He-Man and I have had a rocky relationship.
Wait. Can we go back? I just… Crap. OK.
In a past post, I asked you to decide which of The Big Three is the all-time biggest non-licensed action figure property; G.I. Joe, Transformers, or Masters of the Universe. Opinion was typically divided, but no one disputed those three properties are, indeed, The Big Three. Joe, BotsnCons, and He-Man have been part of geek culture since the early 80s and, in one form or another, are as powerful and influential as ever.
In one form or another…hmmm…
If you’re a G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero fan, your roots are almost certainly going to be in one of two camps, Sunbow’s cartoon or Larry Hama’s Marvel comics. The former has a lighter, lasery tone, the latter a bit more gritty and deathy. They are, however, separate halves of the same basic universe with characterization largely grown from the same seeds across both continuities.
Basically one big fandom.
Unless you prefer Sigma 6 or Sgt. Savage, in which case you can pretty much go screw yourself as far as the One Big Fandom is concerned.
But I digress…
If you’re a Transformers fan, things are far more fragmented, but also more compartmentalized for easy demarcation. You’ve got your Generation 1 continuity (which includes the Beast Era) and its comic book parallel, you’ve got Robots in Disguise, you’ve got your Unicron Trilogy (Armada, Energon & Cybertron), and then you’ve got Animated and Prime, the current (awesome) iteration. There’s also Generation 2 and some pocket stories and continuities for cons, comics, and clubs, but the main blocks of Transformers history are the ones listed above.
We won’t even get into anything exclusively Japanese.
There are many differences between all these alternate Transformers realities, but there are also some very basic commonalities. There’s always an Optimus Prime. There’s always a Megatron. There’s always a Starscream, or a Starscream-like character. There’s always transforming. Beyond that, each Transformers reboot or continuation is different enough to warrant interest from new fans, or renewed interest from old ones, and even if characters share the same names, they don’t always share all the same characteristics. The Animated Optimus Prime, for example, is an untested youngster with none of the John Wayne swagger of the G1 original. Likewise, Optimus Primal, from the Beast Era, is an explorer and, later, philosopher, forced, more begrudgingly over time, into military style combat and command.
So, even if it’s all called Transformers, there’s a tone, design aesthetic, and storyline for everyone and, if you don’t like how a character or origin, or indeed a toy line, is handled in one continuity, chances are there’s one, or two, to which you’ll be devoted.
Very clean. Very convenient.
Masters of the Universe, on the other, is a mess.
Despite being one of the hottest collector lines of the last several years, Masters of the Universe Classics commemorates the most fractured, inconsistent, contradictory universe in toydom. I know any storyline and characterization created for He-Man was done for the sole purpose of selling toys, but, whereas Transformers and, to a lesser extent, G.I. Joe: RAH have transcended mere promotional material to become bona fide nerd fare independent of plastic, Masters of the Universe has been the victim of its own nostalgia. Its resurgences have lead to multiple redefinitions of what the property is and who the characters are. As a result, Mattel is trying to reconcile pieces of He-Man’s shattered past into a new stew portioned out in monthly helpings on Masters of the Universe Classics’ cardbacks.
As you’ll soon see, though, inconsistency of tone and confusion of character are things from which mighty Eternia suffered long before Toy Guru got his meat hooks into its soil.
I’m someone who likes rules. Structure. Consistency. I’m also a huge story continuity wonk. I love when the little details matter over the long haul. So, with that in mind, you can imagine how frustrating I’ve found it to pick a Masters of the Universe…universe, and corresponding toy line, and stick with it.
Except now I have, and I’m as big a He-Fan as I’ve ever been.
Before I tell you which universe I’ve mastered, let’s look at what we have available to us. We’ll take them in the order of what, I believe, has had the most influence over the greatest number of fans.
1. Filmation’s He-Man and the Masters of the Universe
This is where Masters of the Universe really took off for most of us. I can’t tell you how excited I was for the premiere of this show in 1983. My best friend and I were front and center before the free-standing floor TV in my living room for the first episode. We took it in with wide eyes. All the colors. All the characters. All the absolutely no direct conflict or…physical fighting what…so…ever…?
What the…What?
Oh, make no mistake, we watched them all and squealed over character debuts, but, even then, every episode of Filmation’s He-Man was its own little disappointment. Before the cartoon debuted, and after, our “He-Men” beat the holy hell out of each other during their grand, violent adventures. All He-Man every did on TV was punch rocks or gently ease a charging Beast Man over onto his back and then toss his pageboy bowl cut and laugh about it. What fun was any of that?
Although I’m sure I wasn’t alone in my frustration, the Filmation cartoon was a huge hit and helped sustain the toy line for several years. It also introduced most fans to many of the core concepts of the property. He-Man’s alter ego, Prince Adam. Orko. Snake Mountain. It, along with its sister show She-Ra: Princess of Power, also introduced fans to some key characters who never made it into the original toy line. Some of them (Count Marzo, Queen Marlena, Shadow Weaver) have now been plasticized in Masters of the Universe Classics, much to fans’ delight.
So, as seminal as it was (first cartoon based on toys post-FCC ban, and all), Masters of the Universe as conceived by Filmation just isn’t for me, at this point. It was barely for me, at that point, to be honest. Let’s just move on.
2. Masters of the Universe Classics cardbacks
As I mentioned above, these represent Mattel’s acknowledgement of, and attempt to rectify, all the different variations and continuities of the property we’re discussing here into one consistent amalgam. I think they’ve done a good job, so far. So much so, I broke them down, to a point, and re-wrote them as a chronology you can see here.
Why haven’t I updated that chronology in a while? For the same reason I’m unlikely to ever update it again.
Keep reading.
3. The 2002 Mike Young Productions He-Man and the Masters of the Universe
Also known as 200x Masters of the Universe, this was the cartoon made to accompany He-Man’s big return to store pegs…
…which was the biggest failure of a proven property the history of the industry, but that’s not what we’re here to discuss.
There’s a lot to like about this verison of Eternia. King Randor is a Norse-influenced warrior. Prince Adam isn’t a whining dandy (he’s also a kid, making his transformation to He-Man a lot more physical and, thus, believable). The Evil Horde is folded into the Masters universe proper with Hordak as Skeletor’s creator. The Snake Men return for an extended arc in the second season to reclaim both their mountain and the world once theirs. Yes sir, this was definitely not Filmation’s He-Man.
Or was it…?
I re-watched the show’s first season recently and, you know what, it’s really not that good. There’s definitely more and better action, better characterization, and a much tighter, intricate continuity, but…I dunno, it just wasn’t as good as I remembered it being when it first aired when, once again, we were all mesmerized by the colors and characters (literally, this time) flying around, glad to have He-Man back on TV.
On paper, the 2002 Masters cartoon, and the toys based on its designs, should blow their 80s counterparts away. Indeed, I do prefer them but, still, there’s something about even this version of He-Man I just found I couldn’t embrace as a 37 year-old nerd, even though I still considered myself, still want to be, a fan of the property.
What’s the problem?
Onward.
4. The 80s Mini-Comics
This was the other big source of Masters stories for me as a kid and definitely the one I preferred. Unlike the He-Man of the Filmation show, the He-Man in these comics punched out Skeletor’s goons, slashed the occasional monster with his Power Sword, and even stood the chance of getting blasted with a ray gun or the Havoc Staff. Over the few pages allotted to each, these little comics told more fun, more detailed stories than anything on TV and, for me, they were my preferred way to enjoy He-Man. I remember going on weekend car trips with a stack of these things; I read them all dozens of times.
So, with that in mind, perhaps you’d think, that’s it; the mini-comics. They must be the version of Masters of the Universe he’s decided to adhere to, the version of the mythos he considers his Classics to commemorate. We’re done, right? I can check my Twitter feed.
Not so fast.
Yes, mini-comics are the source of my renewed, revitalized, perhaps even reborn He-Fandom…
…but not all of them.
Not even most.
5. Mineternia
There’s a reason I picked Stinkor’s comic above.
Let’s be brutally honest with each other, shall we? After a certain point, Masters of the Universe is ridiculous. Not cool, kitschy ridiculous, either. Embarrassing to be associated with it ridiculous, particularly when you’re not a kid anymore. I think most people who’ve read this far would probably, begrudgingly, admit they agree with me, and I’ll bet they’d hasten to add the property reached that point right…about…here…
Poor bastard. No respect.
While Snout Spout is a disgrace, I’d argue that point was long moot by the time he and other abortions like Ninjor and the Meteorbs hit the pegs. I’d say Masters of the Universe began its irreversible tailspin here…
…and crashed and burned here…
Oh, the humanity…
And that was my problem. I realized I fundamentally dislike a great deal of Masters of the Universe’s concepts and characters. Simultaneously, I realized what I do like about it, I really like.
There was distinct, specific crossover between those two revelations, the first 11 minicomics or, as they’ve come to be known, Mineternia.
Before they were Keldor and Prince Adam, they were Skeletor, an extra-dimensional demon, banished and bent on Eternian conquest, and He-Man, a barefoot, barbarian savage given magical armor and weapons to stop him.
That’s cool.
The Eternia of these first stories, as created by writer Donald F. Glut with fantastic art from Alfredo Alcala, is battle ravaged after a great, seemingly apocalyptic, war, with only scattered bits of magic and technology. Still, there’s a sort of bleak vibrancy to the world and its environments not really seen in future interpretations, and the characters are raw and hard. Man-At-Arms is a technological rival/counterpoint to He-Man’s brutality, Teela a badass blond with a unicorn(!). When they battle the bad guys, Beast Man and Mer-Man are actually capable of laying He-Man out, as they do in The Vengeance of Skeletor. In that same issue, Skeletor tries to kill Mer-Man after their eventual failure by drying his skin out with magic energy.
Mineternia was no fucking joke.
In the second series comics, written by Gary Cohn with Mark Texiera art, things got a little more stable. The palace of Eternia is introduced, along with its guards and the their ruler who, though only named in an Alcala-drawn book & record adaptation of The Power of Point Dread, is indeed King Randor, albeit an older, frailer version (the book also features Zodac’s only Miniternia appearance, as a neutral cosmic enforcer despite being labeled evil on most toy packaging).
New allies and enemies appear, of course, with Ram Man joining the good guys after a bout with He-Man and a betrayal by Skeletor and poor Man-E-Faces (on the cusp of ridiculousness) used in a one-off story as a pawn between good and evil.
The evil warriors fair far more interestingly, with Trap Jaw introduced as a fugitive from another dimension whose defeat requires the combined efforts of He-Man and Skeletor in one of the best stories. Far from a bumbling inventor or generic thug, the Tri-Kops of Mineternia is a bounty hunter with a moral code. Hired by Skeletor to assassinate He-Man, he dispatches Ram Man, Battle Cat, and Teela first, but refuses to kill any of them. Both are folded into Skeletor’s crew after their intros.
I’ll leave it to you to explore the awesomeness of The Magic Stealer and The Tale of Teela for yourself.
Two final notes about this early, serious Eternia. First, the Power Sword. It’s not a prop to change pink vest He-Man into tan He-Man, it’s an all-powerful weapon split in two in the first few stories and hidden to keep it out of Skeletor’s hands. In the second series, Skeletor and He-Man both have a half, and the implied drama of that stalemate in the balance of Eternian power is very cool. Equally cool is the Mineternian Castle Grayskull, which is a dark source of mystery and fear for all involved, not a good guy clubhouse and bird lady sanctuary.
So, where does this leave my Masters of the Universe Classic collection? Square in Mineternia with my fandom. I’ve pared my collection down to only those characters who appear in the Mineternia comics (along with Evil Lyn and Faker who, though they don’t appear in any of the comics, were released with the original Series 2 and fit the same archtype/evil counterpoint mold the rest of the early characters do) and each remaining figure has become exponentially cooler.
The perfect Alcala Skeletor head included with Demo Man certainly doesn’t hurt, either, and may, in fact, have been the catalyst for my decision in the first place.
Speaking of Demo Man, he and Vikor survived the cut, too. But they’re not Demo Man and Vikor anymore. That’s silly new continuity. No, no, my Demo Man and Vikor are now, as they were originally meant to be, Concept Skeletor and Concept He-Man…
…and that perception has made all the difference.
No superhero alter ego. No bee man. No rock dudes. No spinning dwarves. No twin sisters, Star Sisters, or blue SpiderPools. Just demonic magical mayhem, head-bashing barbaians, and the odd laser gun.
That’s my Masters of the Universe.
What’s yours?
-J
I’m right there with you. I started with the toys and Mineternia, and while I loved the show (I’m apparently a bit younger than you), it was always a let-down after the bad-assery of Savage He-Man. There was also a sense of destiny with the Mineternia version (He-Man will eventually be King of Castle Greyskull) that I just never felt with the Filmation version.
I’d really like to see that particular version get some comic book love. I know a lot of fans can’t get past Shazam! He-Man, but I wish they’d try.
i agree with your version though kind of prefer the original line and the filmation cartoon more as what is my true version of motu even if castle greyskull is the home of the sorceress a bird lady. for the 2000 cartoon though nice to try and return motu to its glory never did it for me. plus snout spout and scareglow kind of showed the orignal line running out of steam and ideas
I agree as well. I grew up with the Filmation series of He-Man. I loved it and had all the toys. Right around the time of She-Ra did I grow out of it and move on to Transformers and GI Joe. While I had Mineternia books, at least I think those were the books that came with cassette tapes. I wasn’t aware of the history of He-Man’s destiny to become King of Castle Greyskull.
I liked the Devil’s Due comic of 2003 with the 2002 cartoon, had that stuck around we might have had a more mainstreamed He-Man continuity.
I love the mini-comics from the figures and agree with what has been said about them but some of the more… flamboyant characters… I guess you could call them, I love! More like that is He-Man’s charm as a figure line.
And Skunkor was awesome! I use to use his stench to weird out my cousin!
The sentient Spirit of Grayskull (something else exclusive to Mineternia) foretells He-Man’s destiny at the end of the second mini-comic, aptly named King of Castle Grayskull.
GREAT BLOG! The best one on here I’ve read actually.
I appreciate the original mini comics, and I like some of the stuff that Filmation did. 200X lost me completely. The new universe where they are trying to tie it all together holds the most promise for me. While it may still contain something as ridiculous as Snout Spout, he seems more of a bit player than his original incarnation. But I get what you’re saying, after the first wave, the simple straight forward concept was turned into something else. They changed it from Conan-esque, to Conan and the Care Bears. LOL.
While He-Man was jumping the Shark, She-Ra brought it a much needed second wind. As did the Horde.
But the original concept wasn’t all good either. I much prefer current Teela to the cave lady they initially portrayed. And He-man is better than Vikor, or did I just get used to him after 30 years? Demo Man is fantastic though I give ya that.
Like anything in the 80′s, it’s a mixed bag. They all lost the concept at some point… GI Joe with Cobra La. Transformers with that Beast junk, even Headmasters was leaving me cold, but I still liked the toys.
Rio Blast and Clamp Champ killed it for me.
I don’t recall Teela ever being portrayed as a “cave lady”, unless you’re referring to her bikini look (now known as Battleground Teela) from the first issue of the DC mini-series. If so, that was just a one-off look for that issue, and the Miniternia comics, in which Teela wears her regular attire, predate it, anyway.
Also, I didn’t mean to suggest I now think of Vikor as He-Man. He-Man is still my He-Man, I just enjoy Vikor a lot more now that I consider him Concept He-Man rather than a new, separate character. Ditto Demo Man/Skeletor.
Heh, going so far as to consider Vikor the “real” He-Man and Demo Man the “real” Skeletor with be really luddite.
Beast Wars is the opposite of junk, by the way.
Thanks for the kind words, though.
-J
Awesome article, man! I too have always found the IDEA of Masters of the Universe to be better than the actual reality of its many incarnations. When the toys debuted, they kicked every toy line that came before it square in the nuts. i mean, just look at how fuckin’ METAL the packaging was for Castle Grayskull! It looked like a Frank Frazetta painting meets Black Sabbath album cover or something. As a kid that enjoyed mythology at an early age, I always thought the Masters were basically the “Gods” of whatever they specialized in: Beastman the “god” of animals, Man-at-Arms the “god” of combat, etc. But the Metal went right out the door the day Filmation trotted out Prince Adam with his Dutch-boy haircut and purple panty-hose. And you’re 100% right: after the first few waves, the figures and vehicles dropped right into the Dork Zone. Spikor? Bashasaurus? Lame. The Evil Horde was a cool idea, but the toys never quite lived up to the potential. Now 200X wasn’t bad, but it still lacked the visceral vibe of those first few “original” waves. 200X, I think, was just a little too polished.
Look, all i know is, when I pass my Masters down to my son and we start playing with these things, I’m gonna be sure to “accidentally’ leave Roboto and Mekanek in the crate.
then you’re a douche. let the kid have the toys and make up his or her own damned mind. maybe your limited imagination won’t be passed down.
savage he-man is a great storyline/environment, but it’s far from definitive either, and choosing one incarnation of he-man to favor loses out on what makes he-man the greatest of the big 3… versatility. you may not like ninjor, but i think snake eyes is beyond dumb and permanently ruined gi joe… ninjor didn’t ruin he-man. he-man rocks because it smashes together formerly different archetypes into one chaotic universe. it allows, ne encourages fans to write their own version of the mythos, unlike the banal “here’s the story, now buy the toy” concepts behind transformers and gi joe. gi joe is “army guys,” transformers is “cars that are bots” he-man is a much more complicated idea, as triple j points out by summing up the other big 2 in a single paragraph, while needed a page and half of dialogue to cover the motuverse.
First off: Fuck you.
Now, as to the Masters being a more “complicated idea,” than the Transformers or the Joes, go ahead and tell that to a GI Joe or Trans fan, pal. There are just as many (if not more) incarnations of those lines as there are MOTU. As much as I enjoy JJJ’s opinions, his word isn’t gospel. And I of course was serious when I said I wouldn’t let my kid play with certain characters. I mean, it makes more sense to just let them sit there, not getting played with. Maybe you could stand to use some imagination yourself there, Captain Literal.
See, we were all just enjoying a nice discussion about toys until you started with the name calling.
Dick-bag.
One slight correction: Filmation’s cartoon was NOT the first cartoon based on toys.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2faOHCNFB6o&sns=em
Clarified.
While I admit I was never a fan of He-Man toys, I actually liked the original cartoon.
Specifically because it was such a WTF? kinda show. Where else could you see such an odd amalgam of characters and concepts “battling” in truly ridiculous and outrageous situations?
I like it BECAUSE of the kitsch, not in spite of it.
When it started to lose that in the later iterations, I lost interest in it. He-Man should NEVER be serious. It should never be “realistic”. Once it crossed over into that realm, the point was lost.
For me at least.
While I never have, and most likely never will, own any He-Man toys, I still fondly recall the original cartoon and re-watch the DVDs with my son on odd saturday mornings. Good times for us both.
Thanks for delineating it all for us. But clearly, we don’t see things the same way.
oh, yeah, as a p.s. and all … watch the “F-bombs” my good man. There are kids here now …
I’ve got to say I’m 200x version all the way.Loved the power level of the characters and the fact that the writers killed characters from time to time.Who thought that you would ever see King Hiss EAT someone in a cartoon? Really liked the whole “undead” version of Skeletor,(He was a Lich.) and LOVED the King Greyskull episode.I watch my DVDs of that season all the time, and they’ve held up for me just fine.( Wow.Started and ended with a rhyme.Must be channeling my inner Roadblock.)LOL.
PS Great blog!
(I forgot to add that part)
200x as well. Those were the first He-man figures I ever bought. The stories were better, the fights were lightyears better, and the character designs were INCREDIBLY better. I’m very bummed that the classics line is no longer using 200x heads.
All you’ve gotta do is look at the original Snout-Spout, the 200x Snout-Spout, and the MOTUC Snout-Spout. Which one looks like he could kick the most ass?
I actually prefer the 200X version as well– but to be honest He-Man was never my thing- yeah I knew who all the characters were and watched the cartoon occasionaly– but thats because my brother was into it hard core..
Why does it seem all the kooky characters that everyone hates are always my favorites– Snout Spout, Spikor and Two Bad are my top 3–
Honestly, my MOTU verse has become exclusively based on the toy commercials from the 80s and the original posters. The original cartoon just doesn’t resonate, despite any nostalgia, which can be a powerful tonic. There are other Filmation cartoons I like, but I find the Masters to be poorly conceived and written, with just awful voice acting (Sunbow had great voice acting). But the commercials definitely tickle my nostalgia button, and those four posters capture my imagination, which is why I was so thrilled they went with Obrero for the Wind Raider’s box art. Having MOTUC Fisto displayed next to Clawful reminds me of the commercials, and keeping Teela in her snake headset because it harkens the Grayskull poster, even though I may prefer her pony tail look, are the ways I create this verse on my shelves.
What he said. Miniternia, all the way. I made this decision myself, very recently.
Again, Triple J, nice article. Really got the gears turning thinking about what “could have been” had the cartoon not dictated the course of the toy line. For starters, more Riding Beasts would have been awesome. Anything you’d have liked to have seen had the Masters continued in the Mineternia vein?
The cartoon didn’t drive the line. If you do some reading up on the whole relationship between Mattel and Filmation, you’d know that Filmation was obliged to do everything Mattel wanted and asked for with regard to advertising toys.
I’ll have to see what I can find on that. I’m sure there are some interesting “behind the scenes” stories regarding these toys. Regardless, it’s pretty crazy what a big departure the line took from the original comics to the Filmation cartoon (which I loved as a kid, as well).
I really like your blog here. The early mini comics and box art were my favorite media for the vintage MOTU line. I like the story being told in Mineternia, but there’s no way I could cut the Evil Horde and Snakemen from my collection. They make for some great villains too.
Well-put! I was much more attached to Mineternia – and a couple of the early books and audios – than I ever was to the Filmation cartoon. I watched it obsessively as a kid, but even at the time, I found it frustrating and disappointing.
I’m also glad I’m not the only person who thinks MotU 200X was subpar by the standards of other contemporary animation at the time. The action figures were beautifully-realized, but the show… Everything was the same volume. The creators threw lots of characters at the audience without imbuing them with weight or personality. Every intense fight sequence just blended into the next, becoming a kind of white noise.
I find the bios for the MotU Classics line to be pretty tortured. And yeah, as much as I loved the figures growing up, goofy characters like Snout Spout started to persuade me that it was time to “outgrow” this stuff.
I’m glad that Mattel seems aware of the Mineternia camp, and I’m amused that an Oo-larr figure appears to be somewhat inevitable.
I like it all.
I don’t care for my favorite toy line and fantasy property being called a “mess,” when the fact that it IS so fractured is highly appealing to me. I loved the pre-filmation stuff… I loved Filmation’s MOTU and POP cartoons even more. I loved the toys more than any toys out there… and no, Snout Spout was NOT a disgrace for an 7 year old boy. He’s still not a disgrace for that grown up boy who pays out the hoo-hah for MOTU Classics figures.
He-Man and She-Ra, for many people, are amazing because there is a fantastic, fun-filled, escapist attitude… anything goes. That’s a good thing in my mind.
If MOTU had been like GI JOE and TRANSFORMERS, there would have been 18 barbarians and 18 skeleton/beast people running around… BORING.
This is a topic I’ve referred to a few times on my own blog recently–the way that many MOTUC fans, particularly those who are arguably as much fans of the Four Horsemen as they are MOTU, prefer the more barbaric, early minicomics-based, sword-and-sorcery MOTU to the MOTU that embraces the likes of Rio Blast and Fearless Photog.
It’s part (but not all) of the reason many fans love Draego-Man–a wonderfully designed but, let’s face it, rather traditional-looking fantasy figure–and absolutely loathe Spector.
I used to be a lot like you, actually–preferring the early minicomics and the “sword and sorcery” conception of MOTU to anything else. But I’ve changed my mind over the last few years.
While I do have a greater affinity for the “sword” part of the MOTUniverse’s “sword and planet” style, I still love the “planet” science fiction part. In my upcoming review of Fearless Photog, I ended up being very surprised by how much I liked him. Yeah, he’s incredibly goofy, but he’s also unique and original.
Let’s face it–skull-faced evil sorcerers have been around at least as early as Robert E. Howard’s 1928 short story “Delcardes’ Cat” and liches have been a D&D cliche since the seventies, while the He-Man of the minicomics is a blonde Conan in a harness. Nothing wrong with that–I’m a huge Conan fan myself.
But firemen with cyborg elephant heads? Dudes with cameras for faces? One of the greatest things about MOTU, in my opinion, is its ability to offer so many various types of characters. The fact that a fan like yourself can choose a subset of those characters for his own preferred universe is exactly what’s so great about it.
As for being embarrassed to be associated with the goofier aspects of the franchise, personally I find a certain glee in doing so. It’s camp. No matter how hard you try, you’re never going to be able to take characters named “He-Man” and “Skeletor” as seriously as Aragorn, Conan or Eddard Stark. So I embrace the goofy
I was just going to post something along the lines of your final point: the whole series (of children’s toys) revolves around a dude name He-Man.
It’s fine to cheerfully mock the whole thing, ’cause it’s silly. But strip it down to any central core and it remains silly, just as G.I. Joe A Real American Hero, even at the start, had lasers and backpacks and chrome-faced terrorists.
I too embrace the campy aspect of all my favorite properties. There’s no point in feeling self-conscious about it. We collect children’s playthings.
Pre-Filmation; the first 4 mini comics all the way. Those are what Masters of the Universe was at it’s best! And lets not forget the contribution of the amazing paintings on the early vehicle and playset packages; Wind Raider, Battle Ram, Castle Grayskull, Battle Cat, He-Man with Battle Cat. They put you right in the middle of the epic battles and “told” the savage/sci-fi story in beautiful full color.
[...] their opinions (though they can be a bit sensitive when others do so). JJJason has a post up, “What the Hell Kind of Masters of the Universe Fan Are You?,” where he extols the virtues of the early MOTU minicomics and the “sword and sorcery” [...]
Very interesting article, JJJ! I’m one of those that hasn’t been satisfied with the mish-mash and resort to what I like and forget the rest. It’s mostly nostalgia for me so I’ve avoided anything that doesn’t stir a fond memory or is overly silly. I’ll have to read the few surviving Mineternia comics I have.
One thing though: I don’t think many Transformers fans–including myself–would consider Beast Wars as part of G1 even though it fell into G1 continuity as a story. G1 only refers to the toys and related media as they were released in the 80′s up to G2.
I’m going to sum up my response as concisely as I can… Snout Spout is awesome.
A great read. Thanks a lot.
I’m a big He-Fan, but I never really followed any continuity. As a kid (6 or 7 years old at the time) I religiously tuned into the cartoon if only, like you say, to catch the appearance of a new character. I enjoyed seeing the cartoon version of the the most recent toy I got for my birthday. And that was all. The cartoon was on in the background after school while I made Thunderpunch He-Man soften everyone’s face with that glorious plastic fist. Heh heh – you’d think Fisto would be a prime choice for punching dudes, but the spring loaded waist and shoulder just made it harder to actually connect his fist with any sort of elementary force. In my world, Fisto’s fist would disconnect and launch off his arm whistling long distances with great knuckle-to-face homing powers. But I digress.
Sadly, I never got into the mini-comics. I may have even thrown them away. I didn’t even get into comic books until highschool largely because I’ve never actually liked to read – which, at a young age, I thought was a prerequisite for enjoying the visuals for some reason.
I was at my first job when the news of the 200x cartoon and toyline reached my ears. After so many other franchises were getting reborn, I finally had something to look forward to. I recorded the Mike Young cartoons off Cartoon Network on VHS (still) as I now had a job/life that didn’t allow for after school fun-time. I thought some of those figures were amazing recreations of some of my favorite characters and I hunted them all down in the stores. Have you SEEN Beatman’s arm span?! As an artist, I loved some of the design decisions. He-Man is largely a visual thing for me. A surfacey freakshow of colorful characters. I watched the new cartoon, but I was never really vested in their storylines or how things fit together.
At some point there were some new comic books being produced that shed some light on the villains in particular. I thought the back story of Trapjaw was great. Defying Skeletor who took his jaw and arm from him – leaving Triclops to rebuild him. And when they released “Keldor” as a ComiCon exclusive, it practically soldified Skeletor’s story whether you agreed with it or not.
That was about as much story as I ever really paid attention to.
Then then new “classics” were released and I was ecstatic. Again I would have the opportunity to repurchase my favorite characters from my youth. Colors and goofiness intact. In fact, just last week, a female friend at work recently realized something about my collection: “These He-Man characters have the stupidest names…King Hsss? Buzz Off? Faker?” At which point I showed her a hand scribbled reminder and replied with controlled excitement, “Yeah, today they’re releasing Fisto!”
Yeah. While I completely embrace a lot of the goofiness in the series, and while He-Man represents such a big part of my youth, you’re right – it’s getting harder to defend the older I get – Ha ha
Thanks for letting me share. It sounds like I gotta track down Mineternia now
Thank you very much, indeed, for sharing.
-J
YES!! Miniternia. I stopped watching that FAILmation cartoon after a week when it originally aired. Most Miniternia fans are older.
I would have preferred not having to read the first 1/3 of this article dealing with GI Joe and Transformers. And you didn’t even mention the UK or other international comics and publications. I would have also preferred you list the various sources in order of creation, ending with the new filecards. Interesting attempt, but a failed post IMO.
LOL, your refund is in the mail.
-J
I do not understand how anyone ranks the blip that was the whole pre-Filmation stuff as #1. You are totally selectively remembering your childhood. Filmation defined He-Man and without it He-Man wouldn’t have exploded in to a huge, profitable franchise like it did. We wouldn’t even be talking about him today if it wasn’t for Filmation.
Some fans were collecting MOTU before Filmation’s cartoon. He-Man was already defined before the secret identies, saturday morning cartoon sidekicks, sitcom-like supporting cast, goofy villains and morals lightened his darker, Thundarr-esque world up and re-defined him. MOTU was already a successful toyline before Lou Schiemer’s cartoon hit and made MOTU even more popular than it was.
I dunno, I have to side with Brandon… I’m 32 and everyone I knew growing up, we wouldn’t have known He-Man existed without the Filmation Cartoon. While I too watched Thundarr the Barbarian and the rest of the Hanna-Barbara stuff without the videos and DVD releases of the Filmation Series I’m sure most of the comments on this thread wouldn’t exist. Not that anyone is wrong per say but Filmation should have more credit!
Actually I’m 34, I can’t type -adurkader-
I agree that MOTU was around before Filmation, but not to me when I was a kid, I never knew of He-Man before Episode 1 of MOTU, and I was 6 at the time. And I was never a comic book reader or anything like that, all I knew of and cared about of toys and the like was from TV, not other media. So to me Filmation was and is the only He-Man storyline relating to the toys both vintage & Classics, which is why I collect mostly vintage based figures, because not that the other figures aren’t great, but I have no attachments to them, other than that they would look decent on my shelf. Don’t get me wrong, I do have a few more than vintage Classics, and I intend on collecting all that I like from the like, but my love is predominantly for the Filmation & Vintage figures.
We’ll never know what kind of success a more Mineternian approach -even one, resembling the Golden Books- might have yielded, because, in spite of Scheimer and Filmation’s desire to push the envelope, ..Reagan Era, kiddie matinee TV wasn’t ready for it. What we enjoy as the classic cartoon is leftovers Filmation was allowed to get away with, and not this ‘new n’improved’ masterpiece some fans want to make it. What the cartoon has failed to do is carve out a place for Masters in the larger, heroic fantasy genre of literature and film, which, I think, requires a more Mineternian POV -He-Man as Beowulfish champion of man, instead of superhero protector of Grayskull. MOTUC is proof this is already happening.
As far as MOTU goes, I like 200X and Pre-Filmation Era the best. I like my MOTU action-packed, epic, serious and with continuity. I like the Classics bios because they added and legitimized Pre-Filmation stories and characters to go along with the now standard Filmation and 200X Prince Adam storyline. While 200X always was basically the Filmation canon with more backstory, Pre-Filmation couldn’t have worked until Toyguru’s bios made those mini-comic stories canon.
After all of these years, Pre-Filmation fans now have the actual figures of the Pre-Filmation characters that they have always wanted:
• Mini-comic colored Mer-Man
• Alcala Skeletor head
• Blonde Bikini Teela (or put her head on the normal Teela’s body for another Pre-Filmation look)
If Oo-Larr turns out to be the barbarian who becomes He-Man from He-Man and the Power Sword, hopefully he will come with an Alfredo Alcala He-Man head!
Amen on that last bit.
-J
This has a few good points. One is this should be an adult line. The line should be updated — meaning the figures should not just look like they did 30 years ago — considering those toys and colors were for children. Be brave Mattel, Inc. make figures. not toys, for adult collectors.
Two, The bios are a marketing gig, but do not let them interfere with the line to the point this becomes a big soap opera, fanlore gone awry with gossip and conspiracies. Sometimes, simple is better.
My opinion! Now, do not tase realmers.
I’ve always preferred the Mineternia stories. They were my first introduction to the MOTU mythos.
As a child, I was turned off of the Filmation cartoons because they were so tame and different from the minicomics. I especially never cared for the Prince Adam transformation.Mineternia is like Conan meets The Road Warrior, and will always be my favorite.
I don’t hate the other versions. Filmation’s cartoons have grown on my, and I very much enjoyed MYP’s 2 seasons (especially the Snake Men). I’ve been a huge Transformers geek for years and have learned to love their various incarnations. It’s not hard to do the same for MOTU.
I’m a very casual fan of MOTU, but this article is really insightful and interesting. Like you, I’ve always enjoyed the gritty-ness of those original mini-comics and figured things were so disjointed because they were just making things up as they went along. Eventually, the cartoon become the “voice” of MOTU.
Now I feel the need to buy “concept” He-man and Skeletor.
Great article.
Make Mineternia as well. The name “Masters of the Universe” and its original logo inbodied an epic sword and sorcery story of Howardian proportions. The Glut/Alcala mini comics invoked a world similar to that of Conan, with its visceral approach to storytelling. The animated series basically castrated Mineternia and made it more “parent friendly” to watch. It’s a classic to those who grew up with it on its own terms, but it killed my interest in the toy line as a kid after becoming enthused with the badassness of Glut and Alcala’s concept of what the franchise could have become.
Tanvir Stephens (aka T. F. Cooper) wrote some amazing short story adaptations of the original minicomcs, and I had the immense pleasure to edit a few of them, before finally co-writing ‘Morte D’Adam’ with him, a few years ago. Haven’t heard from Tanvir for awhile, but, the stories are still drifting the Web, here… http://mineternia.tripod.com/ff_ByTFCooper.htm