History WesternAnimation / HeManAndTheMastersOfTheUniverse

[[redirect:HeManAndTheMastersOfTheUniverse]]

This can refer to:
* [[WesternAnimation/HeManAndTheMastersOfTheUniverse1983 The 1980's series]]
* [[WesternAnimation/HeManAndTheMastersOfTheUniverse2002 The 2002 series]]

You may also be looking for ''Franchise/MastersOfTheUniverse'', [[Film/MastersOfTheUniverse the film adaptation]] or ''WesternAnimation/TheNewAdventuresOfHeMan''

If you see a wick referring here, please rewick accordingly.

[[redirect:Franchise/MastersOfTheUniverse]]

[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/heman1280x1024.jpg]]

->''"I am Adam, Prince of Eternia, and defender of the secrets of Castle Grayskull. This is Cringer, my 'fearless' friend. [[HaveAGayOldTime Fabulous]] secret powers were revealed to me, the day I [[StabTheSky held aloft my magic sword]] and said, 'ByThePowerOfGrayskull!' '''I have the power!'''''"
-->--From the original series' OpeningNarration

This AnimatedSeries changed the face of children's television when it debuted in 1983. Creator/{{Filmation}} produced the show for daily syndication in conjunction with a pre-existing line of Creator/{{Mattel}} toys and action figures. Its huge success led to dozens of others MerchandiseDriven cartoons in the [[TheEighties 1980s]]. It is now being rerun late at night on the [[{{qubo}} Qubo Channel]] and on RTV on Saturday mornings.

Existing in a world that has both futuristic elements alongside sword, legend and lore, the series focuses on Adam, the crown prince of Eternia, who as described in the opening monologue, has the ability to transform into his super-strong barbarian ''alter ego'', He-Man. This TransformationSequence also turned Adam's cowardly [[TalkingAnimal talking pet]] Cringer into the brave and fearsome Battle Cat.

His primary foe was the evil Skeletor, a warlord who was [[MagicKnight equal parts wizard and warrior]]. With the help of a motley crew of heroes, including wise veteran Man-At-Arms, LadyOfWar Teela, and the bumbling comic relief sorcerer Orko, He-Man battles the forces of Skeletor and other evil enemies.

The title, ''Masters of the Universe'', referred to a mystical power hidden under Castle Greyskull. Chosen by the Sorceress of Greyskull to be its guardian, He-Man's strength came from there, channeled through his sword. Skeletor possessed a companion sword which, when combined with He-Man's, would open the secrets of Greyskull.

An amusing bit of apocrypha states that the franchise was originally intended to be based on the film ''Film/ConanTheBarbarian'', but a new plotline and characters were written when marketers realized the folly of basing children's merchandise on a very violent film that most children had not seen.[[note]]However, the ''Conan'' film got its own toyline from Remco.[[/note]] Of note is that Creator/PaulDini was a member of the writing staff (as was Creator/JMichaelStraczynski), and Creator/BruceTimm did layouts; both would later go on to be main figures in ''WesternAnimation/TinyToonAdventures'' and ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries''. (Also of note: Haim Saban and Shuki Levy were involved in the original production of the show as well, also going on to make [[Franchise/PowerRangers a surprisingly long-lived children's franchise]]). The franchise became so well known that the stockbroker protagonist of Tom Wolfe's novel ''Literature/TheBonfireOfTheVanities'' identified himself as "a master of the universe" (the character's daughter owned some of the figures) because of the power he held.

The show left syndication and was shown on the Creator/USANetwork, which back then was known for being the "used car" network for rerun lots of rerun shows.

A [[LiveActionAdaptation live action film]] was made in 1987, called ''Film/MastersOfTheUniverse'', featuring DolphLundgren as He-Man.

An ill-fated {{Revival}}[=/=]{{Retool}}, ''The New Adventures of He-Man'', premiered in 1990 but lasted only a year. Depending on whom you ask, it failed either because it was RecycledINSPACE or TheyChangedItNowItSucks.

A 2002 ContinuityReboot, first aired on Creator/CartoonNetwork's Creator/{{Toonami}}, was much closer to the original series while being modernized and more consistently written. Unfortunately, the new series failed after one and a half seasons due to [[ScrewedByTheNetwork a lack of promotion]] and poor toy distribution.

Another reboot came along in 2008 in the form of Masters Of The Universe Classics. Primarily a toy line aimed at making modern updates to the vintage toys, there IS a story running through the series, dished out in the character bios, although no major media tie-in has been produced. Despite starting with the goal of updating the original toys, when the She-Ra cast was introduced Mattel stuck to the original animation model sheets instead of the toys, which were vastly different. A few elements from the 2002 series were included, such as the new Count Marzo design, possibly due to the fact it took Mattel several years to negotiate full Filmation rights. The line also includes updates of toys from the New Adventures series.

''[[WesternAnimation/SheRaPrincessOfPower She-Ra: Princess of Power]]'' was a spinoff, although it wasn't quite as successful.

The franchise still has loyal followers, who have created the comprehensive fan site [[http://he-man.org He-Man.org]].

There's a [[Characters/HeManAndTheMastersOfTheUniverse character sheet]] in construction.

----
!!''He-Man and the Masters of the Universe'' provides examples of:

* ActionGirl: Teela -- all incarnations. Both the '80s series and the 2002 revival shows Teela as being better in combat than Adam as well as being a reliable ally for the entire team. This is complicated by the fact that Adam makes a point of [[ObfuscatingStupidity pretending to be a goof-off to protect his secret]], but it doesn't change the fact she's one of the best warriors in the King's service.
** Evil-Lyn, especially in the 2002 series.
** Even the Queen of Eternia, Marlena, gets a moment to flex her abilities. In the '80s series, she's revealed to have been one of Earth's best fighter pilots when she leads a squadron against Skeletor to rescue her kidnapped family. In the 2002 series, she gets to reveal her swordsmanship.
* ActionSeries
* AdaptationExplanationExtrication: ''The New Adventures of He-Man'' was launched with four pack-in minicomics explaining the setup changes, including the change in appearance of He-Man and Skeletor, and the change of He-Man's "ByThePowerOfGrayskull" to "By the Power of Eternia". In the TV series, they appear from the beginning in their hi-tech costumes, and He-Man with his new transformation phrase, with no explanation for the changes. Some things in the comics were ignored by the cartoon, however, such as Skeletor finding out Prince Adam was He-Man moments before the He-Man identity became ''permanent'', as well as the redesign of the sword to match the recently released toy, as the new Sword of Power in the cartoon looked nothing like the new merchandise. He-Man's secret identity also remained secret in the cartoon, and no explanation is given in the show for Skeletor becoming an apparently cybernetic being, though this was addressed in the comics. Perhaps the writers were expecting people to assume a tie to [[TheMovie the 1987 feature film]] to explain Skeletor's cybernetic augmentation if they hadn't gotten ahold of the minicomics. If so, it didn't work.
* AerithAndBob: The ''Classics'' toyline gives each of the characters a real name. Names like '''Nikolas Powers''' and '''Marlena Glenn''' coexist with names like '''Uqquz Zekul Mshqx''' and '''Tzzzzt zzz zzTTTzz''', and even with names pronounced through eye blinks or claw clicks.
* AliensSpeakingEnglish: The trope isn't thought about much as Queen Marlena is the only Earthling living in Eternia and one could [[WildMassGuessing assume]] TranslationConvention was in play and Marlena simply learned "Eternian" but the few stories showing Eternians interacting with other Earthlings show they actually speak English.
* AllGirlsWantBadBoys: Evil-Lyn and Keldor seemed to have a relationship going [[spoiler:before Keldor became Skeletor]].
* AllPlanetsAreEarthlike: Eternia, of course.
* AllTheOtherReindeer: Ancient Snakemen think lowly of their modern descendants, except for King Hss, he loves all his children.
* AllThereInTheManual: In the original series, Evil-Lyn was an astronaut from Earth named Evelyn. This is only mentioned in the series' bible.
* AloofBigBrother: In the 2002 series, Fisto to Man-At-Arms.
* AlwaysNeedWhatYouGaveUp: "The Problem with Power."
* AmusingAlien: Orko.
* AndKnowingIsHalfTheBattle: Every episode of both versions has a PublicServiceAnnouncement at the end to emphasize its Aesop. Interestingly, in the case of the '02 series, the "morals" were shown only in some international releases and didn't air in America.
* AnAesop: Every episode of every version had one at the end - the '02 series softened the blow by always making it the exact lesson the episode as a whole was meant to teach you, rather than clumsily segueing into "yo, kids -- don't smoke." The earlier show had a bad habit of being hard on its aesops - see BrokenAesop below.
* AnimatedSeries
* ArchEnemy: Skeletor.
* ArmCannon: Many characters (such as Man-At-Arms, Teela and Stratos) use wrist-mounted lasers in the Filmation series. Man-At-Arms wields a cannon on his forearm sometimes in the reboot.
** Hordak's shapeshifting abilities could turn his arm into a cannon, and one of Trap Jaw's arm-weapons is a cannon.
* AnAssKickingChristmas: The Christmas special.
* AscendedFanboy: Odiphus is shown to desperately want to be fighting for the bad guys, which he ultimately does as Stinkor.
* {{Autocannibalism}}: In the last episode of the 2002 reboot, Zodak mystically hypnotizes four of King Hiss' heads into eating the fifth, and main, one (had the show gone on for another season he would have regenerated it).
* BadassMustache: Man-At-Arms sports one.
* BadassNormal: Duncan.
* BadBoss: In the 2002 series, at least, Skeletor is a ''terrible'' boss who constantly punishes and berates his minions while undermining any legitimate accomplishments they may make. The only reason they put up with this treatment is because they know he'd do much, ''much'' worse if they talked back.
** Later with his Council of Evil, he makes this striking threat to the giants over asking a simple question:
--->"You are aware that I sacrificed my evil warriors without a second thought? And them I liked."
** Hordak in the '02 series. He vaporizes one of his warriors - not for questioning him, but for delivering bad news beyond his control that he didn't want to hear.
* BalanceBetweenGoodAndEvil: While the original toy package labeled him a villain (because every toy had to be classified as one or the other, no exceptions), in the Filmation series, Zodak was portrayed as more of a cosmic agent of balance, favoring the good guys, as they seem more likely to cooperate with his goals. The 2002 reboot has him as an angrier, more selfish character.
* BeastMan: Not the TropeNamer, but don't tell him that: it would hurt his feelings!
* BeautyEqualsGoodness: Averted in the original show, but played straight in ''The New Adventures of He-Man''. Nearly all of He-Man's Galactic Guardians are normal humans using technological equipment in lieu of actual powers. Meanwhile, Flogg and Skeletor's Mutants are all, well, mutants, each possessing a variety of deformities and superhuman abilities (only aversion among the Mutants is ToylessToylineCharacter Crita).
* BerserkButton: Cringer almost always lives up to his name, but can be the opposite if Adam is in great danger. For example, in the 2002 series, Cringer attacks a Snake Man for trying to eat Adam.
* BifurcatedWeapon: Skeletor's sword in the 2002 reboot.
* BigGood: The Sorceress.
* BigBad: Skeletor for the most part. No matter how competent, powerful or arrogant they were shown to be prior, few villains ever successfully challenged Skeletor. Many even served him, despite their goals being incompatible.
** When the toyline added Hordak and King Hiss, it became a BigBadEnsemble, with Skeletor and King Hiss as a BigBadDuumvirate for one side, and Hordak for other side.
* BiggerBad: Horde Prime for the entire He-Man/She-Ra universe.
** The 2002 reboot set up Hordak as, but we never got far enough to find out if Horde Prime would exist there or not.
* {{Bishonen}}: Poor, poor Keldor.
* BlessedWithSuck: The Sorceress in the Filmation series. Think about it. Blessed with the ability to discern almost all the things happening on Eternia, having extremely powerful magic at her command... and yet, she was unable to leave the Castle without being reduced to flying around as a bird with very low-level telepathy. One imagines the limitations got quite frustrating. The very few times she ''was'' able to overcome these limitations were explicitly stated to be special circumstances.
** This trend was continued in the 2002 reboot.
** Also in the 2002 reboot, the TheFaceless One is implied to be a powerful practitioner of magic, but can't leave the Temple of the Ram Stone.
* BlowYouAway: Sy-Klone.
* BodyHorror: In the 2002 reboot's "Second Skin," King Hiss uses an ancient artifact to turn people into Snakemen - including Man-At-Arms, Teela and Mekaneck.
* BolivianArmyCliffhanger: Season 1 of the 2002 reboot ends with [[spoiler: Skeletor capturing all of the heroic Masters, leaving only Prince Adam (sans Power Sword) to defend Castle Grayskull against Skeletor, all his minions, and nearly every villain from the whole season.]]
* BrokenAesop: All ''over'' the place.
** Pretty much the whole episode "The Courage of Adam" from 2002 series. It implies that Adam is useless and really needs his ''alter ego'' form to be of any use. It also contradicts many subsequent lessons, about [[BeYourself being yourself]]. Adam is never allowed to develop his own, more realistic character. What we see instead is an instant of little-effort, power-gain Transformation.
** The original series was the real king of the BrokenAesop, sometimes making and breaking an Aesop over the span of one or two scenes, or having the AndKnowingIsHalfTheBattle scene clash with the episode -- or even the ''series premise''.
** For example, that episode that ends with an anti-violence message... after one more episode of an action show.
*** Three fights in that one. He-Man ''vs''. Demon, He-Man ''vs''. Wizard, Dragon ''vs''. Dragon.
* BurningWithAnger: Skeletor.
* ByThePowerOfGrayskull: The TropeNamer. In ''The New Adventures of He-Man'', he would actually say "By the Power of ''Eternia''", though.
* CanonImmigrant: Orko, The Sorceress, and Evil Seed were originally created just for the Filmation cartoon. They all have since been adopted into the ''He-Man'' canon -- though in Evilseed's case, a toy has yet to be made.
** The Sorceress ''was'' in the original comics and all. She was just known by a different name: "The Goddess". The particular ''look'' of the Sorceress, nevertheless, puts her closer to this trope. "The Goddess" in the mini-comics looked like Teela in her snake armor form. The bird-woman look was from the cartoon, and, like Orko, was incorporated into the toyline and comics later.
** Depending on your point of view, the Snake Men and Stinkor may count as well. Absent from the original cartoon (because the show had ended when the Snake Men's toys came out and Stinkor was judged "waaaaay too stupid to use"), they became fairly large parts of the 2002 series. Fellow original toyline characters not featured in the original cartoon Rio-Blast, Clamp Champ, and Snout Spout were integrated into the 2002 canon in its comic and statue lines.
** Mo-Larr, Eternian Dentist, oddly enough- he went from being a character in a Robot Chicken sketch to sort of part of official canon with the release the Mo-Larr/Skeletor 2-pack in the current Classics toy line.
* CantCatchUp: The rest of the team when compared to He-Man's borderline God Mode at times, though the show still does a good job of keeping He-Man out of the picture enough to get to know the other characters. The newer series' "The Monster Within" episode tried to show He-Man as being just as vulnerable as the other Masters under the right circumstances; Man-E-Faces got in trouble and He-Man had to save him, but mere minutes later the roles were reversed.
* CardCarryingVillain: Skeletor has a SkullForAHead, keeps trying to TakeOverTheWorld, and ''[[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast is named Skeletor]]''.
* CatchPhrase:
** "By the power of Grayskull!"
** "I have the power!"
** "Not so fast, Skeletor!"
** "Curse you, He-Man!"
** "ORKOOOOOOOOOOO!"
* CavalryBetrayal
* CharacterNameAndTheNounPhrase
* ChristmasEpisode: Yes, there was one, and it had a TrappedInAnotherWorld plot featuring a pair of young urchins from Earth. The children actually explain what Christmas is to Orko but that part gets the fade-off. [[http://thatguywiththeglasses.com/videolinks/thatguywiththeglasses/nostalgia-critic/14482-hmsrch The Nostalgia Critic]] gave it a look, and it's as cheesy as you would expect.
** Justified with ItWasHisSled. It was probably assumed that this was commonly known information that would just bore the audience.
* ClarkKenting: Nobody (other than the Sorceress, Man-At-Arms and Orko) spots that Prince Adam is He-Man, even though they have the same build and girly haircut and as Ram Man once pointed out, Prince Adam and He-Man are never seen together.
** To be fair, He-Man also has tanned skin, which may help the disguise some. Even so...
** Averted in the 2002 reboot by depicting Adam as looking more like He-Man's younger brother. He was half He-Man's size and probably gained at least a foot and a half in height and at least a hundred and fifty pounds of additional muscle after he transforms into He-Man.
*** Filmation actually wanted to do this from the start, but a limited budget and heavy use of stock footage forced them to give Adam and He-Man the same character design, so it would be easier to re-trace and re-use the animation. Then again, virtually ''every'' male character in the original cartoon has the same build (just like [[MerchandiseDriven the toys]]), so Adam and He-Man's similar physiques wouldn't have proved much.
* CloningBlues: Skeletor once created an army of clones who were like him except they're smaller. Realizing each clone must be just as greedy as the original, He-Man turned the tables on Skeletor by asking the clones what they'd get from helping Skeletor becoming the ruler of Eternia. As each clone wanted to rule Eternia as much as the original Skeletor wants, they fought among themselves.
* ConvectionSchmonvection: In the 2002 series, characters routinely stand near lava or dangle over it without suffering any ill effect.
* CoolSword
* CoveredInMud: He-Man frequently threw his opponents into conveniently-placed mudholes or bodies of water. A soft landing, to be sure, but not very dignified. Sister superhero SheRa did it too.
* CowardlySidekick: Cringer.
* {{Crossover}}: With {{Superman}}, twice in fact (though this was the comics version of He-Man). The first featured the origin of Superman's weakness to magic.
* CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass: Orko is consistently the comedic relief, but there are times when he demonstrates skill and intelligence to help his friends.
** One of the best examples may be in the 2002 series, where Orko interrogates a captured Snake Man. Orko gets the needed information by whipping out a mongoose (a predator of snakes), making it grow and letting it attack the Snake Man's cell.
** In the Filmation series, Orko was from an alternate dimension where the rules of magic worked differently. On his home world of Trolla, he was his people's greatest wizard, but on Eternia, he had to re-learn even the most basic spells, or else have them blow up in his face. When Orko was able to make his way back to his own dimension, he utterly dominated Skeletor in a magical duel, leaving his friends in complete awe. It should also be mentioned that Orko saved He-Man's life when they first met, and showed great magical skill in the rescue (until he lost the medallion that allowed him to perform magic competently in Eternia).
** In the Classics canon, Orko casts a spell that [[spoiler:''dissolves the entire Snake Man race.'']]
* CrushingHandshake: In the revival cartoon, there is an episode where Man at Arms shakes hands with his brother. When they shake, the brother's mechanical hand can be heard clanking, implying he's applying more pressure than he needs to. Man at Arms doesn't scream, however.
* CyberCyclops: [=Tri-Clops=], oddly enough.
* DaddysGirl: Evil-Lyn.
* DarkActionGirl: Evil-Lyn, especially in the 2002 version.
* DarkerAndEdgier: The 2002 reboot.
** Also, the 2013 DC comis. The fans were not amused, to say the least.
* DarkestHour: "The Price of Power" sees Skeletor arrange one of these for He-Man when he thinks he killed an innocent. He crosses the DespairEventHorizon and [[TenMinuteRetirement gives up]] being He-Man completely, a misery that is further compounded when Prince Adam learns that Teela will have to go on a suicide mission to stop Skeletor because He-Man is no longer available.
* DemotedToExtra: In the second season of the 2002 series, Skeletor and his minions appeared less frequently and had less impact on plots to make room for King Hiss and the Snake Men (Season 2 being half as long as Season 1 likely didn't help, either). Reportedly, this would've been rectified in a third season.
* DespairEventHorizon: "The Price of Power" where He-Man makes the decision to give up being He-Man and throw his sword into the bottomless abyss of Greyskull because he thinks he's killed an innocent while fighting Skeletor, resulting in the forces of good being left to fight a battle they can't win except through a suicide mission by one soldier (Teela).
* DistaffCounterpart: She-Ra.
* DistractedByTheSexy: This happens to Keldor when he first meets Evil-Lyn.
* [[DoABarrelRoll Do An Immelmann Turn]]: Queen Marleena gets to show off her Top Gun skills in "The Rainbow Warrior".
* DoesNotLikeShoes: The 2002 series makes quite a few characters barefoot.
** Taken to an extreme with the Snake-Men. Not only did the majority have freakish two-toed feet, but only their king wasn't barefoot... and he wore ''sandals''.
* DropTheHammer: Tytus, a giant twice He-Man's size, wields a similarly gigantic hammer. Hammers were also the preferred weapons of three giants who appeared in the 2002 show.
* DubNameChange: When the Filmation series arrived in Brazil, several characters had their name changed. Skeletor became "Esqueleto" (Brazilian Portuguese for "Skeleton"); Evil-Lyn became "Maligna"; Beast-Man's name was translated; Trap-Jaw became "Mandíbula"; Man-At-Arms became "Mentor" (the name "Duncan" was occasionally used as well); Man-E-Faces became "Multi-faces"; Ram-Man became "Aríete"; Orko became "Gorpo".
** Orko's name change deserves special mention during his ForgottenBirthday episode. He got a cake with his name written and the Brazilian dub had Prince Adam comment that "Gorpo"'s name was misspelled.
** Surprisingly enough, the 2002 series dub decided to have those characters keep their original names.
* DumbMuscle: Both versions of Ram Man, the original Tri-Klops, 2002 Clawful, Baddrha, and to a lesser degree Grizzlor, Beast Man, Trap-Jaw, Whiplash, and Spikor. Clawful is probably the single most emblematic example -- the show's writers mention in DVD commentary that they once drew up a hierarchy of intelligence among the evil Masters, and Clawful was dead last. It's eventually revealed that he's more or less illiterate in his own native language; Evil-Lyn had to translate a message sent by his cousin for him. However, when it comes to physical might, he knows few true equals, and he can outmuscle even He-Man.
** ''The New Adventures of He-Man'' also gives us Butthead and Staghorn.
* EarlyBirdCameo: For the 2002 series, in "Snake Pit" and "Separation" respectively, King Hiss and Hordak make brief, shadowy cameos. Their roles are expanded (particularly the former) in Season 2.
* EldritchAbomination: One-shot guest-villain Sh'Gora is a surprisingly hard-core example.
* EmergencyTransformation: [[spoiler:Keldor to Skeletor, courtesy of Hordak]].
* EnemyMine: Stratos and Trap-Jaw have to work together to survive! It doesn't go well.
** Teela and Evil-Lyn, in contrast, are able to successfully work together when stranded in the desert by a common enemy in "The Witch and the Warrior". To the point that both express genuine regret that they're on opposite sides (it doesn't last, but it does lead to an almost friendly goodbye by Evil-Lyn... by Eternian villain standards, anyway).
** He-Man and the Sorceress needed Skeletor's help to defeat Evilseed.
* EpisodeTitleCard
* [[EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas Even Bad Women Love Their Daddies]]: Evil-Lyn in the 2002 series returns her father's sacred magical artifact the Ramstone to him after Skeletor tries to destroy He-Man with it.
* Equal Opportunity Evil:Both subverted and played straight. Mostly subverted, as He-man's team consists of Lizardman, Stratos, Buzz-Off, and at least one cyborg, but also sort of played straight when seeing how DIVERSE Skeletor's minions really are.
* EvenEvilHasStandards: Evil-Lyn is willing to help Skeletor in his attempt for world domination, but she will not betray her father and returns his magical Ramstone back to him when Skeletor loses it.
** Also, Evil-Lyn wouldn't betray Skeletor to the Snake Men until one of them revealed to her Skeletor had set her (and his other allies) up to be captured so the heroes would be lured into a false sense of security. Even then, she demanded the one telling her to prove it.
* EverybodyDoTheEndlessLoop: Constantly in the Filmation series, making the animation seem extremely robotic most of the time. Worst of all in the first season, where the budget was limited even by Filmation's standards.
* EverybodyLaughsEnding: Just about every episode ended with Orko screwing up a magic spell and making someone (usually Man-At-Arms) angry, while everybody else laughs.
* EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep: The Sorceress.
* EvilCannotComprehendGood: In an episode where He-Man and Skeletor are forced into an EnemyMine situation in order to save Eternia, Skeletor tries in vain to comprehend doing something good for a change. He asks He-Man, "Don't you ever feel like doing something evil?" He-Man answers, "Don't you ever feel like doing something good?"
** Another example would be Skeletor trying to understand what Christmas is in the Christmas Special, and then coming down with the Christmas spirit.
-->"But I don't like to feel good! I like to feel ''evil''!"s!
* EvilCounterpart: This series practically personifies this trope. Here are a few examples.
** Evil-Lyn to Teela.
** Skeletor to King Randor.
** Clawful to Ram-Man.
** Trap-Jaw to Man-At-Arms.
** Tri-Klops to Man-E-Faces.
** Panthor to Battle Cat.
** Evilseed to Moss Man.
** Webstor to Buzz-Off.
** Count Marzo to Orko.
** Hordak to The Sorceress.
* EvilLaugh: Skeletor. In one episode of ''The New Adventures of He-Man'', Skeletor mocks Flogg's halfhearted chuckle and insists he leave these things to the professionals.
** Ladies and gentlemen, I present you with [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HAUzVJPM2g Hi~hi~hihihihihihihi!!]]
* EvilSorcerer: Skeletor, Evil-Lyn and several others.
* EvilSoundsDeep: Averted with Skeletor, whose voice is infamously shrill and grating. Played straight with Beast Man, Tri-Clops, and Trapjaw in the original series.
** Played straight with Skeletor in the [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IX14ZUBDWoM Italian adaptation]] of the 2002 version, where he receives a deep, raspy voice.
* EvilTwin: Skeletor created one (conveniently named "Faker") to He-Man.
** With help from a magic mirror, Skeletor created an evil twin from one of He-Man's allies. The mirror was eventually destroyed by Skeletor's good duplicate.
* EvilUncle: If the comics are to be believed, [[spoiler: Skeletor himself.]]
** WordOfGod indicates that in the 2002 reboot [[spoiler: Keldor/Skeletor]] is actually King Randor's half-brother. Um... on ''which'' side of the family are Randor and Adam related to King Greyskull again? Funnily enough, [[spoiler:Skeletor doesn't even know Adam's name (he thinks it's "Alan"), probably due to being exiled before he was born.]]
* EvilVersusEvil: Each group of villains will fight each other as well as the Masters. Sometimes, the villains within a group will turn on each other.
** Had the 2002 series continued the plot would have eventually involved Hordak returning to Eternia and most of the fighting would be between the Horde and Skeletor's Evil Warriors.
* FailOSuckyname: One of the Skeletor-allied mutants from ''The New Adventures of He-Man'' was a helmeted, headbutt-happy mauler called... "''Butthead''". Come on, ''really''? The cartoon mercifully refers to him solely as "BH", but that's still probably the single worst name they could have possibly come up with.
* The fair Folk: Gars seem to qualify.
* {{Fanfare}}
* FantasticRacism: Granamyr the dragon doesn't think much of humans, though he does respect He-Man in a YouAreACreditToYourRace sort of way. The Gar people, the blue-skinned people with PointyEars that include Keldor and Sy-Klone, were also discriminated against because of their [[WitchSpecies innate magic]].
* FantasyCounterpartCulture: Anwat Gar is/was feudal Japan.
** Although its name seems inspired by Angkor Wat in Cambodia.
* FanVid: He-Man is the subject of many a GagDub on Website/YouTube; ''[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61E2eI4QqH4 The Skeletor Show]]'' is probably the funniest and most popular. In Chilean television, the humor show "Canal Copano" featured a pretty funny parody as well.
** The many He-Man-themed segments on ''WesternAnimation/RobotChicken'' could probably count, too. [[AscendedMeme Mo-Larr, Eternian Dentist, is even getting his own action figure in the MOtU Classics line.]]
** [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FR7wOGyAzpw This video]] includes an... [[CampGay ''interesting'']] take on 4 Non Blondes' "What's Up", as well as the opening narration:
-->"Hi there! I'm Adam, Prince of Eternia, and this is my kitty Mr. Cringerpants -- the ''most cutest kitty in the universe''. Fabulous secret powers were revealed to me when I held a-loft my magic sword... and ''sang''."
* FishPeople: Mer-Man and the other Aquaticans. Mer-Man has an unfortunate speech impediment when speaking on dry land that undercuts his menace quite a bit.
* FiveBadBand
** TheBigBad: Skeletor.
** TheDragon: Trapjaw and/or Beast Man.
** EvilGenius: Tri-Klops, in the 2002 series. Modulok in the Filmation series, before he joined the Evil Horde instead. Sometimes Skeletor himself played this role.
** TheBrute: Clawful.
** DarkChick: Evil-Lyn.
** SixthRanger: Anyone else who accompanied them at the time.
* FiveManBand: Not always a very straight example of this, though you could fit various characters into the token roles:
** TheHero: Prince Adam/He-Man.
** TheLancer: Man-At-Arms, who also doubles as TheSmartGuy. Teela occasionally takes on this role as well. In the 2002 series, Stratos and later Buzz-Off would occasionally play this role.
** TheSmartGuy: Man-At-Arms.
** TheBigGuy: Ram-Man, despite being the shortest character except Orko in the Filmation series.
** TheChick: Teela, when not being TheLancer.
** TagalongKid: Orko usually plays this role, especially in the 2002 series, [[CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass but not always.]]
** TeamPet: Cringer/Battle-Cat.
** SixthRanger: Anyone else who accompanied them at the time.
* FlowerFromTheMountainTop: In "The Bitter Rose", Orko does this to [[GrandRomanticGesture prove his love]] for Dree'Elle. Initially it causes problems for everyone until it's revealed he did something unexpectedly beneficial, after all.
* FogFeet: The Faceless One is always portrayed, both in animation and comic books, as a ghostly figure with mystic smoke around his legs. When he finally received an action figure that had no representation of the smoke, many fans were displeased.
* {{Foreshadowing}}: In "Origin of the Sorceress", the background of a flashback scene features [[SheRaPrincessOfPower She-ra's sword]].
* ForgottenBirthday: In one episode everyone ''seems'' to have forgotten Orko's birthday, and Orko decides to run away. In the end, Orko is told that he should have known that everyone would remember his birthday, [[BrokenAesop even though they were flat-out lying to him to cover up his surprise party]]. [[TheComplainerIsAlwaysWrong Stupid Orko!]]
* GeneralFailure: Flogg in ''The New Adventures of He-Man'' isn't a particularly intelligent mutant and his strategies often leave something to desire, but he manages to subvert this occasionally -- he's not ''smart'', but he's a savvy and intimidating military commander who can draw up a battle plan that'll leave 'em reeling sometimes.
* GenreSavvy: In the '02 series, Skeletor demonstrates this now and then, especially when berating the failures of his team:
-->'''Trap Jaw''': We would've won if He-Man hadn't shown up.
-->'''Skeletor''': He-Man ''always'' shows up!
* GlowingEyelightsOfUndeath: Skeletor at times
* GiantEyeOfDoom: Optikk, one of the evil mutants from ''The New Adventures of He-Man'', is essentially a giant eye sitting on a suit of armor. Optikk is an alias; his real name is pronounced through a series of blinks.
* GiantSpider: Webstor is a human-sized being with spider features. In the 2002 series episode "Web of Evil," ambrosia makes him even bigger and more spider-like.
* GoMadFromTheRevelation: Upon seeing that his handsome face has been reduced to nothing but a skull floating above his shoulders, Keldor/Skeletor cackles madly.
* GreatOffscreenWar: The original minicomics had the Great Wars that caused the devastation of Eternia, which became a ScavengerWorld (the original reason for the middle ages/Sci fi mix). The 2002 series has the Great Unrest, a war in which Duncan and Randor fought during their youth.
* GrandRomanticGesture: Orko does this in the episode "The Bitter Rose" using the FlowerFromTheMountainTop method.
* GrowingMusclesSequence: Averted in the first cartoon because in order to cut animation costs, Adam is already as buff as He-Man, [[ClarkKenting his lighter skin and clothes being the only differences between the two]]. Played straight in some episodes of the 2002 series, until He-Man gets his armor.
* HalfHumanHybrid: Adam's mother, Queen Marlena, is actually an astronaut from Earth.
** In the 2002 series, Keldor is Randor's half-brother, and as such is implicitly half Eternian human and half Gar.
* HappilyAdopted: Teela, by Man-at-Arms.
* HappilyMarried: King Randor and Queen Marlana.
* HaveAGayOldTime: Half the reason for the HoYay.
-->"Skeletor to Randor. Skeletor to Randor. Come in, you royal boob!"
** [[HilariousInHindsight She-Ra happens to enter the room right after he says that.]]
* HeartIsAnAwesomePower: Even during the '80s run when Stinkor was deemed too ridiculous to use, a supplemental book version of his rejected episode showed this. Stinkor's stench was so powerful that it sapped He-Man's strength and Stinkor almost beat him.
* HerHeartWillGoOn: The Sorceress (both versions).
* HeroicBuild: If you think He-Man is an example, wait'll you get a load of King Grayskull.
* HeroicFantasy
* HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler: King Grayskull]] choose to fight Hordak knowing that he would not survive the battle.
* HesBack: "The Price of Power". When Orko reveals to Prince Adam that Skeletor tricked him into believing he had killed someone, Skeletor really isn't too thrilled to find He-Man comes back.
* HiddenDepths: Regardless of continuity, Cringer can be a lot braver than even he thinks he's capable of.
-->"You got more Battle-Cat in you then you think."
* HighClassGlass: After being hit by a "brain ray", Butthead (shut up, we know) starts wearing a monocle. Later he completes the ensemble with a bowler hat and a fancy suit -- though he doesn't take off his helmet at any point.
* HotDad: Though older than most, King Randor caught the eye of some fangirls. Originally he was supposed to be a BadassGrandpa wizard in the beginning, instead of the middle-aged warrior he was in canon.
* HotMom: And Queen Marlena is just as hot as her husband.
** [[spoiler:Isn't the Sorceress Teela's mother in at least the '02 series?]]
*** [[spoiler:Yes, and in the original as well.]]
* HotWitch: Evil-Lyn.
* HumanAlien: Every "human" character is this, except for Queen Marlena in the original series.
* HumansAreBastards: Granamyr's general opinion of humans.
* {{Hunk}}: He-Man himself.
* IKnowYoureInThereSomewhereFight: When King Hiss turns some Heroic Warriors into Snake Men:
-->'''He-Man:''' Man-at-arms, fight it!
-->'''Man-at-Arms:''' I can't... nor do I ''want'' to!
* ISurrenderSuckers: Skeletor tends to do this on a near-daily basis.
** In the first battle between He-Man and Skeletor of the '02 series, he does this ''[[GoodIsDumb twice]]''.
* ImportantHaircut: In ''The New Adventures of He-Man'', but in reverse: He-Man's hair inexplicably (but quite explicitly) gets ponytail-length longer during a moment of awesome mystical display.
* IncredibleShrinkingMan: The result of the Reducto Ray in "No Job Too Small". Also a plot element in "Day of the Machines".
* IneptMage: On Eternia, most people think Orko is this. He's actually from a different dimension where the rules of magic work differently. As a result, his magic struggles on Eternia but what most don't know is that he's a very powerful and well-respected mage back home and that even on Eternia his magic can work properly but only when he's using a special medallion (original series) or a special wand (2002 reboot). In both cases, he [[JustifiedTrope lost the artifact]] saving Prince Adam's life just after arriving on Eternia.
* InsideAComputerSystem: The plot of "Day of the Machines".
* IntergenerationalFriendship: He-Man and Duncan.
* InvincibleHero: Seems to happen with He-Man at times; the only truly desperate fights seem like the ones where he's either not involved or up against an enemy who can really beat him.
* IronicEcho: The 2002 ContinuityReboot starts with Adam doing the OpeningNarration, but as soon as he gets to the line, "Fabulous Secrets", he's cut off in mid-sentence as the area he's standing in front of is under attack.
* ItsTheJourneyThatCounts / MagicFeather: King Grayskull seeks the power to defeat Hordak, and is told by a seer to give up his sword and journey to find a new magic sword. When he does, he finds the seer, who returns Grayskull's sword and tells Grayskull he always had the power, he just needed the trip to focus his abilities.
* IWantYouToMeetAnOldFriendOfMine: In the 2002 series, Teela was voiced by Lisa Ann Beley and Evil-Lyn was voiced by Kathleen Barr. By an amazing coincidence, Beley was also the voice of the heroic CatGirl Felicia while Barr was the voice of the evil HotWitch Morrigan from the ''VideoGame/{{Darkstalkers}}'' television series.
* IWasBeatenByAGirl: Skeletor in ''Secret of the Sword''.
* TheKeyIsBehindTheLock: In one version of the {{backstory}}, Prince Adam was questing with Teela for what would later become his magic sword. Wielding this sword was the only way to enter Castle Grayskull. And yes, the sword was inside the castle.
* LadyOfWar: Teela and Evil-Lyn.
* LargeHam: Skeletor and He-Man.
* LegionOfDoom: After all of his normal minions are captured by the Masters, Skeletor teams up with every villain not affiliated with him up to that point in the series (Evilseed, Count Marzo, and the three giants. Webstor was there, too, but apparently he just happened to live in one of Snake Mountain's hidden corridors), thus forming the Council of Evil.
* LeotardOfPower: All the {{Action Girl}}s, good or evil.
* LivingMacGuffin: "The Starchild."
* LoinCloth: Part of He-Man's outfit. Sadly, She-Ra does not wear a FurBikini.
** On the other hand, perhaps in keeping with the 1970s trend of matching garb for couples, the [[http://img27.imageshack.us/img27/2526/teeladc.jpg DC comics]] had Teela occasionally sporting fur shorts identical to He-Man's with Frazetta style [[BreastPlate breastplates]] to maintain (some) modesty.
* LoudGulp: In the very first ''Masters Of The Universe'' episode, "Diamond Ray of Disappearance", Teela is confronted by the villain and does a '''very''' deep gulp that sounds rather mannish!
* LovesMyAlterEgo: Teela has a crush on He-Man but dismisses Adam as a lazy coward.
* LukeIAmYourFather: [[spoiler:Teela, searching for the identity of her true parents, learns -- and is promptly made to forget -- that the Sorceress of Grayskull is actually her mother, and that at some point in time, she will have to take her place. In the 2002 series, it was planned to have Teela discover this and ''not'' be forced to forget, but it got cancelled before that could happen. And for it to be Teela's choice whether she would become the new Sorceress.]]
** Two examples, actually: [[spoiler:Although never covered in the series itself, the later minicomics (which notionally conformed to the animated canon) were set to reveal that Skeletor was in fact Keldor, Randor's [[CainAndAbel long-lost brother]] and thus Adam (and He-Man)'s uncle. In the 2002 reboot, Skeletor was even shown in his Keldor days in the pilot and through flashbacks, but they didn't get around to pointing out the familial relationship (although they probably intended to: the writers discussed the fact that they were half-brothers on the DVD commentary).]]
*** It goes much deeper than that in the 2002 reboot: We learn that Fisto is actually Man-At-Arms' brother, and -- had the show continued -- would've revealed not only that Teela was the Sorceress' daughter (as in the original series, but she wouldn't have forgotten, afterwards), but also that Fisto is her father. (Though there were also vague allusions that Man-At-Arms might be her biological father rather than just adoptive.)
*** The strange part about that is, in the 2002 series the Sorceress claims her husband (Teela's father?) had died. In the 1983 series Man-At-Arms says he knew Teela's real dad and indicated that he was dead. The comics said that Teela's father was a brave warrior that had died in battle.
* LyingFingerCross: Orko did this in "Disappearing Act" when he promised He-Man, Man-At-Arms and Battlecat he'd clean up his room without magic.
** In "Dree Elle's Return", Dree Elle's brother did this when he promised her he'd not play pranks during their stay in Eternia.
* MagicalGirlWarrior: Oddly enough, this show is fairly close to that particular sub-genre of MagicalGirl in spite of its macho overtones. This is partially because Filmation's take on the toyline's mythos incorporated many elements from their earlier hit adaptation of the Captain Marvel Family Comics, ''Shazam'', which are acknowledged as being an UrExample of the genre.
* MaleGaze: A common occurrence when the female cast is involved in the '80s series. How many times has the viewer been treated to Teela's backside, whether she was landing or being crept up upon by a villain?
** Actually it goes the other way too. How many times is the camera aimed directly at He-man's chest (but, tragically, almost never at that of any other male characters)? The whole series is much more enjoyable for straight females anyway, what with all the (almost) nude dudes all over the bleeding place.
* TheManBehindTheCurtain: Zortek in "Of Machines And Men" from ''The New Adventures of He-Man''.
* MeaningfulName / MeaningfulRename: Consider names like Cringer/Battle Cat, Skeletor, Evil-Lyn, Man-E-Faces, Beast Man and so forth. With this franchise, character backstories tend to fall on the latter trope when it comes to names.
* MegaNeko: Battle Cat.
** Also Panthor, Skeletor's pet, er, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin panther]], and the lion steed of King Greyskull in the 2002 revival, who was ''twice as big as Battle Cat and Panthor combined''.
* MerchandiseDriven: This was the first toyline driven show since RonaldReagan deregulated FCC rules on shows pimping toylines.
* MissingEpisode: A 40th episode of the '02 series was scripted, but never animated. A ComicBookAdaptation of it was included as a special feature on the DVD, though. [[spoiler:King Hiss is fully healed and Man-At-Arms is turned into a Snakeman again to be ''their'' GadgeteerGenius.]]
* {{Mordor}}: The Dark Hemisphere of Eternia.
* MorphWeapon: Man-E-Faces has a weapon with three modes, much like himself. Staff, gun, and club -- respectively well-suited to his human, robot, and monster faces.
* TheMovie: ''Secret of the Sword'', and in Live Action, ''Film/MastersOfTheUniverse''.
* MythologyGag: The 2002 ContinuityReboot series has an identical opening narration except that it is cut off by attacking villains:
-->''I am Adam, Prince of Eternia, and defender of the secrets of Castle Grayskull. This is Cringer, my "fearless" friend. [[HaveAGayOldTime Fabulous]] secret pow--''\\
(Castle Greyskull gets attacked)
** The Classics toyline has released "Wun-Dar", an attempt to make canon the mysterious "Wonder Bread He-Man" with brown hair and different armor (who nobody can prove was actually offered by Wonder Bread). He even comes with an "Eternian baked good".
** Skeletor's BifurcatedWeapon. The original He-Man and Skeletor toys each had a sword designed to join together to form a single powerful one.
* NamesTheSame: Fisto's toy even had to be called "Battle Fist" to avoid confusion with ''StarWars''' Kit Fisto, despite being created like 20 years earlier.
** Also, [[BeavisAndButthead Butthead]] from ''The New Adventures of He-Man''.
** The Classics line turned Mark Taylor's original concept for Skeletor into a new character named Demo-Man. To avoid confusion, it should be stressed that the "demo" is short for "demon", not "[[VideoGame/TeamFortress2 demolitions]]".
* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: Skeletor, of course. Oddly, this could apply to both sides. Who would really want to hand around people named Ram-Man, Fisto, or Buzz-Off? The Classics line tries to make this all less silly by giving most of the characters real names and establishing their more familiar monikers as simple aliases.
* NeverBeAHero
* NinjaPirateZombieRobot: In one episode, He-Man and Skeletor use ancient artifacts to become, respectively, a samurai barbarian prince and a samurai skeleton wizard. The same episode introduced Sy-Clone, a samurai wind elemental. The original toyline featured Rio Blast, a cyborg cowboy (who admittedly was later introduced sort of into the 2002 continuity).
* NobodyCallsMeChicken: The episode "Buzz-Off's Pride" shows this about Buzz-Off.
* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: In the 2002 series, Stratos' voice is plainly based on SeanConnery's -- apparently, it was felt that Stratos' beard brought Connery to mind.
* NonMammalMammaries: Buzz-Off's Queen Bee is pretty busty for an insect lady.
* NormalFishInATinyPond: Inverted for Orco, who was an archmage in his home dimension. Too bad magic works differently in He-Man's.
* NotableOriginalMusic: Music by the team of [[MightyMorphinPowerRangers Shuki Levy and Haim Saban]]. Some of the music was recycled from ''Anime/TheMysteriousCitiesOfGold''. There was a BGM album released.
** The [[http://www.coucoucircus.org/da/generique.php?id=1760 Spanish version of the opening theme]] has additional lyrics added.
--->''El universo ya está protegido\\
por el Poder de Grayskull...\\
¡Con secretos poderes de este gran castillo\\
He-man luchará hasta el final!\\
\\
Teniendo a su lado la mágica espada\\
y amigos que no fallarán,\\
fuerzas malvadas querrán liquidarlo\\
y nunca descansarán!''
** Translation:
--->''The universe is now protected\\
by the Power of Greyskull...\\
With secret powers of this great castle\\
He-man will fight to the end!\\
\\
Having by his side the magical sword\\
and unfailing friends,\\
evil forces will want to kill him\\
and will never rest!''
* NotBloodRelated: Teela and her adopted father Man-At-Arms.
* ObviouslyEvil: Skeletor and his army in spades. So much so in fact that he even provides the trope picture.
* OldHeroNewPals: The New Adventures of He-Man. He-Man and Skeletor travel to planet Primus, where they join the Galactic Guardians and the Evil Mutants respectively. The Sorceress appears from time to time and there's one episode with Teela.
* OneManArmy: King Miro regards He-Man as this the first time he ever sees him in action.
* [[OnlySixFaces Only Six Body Types]]: This sums up every character's build in the show quite nicely.
* OohMeAccentsSlipping: Orko in the Filmation series sometimes had an urban and/or [[{{Joisey}} Jersey]] accent.
** Probably because he was voiced by Filmation producer Lou Scheimer himself, who was from UsefulNotes/{{Pittsburgh}}.
* OvertookTheManga: Or, in this case, overtook the mini-comics.
** Then again, Filmation's show wasn't really based on the mini-comics anyway.
* PaperThinDisguise:
** Man-E-Faces. To be fair, at least in the 2002 series, his faces aren't really a '''disguise''', ''per se''.
** Also Faker, who looked ''exactly'' like Prince Adam -- only ''blue''. It gets worse; in the Filmation cartoon they [[http://www.he-man.org/cartoon/feature.php?id=44&fid=47 didn't make him blue.]] Allegedly they intended to have him become blue in his next appearance... which never ended up happening. Funnily enough, virtually identical events transpired in the '02 show as well.
** In the original, Adam/He-Man himself qualified too. His "secret identity" was "concealed" entirely by his wearing different clothes and having a different hairdo. How did nobody manage to notice that Adam looks exactly like He-Man? The 2002 series corrects this by making Adam get much larger and more muscular when he transforms into He-Man.
* PetTheDog: In the 2002 series Skeletor somehow manages to do this ''at the same time'' as he has a KickTheDog moment. He admits that he actually does ''like'' his Evil Warriors (possibly as friends) but says this in the same breath as he admits to betraying them without a second thought. And he only says it as a threat to someone else.
* PettingZooPeople: Most non-human races of Eternia are this.
* PluckyComicRelief: Orko lives and breathes this trope.
* PluckyGirl: Teela.
* PopculturalOsmosis
* ThePowerOfActing: Man-E-Faces once received three standing ovations for concurrent performances; suffice it to say, the guy's good.
* PowerEchoes: "I-I HAVE-AVE-AVE THE POWER-ER-ER-ER-ER-ER!!!!!"
* PowerFist: Sort of with Fisto -- yes, he's wearing a glove, but his hand really is that big.
* PsychologicalTormentZone: The Valley of Winds.
* PunnyName: Yeah...who ''doesn't'' have one?
* RaceLift: In the 2002 series, Zodak is black and Sy-Clone is more or less Asian. In response to the former, the Classics toyline split the difference and released "Zodac" (based on the original) and "Zodak" (based on the '02 interpretation) as separate figures/characters.
* TheRashomon: The Battle of the Quagmi Swamp in ''The New Adventures of He-Man''. Flipshot, Hydron, Slushhead and Flogg each tell their own version of the story - their versions, of course, exaggerating their own role and aggrandizing themselves. Interestingly, we never get the real story and are forced to simply piece it together from the common elements in each tale.
* {{Recycled in SPACE}}: ''The New Adventures of He-Man''. To be perfectly fair, little more than He-Man and Skeletor themselves remained from the original series, and in both cases their appearances were altered quite a bit.
* RedEyesTakeWarning: Skeletor, at least in the 2002 series, and Count Marzo.
** Tri-Klops has one red eye, one blue eye, and one yellow eye.
* RedOniBlueOni: He-Man and Skeletor, who wore red and blue and were on the sides of good and evil respectively.
* TheRenaissanceAgeOfAnimation
* ReptilesAreAbhorrent: Played completely straight: See the cannibalistic, scheming, and downright evil snake-men; and Whiplash, a crude bully considered an embarrassment and a traitor by the rest of his people.
** Actually subvertred with the rest of Whiplash's species. They're more or less portrayed as neutral in the 2002 cartoon; the entire reason they hate Whiplash and consider him a traitor is probably because he's giving the rest of the a bad name.
** Averted with Lizard Man, a one-off member of the Heroic Warriors who only ever appeared in the 80s cartoon.
* RichIdiotWithNoDayJob: Adam uses this "fake identity" along with ObfuscatingStupidity to keep his secret. Done a bit more believably in the newer series, where Adam and He-Man's appearances are drastically different instead of He-Man just being more tanned and having a different attitude.
* RightHandHottie: Evil-Lyn all the way.
* RoboSpeak: Roboto. [[CaptainObvious He's a robot.]] Also Man-E-Faces' robot face.
* RoguesGallery: Skeletor and his army. Sometimes, there are episodes that featured villains that weren't part of the toyline, such as Evil Seed.
* SamaritanSyndrome
* SaveTheVillain: A lot of times.
* SchizoTech
* SealedEvilInACan: In the 2002 series, King Hiss and the Snake-Men. And Hordak.
* SecretKeeper: Man-At-Arms and Orko for Adam (He-Man) in both series. In the 80's He-Man was one for the Sorceress about being Tella's mother.
** SecretSecretKeeper: Several episodes of the 80's hint at Queen Marlena knowing that Prince Adam is He-Man but she doesn't come right out and admit she knows Adam is He-Man.
* ShesGotLegs: Teela, Evil-Lyn, and the Sorceress.
* ShippedInShackles: In the 2002 series, Kobra Khan is shackled and muzzled when transported. The muzzle is left on in his prison cell due to his venom-spitting abilities.
* ShoutOut: In the episode, "The Origin of the Sorceress", it featured [[TheSilmarillion Morgoth the Terrible]] and [[Literature/TheLordOfTheRings Koduck Ungol]] as the previous Sorceress.
** In the episode "The Remedy", the Tacktryl is basically a pink [[BlackStar Warlock]] Come to think of it, that's actually more of a PaletteSwap...
* SiblingYinYang: Man-At-Arms and Fisto to a certain degree.
* SingleTear: He-Man sheds one when She-Ra vanishes into the sunset in ''He-Man and She-Ra: Secret of the Sword''.
* SkullForAHead: Skeletor
* SmugSnake: Skeletor and almost every villain in the series.
** King Hiss takes this to a literal extent.
* TheSmurfettePrinciple: Teela is the only girl on Team Good, and Evil-Lyn is the only one on Team Evil.
* SpellMyNameWithAnS: Syclone, both literally and figuratively.
* SpiderTank: The Spydor from the original toyline.
* {{Spinoff}}: ''WesternAnimation/SheRaPrincessOfPower''
* SplitPersonality: Cringer/Battle Cat.
** Man-E-Faces has a human face, a robot face and a beast face, each with an accompanying personality. One episode of the 2002 series has him learning to accept the advantages of his beast personality and overcome the weakness he had with Beast Man's power over animals. In the original, the number of faces he had and their exact unique qualities was never specified.
** In a comic story, he covers three guard shifts on a tower by changing face when tired. How the robot face got tired is a mystery, and when he switch to the beast face, Beast Man dominates him over a long distance.
* SqueakyEyes: Orko has these.
* StabTheSky
* TheStarscream: Evil-Lyn is pretty blatant about it. So was Awful Clawful in the original.
** Also Kobra Khan in the 2002 series when pretending to align with Skeletor. He was completely loyal to King Hiss, however.
** Tri-Klops in one episode of the 2002 series, "Roboto's Gambit". He builds an army of skeleton soldiers that multiply when destroyed, and sets out on his own to prove to Skeletor that they work. He then decides to just take the castle for himself. Of course, once He-Man smashes the remote that controlled them and Skeletor finds out about his plan, he's quick to get back in line.
* StrongAsTheyNeedToBe: He-Man himself pretty much exemplifies the trope. He's exactly as strong as the plot needs him to be at any given moment. At one point his power is even specifically defined as this: his strength is exactly enough to accomplish whatever task he's attempting at the moment.
* SuicideMission: In "The Price of Power" Teela takes one of these to stop Skeletor from completing a dimensional gate that will bring through an army capable of conquering Eternia. Due to He-Man's [[TenMinuteRetirement unavailability]], her chances of coming back alive are zero. Fortunately for her, He-Man [[HesBack turns up]] [[BigDamnHeroes just in time to save her]].
* SuperHero
* TakenForGranite: Snake Face's power. It gets [[HoistByHisOwnPetard turned against him]] just one episode after his debut; the writers claim he had to be taken out quickly and permanently because his ability was ''too'' powerful.
* TakeOverTheWorld: The goal of Skeletor and pretty much every villain is to take over Eternia.
* TakeThat: The ChristmasSpecial featured an appearance by new villains in the form of giant evil robots called the Monstroids, who have the ability to transform into aircraft. You can probably guess [[{{Transformers}} which competing toy line they were knocking off here]].
** And the toyline later included Dragstor, a villain who was also a car.
** The toyline also included a Monstroid, but it was nothing like the ones from the special.
* TalkingAnimal: Cringer/Battle Cat in the original series. Averted in the 2002 series.
* TalkingToHimself: In the 2002 series, Creator/ScottMcNeil voiced Clawful, Mer-Man, Stratos, Ram Man, and Beast Man; an astonishing ''five'' regular characters. While in this series most of the cast voiced at least two people, that's still impressive.
** And that's just at the start of the series. McNeil later voiced Kobra Khan.
** In the original series this was all over the place. Despite the LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters there were at most eight actors in a given episode (and in a lot of episodes there were only ''five''). Lou Scheimer (under the name Erik Gunden) voiced the most characters. See the character page for more info.
* TeamPet: Cringer/Battle Cat, especially in the '02 series where he can't talk and acts like any normal (though large) feline.
** And on the villains' side there was Panthor.
* TechnoWizard: Man-At-Arms
* TemporaryBlindness: Happens to He-Man and Ram-Man in "Not so Blind". Fortunately, a boy who's already blind leads them to safety.
* TenMinuteRetirement: He-Man goes through this in "The Price of Power" thanks to a BatmanGambit by Skeletor designed to [[DarkestHour make him think]] he had accidentally killed someone in order to get him to [[HeroicBSOD defeat himself]] and thereby [[DespairEventHorizon give up]]. Unfortunately for Skeletor, not only did Orko overhear the plan but he also underestimated Orko's magical ingenuity in escaping Skeletor's prison. As a result, He-Man [[HesBack came back]] in a BigDamnHeroes way.
* ThatManIsDead: Keldor died when he got a face full of acid. Skeletor was born shortly afterwards. Figuratively speaking, of course. Among Skeletor's minions, Trap-Jaw (whose original identity of Kronis was abandoned after he became a cyborg) and Stinkor (who changed his name after becoming a formidable force for evil) arguably count, as well.
* ThatsNoMoon: [[spoiler:Snake Mountain is really alive but frozen in place -- until King Hiss sets it free.]]
* ThemeNaming
* ThemeTuneRollCall
* TitleThemeTune: Opening theme just has "He-Man!"
* TookALevelInBadass: There was once a He-Man villain known as Stinkor, a skunk-man who had the power of smelling so horribly he had to use a respirator to keep ''himself'' from being knocked out. You would think this is a [[WhatKindOfLamePowerIsHeartAnyway useless or stupid ability]], but the 2002 reboot shows just how deadly this can be.
* TransformationSequence: Adam to He-Man.
* TransformationTrinket: The Sword of Power. Curiously, Skeletor wields a nearly identical sword in the toyline, which could merge with He-Man's sword and the two were known collectively as the Power Sword when merged, but it lacks this little ability. Skeletor's sword appears only in the children's books and occasionally the mini-comics, and is outright ignored in the cartoon. He did seem to have a duplicate version of the blade in ''Masters of the Universe'', however, but it's so dark it's almost impossible to see if it really is supposed to be the 'dark half' of the Power Sword (referred to as The Sword of Grayskull in the film) or not.
* TranslatorMicrobes: Orko's "Translator Spell" is one of the only spells he can cast that actually works as intended.
* TrappedInVillainy: In the 2002 version, Skeletor is trapped with a gem that prevented him from plotting evil or even being mean. His followers exacted payback by trapping He-Man with a device preventing He-Man from doing good but He-Man broke free, [[NiceJobBreakingItHero accidentally freeing Skeletor]].
* TreasureChestCavity: Orko.
* TurnInYourBadge: In "Prince Adam no More", when Skeletor banished Beast-Man from Snake Mountain, he told Beast-Man to turn in his whip and his seat at their meeting room. (Skeletor had the second part done by destroying said seat)
* UnderwearOfPower: All the guys, though He-Man is the only one not to use the "Underwear on the Outside" variety.
* UndyingLoyalty: Cringer may be a scaredy cat, but he always stands by Adam - even when faced with all of Skeletor's evil warriors ''and'' the Council of Evil.
* UnwillingSuspension
* UseYourHead: Ram-Man: "''Duuuuuh'', good door! Soooo-lid!" Ram Man, as you might expect, loves to rush at things headfirst. Mekaneck also likes to land a good headbutt when he gets the opportunity. ''The New Adventures of He-Man'''s unfortunately named Butthead was essentially an evil Ram Man.
Villainous Friendship: Seen with some of Skeletor's henchmen in the Filmation series, oddly enough. It's most obvious with Trap-jaw and Whiplash's friendship (which comes across as Whiplash having a rather one-sided boy crush on Trap-Jaw), but Webstor and Kobra Khan seem to get along quite well also. Tragically, I don't think we'll ever know how Khan really felt about his Snakemen buddies killing Webstor in the 2002 series.
* VillainTeamUp: The Council of Evil.
* WalkingShirtlessScene: He-Man and most of the male characters on the show.
* WhatKindOfLamePowerIsHeartAnyway: Meckanek's extendable neck, with LampshadeHanging on it in the 2002 series. Mekanek's power is even more pathetic if you know the original toyline, because included therein was Extendar, who could extend his entire body outward, making Mekanek redundant. Rattlor has powers similar to Meckanek's, but they're much better suited to a Snake Man. Additionally, the toyline only character Blast-Atak is a robot who can explode -- why go through the trouble of building a sophisticated robot if it's just to have it blow itself up? Snout Spout, meanwhile, could... fire water out of his snout. Stinkor also gets ribbed for the power of "smelling like, really, like, really really bad" -- but it's a lot more effective than you might think.
* WhenAllYouHaveIsAHammer: He-Man is sometimes pretty clever in how he defeats his enemies in the 2002 series but most of his solutions usually involve crushing something since he's not quite as versatile as most of the bad guys. Supposedly, that version would always have enough strength necessary to complete any given task he just needed to apply it correctly.
* WhipItGood: Whiplash, as his name implies, is very fond of using his long tail as a whip, but he also has an actual handheld whip that mimics its appearance somewhat (though he uses it less often). Beast Man uses a whip -- but rarely as a weapon. Rather, he uses it to tame animals. Two-Badd also uses a whip in one episode.
* WhosLaughingNow: In one episode of the 2002 series, Skeletor spends the episode being mocked by his minions, because he is wearing a belt that shocks him whenever he thinks an evil thought, and seemingly can't be removed. When he finally gets the belt off, he gets his revenge by suspending his minions over a tub of lava.
* WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes: Ram-Man is afraid of the dark.
** This pretty much sums up everyone's feelings in the 2002 series Snake-Man season.
** Orko is also afraid of dragons in another episode. But to quote the recurring line of the episode, "Who isn't?"
* WorldHalfFull: Eternia wouldn't be that bad to live in, but it's still full of crazy things like a malevolent force of nature that hates people for eating plants, even though people need to do so to live.
* WorldOfMuscleMen: Virtually all male characters (save for Orco whose sex isn't clearly determinable) look like heavy steroid abusers, with bulging muscles especially in the upper body. This is even more apparent because many characters either wear very little to begin with or have some sort of clothing that fits extremely tight, almost like a coat of paint.
** It's possible the toyline dictated this: in the He-Man toyline, every single male having the same muscular body meant that they could produce them all from the same plastic mold.
* WorthyOpponent: Teela and Evil-Lyn in the EnemyMine episode "The Witch and the Warrior".
* YourMagicsNoGoodHere: The magic on Orko's home world Trolla works differently than Eternia. While his spells constantly backfire on Eternia, he's Trolla's greatest wizard, and proved it when He-Man accompanied him there.

----

An amusing bit of apocrypha states that the franchise was originally intended to be based on the film ''ConanTheBarbarian'', but a new plotline and characters were written when marketers realized the folly of basing children's merchandise on a very violent film that most children had not seen. Of note is that PaulDini was a member of the writing staff (as was Creator/JMichaelStraczynski), and BruceTimm did layouts; both would later go on to be main figures in ''WesternAnimation/TinyToonAdventures'' and ''[[{{WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries}} Batman: The Animated Series]]'' (also of note: Haim Saban and Shuki Levy were involved in the original production of the show as well, also going on to make [[Franchise/PowerRangers a surprisingly long-lived children's franchise]]). The franchise became so well known that the stockbroker protagonist of Tom Wolfe's novel ''Literature/TheBonfireOfTheVanities'' identified himself as "a master of the universe" (the character's daughter owned some of the figures) because of the power he held.

A 2002 ContinuityReboot, first aired on Creator/CartoonNetwork's {{Toonami}}, was much closer to the original series while being modernized and more consistently written. Unfortunately, the new series failed after one and a half seasons due to [[ScrewedByTheNetwork a lack of promotion]] and poor toy distribution.

An amusing bit of apocrypha states that the franchise was originally intended to be based on the film ''ConanTheBarbarian'', but a new plotline and characters were written when marketers realized the folly of basing children's merchandise on a very violent film that most children had not seen. Of note is that PaulDini was a member of the writing staff (as was Creator/JMichaelStraczynski), and BruceTimm did layouts; both would later go on to be main figures in ''WesternAnimation/TinyToonAdventures'' and ''[[{{WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries}} Batman: The Animated Series]]'' (also of note: Haim Saban and Shuki Levy were involved in the original production of the show as well, also going on to make [[PowerRangers a surprisingly long-lived children's franchise]]). The franchise became so well known that the stockbroker protagonist of Tom Wolfe's novel ''Literature/TheBonfireOfTheVanities'' identified himself as "a master of the universe" (the character's daughter owned some of the figures) because of the power he held.

The show left syndication and was shown on the USANetwork, which back then was known for being the "used car" network for rerun lots of rerun shows.

This AnimatedSeries changed the face of children's television when it debuted in 1983. Creator/{{Filmation}} produced the show for daily syndication in conjunction with a pre-existing line of Mattel toys and action figures. Its huge success led to dozens of others MerchandiseDriven cartoons in the [[TheEighties 1980s]]. It is now being rerun late at night on the [[{{qubo}} Qubo Channel]] and on RTV on Saturday mornings.

* ShoutOut: In the episode, "The Origin of the Sorceress", it featured [[TheSilmarillion Morgoth the Terrible]] and [[TheLordOfTheRings Koduck Ungol]] as the previous Sorceress.

* PaperThinDisguise: Man-E-Faces. Also Faker, who looked ''exactly'' like Prince Adam -- only ''blue''.
** It gets worse; in the Filmation cartoon they [[http://www.he-man.org/cartoon/feature.php?id=44&fid=47 didn't make him blue.]]
*** Allegedly they intended to have him become blue in his next appearance... which never ended up happening. Funnily enough, virtually identical events transpired in the '02 show as well.
** To be fair to Man-E-Faces, at least in the 2002 series, his faces aren't really a '''disguise''', ''per se''.

Another reboot came along in 2008 in the form of Masters Of The Universe Classics. Primarily a toy line aimed at making modern updates to the vintage toys, there IS a story running through the series, dished out in the character bios, although no major media tie-in has been produced. Despite starting with the goal of updating the original toys, then the She-Ra cast was introduced Mattel stuck to the original animation model sheets instead of the toys, which were vastly different. A few elements from the 2002 series were included, such as the new Count Marzo design, possibly due to the fact it took Mattel several years to negotiate full Filmation rights. The line also includes updates of toys from the New Adventures series.

* HumanAlien: Every "human" character is this.

* IKnowYoureInThereSomewhereFight: When King Hiss turns some Heroic Warriors into Snrake Men:

* AcePilot: Queen Marlena gets a chance to show off her skills in the original series episode ''[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKseOaDSCRU The Rainbow Warrior]]''.

* PoorMansSubstitute: Serpenators are this to dragons. King Hss accuses [[spoiler: He-Man of being one to King Grayskull]], and he's kind of right despite the tropes used to describe him.