#king greyskull

[demonologue]

Can we talk about the dragons some more?

I will be. Forever.

Many have already noted the care and detail that went into the design of each dragon, and I love watching the fall of Emon over and over to see new details each time.

But we also see so much of their personalities in this scene, and I love it so much?

Thordak is there to establish dominance, show his power, and accept worshipers, like a true red. He focuses on property damage (yes, people die, too, but that will happen when you nuke a mountain!) and showing off, because he wants lots of the ants in the city to survive. He needs their terrified adoration. We stan all of his "Is this your king?" speeches as he claims his throne.

Umbrasyl is doing what they've been told to do. As the least powerful of the remaining Conclave members, they are raining death from above but not overdoing it. Thordak has no domain and subjects if they melt it all. Bonus content fight between Umbrasyl and KimAllura. (P.S. they're not dead, guys!) I have a big soft spot for Umbrasyl, and I'm curious how much we will get to see the dynamic between the dragons as the story moves forward. They barely get along, and I hope we get to see them interacting with each other more. Something went down between them after Umbrasyl took over Gatshadow, and I want to know what it is that left the black dragon alone and stranded out there with busted palantiri.

Vorugal, it's been mentioned, we don't see a lot of in the fall of Emon. But that's exactly as it should be. Think about it: Vorugal is an elite hunter. They live a solitary life, always seeking more challenging prey to indulge in their favourite pastime. What is the point of destroying a city of helpless ants to Vorugal? So they go for the most challenging targets first, i.e. Allura. I'm disappointed that we didn't get the iconic shot of Vorugal perched on the side of her tower before they destroy it, but at least Vorugal still destroyed it in this version. Then it's almost like they're searching the city for worthy prey, doing the bare minimum to satisfy Thordak's orders. Of course Vorugal tracks them to Greyskull Keep. VM are worthy targets for the white dragon. I'm sad we didn't get to see Vorugal wrestle Thordak for dominance there. That was such a fantastic scene in campaign. Hopefully we'll get to see the two of them butting heads in a different way later on.

And Raishan, clever little pixie. She's just having fun with it. You see her casually flying around the city, blowing smoke here and there before she eats Scanlan's biggest fan. But she knows what she's doing. She killed Uriel with her first attack, and after that she's pretty much like a cat. What can I do that will satisfy Thordak's command but is the most amusing to me? Playing with VM, for one. She makes sure they know who she is, and that she knows who they are. After that, she's going to do what a green dragon does: be sneaky and infiltrate their keep even before they flee to Whitestone. She was a lot more subtle about it in campaign than she is about it here, but we want new viewers to feel like they've spotted something hidden, too (LARKIN WATCH!). Good job. Raishan was the first to give her name during the attack in the campaign, and of course she gave it to us here in the fall of Emon as well. We stan a queen. You'd better put some respect on her name.

Really looking forward to seeing more of her--and all the dragons--this season. Even if they just do cut-aways to their territory or Pike has dream sequences to show what's going on with them, I'll take it. We deserve more than just their death scenes. They are legendary villains and deserve as much love as the Briarwoods.

[rap-skullion]

Randor: Will you rule as Adam or as He-Man? Because it cannot be both.

LITERALLY EVERYONE INCLUDING KING GREYSKULL:

[disorganizedkitten]

Bursting Bubbles of Bad Luck Chapter 7

Miraculous Ladybug | 2020 | 1,331 | Ao3 | Prev | Masterlist | Next

July 3rd-Boredom

So the whole discord chat idea? Magic was the less fun part. Felix should have let Allegra add him ages ago.

The Dead Fandoms Discord - Channel #Go-Go-Gadget-Chatroom

21:25

Snow Cone King: I’m just saying, Ics, that if we have to petition Walmart, we should at least do it with a lot of people.

Flutetastic: ...Almost everyone on this server and probably half of tumblr and a corner of twitter and a few people from school and my entire family

Considering my family includes you and all the cousins on your half too, that’s a lot of people.

Snow Cone King: Amb. Ics, ics you know what this means?

Speedster: Y’all, I think we should just use the online petition thingy. Get millions of email subscribers from all over the world.

Snow Cone King: My dad probably would totally sign a petition to get Inspector Gadget merch back in stores and then actually make it happen

Flutetastic: It’s sm fun to see you have one of those My Dad Is A Millionaire epiphanies.

Flutetastic: Als, why do you save your logic for the middle of our discussions?

Speedster: Gotta take the time to come up with my genius.

Snow Cone King: Show off.

Penny Could Kick Me: I find it very amusing to watch you guys casually say things like ‘one of those My Dad Is A Millionaire epiphanies’.

Snow Cone King: :Squinty eyes: i can’t tell if that’s an insult

Penny Could Kick Me: Is me laughing out loud at you insulting?

Flutetastic: Say no

Snow Cone King: I haven’t decided.

Fluteastic: FE AMB! Q ARE YOU LIKE THIS?

Snow Cone King: I think so?

Penny Could Kick Me: I love you guys.

Snow Cone King: That’s def. A compliment. Thank you.

The Dead Fandoms Discord - Channel #By-The-Power-Of-Greyskull

7:45

The Orange Death: Y’all I just found an article saying Damian Wayne and Adam are friends and someone needs to explain to me how that happened and if that means I missed a He-Man reboot

If so, Imma cri

Snow Cone King: Wait who has the rights to He-Man?

The Orange Death: Honestly I figured it was netflix ‘cause they just did that she-ra reboot but like

Apparently not?

Snow Cone King: I’m looking this up amb

Useless Ace: I thought the last reboot was in 2010?

Snow Cone King: I am apparently a very uninformed fan

There was a life action movie in 1987

The Orange Death: What

Snow Cone King: My to watch list is much bigger

I thought there were only the two versions? I don’t even know which versions they were now?

Useless Ace: Welcome to the world of fandom my friend. Experts are few, far-inbetween, and deserve mad respect bc I could care less to follow every bit of canon ever

Snow Cone King: Mood

Snow Cone King: As of dec 18, 2019, Netflix wants to do a CGI reboot

Useless Ace: Oh thank goodness. My biggest beef with the She-ra reboot was the lost potential for Adam/Adora shenanigans.

Snow Cone King: Have you watched it?

 Useless Ace: See above

Snow Cone King: :facepalm:

Actually I can’t judge, it’s still collecting dust on my to-watch list

Whatever

Snow Cone King: Reading more and Mark Hamill? Will be Skeletor?? That sounds like it'll go really well

The Orange Death: Y’all I have no idea but now I’m excited

About time He-Man came back

Snow Cone King: Fr tho, I can’t find anything about ties to dc or where he’d have met Damian

Flutetastic: Whack

The Orange Death: You’re telling me

Snow Cone King: You’re telling me.

Snow Cone King: I’m giving up. Some fandom guru who actually knows stuff can figure this out

The Orange Death: Valid

8:58

Snow Cone King: I lied and looked further and apparently not only are there multiple comicverse crossovers (Injustice vs the masters of the universe)(DC Universe vs Masters of the Universe)(he Man and the Masters of the Multiverse(I’m guessing is a crossover too)), but there’s a THUNDERCATS one too!

 My childhood will be complete as soon as I read that

Useless Ace: Dude that’s amazing

That’s going top of my to-read list

Snow Cone King: Mood

Gerald: Mood

The Orange Death: King, you really are a king, thank you so much!!!

Useless Ace: I rlly hope they give Adam a better costume like they did w/ Adora in the new reboot

The Orange Death: It’s a bit overdue

The Dead Fandoms Discord - Channel #Magic-Troubles

14:19

Snow Cone King: amb there’s a illusion lady in my lit class and normally Idc but she’s being so annoying and she keeps illustrating the whack tales she’s telling and the teach could care less but she’s directly in my line of sight and I wanna learn

Is there a nice way to ask her to stop?

Goldie Queen Of France: Tell her she’s making it hard to see. Rlly, just bc we’re magic doesn’t mean we have the right to be a jerk

Snow Cone King: I’m a jerk by nature

Just wanted to make sure

Flutetastic: King, you’re not magic

The Dead Fandoms Discord chat - Channel #Less-than-dead-corner

23:39

Killjoy: I’m just saying! Thanos’ plan was dumb!

Jackie of Jackaland: You didn’t even watch the movie

Killjoy: I don’t have to watch a movie to know that it’s dumb to kill people for resource management when another option is literally just to make more resources

Jackie of Jackaland: Valid point op but pls start watching movies and reading comics before you rant about them based off of someone else’s tumblr rant

Killjoy: That’s less fun

Jackie of Jackaland: You mean less headache inducing

Goldie Queen of France: @Killjoy @Jackie of Jackaland polite, remember? If you’re gonna throw hands, do it in the dms.

Killjoy: Right, sorry

Jackie of Jackaland: Sry

The Dead Fandoms Discord chat - Channel #Magic-troubles

20:13

Snow Cone King: Wait are trails colored different by sect or by person?

Coracle-Miracle: Supposed to be by person, but mine turned a purple/black after whatever happened with the heart

Snow Cone King: Ouch

Coracle-Miracle: It hurts less to use magic the more I use it, although Idk what that means. We’re just powering through

The Dead Fandoms Discord Chat - Channel #MURDOCH

4:30

Snow Cone King: If I ever leave Paris, I want to go to Canada

Mapleblood: Dude that is my entire life motto

‘Cept I’m Brazilian

Point stands

Speedster: Valid x100

The Dead Fandoms Discord Chat - Channel #Less-than-dead-corner

17:20

Flutetastic: Salut, t’all, should I watch Gravity Falls?

Pigtails ftw: I say yeah

It gets weird later on, so I never finished, but I liked what I saw in the beginning

Flutetastic: Awesome. I wanna see if it beats Paris rn

Pigtails ftw: What even is Paris rn?

Flutetastic: Mood

Pigtails ftw: No but like, legit. What’s going on over there?

Flutetastic: #That-Real-Life

The Dead Fandoms Discord Chat - Channel #That-Real-Life

17:23

Flutetastic: @Pigtails ftw so yaknow about the magic hearts thing?

Pigtails ftw: didn’t know they were real

Flutetastic: Common response

@Snow Cone King @Coracle Miracle @Rough-Glamor @Goldie Queen Of France come help me out

So the heart/miraculous of Modification got corrupted by somebody, so far no one knows if they’re a strong sorcerer or a lucky human, but it happened and is messing with all change mages.

Snow Cone King: And he uses the extra power to possess civilians and turn them into rampaging monsters who are supposed to hold the city hostage for the hearts of Destruction and Restoration

Coracle-Miracle: which are, btw, also the hearts of purity and chaos

Snow Cone King: How does that work?

Coracle-Miracle: Those two hearts are the strongest and have multiple tie-in clauses, like luck, but that translates to really dangerous and often selfish sorcerers so instead they split into sections within theirs. It’s really interesting actually! Jaclynn O’Conner wrote a really cool book on it, I suggest you read that.

Pigtails ftw: That sounds demonic

Flutetastic: It nearly is

[alaffy]

Masters of the Universe:  Revolution, Ep. 1 – Even for Kings (Spoilers)

I can’t be the only one who wondered why the cloaked figure at the beginning was breaking into what seemed like Superman’s Fortress of Solitude, right? 

So, this is the sequel to Revelation.  The first episode is alright.  It’s setting up the next storyline.  I do kind of wish they had made it more clear as to how much time has passed, because it felt like this could have been anywhere from a couple of months to more than a year later. 

Like the rescue mission for the souls would have happened probably not too long after the events of Revelation.  However, they way they’re talking it seems like Teela’s been Sorceress for awhile; so who knows.

Going to go through one part real quick.  We see Skelator is converting more of his minions for this Mother Board.  But then Mother Board reports to Hordak.  Hordak mentions how Mother Board was able to, I don’t remember his exact words, but she was able to bring Skeletor back to the fold; indicating there’s a history there.  Now what exactly will that history be…well, it ain’t going to be exactly like the one from the original series.  Due to…copyright and how Dreamworks own She-Ra, it’s doubtful that she’ll ever appear and so that backstory is gone.  Anyway, Skeletor has knowledge of the Horde, but He-Man and the rest of the heroes do not.  Also, Kieth David as Hordak?  Yes, please. 

But the story begins with the Masters of the Universe (and a cowboy?  He must have been a later character) saving the souls of Fisto and Clamp-Champ from Subternia.  And while they are successful in their mission, the souls are kind of stuck in limbo as they have nowhere else to go since Evil-Lyn destroyed Preternia.  But the joy of the mission is short lived as we find out King Randor is dying of massive organ failure and no one knows the cause.  So, Randor decides to spend his last few moments with his wife and his son that he totally loves and never, ever considered a failure (what kind of retcon bs is this?). 

Meanwhile, we find out that Teela has been trying to…recreate Preternia?!  (I know The Sorceress was supposed to be powerful, but she ain’t a god!).  Anyway, she fails and Orko suggests that Teela go speak with the previous Sorceress (‘cause, uh, without Preternia, the spirit of The Sorceress is just kind of chillin’ in Greyskull).  The Sorceress explains to Teela that, if I understand this correctly, their magic comes from Zoar, one of these three gods/cosmic entities/what have you.  And it’s the combined magic of these three beings that created Preternia.  So, if Teela wants to recreate it, she has to have magic from all three.  So, Teela’s going on a quest.

 Meanwhile, Randor explains to Adam that Adam is going to have to choose how he’s going to rule.  Basically, will he be Adam or He-Man (but pretty much his battle days are over).  Randor also mentions how Randor lost a brother, which seems to be a surprise to Adam and the Queen.  Then, he dies.  And… wow, Eternia does not waste time!  The very next day, they have the King’s funeral.  Adam has to give a speech and then he’ll be crowned King.  So, Adam gives his speech and says he won’t be half as good of a King.

And then a voice from the crowed says that Adam should refuse the crown.  And wouldn’t you know it, but Randor’s brother is alive and is saying that he’s the rightful king of Eternia.  So, I guess we aren’t going with the story that Skeletor is actually Keldor or is this some sort of ruse? Also, Keldor is William Shatner?!

[xaq-the-aereon]

Crossover idea: Justice League / Masters of the Universe

Allow me to sum up the idea:

The Green Lantern Corps receives word of a major offensive by the Sinestro Corps upon New Genesis and Apokalips. Though the attack was repelled, the New Gods and Darkseid's forces have been utterly decimated, to the point that Highfather has called for help. The method by which they entered the New Gods' worlds was traced to a location at the center of the universe...a world known as Eternia. Various members of the GL Corps, alongside the likes of Superman, Wonder Woman, Martian Manhunter, and others Boom Tube to this location. It is here they discover that the Yellow Lanterns are under new leadership: as it turns out, one of Sinestro's rings had found Skeletor and recruited him into the ranks. His first great act of inducing fear caused a large number of the Yellow Lanterns, including Sinestro himself, to literally die of fright. His second great act was to consolidate most of the newly-dubbed Skele-Corps' power to himself. The Justice League and GL Corps arrive at Eternia to find it utterly devastated. Castle Greyskull lies in ruins, and survivors are scattered. Worst of all, their greatest champion, He-Man, is lost to them; among the wounded of their last battle is Prince Adam, severely injured, fear-stricken by Skeletor's new power, guilt-ridden over surviving a battle that claimed so many of his friends and family's lives, and despondent over the destruction of his sword.

The GL Corps wastes no time in mounting a large-scale counteroffensive, citing their oaths with their batteries in order to fully charge their rings but even with the help of the League and the surviving members of King Randor's forces at their side, the conflict is brutally lopsided. Evil-lyn's magics, augmented by the Yellow Fear Element, devastate the Justice Leaguers, including Superman. One by one, the Green Lanterns are defeated, their Rings attempting to find new bearers only to be destroyed by Skeletor and his forces. All but one, which finds its way back to the cowering prince. It speaks brokenly to him, its power running low, and tells him that he has been found to show great courage. He argues with it at first, but his thoughts turn to everyone he loves, both surviving and lost. They turn to the Green Lanterns, courageously citing their oaths as they prepared for a battle they knew they could not hope to win. "Ring power at 0.2%..."

He knew that, at the very least...he had to try.

As the last of the ring's power flickered, he slid it on, picked up what remained of his sword...and, against all the fear enveloping his soul, made his oath.

"In our brightest day, or our darkest hour. Over evil's shadow, my light will tower! I will not yield. I will not cower!" He raised the remains of the Power Sword to the sky in his ring-clad hand. "BY THE POWER OF GRAYSKULL!" In the distance, Skeletor watched a familiar sight flash on the horizon. A bolt of lightning he knew all too well, which only ever preceded one thing...

And then another, this one hued green, struck the ground in front of him, and in its wake stood his hated nemesis, clad in an emerald-hued variation of his armor, and with a fully-reforged sword in hand. "Ring power levels beyond calculation." "I HAVE THE POWER!!"

---SCENE---

... ...What can I say, the idea of Green Lantern He-Man just feels kinda awesome.

[swordince]

a few key motu lore things that are canon for my portrayal

skeletor used to be known as keldor & is randor’s half-brother, thus adam’s uncle,

randor is responsible for skeletor’s current appearance,

the royal family have always been the rulers of eternia, children of king greyskull & queen veena surviving the final battle against the horde,

the sword of power was forged by two powerful magic users who were priests of the old religion, working in tandem with ancients in charge of research of etheria’s magic.     each priest represented subternia & preternia respectively, channeling the magics of these realms into forging what would become the sword of power,

the sword’s magic was not integrally connected to eternia’s, & thus the universe’s, until veena became the first sorceress & channeled greyskull’s essence into the sword alongside eternia’s, at which point the sword became the pin holding the universe together,

not key, this is just something i lifted from the comics that i thought was funee, he-man once sucker-punched trapjaw so hard he actually punched his jaw clean off, hence why trapjaw has an artificial jaw, & how he got the name.     adam keeps forgetting about that.

[fancoloredglasses]

He-Man & She-Ra: A Christmas Special (I’m surprised they didn’t Kringle Castle Greyskull)

[All images are owned by Mattel and Filmation. Please don’t sue me]

(Thanks to psychelynx for the suggestion)

Once again, Wrestlecrap beat me to the punch as far as reviewing the special (to be fair, they’ve been active for over 20 years longer than this blog has), and I won’t say their jokes didn’t inspire mine.

Now, I’m not gonna say the only reason I did my review of He-Man and She-Ra  was so I could do this review, but...

If you would like to watch the special, it’s available on YouTube (cuz I’m sure no network would want to touch it by now)

It’s wintertime on Erternia, and King Roland and Queen Marlena are hosting a birthday celebration for their twin children Adam and Adora, who are able to celebrate together for the first time ever (since Adora grew up on Etheria after Hordak kidnapped her and was only recently reunited with Adam)

It’s such a big celebration that the Great Rebellion have taken time away from fighting to free Etheria from the Horde to celebrate as well! I’m sure the Horde won’t conquer the Great Rebellion’s lands while they’re away.

As the King and Queen look on fondly, Marlena says it reminds her of a Christmas celebration.

[Quick note: Marlena is originally from Earth. I don’t remember how (or if) the series explained how she came to Eternia. If any of you dear readers remember, please let me know in the comments]

Roland has no idea what Christmas is. Hang on, Roland and Marlena have been married for (I’m guessing) over 20 years. Are you telling me Marlena hasn’t mentioned Christmas ONCE in all that time?!

While Adora, the Great Rebellion, and the Kingdom’s defenders are getting the castle ready (so not only is Eteria left undefended, but Eternia as well? Way to go guys!)...

...Adam has skipped out on decorating to help Duncan, the Kingdom’s Man-at-Arms, actually defend the Kingdom. Duncan is putting the finishing touches on a spy satellite he calls the Sky-Spy, which he can use to see what Skeletor is up to 24/7. I don’t know about you, but I do NOT want to know if Skeletor sleeps without a loincloth!

As Duncan and Adam head back to the workshop...

Oh, you know this won’t end well. Orko decides to investigate the Sky Spy by breaking into it.

Unfortunately, his monkeying around turns it on, sending it (and HIM) skyward and into the opening credits!

Meanwhile, Skeletor also sees the Sky-Spy’s accidental launch (so I’m guessing he would’ve shot it down within a day of its actual launch) and orders his Collector to retrieve it.

Fortunately, Duncan spots this happening (if he’s able to watch this from a sky-eye view, why does he need a Sky-Spy?) as Adora walks in.

Adam decides that He-Man needs to intervene.

(Thanks to RKcrew)

Later, He-Man manages to keep the Sky-Spy from being grabbed, but...

...gets himself grabbed instead! Fortunately, He-Man is stronger than the cable holding him and breaks free. Unfortunately...

...there’s more where that came from! Fortunately...

...Adora decided that She-Ra should tag along. She-Ra quickly cuts the cables, freeing her brother. The pair then punch their way into the Collector, disabling the controls and causing it return to Skeletor’s lair on Snake Mountain.

Meanwhile on the Sky-Spy, Orko can’t leave well enough alone and casts a spell to try to get it to land...only his spells never work as intended, and instead of landing it rockets beyond Eternia’s atmosphere and into deep space!

Oh well, there’s a birthday party to get to. Roll the credits!

Wait...we’re only 7 minutes into the special.

He-Man and She-Ra chase after the Sky-Spy, but...

...it opens a wormhole and vanishes as we break for commercial!

When we return, Orko is happy the Sky-Spy is slowing down and preparing to land back on Eternia...

...only that’s not Eternia! The Sky-Spy crash lands on a frozen landscape, throwing Orko from the cockpit. He then hears a call for help...

...as a pair of children are about to be buried by an avalanche! Thinking fast, Orko casts a spell...

...and for once it actually works!

The children (Miguel and Alicia) explain they were getting a Christmas tree and got lost (so...they cut down the tree by themselves? What adult would let a kid swing an axe unsupervised?!) For whatever reason, Orko decides to show the kids the Sky-Spy.

Meanwhile on Eternia, Queen Marlena finds Orko’s spellbook at the launch site and guesses that the Sky-Spy wasn’t as unmanned as they originally thought!

On Earth, Orko takes the kids aboard the Sky-Spy to warm up (I don’t know how warm it is. I mean, it’s protecting against the snow and wind, but it it’s shut down there’s no heaters)

Orko then asks what Christmas is, so the kids tell him off-camera, so we don’t know what kid-centric explaination he got. Did it involve Jesus? Santa? The Kranpus? We have no clue! But it somehow involves presents and that’s all Orko cares about!

On Eternia, Duncan manages to track down where the Sky-Spy wound up, and Queen Marlena announces the coordinates are for Earth! Man-at-Arms says he has a teleporter beam, but it needs a Water Crystal which (conveniently for the plot) is not found on Eternia, but Adora thinks there might be some on Etheria and says she’ll contact She-Ra to ask Mermista (whose domain is the undersea of Etheria) Time for a fetch quest!

Outside, Adora somehow manages to contact She-Ra...

(Thanks to Rom)

...(a difficult task, I’m sure) and off she goes to Etheria!

Once She-Ra reaches Etheria, she contacts Mermista (you mean she wasn’t invited to the party? Some friend Adora is!) Mermista knows of the pool where a Water Crystal can be found, but it’s guarded by a creature known as the Beast Monster (boy, the writers worked overtime to name it, didn’t they?) She-Ra agrees to keep the Beast Monster busy long enough for Mermista to get the Water Crystal.

Which She-Ra does admirably. However, once Mermista hands over the Water Crystal...

Y’know, this doesn’t feel very Christmas-y...just sayin’

The sensors are attached to a giant robot...

...who brought along its friends! It’s 3-on-1 as we go to commercial!

The giant robots (known as Monstroids...did I mention the writers’ lack of imagination in naming things in this special?) encase She-Ra and Swift Wind in a force bubble, then begin changing form. So...they’re Decepticons?

The Monstroids forget about She-Ra as they leave to attack...whatever it is they’re at way with (I guess primitive Autobots?), so she uses her sword to cut through the force bubble (why didn’t she do that earlier and deal with the Monstroids?) and heads back to Eternia.

Later at Duncan’s lab, the Water Crystal is fitted into the teleportation beam and the device is activated.

Success! Roll the credits!

Wait...there’s still 25 minutes left, dammit.

Orko and the kids climb out (y’know, when those kids get back to Earth, their parents are gonna have the kids in therapy once they hear what happened) and Orko explains what happened as the scene shifts.

Meanwhile in deep space...

...Horde Prime, the supreme ruler of the Horde (who’s always depicted as a disembodied robotic hand a la Doctor Claw)

(Thanks to TVLine)

Anyway, Horde Prime detect a “new Spirit of Goodness” on Eternia (the kids? Seriously?) and dispatches Hordak and Skeletor (wait, Skeletor is working for the Horde again? You’d think he was enjoying being the Big Bad after Hordak ditched him 20 years ago) to capture it.

After telling the story, Alicia wants to be home in time for Christmas. Duncan says the teleportation beam won’t recarge for another few days, too late for Christmas. This makes Alicia whine (hey, be happy he’s able to get you home at all!) Queen Marlena suggests turning the twins’ birthday celebration into a Christmas party (sure, why not make He-Man and She-Ra more like Messiah stand-ins!)

Adam then asks about Santa (since Alicia wanted to be sure Santa would be able to get to Eternia), which prompts another off-camera explanation about Christmas (this time by Orko, so you know a few details are wrong)

Meanwhile, Horde Prime is concerned about the Spirit of Christmas being on Eternia (so Horde Prime knows about Christmas, but Eternians don’t?) and tells Skeletor and Hordak to deal with it, promising a great reward for the one who succeeds.

On Eternia, Bow and Perfuma are tasked with babysitting the kids. Nice to know the skills they honed in the Great Rebellion are being put to good use. Bow has written a Christmas song, despite the fact that he’s only just now heard of it. Suddenly...

...Hordak shows up in a ship that must’ve been an inspiration for Elon Musk’s rocket. (C’mon, you can’t tell me there’s not a certain...imagery in that spaceship)

Phallic spacecraft aside, Hordak activates a tractor beam and kidnaps the children and Orko, then heads back to Etheria! Yeah, the kids are definitely gonna need therapy after this.

However, once Hordak’s ship thrusts (sorry. The penis jokes just write themselves) its way back to Etheria...

OK, that’s WAY too much imagery!

The Monstroids (remember them?) are looking to get Horde Prime’s reward and attack (at least I hope that’s an attack!) Hordak’s ship! The Monstroids demand the kids in exchange for Hordak’s life. After about ten seconds’ consideration, Hordak agrees and high-tails it outta there. What a dick!

The Monstroids imprison Orko and the kids. Orko is moping about he (once again) messed everything up (someone please explain to me why anyone entrusts Orko with anything) when...

...She-Ra’s friends the Man-chines free them. However...

The Monstroids try to put everyone back in prison, but...

...the cavalry has arrived! He-Man tells Orko to get the kids to safety...

...while he, She-Ra, and the Man-chines make short work of the Monstroids.

Awww, Alicia found a friend (who’s named Relay)

However, while everyone’s distracted...

She-Ra goes to intercept Skeletor, so he casts a spell to slow her down.

However...

...Hordak has returned (in a ship that looks less phalic but still looks like he’s compensating for something) and shoots down Skeletor! Skeletor manages to disable Hordak’s ship but is forced to crash land in the mountains!

Fortunately, he found a soft patch of snow to land on. Skeletor then tries to force-march the kids to the rendezvous with Horde Prime, but the kids are too cold to move. The kids ask for a bit of kindness, since it’s Christmastime (when are these kids gonna realize no one Eternia has ever heard of Christmas?) Skeletor makes the mistake of asking what Christmas is, so Miguel once again starts the story.

Finally, Skeletor has had enough and tells them to get moving. However, they’re still cold, so he conjures up...

...magic coats that immediately warm the kids up. NOW GET MOVING! However, Relay didn’t get a coat and is still cold. Skeletor makes the kids leave Relay behind, but the whining (Relay’s, not the kids’) finally gets to Skeletor.

Later...

(Thanks to Peacock Kids)

Speaking of Horde Prime, he’s arrived at Etheria as Skeletor reached the rendezvous point. However...

...the rescue party has arrived!

But so has Hordak! Hordak stuns Skeletor...

...as the Power Twins attack the Horde. But while everyone’s busy...

...Horde Prime makes a grab for the children!

What happened next, Eternians say...

...Skeletor’s heart grew three sizes that day!

Skeletor’s shot disables Horde Prime’s ship. Oh, Horde Prime is NOT gonna like that!

However, before Horde Prime can exact his revenge...

...He-Man and She-Ra throw his ship into deep space.

The kids thank Skeletor for saving them, which surprised everyone (ESPECIALLY Skeletor!) He-Man says the spirit of Christmas makes everyone feel good.

Fortunately for Skeletor, the feeling will be gone by New Years.

Now it’s time for the birthday/Christmas celebration

S-Adam Claus gives the children flying belts as Duncan teleports them back to Earth

I’ll bet their parents will be selling the belts to some tech company behind the kids’ backs by New Years.

This being Filmation, there’s a heavy-handed message at the end. This one is about tolerance of those who don’t celebrate Christmas, as well as embracing the spirit of the season.

Have a great [WHATEVER YOU CELEBRATE], everyone!

[naturalseasons]

Blacktober Day 7: He has the Power

[castlewyvern]

[queenofspoons]

I finished He-Man and the Masters of the Universe season 3 last night, that was an amazing 8 episodes.

Also no King Greyskull as Scarglow but I did predict that he was turned into skeleton by using havoc, a skeleton who looks just like Reborn Skeletor and voiced by the original voice of Skeletor, Alan Oppenheimer.

There where a ton of callbacks to past episodes and MOTU history, we even got a a surprise MOTU Revelation/Revolution cameo in one episode but I won’t spoil it, but I was howling with laughter when it happened. I’m also surprised they found a way to work in a homage to Teela’s mini comic origin story, and even a reference to Nordor from the New Adventures of He Man series.

My one complaint is that the various Snake Men are just turned into hordes of multiplying enemies instead of their own unique characters, but they probably did that because there was no real time to dwell on the Snake Men with the story they where telling.

I really hope we get a 4 and 5 season next year because of that cliffhanger, I got to know what happens next and how exactly a certain character is related to Hordak. Just don’t turn the other members of the Evil Horde into mindless mooks like the Snake Men.

[l-a-l-o-u]

super curious abt ur opinions on tlovm. would u be willing to talk abt it??

Two other people (@raycowboyroy and @sapphiczorua) asked me so I guess I'm doing this!! Ty for your interest in my opinion ♥

So!! The Legend of Vox Machina. The tl;dr is that I'm a lil disappointed in the quality of it, but I'm still very very happy that it exists. I have a ton to say about it after watching the first 3 episodes, so I'll organize my thoughts into a list of positives and negatives. But first, some context for my silly little essay:

• This is my personal opinion, and from what I've seen so far, most people love the show. So, please don't decide to avoid it because of me. Check it out and decide for yourself!

• I'm an animation professional so I have a trained eye for animation... and I'm really nitpicky about it! I'll complain about stuff that the average watcher wouldn't even notice

• Critical Role has been a main interest of mine for the past 3 years. I know the story of Vox Machina by heart and actually wrote a big chunk of the main characters' articles on the wiki. That means it's really easy for me to compare the two stories, and also that I already know what's going to happen most of the time

• I had really high expectations before we saw the final art, and that influences the way I feel about the show

Okay with that out of the way, let's start with the list of things I liked in the first three episodes!

• I like the story changes that were made so far. I'm glad we got to see Brimscythe - now we get to see the entire Chroma Conclave story! The way the reorganized some plot elements to shorten the storyline without taking away the main elements has been very well executed so far. And that must've been pretty challenging, what with hundreds of hours of content to distill into a few episodes.

• The voice acting is overall great! My favorites so far are Pike, Scanlan and Keyleth; their line deliveries make them very easy to get attached to. Percy is also very nice, although I wanna wait until I see how he'll be in the Briarwoods arc.

• I enjoyed the group interactions a lot! Every time two main characters talk to each other I can feel their connection and their history. The scenes in Greyskull Keep were especially nice and reminded me why I love this group! Scanlan and Grog's dynamic is especially entertaining.

• The Briarwoods....... hhhnnng

• I really like the backgrounds. There's a lot of great establishing shots where you can appreciate the environment designs, and the artstyle is really solid and pleasant to look at.

• Great use of color to set the tone in every shot. Not every animated series does that! It helps a LOT to carry the story and adds an extra layer of immersion. Plus, it adds a layer of mush needed polish on the animation.

• The storyboarding / photo direction is nice so far. Apart from a couple of awkward shots, I like how they frame everything, it flows well. As they say, good cinematography is when you don't notice it. I especially enjoyed the opening scene of episode 3 with Percy's memories.

• This is probably my favorite Scanlan design yet! I like it even better than his campaign art and comic book design. It's perfect for him. Keyleth is also really well executed overall

• I love that they made Gilmore fat and gave him eyeshadow. King shit

• I just love the fact that this series exist honestly! I love that a group of people managed to turn their silly little friend activity into an entire production. The CR cast looks over the moon about it, and I'm very happy for them.

And now for the depressing part! Here are the things I was disappointed by.

• I saw this coming a mile away with how much the cast insisted this was "adult animation" in interviews, but it really started off kinda crass. A lot of scenes, especially at the start of episode 1, feel like they exaggerated the gore, language, and gross moments just for shock value, and I just thought it was unpleasant to watch. They show vomit and peeing and gory deaths on screen and it's all front and center - I feel like there's a better way to make an audience feel the weight of the action without actually shoving it in our face, ya know? But I guess it was funny in a few places.

• Although the story is well planned out, I think they fell a bit short on the pacing. Many scenes feel very rushed, with too much happening and not enough time to really appreciate it. There are things that should have lasted longer so we can actually feel their emotional weight. For example, the scene with the fisherman's family was nice, but it didn't feel like we were supposed to care about them at all. So when Vox Machina uses their death to motivate their new goals and morals, it fell flat to me and wasn't super believable.

• I wish they would tell us more about how the group came to be. I already love Vox Machina, but I feel like a new viewer would have a hard time getting attached to them. When Keyleth asked “why are we even together?” and nobody answered her, I was like yikes. She’s right who the fuck are you!

• So far the tone of the show doesn't feel super solid. Is it supposed to be funny? It doesn't feel like a comedy, apart from a few jokes here and there. Is it a serious high fantasy adventure? I think that's what they're going for, but so far it lacks a bit in charm and lore. I'm confident this will pick up later in the season though.

• I've said this before, but I really don't like the art style they picked for the characters. It's really a personal preference, but I also think it does a disservice to the animation as a whole. The designs are a bit too realistic and complicated for a television production. They have a lot of elements and little things poking out, making them harder to move in three dimensions.

• I said earlier that I like the use of color, but most character designs are the exception. A lot of them I find weirdly desaturated, which doesn't help to integrate them in the bright environments. Some characters, especially Vax and Pike, have a weird greyish tone to their skin that constantly takes me out of scenes as I stare at them in confusion.

• There are several elements in the main characters' designs that I dislike - again a lot of it is personal preference.

• Vax is my least favorite. The furs on his shoulders make him like he's wearing a football uniform, and he looses all of his twink charm. The top of his hair looks weirdly flat in many shots, and the lines under his eyes are so pronounced that it makes his look a lot older than he is whenever he's not smiling. He doesn't really feel like Vax to me!

• I also dislike Vex's design: she has three belts for some reason, and her tunic is such a bright blue that it looks off next to every other desaturated character element. She also feels too old and not quite like herself, especially without her braid in the front.

• Some very minor things: I don't really like that Grog is blue now, and I CANNOT take Percy seriously with that hair.... And they made Keyleth short?!? at least its not extremely obvious

• Like I mentioned earlier, there were a couple of awkward zoomed-in shots here and there. You could feel like they were trying to be cinematic, but they stand out too much or they're not amazingly executed, taking you out of the moment.

• I thought Scanlan's songs were overall not great. I liked the one he sang to open a door tho!

• The 3D animation was awkwardly integrated with the 2D. The horses were especially jarring. But at least the dragon animation was well made, it just didn't fit super well.

• And lastly! I feel a bit let down by the animation quality. It's really good for the budget they had! I just wish they had more budget lol

That last bit is its own section because there's a few things to unpack.

I wanna preface this by saying that I absolutely don't think the animators did a bad job. The poses are nicely drawn, the layouts work, it's not hard to understand the action, etc. They obviously know what they're doing. Traditional animation always has a less polished look in a television production, because you have to animate more scenes in less time. That means less time for polish and touch-ups. Like I said before, the character designs are also difficult to animate. And I believe that the CR cast, ie. the producers, specifically asked for an animation style similar to anime (because they're attached to it, having done a lot of anime voice work) and also similar to 80s cartoons (for nostalgia again). And, well, anime and 80s cartoons are notoriously cheaply made, with very little budgets and a lot of cut corners. All of that helps to explain why it looks the way it looks. And I absolutely don't think it's bad animation - it's good, it does it's job, and I think most casual watchers will probably not be bothered by it. I'm a silly fool who just wishes to see my favorite thing have movie quality animation! Plus, the CR cast seems to love the final animation, which, awesome for them! It's their characters after all.

Let me explain what I mean. If you compare the animation in the show and the animation in the opening, I think even the untrained eye will notice a significant difference in animation quality. You could even compare it to The Legend of Korra, a show with a very similar art style. The opening of tLoVM was done by a different studio (Grackle), and they likely had a lot more time to polish every shot. Everything seems to move more fluidly, the actions have more punch, and everything is constantly in motion. So what's the difference? The answer is that the opening's animation follows the 12 principles of animation! You can learn more about the 12 principles here if you're interested.

In a production, the first step of animation is to draw key poses: the start of the movement, the end, and a few important poses in between them. When a production doesn't have a lot of time, they go from pose A to pose B to pose C by drawing the inbetweens at an equal distance from each other, going from pose to pose in a straight line. There's a LOT of that in anime. The movement works, you understand it, but it's kinda.... bland. It's stiff and robotic and a little boring. No action has more weight than the one before or after it, they're all equal. I barely noticed any anticipations, follow-throughs, ease-ins, ease-outs... not a lot of arcs either. They used a lot of still poses where only one body part like an arm, a mouth, or the eyes move on their own layer. Facial animations are limited, with characters often starting and ending a shot with the same facial expression. I don't think I noticed any deformation - nothing moves in an elastic way, nothing bounces or stretches or squashes. They did do smears here and there but that's pretty much it. And I want to reiterate that it looks fine and it works! They had less time to make it and less frames to work with.

All of that affects the acting. I don't mean the voice acting, I mean the body language, the expressions, you know!! Acting!! There's acting in the key poses, but so much of acting comes from HOW you move. And when you're trying to cut corners, oftentimes your animation won't do the voice acting justice. One scene that comes to mind is at the start of episode 1, after they've been thrown out of the tavern, and Scanlan turns to ask for his clothes: something covers his mouth, and even though Sam is delivering his line in a really peppy way, barely anything moves. That line deserved so much better!!!

There’s exceptions of course! Some shots, especially the action ones, are a lot more put together. I think overall, I’d give the animation quality a 7/10. Because the layouts and key poses are really good, and they cut corners in a clever way, so it works really well. I do think Titmouse deserves praise for their work! They did really well!! The animation quality is most likely due to budget limitations, and if less episodes had been made, it would've likely been higher. But they made the choice to write more of the story, and I think that in this case with how much material they’re adapting, that's not a bad decision. I wish The Legend of Vox Machina had a big production budget, but it didn't. And that's just life!

As a last thought, I just wanna say - this could've been a lot nicer if they had more cartoony designs. Do you guys remember the picture they used in the Kickstarter days? Sometimes I look at it and think about what could have been... They could’ve done cutout animation, even. That could’ve turned out nice. But oh well! The showrunners are happy, and for such a personal project that's what matters isn't it?

If you read all this hello!!! I hope you had fun reading this & don’t forget to love each other ♥

[nochiquinn]

legend of vox machina episode 1 + 2: hi matt

VIBRATING INTENSIFIES

through the power of god and playing skyrim for eight hours straight I managed to stay unspoiled except for like. two inconsequential things.

oh I dig this "your turn to roll" remix

I cannot imagine what went into putting this on. like the logistics make my head hurt.

however I am slightly salty that I have been bullied into using chrome for this

five minuteeeeeees I have exceeded the speed of light

I love scanlan being front and center, making up for the first campaign guide cover

was that fucking beat-up vax art behind liam

how many years? that can't be right. that feels like too many.

I will forever be enraged that one more person couldn't get in the kickstarter

HE

they let david tennant do a cuss

MURDER HOBOS

so glad keyleth not being able to hold any amount of drink remains canon

vax that's not sanitary

he's HELPING

hmmm didn't need that

HIM

MISFIRE

oh there's the tits that one review was talking about

scanlan does what batman can't

twins

I'm so glad to still get to hear matt's trinket noises

I probably already said that but it's still true

they said the thing

vax is me

HE'S VAX SHE'S VEX

I continue the tradition of removing my earbuds for at least part of scanlan's music

"mainly bc I like the bear" correct

I am LOVING the twin body doubling

mala: big earth king energy here

FAVORED ENEMY

sigh, it is weird not to hear matt as allura

like her voice is absolutely fitting but I have one million years of association to break

allura stole vax's line smh

I Love Her

hi matt

scanlan

leave pike alone, she was only there for half the campaign

I'm assuming that was sam and liam's kids

BABIES

since vax isn't getting his foot burned off we have to have regular-people romantic development

dragon prince dragon design but with a budget!

changes twitter handle to Dumb Brave Asshole

babygirl

[builds a wall around keyleth before people who don't know better start in on her]

chekov's hand

buddies

friends to lovers to divorcees

but's who's ON the council

BUDDIES

like sad buddies. but buddies.

vax :(

"thinking of a rhyme for dead dragon"

goddammit, I'm still not free from midnight channel musical

great, now quarters are gonna make me cry

METAPIGEON

of course taliesin's favorite memories are drunk keyleth

the fact that I came back from the bathroom just as laura went "stop peeing"

-----> EPISODE 2 STARTS HERE

hi matt

ohhh that lightning breath animation with it coming up from its gullet

"that was a red dragon, years ago"

"how did you survive" wouldn't YOU like to know, BRIMSCYTHE

see when I named my beta fish brimscythe I wasn't expecting to ever have this mental conflict

(rip brimscythe)

"we hid and it flew away"

vex and percy with joint custody of the brain cell

GILMORE

"knock it off gil it's us"

the BOY

TUSK LOVE

every time pike's armor clinks I just think of the "CLANK CLANK CLANK" stealth rolls

wait was that sprinkle on the shelf

"I don't give a wet fart what she thinks" now say that where she can hear you

I missed grog so goddamn much

d o o r

so far scanlan is 80% of the swear words by volume, which is correct

the rug

grog

oh are we still getting Grumpy Anti-Vaxleth Vex

Favored Terrain

percy unaffected by the gold

TROLL DICK

SHE

OH that transformation animation, put it in my VEINS

the narrative necessity to take grog "human cuisinart" strongjaw out of the fight early

"we HAVE no best!"

PEASANT

pose as a team bc SHIT JUST GOT REAL

FUCK YEAH YOU WOULD

there are many benefits to being a bunch of assholes

of course the troll dick comes with

vax :(

oh they DO have the keep!

it is probably not still called greyskull

scanlan

"we have a home" lays on the floor and cries

they

sdkjflskj sylas' voice

mala: amazing 10/10 best $20 I ever spent

I CONCUR

you can tell david tennant had so much fun as krieg

travis

I will not be doing the watch parties

so my kid will NOT be watching this but I sure as fuck will, many many times

AND there's the battle royale on thursday, this week is designed to kill me

[antispopausandstuff]

AU where everything's ( nothing's ) the same, except Adora's an amnesiac Princess and wakes up with a sword in her hands.

( and she's seen wearing a formal white, long sleeved dress. no reason, i just thought she'd look nice in one. ) - she's found by Madame Razz ( who's more like the OG vers than wtv the hell she is in the reboot ). - later on finds Catra, who seems to know her, but she has no idea who she is. a fight ensues between them, and Adora wins through muscle memory and quick reflexes, but is ambushed by other Horde soldiers. they call her a traitor, tell her she will be punished, and she's confused. Madame Razz finds her, fights them, and leaves with her. - through a "pull" ( the only way Adora can explain it ), she finds Light Hope. they tell her that the weapon she carries is the Sword of Protection, and that she is She-Ra, the Princess of Power. Adora is even more confused and has questions. - Light Hope tells her that she is the long lost Princess of Eternia, the daughter of King and Queen Randor, and the brother of Adam, otherwise known as He-Man. Adora asks why they're telling her this, and they simply joke about how no one else was going to. but then stated that this was a destiny set long ago, from Adora's ancestor. it was fate for her to be She-Ra. - now having next to no memories of her life before AND also having the knowledge she's practically a warrior goddess, Adora is overwhelmed and at a loss. she has no one but Madame Razz, who does tell her what's right and wrong, but something is still eating at her. she wants to know more. she wants answers. - after some digging, and spying on Horde soldiers, Adora finds herself in the Fright Zone. something is telling her that this is a bad idea, but she HAS to know why the soldiers before called her a traitor, what she did. and why some part of her feels guilty. - she encounters Shadow Weaver, who's "suddenly" hellbent on going after her now. another fight ensues, and Adora's able to escape the woman's grasp. now, she has to be careful. - exploring more of the Horde, she sees prisoners. all kept captive and will eventually be forced to be in service of Emperor Hordak. the name sounds familiar to her, but that was not important. she frees the prisoners, but is caught by Catra again. she is not having a good day. - despite the first fight, Catra won this time by being quick and having weaponry on the table. Adora is now cuffed and roped, dragged to Hordak's lab, and that is where she meets him. - some memories of him and other Horde cadets, Catra included, come back. but she feels sick. something isn't right. if the memories are gentle, why are they imprisoning innocent people? even children! she demands to know why Hordak is keeping innocents captive, and he laughs. she doesn't know what's so funny. - Hordak simply states that they are meant to serve him. nothing more, nothing less. and it feels wrong. completely. breaking out of her restraints, she catches Catra off guard, kicking her to the ground before she ran to grab the sword. as other soldiers are called in and Hordak readies himself, Adora shouts; "FOR THE HONOR OF GREYSKULL!"

[squishytiel]

How I View Eternia

Its no surprise to anyone around me that I adore MOTU and everything that it is. And I would like to share a few Headcanons about the Culture and geography I think about when I use Eternia in a writing sense.

Size and Geography

When I think of Eternia, I like to think its Similar to earth, but not exact. Heres my thoughts:

34% Denser Oxygen Content

58% Larger than Earth

47% Hotter than Earth

Eternian Days are 38 Hours Long

Eternian Years last for 485 Days

The Rotation is 33% Slower than Earth

I like to think of Eternia as more of a Barren Wasteland. But not inhabitable, I also dont refer to the Humanoid people on there as Humans (Except Queen Marlena). They are Eternians and have adapted to such a culture of Sun and Heat.

Eternians and Culture

Sense I have a Headcanon of Eternia being a bit different, how would that effect someone who isn't Born or has been raised there for the majority of their life?

Take Queen Marlena, she is originally from Earth and crash landed on Eternia during a freak accident during a space expedition.

Eternians Average Height is roughly 6'1" for Males, and 5'10" for Females.

Eternians only need about 5 hours of Sleep

Eternians have a natural connection to their planet, and how to tend to it. Able to grow and tend to crops a lot faster, even in the worst of conditions

How does Marlena survive?

Eternos Palace has misting sprinklers above every entrance, allowing for her to cool off

Eternos has some Cooling Springs hidden below the palace, nice cold water to cool off in. (Clothing Optional)

The Royal Bedroom has blackout curtains and doors that seal off the light so that the Queen may sleep in for the extra hours if wanted. Or even to escape to take a nap if she is needed as Early as the king in the mornings.

Special robes have been made for the queen, more breathable so she can be more comfortable wearing long sleeves for long periods of time.

Magic and Tech

Eternia is an amazing mess of 80s mix of Magic and tech. How do you go about sorting through the mess? I like to think about each city in a chart.

For right now there are 3 red dots on the Compass to save space and time. I like to think that Snake Mountain is a good middle ground and that Eternos doesnt have much magic. While Greyskull is bleeding with it.

These are my thoughts when it comes to MOTU and creating works for them. This is an open forum/discussion. So feel free to add any headcanons and expand upon this.

[theliterarywolf]

Actually, I want to talk about this more because it's still pissing me off:

Teela should be smart enough to know that the true identity of He-Man would be a crucial secret since he's Eternia and Greyskull's sole figure of defense when shit hits the fan. And she knows that the villains see her more as a 'cheerleader' or accessory to He-Man so, if they told everyone who was close to Prince Adam, that would have been a fucking liability!

Woman, you are smarter than this!

Also? Also?! You want to pull this shit when the King and Queen are mourning the abrupt loss of their only son (and major champion but, of course, these tears were more for their son)?! Bitch, this ain't about you! Fuck yo' hurt feelings -- MY SON IS DEAD!

God, for as much as people wanted to hype this series up as 'better than SPoP', this whole set-up is the same level of infuriating as Glimmer blaming Adora for her mom's death!

[emperorsfoot]

an aspect I like about the new cgi heman is that they made, for the most part, king randor an opposing force but didn't just go "hey he's an evil king" and leave it at that, while his rule is flawed he does show care for his people and honest thinks he/any king should have control over greyskulls power (even after finding out his son's he-man still viewing the power as dangerous/"no one is above the law" not even the royal family)

Randor is a flawed man, but he's a good man.

He's a complicated character with nuance and I love it.

He, himself, is a good person who cares about people. But a bad King who does not take actions against poachers or implement social/economical safety nets for citizens who lose property during disasters.

I get the feeling that after Adam and Keldor's disappearances, Randor just stopped caring about actually being King. He's not very invested in his job and so he's not good at his job. As such, he lets a lot of things that a King should be taking care of fall through the cracks.