It was awesome being a kid growing up in the 1980s. Some of the most iconic and memorable franchises in the world were at their peak during this decade. In cinema the Star Wars franchise was bigger than ever, we had Back to the Future, Indiana Jones, and The Ghostbusters.
On television there was Transformers, G.I Joe, The A-Team, Thundercats, and The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, all with toylines that continue to break sales records or still sought after 30 years later.
For many fans though, the biggest and most captivating of these was He-Man and the Masters of the Universe. The varied characters and toys were based on swords, sorcery and science fiction and were every bit as imaginative, but most importantly were an absolute joy for any kid to play with.
The franchise is set to be rebooted again in 2019 with a live-action remake, although they don’t have a director or an actor to fill the shoes of the titular He-Man. David Goyer is on board as a writer and could take up the reigns as a director too.
So while fans that grew up in the 1980s are hoping to see their own kids grow up with the Masters of the Universe too, let’s take a look at 25 things you may not know about the greatest toyline in the universe.
25 Mattel's Lack Of Faith In Star Wars Was Disturbing
It seems crazy to imagine now, but believe it or not, in 1976, Mattel’s CEO Ray Wagner didn’t have enough faith in the brand new sci-fi and fantasy film Star Wars to justify the upfront fee of $750,000, a huge sum of money at the time.
It was probably the worst decision in the company’s history because, unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last 40 years, Star Wars has arguably gone on to become one of the worlds biggest money-making franchises.
However, in the race to create a toyline to compete with Star Wars – Kenner picked up the rights for the action figures – Mattel eventually went ahead with their own brand of sorcery and science with The Masters of the Universe which managed to rake in $2 billion dollars.
24 He-Man Was Originally Meant To Be A Jungle Dwelling Savage
One of the earliest concepts for He-Man that made it in print for the mini-comics was a more savage jungle based version of the character that was a member of an Eternian tribe.
The tribe was one of the planets remaining inhabitants left behind after a great war devastated their planet. The war left behind advanced science fiction weaponry, and the best weapons were awarded to He-Man by the Sorceress of Castle Grayskull, who in this version had a serpentine green appearance as opposed to the version in the cartoons.
He-Man was chosen to be the one to defend the secrets of Grayskull and fight for good against the evil Skeletor. This version of He-Man later became known as Oo-Lar in the re-released “Classics” figures.
23 There Were Several He-Men In The Timeline
In 2008 the new “classics” range of action figures for the Masters of the Universe introduced a brand new canon which combined all the elements of the He-Man universe into one cohesive narrative. The new action figure line featured biographies in a similar manner to the original toys, and they incorporated storylines for the early concept designs of He-Man.
Vikor was the name given to the Viking based barbarian design which bore more than a passing resemblance to Conan the Barbarian. Oo-Lar was the jungle He-Man, and they even created a backstory for the brown-haired He-Man figure that was part of a Wonder Bread promotion and named him Wundor. Prince Adam, however, was the only one who wielded the Power Sword and transformed into the true He-Man.
22 Torak The Hero Of Prehistory?
Before Prince Adam would transform into his alter ego He-Man, the original concept for the character was quite different to the Filmation cartoon that made the characters famous.
The first design for He-Man was Tarok the Hero of Prehistory, and he was a wandering barbarian type who according to the new canon, was one of many He-Men that existed through time. Developed by Mark Taylor he was a righteous hero that would defend the weak against the forces of evil. His primary antagonist being Skeletor, a villain created to be the polar opposite of He-Man.
Taylor wanted Skeletor to embody pure evil and sword and sorcery on every level. With Skeletor being as powerful in magic as He-Man is strong, even from early concepts the idea of swords vs. sorcery is a timeless one.
21 He-Man Was A DC Superhero That Beat Transformers To The Punch
The Masters of the Universe series began as a toyline only but was accompanied by a DC minicomic book series that was very different to the show. The toyline began in 1981 starting with the series core' characters such as He-Man, Man-At-Arms, Teela, Battlecat, Skeletor, Beast Man, Mer-Man, and Evilyn.
In an almost typical comic book fashion, it was the comic that introduced the concept of He-Man being a secret alter ego of Prince Adam. The Masters of the Universe was then adapted into a cartoon series a year before Transformers in 1983. The series later expanded with the addition of She-Ra: Princess of Power which ran until 1986.
20 He-Man And Skeletor Are Related
After the original Filmation He-Man and the Masters of the Universe cartoon series ended the line of action figures continued with new minicomics following on from the continuity of the series.
The comic entitled “The Search for Keldor” implied that Prince Adam’s father King Randor had a long-lost brother named Keldor. The story involved Adam and his father searching for Keldor after Randor announced that his brother was sent to another dimension after an experiment with magic went wrong.
The story was reiterated in the 2002 series and revealed that Keldor was definitely Skeletor, and the half-brother of Randor, with his mother being a member of the blue-skinned Gar race. After learning the dark arts from the evil Hordrak he was forcibly merged with an alien entity known as the Evil Spirit of Despondos, Demo-Man. Even though he was left disfigured Keldor became Skeletor and his powers increased ten-fold.
19 He-Man Defeated Conan The Barbarian
There is no denying that the creators of He-Man absolutely borrowed many key aspects from Robert E. Howard’s Conan the Barbarian character. The look of Conan has become the archetype for nearly every barbarian style character in the media from video games to comics. Howard’s influence on the field of high fantasy fiction is only rivaled by J.R.R. Tolkien.
In 1980 Conan Properties contacted Mattel to negotiate a toyline based on the upcoming Conan the Barbarian film. The deal didn’t materialize because the Conan movie was solely aimed at adults but the He-Man figures followed a year later.
As a result, Conan Properties tried to sue Mattel for copyright infringement in 1982. The courts ruled in Mattel’s favor, but an early concept of He-Man later renamed Vikor was obviously based on the Conan archetype. In addition, the artwork featured in the He-Man comics was the inspired by the works of fantasy and Conan artist Frank Frazetta.
In a sense of Irony, the sequel Conan the Destroyer was a far less violent movie than the original with intentions of trying to capitalize on the popularity of He-Man – unlike the original, it was heavily panned by critics.
18 He-Man Was More Brains Than Brawn
In the original He-Man cartoon series by Filmation, the aim was to appeal to parents as much as children. In the 1980s parents had complained that many cartoon shows were far too violent for children in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
For the series to remain non-violent in accordance with the broadcasting standards of the time He-Man very rarely resorted violence. In fact, He-Man was prohibited from using his sword as an offensive weapon, and he wasn’t allowed to punch or kick anyone.
Instead, He-Man used his intellect to defeat his foes and only punched robots, boulders, used body throws and wrestled defensively.
17 Every 80s and 90s Kid's Dream Come True, The Thundercats And Masters Of The Universe Crossover
In October 2016 DC comics released a crossover event that would appeal to just about every child that teamed their He-Man figures with their Thundercats figures in never-ending wars against forces of evil led by Mummra and Skeletor on their bedroom floors.
The six-part series begins with Mumm-Ra searching for a sword capable matching Lion-O’s Sword of Omens in battle and potentially destroy all of the Thundercats, The Power Sword of He-Man. Mumm-Ra created a rift between the two dimensions that caused tidal waves and earthquakes putting both worlds at risk.
The series pits the Thundercats and the Masters of the Universe against Skeletor and Mumm-Ra. It was a well-received comic with critics and fans alike.
16 He May Be The Most Powerful Man In The Universe But He's Not Invincible
With He-Man being the most powerful man universe it is easy for fans to assume that he’s virtually invincible. However, in the DC crossover event He-Man/Thundercats the villain Mumm-Ra figured out a way to kill He-Man, by exploiting his most vulnerable persona.
Tricking Prince Adam into handing him the Power Sword, Mumm-Ra disguised himself as the Sorceress and stabbed He-Man’s alter-ego through the heart and impaled him with it. Although in a technical sense, it wasn’t He-Man that was killed it was the weaker Prince Adam it’s a little surprising that with Skeletor's evil genius intellect that he hasn’t already tried this tactic himself.
15 There's A Free Indie He-Man Game And It's Good
With a franchise that’s earned over $3 billion dollars worldwide with toy sales, cartoon shows, and the first live-action movie ever based on a toyline, it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that He-Man has found himself in video game form too.
In fairness to the He-Man franchise, licensed video games especially those that are based on cartoons are rarely any good with a few notable exceptions like the recent Transformers video games.
However, it has taken one indie developer to do what big development studios couldn’t create a good He-Man action game. The art style is fantastic and is a perfect match for the Filmation series from the 1980s and better still, he is adding the Thundercats too.
The game can be downloaded for free in early access for the PC and Android mobile phones from here.
14 The Most Powerful Man On Earth Fought The Most Powerful Man On Earth
In 1982 DC comics released a special crossover event under the DC Comics Presents series called From Eternia With Death. The special issue saw Superman under the control of Skeletor due to his vulnerability to magic. The two fought for control of Castle Grayskull which was the source of the sorceress and He-Man’s power.
In the comic, Superman realized that he was at a real risk of losing the battle against the Eternian. However, Superman eventually prevailed which led to the two super beings teaming up and defeating Skeletor together. It was an early 80s dream match for many kids who grew up watching the Christopher Reeve Superman films and the He-Man cartoons.
13 The Rematch! Masters Of The Universe Vs. DC Universe
After their first battle in 1982 in DC Comics Presents: From Eternia With Death Superman and He-Man wouldn’t meet again for another 31 years in DC Universe vs The Masters of the Universe comic book series, also by DC.
The comic book series saw Skeletor arrive on Earth in order to escape He-Man and his friends after being defeated in battle. Upon arriving on Earth Skeletor defeated and gained control of the Justice League initiating a fight between the superheroes and the Masters of the Universe.
The rematch between Superman and He-Man went in the Eternian’s favor this time because Superman was vulnerable to the magic contained by the Power Sword.
12 He-Man The Most Powerful Man In Universe Had An Equal
When Prince Adam transforms into He-Man, he is the most powerful man in his universe. However, there’s an evil being known as the Anti-Eternia He-Man who come from the dark mirror world of Anti-Eternia and his enemy is Prince Keldor, the good version of Skeletor.
Instead of the Castle Grayskull, this dark image of He-Man rules his own world from Castle Hellskull. He has all of the exact same abilities as He-Man, and when Skeletor summoned him into Eternia he attacked and defeated both He-Man’s friends and Skeletor’s Henchmen.
Despite joining forces Skeletor sent both He-Man and the Anti-Eternia He-Man back to the dark realm, where He-Man eventually overthrew the dark warrior and returned to his own dimension.
11 He-Man Was Half Human
Although many of the Eternians like Prince Adam/He-Man, Teela, Man-At-Arms, and Princess Adora are all humanoid in appearance, according to the comics they aren’t actually human in the same sense as people from earth. However, both He-Man and She-Ra is actually half human and humanoid Eternians because their mother Queen Marlena is an astronaut from Earth.
Marlena is shown crash landing on Eternia in the episode called “The Rainbow Warrior” named after the NASA ship that she piloted called the Rainbow Explorer. The episode explains how He-Man’s father rescued Marlena from the crash site and fell in love.
10 He-Man Had A Son
When He-Man finally defeated Skeletor, he and Teela finally settled down and got married and they ruled Eternia in peace as the new king and queen with a son named Prince Dare.
Dare became the new owner of the Power Sword, he became the warrior He-Ro and was named after the warrior wizard that defeated the Snake Men centuries prior. He became the new Warrior of He when Evil-Lyn’s son released an imprisoned evil known as the Unnamed One.
In 1996 Lou Scheimer productions tried to pitch new Masters of the Universe series with He-Ro as the series' protagonist, but after The New Adventures of He-Man series failed to live up to expectations the pitch was rejected.
9 Teela Was More Important Than He-Man
Throughout the series Teela became the love interest for He-Man, she was the adopted daughter of Duncan – Man-At-Arms – she was the best friend and training partner for Prince Adam growing up, and the Captain of the Guard.
Teela’s heritage, however, is that she is the cloned daughter of the Sorceress of the Castle Grayskull and heir to the title of the Sorceress. In the comics, she would eventually become known as The Goddess.
In the original 1980s toyline, Teela was packaged as two characters, one being Teela and the other being The Goddess which was represented by the removable cobra shaped headdress.
8 He-Man Wasn't The First to Wield The Sword Of Power
In the 2002 rebooted series of The Masters of the Universe, it is revealed that the Castle of Grayskull was the home to the original king of Eternia called King Grayskull, and he was the man the gave Power Sword the basis for its magic and the source of He-Man’s power.
It is also revealed that he is the ancestor of King Randor and Prince Adam and he was a leader of the government of Eternia five hundred years prior to Randor’s rule.
The design for King Grayskull was based on of the earliest designs for He-Man quite possibly Torak which in turn was based on Mark Ryan’s Frank Frazetta-inspired early designs.
7 Skeletor Created A Clone of He-Man
In the original toyline of the Masters of the Universe Skeletor created an evil robotic clone of He-Man. He had the strength and speed similar to that of He-Man but lacked the intelligence, and it’s for this reason he has been compared to Bizarro, the clone of Superman in the DC comic line.
In the cartoon, however, Faker was presented as an exact replica of He-Man with glowing eyes, instead of blue skin and red hair like his toy and comic representation. He was also created through the use of Skeletor’s magic so he could trick the sorceress into leaving Castle Grayskull. Apparently, the character’s lack of blue skin was the result of Filmation trying to save money in production costs.
6 Did Square-Enix Love The Masters Of The Universe Too?
The Final Fantasy series began in 1987 it also featured the very first appearance of the Black Mage job class. While it has never been confirmed or denied as an influence the resemblance between the Final Fantasy characters and Masters of the Universe’s magical sidekick Orko is difficult to deny.
The Masters of the Universe series was also very popular in Japan and in 1987 the franchise was still selling toys like hotcakes the world over. While there are some differences between the two characters the fact that they are both magic wielders, their eyes are only visible and the hats are almost identical. In addition, the Final Fantasy series has never been shy about borrowing from other franchises such as Dungeons and Dragons.