Even for Kings

Eternia's narration describes a world of dualities in which the secrets are no more and every revelation promises revolution. Prince Adam and Orko go down to Subternia to ask Scare Glow for the souls of their friends Clamp Champ and Fisto, who were sent there by Skeletor when he stole the Power. Scare Glow, who keeps souls in a collection and prizes their fear, refuses and turns on Adam, who becomes He-Man. Man-At-Arms in the Cloud Crusher, King Randor and a crowd of heroes arrive, and Teela, now the Sorceress, shatters the gate so everyone can leave. At Snake Mountain, Skeletor pledges himself to Motherboard in front of Hordak. Back at the palace, Mendor tells Adam that Randor has hidden an organ failure. Randor dies after asking his son to choose between the scepter and the sword, and Teela is told to seek Ka's craft in Darksmoke. At the coronation, Adam's eulogy is interrupted by a stranger who names himself Keldor.

Scare Glow: "I think I'll leave them right where they are."

Skeletor: "I only trust what I see."

King Randor: "Because it cannot be both."

King Randor: "Death comes for us all, my son."

Adam: "He built me a billow-bike."

Adam: "We lost the best king Eternia has ever known."

Keldor: "Someone who was robbed of his birthright."

Kevin Smith wrote "Even for Kings", the first of five episodes, and it opens in Subternia with a rescue. Adam and Orko climb a stair through a skull-studded cavern to reach a platform held in a giant skeletal hand, lit green, where Scare Glow (Tony Todd) opens with "I smell no fear". He explains that he keeps souls in a collection and wants their "delicious fear", refuses to release Clamp Champ and Fisto, and says Adam would look good hanging beside them. Adam becomes He-Man, and the rescue that follows has Man-At-Arms on a Sky-Sled, a cowboy whooping, Randor asking "Is this bully bothering you, son?", and Man-At-Arms saying he built the Cloud Crusher himself. Teela, now the Sorceress, shatters the gate, and one of the heroes tells the two of them "Flirt later, you two."

The rescue is the setup. Adam's power cannot reach the one thing he most wants to save, his dying father. Back at the palace Mendor tells him it is an organ failure he has never encountered, that it was found weeks ago, and that Randor forbade him from sharing the diagnosis with anyone but the queen and Lord Duncan. Adam asks why Randor did not tell him, and Randor (Diedrich Bader) answers that Adam would have done anything in his power as He-Man to save him, and he does not want that. The green glow and sky-sled flame give way to a canopied bed in a candlelit chamber, and later to black uniforms and a funeral hall.

Randor's last instruction comes next. He tells Adam his place is in the palace as Prince Adam, asks whether he will rule as Adam or as He-Man, says "Because it cannot be both", and describes the choice as one between the scepter and the sword. Teela, meanwhile, is trying to rebuild Preternia so that Randor's soul has somewhere to go, and she is sent to Darksmoke to look for Ka's craft.

The standout is the eulogy. Adam (Chris Wood) starts a sentence about the king, breaks off, and tells a story instead: all the kids in Eternos had billow-bikes, none were left in the shops, and Randor rebuilt Adam's old bike over four nights with his own hands, wearing a tool belt for the first time in his life. Adam never rode it, because it looked homemade, and he says he would now give all the money in the world to ride it once. Only then does he say "We lost the best king Eternia has ever known", and he ends by apologising that he will never be half the man his father was. The speech offers a memory and an apology, with no promise attached.

The weakness is tonal, and Snake Mountain shows it. Skeletor (Mark Hamill) credits Motherboard with showing him the folly of faith in magic and declares "I only trust what I see", after Two Bad has traded insults with himself and offered a headbutt, and it all sits between a triumphant rescue and a deathbed. Hordak says that on the day he takes the prize long denied him, the skies above Grayskull will teem with the Horde Army. Randor's death would land harder with the Snake Mountain scene kept quieter.

The episode ends at the coronation. After Adam's apology, the voice that answers comes from a blue-skinned man in the rain, Keldor, who says "Then don't accept the crown" and calls himself the brother of Randor and the rightful ruler.

1. Voice cast: Meg Foster, who played Evil-Lyn in the 1987 Masters of the Universe film, voices Motherboard. In the press release reported by Gizmodo she called Evil-Lyn one of her most cherished roles.
2. Voice cast: Tony Todd voices Scare Glow. We Got This Covered reports that Kevin Smith told him on Twitter that his performance was "unsettling and commanding", and JoBlo quotes Smith saying the voice sounds like the Devil himself.
3. Continuity: Fan blogger Cora Buhlert notes that Susan Eisenberg, the voice of the Sorceress, takes over the narration of the opening recap in Revolution.
4. Continuity: Scare Glow's trophy collection includes props that Cora Buhlert says she recognised from older He-Man media, namely the Diamond Ray of Disappearance and the head of Shokoti.
5. Toys: Mattel put up a 12 inch Masterverse Motherboard figure for pre-order in July 2023, with wings that span 24 inches. JoBlo called it the largest Masterverse figure to date.
6. Voice cast: Gates McFadden voices Queen Marlena in Revolution, replacing Alicia Silverstone from Revelation, according to Wikipedia.