Awesome Toy Blog

Name: He-Man and the Masters of the Universe: The Complete Second Season
Released: September 13, 2011

Initially released at San Diego Comic-con (with the pictured limited edition packaging); the second season of He-Man’s original animated series gets a wide release from Mill Creek Studios this Tuesday, September 13th.  The 8 disc set includes all 65 episodes of season 2; 10 complete episode scripts, 50 character, creature and artifact profiles, 3 documentaries and 6 episodes with commentary tracks.  The set will be available in stores this week or is available for order now on Amazon.com.

I’ve had the chance to watch a few episodes in the set, and if you’re a fan of He-Man; this set is a must have.  The video and audio quality are good; on par with most 80′s animation releases.  A local station here in Phoenix airs He-Man and She-Ra repeats and the DVD quality is better than that of the local broadcasts.  The story quality varies from episode to episode; there are some standout episodes and some that are rather forgettable – but on a whole the ones that I’ve watched have been fun.  I imagine most folks looking to pick up this will be familiar with the series, so you know exactly what to expect story-wise.  I also spent a fair amount of time looking over the special features; I really enjoyed the documentaries as they provided some insight into the classic series. The packaging of the discs is nice, but a bit unconventional. Inside the case is a booklet and a stack of disks; each in its own paper sleeve. It’s a little different than other multi-disk sets I have, but it gets the job done and isn’t flimsy like some solutions tend to be.

The DVD release of the 2nd season of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe provides exactly what any fan of the series would want; a good quality release at a great price considering the number of episodes and special features included. All in all this set gets high marks, if you’re a He-Fan you should check it out!

A review copy was provide to AwesomeToyBlog from Mill Creek Entertainment.

Name: X-Men First Class
Released: September 9, 2011

This past summer, the film that surprised me the most was X-Men First Class.  The film serves as a prequel to the X-Men trilogy; documenting the early relationship of Charles Xavier and Erik Lehnsherr – as they gather and train a team of young mutants to defeat Sebastian Shaw as he attempts to bring the world to nuclear warfare during the Cuban missle crisis.  In the course of saving the world from nuclear war, the rift between Xavier and Lehnsherr forms; setting the stage for the future X-Men films.  Some of the other mutants featured in the film include Beast, Havok, Banshee, Mystique, and the White Queen.

Director Matthew Vaughn takes a fresh look at the X-Men universe with this prequel; which does set the stage for Bryan Singer’s 2000 film x-Men.  He takes full advantage of the film’s 1960s setting; with both set design and costumes reflecting a mod/cool design aesthetic – this was an element of the film that I personally loved.  The film is well directed and paced; and avoids many of the missteps of X-Men: the Last Stand.

Overall, the film is well acted with McAvoy (Xavier) and Fassbender (Lehnsherr) solidly anchoring the film.  Kevin Bacon more than fills shoes of the film’s antagonist; which was the source of some concern prior to seeing the movie. The supporting cast generally handles their material well, but as with any ensemble piece individual characters don’t get as much development or screen time as you may want.

The DVD both looks and sounds great; with audio options including an English DD 5.1 track as well as an English DD 5.1 Descriptive audio, plus Spanish and French Dolby Surround. Subtitles are available in English and Spanish.  Special features on the DVD include “Children of the Atom: Filming X-Men: First Class” a two-part making of featurette and an anti-smoking PSA.  The Blu-Ray release includes several other special features including10 X-Men digital comics, a mutant database, an 8-part making of series, extended and deleted scenes, trailers and an isolated score.

In summary, ‘X-Men First Class’ is a great re-launch of the X-Men franchise.  With a story that’s engaging, great effects, solid acting and direction – the film delivers on all accounts.  Both Blu-Ray and DVD releases hit retail September 9th (or can be pre-ordered now).  If you’re a fan of any of the x-Men films, be sure to give First Class a chance.

Thanks to Fox Home Entertainment for providing a review copy of X-Men First Class to AwesomeToyBlog.