Masters of the Universe: Revelation (2021) User Reviews

A mix of good and bad, but watchable.

[Sleepin_Dragon · 6/10 · 26 August 2021]

I've read some interesting reviews about this show, now that I've watched it, I can agree with lots of points, and disagree strongly with others.

The main issue, the absence of He-Man, it's very true we don't get a lot of him, he is sacrificed for 80% of it, and we're given Teela.

The animation is superb I thought, I loved it, it's modern, but it doesn't feel a million miles away from the classic series, the stories of course, you won't recognise any original characteristics there.

The best of the villains here for me, Scare Glow, absolutely first rate, that's perhaps the best episode too.

The real star of the show is Lena Headey, who voices Evil Lyn, her voice is captivating, and I think it's fair to say that she's the most interesting character here, she isn't forced on us, instead she naturally shines through, we aren't made to think she's incredible....ahem Teela.

I don't love it, I didn't hate it, it's watchable, and nostalgic, 6/10.

Such a disappointment... where's He-man?

[bethjazotte-60931 · 5/10 · 1 August 2021]

Sou uma entuasiasta de todos os "revivals" dos anos 80/90 mas fiquei decepcionada com essa version meio esquisita do Masters of the Universe. Faltou o Adam. Faltou o He-Man. Não gostei de versão da Tila. Talvez a nova geração goste. Talvez até a antiga. Mas eu, que cresci amando o He-man e a Tila, não gostei. I'm an enthusiast of all the "revivals" of the 80s/90s but I was disappointed with this weird version of Masters of the Universe. Adam was missing. He-Man was missing. I didn't like Teela's version. Maybe the younger generation will like it. Maybe even the old one. But I, who grew up loving He-man and Teela, didn't like it. #netflix #serieslover.

Who is this for?

[lavgeber · 5/10 · 23 July 2021]

The animation and colours are great, other then that, what even is this?

He man is in 1/5 of the show, the story it self is bad, writting is amateur. It just gets boring.

It strings the nostalga chords, but has nothing that made the old shows interesting. The new story is boring for adults and kids alike, since its just so childish.

Trully a disappointment.

It's not the worst thing ever, but it's definitely not good

[jellopuke · 3/10 · 17 December 2021]

So you make a He-man show and take out He-man then spend 8 episodes making Teela the hero and Evil-Lynn the true villain and go out of your way to make sure that everyone knows that Adam and Skeletor are minimized and have everyone then heap praise on Teela incessantly, even going so far as to break the canon rules for her, just cuz.

But here's the deal, if this was a season TWO of a show, it would have been somewhat interesting. If you'd had ten episodes of normal He-Man vs Skeletor with a big plot, etc THEN had this show after, it might have worked and been nice BUT because you replace the main story and then change it around to the point that you've completely erased what the thing was in the first place, then why did you make this? Seriously, who was this for? Kids don't care about He-Man, so this was for adults who remember it, but they certainly don't want to see what they remembered trashed on... I just don't get the mentality behind doing this kind of thing. But then it's not like He-Man is Shakespeare so in the grand scheme of things, this is just a big giant MEH.

Not so much "masters" of the universe. UPDATE PART TWO IS EXCELLENT.

[paul-gibbons22 · 8/10 · 23 July 2021]

It's so frustrating as there's a great concept in there and some really good moments but so much ruined by this false female empowerment, cos this is not it! If anything it's more insulting saying the only way you can have strong female characters if you incapacitate the males.

Some of the voice acting is questionable, some of its great, a lot of the animation is great but why are the nipples so close to the armpits? I will give the score is brilliant. It's not the worst thing in the world but it could have been better as it's missing that little bit of fun and I can see why so many are riled up. But part 2 could end up being brilliant. Just don't advertise it as something it's not.

Originally gave this a six but Well, well, well part two righted everything that was wrong in part one, the writing, voice acting, characters and score are all just brilliant.

The very best has already come and this is just socio - agenda, skip it

[Unprejudiced_Cinephile · 6/10 · 9 August 2021]

**** IMDB has Removed this review 2 times now!, It had reached 160 views the first time**** ***I dont know why imdb keeps deleting my review **** ***I am reposting the same review again *** Original headline: Read the Title before buying the box of cereals!

Make no mistake; **** I am removing my observation which might be bothering IMDB ****

Synopsis Skip-It or Watch-It : Skip it if you want to see He-Man. Watch it if you are impressed or entertained by momentary subversive nonsense. To each his own. Fool you until you allow yourself to be fooled. It's Just an arrogantly obvious subversive sleight of the hand, in my opinion.

Check Out He-man and MOTU 2002.

Review: All in all an interesting twist on the he-man fantasy genre. Good Animation. Very bombastic 80's style action.

But we have seen this kind of sleight of hand before, haven't we? The only ideas that remain with the now self-important 'intellectually superior' Hollywood clique are identity politics and subversion! What's the point of subversion, really?

--- hold that thought - - - the second part is a MASSIVE IMPROVEMENT Watching it right now.

Fun, clever take on Masters of the Universe

[zvp74753 · 9/10 · 24 July 2021]

Towards the end of a first episode that felt very much like the original series, this new take on Masters of the Universe threw its characters a massive curveball and asked what they would do next. What follows is a twisty, fun adventure with unlikely alliances, some slyly funny lines and moments of tear-jerking pathos. The whole is elevated by fantastic voice performances by a star cast (Lena Headey as Evil-Lyn was my favourite, against some stiff competition from Mark Hamill as Skeletor, Sarah Michelle Gellar as Teela, and frankly the whole excellent cast). The detractors are right that Adam/He-Man isn't the main focus of these first five episodes, and that this new series plays with and in some ways subverts the original, but it does so in a way that feels affectionate and true to the characters while bringing a modern sensibility which means this is more than a continuation or remake. While it's clear that the latter is what some people would prefer, others (myself included) would find that dull and pointless. So I personally am glad Kevin Smith and team were brave enough to create a MOTU that is not only a joy for those of us old enough to fondly recall the original while recognising that the world has moved on since it was made, but also brings the franchise up-to-date for today's kids.

Ruined. Just ruined.

[sergedenas · 6/10 · 23 July 2021]

Straight from the get go viewer's will realize that this is WOKE. Why destroy "He-Man" just to be woke? Create a new series with new characters. Kevin Smith is not a "NERD" he is a "SHILL" and a liar.

Where's He Man?

[nirwer · 2/10 · 23 July 2021]

The ads and trailers led me to believe that this was a He Man show. It was more like a spin off and cantered around the characters in He Man rather than the hero himself.

8 for animation, -6 for the writing and story

[RvBreukie · 2/10 · 23 July 2021]

The animation is done wonderfully, however the plot and the characters mostly feel completely soulless and their dynamics are pretty much destroyed. Also ofcourse the elephant in the room, the main protagonist(Adam) of the real series is completely sidelined to the point he isn't really a part of the series anymore.

But what is to be expected of someone who said: "I have no love for He-Man either, but he has a place in the world, in the comicbookstories" only to later say(or rather lie) "When I was a kid I watched He-Man when came home from school, from 1981 to 1982" despite the series not even existing yet at that time only airing from 1983 onwards.

Shame on you Smith, shame on you for producing crap, shame on you for constantly lying.

Ignore the 1 star reviews, see it for yourself

[jpcdee · 9/10 · 23 July 2021]

Just finished the fifth episode of part 1, and oh my days what a cliffhanger! Yes, Teela leads the first part but that was made clear by Kevin Smith in the lead up to the series debut. You get to see alliances forged, and maybe my memory of the original He-Man faded slightly, but the memory of the animation sure didn't, and this is exactly how I remembered each character looking. I cannot wait for part 2!

It's not called He-Man

[jacquesdr · 7/10 · 23 July 2021]

And it never pretended to be. Reviewers clearly can't read since the show delivered exactly what it promised. All the pre-release publicity said this was going to be female focused and that is why it was only called Masters Of The Universe and not He-Man. So now that we have that out of the way, it actually delivers very well on modern themes and stories. It was exactly what I expected and did it well. It made the characters three dimensional and real. I enjoyed seeing my childhood series given depth and character. It would be great if they did an actual He-Man show in this style as well.

Aaaand again...

[patrickfilbeck · 1/10 · 3 November 2021]

Hey folks! It's me, the man with the hundredths attempt to write a review for this series. I try it in a very short way, because..."theeey haaave the POWER...to censor."

So: Animation very nice, voice acting mostly very nice, story attempt is very bad, fan respect none, lies before release a 100%.

Thx. And greetings from germany.

Dont be fooled by bad reviews by toxic nostangia junkies

[cheoillustration · 10/10 · 24 July 2021]

Amazing story and character development! Kevin Smith and everyone involved have done a great job bringing MotU back. Embrace the Masterverse!!! Funny how recently at the San Diego Comic Con 2023 a priview of the sequel to Revelations was showed (Masters of the Universe - Revolution) and received wide positive praise. What a bunch of hipocrites. The tantrums, and nitpicking, gone. They only had to get over the "Oh it's different from my childhood cartoon!" phase, and its all good. Hopefully Kevin Smith and crew will stay a long time on this awesome Netflix series.

From a non-fan...

[ObsessiveCinemaDisorder · 7/10 · 11 August 2021]

Masters of the Universe: Revelation, a direct sequel to the original series from Kevin Smith, is part 80's nostalgia trip and part 2020 update that deconstructs and deepens the lore and characters through a self-examining narrative. Released separately in two parts, the first five episodes take bold narrative turns that may worry diehard fans, but it is executed out of tough fan love to add emotional weight and depth to the franchise.

I missed the Masters of the Universe fad growing up, having never seen the original cartoon series or the Dolph Lundgren live-action movie. I only vaguely know who He-Man and Skeletor were through playing with toys at daycare. I watched this out of being a Kevin Smith fan.

Masters of the Universe: Revelation is the best thing Kevin Smith has made in a long time. Admittedly, while some of his recent films have been amusing, I haven't loved anything Smith's done since Clerks 2.

What Smith does with Revelation is he splits open Eternia and all its themes and characters are examined and re-interpreted. What does heroism mean in Eternia? What has He-Man been protecting from Skeletor all this time? The meta-narrative adds jeopardy and breaks the wheel to the usual weekly format where events always reset after each episode and never truly progress narratively.

The characters, spawning across the leads to the supportive, are developed and deepened. The voice cast, including Game of Thrones alumni Lena Headey and Liam Cunningham, do a great job. The highlight characters so far were Orko, Roboto, Duncan, and Evil-lyn, who all had their share of heartfelt moments.

The animation by Powerhouse Animation Studios is gorgeous. Everything from the backgrounds to the character designs all pop out. The colorful energy that crackles around when Prince Adam transforming into He-Man was jaw-dropping.

It's not without its flaws. Teela's characterization is poorly written and her rationale for being upset just made her seem shallow and annoyingly selfish. There's a relationship between Teela and Andra that is heavily implied but is not outright addressed.

Speaking of giving the benefit of the doubt, the online uproar against Kevin Smith completely went over my head and I had to Google what the fuss was about Kevin Smith lying about the show as a marketing ploy. There's no way to know as we're only 5 episodes in a 10-episode season. The jury's still out.

Great Animation but Disappointing story and some unlikeable characters

[starshockalpha · 4/10 · 26 July 2021]

I'm of a younger generation that has never heard of He-man before except for that damn HEYAAAYAAYAA video.

As a newcomer to the series, I didn't really have any expectations for how any character should be portrayed. What I did know was that this was mainly advertised as a "He-Man" story, and I feel like it really failed in that regard.

The big bad of the show Skeletor and He-man himself felt more so like background lore rather than the main characters of the story, used to develop the plot. Which by itself, honestly wasn't the worst I've seen, If this was advertised as a spinoff story with Teela as the main protagonist, I think it would have been received a lot better. I can understand why long time fans felt like this was a bait and switch.

A few of the central characters were pretty unlikeable, especially Teela. I don't know if it's just me, but she just seems so angry, self-centered and annoying all the time. Perhaps it's to try and portray her as a strong willed character, but it just comes off as a bit too aggressive. Imagine Korra but dial that crap all the way up through the roof.

I get that sometimes you make a character look bad in the beginning to have a touching character development arc but this was a little overboard.

I'll probably stick around for part 2 just to see how they plan on handling the story from that point onwards, but I'm not expecting too much.

40 years for this!?!?!?!?!

[naikdevil · 1/10 · 27 July 2021]

Wait 40 years to get a whiner who whines about the secret identity of a dead son in front of his parents. Nope.

Sooooo Bad

[Lauren1988 · 25 July 2021]

What the heck did I just watch?

It wasn't He-Man.

This is why you don't let drug addicts write.

Please stop hiring Kevin Smith until he goes to rehab.

Thanks.

STOP CRYING. This is the beat action cartoon in years.

[simsbros-89231 · 10/10 · 25 July 2021]

I finished all the episodes just now. I've never seen a show this good face so much backlash over NOTHING. It is INSANE what politics have done to normal people these days.

Any other time, any other era, this sow would be getting heaps of praise. But people need go to their favorite YouTube grifter to try and validate their political views without even watching the show.

Sad. Pathetic. Oh well. I'll still have the series. And boy is it good.

Increidble animation. Fantastic voice action. Thrilling action. A strong plot. Theres nothing to dislike here. Anyone reading this. I IMPLORE you to ignore these BS review bombing tactics by sad adults who never grew up. And judge the show on its own merits. You won't be disappointed.

I pay for chocolate and they give me a lemon 🚯

[zamfir-mircea85 · 2/10 · 25 July 2021]

I pay to watch Adam but they give me Teela. Why???!!!

Also... everything in the plot its upside down. Strage alliance between bad and good characters, strange Teela 😂, to much Teela, from ep 2 no Adam. Wtf. Why not name this Teela???

Anyway... don't recommend this. Its just not good.

EXCELLENT show!

[dlbguy · 10/10 · 10 August 2021]

Excellent show. Unlike the 80's cartoon, this show has a cohesive story. It's only 5 episodes into a 10 episode 1st season.

If you're looking for Adam to say "I have the power" a few times and punch a bunch of henchmen buffoons, for 30 minute episodes, then you'll be disappointed. Only to have different stories every episode, then you'll be disappointed. If you are looking for a good story, then look no further.

Also, this show is entitled "Masters of the Universe", not "He-Man and the Masters of the Universe", like the 80s show was. Which means, it's ok to have a bit more focus on the non He-Man characters, because that is how a good story is built. For example, "Game of Thrones" would have been a hell of a lot less exciting if it only focused on Jon Snow.

Lastly, Teela is a warrior, who regularly fights men who make Dwayne Johnson look wish he worked out more, so some muscle definition is completely natural. Look no further than the UFC women's division, for reference.

This is a great show, and I'm looking forward to seeing the final 5 episodes, of this season.

Unlikeable Teela

[masta_maze · 3/10 · 30 July 2021]

Contrary to some reviewers beliefs that people who rate this show 5 stars and below have problems with a female main character: I have zero problems with Teela being featured as the main character of this show. Absolutely not. She was always part of the main cast. I think it could have been a refreshing approach. BUT making her that absolutely unlikeable self-centered egocentric person is disrespectful to the original character. And disrespectful to the audience. And makes the show nearly unwatchable. I don't get how anyone can think a strong female character had to be portrayed like this.

Blown Away

[janningschrotter-33496 · 10/10 · 27 February 2024]

This series amazed my by its all star cast of voice actors. It was a far cry from the original in that it was serious. It still managed to keep some of the campy elements of the original. The animation is outstanding. I think people did not give this a far shake enough to allow for the update on the classic to be restored. The writing level leaved something to be desired but it was always childlike and doesn't cross that G rated level of entertainment. It was thoughtful at the same time fun. I don't understand why it was so thoughtfully disliked and sponge bob square pants gets a view when it was teaching kids younger then seven to get high and be lazy and everything will be alright. I mean this explored poverty as a route to doing the wrong thing. The voice acting was an all too familiar joy. The series was well done. Is it a masterpiece that will last throughout the ages no. The amazing voice acting and animation could not compare to the poor script but it's Masters of the Universe for crying out loud it was always made to be a little childish.

False Advertising, blown out of proportion

[jlgprimus · 7/10 · 23 July 2021]

First off, I'm gonna go ahead and say that the trailers and Kevin Smith's PR were not at all what the series presents in it's entirety, and that is something that shouldn't be overlooked.

The animation is pretty solid, but it's Powerhouse so we already knew it was gonna be good. As for the story, some decisions made might not have been the best, but I wouldn't go as far as to call it bad. Here's to hoping Part 2 corrects some of the transgressions of what we have been shown.

Disappointment

[vajonathan · 10/10 · 26 July 2021]

When I saw the advertisement for the show, I was excited. Being a fan of the old He-Man show back in the days. I was like yes finally something up to date (still watch the old He-Man). When I watch the show on Netflix, I was greatly disappointed the show was nothing about He-Man and everything about Tela. The show artistry and revamp work great but without the star what is the point of watching the show. The concept is okay but if you want more ratings include He-Man in every episode. Other than that, you just have the hoopla.