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Critical Darlings

“Masters of the Universe” and the IP Drought (With Mattie Lubchansky)

6/11/20261 hr 31 min

By the power of Grayskull, we have cartoonist and co-host of the No Gods No Mayors podcast, Mattie Lubchansky, in studio to discuss Masters of the Universe!  The movie is a test for Mattel, who are going all-in on IP management in the post-Barbie era but Masters has underperformed at the box office and with critics. Has the He-Man IP run out of gas? Did it ever have gas? What would a coherent He-Man movie even look like? Where’s Orko?  On this episode, we try and figure it out. We discuss the movie’s patchwork approach to plot and character, its history in development hell, its mostly-winning cast including Nicholas Galitzine, Jared Leto, and do a sidebar on Idris Elba’s history on the big screen. Finally, we wonder if this movie signals an approaching end to the toyetic IP boom of the last couple of decades, or if this is just a blip, with movies like Spider-Man and Doomsday on the horizon.  Next week, we’ll be staring at the camera wistfully, eyes aglow with childlike wonder, to discuss Disclosure Day! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Clips

Impossible He-Man Standards
Barbie Versus He-Man Message
HR Culture And Manhood
Fisting Joke Budget
Catra Left At Lunch

Transcript preview

First 90 seconds

  1. Marie Barty0:00

    [instrumental music] From BlankCheck Productions, this is Critical Darlings, a podcast about the movies everyone's talking about, one new release after another. Please welcome your hosts, Richard Lawson and Alison Willmore.

  2. Richard Lawson· Host0:24

    [applause] Whoa, Marie just turned into a bird and flew away without really helping us much, to be honest.

  3. Marie Barty0:31

    [laughs] [laughs] She did, she did give that, um, kind of enigmatic advice.

  4. Richard Lawson· Host0:36

    Yeah.

  5. Alison Willmore· Host0:36

    It was sort of, sort of empowering- Sort of- ... but I'm a little- Helpful ... I'm a little confused still.

  6. Richard Lawson· Host0:39

    She looked a lot like the lady from Homeland, but yeah. Um, hello. [laughs] Uh, we are joined as ever by our producer Ben Frisch. Hello, Ben.

  7. Ben Frisch· Panelist0:46

    Good morning.

  8. Richard Lawson· Host0:47

    And we have a special guest to talk about this most important movie of the year probably.

  9. Alison Willmore· Host0:51

    Mm-hmm.

  10. Richard Lawson· Host0:51

    Uh, she is an author and illustrator and a co-host of the No Gods, No Mares podcast. Please welcome Mattie Lubchansky. Hello, Mattie.

  11. Mattie Lubchansky· Guest0:59

    Hi, thanks for having me. Uh, if you'll notice, I was standing in the corner the whole time- [laughs] ... and then being unhelpful also.

  12. Richard Lawson· Host1:05

    Yeah, yeah. [laughs] Much in the spirit of the great sorceress. Um, before we get into this movie, which is Masters of Universe, I just wanna point out that I am wearing a shirt, the August Moon T-shirt, that is the fake concert T-shirt of the fake boy band that, um, Galitzine, Nicholas Galitzine is the lead of- Oh, wow ... in the Anne Hathaway film, The Idea of You.

  13. Alison Willmore· Host1:24

    I, I really appreciate your dressing on theme.

  14. Richard Lawson· Host1:26

    Yeah, yeah.

  15. Alison Willmore· Host1:26

    And, and Mattie, I appreciate your T-shirt as well- Oh, thank you ... which is- Celeste Adames.

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