Into the Heart of the Ruhrgebiet: Cora’s Adventures at the 2024 Toyplosion in Castrop-Rauxel, Part 3: The Trip Home with Bonus Mineshaft Elevator Tower

Last Sunday, I attended the 2024 Toyplosion vintage toy con in Castrop-Rauxel. For the roadtrip to get there and some views of the city, see part 1 and for the con itself as well as my haul, see part 2.

By the time, I made it back to my car and had all my purchases safely stored in the trunk, it was maybe a quarter to four. The con was set to close at four PM, so I’d made the most of this adventure and I had a glorious haul to show for it.

However, before embarking on the long trip home, I made one more stop in Castrop-Rauxel. For during my quest to find an ATM, I had spotted a mineshaft elevator tower in the distance. And because mineshaft elevator towers are the iconic sight of the Ruhrgebiet, I of course wanted to visit it.

Mine Erin:

Since there is no more coal mining in the Ruhrgebiet – the last coal mine closed down in 2018 – there of course was no active mine attached to the elevator. Instead, the mineshaft elevator stood in the middle of a roundabout in an office park, looking a little forlorn.

Mine Erin mineshaft elevator tower

In the middle of a roundabout in an office park rises a reminder of the Ruhrgebiet’s industrial past.

I parked the car and walked around the mineshaft elevator tower, startling a few dog walkers. Mine shaft elevator towers usually have a big sign with the name of the mine and this one was no different. And the sign on top of the tower said “Erin”.

Mineshaft Elevator Tower Mine Erin in Castrop-Rauxel

The mineshaft elevator tower viewed from the side. Note the name “Erin” on top of the tower.

Mineshaft elevator tower Erin

A better look at the “Erin” sign on top of the mineshaft elevator tower.

Now it’s quite common for German coalmines to have names. However, German coalmines are have names like Germania or Teutonia or Concordia or Zollverein or St. Bonifacius or Zollverein or Monopol or Heinrich Robert or Count Friedrich or Queen Elisabeth or Victoria Auguste or Sophia Jacoba or Ottilia or – if the mine was in former East Germany – Karl Liebknecht or Ernst Thälmann. Erin, however, sounds much more like an Irish maiden than a coalmine in the Ruhrgebiet.

Turns out that there is a reason for this, for the coalmine Erin was established in 1867 by William Thomas Mulvany, an Irish geologist and entrepreneur who came to the Ruhrgebiet in the 1850s in search of business opportunities that were difficult for a Catholic Irishman to access in Ireland under British rule. He wound up founding and operating several mines in the Ruhrgebiet and gave them all names relating to Ireland such as Hibernia, Shamrock and of course Erin. One of the companies he founded survived as Hibernia AG until 1970, when it was gobbled up by VEBA, not the e.on corporation. Here’s a nice profile of Mulvany from the Irish Times. I certainly did not expect Irish entrepreneurs founding coalmines in the Ruhrgebiet, which goes to show that history is a lot more complex than simple stereotypes. Though it’s also telling that as someone who’s not from the Ruhrgebiet, I know the names of the German coal and steel of the 19th century, but not Mulvany’s name. Though the city of Castrop-Rauxel named the office park around the mineshaft elevator tower after Mulvany.

William Thomas Mulvany only ran the Erin for ten years until 1877, when he went bankrupt. The mine was sold off and continued to operate under new management until the great mine dying of the 1980s. Mine Erin closed for good in 1983. Here is what it looked like the year it closed.

But even though the mines are gone, the mineshaft elevator towers – and sometimes the entire plant – remain as landmarks and reminders of the Ruhrgebiet’s industrial past. Indeed, if you’re into industrial history and architecture, the Ruhrgebiet is the place to visit.

Mineshaft elevator tower Erin

The Erin mineshaft elevator tower seen from the rear.

Elevator wheel of the Erin mineshaft elevator

Elevator wheel of the Erin mineshaft elevator.

This particular mineshaft elevator tower was built in 1953 and was the final elevator tower built at the Erin mine before its closure. In addition to the office park, much of the former premises of the Erin mine have been turned into a park. Indeed, another thing about the Ruhrgebiet which doesn’t match the stereotypes is that the Ruhrgebiet is green. Yes, the region is very densely populated, but there are also a lot of nature preserves and parks, many of them literally built on top of former coalmines, belying those (mostly American) pro-nuclear-power trolls who always scream how dangerous and toxic coal is. I got into an argument with one of those pro-nuclear-power trolls maybe a week before my Ruhrgebit excursion and he screamed at me that coal is so toxic that nothing grows there. Of course, it’s possible that coal in the US really is more toxic than coal from the Ruhrgebiet, but I still told him, “Dude, there are literally parks growing on top of former mines in the Ruhrgebiet.”

There actually is another surviving mineshaft elevator tower of the Erin mine, which dates from 1929. I did not get see this one in person, because it’s on the other side of Castrop-Rauxel, though I’ll definitely visit the next time I’m in the area, perhaps for Toyplosion 2025. Or maybe I’ll just do a day trip to the Ruhrgebiet to visit historical mineshaft elevator towers and industrial sites.

The fact that the two surviving mineshaft elevator towers of the Erin mine are on opposite sides of town also means that the Erin mine once stretched under the entire city and the ground is riddled with mine tunnels, though many of them were likely filled in for stability. It’s not just Castrop-Rauxel either – the entire Ruhrgebiet is riddled with former mine tunnels, which actually is a great premise for a horror story about things living down there in the dark, surviving and even thriving after the humans have gone.

Bakery Geiping

After my excursion to the Erin mineshaft elevator tower, I finally embarked on the trip home. However, it had been a long day and I had barely driven back onto the Autobahn that it occurred to me that I’d really like a cup of coffee and a piece of cake to fortify myself for the trip ahead. There was coffee available at the con, but the other attendants said it was bad and expensive, so I didn’t get any coffee there, but planned to stop somewhere on the way home.

There was only one problem. Cafés and bakeries in Germany usually close at five or six PM and it was almost half past four PM by now. Which meant that if I wanted a cup of coffee and a piece of cake, I needed to find a bakery café now or I would be stuck with the underwhelming service stations and Autohöfe along the highway.

So I left the Autobahn at the next exit, which happened to be called Dortmund-Lanstrop, and checked Google Maps for the nearest open bakery. Turned out that even thought the exit was called Dortmund-Lanstrop, the city of Dortmund was actually quite a way off, which is a common issue with German highway exits. Instead, the nearest town was called Lünen. And yes, they used to have a coalmine and still have a mineshaft elevator tower and a really interesting one, too, though I didn’t visit it, because I didn’t know it existed. Honestly, I want to do an industrial history day trip to the Ruhrgebiet now.

But I was in Lünen for coffee rather than sightseeing and so I found Bakery Geiping, a bakery chain established in 1924, which has branches all over the Münsterland and northern Ruhrgebiet. The Lünen branch was located next to an Aldi store in a residential neighbourhood. I was lucky, because it was half past four and they were due to close at five PM. Since it was half an hour before closing time, the bakery no longer had any cake left, so I just had a coffee. Then, fortified and alert, I returned to the Autobahn.

Service Station Tecklenburger Land:

Even though it was Sunday, the Autobahn was a lot busier now than it had been that morning with returning holidaymakers and daytrippers as well as weekend commuters  heading back to their workplaces. There was also a fair number of trucks, for even though the Sunday truck ban on German roads lasts until ten PM, there are exceptions for trucks transporting perishable or otherwise urgent goods. And so all the trucks that supply supermarkets and gorcery stores with fresh produce were on the road again by this point.

About an hour later, while I was driving through the Münsterland and the northern edge of the Teutoburg Forest, I found myself getting tired again, so it was time for another pit stop. Dad rarely made coffee pit stops during roadtrips, at least not when I was a kid. Though as he grew older, we’d sometimes stop for an ice cream. However, I have decided for myself that if I need a pause while on the road, I will stop for a coffee, because it keeps me alert and makes me a safer driver. Besides, I’m not beholden to anybody but myself and can stop whenever and wherever I feel like it.

However, by now, all the bakery cafés were be closed, so my only option was a service station or Autohof. So I pulled into Service Station Tecklenburger Land and had another coffee as well as a giant chocolate chip cookie from the service station coffee shop.

While I was sipping my coffee and enjoying a panoramic view of the parking lot and Autobahn A1, I chanced to witness an altercation between the lady behind the counter and a bearded male customer. The service station was largely deserted, so once the male customer sat down, I used the pretext of taking my mug and plate back to the coffee counter rather than using the tray return to ask the lady behind the counter if everything was okay or if she needed help. She thanked me and said she was fine. Unruly customers are sadly part of her job.

Rastplatz Langwege-East:

After this pit stop, I was off again, headed for the 33 kilometer monster construction zone between exits Bramsche and Lohne-Dinklage. They’re widening the A1 from four to six lanes there, closing the sole gap between Hamburg and Osnabrück, where the extremely busy A1 is only four lanes instead of six. In theory, this is a very good thing. In practice, it’s a terrible hassle, especially since the construction zone is so long. Not sure why they have to do it in one go rather than splitting it up into shorter segments.

In the morning, I had passed the monster construction zone without issues or delays, because there was little traffic. Now in the early evening, there was a lot more traffic. There also was a traffic jam, because a van had broken down on the road, narrowing the already narrow highway even further. I felt sorry for the people in the van – they looked like a band or something – because they were stuck in an extremely dangerous area with nowhere else to go.

Once I finally made it through the monster traffic jam, I realised something alarming. I was getting tired again and I mean really tired. And I still had twelve kilometers or so of construction zone ahead of me. I needed a break – now – but what to do? Usually, I would have stopped at service station Dammer Berge with its striking bridge restaurant, but I’d passed that some kilometres ago.  I’d also passed exit Holdorf where there was an Autohof with a McDonalds and a Kentucky Fried Chicken. And the next exit Lohne/Dinklage, which also has an Autohof (and actually a decent restaurant that’s not a fast food chain) was still a way ahead.

So I did what my Dad always did in such situations, when he was on a long drive and found himself getting dangerously tired. I pulled into the next parking and rest area, which happened to be called Langwege-East (Langwege-West is on the other side of the A1).

Parking and rest areas are the most common and also most basic stopping points along German Autobahnen. There are parking spaces for trucks and cars, there are a few picnic tables and nowadays, there’s usually a public toilet of highly questionable cleanliness. In short, you only stop here, if you have no other choice.

So I parked my car, locked the doors, reclined the driver’s seat, set the alarm on my phone for fifteen minutes, closed my eyes and dozed for a bit, which is what Dad always did in such situations. Yes, my Dad practiced power napping well before it was a thing.

Once I opened my eyes again, I ate some of the chocolate I’d taken along as provisions. While I was munching the chocolate, I chanced to witness a bunch of young men pouring out of the back of a van to peruse the toilet at the rest area. Of course, they might have been workers on route to a job or a band on the way home from a gig, but personally I suspect they were undocumented immigrants.

Germany is currently having a moral panic about illegal immigrants who stab people and rape women. Like all moral panics, it’s silly and completely overblown, but instead of ignoring that crap and waiting for the panic to die down, our sorry excuse for a government felt the need to do something to reassure the population or at least the xenophobes among them and decided to reintroduce border controls at all German borders, blatantly violating the Schengen agreement. The border controls were set to go into effect the following day, so it would make sense for people smugglers to simply transport their human cargo on the weekend before. Not that those border controls will truly deter any undocumented immigrants or the people who make money smuggling them, because Germany has a lot of borders and a lot of border crossings and not nearly enough personnel to control all of them. All this border control initiative will achieve is annoy truckers and people who commute across the border to work, shop or go to school.

Somewhat refreshed, I set off again and drove through the last twelve kilometers or so of the monster construction zone. Should I still feel tired, I would exit the A1 at Lohne/Dinklage and have a coffee and maybe dinner at the Autohof there, which actually has a pretty good restaurant and not just fast food chains. Alternatively, I could also stop at the Autohöfe at the exits Vechta and Cloppenburg (neither of which is even remotely near the cities they’re named after) or service station Wildeshausen.

However, my power nap at Rastplatz Langewege-East and the chocolate had done their job. I wasn’t tired anymore and since it was getting dark, I decided not to stop for dinner, but head straight home.

That is, I did stop once more at a gas station approx. six kilometers from home to refuel my car, because my tank was somewhat depleted and diesel was cheap. I was home at around eight PM, where I unpacked my haul, had a cup of instant noodles for dinner and went to bed, because I was very tired.

All in all, I really enjoyed my trip to Toyplosion and will definitely go again next year. In general, I find that I enjoy the occasional road trips I’ve been going on this year and that I also enjoy exploring cities and places where I’ve never been, so expect more road trip reports in the future.

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Into the Heart of the Ruhrgebiet: Cora’s Adventures at the 2024 Toyplosion in Castrop-Rauxel, Part 2: The Con

Last Sunday, I attended the 2024 Toyplosion vintage toy con in Castrop-Rauxel. For the roadtrip to get there and some views of the city, see part 1 and for the trip home and some more views of the city, see part 3.

But first of all, I’ve got another link to share, because I’m also contributing to the Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow Blog of the 2025 Worldcon in Seattle, Washington now. This time, I talk about Cele Goldsmith Lalli, the young female editor who turned around the fortunes of Amazing and Fantastic between 1958 and 1965.

ETA: It’s just been announced that the next Toyplosion will take place in Castrop-Rauxel on August 23, 2025, i.e. the weekend after the Seattle Worldcon, which isn’t exactly ideal for me. But then I’m probably the only potential attendant with this particular issue.

Queues and Classic Cars:

But back to the subject at hand: The Toyplosion con was held in the Europahalle, a multi-purpose events center of the type found in most bigger German cities. The Europahalle is part of an ensemble of 1970s Brutalist buildings, which also includes the North Rhine Westfalia State Theatre, the townhall of Castrop-Rauxel (relocated here from the old townhall in the city center in the 1970s because of reasons) and a museum imaginatively called Forum Castrop-Rauxel. The entire Europaplatz complex was designed by architects Arne Jacobsen and Otto Weitling and completed in 1975. It’s certainly one of the more interesting Brutalist buildings and also a listed landmark.

Castrop-Rauxel townhall

Castrop-Rauxel’s Brutalist townhall, designed by Arne Jacobsen and Otto Weitling and completed in 1975.

I parked my car and headed for the con and was immediately greeted by a long line of people waiting to get in. And even though I had pre-purchased my ticket, I still had to wait. Luckily, the line moved pretty fast.

Europaplatz in Castrop-Rauxel with the line of people waiting to get into Toysplosion

A look down Europaplatz in Castrop-Rauxel with the line of people waiting to get into Toyplosion

Europahalle Castrip-Rauxel

The queue has almost reached the entrance to Europahalle.

While we were waiting in line, there also were a couple of things to see outside the con proper, namely a replica of K.I.T.T., the talking car from the original 1980s Knight Rider (which was a huge hit in Germany), complete with Cylon style moving light bar. K.I.T.T. also played snippets of dialogue from the show as well as pop songs by David Hasselhoff. K.I.T.T.‘s German voice BTW was veteran actor Gottfried Kramer, who also voiced Mer-Man in the German Masters of the Universe audio plays. David Hasselhoff was dubbed by Andreas von der Meden, who voiced Trap-Jaw in the German Masters of the Universe audio dramas and was also the German voice of Kermit the Frog. Yes, really.

KITT on display at Toysplosion in Castrop-Rauxel

K.I.T.T. has been parked outside Europahalle and is impatiently waiting for Michael Knight to return. Apparently, Michael Knight and K.I.T.T. have also moved to Coesfeld, based on K.I.T.T.’s license plate.

Also on display was a DeLorean, though this one hadn’t been altered to look exactly like the one from Back to the Future. But since DeLoreans were never sold in Germany, most people here associate them only with the movie. In fact, I had no idea that DeLorean was a real car brand until years later – I assumed it was some kind of custom prop for the film with a fictional brandname.

DeLorean on display at Toysplosion in Castrop-Rauxel

Marty McFly and Doc Brown have traveled into the distant future of 2024 to visit Toyplosion and get sticker shock at the prices commanded by toys they could have bought at any store back in 1985.

DeLorean on display at Toysplosion

Front view of the DeLorean parked outside Europahalle. Unlike K.I.T.T., the DeLorean does not have an official licence plate.

Displaying two iconic film/TV cars of the 1980s outside Toyplosion makes sense, because the vast majority of attendants were the grown-up children of the 1980s and 1990s who would have grown up with Back to the Future and Knight Rider. Though the two cars also delighted actual children such as the approximately nine and seven-year-old kids of the guy who was in line behind me.

This is as good a time as any to talk about the demographics of the Toyplosion attendants. The gender distribution was about sixty percent male to forty percent female, which matches Mattel‘s research from the 1980s that forty percent of Masters of the Universe toys were sold to girls. I suspect the percentages were similar for Star Wars, Transformers, G.I. Joe, etc…  In short, none of the big 1980s franchises were ever only for men, the women were always there from the start. One thing that made me happy is that there were also a lot of kids. And yes, the kids accompanied their collector parents, but they were also clearly excited about a giant hall full of toys. So yes, kids these days still enjoy physical toys, if they are exposed to them.

Apart from the kids, the attendants ranged from their mid thirties to mid fifties, which again matches the products on offer, which mostly dated from the 1970s to 1990s with a few post-2000 brands like the Lord of the Rings movie figures or the Mythic and Cosmic Legions figures (which appeal to the same demographic) thrown in. There were cosplayers, too, including a whole troop of Ghostbusters. Apparently, they belonged to a fan club.

Both vendors and attendants were from all over Germany plus neighbouring countries. There was a significant number of Dutch people as both vendors and attendants, but then the Dutch border isn’t that far from the Ruhrgebiet. I also saw at least one Belgian vendor, but then the Flanders isn’t that far from the Ruhrgebiet either. There also was at least one British vendor.

What I saw at Toyplosion… and some reminiscences of toys past:

Once I’d made it to the entrance, had my ticket scanned and was given an armband, I found myself on a gallery, overlooking a large hall full of tables and stalls loaded with vintage toys. The Europahalle was apparently originally intended as a sports venue, though it mostly hosts concerts and fairs these days, and the gallery would have been where spectators were seated.

Toysplosion 2024: Look from the gallery

A view from the gallery across the floor of Toyplosion. Note the stage at the back, flanked by two life-size replicas of Flying Fists He-Man and Terror Claws Skeletor. This was where you could purchase the show exclusives and also where rare items were auctioned off.

Unfortunately, I didn’t get a good photo of the life-size Flying Fists He-Man and Terror Claws Skeletor figures, because the stage area was always busy, whenever I walked past, but here’s a great photo on Instagram.

Look from the gallery across Toysplosion 2024

Another look from the gallery across the floor of Toyplosion. Note the Masters of the Universe statues by (I think) Iron Studios in the front.

View from the gallery across the floor of Toysplosion

Another view from the gallery across the floor of Toyplosion. Note the mint-in-box Cabbaga Patch Kids on the left and the G.I. Joe and StarCom vehicles in the center.

Look from the gallery acress the floor of Toysplosion

Another view from the gallery across the floor of Toyplosion. In front, you can see people queueing up for con exclusives. In the back, you can see the stall of Welt der Meister Magazin, a German Masters of the Universe fanzine.

For more impressions of the 2024 Toyplosion, there are a lot – and I mean a whole lot – of videos on YouTube, so here’s a selection by ToyTenner, Meine Masters Mancave, Ed’s Retro Geek Out, bumo TV (part 2), Lau Skypainter, Retro Stardust, Goreminister, Die Trödelmama, Grooty’s Sloppy Lab, Floversum, Sammelzimmer, Lutastic, Star Wars Sammler, Loco’s Welt Gaming, VTS Experience, SpaceFiguren who also have an interview with Axel Gimenez, Pogobär 1985, Runder Tisch Marxloh e.V. (a charity from Duisburg to which some of the proceeds from the tombola and auction were donated), Marlons Flimmerkess, We Are Ghostbusters Germany, Der Bürgermeister, Master Ölli & PokingJoe78, #Piratenbox (part 2 and part 3),  Comics Cult Cinema, Bardobrick, Der Film Angler, Foot Soldier, It Waits TV, Bodylove666, Martin Carter Production, Spielzeug-Jäger, Häuptling Bunte Murmel (part 2 and part 3), Mint in Mind, The Collectors Bay.

There also are a lot of haul videos: #Piratenbox, Retro Krempel, bumo TV, Comic Toy Hunter, VTS Experience, Der Sitti, Stanleys Filmzimmer, Kennt Ihr noch… (part 2), Retro Rauner, Vater und Sohn im Sammlerrausch, It Waits TV, MotU Chris, Tales from the Fright Zone.

There were tables all around the gallery, so I first went around the gallery before descending onto the main floor. After maybe two tables I was alo so enthralled by all the toys on offer that I completely forgot to take photos. So the only photo I have of the actual toys on offer is this one of My Little Pony figures of all things.

My Little Pony figures on display at Toysplosion

Vintage My Little Pony figures on display at Toyplosion.

The same stall also had several vintage Strawberry Shortcake dolls as well as other girl-aimed toylines of the 1980s on display. I chatted a bit with the owner and reminisced about how my Grandma bought me the entire first wave of Strawberry Shortcake dolls in January 1982, when my parents were on a cruise (my Dad had co-designed the ship, so it was work for him and he apparently spent most of his time running around and fixing problems, while my Mom was terribly seasick) and I was sent to stay with my grandparents. Grandma took me shopping in the city center and after spending an inordinate amount of time trying on clothes, she took me to what was then the best toyshop in town, where they had just gotten Strawberry Shortcake dolls in stock. And because I couldn’t decide in which one I wanted, Grandma – bless her – bought me the entire first wave. I don’t even want to think about how much that would have cost her – US toys were expensive in the 1980s because of the high exchange rate. What makes this even more remarkable is that my Aunt and to a lesser degree my Mom always referred to Grandma as “stingy” (she was their stepmother – my biological grandmother died young and I never met her), yet my supposedly “stingy” Grandma spent what must have been a lot of money just to buy me Strawberry Shortcake dolls. Grandma had actually worked as a dollmaker for a while in the difficult years after WWII, so she had an affinity for toys and always got me nice ones. Grandma and Grandpa even gave me handmade doll beds – Grandpa, who was a carpenter by trade, built them and Grandma sewed the pillows and blankets. I’m not sure if I ever told Grandma how much those Strawberry Shortcake dolls meant to me (she died in 1996 and has dementia for the last five years or so), though I suspect the fact that I promptly turned her kitchen floor into Strawberry Land and appropriated Grandpa’s footstool as a house for the dolls told them how much I loved their gift. I still have the dolls BTW – packed away in a box – and they still smell.

In general, a stroll across the floor of Toyplosion was a trip down memory lane. All the toys you remember from your childhood were there, including some brands so obscure that you occasionally wondered whether you dreamt that one time you spotted that toy in a store while on holiday or whether it was real. The big names dominated, of course. There were a lot of Star Wars toys, anything from vintage Kenner figures via the over-muscled Power of the Force figures from the 1990s to modern Hasbro Vintage Collection and Black Series figures. I even spotted a couple of brand-new Acolyte figures. There also were enough Boba Fetts to repopulate Mandalore, from the vintage mail-away figure to modern versions.

Masters of the Universe was not far behind and again you could find every iteration of the brand from vintage figures and vehicles, both loose and on card, via New Adventures (and I saw a lot of those figures, more than I recall ever seeing back when theys were in stores), 200X (which I only saw in stores once or twice), Classics, Super 7‘s Neo Vintage and Reaction lines (and again I saw a lot more of those than I ever saw in one place before) to the current Origins, Masterverse and CGI lines.

I also spotted several vintage Castle Grayskulls and Snake Mountains and even an almost complete vintage Eternia, which is a rare sight indeed, because only very few Eternias were made back in the day. I also saw two or three new Eternias in box. No vintage Fright Zone, no Slime Pit nor any Crystal Castle or Crystal Falls, all of which would have been tempting. Regarding vintage vehicles, I saw a Bashasaurus, a Spydor, several Jet Sleds, a set of Stilt Stalkers as well as Stridor and Nightstalker.

He-Man’s twin sister She-Ra was also well represented with offerings ranging from somewhat bedraggled looking loose vintage figures (vintage Princess of Power figures tend to look more bedraggled than vintage He-Man figures, because the hair tends to get tangled and the fabric clothes tend to get lost or damaged quite easily) to mint-on-card figures. The star was a mint vintage gift set including She-Ra, Sweet Bee and Perfuma, which looked utterly perfect as if someone had popped into a time machine (well, the DeLorean was parked outside) and travelled back to 1985 and bought it at a shop. I also saw not one but two mint-in-box Clawdeens, the bright pink lion that’s Catra’s pet/ride. I firmly resisted asking for a price (and since they were mint-in-box, they would have been very expensive anyway), because a) I’m not an in-box collector and b) Clawdeen won’t fit in scale with my Masterverse Catra and there is no Origins Catra. Though a loose Clawdeen would have been very tempting.

She-Ra 1980s rival (though both lines were in development around the same time, so it was something in the air rather than one copying the other) Golden Girl and the Guardians of the Gemstones also had a remarkably strong presence at Toyplosion, especially for a line that’s somewhat obscure these days. There were plenty of dolls and fashions still in box. I even spotted Shadow, the horse of the villainous Dragon Queen, complete with chariot, though it wasn’t in great condition, otherwise I probably would have caved in and bought it.

It’s interesting that by the mid 1980s, girls suddenly got a lot more exciting options than just Barbie and similar fashion dolls like Sindy and Petra, traditional baby/child type dolls and pastel-coloured cartoon characters, which had dominated girl-aimed toylines before. But then in 1985, you suddenly got not one but two toylines of awesome female warrior princesses, Golden Girl and She-Ra, as well as the amazing rockstar adventures of Jem and the Holograms and their rival The Misfits (whose songs are better). It’s as if someone suddenly realised that girls wanted more than just play house and dress-up. Of course, girls had been playing with Star Wars and Masters of the Universe and G.I. Joe all along. And even if you had only traditional dolls and plush toys, you could still use them to play Star Wars or have them go on an adventure to fight pirates (ask me how I know), because imagination and improvisation are limitless. You could also make barbarian warrior princess or jungle queen outfits for Barbie – again ask me how I know. But in 1985, it was as if someone flipped a switch and we suddenly got all of these awesome adventure toylines aimed at girls. Even Barbie suddenly became a rockstar to counter Jem as well as an astronaut in the world’s most glamourous spacesuit. And then, barely two years later, all of these awesome adventure toylines just vanished and we were stuck with just Barbie once again, who also stopped being an astronaut or rockstar and got back to being mainly a fashion model. Traditional feminity restored.

Regarding Golden Girl and the Guardians of the Gemstones, it’s fascinating how many people, mainly but not exclusively women, remember playing with these dolls and loving them back in the day. The quality wasn’t always the greatest – the gorgeous Golden Girl castle playset is notoriously brittle – but my childhood Vultura doll is in better condition than my childhood She-Ra dolls and I was always a careful kid. Apparently, Golden Girl was more popular in Europe than in the US, but the question is still why this toyline faded so quickly and lasted only a year, even though lots people remember enjoying it. The usual explanation is that it didn’t have a cartoon or other tie-in media, but then here in Europe we never got the cartoons and the toys at the same time. Instead, by the time the cartoons showed up, the toys were long gone from the shelves. In fact, when the US sitcom Golden Girls came to German TV, I was super-excited, because I naturally expected it to be a tie-in show to the Golden Girl toyline and was then very confused to get some boring stuff about old women in Florida that surely no one would want to watch. And yes, I know I’m probably unfair towards the Golden Girls sitcom, but I never forgave it for not being what I hoped it would be.

In fact, if there was one 1980s toyline I could resurrect, it would be Golden Girl and the Guardians of the Gemstones, because there was so much potential there. In fact, I would love to see a Masters of the Universe Classics or Masterverse style revival of Golden Girl or even what Mattel did with the far more obscure Sun-Man line in Origins, but that’s unlikely to happen, because Golden Girl was produced by Galoob, who were bought up by Hasbro, since Hasbro gobbled up other toy companies like there was no tomorrow. So Hasbro has the rights now, but they don’t do anything with most of the properties they have. See Jem, M.A.S.K. or any of the other umpteen properties they gained via gobbling up other companies. Apparently, someone is producing updated Strawberry Shortcake (which Hasbro gained via gobbling up Kenner) dolls again and just a few days ago, it was announced that Hasbro has licenced M.A.S.K., Jem and a few others to a company called The Loyal Subjects. But could we maybe get new Golden Girl and the Guardians of the Gemstones action figures (not rooted hair please, since it always gets messy and the rubber bands eventually degrade, even in box), cause that would be awesome.

In general, it was as if something changed in the late 1980s, when all the awesome cartoons and toylines we’d had only a few years before just abruptly vanished and were replaced by “edgy” anthropomorphic animal stuff like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles or Biker Mice From Mars or Samurai Pizza Cats or Street Sharks that just never really did it for me. Of course, the fact that I was aging out of target demographic and that my Dad stopped working in Rotterdam (and as an adult I understand why he stopped working there, but as a teen it felt like a massive betrayal, like suddenly being cast out of the promised land back into gray, leaden, claustrophobic Germany), cutting me off from exposure to new cartoons via Sky Channel on cable TV, didn’t help either, but it still felt like an extremely abrupt shift.

Talking of the late 1980s trend for hip anthropomorphic animals, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were well represented at Toyplosion and I also spotted some Biker Mice From Mars (if Dad were still around, I would have gotten him one as a gift) and Street Shark figures. And of course, there were plenty of Transformers as well as G.I. Joe toys, though G.I. Joe was never as popular in Europe as in the US, probably because the tagline “A Real American Hero” clearly told all European and all non-American kids in general that there was no room for them in these stories except as villains (and it’s probably telling that the three vintage G.I. Joe figures I own are all villains).

Bravestar was also pretty well represented. I never cared for the cartoon and the toyline back in the day, because while I loved science fiction, I really disliked westerns and the combination of both was an instant nope. I guess I should revisit the cartoon sometime, especially since I’d softened towards the space western subgenre by the time Galaxy Rangers and Saber Rider and the Star Sheriffs came around.  I also saw a whole stall with M.A.S.K. vehicles and figures as well as a scattering at other stalls and had to firmly remind myself that even though I used to like the cartoon a lot back in the day, I don’t collect M.A.S.K.. I found some Thundercats figures, both vintage – including a vintage Thundertank – as well as the new ones by Super 7 and even some gorgeous vintage Silverhawks. There were also a lot of wrestling action figures. That’s not something I was ever into – I occasionally watched wrestling on TV, but never felt the need to have toys of the protagonists – but wrestling figures are perennially popular.

You could find ToyBiz Marvel figures and Hasbro Marvel Legends, though not quite as many as you’d expect, but then Marvel figures have never been all that easy to find in Germany. Smyths Toys Germany doesn’t even have Marvel Legends as a category, just Spider-Man or Avengers. And most of what they have are those weird large low articulation figures. I saw some of the 1990s Batman figures, which were basically Batman in any colour of the rainbow with the occasional other character thrown in. I also spotted a couple of Gargoyles figures from the 1990s, several of which I still have at home. There were quite a few of the McFarlane collectible figures of the 1990s – Spawn and the like, but also their Beatles Yellow Submarine line, where I recall asking a comic book shop owner back in the day, if anybody actually bought those.

There were vintage Lego and Playmobil sets and figures on offer, including some 1970s Lego castle and knight sets, but again fewer then you’d think, considering how huge Lego and Playmobil are in Europe. But then it seems as if Lego and Playmobil appeal to different demographics. When I was a kid, Lego and Playmobil were educational quality toys for good kids, whereas Masters of the Universe, Transformers, Star Wars, G.I. Joe, etc… were “evil American plastic trash”. Never mind that Lego and Playmobil were also made from plastic. I actually like(d) Playmobil and have a fair amount, though I never cared for Lego, no matter how many times well-meaning relatives tried to give it to me. But to me they still have this good German kid vibe and I wasn’t a good German kid.

You could find Barbies, Cabbage Patch Kids, My Little Ponies, Rainbow Brite, Strawberry Shortcake and other toylines originally aimed at girls and you also found plenty of men as well as women selling and buying them, but they were underrepresented. I also didn’t see a lot of regular dolls, plushies and accessories. No Zapf, no Käthe Kruse, no Steiff. Again, those appeal to different demographics. No model trains either and very few model cars, though one stall offered vintage plastic soldiers and collectible plastic figures that used to be included with packages of margarine.

And of course there were Funko Pops, because there always are. The popularity of these things still baffles me, because most people claim they don’t like them, yet someone is clearly buying these things or there wouldn’t be so many of them.

Then there were the weird and wonderful toylines whose existence you’d either completely forgotten about or you though no one except you remembered such as the 1980s He-Man knock-off line Galaxy Warriors or the Starcom space toyline. There was a stall which had a lot of Filmation Ghostbusters action figures. The Filmation Ghostbusters, not to be confused with the Real Ghostbusters, were one of these obscure cartoons of the 1980s that is largely forgotten today. It was the result of a copyright loophole – Filmation actually had the right to the name “Ghostbusters” and Columbia not only had to pay them a licensing fee for the 1984 movie, but Filmation also launched its own Ghostbusters cartoon, which came out a bit before The Real Ghostbusters. I liked both shows and wish they could have crossed over, but it always annoyed me that the Filmation Ghostbusters cartoon are largely forgotten today. But the Filmation Ghostbusters had two female regulars – time-traveller Futura and reporter Jessica – whereas The Real Ghostbusters only had Janine. The Filmation Ghostbusters also had a gorilla as a regular member and their main antagonist was called Prime Evil. In short, the show was really cool and it’s a pity that it is forever overshadowed by The Real Ghostbusters. And I had to stop myself from buying the three main characters Jake, Eddie and Tracy (that’s the gorilla). If they’d had Futura and Jessica, I don’t think I could have reissted. As for the toys, I only ever saw the Filmation Ghostbusters action figures once, while on holiday in Italy.

This is a very common experience for German toy collectors BTW. We all have a story about that utterly awesome toy that we only saw once in a weird department store or messy toy store somewhere in Italy, while on holiday. And of course we never bought it because our parents did not consider toy shops a suitable place to spend your holidays. Quite often, that amazing toy that got away is the clearest memory you have from that holiday, eclipsing beaches and museums and cathedrals and ice cream and pizza. And it’s almost always Italy, because for some reason, Italy always got all the awesome toys no other place got. I think the US toy industry used Italy as a dumping ground for unwanted products, but we wanted them, too. Even today, Italy still has an awesome selection of toys BTW. I found some great deals for Masters of the Universe figures on eBay Italy.

The oldest toys I saw on display were Major Matt Mason astronaut action figures from the mid 1960s, a toyline I knew existed, but have never actually before. Apparently, there was a revival planned in the 2010s, but it never happened, probably because the good Major’s adventures are a little too tame for the post-Star Wars era.

I saw nothing pre-1960s. There were no antique china or celluloid dolls, vintage toy trains, tin soldiers or other standbys of antique shops and fairs. No modern collectible dolls, i.e. Käthe Kruse or Madame Alexander (though those were never sold in Germany) or the sort of thing offered by companies like Franklin Mint, either beyond some collectors Barbies. But then, the market for these things pretty much dried up, as the people who collected them gradually died off. I guess the people who collected china and celluloid dolls (whose popularity always baffled me, because they were ugly and hyper-flammable) and vintage trains and the like were the people who remembered playing with such toys or craving them as kids. And yes, china dolls stem from the early 20th century, but they were still around as hand-me-downs well into the 1940s and 1950s. My Mom remembers being given a vintage china doll she named Toni sometime in the late 1940s. Sadly, Toni did not survive. Meanwhile, Madame Alexander dolls or Käthe Kruse dolls or other dolls aimed at adult collectors that sold for high prices in the 1980s and 1990s mainly appealed to the people who either had such dolls as kids or wanted them and now had the money to purchase an updated edition (though I liked the Madame Alexander dolls a lot as a teen, because they were gorgeous and very different from anything available in Germany). In short, they were basically the Masters of the Universe Classics and Origins for the WWII and baby boomer generation, because toy collecting is driven by nostalgia. And yes, Madame Alexander and Käthe Kruse are still around and still produce dolls and Madame Alexander even has a line of explicitly kid-aimed dolls, but they’re no longer what they were. And I guess no one in the 1980s would ever have expected that a mint-in-box She-Ra gift set that maybe cost fifteen dollars at retail would sell for a hundred times that forty years on, while a Madame Alexander doll that cost seventy to eighty dollar at the time would be sold be sold on eBay for twenty-five or thirty dollars.

Though there weren’t just vintage toys on offer, but also toy-adjacent things. I saw some cool custom Masters of the Universe figures by German customisers Poking Joe and Master Oelli, including characters from the German audio dramas that Mattel will probably never make such as Goras, He-Man’s annoying cousin (and yes, the play specifies that he’s He-Man’s cousin, not Adam’s cousin) or the gnome Ofta or an Anti-Eternia Teela (be careful with that one, cause she’s a cannibal in the Masters of the Multiverse comic mini-series). They had also customised a Castle Grayskull into Castle Hellskull, the alternate universe version of the famous that originated in the famous Anti-Eternia audio play and has now become an established part of the lore.

Retrofabrik, who reprinted the 1980s German Masters of the Universe comics in beautiful hardcover editions and also produced new Masters of the Universe audio dramas, were present. I already have all the comics, but I purchased the first two new audio dramas on CD. In general, if you’re into vintage audio dramas on cassette tape (which were huge, when I was a kid in the 1980s), there were plenty on offer at Toyplosion. Not just Masters of the Universe, but also The Three Investigators (a series so popular that the now adult voice actors still do live tours), Knight Rider (starring the voice actors who dubbed the TV show) and all sorts of other stuff. In fact, audio dramas were so ubiquitous during my childhood that it never occurred to me that they were a very specifically (West) German phenomenon that didn’t exist elsewhere. Whenever I see those vintage audio cassettes nowadays, I always wonder if they still work (because of rights issues, few of them have been reissued), provided you still have a functioning tape deck somewhere, or if the people who collect them just display them. One of the exclusive products you could buy at Toyplosion was a reproduction of a vintage store display for audio cassettes, so it may well be the latter.

Also present were Welt der Meister Magazin, a German Masters of the Universe fanzine. Well, actually they’re at least a semipro, since it’s a pretty glossy and professional looking production, though the classification doesn’t really matter, since I doubt they’ll get a Hugo nomination anytime soon. They have been around for about ten years now and have interviewed pretty much everybody who ever worked on Masters of the Universe and is still alive and willing to be interviewed. They also published a guide to the audio plays, a special edition about the 1987 movie, a guide to the advertising magazines with their beautiful toy photography and they’re gearing up to publish an encyclopedia. Welt der Meister Magazine is one of those fan projects I always think I should support, especially since I’m pretty sure that there’s information in these issues that you can’t find elsewhere, but I’m never sure where to start.

A real highlight was getting to meet artist Simon Eckert, who does a lot of packaging artwork for the Masterverse line. Check out his amazing art on Instagram and Art Station. Simon was selling prints of his artwork as well as a Masters of the Universe cardgame he designed. His stall wasn’t busy, so I stopped to buys two prints (of the King Keldor and Sorceress Teela box art, since he didn’t yet have a print of the amazing Snake Sorceress Teela art) and told him how much I enjoyed his artwork. We started chatting and geeked out about spotting amazing toys on holiday in Italy, Masters of the Universe and She-Ra (Simon’s partner is a huge She-Ra fan) and Golden Girl, since Simon has also done some amazing Golden Girl fan art.  He’s also done some amazing Princess of Power and Masters of the Universe fan art. He’s also the one who designed Castle Hellskull, since the Castle first appeared in an audio drama and there was no illustration. Simon is eligible for the Best Pro Artist Hugo BTW, hint hint.

My Toyplosion Haul… and Fun With Action Figures, Part 1:

But now I’ve told you about all the awesome things I saw at Toyplosion, you’re surely wondering what I got. So here’s a photo of my haul. Apologies for the busy background, but I had to take the photo on the floor to get everything in shot.

Toyplosion haul.

Toyplosion haul: Clockwise from top left: Masters of the Universe Classics Snake Men Soldiers, Peek-a-Blue, Double Trouble, Castle Grayskullman, Saurod, Masters of the Universe 200X Mer-Man, Two-Bad, Prince Adam, Keldor, Beast-Man, Retrofabrik audio dramas, tie-in audio drama for the CGI show (free promo) and in the middle Sorceress Teela and King Keldor prints by Simon Eckert.

I also picked up the Toyplosion exclusive Masters of the Universe Origins Flying Fists He-Man and Terror Claws Skeletor two-pack with gorgeous artwork for a friend. Here’s a quick picture I took on the dining room table after I got home. Sadly you can’t see the packaging all that well, because of the reflections from the dining room lights. Toy Habits has a better photo.

Toyplosion exclusive Flying Fists He-Man and Terror Claws Skeletor two-pack.

The Toyplosion exclusive Flying Fists He-Man and Terror Claws Skeletor Two-Pack.

The Toyplosion exclusive Slime Pit mug was unfortunately sold out or I would have picked one up, since I really like the design. Apparently, you could also get limited edition versions vehicles and weapons based on early concept art, but I didn’t see these at all, though I definitely walked past the stall where they were offered, so I guess they were sold out.

I found a stall selling loose but complete Masters of the Universe Classics figures for good prices and walked away with three of them. The first is Castle Grayskullman, a character who was created by fan and filmmaker Daniel Benedict (see and interview with him here) for the 30th Anniversary of Masters of the Universe for a “Create a Character” contest. He’s billed as the living embodiment of Castle Grayskull and can be summoned forth by a spell, when the Castle and Eternia are in dire need of help. The recent Masterverse anthology comic mini-series by Tim Seeley and various artists offered another spin on this character and gave a universe where Prince Adam transforms not into He-Man, but into Castle Grayskullman. In that form, he’s extremely powerful, but the transformation also consumes part of his soul. But whatever his story, he looks great and I’m sure I’ll have a lot of fun with this guy.

Masters of the Universe Classics Castle Grayskullman

Masters of the Universe Classics Castle Grayskullman

Castle Grayskullman in front of Castle Grayskull

Castle Grayskullman in his natural habitat.

My second loose Classics figure purchase was Double Trouble (though the Classics version was called “Double Mischief” for trademark reasons). Double Trouble was a character in the vintage Princess of Power toyline. Billed as a “glamourous double agent”, she was basically the Man-e-Faces of Princess of Power line, because her face could be turned under the helmet to reveal a good and an evil face, whereby the evil face just had arched eyebrows and heavier eye make-up, which was omitted from the Classics figure. Double Trouble never appeared in the 1980s She-Ra cartoon, though the 2018 She-Ra and the Princesses of Power cartoon did something really interesting with the character, turning them into a gender-fluid shapeshifter who played all sides. Double Trouble is one of the characters where I really prefer the 2018 redesign, but it’s unlikely that version – or indeed any other version of Double Trouble – will ever be made and now I at least have her for my Great Rebellion shelf.

Masters of the Universe Classics Double Trouble

Double Trouble shows her good face and looks very much like a flower fairy from a vintage children’s book.

Masters of the Universe Classics Double Trouble evil face

Double Trouble shows her villainous side. There really isn’t much difference in the faces – the vintage version at least had heavy eye make-up – though the reversible crossbow is cool.

And since we’re on the subject of the Masters of the Universe Classics versions of Princess of Power characters, I also found an in box Peekablue figure for a good price, which means that I have almost the entire Great Rebellion in 7-inch scale now. Unfortunately, Peekablue was very underused in both the original She-Ra cartoon and the 2018 series, though she’s always been one of the most beautiful Princess of Power figures and also has really interesting powers, since the eyes on her peacock feathers allow her to see things happening far away, making her the perfect spy. Honestly, it’s a pity that no media ever did anything interesting with her.Masters of the Universe Classics PeekablueThe third loose Masters of the Universe Classics figure I got was Saurod, who was a character created for the 1987 live action Masters of the Universe movie. Played by Pons Marr, he was one of Skeletor’s Evil Warriors in the movie, though he was killed off by Skeletor half-way through the movie after the Evil Warriors failed to capture He-Man and the Cosmic Key. Saurod also was one of only three characters from the 1987 movie who actually got toys in the vintage line along with Blade and Gwildor. I always liked Saurod, because his design looks amazing and he makes a great addition to my movie figures.

Masters of the Universe Masterverse Movie Evil-Lyn and Skeletor and Classics Saurod

Saurod poses with the Masterverse Movie Evil-Lyn and Skeletor. The “Great Eye” is portrayed by a chromium plated circular with some drink cups that my Dad got as a present from a business partner years ago.

I also had some fun, creating my own take on some scenes from the movie:

In the throne room of Castle Grayskull, now occupied by Skeletor:

Masters of the Universe Masterverse Movie Evil-Lyn and Skeletor and Classics Saurod.

Saurod reports to Skeletor and Evil-Lyn

“Have no fear, Lord Skeletor. Now we have pinpointed the location of the fugitives, we shall soon recapture He-Man and the Cosmic Key. I have selected your finest mercenaries for the task, Saurod and… – Saurod, where are the others?”

“Ahem, Beast-Man is still brushing his fur and his teeth, Blade is polishing his swords and Karg is styling his hair. They’ll be here in a micron, I promise. Please, don’t kill me, my Lord.”

“Sigh. Incompetents, I’m surrounded by imbeciles and incompetents.”

***

Later:

Movie He-Man and Gwildor arrive to fight Movie Skeletor, Evil-Lyn and Saurod

Four movie figures with bonus Masterverse Revolution Gwildor.

Dum-dum-dum-dammm!

“Surrender, evil one, for I have returned to liberate the Sorceress, Castle Grayskull and all of Eternia from your reign of terror.”

“He-Man! For how long have I waited for this. All those years of battle and strife. But tonight, it finally ends. So let this be our final battle…”

“Sigh. Here we go again.”

Movie He-Man and Skeletor fight, while Gwildor looks on and Evil-Lyn and Saurod make their getaway.

CLASH! CLANG!

“Tell me, He-Man, tell me about the loneliness of Good. Is it like the loneliness of Evil…”

“You talk too much, Skeletor.”

“Come on, Saurod. Time to go.”

“But what about Lord Skeletor, Mistress?”

“Sigh, Saurod, if you’re planning on surviving this gig, you should know that once Skeletor starts going on about the loneliness of good and evil and ‘Let this be our final battle’, it’s time to get the hell out of here, because he’s about to get his arse kicked be He-Man… again. And now let’s go.”

***

Even later, on the lava fields outside Snake Mountain:

The Masters of the Universe Classics Saurod meets Snake Face, Kobra Khan and Snake Man-at-Arms

Saurod meets Snake Face, Kobra Khan with his pet companion Pixel and Snake Man-at-Arms. The lava fields outside Snake Mountain are portrayed by my dining room table.

“Hi, guys! Can I join your gang?”

“No.”

“But what about reptile solidarity and all that jazz?”

“Get lossst, Sssaurod. Run back to Sssskeletor. You’re not a real Sssnake Man.”

“Oh really, Khan. I may not be a real Snake Man, but neither are you. You’re just a descendant and oh yes, I remember that you used to work for Skeletor, before you double-crossed him…”

“I ssserve only Hissss, true King of Eternia.”

“And what about Duncan there? Not only is he a transformed human, but he also used to be a Heroic Warrior and general of the Eternian Forces. So why can he join and I can’t?”

“Becausssse he’sss ussseful and can build weaponsss and vehiclessss for the glory of Hisss. You’re just dead weight and even Sssskeletor doesn’t want you.”

***

And while we’re on the subject of the Snake People, since Masterverse doesn’t seem to be interested in making them (probably because Origins has made a lot of Snake People, including ones that were never made before), I’ve been gradually buying up the Classics versions of these characters. You can see Kobra Khan, Snake Face and Man-at-Arms transformed into a Snake Man (which happened in an episode of the 2002 cartoon) above. I also have their leader King Hiss.

At Toyplosion, I spotted the Masters of the Universe Classics Snake Men Two-Pack, an army builder pack with two generic Snake Soldiers for King Hiss’s army. This two-pack is normally quite pricy and the price at Toyplosion was really good. There was only one problem. The vendor couldn’t accept cards and while I had stocked up on cash prior to heading to Toyplosion, I didn’t have enough cash left for the two-pack, which meant finding an ATM. The vendor offered to hold the pack, until I got pack, so I headed back into downtown Castrop-Rauxel to find an ATM.

The Quest for an ATM:

In Germany, you can’t just withdraw money at any old ATM – at least not without paying a fee. You need an ATM from your bank or one that’s part of the same bank network. So I checked Google whether my bank had a branch in Castrop-Rauxel. Alas, they didn’t – my bank closed several branches for cost reason in the past few years. Also note that it was Sunday, so shops – you can withdraw cash at several grocery and drugstore chains free of charge – were closed.

Next, I checked whether there was a Shell gas station anywhere in the area, because I can also withdraw money at Shell gas stations (which I do quite a lot, because the nearest Shell station is closer than the nearest bank branch). Now there were Shell stations in the Castrop-Rauxel, but they were on the edge of town – in a city I don’t know at all. Plus, I couldn’t be certain if the Shell stations were open on Sundays, since not all of them are.

The third option is finding a branch of the Postbank, another bank in the same ATM network. Since Postbank is tied to the German post office, they usually have more branches than some other banks, though post offices are also shutting down in favour of post stations inside grocery stores and other shops. However, Castrop-Rauxel is big enough to still have a central post office with a Postbank branch, so that’s where I went to get more cash. And since I was in the city center already, I also had lunch at a nice Italian restaurant. On the way back to my car, I also met a nice lady and her dog and had a chat with her.

While heading for the Postbank, the Ruhrgebiet of my mind also intersected with the real thing, when I spotted a mineshaft elevator tower – probably the iconic sight of the Ruhrgebiet – somewhere in the distance. I was determined to take a closer look at the tower, but first I wanted to get back to the con and pick up my Snake Men two-pack. So here they are:

Masters of the Universe Classics Snake Men two-pack.

Masters of the Universe Origins also did a multi-pack of generic snake warriors (which I don’t own, because it’s expensive and IMO not really worth the money), but those were three rather dull kit-bashed repaints plus the Origins Snake Armour He-Man most of us already had in slightly different colours. This set, meanwhile, is a lot cooler and the two Snake Warrior actually look like distinct characters rather than just repaints.

My Toyplosion Haul… and More Fun With Action Figures, Part 2:

By now, it was about 3 PM and the con was gradually starting to wind down. However, my haul wasn’t complete yet, because when I wandered the floor one more time, I passed a stall that had intrigued me earlier that day, because it had a lot of figures from the so-called 200X toyline, i.e. the Masters of the Universe toyline that tied in with the 2002 cartoon.

I like the 2002 cartoon and many of the character redesigns. The cartoon also had a massive influence on Masters of the Universe lore and several now widely accepted parts of the lore – Adam looks significantly different from He-Man, Skeletor is Keldor, Trap-Jaw is Kronis, the origins of Two-Bad and Stinkor, Anwat Gar, King Grayskull, Fisto is Duncan’s brother, much of the Snake Men storyline – have their origins here. But both cartoon and toyline underperformed and Mattel tends to treat the 200X era as something of a red-headed stepchild and doesn’t really delve into all the interesting redesigns from that era.

I remember seeing some of the 200X figures in a store back in the day and thought, “Cool, they’re making He-Man toys again.” But I never bought any of the figures, neither then nor later. However, when I saw a bunch of 200X figures on offer at Toyplosion, I thought, “These don’t really fit in with any of the other lines, but they actually look really cool.” So I bought two figures, Keldor and Prince Adam. They were both loose and not complete – Keldor has his iconic dual sword and acid vial, but is missing an interchangeable head, while Adam has his Power Sword, but is apparently missing a mace (And why on Eternia does Adam have a mace anyway? What does he need a mace for, when he has the Power Sword?)  – but in good condition. And since I like both the characters and their 200X look, which also influenced later incarnations (Keldor had never been shown at all pre-2002, just mentioned, and the 200X cartoon was the first time Adam looked like the teenager he was supposed to be), I bought them. This was before my excursion to find an ATM BTW.

And now, on my final round across the con floor, I passed that stall again and found myself digging through a bargain bin of loose 200X figures and went home with Mer-Man, Beast-Man and Two-Bad. They’re missing their weapons and Beast-Man’s action figure doesn’t work anymore, but they were cheap and look good. Honestly, the skulpting and detail on the 200X figures is amazing, considering they were not collector figures, but regular toys sold at retail. The vendor also had both the 200X Battle Cat and Panthor in that bin and in retrospect I wish that I would have bought them, because the price was unbeatable, considering what these normally go for. So I guess I collect 200X figures as well now.

Since I had the 200X figures, I also had some fun with them. And yes, I know that Adam never meets Keldor in the cartoon, though there is a scene where Adam faces down Skeletor and his Evil Warriors outside Castle Grayskull all alone. And yes, Skeletor really cannot remember the name of his own nephew in the cartoon. So just consider this an alternate universe:

Outside the jawbridge of Castle Grayskull:

Masters of the Universe 200X Two-Bad, Beast-Man, Mer-Man, Keldor and Prince Adam

This Mer-Man is a repaint known as hung-over Mer-Man because of his blood-shot eyes. I also didn’t realise until know that the two halves of Two-Bad are reversed. Tuvar, the guy on the left, is normally blue, since he’s a Gar, and Baddrah, the guy on the right with the scales, is purple. No idea if this is a factory mistake or a weird variant. Adam’s pants are also very tight, which probably leads to embarassing situations for the poor kid.

“Stop, Uncle! If you want to get into Castle Grayskull, you’ll have to go through me first.”

“Oh, it’s that oh so fierce warrior Prince Alan…”

“My name is Adam. Why can never remember that?”

“So you think you’re going to stop me? You and what army?”

“The Masters will be here… ahem… any minute now.”

“Your Masters are currently guests in my dungeon. Including your sweetheart Teela.”

“She’s not my… And let her go or I swear I will…”

“You will do nothing. And now be a good boy and get out of our way.”

Adam fights Keldor, while Two-Bad, Beast-Man and Mer-Man look on.“No, Uncle Keldor. I don’t want to fight you, but I will, if I must.”

“Oh, so that sword isn’t just decoration. You actually know what to do with it. Not that you have any chance against me at all. Or did my brother never tell you that I used to be the best swordsman in Eternos.”

SWISH! CLASH! CLANG!

“Go, boss! Show the little bitty prince who’s the master here.”

“Crap. Uncle Keldor really is as good as everybody says. I can’t keep this up much longer. At least not as Adam.”

Adam runs away to find He-Man, while Keldor, Mer-Man, Beast-Man and Two-Bad look after him.“Sorry, Uncle Keldor, but I got to run and find He-Man.”

“Yes, nephew, run. Run like the coward you are.”

“Coward, coward, coward…”

“Don’t just chant, idiots! Go after him!”

“But… uhm… why, boss?”

“Because he’s a valuable hostage, you blistering boobs. Randor will do anything to get his golden boy back. And now get him!”

***

I’ll have to end here, because I don’t have a 200X He-Man, though I suspect one will eventually find his way in my collection.

And that’s it for today. Since this post is already very long, I’ll cover the trip home and my excursion to see a mineshaft elevator tower in part 3.

 

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Into the Heart of the Ruhrgebiet: Cora’s Adventures at the 2024 Toyplosion in Castrop-Rauxel, Part 1: The Trip Out and City Views

I had a big translation job to finish (unfortunately, I do have to earn a living), so I still haven’t gotten around to writing up my adventures at the 2024 Worldcon in Glasgow, Scotland, and the 2024 Eurocon in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.

Though I have been active elsewhere and so you can listen to Brian Collins, David Agranoff and me discuss the 1943 science fiction story “Mimsy Were the Borogoves” by Lewis Padgett a.k.a. Henry Kuttner and C.L. Moore at the Postcards from the Dying World podcast. I was also at Galactic Journey again, talking about Bran Mak Morn by Robert E. Howard and Jirel of Joiry by C.L. Moore as well as a wide-reaching criminal law reform in West Germany in 1969, which decriminalised gay relationships between consenting adult men. With bonus 1969 campaign posters.

However, the 2024 con season isn’t over yet and so I was on the road again this Sunday, headed for Toyplosion, a vintage toy convention in the town of Castrop-Rauxel in the Ruhrgebiet. This was only the second ever Toyplosion. I was considering attending the first one last year, but my Dad was already in hospital at the time, so I didn’t go.

After my epic roadtrip to the Los Amigos Masters of the Universe convention in Neuss in May and the equally epic roadtrip to Eurocon in Rotterdam last month, I wasn’t overly worried about whether I could make the trip all alone, because I knew I could. Besides, the trip to Castrop-Rauxel is shorter than the one to Neuss, let alone Rotterdam.

The 2024 Toyplosion was a two day convention. I initially wanted to go on Saturday, but the pre-sale tickets were already sold out, so I decided to go on Sunday instead. This turned out to be a good decision, because there was less traffic on Sundays than on Saturdays, at least on the trip outwards.

The Trip Out

Using the trip to the Los Amigos convention in Neuss as a model, I got up at half past five AM on Sunday morning and set out at approx. a quarter past six. Unlike the trip to Neuss, it was still dark outside when I left. The sun currently rises at seven AM and sets at half past seven PM.

I headed to Groß Mackenstedt and drove onto highway A1. Because of the early hour and because trucks are not allowed to drive on German roads on Sundays – with exceptions for perishable cargo and other emergencies, there was very little traffic, as little as I’ve ever seen on the normally extremely busy A1. And so I made good time, as I drove through misty fields. I passed Wildeshausen and even the 33 kilometers monster construction zone between the exits Lohne Dinklage (yes, the town is named like the actor, though no one knows, if there’s any connection) and Bramsche was less torturous than usual, because there was so little traffic.

This time around, I bypassed service station Dammer Berge, because I’ve seen the bridge restaurant now and I wasn’t in the mood for soapy coffee and gloopy cake. Instead, I planned to head to one of the many Autohöfe (basically truck stops just off the highway, whereas service stations are directly on the highway) along the A1 for coffee and breakfast. Because they’re not directly on the highway, Autohöfe are generally cheaper and the food quality is better as well.

Once I’d driven past Osnabrück and crossed the Teutoburg Forest into the Münsterland, I started looking for Autohöfe. Alas, the next two I passed, Ladbergen and Hamm-Bockum, only had Burger King and McDonald’s on offer and I was in the mood for neither. In fact, I hate it that German highway service stations and truck stops are increasingly dominated by fast food chains like McDonald’s, Burger King, Kentucky Fried Chicken and Nordsee rather the more individual greasy spoons of yore.

Turn Right at Kamener Kreuz

By now it was around eight o’clock and the road signs announced that the Kamener Kreuz, a cloverleaf junction that is one of the oldest and busiest in Germany, was right ahead. The Kamener Kreuz also marks the beginning of the Ruhrgebiet. Okay, in theory Hamm is the northernmost city of the Ruhrgebiet, but Hamm is just a highway exit and not nearly as iconic as the Kamener Kreuz.

So I’d made it to the northern edge of the Ruhrgebiet in a little under two hours, i.e. in record time. However, the con didn’t open until ten AM, which meant I had plenty of time for a leisurely breakfast,. During my trip back from the Los Amigos con in Neuss, I’d stopped for coffee and cake at a really nice bakery café in the shopping park directly at the Kamener Kreuz, so I decided to have breakfast there. There was only one problem. The shopping park and the bakery were behind the junction. And unlike the previous trip, I had to change onto highway A2 at Kamener Kreuz. I literally had to “turn right at the Kamener Kreuz”, which immediately caused the song “Polonäse Blankenese” to get stuck in my head.

“Polonäse Blankenese” is a novelty song by one Gottlieb Wendehals (literally Gottlieb Turncoat, in truth German jazz musician Werner Böhm, who deserves so much better than to be remembered for a stupid novelty song), which came out in 1981 and was a massive hit, that was played at parties for decades to come. In Germany, a polonaise is a kind of party dance similar to a conga line, where people march around the dancefloor in a long line. And whenever a polonaise starts at a German party, chances are the song that’s playing will be “Polonäse Blankenese”, so everybody knows that bloody song and the lyrics. You can see a video of a live performance of the song on the German TV show Hitparade here – complete with conga line.

The lyrics describe a gigantic conga line stretching all the way from the Blankenese neighbourhood in Hamburg to Wuppertal in the Ruhrgebiet and include the line “Turn right at the Kamener Kreuz” as well as an infamous line about one Erwin sexually harassing a woman called Heidi by groping her from behind. But until today, it never really occurred to me that the conga line basically follows highway A1 – though they would have to start on highway A7, because the A1 does not pass Blankenese. The directions are also wrong, because Wuppertal is behind the Kamener Kreuz, so turning right at the Kamener Kreuz won’t actually take you to Wuppertal.

But since I wasn’t going to Wuppertal, I did turn right at the Kamener Kreuz and passed very close by the striking ADAC monument, which is dedicated to the German road rescue service ADAC, but looks as if six angels are about to sacrifice a captured rescue helicopter to a volcano god. It’s a very weird monument and I would love to take a photo of it, but I still haven’t figured out how to actually get close enough to the monument to take a picture or if that’s even possible.

The reason the Kamener Kreuz is so famously busy is because this is the intersection between highway A1, one of the main North South routes for all the Europe (the other is highway A7, which intersects with highway A2 in Hannover) and highway A2, which is one of the main East West routes for all of Europe. Highway A2 goes from Oberhausen in the Ruhrgebiet to Berlin. But while I’m quite familiar with the Hannover to Magdeburg leg, because we always took it, when visiting from Great-Aunt Metel in East Germany, I’m not very familiar with the Oberhausen-Hannover leg at all, because there is no reason for me to take it – if I want to go to Hannover, I take highway A27.

On the A2, I passed by Dortmund and then I had to change again onto highway A45. I was still on the lookout for a place to have breakfast. However, after Dortmund the next exit was junction Castrop-Rauxel, which meant that I had arrived, though I had to change onto yet another highway (A42) for the last few kilometers. By now it was half past eight, one and a half hours before the con was due to open. Turns out that the trip I has expected to take between two and a half and three hours only took a little more than two.

The Ruhrgebiet of My Mind

Because I had one and a half hour to kill until the con, I decided to follow my original plan and have breakfast. There was only one problem. I was in a city I didn’t know, though I was pretty sure there would be a bakery to be found somewhere in Castrop-Rauxel. So I drove past the convention center (the address for which I’d set my GPS) and followed road signs saying “city center” and “old town”, all the while wondering whether Castrop-Rauxel even had a such a thing as a historic town center, because I knew nothing about the city.

Turns that the Castrop part of Castrop-Rauxel has been inhabited since Roman times and served a supply/rest spot and storage depot during the time of Charlesmagne, which is also where it got its name. However, for most of its existence Castrop was just a village. It has only been a city since 1926, when it was combined with the neighbouring village of Rauxel. And yes, I had to look all that up.

For I have to admit that even though I’ve known about the Ruhrgebiet since childhood, I actually know very little about the individual cities that make up the Ruhrgebiet. When I was a kid, the Ruhrgebiet was a place we drove through on our way to somewhere else, never one where we stopped. So in my mind, the Ruhrgebiet is a massive blob of cities bleeding into each other, inhabited by good-hearted and two-fisted working class people, a mess of coal mines and steelworks and highways that are all called A-fortysomething for maximum confusion.

This Ruhrgebiet of my mind is a combination of media images and things learned in school, because some idiot thought it was very important for fourth graders to learn all about coal-mining in Germany, even if said fourth graders didn’t even live in a mining area and the mines were dying at the time anyway. My image of the Ruhrgebiet comes from news footage of striking miners protesting mine closures in the early 1980s, whom I resented because the impending loss of their jobs got so much more media attention than the North German shipyards that were dying at the same time (though the great mine dying actually started much earlier in the late 1950s). It comes from the Schimanski Tatort crime dramas of the 1980s, where a working class cop with Polish roots (implied to be queer in the early episodes, though they had to change that) fought criminals amidst the dying coal mines and steelworks. Many of the Schimanski Tatort episodes may be watched here BTW, in beautifully restored HD, so the grimy Ruhrgebiet looks as sharp as never before. Also check out Schimanski’s first episode, “Duisburg Ruhrort”, because it’s fucking brilliant and manages to tell you everything you need to know about Horst Schimanski in three minutes with barely any words.

The Ruhrgebiet of my mind obviously bears only little resemblance to the real thing, especially since the coal mines, which are the thing I and everybody else most associate with the Ruhrgebiet, are all gone now. The last one closed in 2018. The steelworks and chemical industry still exist, though much diminished. As for Horst Schimanski, Götz George, the actor who played him, died in 2016, and Eberhard Feik who played his partner Tanner, died much too young in 1994. The Ruhrgebiet of my mind, if it ever existed, is gone. And I was about to explore the real thing.

BTW, one of the campaign flyers for the 1969 West German general election that I dug up for my latest Galactic Journey article features Johanna Lammers, miner’s wife from Castrop-Rauxel who praises social-democratic secretary of the economy Karl Schiller for saving thousands of mining job. Johanna and her husband had another fourteen years until the last coal mine in Castrop-Rauxel would close in 1983. But more about that later.

Breakfast in Castrop-Rauxel

I found a place to park my car and ventured into the city center of Castrop-Rauxel or what passes for it. Though I first stumbled upon the Jewish cemetery of Castrop-Rauxel, established in 1743 and in use until 1939. The cemetery is a historical monument now, though the gates are kept locked to keep anti-semitic vandals out and you have to go to the townhall to get the key.

Entrance to the Jewish cemetery in Castrop-Rauxel

The entrance to the Jewish cemetery in Castrop-Rauxel.

Jewish cemetery in Castrop-Rauxel

A look through the gates of the Jewish cemetery of Castrop-Rauxel. Many of the headstones were destroyed by the Nazis, though 56 remain.

Right next to the Jewish cemetery, I also came upon this delightful piece of public art called the “Taubenvatta” (Pigeon Daddy), which celebrates the popularity of keeping and racing homing pigeons in the Ruhrgebiet. Indeed, homing pigeons used to be called “the race horses of the working class” in the Ruhrgebiet. Though the association of pigeon racing with working class culture isn’t just a thing in Germany, but in the UK as well. If you’ve seen the 1984 nuclear war drama Threads, the character of Jimmy, a young working class man, keeps homing pigeons and his little brother Michael is graphically incinerated by a nuclear bomb while huddling in the cote with the pigeons. Yes, it’s that kind of movie.

Taubenvatta (pigeon daddy" statue in Castrop-Rauxel

The “Taubenvatta” (pigeon daddy) statue in Castrop-Rauxel was erected in 1986 to commemorate the popularity of pigeon racing among the working class people of the Ruhrgebiet.

As I ventured further into the city center, I had to stop at a pedestrian crossing where the pedestrian traffic light symbol was not the regular stick figure, but a little miner with a lantern. Apparently, this is a thing in the Ruhrgebiet. Coal mining may be dead, but the miners are still around, immortalised as “Ampelmännchen”. In many ways, this is very illustrative of how the Ruhrgebiet has turned its industrial history into a tourist attraction.

Miner Ampelmännchen

A little miner with helmet and lantern serves as an “Ampelmännchen” in Castrop-Rauxel.

Pink art noveau building in Castrop-Rauxel

Barbie’s Art Noveau dreamhouse, Castrop-Rauxel edition.

The city center of Castrop-Rauxel isn’t anything to write home about. The Ruhrgebiet was heavily bombed in WWII due to its status as an industrial powerhouse, so you basically have a pedestrian zone with lots of drab postwar buildings. Since it was Sunday, the shops were closed anyway and most of them were the same chains you’ll find in any city center or mall anywhere in Germany anyway. And of course there was the obligatory husk of a former Karstadt department store (or maybe it was a Kaufhof/Horten or Hertie, though the architecture suggests Karstadt) occupied by some smaller stores that in no way fill the giant building.  Personally, I think the death of the department store is one of the great tragedies of our age, but then the department stores are to blame for their own demise, because they removed all the stuff that provided a reason to go there, the toy departments, household good departments, stationery departments, fabric and craft departments, media and music departments, and basically became giant fashion stores offering overpiced clothing that you could easily get elsewhere.  A lot of the surviving so-called department stores wouldn’t even qualify as department stores anymore by my personal definition, since they only have clothing and maybe shoes.

One thing that struck me as odd was that I saw several closed food stalls in the city center. Now food stalls aren’t that uncommon in pedestrian zones, but there were a lot of them and they offered not just classic standbys like currywurst and roast chicken, but typical fairground food like cotton candy and candied almonds. I later learned that Castrop-Rauxel’s annual autun fair actually took place that very same weekend. But since I was so early in the morning, it of course wasn’t open yet. Here is a video from last year’s fair.

St. Lambertus church in Castrop-Rauxel

The Catholic St. Lambertus Church in Castrop-Rauxel. There has been a church on this spot since the times of Charlesmagne, but when the city crew in the 19th century, the medieval church was expanded and partially demolished for this one, which dates from 1889.

I also found a bakery and it turned out to be a branch of Bakery Grobe, a Dortmund based chain with branches all over the Ruhrgebiet. During my trip to Neuss, I’d stopped at another branch of the same chain, so I knew they were good. I settled down and ordered a coffee and something called a Dortmund market omelette, which turned out to be a cheese and tomato omelette. It tasted very good, but then I really like omelette, though I’m not good at making it myself.

Dortmund market omelette

Dortmund market omelette, courtesy of Bakery Grobe in Castrop-Rauxel.

Once I’d finished breakfast, it was half past nine. So I strolled back to my car and headed to the con, which will be covered in part 2. For the trip back home and more views of the Ruhrgebiet, see part 3.

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The Guardian is Clueless about Masters of the Universe

Supposedly, we’re getting a Masters of the Universe live action movie in 2026. Of course, a Masters of the Universe live action movie has been in development hell for almost twenty years at this point with production companies, directors and scripts – many of them sounding absolutely terrible – coming and going like a revolving door.

So most Masters of the Universe fans have fairly low expectations of a live action movie ever happening at all. One of the regulars of the German Masters of the Universe podcast Das He-Manische Quartett is infamous for his repeated statement “Der Film kommt nie” (The movie will never come).  Other fans have taken a wait and see attitude and basically say, “Well, I’ll believe it when I’m sitting in the theatre.” Expectations of the movie being actually good are also rather muted. After all, we’ve already been there in 1987 and while that movie has gained cult status by now, it wasn’t very well liked back in the day, because it took way too many liberties with the source material.

However, the proposed Masters of the Universe live action movie is currently in production again and we’re getting a steady trickle of casting news. Nicholas Galitzine, best known for Red, White and Royal Blue, is supposed to play Prince Adam/He-Man, Camila Mendes, best known for Riverdale, has been cast as Teela and just this week, Alison Brie, whom I mainly associate with her role as Trudy, Pete’s long-suffering and annoying wife in Mad Men, was announced as Evil-Lyn. So far, so fine, but I’ll still believe it when I see it.

That said, the casting of Alison Brie has attracted more mainstream attraction than the casting of Galitzine and Mendes, probably because Brie is better known. And so Ben Child, who has a weekly geek media column in The Guardian, penned a spectacularly clueless article about the proposed live action Masters of the Universe movie.

Even the headline is terrible: “Can Travis Knight’s He-Man movie do for boys what Greta Gerwig’s Barbie did for girls?”

Yes, we all know how fiercely gendered the toy industry is, but must we really perpetuate those shitty stereotypes, especially when we know they’re wrong? Because in the 1980s, Mattel found to their own surprise that forty percent of all Masters of the Universe toys were sold to girls, which is what prompted the introduction of She-Ra. The 1980s Filmation cartoon was eagerly watched by both boys and girls and though Masters of the Universe fandom skews male, there are a lot of female fans, me among them. This isn’t surprising either, because Masters of the Universe has always featured plenty of impressive female characters such as Teela, Evil-Lyn, the Sorceress, Queen Marlena and of course, She-Ra and her entire supporting cast. Finally, there is a remarkable number of male Barbie collectors as well.

Ben Child attempts to establish his fan credentials by pointing out that he used to watch the Filmation cartoon (though the article is illustrated with a promo images for the 2002 cartoon) and even owned a one-armed Man-at-Arms figure as a kid. However, he can’t resist pointing out how silly the cartoon was and it’s pretty obvious that he hasn’t rewatched the show since the 1980s and doesn’t seem to be familiar with later takes on the property from New Adventures via the 2002 cartoon and the 2018 She-Ra and the Princesses of Power to the recent CGI Netflix show and Masters of Universe Revelation/Revolution at all.

Instead, Ben Child’s image of Masters of the Universe seems to be coloured mainly by memes and jokes such as the whole “Prince Adam singing ‘What’s Going On?’ by the Four Non-Blondes” meme (and honestly, what is it with that video? The combination of early 1990s indie music and Masters of the Universe never made any sense).

Ben Child also insists on comparing Masters of the Universe to Barbie, because both are based on toylines, even though Barbie and Masters of the Universe are completely different types of toys. Barbie’s big selling point is that she can be whatever you want her to be and doesn’t really have a defined story beyond some vague basics. Masters of the Universe, on the other hand, comes with a defined story, characters and worldbuilding (even if there are several conflicting continuities). He-Man is not the male answer to Barbie, that would be Mattel’s Big Jim line from the 1970s, which indirectly influenced Masters of the Universe because several toys and accessories (Battle Cat, Panthor, Zoar, Screech, Webstor’s grapling hook and Beast-Man’s whip) were repurposed from the Big Jim line to save costs.

As a result, making a Barbie movie posed very different challenges then making a He-Man movie. Because Barbie doesn’t have a defined story, so the Greta Gerwig had to come up with one and decided to send Barbie into the real world. The result was a lot better than it had any right to be. He-Man, however, has a defined story and most people who go to see a He-Man movie will want to see a version of that story. Part of the reason why the 1987 movie failed was that instead of giving the audience what they wanted to see, namely a live action version of the Filmation cartoon set on Eternia (which to be fair would have been extremely expensive to produce in 1987), the movie instead sent He-Man, Skeletor and their respective friends and associates to Earth and inserted them into a 1980s teen drama. I actually enjoy the 1987 movie now (and I should probably write a detailed review for this blog), but back in the day this film wasn’t what anybody wanted to see.

Ben Child acknowledges the existence of the 1987 movie, but he’s clearly not a fan. Instead, he calls the movie “fiercely po-faced and clunky” and finds it unbelievable that Frank Langella, who’s generally considered to be the best thing about the film and who is on record that Skeletor is one of his favourite roles in his stellar career, would debase himself to appear in such a film. Honestly, has Ben Child had any contact with Masters of the Universe since the 1980s at all?

The main problem with the article is that Ben Child seems unable to view Masters of the Universe as anything other than a joke. He writes:

Yet, it’s also possible to imagine how, in the right hands, Masters of the Universe might be ripe for forward-thinking, culturally adept satire. If Barbie is the stereotypical archetype of a woman, as seen by young girls who haven’t realised that they are viewing the entire world through a male-curated prism, surely He-Man is her XY chromosomed equivalent. Are preteen boys preternaturally designed to imagine it’s impossible to be a hero unless you are willing to destroy your health through extreme steroid use, or is the world they have grown up in telling them this?

I’m sorry, but a forward-thinking, culturally adept satire is not at all what I or any other Masters of the Universe fan wants to see. What fans want to see is a movie that takes the premise and characters of Masters of the Universe seriously. And in fact, we already have a stellar example of a serious and more adult take on Masters of the Universe, which still embraces the beautiful weirdness and absurdity of the 1980s original, in Masters of the Universe Revelation/Revolution (whose producers Rob David and Ted Biaselli asked showrunner Kevin Smith to take the material seriously and treat it like Shakespeare), while the Netflix CGI show offers an updated take on the premise for today’s kids and the 2018 She-Ra and the Princesses of Power did the same for He-Man’s twin sister. And no, this doesn’t mean that there isn’t room for humor. Masters of the Universe Revelation/Revolution, the CGI show and the 2018 She-Ra all have plenty of humor and jokes and Kevin Smith even snuck a fisting joke into Revelation, but they still take their premise and characters seriously. Mere minutes after Fisto makes a fisting joke, he gets brutally killed and has his soul snuffed out be Skeletor and you’ll probably cry, even if you weren’t a huge fan of the character as a kid. Also note that the Barbie movie for its satirical moments does take Barbie and Ken seriously and treats them as characters rather than stereotypes.

What is more, Ben Child is completely wrong when he views He-Man as a stereotype of toxic masculinity, because that’s not at all what he is. Because Masters of the Universe has always subverted gender stereotypes. And so we see Adam engaging in female-coded activities like baking or cooking or reading or bottle-feeding Baby Cringer, while Teela not only has the male-coded job of Captain of the Royal Guard and Prince Adam’s bodyguard, but is also stronger, more athletic and a better fighter than Adam in his untransformed form. Masters of the Universe has shown us men crying, when this was still a culture taboo. It gave us a woman chosing her career as Sorceress of Grayskull over motherhood, it gave us a nuturing single Dad who somehow managed to juggle parenthood and a demanding career and it gave us a female NASA astronaut turned alien queen well before Sally Ride. There’s even a whole episode with the message “men and women are equal and better together”. Finally, He-Man’s muscles don’t derive from steroids, but from the Power of Grayskull.

But it gets worse. Child writes:

Why does the wimpy Adam of Eternia have to transform into the impossibly hunky and muscley He-Man before he can actually get anything done? Perhaps Adam and Cringer (the pathetic alter ego of space tiger Battle Cat) can emerge as the true heroes of Masters of the Universe, gaining the keys to the cosmos via a balanced view of gender politics and deep understanding of the nuances of feminine strength and leadership, rather than just smashing Skeletor’s skull with a sword.

Again, every single word of this is wrong. There are many examples of Adam and Cringer being heroic and brave without turning into He-Man and Battle Cat, from the Filmation cartoon onwards all the way to Revelation/Revolution, which makes it very clear that Adam is the heart of the story. Adam is also smart and resourceful, both as himself and his alter-ago. He-Man isn’t a mindless brute, except for the roughly fifteen minutes when he becomes Savage He-Man in Revelation and beats the ever-loving crap out out Skeletor, a scene which is so remarkable for how uncharacteristic that behaviour is. As for the “deep nuances of feminine strength and leadership”, have you met Teela? Or the Sorceress or Queen Marlena or Lyn or Andra?

Honestly, if you think that He-Man is just about smashing Skeletor’s skull with a sword, something he never does anywhere in the history of Masters of the Universe, though Savage He-Man whacks Skeletor with a battle axe at one point, you really need to rewatch the Filmation cartoon (try “The Problem with Power”) or the 2002 cartoon or just watch Masters of the Universe Revelation/Revolution.

I’m not the only Masters of the Universe fan to take issue with Ben Child’s very simplicistic take on He-Man. Here is a Twitter thread by Dad-at-Arms, which counters Ben Child’s claims with multiple examples of Adam being heroic and Teela being amazing.

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Some Comments on the 2024 Dragon Award Winners

The winners of the 2024 Dragons Awards were announced today at Dragon Con in Atlanta, Georgia. The full list of winners may be found here.

I’ve been following the Dragon Awards since their inception in 2016, so I guess  I’m committed/cursed to cover the Dragon Awards at this point. Though I skipped covering the nominations this year, because I was on route to Worldcon in Glasgow when Dragon Con announced them and my travel laptop is so slow that posting to the blog while travelling wasn’t really possible. Plus, I have a backlog of things I need to cover and am also busy with translation work and other stuff, so I never got around to covering the Dragon Award finalists this year.

So I’ll just refer you to Camestros Felapton’s coverage of the 2024 Dragon Award finalists as well as of a minor scandal which erupted when one of the finalists in the Best Illustrative Category was disqualified for having used generative AI to design the cover, even though the Dragon Awards did not specify that AI covers were not eligible. Plus, it seems other covers on the ballot used AI as well, but were not as honest about it as the disqualified finalist. Much as I dislike generative AI, stating your policy on AI and disqualifying finalists after the fact is not a good look, though on par for the shambolic nature of the Dragons.

Anyway, since I don’t have a lot of time to deal with this stuff right now, let’s delve right into the categories:

Best Science Fiction Novel

The 2024 Dragon Award for Best Science Fiction Novel goes to Starter Villain by John Scalzi. Now a lot of people seem to view Starter Villain as a lesser Scalzi, but it was a Hugo finalist this year and its Dragon win isn’t a huge surprise, since John Scalzi is very popular and the Dragons are a popular vote award. Besides, John Scalzi winning a Dragon Award will also royally annoy those far right writers and fans who decided to position the Dragons as an alternative to the Hugos, where the real nutty nuggets could win.

The rest of the ballot mostly doesn’t look very surprising either. The Saint of Bright Doors by Vajra Chandrasekera was also a Hugo finalist this year and System Collapse by Martha Wells would have made the ballot, if Wells hadn’t declined the nomination. The Jinn-Bot of Shantiport by Samit Basu and These Burning Stars by Bethany Jacobs were both novels which got a lot of positive buzz. I’m not familiar with Beyond the Ranges by John Ringo and James Aidee, but John Ringo and his co-authors have been popular with Dragon Award voters, particularly in the now defunct military science fiction category. The only surprise finalist in this category is Theft of Fire by Devon Eriksen, a self-published science fiction novel by an author who seems to be more notable for weird conspiracy theories about how feminism is to blame for the US obesity epidemic than for his writing. Still, we’ve seen self-published authors with enthusiastic fans make the Dragon ballot before.

Best Fantasy Novel

The winner of the 2024 Dragon Award for Best Fantasy Novel is Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros. This isn’t a surprise at all, because Rebecca Yarros is a hugely popular breakout romantasy author and her novels Fourth Wing and Iron Flame are Twilight/Da Vinci Code/Fifty Shades of Gray level mega-bestsellers. In fact, I’m surprised that Rebecca Yarros didn’t even make the longlist for the Astounding Award let alone the ballot this year, unless she wasn’t eligible. Because like her work or not – and I have to admit that I haven’t read it – she’s huge.

The rest of the ballot also doesn’t hold any surprises. He Who Drowned the World by Shelley Parker-Chan also made the Hugo longlist this year, plus Shelley Parker-Chan won the Astounding Award in 2022. House of Open Wounds by Adrian Tchaikovsky and The Water Outlaws by S.L. Huang got a lot of positive buzz and My Brother’s Keeper is a new novel by Tim Powers, who is always worth checking out. Rounding out the ballot, there is Three Kinds of Lucky by Kim Harrison, who is a hugely popular urban fantasy author who came up during the massive urban fantasy boom of the early 2000s.

Best Young Adult / Middle Grade Novel

The 2023 Dragon Award for Best Young Adult and Middle Grade Novel goes to Midnight at the Houdini by Delilah S. Dawson. Again, this isn’t a hugely surprising win, because Delilak S. Dawson is a very popular and this is probably the best known finalist in this category.

I’m not the target audience for YA and middle grade books and I have to admit that the only other author in this category I’ve ever heard of is Shami Stovall, a self-published/small press author who was a finalist in the same category last year.

Best Alternate History Novel

The winner of the 2024 Dragon Award for Best Alternate History Novel is All the Dead Shall Weep by Charlaine Harris. Once again, this isn’t a surprising winner at all, since Charlaine Harris is hugely popular as the author of the Southern Vampire Chronicles series that the True Blood TV series was based upon. There was a time during the heyday of that TV series that Charlaine Harris has ten books on the New York Times bestseller list at the same time. Even if the SFF community never really acknowledged Charlaine Harris, probably because she started out as a mystery writer, in the wider world she’s as well known as George R.R. Martin.

The rest of the ballot isn’t overly surprising either. Cahokia Jazz by Francis Spufford was a mainstream hit and just won the Sidewise Award. Meanwhile, Harry Turtledove and the late Eric Flint (plus co-authors) are probably the best known authors of alternate history in recent times and Tom Kratman is a Baen author with a big fanbase. The only book I wasn’t familiar with is Devil’s Battle by Taylor Anderson, though apparently the series hit the New York Times besteller list, so it’s clearly popular. In fact, the most surprising thing about the alternate history category of the Dragons may be why it still exists, when all the other smaller subgenre categories like post-apocalyptic fiction, military SFF or media tie-in have long been eliminated.

Best Horror Novel

The 2024 Dragon Award for Best Horror Novel goes to Black River Orchard by Chuck Wendig. Once more, this win isn’t even remotely surprising, because Chuck Wendig is a very popular horror author. Plus, his Dragon win will also infuriate the usual suspects who hate him, because he dared to put gay characters into a Star Wars novel.

The Reformatory by Tananarive Due got a lot of acclaim and also won this year’s Stoker Award. The Dead Take the A Train by Richard Kadrey and Cassandra Khaw got a lot of positive attention and F. Paul Wilson is a very popular author with a big following. The remaining two finalists in this category were a bit surprising, at least to me. The Hollow Dead by Darcy Coates appears a paranormal cozy mystery rather than a horror novel, but since there is no category for paranormal mysteries, this category was probably the best fit. Dead Storm Rising by Shane Gries, finally, would have felt more at home in the defunct military SFF or post-apocalyptic fiction categories, but since those no longer exist, it ended up in the horror category. However, considering that the first ever Dragon Award winner for  Best Horror Novel was a religiously tinged space opera rather than an actual horror novel, this isn’t too shocking.

Best Illustrative Book Cover

The winner of the 2024 Dragon Award for Best Illustrative Cover is Kelly Chong’s cover for Of Jade and Dragons by Amber Chen. This is a beautiful cover and a highly worthy winner.

Best Comic Book/Graphic Novel

The 2024 Dragon Award for Best Comic Book or Graphic Novel goes to Monstress by Marjorie Liu, Sana Takeda. This isn’t a huge surprise, since Monstress is also a multiple Hugo winner in this category and has some of the most beautiful artwork in comics right now.

A look at the rest of the ballot shows that this category is very DC heavy with Batman, Nightwing, Canary and Wonder Woman all nominated, while X-Men Forever holds up the Marvel flag.  It’s also notable that this is the first time in three years that the winner in this category was not a Dune graphic novel.

Best Science Fiction or Fantasy TV Series

The winner of the 2024 Dragon Award for Best Science Fiction or Fantasy TV Series is Fallout. This is another unsurprising winner, because Fallout was very popular and also a lot of fun.

The rest of the ballot is basically a rundown of popular SFF TV series that aired during the eligibility period. We have 3 Body Problem, Ahsoka, Loki, Good Omens, House of the Dragon, Star Trek: Strange New World and For All Mankind. The only finalist in this category that’s remotely surprising is Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, a kaiju series. And even that one got a lot of buzz and besides, you can never go wrong with kaiju.

Best Science Fiction or Fantasy Movie

The 2024 Dragon Award for Best Science Fiction or Fantasy Movie goes to Dune, Part 2. I guess you can’t have a Dragon Award ballot without Dune somewhere and I vastly prefer the movie to the tie-in graphic novels. I also fully expect to see Dune, Part 2 on the Hugo ballot next year, if not winning.

The rest of the ballot consists of Barbie, Godzilla Minus One (which could win an Oscar, but can’t manage to win any of the genre awards) and Furiosa, none of which are very surprising finalist. The two finalists which do surprise me a little are Wonka and The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, because no one seemed to like either film very much and both are prequels to stories that didn’t need a prequel.

Best Digital Game

The winner of the 2024 Dragon Award for Best Digital Game is Baldur’s Gate 3, which also won the Hugo Award in this category. No surprise there, it’s so popular that even I have heard of it.

Best Tabletop Game

The 2023 Dragon Award for Best Tabletop Game goes to D&D The Deck of Many Things. This is another unsurprising winner, because it is D&D, which is hugely popular and the thousand pound gorilla of SFF tabletop games.

***

All in all, after nine years the Dragon Awards do exactly what they were intended to do, namely award broadly popular SFF works with big fanbases. We still see some of the more offbeat finalists that characterised the early years of the award on occasion, but they no longer win. Camestros Felapton pointed out that Dragon Award ballot was quite Baen heavy this year (no surprise, since Baen traditionally has a big presence at Dragon Con), though it’s notable that no Baen title won.

So in short, the Dragons have became exactly the sort popular vote/popular winners award that the puppy-adjacent organisers envisioned back in 2016. However, I suspect they wouldn’t be too happy with the winners, which are heavy on the girl cooties (Rebecca Yarros, Charlaine Harris, Delilah S. Dawson) and on male authors the puppies dislike (John Scalzi, Chuck Wendig).

Finally – and this is an unintentional, if not unexpected result – the Dragons have also become the award for urban fantasy and romantasy series that sell like the proverbial hotcakes, even though the SFF community and other genre awards like to pretend these books don’t exist. And personally, this makes me happy, because I have always been irked by how the Hugos and Nebulas tend to ignore urban fantasy and romantasy, even though I have zero interest in Iron Flame.

ETA: Camestros Felapton briefly weighs in on the 2024 Dragon Award winners and also shares some stats regarding the gender breakdown of the winners. He also notes that all winners in the Best Science Fiction Novel category so far have been men and that Timothy Zahn is the author with the highest number of Dragon Award wins, followed by David Weber and T. Kingfisher.

At Women Write About Comics, Doris V. Sutherland shares a write-up of the 2024 Dragon Award winners as well as a summary of the uproar regarding the disqualification of Cedar Sanderson’s cover for the anthology The Goblin Market

At Whatever, John Scalzi briefly shares his joy at winning the Dragon Award for Best Science Fiction Novel for Starter Villain. This is already his second Dragon Award win BTW, following his win in 2020 in the same category for The Last Emperox.

ETA 2: Responses from the puppy sphere and SFF’s far right in general to the 2024 Dragon Awards have been fairly muted, but those I found are not happy.

On Twitter, Jon Del Arroz declares that the Dragon Awards are just as rigged as the Hugos and that the Sad Puppies accomplished nothing. The first part of that statement is the usual nonsense, the second part is an example of rare insight.

A Substack newsletter called Fandom Pulse has a longer article, also apparently written by Del Arroz, lamenting what he views as the decline of the Dragon Awards due to John Scalzi and Chuck Wendig winning, which he blames on Tor Books, even though only one of the winners, Starter Villain by John Scalzi, was actually published by Tor. The remaining fiction winners were published by Del Rey, Saga Press, Entangled Publishing and Delacorte Press. The article also focusses solely on the wins for John Scalzi and Chuck Wendig as well as Monstress in the comic category, all of whom are described as Hugo favourites, even though Chuck Wendig was only ever a finalist for what was then the Campbell Award (now the Astounding Award, which is famously not a Hugo) in 2013, where he lost to Mur Lafferty. There is no mention of the wins for Rebecca Yarros, Charlaine Harris and Delilah S. Dawson at all, probably because they don’t fit the point the author is trying to make.

Last but not least, two other awards also announced their winners at Dragon Con. The winner of the 2024 Eugie Foster Memorial Award for Short Fiction is “The Sound of Children Screaming” by Rachael K. Jones, which was also a Hugo finalist this year.

Meanwhile, the winner of the 2024 Mike Resnick Memorial Award for the best unpublished science fiction short story by a new author is “When I was Your Age” by Sam Brown.

 

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Cora Goes to Erasmuscon, the 2024 Eurocon in Rotterdam

Erasmuscon banner

After the con is before the con. In this case, two days before the con, because only one and a half days after I returned from the 2024 Worldcon in Glasgow, I’m off again to the 2024 Eurocon in Rotterdam in the Netherlands. This means that you’ll have to wait a bit longer for my Worldcon report and Hugo commentary (and Dragon Award commentary), because I barely had time to do laundry and unpack and repack my suitcase today.

Two cons in two different countries on two consecutive weekends is not great timing and normally, I would have skipped one of them. However, I absolutely wanted to go to Erasmuscon, because it’s in Rotterdam, where my Dad worked from 1983 to 1990 and where I spent some very happy times indeed. What is more, I actually saw the location of the con, the Beurs World Trade Center, being built from my Dad’s kitchen window, though I’ve never been inside. So of course I had to go.

I’ll also be on the following panels:

Panel Female creators, how far have we come?

Time: Sunday, August 18, 2024, 11:30
Location: Mees

Description: Once upon a time, our female authors hid their identity with a male or unisex pen name so they were treated equally as men. Works created by women were taken less seriously. Finding an audience was harder for women than for men. Has this changed? Or do we still need to put these statements in the present tense? Come listen to the women who have been creating books, art, and movies for at least ten years. What has changed during their careers? Have they bridged the gap with their male colleagues and left the bias behind them, or is there still work to do?

Moderator: Kim ten Tusscher
Panelists: Bo Balder, Kathryn Sullivan, Cora Buhlert

Panel DIY: the ins and outs of self publishing

Time: Sunday, Sunday, August 18, 2024, 16:00
Location: Penn

Description: How to get your work published? This modern day and age give you many options. This panel will discuss the self-publishing option, including authors who found non-conventional ways to get their work published and to fans. They will discuss the paths they took and welcome questions from the audience.

Moderator: Cora Buhlert
Panelists: Jasper Polane, Sophia Drenth, Joost Uitdehaag

So if you’re at Erasmuscon, say hello to me.

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Brief Worldcon Update – and a Fannish Poem

I had a great time at the Glasgow Worldcon, but the internet in my hotel isn’t great. Plus, it turns out that my travel laptop is on its last legs and extremely slow. So you’ll have to wait a bit longer for my Worldcon report as well as the Hugo winner and Dragon Award finalist commentaries, especially since I’m off to Eurocon in Rotterdam almost directly after Worldcon (I have one and a half days to do laundry and shuffle clothes from one suitcase to another). I’ll post my Eurocon schedule once I’m back at home.

But for now, since I’m at the hotel, waiting for the taxi that will pick me up at 3:45 AM to take me to the airport, enjoy this poem I wrote. Any resemblances to persons living, dead or undead are entirely coincidental.

The Phantom of the Armadillo

There’s a spectre haunting Glasgow,
a spectre by the name of Dave.
You might spot him lurking in hotel bars
and skulking around the Armadillo,
forever on the outside,
longingly gazing,
at all the fun had within.

‘Twas scarcely a year ago,
that he was one of them,
wined and dined and feted
and treated like royalty.

And now he’s a pariah,
shunned and barred from entry
and fated to be cursed out
by women in glamorous hats.

How could this happen?
How could it ever come to this?
After all, it’s not his fault that
those Hugos arrived broken.
And surely no one cares about those stats.
And Nepal, Tibet, who
can tell the difference anyway?

And so the spectre of Dave
continues to haunt Glasgow,
forever trapped on the outside,
looking in, ignored
by those who don’t know him
and cursed by those who do,
his very name a cautionary tale
to scare young fans at the con bar.

“Have you…” the old-timers whisper,
“…heard the story of Dave who
fucked aorund with the Hugos and
found out how long
fandom’s memories can be?”

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Cora goes to the 2024 Worldcon in Glasgow, Scotland – plus bonus He-Man and Teela

Glasgow Worldcon bannerThis week, I’m off to Glasgow for Worldcon. I’ll be flying very early on Tuesday morning and will be gone for a week, then I have two days at home to do laundry, etc…, before I’m off to Rotterdam for Erasmuscon, the 2024 Eurocon. The timing is not great. I think the reason the two cons are so close together is that the organisers wanted to make it easy for overseas visitors to attend both cons in a single trip. However, Rotterdam is not as attractive for overseas visitors as it is for me, who spent some very formative times there, so it looks as if Eurocon will be mostly European fans.

So there will be light to no blogging for the next two weeks and plenty of photos and con reports and Hugo discussion (come on, you know there’ll be Hugo discussion) once I get back. You can also get live updates of what I’m up to on Twitter, Threads, BlueSky or Mastodon.

In the meantime, the Speculative Fiction Showcase and the Indie Crime Scene will still be chugging along, including (somewhat truncated) link round-ups.

But should you find yourself in Glasgow for Worldcon or in Rotterdam for Erasmuscon (schedule will be posted separately), say hello to me. You might even get a tasty North German treat (while supplies last).

You can also find me and several other fine folks on the following panels:

A World Tour Through Comics

Saturday, August 10, 2024, 16:00 BST

Location: Alsh 2, Duration: 60 mins, In Person

Panelists: Barbara Postema (moderator), Cora Buhlert, DestructCode (As an artist), Fulvio Gatti

Whether you call them bande dessinées, historietas, manga, manhua or comics, stories told with sequential art have a long history and a global appeal. Regional traditions can influence each other through publishing styles and ideas, and in this panel we’ll take a tour through the shared history and culture of comics.

The Conclusion of the Retro Hugo Era

Saturday, August 10, 2024, 19:00 BST

Location: Carron, Duration: 60 mins, In Person, Online

Panelists: Cora Buhlert, David E. Hook (moderator), Mark Plummer, Perrianne Lurie, TrishEM

The Retro Hugo Awards, a tradition where Worldcons retrospectively awarded prizes for years prior to the establishment of the Hugo Awards, have had both avid supporters and vocal critics. The last two Worldcons eligible to grant Retro Hugos opted not to do so, and Glasgow is following suit. Does this signify the demise of the Retro Hugos? And if so, is this necessarily detrimental?

Women of Post-war Science Fiction: Writers, Editors, Fans, Artists.

Sunday, August 11, 2024, 13:00 BST

Location: Meeting Academy M4, Duration: 60 mins, In Person

Panelists: Carrie Cooper, Claire Brialey, Cora Buhlert (moderator), David E. Hook, Gabrielle de Cuir

It would be wrong to think of post-war science fiction as a boys club with a “No Girls Allowed” sign on the door. Women were active as writers, editors, fans, and artists, key players in the scene even if outnumbered by their male counterparts. Look back with us on the contribution of these often fascinating characters of late 1940s science fiction.

The full program guide for the 2024 Worldcon in Glasgow may be found here.

***

However, I’m not going to travel to Glasgow on my own. I’ll be bringing along two friends, so let’s take a look at their travel preparations.

Eternos Palace, the private quarters of the royal family:

He-Man is looking at two swords in his living room, while Teela looks on.

The furniture is IKEA doll house furniture.

“I guess I’ll take both the Power Sword and the Sword of Ancients to Glasgow, just to be on the safe side.”

“No, Adam, we have limited space and you’re taking only one sword.”

“But…”

“Only one sword.”

He-Man puts the Sword of Ancients on top of the bookshelf, while Teela looks on.“Okay, the Sword of the Ancients stays here. Happy now?”

“Yes.”

“But why do you get to take a shield and a sword?”

“A girl needs to defend herself. Besides, I’m the Captain of the Guard and your bodyguard, Adam.”

“You are aware that I’m He-Man, the most powerful man in the Universe?”

“But what if you lose your sword and can’t transform?”

“That’s why I wanted to take a spare.”

He-Man holds a pillow, while Teela looks on.“Can I at least take my heart pillow?”

“No. They have pillows on Earth. Your mother confirmed that.”

“But my heart pillow is so soft and cuddly.”

“Adam, no. The pillow stays here.”

“You’re no fun.”

He-Man and Teela sit on the sofa.“So are you excited to visit your mother’s home, Adam?”

“Of course. Though we’re not exactly visiting Mom’s home. Earth is a big planet and Glasgow is in a completely different part of the world than where Mom grew up. Like Eternos and Avion are different places.”

“So Glasgow is like Avion?”

“Well, Mom says that Stratos sounds like he’s Scottish, so I guess it is.”

Gwildor arrives, brandishing the cosmic key.“Hey there, No canoodling. Or as Orko would call it, training. But then Orko is as idiotic as he is short.”

“Thanks for taking us to Glasgow, Gwildor.”

“No problem, no problem at all. My Cosmic Key can send you anywhere or anytime in the universe, as long as I know the right melody. So let’s see. Keying up the coordinates for Glasgow, Scotland, Earth.”

Duh-duu-dummm!

Adam and Teela sit on the sofa.

“Glasgow, here we come.”

ZOOM.

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Comic Review: Masters of the Universe Revolution Prequel #3 by Ted Biaselli, Rob David, Tim Sheridan and Daniel HDR

This post continues my issue by issue review of the Masters of the Universe Revolution prequel comic mini-series written by Ted Biaselli, Rob David and Tim Sheridan with art by Daniel HDR and Keith Champagne with a look at issue 3. Go here for my takes on issue 1 and issue 2.

Warning: Spoilers behind the cut! Continue reading

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Cora Goes to the Virtual SpiralCon

SpiralCon 3 Poster

We are interrupting your regularly scheduled Hugo drama for a con announcement. There’ll be more of those in the days to come, because I’m planning to attend four cons – three physical and one virtual – over the next months and I’m on programming at three of them.

We’ll start off with SpiralCon 3, a virtual con focussed on sword and sorcery, cosmic horror, space opera and adjacent fields, put on by the good people of Spiral Tower Press, home of Whetstone, Witch House and Waystation magazines.

SpiralCon takes place on Saturday, July 27, 2024, i.e. tomorrow (yes, I know I’m late with this announcement), it’s virtual and it’s free, i.e. everybody can attend.

The full program schedule is here.

I’m on two panels:

The Appeal of Contemporary S&S,

Saturday, July 27, 2024, 11:00 to 11:50 am EST

The panel description should be here, though at the moment there’s only a list of panelists and a bio. But then the title is pretty self-explanatory.

Moderator: Sean CW Korsgaard is a United States Army veteran, an award-winning photojournalist, and a freelance reporter with articles published in titles such as The New York Times, VFW Magazine, and Analog. He served as an assistant editor and media relations manager at Baen Books until 2023 and is recognized for his contributions to science fiction and fantasy, including co-editing the anthology Worlds Long Lost. His most recent project orbits his love of sword and sorcery fiction as he is founding a new magazine, Battleborn. Korsgaard holds a degree in mass communications and history from Virginia Commonwealth University.

Panelists: Matt Holder, Cora Buhlert, and Dr. John “Cal” Baldari

Barbarians at the Gates: The Second Sword and Sorcery Boom and the Birth of the Modern Fantasy Genre.

Saturday, July 27t, 2024, 01:30 to 02:20 pm EST

Panel Description: In the mid 1960s, fantasy exploded into the mainstream, when Ace (illegally) published Lord of the Rings in paperback and Lancer began reprinting the Conan stories with Frank Frazetta covers and new material added. Both were huge successes and opened the floodgates for a Barbarian boom that lasted into the early 1980s. However, the sword and sorcery revival had been simmering under the radar since around 1960, when Cele Goldsmith began publishing sword and sorcery in the pages of Fantastic and John Carnell did the same in the UK in Science Fantasy. Fritz Leiber returned to Fafhrd and Gray Mouser, new writers like Michael Moorcock, Lin Carter, Joanna Russ and Roger Zelazny entered the genre and the fanzine Amra provided a place for fans and writers of the still nameless genre to get together. This panel will explore how the 1960s sword and sorcery boom came to be and how it continues to influence the fantasy genre until this day.

Moderator: Cora Buhlert: Buhlert is a Hugo Award-winning author based in Bremen, Germany. She holds an MA degree in English from the University of Bremen. Buhlert has published a wide array of stories, articles, and poetry in various international magazines. Her literary works span multiple genres, including pulp-style thrillers, space opera series, and the Thurvok and Kurval sword and sorcery series. Buhlert won the 2022 Hugo Award for Best Fan Writer and the 2021 Space Cowboy Award. She also works as a professional translator and has experience teaching English and German as a foreign language.

Panelists: Cora Buhlert, Paul Weimer, Brian Collins, and Kris Vyas-Myall.

ETA: Shownotes with links to the panelists websites, social media, etc… are now online.

So what are you waiting for? Come and see us at SpiralCon tomorrow.

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