The t-shirt deal of the day over at RIPT Apparel is the He-Man-inspired shirt called “Skeletour 83” by Ted Dastick Jr.

The shirt went on sale at RIPT today, Friday, December 23, 2011, at midnight CST, and will continue for 24 hours from then, and once it’s over, it will not be sold on the site anymore.

Take me down to the Paradise City where… I HAVE THE POWER!

Oh how I love a good mash-up.

Here’s a new one from artist Joey Spiotto, who took his two favorite things from the 1980s and found a way to put them together: He-Man cartoon characters with the classic Guns N Roses album cover for Appetite For Destruction.

The 13 x 19-inch print, which is on watercolor paper, is available at the artist’s Etsy shop for $25 and is listed there as “Appetite For Eternia” (it’s called “Masters of Paradise City” on his blog).

You’ll recognize the album cover, which has a cross background with skull faces on each point and in the center. The original cover had versions of the five GNR band members; Spiotto’s version has five characters from He-Man. He-Man in the center; to the right of him is Man-At-Arms; Orko is at the bottom (no face at all); Skeletor at the very top (with his own skull face). I don’t know who that is on the left, I would think it’s Teela, but the headpiece and coloring are wrong. [Update: it’s Trap Jaw!] The top banner reads “Masters Of The Universe”; the bottom one reads “Appetite For Eternia.”

Fans of He-Man have not been thrilled with the way things have gone in trying to make a new movie based on the powerful prince hero these past few years. Nevertheless, studios keep on trying, and Columbia Pictures has hired Mike Finch and Alex Litvak to write a shiny new script for Masters of the Universe.

A new, re-envisioned take on the He-Man character using modern filmmaking technologies has been floating in purgatory for quite a while now. At one point we even had a script that was getting great feedback and being compared to The Lord of the Rings as well as Kung-Fu Panda co-director John Stevenson set to captain the movie, but alas, even that was killed, revived, and killed again within the gears of the Hollywood machine.

For the second time in the last year or so, Warner Brothers recently killed off their planned new live-action He-Man movie, which was preferably called Greyskull for a while, and then back to Masters of the Universe. Both moves came as a surprise as, even though it is He-Man, a review of the Justin Marks script by Latino Review claimed that it had a ton of potential and a real Lord of the Rings vibe to it. The reasoning behind Warner Bros. ultimately dispatching the classic property? It looks as if the studio and the creative sides of the project just could not see eye to eye, and decided it would be best to drop it and move on.

Now comes word that Columbia Pictures didn’t wait too long to go right after the property, and at last notice, they are in negotiations to acquire it. If this deal does move through without a hitch, though, there’s a good chance it could come with a price those of you looking forward to the project won’t swallow easily.

In November, rumors arose that instead of killing the new He-Man movie, that they were talking to Kung Fu Panda co-director John Stevenson to helm the movie (Read: ‘Kung Fu Panda’ Director To Helm ‘He-Man’ Movie?). Today, this rumor became reality, as it was confirmed that Mr. Stevenson will indeed make his live-action debut with what’s been called Greyskull but is now apparently being called Masters of the Universe (I vote for the former).

John Stevenson only has the experience directing Kung Fu Panda, so along with this being his first live-action go, he’ll also only be handling his second feature. Fortunately, the man has a ton of experience in the art/animation departments of many well-known movies such as Shrek 1&2, Labyrinth, and The Dark Crystal.