... along with Evil Lyn. That is an awesome version of Roboto.
I sold my 200x figures once i got into the Classics! Evil lyn was hard to get...but quit cause i couldnt get Faker and a few other nad guys. Glad i got into the Classics line when it was new!
I'm confused. In the episode where they explored King Grayskull, didn't the sorceress admit she was HIS wife? So she was fertile for like what 500 years?
@@spectorcreative1872 The biology is irrelevant. A foster parent means the child is their transient legal ward. They are legally responsible for the welfare of the child until a "forever home" is found. When you adopt a child, particularly at or near birth, you are the child's parent in every legal regard as though it was your biological child. You raise that child, protect that child, teach that child and instill your values of that child as though it was your own. It doesn't matter if the DNA matches or not. Foster parents may petition to legally adopt the child to assume the full role and custody of being a parent. But they are NOT the same thing. Man-At-Arms is her father. Not a foster father. I hope that clears things up.
@@cgrima117 I understand all that. What I was trying to do was make the distinction between foster parent and adoptive parent. They are similar but still very different legally, and often emotionally. Look, I'll explain why this matters to me and how it directly relates to MotU. I was put up for adoption and adopted at birth. And unlike a lot of "very special episodes" where the kid feels betrayed because the parents never told them, that wasn't the case for me because I always knew. It was always made clear to me from the earliest of ages. So when people would say shit like "your foster dad" I would get upset, because he isn't my "foster" dad, he was my dad - period. There's no degrees of fatherhood outside of deadbeats who don't raise their kids. But when the episode came on that touched on this I was probably about 8 years old or so. It was very impactful because it actually addressed the issue in a positive way about how someone can be a loving and caring parent no matter what the DNA says. (The Fistro retcon not-withstanding) So this entire subject resonates very deeply with me and while I might have come across as a bit terse, I wanted to stress to people why it's important to get it right.
While I agree that narratives need to evolve over time to have effect . . . "We fear change" -- yeah, pretty much this. A lot of fans just plain hate it when changes are made to their beloved franchises, especially if they seem arbitrary or unnecessary or cynical. See also: "TRUKK NOT MUNKY," the 1998 Devlin & Emmerich "Godzilla" movie, New Coke, Baltimore Ravens (formerly Cleveland Browns), New Disney Canon, Superman Red / Superman Blue, NoT Teh oRigiNaL foUr MiNi-cOmiCs!!!!1!!, "The Watch," that appalling recent "Jem" movie, et cetera. Creative types who do reboots / reimaginings should really take note of this. Also, I can now easily imagine Man-At-Arms salvaging the machine Modulok intended to use to transfer Duncan's knowledge into Modulok's second head (from the Filmation episode "Happy Birthday, Roboto") to use for his personality-copying into Robot-At-Arms. And now I have to add "Robot-At-Arms" to my Classics Wishlist . . . .
For someone who likes to keep tinkering with and improving his armor, you'd think he would have managed to build pieces for both of his arms and legs. Why do the guards get full armor while he gets only half? Is the other half in the workshop?
It’s because he salvaged pieces of a suit of armor like the Greyskull power suit armor. I don’t know where he found it but it wasn’t intact but he doesn’t or can’t make more. He does know how to fix, maintain and use the armor. Some power armor is better than no power armor.
I watched the Filmation series as a child and the 200X series, but I never saw what happened to Man at Arms, I'm genuinely gutted at his fate as I always thought of him as He Mans second in commands. Thety should have done a redemption arc not just have him killed. :/
@@spectorcreative1872 I wish I could share pics on here. I made a few custom made MOTU figure for display. One of them was Man at Arms and he turned out pretty dope. He Man and Skeletor came out nice, too.
Wait. Hold up. Malcolm had amnesia before he met the Sorceress, with that established how did he forget he had a baby, with the Sorceress after she took care of him? I watched the video twice, to make sure I heard correctly. Did he get Thrakka boomed in the head again?
Malcolm had left the Peleezian village where he and the Sorceress met before he realized she was pregnant. She waited for him to come back to the village, but after a while she stopped waiting and returned to Castle Grayskull. That was all shown in the episode from the 200X series called "Out of the Past".
Score one more vote for the "against that development". Also, comics have epic stories and what not but Superman and Batman are still here just like they were in 1938 and 39. Shaking things up for just the sake of it isn't much better. Ultimately it didn't do Game of Thrones any good, for example.
Man at Arms is and always was the closest confidante of He-man / Prince Adam. But wasn't he one of the characters left to die in the Classics biographies? I thought that was completely wrong. No MotU character should die.
seeing the recent transformers jurassic park crossover, can you talks us about how and what was the causes that make hasbro loses the licenses about jurassic park?
@@spectorcreative1872 they needed to lose the licence to make this kind of toys www.amazon.com/-/es/F0632/dp/B096GC12QX/ref=sr_1_1?__mk_es_US=%C3%85M%C3%85%C5%BD%C3%95%C3%91&crid=2E9KVO4VLNZBM&dchild=1&keywords=transformers+jurassic+park&qid=1624992390&sprefix=transformers+jurassic+pa%2Caps%2C303&sr=8-1
Hey can you do one on cringer and why he whole bio I think you might did one already but if you didn't a little more in death would be great thank you if you can do this if not appreciate you anyway
Think you very much I always wondered about the battlecat !! Lol seen one voice of Mothman and beastman been brother's Origins The Story I like it I was wondering more about his species in his backstory ??
I thought fisto was man at arms before Duncan to king miro. this the 2000x autobiography His armour also has tech he finds and uses from a previous civilisation that left behind He dosent have a brother mini comics explain it and that came before 2000x and you can't add filmation and 2000x as one there different in every way