History WesternAnimation / HeManAndTheMastersofTheUniverse

* OohMeAccentsSlipping: Orko in the Filmation series sometimes had an urban and/or Jersey accent.
** Probably because he was voiced by Filmation producer Lou Scheimer himself, who was from {{Pittsburgh}}.

->''"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, '{{By the Power of Grayskull}}!' '''I have the power!'''''"

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, {{Lady of War}} Teela, and the bumbling comic relief sorcerer Orko, He-Man battles the forces of Skeletor and other evil enemies.

An amusing bit of apocrypha states that the franchise was originally intended to be based on the film ''{{Conan the Barbarian}}'', 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'' (also of note: Haim Saban and Shuki Levi 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 ''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 {{Cartoon Network}}'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.

* 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.

* {{All There in the Manual}}: In the original series, Evil-Lyn was an astronaut from Earth named Evelyn. This is only mentioned in the series' bible.

* {{And Knowing Is Half the Battle}}: Every episode of both versions has a {{Public Service Announcement}} at the end to emphasize its Aesop. Interestingly, in the case of the '02 show, the "morals" were shown only in some international releases and didn't air in America.

* {{Blessed with Suck}}: 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.

** 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 {{And Knowing Is Half the Battle}} scene clash with the episode -- or even the ''series premise''.

* {{By the Power of Grayskull}}: The TropeNamer. In ''The New Adventures of He-Man'', he would actually say "By the Power of ''Eternia''", though.

* {{Character Name and the Noun Phrase}}
* ChristmasEpisode: Yes, there was one, and it had a {{Trapped in Another World}} 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.

* {{Darker and Edgier}}: The 2002 reboot.

* {{Drop the Hammer}}: 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.

* {{Everybody Do the Endless Loop}}: 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.

* FanVid: He-Man is the subject of many a GagDub on 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 ''RobotChicken'' could probably count, too. [[AscendedMeme Mo-Larr, Eternian Dentist, is even getting his own action figure in the MOtU Classics line.]]

* {{Giant Eye of Doom}}: 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.

* {{Go Mad from the Revelation}}: Upon seeing that his handsome face has been reduced to nothing but a skull floating above his shoulders, Keldor/Skeletor cackles madly.

* {{Have a Gay Old Time}}: Half the reason for the HoYay.

* {{Legion of Doom}}: 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.
* {{Leotard of Power}}: All the {{Action Girl}}s, good or evil.

* [[LukeIAmYourFather Luke, I Am Your Father]]: [[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 canceled before that could happen. And for it to be Teela's choice whether she would become the new Sorceress.]]

* {{Names the Same}}: Fisto's toy even had to be called "Battle Fist" to avoid confusion with ''StarWars''' Kit Fisto, despite being created like 20 years earlier.

* {{Names to Run Away from Really Fast}}: 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.
* {{Never Be a Hero}}

* NotableOriginalMusic: Music by the team of [[MightyMorphinPowerRangers Shuki Levy and Haim Saban]]. Some of the music was recycled from ''Anime/{{The Mysterious Cities of Gold}}''. There was a BGM album released.

* [[OohMeAccentsSlipping Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping]]: Orko in the Filmation series sometimes had an urban and/or Jersey accent.

* {{The Power of Acting}}: Man-E-Faces once received three standing ovations for concurrent performances; suffice it to say, the guy's good.

* {{Rich Idiot with no Day Job}}: 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.

* [[RoguesGallery Rogues' Gallery]]: Skeletor and his army. Sometimes, there are episodes that featured villains that weren't part of the toyline, such as Evil Seed.

* {{Save the Villain}}: A lot of times.

* {{Sealed Evil in a Can}}: In the 2002 series, King Hiss and the Snake-Men. And Hordak.

* {{Stab the Sky}}

* {{Strong as They Need to Be}}: 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.

* {{Talking to Himself}}: In the 2002 series, 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.

* 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'''.

* 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'''.

An amusing bit of apocrypha states that the franchise was originally intended to be based on the film ''{{Conan the Barbarian}}'', 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 JMichaelStraczynski), and 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 Levi 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 ''TheBonfireOfTheVanities'' identified himself as "a master of the universe" (the character's daughter owned some of the figures) because of the power he held.

* HotAmazon: Teela, and Evil-Lyn (especially the 2002 version).

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.

* 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.

* TransformationTrinket: The Sword of Power. Curiously, Skeletor wields a nearly identical sword, but it lacks this little ability.

* 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.

* 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.

* TenMinuteRetirement: He-Man goes through this in "The Price of Power" thanks to a XanatosGambit 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.

* MostCommonSuperPower: Teela, The Sorceress, and Evil-Lyn.

* AloofBigBrother: Fisto to Man-At-Arms.

** Even the Queen of Eternia, Marlena, gets a moment to flex her swordsmanship in the 2002 series.

* ActionGirl: Teela -- all incarnations. The 2002 revival shows Teela as being better in combat than Adam as well as being a reliable ally for the entire team.
** Then again, Adam makes a point of [[ObfuscatingStupidity pretending to be a goof-off to protect his secret]]. She's shown to be better in combat in TheEighties series as well.

* MissingEpisode: A 40th episode of the '02 series was scripted, but never animated. It was included as a special feature on the DVD, though.

* NotableOriginalMusic: Music by the team of [[MightyMorphinPowerRangers Shuki Levy and Haim Saban]]. Some of the music was recycled from ''{{The Mysterious Cities of Gold}}''. There was a BGM album released.

* 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. He may have been a bit of a fag, but there's no doubt he was powerful.

** Oh, Adam isn't pretending...
*** Yeah, he is. Compared to Teela in both the original and his transformed state in the revival, Adam is at least a good a fighter as she is. While he's a shirtless bruiser and she's more skillful, he wasn't exactly weak because of it.

* AnAesop: Every episode of every version had one at the end -- the '02 show 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.

*** He was in ''She-Ra'' as well, but more comically. A RunningGag was him dropping his minions (particularly Mantenna) down a trap door when they displeased him. A couple of times they tried standing elsewhere, but it turns out that floor was just ''covered'' with trap doors.

* BerserkButton: Cringer almost always lives up to his name, but is usually the opposite if Adam is in great danger. For example, in the 2002 series, Cringer attacks a Snake Man for trying to eat Adam.

* BigBad: Skeletor for the most part. No matter how competent, powerful or arrogant they were shown to be prior, few villains were ever successfully challenged Skeletor. Many even served him, despite their goals being incompatible.

* 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 darker skin, which probably helps the disguise some.

** Actually, in the episode, "The Rainbow Warrior" it is heavily implied that Queen Marlana knows Adam's secret. She has the choice of freeing King Randor, Teela, Man-at-Arms, or Adam and frees Adam, which is really not the obvious choice since Adam is nearly completely useless in a battle situation. After the crisis has been resolved, Adam asks her why she freed him. Her reply is along the lines of "I had a feeling you'd know what to do" (of course, the first thing Adam did was find a hiding place to transform into He-Man). When he presses for an answer, she dismisses the conversation with "A mother always recognises her son".

** TheDragon: Trapjaw and/or Beast Man, though Evil-Lyn could qualify as well.

** Actually, in the episode, "The Rainbow Warrior" it is heavily implied that Queen Marlana knows Adam's secret. She has the choice of freeing King Randor, Teela, Man-at-Arms, or Adam and frees Adam, which is really not the obvious choice since Adam is nearly completely useless in a battle situation. After the crisis has been resolved, Adam asks her why she freed him. Her reply is to the effect of, "There are some things a mother just knows." When he presses for an answer, she kind of dismisses him before he has the chance to explicitly tell his secret or find out for certain that she knows it.

* CoveredInMud: HeMan 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.

There's a [[Characters/{{He-Man and the Masters of the Universe}} character sheet]] in construction.