A list of characters and their specific tropes featured in He-Man and the Masters of the Universe (2021). For tropes seen in the rest of the franchise, see Masters of the Universe.
Beware of Unmarked Spoilers for season 1.
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Castle Grayskull
General
"We have the Power."
Five champions brought together by fate to Castle Grayskull. Wielding the power of Light and Justice, the Masters of the Universe protect Grayskull and all Eternia from evil.- Age Lift: With the exception of Cringer, they are all much younger than their original incarnations. Cringer on the other hand is significantly older than his original incarnation.
- By the Power of Grayskull!: It is He-man of course, though what sets this series apart is Adam is able to share the power and his friends can now power up with him.
- Calling Your Attacks: Each of the Masters(sans Ram Ma'am currently) has what is referred to in the official soundtrack as a "Master Strike." Which are as follows:
- Combination Attack: After Duncan reforges the team's weapons with kirbinite, they learn that they can combine their Master Strikes for more powerful attacks. Which according to "He-Man and the Masters of the Universe Heroes and Villains Guidebook" are currently as follows:
- Empowered Badass Normal: With the exception of Teela (who's a witch), all of the Masters of the Universe are ordinary but talented people before they get their hands on Grayskull's magic.
- Enlightenment Superpowers: In the Darkest Hour of season three, after Skeletor obtained godhood, stole the Power of Grayskull from them, and set about to remake the universe, the Masters of the Universe discover that they can call on cosmic power without Grayskull by truly understanding themselves, just as Eldress told them once before.
- Family of Choice: Being made up of outcasts and orphans it doesn't take long for are heroes to grow close as the only family they have, and in the Season 3 finale, the Masters ultimately come to the realization and decision that they indeed are family.
- Henshin Hero: Unlike previous incarnations, transforming into a superpowered state is not limited to He-Man and Battle Cat.
- How Do I Shot Web?: Their powers don't exactly come with instructions. They didn't even know that they could transform without needing Adam's help until Cringer figured it out at the climax of episode 7.
- Powered Armor: Duncan, Krass and Cringer's powered forms come with specialized armor in various forms.
- Powers via Weapon: Three of the group's Transformation Trinkets are weapons; a sword, a staff, and prosthetic claws.
- Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: Adam is an amnesiac prince, Krass is a belligerent orphan who likes to use her head literally, Cringer is a Technical Pacifist talking tiger without claws, Duncan is a former apprentice to a traitor to the kingdom, Teela is a hand witch heavily implied to be from poverty who turned to thievery and has spent her life getting visions of Castle Grayskull, and Ork-0 is a robot with the memories of an ancient court wizard. As individuals, they don't really have much of anything in common with each other or other people in general and yet they're the best hope for Eternia.
- Red Baron: In the season 1 finale, the Masters reaffirm their power and their desire to protect by giving themselves further titles.
- He-Man, Master of Power.
- Man-At-Arms, Master of Technology.
- Sorceress, Master of Magic.
- Battle Cat, Master of the Wild.
- Ram Ma'am, Master of Demolition.
- Sigil Spam: Those transformed by the Power of Grayskull wear its symbol, a stylized skull, somewhere on their bodies.
- Super Mode: Since all of them are decently competent even without any Grayskull magic (for a bunch of kids and an elderly tiger), their Masters of the Universe forms operate as time-limited powerups rather than being innate abilities or superhero secret identities.
- Touched by Vorlons: At first Adam needs to activate the team's transformations but it's eventually revealed that the team can transform on their own, as their weapons have been imbued with the Power of Grayskull. Though on the downside they are specifically tied to the sword, and if it's damaged or destroyed the other weapons will also be damaged or destroyed.
- Transformation Trinket: To harness cosmic power, an item called a "totem" is needed. Each Master channels the powers of Light and Justice through an item they carry, from the Sword of Power to the gem embedded in Krass's helmet.
- Two Girls to a Team: Krass and Teela are the only female members of the team.
Adam - He-Man
Voiced by: Yuri Lowenthal
- Adaptational Modesty: The original He-Man only wore boots, bracers, a harness, and a fur loincloth. In this series, He-Man wears proper pants and a sleeveless shirt.
- Appropriated Appellation: Krass was the one to come up with the "He-Man" term, and it eventually stuck.
- Badass Normal: As Adam, he may have no superpowers but he still displays a fair amount of combat skill.
- BFS: In this incarnation, the Sword of Power is a massive greatsword. Even when Adam transforms into He-Man, the sword enlarges to remain as proportionately large in his hands. And later on, it's shown that the other Masters can converge their power to He-Man to make the sword even bigger, to the point where it's as big if not bigger than He-Man.
- Chest Insignia: As He-Man, he has a red depiction of the Sword of Power on his chest and the symbol of Castle Grayskull as a belt buckle.
- Composite Character: He's the prince of Eternia like the Filmation incarnation, but lived in a jungle tribe like in the early mini-comics.
- Deadpan Snarker: Adam's got a dry sense of humor to him, like his uncle and dad.
- Drunk on the Dark Side: He-Man is briefly infused with the power of Havoc while fighting the last remnant of the Snake Men. Under its influence, Adam becomes a Knight Templar Psychopathic Manchild, petulant and overconfident in his power as he sets out to kill Skeletor and attacks anyone who tries to stop him.
- Et Tu, Brute?: After the fight with the newly christened Rampage, he's last seen dangling from the side of a cliff, weakly calling out Krass' name, heartbroken by her betrayal.
- Fights Like a Normal: Spending years living among the peaceful, isolationist Tiger Tribe has granted Adam great athleticism but not much in the way of combat experience. So much so that, even as He-Man, Keldor manages to physically thrash him around before his transformation into the more physically powerful Skeletor.
- Flying Weapon: In Season Two, it's revealed the Power Sword can fly via lightning, allowing He-Man to ride it like a surfboard.
- Glowing Eyes of Doom: When channeling large ammounts of power, He-Man's eys glow a blinding yellow/white with the power of Grayskull. When infused with Havoc, his eyes glow an otherworldly green, even when powered down back into Adam until the Havoc is purged.
- Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: Adam is a blond unlike his father, and even as a child he was heroic enough to draw the Sword of Power against his Evil Uncle.
- Identity Amnesia: When Cringer found him, the only thing that he remembered about himself was his name.
- I Work Alone: While under the influence of Havoc, He-Man's convinced he's powerful enough to save Eternia all on his own and that he doesn't need the other Masters of the Universe slowing him down. He snaps out of it once the Havoc's been purged from him.
- Kid Hero: Deconstructed during his courageous attempt to protect the Eldress from Keldor when he was just a child. Being a young boy wielding a sword he could barely lift made it a very short fight in his uncle's favor even if his decision to fight proved he was worthy of Grayskull's power.
- Like Brother and Sister: Krass describes her relationship with Adam like this, considering that there is no flirtation between the two, this description seems correct. It's strong enough that at the end of season 2, Adam wants to make it official by having his father adopt her.
- Lost Orphaned Royalty: The amnesiac prince of Eternos that was raised by the Tiger Tribe. In Eternos, he was presumed dead along with his uncle, the one who had kidnapped him in the first place.
- Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me: The Sword of Power can widen its blade to become a shield large enough to cover He-Man's whole body.
- Missing Mom: The only thing shown about Queen Marlena is a family portrait.
- Morph Weapon: The Sword of Power can adjust its blade's length and width to become a true BFS or to widen and become a shield.
- Raised by Wolves: He was found as an amnesiac boy in the jungle by Cringer and taken back to the Tiger Tribe.
- Secret Test of Character: While the test wasn't given to him, Adam passes where Keldor failed. After Keldor attacked Eldress for being cursed with Havoc, six-year-old Adam took up the Sword of Power to protect her. Proving that he had the heart of a true Champion, Adam would be granted the power of Grayskull ten years later and become He-Man.
- Shockwave Clap: He-Man can clap his hands together to create a deafening shockwave that pushes everything away from him. When powered by Havoc, he uses an even more powerful version of the clap as his Dark Master Strike.
- Skeletons in the Coat Closet: Downplayed. He-Man has the symbol of Castle Grayskull, a stylized skull, on his belt buckle and on the Sword of Power itself.
- Sleeves Are for Wimps: His He-Man outfit has no sleeves.
- Super-Powered Alter Ego: As is standard for all incarnations of the character, changing from Adam to He-Man grants him incredible powers.
- Superpower Lottery: His abilities as He-Man are very mighty, simple to understand, and are seldom not useful.
- Sword Beam: The "Lightning Strike", where He-Man powers himself up with lightning before swinging his sword in a rising arc to send out an energy slash. He can also focus these as beams, as shown in "Cry Havoc: Part 1."
- Sword Drag: When using Lightning Strike, once He-Man's been charged by a bolt of lightning, he charges forward, dragging the Sword of Power behind him before swinging it forward.
- Thou Shalt Not Kill: He's heavily against using lethal force against his foes. In the season 3 finale, he chooses to use the Sword of Power to De-power Skeletor rather than kill him.
- Top-Heavy Guy: In his He-Man form, his upper body is massive compared to the rest of him.
- Tron Lines: Appear on his arms, especially when he uses his strength.
- Undeathly Pallor: When powered by Havoc instead of Grayskull, He-Man's skin becomes chalky gray.
- Unskilled, but Strong: Adam may have the mystical strength of He-Man, but he has next to no formal combat training. This puts him at a distinct disadvantage against Keldor/Skeletor, whose Havoc Staff allows him to fight He-Man on even ground while also being a more experienced fighter.
- With Great Power Comes Great Insanity: Being infused with Havoc ends up turning him into a crazed and overenthusiastic brute that, instead of stopping Skeletor, now wants to destroy him. The sword ends up rejecting him until the Havoc is purged from his body.
- With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility: As the Masters of the Universe, it's Adam who convinces the others that with the Power of Grayskull, it's now their responsibility to defend Eternia from threats like his uncle Keldor and the Power of Havoc.
- Youthful Freckles: They're not very obvious, but in close-ups, you can see that he has them — even as He-Man.
Teela - Sorceress
Voiced by: Kimberly Brooks
"That would make you..." "...a Sorceress."
Teela Na is a Street Urchin born to the lower streets of Eternos who can cast magic with hand seals. Guided by a voice when she stole the Sword of Power, she leads Adam and the others to Castle Grayskull, where she is granted the power of Grayskull to become a true Sorceress.- Adaptational Skill: Teela is normally depicted as a melee fighter. This version is more of a Kung-Fu Wizard.
- Adaptation Dye-Job: She has white hair in this incarnation instead of the red hair of her original depiction.
- Animal Motif: Her powers when transformed are often accompanied by a giant spiritual Falcon.
- Attack Reflector: See Thinking Up Portals below. This is a useful combat application of her portal-wings as the Sorceress, and also works for friendly fire, letting her help her teammates attack from unexpected angles.
- Celestial Body: In her Sorceress form, her wings and part of her hair have a starscape in them. As Ram Ma'am demonstrates during a spar, it's not an illusion, there's an actual realm in there.
- Composite Character: She shares the name and general personality of prior incarnations of Teela, but her Falcon Animal Motifs, magical prowess, and codename are based upon the Sorceress. Subverted when it's revealed that her full name is Teela Na, the real name of the original series' Sorceress and that she's a reincarnation of Eldress, making them essentially the same person.
- Court Mage: After saving Eternos from Skeletor, King Randor invites the Masters of the Universe to become part of his court and names Teela his new Royal Mage.
- Deadpan Snarker: She rivals Adam in this department when she gets a chance.
- Fusion Dance: Of the Power Boost variety. After Eldress reveals the truth of Teela being her reincarnation, Eldress merges what's left of her spirit with Teela, granting her the knowledge of the Guardian of Grayskull.
- Given Name Reveal: When Eldress reveals Teela's nature as a Reincarnation and merges the last of her essence with her, she also reveals her full name to be Teela Na.
- Ill-Timed Sneeze: While sneaking through the Eternos royal palace, Teela has to huddle with the other Masters to hide them all in an Invisibility spell. Cringer's tail brushes against her nose, causing her to sneeze and stagger out of the spell circle. When King Randor sees her, she claps her hands over her mouth, accidentally dropping her tut and revealing the others.
- Legacy Character: As the new Sorceress, she's the only member of the team who directly inherited her powers from a recent previous user (Eldress, specifically). Given how diverse and complex said powers are, having an experienced mentor to help her get used to them is very useful.
- Linear Warriors, Quadratic Wizards: In exchange for access to diverse and extremely useful abilities as a Sorceress, there's a steep learning curve that Teela has to overcome.
- Magical Gesture: As a "Hand Witch", she uses these to focus and channel her magic.
- Magic Staff: Inherited the staff Eldress used as her item of power.
- Mystical White Hair: She's a witch with white hair.
- Power Makes Your Hair Grow: In her unpowered form, Teela's hair is in a short and high ponytail. As Sorceress, her hair becomes loose down her back, longer than what her ponytail would have held.
- Race Lift: She is depicted as black in this incarnation even though she was originally white.
- Reincarnation: Specifically, Eldress's reincarnation. When Eldress died, her magic created Teela as a toddler for Man-E-Faces to raise.
- Significant Wardrobe Shift: After merging completely with Eldress, Teela's Sorceress form features more black and gold in the design like Eldress did, signifying her completed self.
- Simplified Spellcasting: In her transformed state, she can cast spells without needing a Magical Gesture or Magical Incantation, which is apparently the sign of a Sorcerer or Sorceress, hence the name.
- Space Master: Her blue wings are actually space portals.
- Street Urchin: Teela grew up in the impoverished lower streets of Eternos where the only rule was survival. She worked as a thief for Evelyn to get by, stealing any relics of Castle Grayskull they could find until the fateful day she held the Sword of Power.
- Thinking Up Portals: Her 'wings' in Sorceress form are actually rifts in space-time that can connect to a pocket dimension (for transport) or to each other (for reflecting attacks by both friend and foe).
- Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Teela is afraid of cats, while she's not going to run screaming at the sight of them, she does have a hard time staying calm around them. She gets better while being around Cringer but she still can't get over it entirely. She also is shown to be allergic to them as well.
Krass - Ram Ma'am
Voiced by: Judy Alice Lee
"Grayskull juice makes me feel all classy, I guess!"
Click here for SPOILERS
Adam's childhood friend who grew up in the Tiger Tribe alongside him. Headstrong and protective of her tribe, Krass followed Adam to Castle Grayskull to keep him safe. When given the power of Grayskull, Krass dubs herself Ram Ma'am.
"With the fury of Havoc, I found my power!"- 10-Minute Retirement: Briefly returns to the Tiger Tribe in episode 8, though she comes back to save Adam and the others in the season 1 finale.
- Adaptational Attractiveness: Not only a different gender than the original Ram Man, but also much cuter.
- Adaptational Villainy: Became the Dark Master of Destruction after pulling a Face–Heel Turn.
- Adaptation Relationship Overhaul: Krass is just a comrade to He-Man and a soldier for Eternia in prior incarnations, but Krass in this incarnation is essentially Adam's adoptive sister.
- Adaptation Species Change: Ram Man is human in the previous works, but in here Ram Ma'am is a purple-skinned humanoid of unknown species.
- The Baby of the Bunch: According to the guidebook, she's the youngest of the group, at 15 (Adam and Teela are both 16, Duncan is 17, and Cringer is the equivalent of an adult). She's impulsive and temperamental, fitting her youngest status.
- Be the Ball: Ram Ma'am can tuck herself into an energy sphere to turn herself into a human ram ball and crash into her enemies.
- Bouncing Battler: She can transform into a giant pink ball as a special attack. Unfortunately, she has trouble controlling this ability the first time she uses it, and prolonged use will leave her quite nauseous.
- Bullet Time: While using Wrecking Ball as Rampage, she moves so fast that to her, He-Man is practically frozen while in the middle of performing the Lightning Strike.
- Buried Alive: The crash that killed Krass's parents left her buried in rubble for three days as the Tiger Tribe worked to dig her out.
- Cain and Abel: She and Adam are foster siblings, but ends up corrupted by Skeletor to be the Cain to Adam's Abel.
- Chain Pain: As Rampage, Krass can create the same Havoc chains as Skeletor in place of her original tethers.
- Chest Insignia: Ram Ma'am has her personal insignia, a crashing comet or ram ball, etched into the crystal of her helmet.
- Chekhov's Gunman: She is noted as being an outsider to both the Heroic and Evil Warriors. In the Season 1 finale she acts as the cavalry and rescues He-Man and her friends, and in the Season 2 finale she becomes the Fifth Nemesis.
- Claustrophobia: Her parents were killed when their ship crashed, she only survived because she had her father's helmet on, and she was trapped in the wreck for three days before the Tiger Tribe could get her out. She thus understandably has a bit of a panic attack when trapped in a different ship under a pile of rubble.
- Composite Character: She takes Teela's role of Adam's hot blooded childhood friend.
- Crystal Weapon: Her standard helmet is embedded with a gemstone in its visor. When given the power of Grayskull, this gem encrusts her entire helmet, making it much stronger for headbutting. Unfortunately, it proves to have a darker secret when it's revealed to be a Ram Stone, infused with Proto-Havoc like the the Sigil of Hsss that allows Skeletor to survive his obliteration and invoke a Symbiotic Possession of a dejected and emotionally betrayed Ram Ma'am.
- Deadpan Snarker: While not to Adam’s extent, Krass is shown to have a sarcastic wit.
- Deal with the Devil: In the season two finale, Krass embraces the power of Havoc and agrees to help Skeletor in his plans to return to life with greater power in exchange for bringing her parents Back from the Dead. Krass is always on her guard around Skeletor and her wariness proves justified when Skeletor admits he was going to bring her parents back as mindless skele-drones.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Rampage willingly betrayed the Masters of the Universe for the selfish desire to bring her parents Back from the Dead. But seeing Beast Man turned into a skele-drone and knowing that was the fate of all life on Eternia proved too much for her, sparking her rebellion against Skeletor.
- Evil Costume Switch: When she embraces the power of Havoc, minor changes are made to her Ram Ma'am costume. The Grayskull marks on her arms are changed to Havoc marks, the symbol on her helmet changes, and the crystal and her armor glows with Havoc green rather than her own magenta power.
- Evil Counterpart: No nemesis except for becoming her own but can be considered Adam's counterpart when being an adopted child of the Tiger Tribe.
- Face–Heel Turn: In "The Fifth Nemesis", she allies herself with Skeletor after he manipulates her into believing that he can bring her parents back to life, and that Adam never considered her as a sister.
- Fastball Special: Considering that her entire motif is ramming into things, this was inevitable. As a twist though, one of her transformed powers involves energy cables that let her fastball herself.
- Fatal Flaw: Fear of abandonment. Krass lost her parents in a crash and was deeply traumatized by it. She was adopted into the Tiger Tribe and raised alongside Adam. All of her arguments with Adam over their roles as Masters of the Universe stem from her fear that Adam will leave the Tiger Tribe, leave her, for another life. Skeletor preys on this fear and eventually convinces Krass that the Masters of the Universe have abandoned her for their new place in the royal court of Eternos. And by promising to bring her lost parents Back from the Dead, Skeletor succeeds in turning Krass to the power of Havoc. In Season three, however, she lets go of her fears and sacrifices her helmet to save Adam.
- Gender Flip: Krass was male in the past series, but is female on the series.
- Grappling-Hook Pistol: Krass carries a grappling device with a head like a tiger's paw. As Ram Ma'am, she can fireball off energy tethers from her hip armor to slingshot herself around.
- Heel–Face Turn: Krass returns to the Masters as Skeletor makes it very clear he was never going to actually help her. Realizing her insecurities and selfishness cost her everything, Krass turns on him. In the season three finale, Krass even sacrifices her helmet to save Adam’s life, and is the first to become a True Master of the Universe.
- Her Own Worst Enemy: She herself has admitted this in the Season 2 finale, as her own impatience and fear of abandonment has caused her more problems than solved. The fact she has no opposing Dark Master only adds to the idea that she doesn't need one, she herself is her own nemesis.
- "I Can't Look!" Gesture: Krass turns away and closes her eyes when Beast Man is turned into a skele-drone, only for Skeletor to grab her head and make her watch.
- Innocently Insensitive: In the first episode, she bluntly tells Adam that his family probably gave up searching for him by now.
- It's All About Me: Krass cares for herself and her own. If something isn't threatening the Tiger Tribe, then it isn't her concern. This starts to cause a rift between her and Adam, who believes it's their responsibility to help everyone as Masters of the Universe. This selfishness is what the power of Havoc draws on inside her, preventing her from using the full potential of the power of Grayskull. However, Krass lets go of her selfish desires in the Season Three finale, where she gives Adam her prized helmet to keep her best friend from dying. Even when it cracks, Krass ignores it, showing she’s moving on.
- Jet Pack: Of the Rocket Boots variety, her powered-up form includes a pair of huge jets to give her the thrust she needs to up her headbutts impact. She also has an array of smaller jets on her helmet.
- The Lad-ette: She's a rough and tumble tomboy who is Adam's best friend.
- Like Brother and Sister: She describes her relationship with Adam like this. Although Cringer initially suggests that she is jealous in the most conventional way after Teela becomes part of the team, Krass makes it clear that she only views Adam as a sibling.
- Meaningful Rename: Skeletor dubs her "Rampage" after she helps him and embraces the power of Havoc.
- Pint-Sized Powerhouse: The shortest member of the team, which is a bit odd considering her preferred fighting style would be better served with more mass behind it. Make no mistake though, she's definitely dangerous in a fight.
- Please, Don't Leave Me: Not directly stated, but Krass has clear abandonment issues which culminates in her having a huge fight with Adam when she thinks he would abandon their tribe, and by extension her, for first the Masters of the Universe gig and then his birth family. When Adam does leave the tribe in episode 7, she angrily claims she didn't need him anyway and believes he didn't need her either. This is BRUTALLY exploited by Skeletor in the Season Two finale when it seems that Adam and the other Masters are choosing to stay in Eternos while she doesn't know if she has a place there, and this, along with a case of Poor Communication Kills and a bribe to bring her dead parents back, are ultimately the breaking point for her choosing to follow Skeletor."You abandoned the tribe in exchange for some royal rags! You turned your back on me the first chance you had!"
- Primal Chest-Pound: During her Transformation Sequence, Krass beats her chest as she's filled with the power of Grayskull before becoming Ram Ma'am.
- Raised by Wolves: Krass has been raised by the tigers of the village ever since she was orphaned. Unlike Adam, she fully accepted her Stripes to become an official member of the Tiger Tribe.
- Rolling Attack: Her energy ball form can do this.
- Straight Man and Wise Guy: Forms a curious version of this dynamic with Skeletor in the third season, being the constantly annoyed, frustrated, and sarcastic Straight Woman to his cackling Wise Guy. Of course the dynamic is a lot more toxic and sinister here than is usually the case, since Skeletor is very plainly using and manipulating her.
- Super-Speed: Krass' Grayskull-infused armor allow her to travel at breakneck speeds, and when empowered with Havoc, she becomes even faster, running circles around He-Man.
- Symbiotic Possession: What ultimately becomes of her as she embraces Skeletor's ghost to become Rampage due to the Havoc crystal in her helmet, essentially working in tandem with him as shown by her new Transformation Sequence showing the two of them in sync.
- Tragic Keepsake: Her helmet belonged to her biological father. It ends up broken after she used it to save Adam in the Season 3 finale, implying that she is moving on from her parents's deaths.
- Use Your Head: As expected of someone called Ram Ma'am, she uses headbutts quite frequently.
- Weaponized Headgear: Her powered-up form has a crystal-encrusted, jet-propelled helmet which she uses to ram her enemies.
- When All You Have Is a Hammer…: Cringer teased Krass once that her frustration with Teela tempting Adam away from the tribe was because she found a problem she couldn't solve by hitting it with her helmet. Krass insists everything can be solved by her hitting it with her helmet.
- Wrecked Weapon: During "The Beginning of the End", she gives Adam her helmet to save his life from getting caught in the collapse of Castle Grayskull. It works, but the helmet (and the Ramstone) is destroyed.
- Yin-Yang Bomb: Deconstructed in Season 2. The crystal in her helmet that acts as her totem for the power of Grayskull is made of Proto-Havoc, meaning Krass has had both powers inside her. But because Grayskull and Havoc are opposites, the Havoc has prevented Krass from drawing on the full power of Grayskull and she eventually chooses the Havoc over Grayskull after Skeletor manipulates her.
Cringer - Battle Cat
Voiced by: David Kaye
"Grayskull juice makes me feel less classy."
A sapient tiger born to the jungles of Eternia. Escaping from an Evil Poacher at the cost of his claws, Cringer found the amnesiac Adam and took him into his tribe. Keeping a promise to help Adam learn the truth of his past, Cringer joined the group to Castle Grayskull and was given the power to become Battle Cat.- Adaptation Personality Change: He goes from the Lovable Coward in the original series to a wise mentor whose always ready to fight for a good cause.
- Appropriated Appellation: His name was originally given to him by R'Qazz as an insult because he refused to fight in R'Qazz's pit. Cringer though saw no shame in his refusal and proudly continued to use the name long after he had escaped.Cringer: There is no shame in refusing to fight. I'd rather be called Cringer than "Killer" any day.
- Artificial Limbs: In a way, Duncan makes him a pair of artificial claws to replace the claws R'Qazz took from him. These end up being his weapon that gets imbued with the Power of Grayskull.
- Badass Bookworm: A strong and powerful tiger who spends his downtime reading the books stored in Castle Grayskull.
- Blood Knight: Extremely Downplayed, but in what is likely a nod to the original Cringer’s personality makeover whenever he was transformed by He-Man, his Technical Pacifist attitude as Battle Cat is significantly more technical and less pacifist.Battle Cat (chasing 'Panthor'): I never knew chasing my own shadow could be this much fun!
- Boring, but Practical: Like He-Man, his abilities are very straightforward, allowing him to master them fairly quickly.
- Composite Character: He's got the body and abilities of the original Cringer, but his personality is closer to that of the original Man-At-Arms as the oldest and wisest on the team.
- Deadly Disc: His Blade Wheels Master Strike sends three massive shurikens cosmic energy at his foes, ripping those who are not durable enough to resist them apart.
- Decomposite Character: His more cowardly traits have been split into his nephew Kitty.
- Dire Beast: As Cringer, he’s already the largest character of the main cast. As Battle Cat, he dwarfs everyone.
- Flechette Storm: Battle Cat can launch the energy claws on his prosthetic front claws as razor-sharp projectiles and slash the air with enough power to send energy slashes towards foes.
- Gentle Giant: He's huge, and as Battle Cat he's even bigger — but he's good-natured, kind, and a bit of a Technical Pacifist.
- Glowing Eyes of Doom: When channeling the power of Grayskull, Battle Cat's eyes are always glowing yellow with its light.
- Handicapped Badass: R'Qazz removed his claws as punishment for refusing to fight. For tigers their claws are everything and it's treated very much as if he had lost a limb.
- I Can Still Fight!: He still insists on hunting and helping to pull his weight after he lost his claws even though his hunting prowess was greatly diminished as a result.
- Ironic Name: Unlike his original incarnation, he is not cowardly at all. He simply doesn't like to fight unless necessary.
- Panthera Awesome: Even Skeletor thinks so!
- Paper Tiger: Before he gained his prosthetics and the power of Grayskull, he was unable to meaningfully fight the metallic minions of poachers with blunt paws, old teeth, and aging muscles.
- Parental Substitute: He becomes Adam's guardian after finding him lost in the woods with amnesia. To a lesser extent, it's shown he is also caring for Krass after her parents died.
- Sapient Steed: He is easily as intelligent as any of the cast and at times He-Man does ride on his back into battle.
- Team Dad: Helped by already being a father figure to Adam and Krass but he tends to act rather fatherly toward all of the team, often referring to them as cubs and being the one who hears them out on their issues and offers wise counsel.
- Technical Pacifist: He does not like to fight — except when he has to. His Establishing Character Moment shows him facing down two poacher bots and, instead of fighting them, trying to convince them to turn against their master. Sadly, it doesn’t work.
- Wolverine Claws: Cringer uses a pair of claws made by Duncan to replace the ones that were taken from him by R'Qazz.
Duncan - Man-At-Arms
Voiced by: Antony Del Rio
- Adaptational Wimp: This Duncan lacks the age and fighting skill of his previous older counterparts. He makes up for it by being a Gadgeteer Genius and possessing powers previous versions do not.
- Adaptation Dye-Job: This iteration of Duncan has blue hair as opposed to other incarnations having brown.
- Age Lift: Is significantly younger than his normal self, being around the age of Adam and Teela, maybe a bit older.
- Ambiguously Brown: Has a more olive complexion than in most adaptations. Given his voice actor he may be the Eternian equivalent of a latino.
- Appropriated Appellation: A variation in that the title belonged to his opponent Kronis, who was bragging about being appointed to the position by King Randor before he turned traitor.Kronis: I was a Royal Weapons Master to the king! A Man-at-Arms to all Eternos!
Duncan/Man-At-Arms: Yeah? Well, I think I just got promoted to Man-At-Arms for Castle Grayskull! So…
* Breaks Kronis’s jaw*
Man-At-Arms: I quit! - Attack Drone: Man-At-Arms has a squadron of small drones he can deploy from the back of his armor. They can channel energy into projectile attacks.
- Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!: Immediately after transforming, he geeks out over the fact that his helmet has a visor that can open and close at will.
- Carry a Big Stick: His Grayskull-powered form transforms his wrench into a high tech mace.
- Cerebro Electro: Duncan is the heroes' Gadgeteer Genius and fights with a mace that can manipulate electromagnetism.
- Decomposite Character: While he eventually names himself Man-At-Arms for Castle Grayskull, his Evil Mentor Kronis is the one who held the official title as Man-at-Arms for Eternos before Keldor's coup.
- Doesn't Know Their Own Birthday: "Meanwhile..." reveals that he grew up in an orphanage. Not only does he not know his own birthday, he doesn't even know what a birthday is.
- Fatal Flaw: A lack of thinking things through. When Duncan's working on a problem, he just charges ahead with what he thinks is the solution without taking a moment to examine the situation and realize any flaw in his plan.
- When Adam, Teela, and Krass are Buried Alive, Duncan figures out how to remotely activate the thrusters of his ship buried with them to clear away the rocks. Cringer has to physically keep Duncan from starting the ignition to remind him to warn the others of the plan so they can get clear of the blast radius.
- When working to repair a damaged RK drone, Duncan uses the first data cog he finds to fix the damage without looking at anything else held in the chest with the cog. Had he read the included book, he would have known the cog held all the knowledge and memories of a great magician which made the robot think it was that magician.
- Gadgeteer Genius: His role on the team is the smart guy who's handy with technology.
- Gratuitous French: When Duncan finished repairing the RK drone, he shouts, "As they say on Avion, Et voilà!" It turns out this doesn't mean what he thinks it means in Avion terms.
- Keet: He's the most excitable of all the Masters.
- Layman's Terms: Seeing Ork-0 create a giant monster while in maker override mode, Duncan quickly works out how to stop the rampage by explaining how he's doing it in the first place. Only to notice the rest of the Masters giving him a blank stare.Duncan: Okay, Orko's moving that armor with his tractor emitters, Which we can overwork to force him into standby mode. Then I can undo Kronis' override because, ironically enough, he had me create his password. [sees the blank stares] Hit the giant monster as hard as you can, repeatedly. I'll take care of the rest.
- Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me: His mace can create shields of the electromagnetic energy it produces. He can also use these shields as hoverboards for flight.
- My Hovercraft Is Full of Eels: Duncan fancies himself as a linguist, but it turns out his research is very surface-level. While he has a passing understanding of Trollan, he gets in trouble twice in Avion when he learns the language is more contextual than he realized.Stratos: What do you think you're saying when you say that?
Duncan: Uh, "there it is"?
Stratos: [whispers the meaning to him]
Duncan: Gasp! I am so sorry! - Nice Guy: So nice in fact that he threw a Birthday Party for Skeletor when both end up trapped, inside Castle Grayskull under cosmic lockdown and uses the Wish Stone to send him, back the palace in Eternos.
- Powered Armor: His transformation grants him one of these.
- Shock Stick: His mace allows him to fire bolts of electromagnetic energy for construction or defense. He can also use these to paralyze enemies which he uses on Kronis in the season 1 finale.
- Spin Attack: The head of Man-At-Arms's mace can spin to increase damage. He uses this to send Kronis flying, breaking his jaw.
- Swiss-Army Weapon: His mace is quite versatile, described as a tool that's as fast in functionality as Duncan's own mind.
- Technopath: As Man-At-Arms, Duncan's skills with inventing extend to the point that he can control metal, stone, and technology with his powers to shape to his will.
- Time Master: With the "Speed Build" Master Strike, Man-At-Arms can slow time around himself to a crawl, letting him work his Technopath powers to construct what he needs in a fraction of the time.
- Vibrant Orange: His armor is orange and he is very excitable and talkative.
Eldress
Voiced by: Kimberly Brooks
- Adaptation Name Change: She's essentially the Sorceress from prior continuities, but is called the "Eldress" in this incarnation, due to Teela using the Sorceress identity.
- Ambiguously Related: She looks very similar to what an older Teela would look like, and shows herself to her in episode 5 to talk to her in an almost maternal manner. Prior incarnations of the Sorceress (whom the Eldress is based on) and Teela are related, but no relation has been explicitly stated in this show. She does turn out to be related to Teela, albeit Teela is her reincarnation.
- Animal Motif: The shape of her hair and ornaments give her the appearance of a cobra.
- Back for the Dead: While Edlress was able to come back to life with the wish stone, Season Three shows it was a temporary measure that leads to Eldress ultimately being Deader than Dead once the magic expires, but not before pulling a Fusion Dance with Teela that ensures her memories live on inside her Reincarnation.
- Back from the Dead: Halfway through season 2 she uses a wish stone regain physical form and return to Eternia.
- Composite Character: A bit, she acts in the same role as the original Sorceress but has the cobra animal motif of the toyline Teela.
- Decomposite Character: Turns out, she's Teela's literal Past-Life Memories, making them both direct variations of the original Sorceress.
- Exact Words: When she gave Keldor the choice between the sword and the scepter, he chose the scepter as the symbol of a ruler. She then told him to seize the power he deserved, knowing full well that he was going to be cursed by the power of Havoc.
- Hartman Hips: She's got the widest hips in the series.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Used the last of her power to send Adam away to relative safety, repel Keldor, and render the Castle invisible to Keldor, forcing him to use the Sword to make it reveal itself, reducing her to a spiritual form.
- I Did What I Had to Do: Killing King Grayskull was her greatest failure, as she let Grayskull become possessed by the Havoc he created due to her loyalty to him above reason, but it was completely justified at the time as Grayskull had become the first Skeletor by that point and nearly destroyed the world in his thirst for more power, necessitating his death to protect everyone. She also feels a great amount of guilt over annihilating the Aquaticans while imprisoning Grayskull's remains, leaving Mer-Man the Sole Survivor of his people, but only because Grayskull's corpse falling into the wrong hands could lead to someone developing a god complex with the combination of Grayskull's own natural power and Havoc being joined together in pure unison that could unmake the entire universe.
- I'm Having Soul Pains: Even as a spirit, she can still feel the pain of Havoc when its power is greatly called on in the world. She doubles over in pain, clutching her abdomen where she was struck in life when Skeletor first empowers the Dark Masters.
- Magic Staff: Eldress was the original owner of the Staff of Magic until it chose Teela to wield it after her death.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Not only did she let Keldor take the scepter that would become that Havoc staff because he was threatening Adam, setting the seeds for his transformation into Skeletor, her teleporting Adam away caused him to be stranded in the jungle with no memory, believed dead by his father. In fact, in episode 8, she looks at the recording of that event with regret.
- Put on a Bus: Eldress disappears for much of season 2, due to using up most of her magic to teleport Castle Grayskull away from the Red Legion.
- Related Differently in the Adaptation: Most incarnations of the Sorceress (who the Eldress is based upon, under a different name) are Teela's mother. In this show, Teela turns out to be the Eldress's reincarnation.
- Split-Personality Merge: In Season 3, her ultimate fate is to merge with her Reincarnation Teela, granting the latter her knowledge.
- Taking the Bullet: Took a Havoc blast to protect a young Adam from Keldor.
Ork-0
Voiced by: Tom Kenny
"I'm a work in progress."
A damaged RK security robot Duncan tried to fix. Using a data cog he found in Castle Grayskull for the repairs, Duncan unintentionally downloaded the knowledge and memories of a powerful magician into the drone, making it believe it was the great magician Orko. Eventually, the robot accepts it is not the real Orko and so names himself Ork-0.- Anthropomorphic Shift: A rare non-animal example. As a standard RK Unit, Ork-0 held himself in a droid-like format. Once given his new data cog, he holds himself in a faux-bipedial stance, with his arms visible.
- Beware the Silly Ones: Ork-0 is a pompous goofball that has genuine trouble doing what he wants to do with any effectiveness, but it’s undeniable that his abilities are very, very potent in their own right.
- Brain Uploading: The original Orko left behind a recording of his knowledge and memories at Grayskull, and when Duncan tried to use it to fix a broken RK unit, it ended up causing him to think that he was Orko.
- Brainwashed and Crazy: Kronis’s ‘maker override’ turns him into this until Duncan overrides the override and frees him.
- Character Catchphrase: "Abracadabra! Abracadee!"
- Character Development: After finally realizing he isn't the real Orko, he becomes significantly more humble and talks to the characters more normally.
- Clap Your Hands If You Believe: It turns out that magic is fueled by belief. With enough confidence, in season 3, Ork-0 manages to do actual magic.
- Clarke's Third Law: Deconstructed, as in a Science Fantasy world, the way his equipment can approximate magic makes it difficult for Ork-0 to accept that he's incapable of real spells. Come season 3 he gains magical ability through sheer belief in himself.
- Composite Character: While he carries himself as this generation's Orko, his origin of being "created" by Man-At-Arms and his status as the team's Robot Buddy also make him a version of Roboto.
- Damn You, Muscle Memory!: Heavily implied to be why Ork-0 has trouble with his ‘spells’. He’s running off the digitized memory of a master court magician which doesn’t necessarily translate to the security bot toolkit he actually has at his disposal.
- Decomposite Character: Turns out he has fake memories from a more traditional Orko, a powerful Trollan wizard who helped his race Ascend To A Higher Plane Of Existence years ago.
- Energy Weapon: Has an unspecified variant as part of his security bot toolkit, often manifesting as a Hand Blast.
- Fake Wizardry: With a hint of Sufficiently Advanced Technology due to the setting. He can’t actually cast magic, but the built-in tools he has as an RK security bot can do some pretty impressive stuff that can seem like magic. Notably, in the season 1 finale, he manages to help the Masters and King Randor escape Skeletor and a bunch of mind controlled soldiers despite being surrounded on all sides by getting them into a nearby alley. All with the one second of cover provided by a blinding flash of light. In season 3, he would eventually learn real magic .
- Fighting Clown: Starts out as Plucky Comic Relief, but quickly evolves into this after he Took a Level in Badass, becoming as competent as he is comical.
- Heroic Self-Deprecation: Despite helping bring the RK units together via the "Orkening", Ork-0 is still struck with low self-esteem, thanks to having Orko the Great's memories, but not his magic. It gets to the point that he's labeled himself "Ork-0 the Failure". After meeting the real Orko and learning his belief in himself is what gives him the ability to do real magic, he ends up gaining a permanent confidence boost.
- Holographic Disguise: Part of his security bot toolkit. In the season 1 finale, he uses it to disguise himself as one of the overridden security bots and rescues King Randor.
- Insistent Terminology: He claims his name is "Ork-0", not "Orko".
- Large Ham: Partly due to carrying the memories of a somewhat arrogant court wizard, but there’s a few times where it is shown that he is a natural, if bombastic, storyteller and stage personality.
- Meaningful Rename: After the robot accepts the truth that he isn't really the original Orko, he names himself Ork-0 and hopes to come into his own in terms of power and usefulness.
- Person of Mass Destruction: Downplayed, but when Kronis puts him in ‘maker override’ mode, he is able to use his tractor emitters to create a massive golem that trashes the capitol marketplace.
- Renamed the Same: After realizing he's not the actual Orko, he rechristens himself Ork-0, taking his RK qualification in mind. Despite this, his name is pronounced exactly the same, despite his insistence that they're different.
- Ridiculously Human Robots: Because his template from his data cog was of a living being, Ork-0's personality is very human and emotive. He is unable to eat, but he still needs sleep.
- Robot Wizard: He's a robot who thinks that he's the original Orko, and while he can't actually cast spells his tractor beam technology means that he can do some things that he thinks are spells. This changes later in season 3 where he invokes the trope.
- Rogue Drone: RK security drones operate on a hive mind together. Duncan's repairs to Ork-0 separated him from the hive mind.
- Shadowed Face, Glowing Eyes: Ork-0's designed to have a look made to invoke this, without actually being it. His eyes are lights on a screen, making them look like they're glowing in darkness.
- Sidekick: Ork-0 is somewhere between this and Sixth Ranger as while his efforts are bumbling and inexperienced and he is not able to make use of the power of Grayskull, he still joins the team and makes several critical contributions in the season 1 finale and has his own mission in Season 2. Heck, he even gets his own Evil Counterpart in this series’ version of Tri-Klops.
- Smug Super: The personality he gains when he's first turned on with his new personality is heroic and altruistic, but ridiculously arrogant and haughty, with a tendency to treat those he deems weaker than himself with Condescending Compassion. Since his personality is based on the writings and recordings of the original Orko the Great, it's hinted that the original Orko, due to his powers, was the same. After learning about his true nature, he becomes a lot kinder.
- Tomato in the Mirror: Thanks to the data cog that Duncan used to repair him containing information on the original Orko, he genuinely thinks that he is Orko for a couple of episodes. When he realizes the truth, he's rather devastated.
- Took a Level in Badass: Somewhere between the end of episode 7 and the start of episode 9 he manages to overcome the disconnect between the memories of Orko the Great and his RK security bot toolkit to become very competent with his abilities. By the time of Season Three, he takes a step further by being able to perform real magic despite his initial inability to do magic due to being a robot.
- Tractor Beam: He can use his tractor beam technology to simulate telekinesis.
- You Are Number 6: RK Units are identified by their four digit serial numbers. Ork-0's serial number is 1-9-8-3.
Snake Mountain
General
- Adaptational Badass: These villains are much more effective than in most depictions, actually winning their share of fights with their good counterparts.
- Adaptation Name Change: Usually Skeletor’s minions are referred to as the Evil Warriors but they are known as the Dark Masters here, likely to accentuate the fact that they’re Evil Counterpart to the heroes.
- Arch-Enemy: Each of the Dark Masters is a Nemesis to one of the Masters of the Universe, a dark reflection who represents a weakness, fear, or flaw that must be overcome.
- Calling Your Attacks: Much like their adversaries they have their own Master Strikes:
- Combination Attack: Evil-Lyn and Trap Jaw can combine their powers together to create the Dreadwing, a Magitek fighter jet modeled after a giant bat.
- The Dark Side: They draw their power from Havoc, an evil corruptive force which is the opposite to the heroes' Light and Justice.
- Deck of Wild Cards: Evelyn and Kronis clearly don't like each other and Keldor makes it clear he doesn't trust either of them. When Evelyn, Kronis and R'Qazz attempt to take Skeletor's power for themselves, he reveals he planned for this and enslaves them to his will.
- Enemy Mine: Have a few moments of these with the Masters in Season three.
- Evil Makes You Monstrous: The Power of Havoc gives them a monstrous look that reflects the worst in people, but is completely minimal with Evil-Lyn with only her eyes and wings being the only things that look monstrous, and Rampage who is mostly just a recolor of Ram Ma'am's outfit with a few changes.
- The Exile: Kronis and Evelyn were banished from Eternos for their part in Keldor's attempted coup against his brother Randor.
- Gambit Pileup: Season three has Evelyn, Kronis, and R'Qazz all formulating their own plans that they keep secret from each other.
- Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal: By the end of Season 2, Kronis and R'Qazz both allow He-Man to break Skeletor's Havoc Staff after being freed from his control.
- Obviously Evil: The only one that even attempts to put on a pretense of being anything else is Keldor (before his transition to Skeletor) when he wants to get close to Adam to steal the Sword of Power and even after seemingly saving everyone's lives, Adam's friends are still suspicious of him.
- Painful Transformation: Played with. Compared to the transformation sequences of the members of Castle Grayskull, the transformations via Havoc energy are practically torturous, with Evelyn and Rampage's transformations being the exception (Albeit more emotionally painful on Rampage's end). Of note is R'Qazz, who rips open his own chest and has his own body petrified of its life force and has his Beast Man form crawl out of his stone body.
- The Psycho Rangers: Each of them is an Evil Counterpart to one of the heroes, with only Ram Ma'am missing one until she becomes her own nemesis Rampage in the Season Two finale.
- Red Baron: Like the Masters of the Universe, each of them has a title, though several are only listed in the guidebook.
- Skeletor, Dark Master of Havoc.
- Trap Jaw, Dark Master of Weaponry.
- Evil-Lyn, Dark Master of Witchcraft.
- Beast Man, Dark Master of Beasts.
- Rampage, Dark Master of Destruction.
- Secondary Color Nemesis: With the exception of R'Qazz all of them have purple, green or both in their designs. Although Beast Man plays it straight by being primarily orange.
- Sickly Green Glow: Their source of power is Havoc, an evil magical energy which glows green.
- Sigil Spam: Like the Power of Grayskull, those transformed by Havoc have a mark of its power, a fanged mouth, somewhere on their bodies.
- The Starscream: All of Skeletor's subordinates want to betray him.
- Transformation Trinket: Skeletor used kirbinite to turn an object for each of his Dark Masters into a totem to harness the power of Havoc so they can transform like he did.
Prince Keldor - Skeletor
Voiced by: Ben Diskin
"Welcome... to the age. Of. Skeletor!"
The younger brother of King Randor. Keldor kidnapped Adam to access Castle Grayskull to take its power and usurp the throne. He was cursed with Havoc and spent ten years in stasis to try and heal. After awakening and another failed attempt at the power of Grayskull, Keldor embraces the power of Havoc and is transformed into Skeletor.- 0% Approval Rating:
- As he makes it clear that he intends to keep all the spoils of victory for himself, the other Dark Masters plot to overthrow him by tricking him into sharing his Havoc. Their rebellion is quickly squashed because Skeletor made sure he would be able to use Havoc to control them after sharing it. By Season 2, Kronis and R'Qazz have enough of being controlled by Skeletor and allow He-Man to destroy the Havoc Staff, even if it means losing their Havoc, just so they will no longer be controlled.
- While Skeletor rules Eternos, the whole population can't stand him and only put up with him because he's mind controlled the army.
- Adaptation Relationship Overhaul: Downplayed as the characters are still overall antagonistic toward each other, but Adam and Keldor are established to have at least known each other prior to the former's amnesia, with the main animated incarnation that featured a pre-Skeletor Keldor, the 2002 version, having not known him until after he was born.
- Adaptational Badass: This version Skeletor is a powerhouse, genius planner, and was capable of taking on He-Man before his transformation. After said transformation, he’s one of the most powerful characters on the show. He's also the most successful Skeletor to date, having succeeded in his plans in the first two seasons by the skin of his teeth, coming into an increasingly more terrifying position of power with each victory. He reaches his pinnacle in Season Three, when he becomes an all powerful, cosmic version of himself that's more akin to a skeletal Kaiju dragon after absorbing the power of Grayskull and Havoc together, trumping even his supposed Godlike status of his Skelegod-self from Masters of the Universe: Revelation as he threatens to remake all of existence a reflection of himself.
- Adaptational Modesty: His Keldor form wears a robe which covers up most of his body, rather than a fairly straightforward headswap of his later form as in the 2002 series. As Skeletor, he has pants, whereas prior incarnations only had a loincloth.
- Adaptational Ugliness: While previous Skeletors were never pretty pictures to begin with, this one has his left hand forearm melted into a skeleton.
- Ain't Too Proud to Beg: After losing the powers of Havoc, Grayskull, and his left arm, Skeletor is left defeated and at the mercy of the Masters of the Universe. As He-Man approaches, Skeletor frantically yields hoping to save his life.
- An Arm and a Leg: How he's ultimately defeated by Adam and the Masters of the Universe in the end, as he cuts off the giant arm fused with Havoc during their final showdown, forcibly depowering him back to normal Skeletor. He gets better once Adam purges the Havoc from his body and heals him back to his normal Keldor form.
- Animal Lover: Well, love might be a bit too strong of a word for him, but he expresses a fondness for Cringer both as Keldor and as Skeletor rather than the contempt he has for Adam and the rest of his companions, not to mention his questioning of R'Qazz and, later, his demands towards his minions of wanting a "Battle Cat of his own" implies a general intrigue in having animal companions, something of a Mythology Gag given his close companionship with Panthor in other continuities.
- Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: "He-Man and the Masters of the Universe: Heroes and Villains Guidebook" lists his dark ambitions as a checklist. Conqure Eternia, enslave its people, steal its resources, capture Castle Grayskull, and finish his autobiography.
- Assimilation Plot: His plan in Season 3 is to transform everyone in Eternia into “Skeledrones”, essentially making them into an army of clones. Once he gets access to the power of Grayskull and Havoc combined, his plan escalates to doing this to the entire universe.
- Back from the Dead: Via possessing King Grayskull's remains, he is able to restore himself to a corporeal form after being rendered a ghost for most of the third season. Taken a step farther when Adam ultimately cures Keldor of Havoc upon being defeated, returning him to being an ordinary human with no magic instead of a perpetually near-dead freak of nature empowered by Havoc... he takes that second part rather poorly.
- The Bad Guy Wins: Season 1 ends with him managing to take control of Eternos by brainwashing the guards, forcing his brother and the heroes to flee.
- Pulls off an even bigger victory despite his seeming death in finale of Season Two by corrupting Krass to reform the Sigil of Hiss, allowing him to become an incorporeal god of undeath reviving all the dead Snake People with Havoc to conquer all of Eternia.
- Pulls off his biggest victory in the finale of Season Three as he becomes an all-powerful god being fueled by the Power and Havoc upon being brought Back from the Dead, nearly remaking the entirety of creation into an extension of himself. However, he finally hits the Karma Houndini Warranty after three seasons of net positives as he overestimates himself and lets the pride get to him, allowing He-Man and the Masters of the Universe to De-power him, returning him back to ordinary Keldor altogether after stripping him completely of Havoc, before sending him to be locked up in the dungeons of Eternos for his crimes by Randor.
- Badass Boast: In Season Three, after obtaining the Powers of Grayskull and Havoc to become a Physical God.Skeletor: I am the Power!
- Bait the Dog: Skeletor shows a couple moments of seeming empathy, particularly while celebrating with Duncan, getting along with the Dark Masters, persuading Krass to join him, and even showing surprising somberness at his and Randor's relationship falling apart. This all falls by the wayside - every arrangement he makes has a cruel twist that benefits him, and he tries to turn all of Eternia to his brainwashed, undead slaves before then trying to remake reality in his own image.
- Big Bad: Prince Keldor sought to steal the Power of Grayskull to usurp the throne from his brother. As Skeletor, he seeks to Take Over the World and reach ever higher from there.
- Beware the Silly Ones: He's one of the sillier versions of Skeletor, often cracking jokes, but he's also one of the only ones roughly on par with He-Man in terms of sheer power. He also beats He-Man in a straight fight, breaks the Power Sword, and ends the season sitting on Eternos' throne, making him one of the more successful versions of him at the same time.
- Season Two takes this further with the amount of ridiculous or humiliating positions he willingly puts himself through for his plans; such as dancing with explosive robots to avoid blowing up so he can acquire a piece of the Sigil to willingly celebrating his birthday with Duncan while trapped within a Pocket Dimension only to exploit the knowledge to make a move on finally destroying Castle Grayskull once and for all, showing that no matter how silly he allows himself to be, he is without a doubt THE Big Bad of the series for a reason.
- Bond Villain Stupidity: He is so eager to claim the Eternos throne that after capturing Adam and his friends he doesn't bother to stick around to make sure that they die after chaining them to a platform slowly sinking into a pool of liquid Havoc.
- Book Ends: His journey for absolute power for the first four episodes begins and ends at Snake Mountain.
- Breaking Old Trends: This is the first time since the minicomics and 1983 where Skeletor hasn't worn a cape, whereas his 2002, 2012 comics, and Revelation counterparts wore one. This is Justified because capes are notoriously difficult to animate in CGI.
- Brought Down to Normal: In the season 3 finale, He-Man uses the Sword of Power to remove all traces of Havoc from Skeletor, reverting him back to Keldor.
- Call-Back: When he sought the power of Grayskull to heal his Havoc affliction, Keldor said he couldn't rule anything as a pile of cursed bones. In Season Three, Skeletor quips to himself that he really will rule as a pile of cursed bones as he planed to ressurect himself using the Havoc-infused remains of King Grayskull.
- Card-Carrying Villain: This Skeletor might enjoy being evil more than any other incarnation shown. He even asks R'Qazz if the animals under his control turn evil and shows approval when R'Qazz says they can be. Justified, as his transformation into Skeletor revolved entirely around fully embracing Havoc.
- Chain Pain: Several of his spells involve chains in some fashion. The green chains he usually emits are strong enough to hold He-Man, and are able to break the Sword of Power.
- Chained by Fashion: Skeletor has a dark purple chain around his waist acting as a belt. Occasionally, his left arm is depicted having a chain wrapped around it as well.
- Chest Insignia: As Prince Keldor, he wore the crest of Eternos over his robes. As Skeletor, he wears a large horned skull on his chest and shoulders in the likeness of his Havoc Staff.
- Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: Even before turning into Skeletor he's shown to utterly lack loyalty to anyone. He betrayed his brother, King Randor, during the coup. He planned to betray Evelyn and Kronis after they helped him with the coup (but didn't get the chance). When they finally double-crossed him, he revealed that he'd already double-crossed them. Basically, the one thing you can count on from him is betrayal. It backfires on him once he loses grip of the Havoc Staff, as R'Qazz and Kronis hold him back and let Adam destroy it after the two spent a majority of Season 2 brainwashed. It is heavily implied that in the finale however, realizing his mistakes, his ghost seeks to instead earnestly earn Ram Ma'am's compliance and partnership than take her over by force via Demonic Possession due to realizing where this trope got him in the end. However, after getting a physical body back, he reveals he was never dealing with her in good faith at all.
- CloudCuckoolander: He was a lot more serious when he was Keldor. His transformation seems to have done more to his head than remove his skin.
- Composite Character: In the season 2 finale, he appears as a greenish ghost, making him resemble Scare Glow.
- Cool Bike: Take Skeletor's classic mount Panthor, turn him into a flying havoc-powered motorcycle perfect for inflicting pain, and make it a birthday gift from Trap Jaw.
- The Corrupter: After being rendered incorporeal and attaching his soul to the Havoc stone embedded into Krass's helmet, he prods at and tempts her into betraying the Masters to revive her parents, which he succeeds at.
- Crazy-Prepared: Skeletor is a crafty individual who sets up more than one plan for his continued rise to power.
- Skeletor claimed he needed to upgrade his Havoc Staff with Kirbinite so that he could infuse others with Havoc like He-Man was able to do with the Power of Grayskull. When the Dark Masters attempted their coup against him, Skeletor reveals that he never needed the Kirbinite to give them Havoc, but to control them through its power, having long anticipated their treason.
- When it's clear he's on the verge of defeat, all of his allies have abandoned him, and he's about to be obliterated by his own scepter as it's fragmenting; Skeletor willingly passes over to the Havoc crystal in Ram Ma'am's helmet that he took note of earlier in the season to invoke a Symbiotic Possession that would inevitably cause her to make a Face–Heel Turn due to her insecurities and allow him to come back with a win anyway.
- Cursed with Awesome: At first, Havoc was a curse that would kill him over time. But when Keldor fully embraced its power, the Havoc stabilized and gave him full control of its dark power. Skeletor outright calls it a blessing in disguise after his transformation.
- Deadpan Snarker: It wouldn’t be Skeletor if he wasn’t sarcastic. He’s got some of the best lines on the show.
- Decomposite Character: Season 3 reveals that Keldor wasn't the first Skeletor, with King Grayskull becoming the original after being fully corrupted by Havoc. Keldor also ends up depowered by the end of the third season, with it being heavily implied the Skeledrone R'Qazz, due to claiming the Havoc Staff, will take his place in the power vacuum.
- De-power: At the end of Season Three, He-Man forcibly transforms him back to Keldor after purging the curse of Havoc from him completely, allowing him to be imprisoned to face his crimes before Randor.
- Don't Explain the Joke: While Keldor warms himself by a fire, Evelyn and Kronis ask if he's cold. He admits there's a chill in his bones he can't shake. When they don't laugh, he turns around and repeats, "A chill? In my bones?" while presenting his Skeletal Appendage. When they still don't laugh, Keldor just groans and changes the subject.
- Et Tu, Brute?: Hilariously defied, when Skeletor is being double crossed in an attempt by the Dark Masters, showing he long anticipated it and retaliated accordingly, but not before having fun acknowledging all the drama of this trope.Skeletor: (feigning shock) Oh, Oh no. Are you coup-blocking ME with a coup of your own? Is there no honor among thieves?
- However, it is played more seriously and straight when Skeletor is betrayed by Trap Jaw and Beast Man, tired of having been brainwashed for half of the season against their will, at his lowest point about to be defeated. Skeletor is practically on his knees begging them to help him, only to be ignored and restrained by the two of them as they shatter the scepter much to his shock that they'd turn their back on the power he was offering them.
- Evil Cannot Comprehend Good:
- In episode 3:
"The Sword wouldn't do that for me when I tried using it. I wonder why. Is a better fighter not worthy? One who makes decisions without hesitation. A champion that isn't some child playing at being a man!"- In the Season 3 finale, he didn't understand why Adam changed him back to his former form, Keldor. Adam simply told him it was the right thing to do, and doesn't expect him to understand.
- Evil Counterpart: He serves as the Anti-He Man, both are princes of Eternos with powers from Castle Grayskull, but Skeletor is not interested in friendship and acts more controlling about sharing his power.
- Evil Feels Good: When he finally embraces Havoc in episode 3, realizing that the power of Grayskull is a "tool of a soldier".
- Evil Laugh: Like any decent version of Skeletor, he has a magnificent evil laugh.
- Evil Sounds Raspy: After transforming into Skeletor, Keldor's smooth voice is replaced with a raspy one, even when he isn't playing up his evilness.
- Evil Uncle: He is Adam's uncle and if the skeletal face and loud cackling didn't clue you in, he is absolutely evil.
- Expressive Skull: Per usual, perhaps moreso than any other version of Skeletor so far which helps with his sillier portrayal.
- Fate Worse than Death: Keldor clearly considers being returned to a normal, depowered, human to be a far worse fate then dying as he is shown screaming and desperately yielding to Adam when he strips the Havoc from his body.
- Fully-Embraced Fiend: Keldor fully embraces his transformation into a skeletal abomination with rampent glee, and in fact doing so makes him more powerful (due to Havoc's nature). He even admits he could transform back to Keldor if he wanted to, but has zero interest in doing so.
- Henshin Hero: Averted. Unlike the Masters of the Universe or the Dark Masters, Keldor's transformation into Skeletor is permanent.
- Season Two, however, shows this trope is actually played straight, as he sheepishly reveals with his expressions when asked by Duncan that he actually could revert back into being Keldor if he wished, but due to considering That Man Is Dead and plus being Drunk On Power, he chooses to permanently remain as Skeletor instead. Something proven to be the case when his specter is fractured and for a brief couple of flashes, he begins reverting back to Keldor before his corporeal body is obliterated.
- Hidden Depths: Keldor occasionally has moments of apparent empathy, such as celebrating his birthday with Duncan and showing a surprising somberness while Randor talks about losing family, though these ultimately prove to mean nothing to him in pursuit of power.
- Go-Karting with Bowser: On the receiving end of this as he is forced to spend a considerable part of his birthday with Duncan after they get trapped in a Pocket Dimension, ultimately enjoying himself more than he cares to admit.
- Godhood Seeker: In Season Two, Skeletor is after the Sigil of Hssss for its power to raise the dead as an undead army. He likens holding the power of life and death as the power of a god and is eager to have such a title. Season three expands on this, revealing that the Sigil of Hssss was only the first step towards godhood. He used the snake men as a work force to uncover the tomb of King Grayskull so he could use his remains in a ritual to ressurect himself with absolute power.
- I Am the Noun: Used as a badass boast in Season Three after obtaining both the powers of Grayskull and Havoc.Skeletor: I am the Power!
- Ignored Epiphany: Multiple scenes show that Skeletor might have glimmers of empathy, but he presses on no matter what.
- I Lied: Sends his minions out to get Kirbinite, saying it needs to be added to their weapons so he can share Havoc with them. Once they betray him he enslaves their minds, revealing the real reason for the Kirbinite was so he could use Havoc to control the other Dark Masters.
- In Their Own Image: After gaining both the power of Havoc and Grayskull, he decides to reshape the entire universe in his image - literally, changing planets so they have his face on them.
- Irony: At the start of the show Keldor desperately wanted Adam to use the Power to heal him of his corruption before eventually fully embracing Havoc and becoming Skeletor. At the end of Season 3 Adam fulfills his original wish and uses his power to fully heal Skeletor of his Havoc corruption and turn him back into Keldor... which he no longer wants as this means he is now nothing more then a normal human and has to pay for his crimes in Eternos's dungeon.
- Lack of Empathy: ZigZagged all over the place. He'll have some surprisingly human and emotional moments, only to go right back to trampling over everyone and everything in his pursuit of power. He ultimately casts any empathy aside when he decides to turn all life into Skeledrones and later obliterate reality.
- Large Ham: Once he embraces Havoc he really starts to enjoy being evil.
- Laughably Evil: As Skeletor, he is proud to be a villain. Between that, his hamminess and eccentricities, it's impossible not to get a laugh out of his antics.
- Laughing Mad: Keldor breaks into his first true bout of mad cackling after choosing to fully embrace Havoc. As Skeletor, he's very prone to laughing maniacally. He also does this yet again as his corporeal body is destroyed, presumably because he was aware that he wasn't finished quite yet.
- Legacy Character: As revealed in Season Three, Keldor was not the first Skeletor. King Grayskull was after creating Havoc and succumbing to it to defeat the Snakes.
- Life Drinker: Briefly as Keldor, he could drain the lives of other beings to briefly hide his Red Right Hand that turns them into lifeless statues, but he either completely forgoes it altogether or is no longer a power he possesses by the time he fully embraces being Skeletor instead.
- Love Is a Weakness: When He-Man admits that, despite everything, he was sad when he thought his uncle died, Skeletor merely wonders aloud if King Randor will "show such weakness" when he lays Adam's broken body at his feet.
- Magic Knight: He had considerable skill casting spells with his Havoc magic when he was still Keldor and after becoming Skeletor he gains great physical strength to go along with it. Using both allows him to defeat He-Man in one-on-one combat.
- Magic Staff: The Havoc Staff as usual, which was originally a scepter from Castle Grayskull, transformed by a large amount of Havoc.
- Manipulative Bastard: He becomes more and more scheming and manipulative as the show goes on. In Season One, he's not quite the schemer his original Filmation counterpart was, but he's still pretty good at pulling people's strings. By Season Two, he proves to be quite the Xanatos Speed Chess master even in what seems like his moment of defeat and seemingly being Killed Off, managing to become The Corrupter on Krass into fulfilling his plans anyway, allowing him to become an incorporeal god of undeath with the Sigil of Hiss in the closing of the season.
- Mind-Control Device: With his staff's new Kirbinite upgrade, Skeletor can now use Havoc to control the minds of others, which grants him and army and a trump card against the Dark Master’s betrayal, and is a key factor in his plans.
- Motive Decay: A slight one compared to the past incarnations. While still desiring the throne of Eternia, he no longer desires the power of Grayskull as he's discovered an evil version of it called Havoc.
- Mythology Gag: His glowing red eyes are similar to his incarnation from The New Adventures of He-Man, where he sported similar red eyes in his second design.
- Near-Villain Victory: As is appropriate considering the number of times Skeletor succeeds in his plans the end of Season 3 sees Skeletor on the cusp of his greatest victory yet after using the Sword of Power and the Havoc staff in tandem to transform himself into an giant god like Kaiju and traveling to the heart of the universe to remake it in his own image. Fortunately the Masters are able to access their own inner powers and, after a grueling battle, are able to separate Skeletor from the Sword and Staff and strip him of his power, saving the universe and ending his reign for good.
- Never My Fault: He blames Castle Grayskull for not chosing him as Champion. Although he probably thanked it for making him realize the power of Havoc suits him more."So it chose to ruin me out of spite?!"
- Obviously Evil: Even before becoming Skeletor, the heroes are suspicious of him after he "saves" them from some poacher bots, with even Adam thinking he's kind of shifty even before he steals the sword.
- Obfuscating Insanity: Implied. Throughout Season 1 after the opening five-parter, he seems almost entirely obsessed with increasing the effectiveness of Havoc, but in the finale, spells out that he knew that his underlings were going to betray him, and outright states that he could have given them their power whenever he wanted, but that he wouldn't have been able to control them without the Kirbinite, at one point speaking in a register similar to when he was Keldor, suggesting he plays up some of his kookiness to make potential enemies underestimate him.
- One-Winged Angel: Skeletor gets a couple in quick succession with each other in Season 3. After resurrecting himself using King Grayskull's bones Skeletor gains a new form that greatly resembles his Skelegod form that is easily a match for He-Man and Rampage working together. After gaining the Sword of Power he uses it in tandem with the Havok Staff to become a monstrous Kaiju that is strong enough to open a hole in reality and remake the universe at his whim.
- Pet the Dog: For all the abuse and torturous brainwashing he levels at his Dark Masters, he does show genuine appreciation to them when they earnestly do something for him; namely Kronis off-the-cuff making him a panther-themed hoverbike called "Painthor" for his birthday makes Skeletor almost giddy and slack-jawed the entire time he stares at it like a kid after having opened a present.
- Physical God: Becomes a giantic cosmic terror in the Season Three finale after absorbing Grayskull and Havoc's power into himself through the Sword of Power and the Scepter, able to reshape the entire universe at will once he gets into the Heart of the Universe.
- Possessing a Dead Body: Skeletor is able to ressurect himself in Season Three through a ritual using the skeletal remains of King Grayskull as a new physical body.
- Power Degeneration: The power of Havoc was initially killing Keldor when he was first afflicted with it, rotting his left hand down to the bone and progressively eating more of him little by little. He was desperate to claim the power of Grayskull to try and heal himself, but eventually chose to embrace the power of Havoc fully. This choice stabilized the Havoc so his life was no longer at risk, but fully mutated him into Skeletor.
- Prophecy Twist: Despite what it's believed initially by Adam and the Masters of the Universe, Keldor is the proper heir to Grayskull... since Grayskull created both the Power of Grayskull AND Havoc himself, before being corrupted into the first Skeletor in the process of fighting the Snake People. The downside however, is that this further entitles Keldor to believe he is the rightful king of everything and that it should all be remade in his own image.
- Psychopathic Manchild: He makes bad puns on a fairly regular basis, gets irritated when nobody takes him seriously, and thinks Cringer is cool due to him being a talking tiger, saying that he wants "a Battle Cat for [his] birthday" when he sees He-Man riding him. He even forces the citizens of Eternos to bring him presents for his birthday, getting annoyed and telling them to stop singing, even though he told them to do so in the first place.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: When channeling the power of Havoc, Keldor's eyes took on a sinister red glow, though he could suppress it at will. Once he became Skeletor, all that was left of his eyes were two gleaming red points.
- Red Right Hand: More like Red Left Hand. After attempting to tap into Grayskull's power using the scepter, his hand, and part of his arm, are entirely skeletonized. He wears a glove over it while meeting with Adam to hide it during his first impression, and it remains as such as Skeletor. Draining the life force from others temporarily changes it back, but not for long.
- Reports of My Death Were Greatly Exaggerated: He was in stasis for ten years, but everyone believed him dead along with Adam.
- Running Gag: He has a tendency to make bad puns that nobody reacts to, which annoys him.
- Sadistic Choice: When Evelyn and Kronis capture He-Man's allies, Keldor demands that He-Man unlock the power of Grayskull and give it to him or he would use the Havoc to mutate the others into monsters. He-Man is able to stall Keldor long enough for Teela to pick the lock on her cuffs and free the others.
- Secret Test of Character: When he first arrived at Castle Grayskull demanding its power, Eldress gave him a choice between a sword and a scepter to use as a focus for the power. Keldor dismissed the Sword of Power as the tool of a soldier, a servant, and chose the scepter as the symbol of a ruler. Instead of the power of Grayskull, he was given the power of Havoc for his selfishness.
- Shapeshifter Mode Lock: Unlike the other Masters or Dark Masters, Keldor's transformation into Skeletor is a permanent curse that can't be undone. Even if he could transform back, Skeletor would never give up his power even briefly.
- Actually revealed to be Averted in Season Two, as Skeletor could revert back to Keldor if he wished now that he has complete control over the Havoc coursing through his body, but he never would voluntarily revert back to the being he was.
- Skeletal Appendage: When Keldor was cursed with Havoc, one of the first changes was rotting his left arm to the bone.
- Skeletons in the Coat Closet: Skeletor wears a massive skull on his chest.
- Skull for a Head: After fully embracing the power of Havoc, Prince Keldor is mutated further to the point of losing the flesh from his face. He embraces the new look as well, renaming himself Skeletor. By his demise, it's all that's left of his corporeal form.
- Slasher Smile: Repeatedly to frightening effect, especially after Keldor becomes Skeletor, to the point that it typically shows him dropping his CloudCuckoolander tendencies to reveal he's a Not-So-Harmless Villain.
- Southpaw Advantage: It's not directly stated as a reason why Keldor/Skeletor is such a difficult opponent, but he is clearly either left-handed or ambidextrous and he's easily the most difficult opponent the Masters have so far faced in or out of melee.
- Start My Own: Renames himself Skeletor as an insult to Grayskull and to mark how he intends to supplant its legacy with his own.
- Straight Man and Wise Guy: In Season Three, he is the Wise Guy to Krass's put-upon Straight Woman. He clearly has tons of fun Trolling and annoying her even as he manipulates her for his own means, even commenting that he finds her a lot more entertaining than his normal stooges.
- Suicidal Sadistic Choice: In the penultimate episode of season one, Skeletor destroys the Sword of Power and De-Powers the Master of the Universe. He then has them chained to a platform and submerged into a pool of Havoc. Either they embrace the power of Havoc and serve him as his Dark Masters, or they drown. Eldress, Krass, and Ork-0 are able to save the others.
- Super-Empowering: With the kirbinite upgrade to his Havoc Staff, Skeletor is able to infuse his followers with the power of Havoc and turn them into the Dark Masters. Although he didn't need it, as the kirbinite was just to give the staff its mind-controlling powers.Skeletor: Through the purity of Havoc, they have my power!
- Tainted Veins: Sometimes when calling on the power of Havoc, Skeletor's neck glows with green veins underneath his hood, similar to the glowing lines on He-Man's Arms.
- That Man Is Dead: Affirms as much to Duncan while they are trapped that Keldor doesn't exist anymore, and that all that remains is Skeletor who seeks to conquer all of Eternia now.
- Then Let Me Be Evil: Realizing that Grayskull is completely incompatible with who he is as a person, he throws away all shame and pretense to embrace Havoc wholeheartedly, completing his transformation into Skeletor.
- Top-Heavy Guy: If you ignore the skeletal parts of him, Skeletor has basically the same build as He-Man.
- Troll: At least half the reason Skeletor does anything is he just loves messing with people.
- Undeathly Pallor: Once he finishes the transition to Skeletor, his remaining skin turns a very unhealthy blue.
- Vagueness Is Coming: Before being arrested after his defeat he takes his time to vaguely and mockingly inform the heroes about the upcoming arrival of the Evil Horde albeit without going into detail about the evil that's coming.
- Villain Has a Point: When Krass turns against him, she points out she threw away everything for his false promise of resurrecting her parents. Skeletor smugly states that "everything" must not have been that important to her. Krass reacts by charging him, showing that he struck a nerve.
- Villain Override: He builds in a method of controlling his minions when upgrading their weapons to channel the power of Havoc. It comes back to bite him in the penultimate episode of Season Two, due to his minions getting sick and tired of being mind-controlled and, when given the opportunity, help orchestrate his defeat and subsequent death.
- Villain Respect: At one point he is giving each of the Masters a scathing insult, except Cringer. Because he considers talking tigers awesome by definition.
- This persists even after his transformation into Skeletor, despite being annoyed by He-Man's continued survival, as he shows a giddiness towards Cringer, enough to want a Battle Cat of his own for "his birthday".
- Villainous Breakdown: In the penultimate episode of Season Two, when He-Man and friends wear him down to the point he's struggling to stand or maintain the brainwashing that keeps Trap Jaw, Beast Man, and the Red Legion still loyal to him; Skeletor flat out loses it and shows he's Not Too Proud To Beg, frantic to save himself by any means necessary as he's just as helpless to stop them from shattering the Scepter that powers him just as He-Man was helpless to stop Skeletor from shattering the Power Sword. However, just as he's about to suffer a fittingly Karmic Death by his own powers failing him, he immediately turns this around when he realizes that he can transfer himself into the Havoc crystal embedded in Ram Ma'am's helmet to turn his defeat around.
- Villains Never Lie: In season 3, Skeletor told Rampage that he'll bring her parents back... as zombies, along with everyone else.
- Vocal Evolution: After his transformation into Skeletor, his voice becomes more scratchy and high-pitched. When dealing with the Dark Masters' mutiny, his voice does briefly return to Keldor's register during an aside, indicating that the changed voice is just him embracing his part as the Evil Overlord.
- With Great Power Comes Great Insanity: Keldor's desperate attempt to cure himself of Havoc affliction has driven him mad before the series began. When he returns to Grayskull, he fully embraces his curse and become Skeletor, now well past the point of madness.
Evelyn - Evil-Lyn
Voiced by: Grey DeLisle
"I do so love the sound of my own voice!"
A witch capable of casting magic with spoken words. She was part of Prince Keldor's failed coup and continued to seek the power of Grayskull before being recruited once more by Keldor.- Adaptation Species Change: While she does look human she is not much human as she seems, considering her father is Hordak, who is non-human.
- Animal Motif: Like Teela, her transformation powers take on a spiritual animal form. In Evil-Lyn's, case it's a bat. Lampshaded in season three, as Evil-Lyn doesn't know why Havoc turns her into a bat, since she doesn't even like bats.
- Beauty Is Never Tarnished: The Power of Havoc turned R'Qazz and Kronis into pretty ugly hulking monsters, but for some reason just gave Evelyn a makeover and long hair, the most monstrous of her changes being her now purple eyes and a pair of magical bat wings growing out of her head. It's implied that this is at least partly because Havoc brings out your inner darkness, which for a Narcissist would logically include looking attractive.
- Card-Carrying Villain: It's lampshaded that "Evil-lyn" is rather on-the-nose.
- Character Development: Despite starting just as petty as the other Dark Masters and being Driven by Envy, Evelyn's exile and successive Wild Card status leads her to re-evaluate herself and develop something more of a code of honor, wondering exactly where she wants to go in life while still being a villain.
- The Chessmaster: Where Keldor is a more on-the-nose planner, Evil-Lyn learns to play things a bit more to her advantage by slowly drip-feeding others information, joining whoever seems useful, and using her allies like pawns. Ultimately, she proves excellent at it, hindered only by her complete lack of endgame.
- Composite Character: Her status as Hordak's daughter is one usually held by Princess Adora/She-Ra (though Adora was Hordak's adopted daughter rather than his biological one like Lyn seems to be).
- Court Mage: She was King Randor's royal magician in Eternos but came to resent him for turning down her desires to utilize the Power of Grayskull. She was exiled after Keldor's failed coup and the position was discontinued ever since.
- Dartboard of Hate: Evelyn drew a crude drawing of Teela on one of Snake Mountain's walls to use as target practice for her magic.
- De-power: Skeletor, outraged at Evil-Lyn for preventing him from taking the first Sigil piece for fear of instigating a war with Avion, destroys her Orb of Witchcraft, cutting her off from the Power of Havoc.
- Driven by Envy: Evelyn spent her life mastering magic and seeking the power of Grayskull for herself. When Teela "lucks into" being chosen by the power and becomes Sorceress, Evelyn becomes obsessed with proving herself better to Teela in every way. She takes a Magic Staff to be her totem for Havoc just as Teela did, which Skeletor comments on, and her transformation into Evil-Lyn has the most one-to-one parallels as Teela's Evil Counterpart than any other Dark Master (including Skeletor).
- Evil Counterpart: She is this to Teela/Sorceress, with both mastering magic with a cosmic space on their design.
- Fatal Flaw: Evil-Lyn's main issue is being Driven by Envy toward Teela, being nothing short of petty in how far she'll go to surpass any others. As she begins to get over this, she realizes she had no plans beyond "Be a powerful, respected witch" and begins to wonder about her place as a villain beyond being Teela's rival.
- Foreshadowing: Her connection to Hordak is hinted at in "In-Can't-Ation"; she notes that Havoc is supposed to bring out your inner truth, yet her transformation has a bat motif, and she doesn't even like bats.
- Not only that, but her transformation logo does look a lot like the 2018 Horde logo.
- Flight: Evelyn can fly with a spoken spell, coating herself in an aura of her own magic as she levitates. As Evil-Lyn, she's capable of flight without the extra spell.
- Hartman Hips: Her hips are noticeably wider than her torso and move with an exaggerated seductive sway when she walks.
- Large Ham: Not quite on the level of Keldor/Skeletor, and she's often just being a Deadpan Snarker... but if she gets excited or angry, she begins Chewing the Scenery like nobody's business.
- Lean and Mean: Evelyn is a Wicked Witch and very thin despite her Hartman Hips.
- Magical Incantation: In contrast to Teela's Magical Gesture method, she primarily channels her magic through verbal spells.
- Magic Staff: Her totem is a staff dubbed the Orb of Witchcraft, apparently chosen in direct response to Teela's Staff of Magic.
- Motive Decay: Like Skeletor, she desired the Power of Grayskull until she discovers Havoc. This becomes a major element of her characterization come the third season, where she genuinely wonders what her motives are beyond Havoc and seeks a better way.
- Narcissist: She admits upon becoming Evil-Lyn that she doesn't need to say her spells to cast them in this form, but does it anyway because she loves the sound of her own voice. More subtly, despite Havoc implicitly bringing out the worst in people, her transformation is the only one that partially subverts Evil Makes You Monstrous.
- Nightmare Face: Several sudden close-up shots of Evelyn's face in horrific expressions appear during her Transformation Sequence into Evil-Lyn.
- Noble Demon: By the third season, Evil-Lyn develops something of a sense of honor and rivalry with Teela, genuinely working alongside her a couple times (Though always repaying her kindness with treachery), tossing her staff back into the ice for her to retrieve, and being the first to join the Dark Masters in fighting Cosmic Terror Skeletor, and the only one who needs no coercion to do so.
- Not Hyperbole: While stuck with Teela for the night, Evelyn decides to sleep. When Teela asks why she'd feel safe enough to sleep around her Nemesis, Evelyn boasts that she sleeps with one eye open. While normally an expression that means someone's a light sleeper and can wake in an instant, Evelyn proves she literally sleeps with her right eye open, to Teela's discomfort.
- Power Gives You Wings: Like Sorceress, Evil-Lyn gains ethereal wings connected to another plane in her transformation. Unlike Sorceress, hers are bat wings that grow out of the sides of her head.
- Power Makes Your Hair Grow: Even more so than Teela's case. Her standard self has very short hair compressed into a headcover. As Evil-Lyn, it tapers down to near her ankles.
- Pragmatic Villainy: Evil-Lyn tried to advise Skeletor that attacking Stratos would risk putting Eternos at war with Avion, a war they couldn't afford, but Skeletor refused to listen. When she pulled him out forcibly, this resulted in him stripping her of her power and discharging her.
- Related in the Adaptation: The Season Three finale reveals she's the daughter of Hordak in this incarnation.
- Sarcasm Mode: She's one to reply with a sarcastic comment when someone says something stupid.
- Simplified Spellcasting: Her transformation allows her to cast spells without needing a hand sign or incantation, like Teela's, though she sometimes still uses them because she likes the sound of her own voice.
- Skeletons in the Coat Closet: Evelyn's dark clothing is trimmed with bone.
- Wicked Witch: She's a practitioner of magic who was part of a coup against the throne and now serves Skeletor for the promise of greater magic power through Havoc.
- Wild Card: In season two, after being De-powered and exiled by Skeletor, Evelyn sets out to find the pieces of the Sigil of Hssss on her own with the intention of using them to obtain her own source of Havoc independent of Skeletor and become Evil-Lyn once more. It doesn't matter to her anymore if she has to fight the Masters of the Universe or the Dark Masters to get what she wants.
- Wrecked Weapon: Skeletor breaks her Orb of Witchcraft in half to De-power her after she cost him a Sigil Piece. She eventually reforges the staff in season three to become Evil-Lyn once again.
Kronis - Trap Jaw
Voiced by: Roger Craig Smith
"You bit off more than you can chew this time, kid!"
The former Man-at-Arms for the kingdom of Eternos. Kronis was part of Keldor's failed coup and worked with Evelyn in searching for the power of Grayskull before falling in with Skeletor.- Abled in the Adaptation: Outside of transforming into Trap Jaw, Kronis isn't a Cyborg in this adaptation, having a fully usable right arm, and his broken jaw is held in place by a brace rather than being explicitly mechanical.
- Adaptation Dye-Job: Downplayed. Kronis has dominantly green skin in this incarnation, though he does still have patches of blue skin, which become more prominent when becoming Trap Jaw.
- Adaptational Intelligence: In the original series Trap Jaw was a minion turned into a cyborg by Tri-Klops. Here he's taken Tri-Klops' job as Skeletor's evil genius.
- Adaptation Relationship Overhaul: He's Duncan's former mentor in this incarnation, whereas the two generally have no prior relationship with each other in older material.
- Affectionate Nickname: In season one, Evelyn often called him "[her] dear Kronis" and once "[her] dearest Trap Jaw".
- Arm Cannon: With his Mecha-Maw, Trap Jaw once ate a rocket launcher to convert his right arm into a more powerful, Havoc-powered rocket launcher.
- Brilliant, but Lazy: Duncan admits that Kronis is a mechanical genius who created the RK units Eternos uses, but right after that he apparently found Duncan and stopped making his own stuff in favor of just having his apprentice do it for him.
- Brutish Character, Brutish Weapon: Kronis is an Evil Genius Sadist who creates weapons and takes perverse delight in the destruction they cause. When transformed into Trap Jaw, his brutishness is reflected in his Signature Move Mecha-Maw. Unlike Man-At-Arms, who can use his Speed Build to create anything he can imagine with nearby materials, Trap Jaw has to destroy raw materials with his Maw of Weaponry and can only create a new weapon for his mechanical right arm.
- Carry a Big Stick: As Kronis, his preferred melee tool is a massive warhammer. He tries to offer it to Skeletor to empower with kirbinite, but Skeletor chooses to use his jaw brace instead.
- Code Name: While sneaking through Eternos in disguise, Kronis radios back to Skeletor calling himself "Snake in the Grass" to Skeletor's "Snake Mountain". When Skeletor asks why they're using a snake theme, Kronis suggests instead "Shin Bone to Knee Bone". When the alarm is sounded, Kronis mixes up the code names and ends up calling out, "Snake Bone to Shin Mountain".
- Combat Pragmatist: Kronis values knowing how to fight dirty, something he demonstrated to Duncan by tossing his hammer into the air, then sucker-punching him while he was looking up.
- Composite Character: He's based off of Trap Jaw, but being Skeletor's Evil Genius is taken from the 2002 series Tri-Klops.
- Chainsaw Good: Trap Jaw can change the robotic claw of his right arm into other tools with Mecha-Maw. Against Man-At-Arms, he makes a chainsaw blade that shoots laser beams from his arm, destroying one of Man-At-Arms's barriers.
- Cyborg: As Trap Jaw, he is clearly part mechanical, including his entire right arm, his whole mouth and throat, and the two are connected through his chest. It's implied that cybernetics run throughout his body, as metal wires can be seen peeking out of his left shoulder and forearm.
- Decomposite Character: In this continuity, Kronis was King Randor's Man-at-Arms in place of Duncan, at least before the coup. Duncan was instead his apprentice.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Played for laughs in the episode "Orko the Great," where Kronis likens stealing the kirbinite to "taking candy from a baby," and then adds as an afterthought: "Not that babies should even have candy in the first place."
- Evil Counterpart: He serves as Duncan's Counterpart in Skeletor's forces and both are masters in technology. While Duncan loves to create and help with his inventions, Kronis takes perverse delight in creating weapons to destroy things.
- Evil Genius: He serves as the villains' technology expert.
- Evil Mentor: He was this for Duncan. Though his "mentorship" mostly amounted to keeping Duncan from being too creative on his own and forcing him to do Kronis' menial work.
- Extreme Omnivore: Courtesy of his powers, Trap Jaw can eat anything and any technology and weapon he eats he assimilates.
- Genius Bruiser: He is an engineer and inventor as well as a very strong fighter.
- Hidden Depths: In "He-Man and the Masters of the Universe: Heroes and Villains Guidebook", it's said that Kronis secretly considers Duncan to be his greatest "invention", suggesting that Kronis is proud of Duncan to some extent.
- Hoist by His Own Petard:
- Making Duncan just build everything for him only turned him into an adept inventor who can effectively combat him (to the point of dislocating his jaw).
- After Duncan repairs Tri-Klops and convinced it to pull a Heel–Face Turn, he then has the Mind-Control Device force Trap Jaw to where he, Sorceress, and Evil-Lyn planned to halt Skeletor's World Wreaking Wave.
- Holographic Disguise: To sneak into the palace of Eternos, Skeletor kidnapped the general of the royal guards. Kronis used a device to scan the general and copy his appearance. He can turn the disguise on and off with the touch of a button, but the device is damaged after Kronis narrowly escapse being locked in the vault.
- Jawbreaker: Sufferer of a non-lethal variant of this, via Man-At-Arms' wrench mace. It's what causes him to gain his trademark jaw brace. Notably, it looks more like his jaw is dislocated rather than actually broken given how he handles it.
- Jerkass: Kronis is heavily implied to have treated Duncan poorly even before he refused to burn down a village (apparently making Duncan do all the work rather than doing it himself), shows dark glee in destroying the drained husks of soldiers, and has a vicious tongue for whoever annoys him.
- More Teeth than the Osmond Family: You mean someone with grinder for a mouth has more than a few teeth? Who would have thunk?
- Parental Substitute: Duncan was an orphan in the Eternos orphanage who Kronis took as a ward and apprentice. When he muses about losing his apprentice, Evelyn quips that there are always more orphans for him to take in.
- The Password Is Always "Swordfish": His password is just him bragging about how great he is. And he needed Duncan to help him come up with it. Yeah...
- Red Baron: After his transformation, Kronis introduces himself to Man-At-Arms as Trap Jaw, Dark Master of Weaponry.
- Sadist: Kronis loves to destroy things, taking perverse delight in breaking things himself or with his inventions. After finding some Eternos soldiers petrified after having their life force drained, he enjoys pushing the statues over to watch them break and frequently wears a Slasher Smile when attacking Duncan.
- Scars Are Forever: After Man-At-Arms breaks his jaw in episode 4, Kronis has to make a metal jaw brace for it and it's shown that without this brace his jaw won't stay in place unless he holds it there. Justified since as a criminal in hiding, he can't seek proper medical attention.
- Scary Teeth: They don't come much scarier than ‘rotating garbage disposal of doom’.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: In season three, Trap Jaw attempts to abandon the Masters and Dark Masters as Cosmic Terror Skeletor begins to remake the universe in his image, planning to wait in the Heart of the Universe in safety until Skeletor's work is done. That plan fails when the Cosmic Terror steals his Havoc, leaving him to plummet back down to Eternia.
- Throat Light: During his transformation into Trap Jaw and when using the Mecha-Maw power, there is a burning light down his throat.
- Vacuum Mouth: As Trap Jaw, he can use his Dark Master Strike, Mecha-Maw, to suck up raw materials and then use them to change his mechanical arm into a variety of weapons.
- Wrestler of Beasts: He easily defeats Cringer using only his bare hands in the first episode.
R'Qazz - Beast Man
Voiced by: Trevor Devall
"Beast Man has friends wherever he goes!"
A beastopoid Evil Poacher who hunts the tigers of the jungle to enslave and compete in Beastly Bloodsports for his entertainment. He is discovered by Evelyn and recruited to Skeletor's side.- Adaptational Badass: It's safe to say that no incarnation of Beast Man has gotten room in the entire franchise thus far to be a potential Big Bad candidate after Keldor is depowered from being Skeletor, by virtue of being the "last one standing".
- Arch-Enemy: He is Cringer/Battle Cat's personal enemy. R'Qazz had Cringer enslaved as one of his fighting animals for an untold amount of time, named him "Cringer" for how he could scare the cat, and even declawed him for refusing to fight.
- Ax-Crazy: The most unhinged of Skeletor's minions; he loves violence and inflicting pain and suffering upon others. When Skeletor goes on a bloodthirsty rant, Kronis and Evelyn look uncomfortable but R'Qazz is gleeful and enthusiastic. Taken up a notch when R'Qazz is turned into a Skeledrone by Skeletor, heightening his intelligence but also craziness to the point he developed a constant twitch when he isn't fighting.
- Bad People Abuse Animals: He's a poacher that runs some sort of animal fighting operation. He captured Cringer in the past and de-clawed him as punishment for refusing to fight in the pits and even gave him the name Cringer as a deliberate insult.
- Batman Gambit: In season 3, Beast Man actually comes out on top for the dueling secret plans of the Dark Masters with Evil-Lyn having a personal crisis mid-season and Trapjaw's own plan failing prompting Beast Man to betray Trapjaw for a plan of his own. Said plan apparently involves sucking up to Skeletor for a power boost and waiting for the Masters to kick Skeletor's butt, putting him in the perfect position to be the next Skeletor. All he had to do was play up his seeming position as a "stupid" minion and bank on Skeletor's arrogance getting him in over his head while the heroes did what heroes do. And he didn't even intend on succeeding this well, knowing how stupid he is.
- Beastly Bloodsports: Combined with Gladiator Games as something of an Informed Attribute given that we haven't seen the pit he forces his beasts to fight in, only heard about it so far.
- Blade Below the Shoulder: R'Qazz's arms are decorated with tiger claws capable of deep cuts. Cringer's claws, to be specific.
- Brainwashed and Crazy: Does this to beasts he's captured via a magical brand at the base of his whip.
- Chest Burster: During his transformation, R'Qazz's body turns to stone and Beast Man tears his way out of the chest of the old husk.
- Clone by Conversion: Played with; when taken back in by Skeletor despite his prior betrayal, he makes R'Qazz become the first of his Skeledrones which turns him into a Skeletorified version of himself. While he displays a higher sense of intelligence, no longer speaking in Third-Person Person, and displays more character traits akin to Skeletor himself, he still is functionally R'Qazz as noted by Cringer as he still thinks himself an Evil Poacher at the end of the day.
- Crazy Survivalist: A veteran woodsman who is completely off his rocker.
- Evil Poacher: Pretty much, as he captures animals illegally to force them to fight in a ring for his amusement, but with the twist that at least some of the animals he captures are sapient enough to have their own culture which also makes this Slavery Is a Special Kind of Evil.
- Exactly What I Meant to Say: While battling Scorceress and Man-E-Faces in Eternos, Beast Man tells them to give him the caged King Randor, "and everyone gets hurt."Sorceress: Don't you mean, "no one gets hurt"?
Beast Man: Beast Man wasn't negotiating! He was stating intent! - Feral Villain: R'Qazz snarls and raves when he's not being a Soft-Spoken Sadist. He frequently leaps and crawls on all fours rather than walking like a normal person. With the power of Havoc, what little humanity R'Qazz had left is stripped away as he becomes the truly savage Beast Man.
- Legacy Character: Implied at the end of Season Three that he will become the third Skeletor after Keldor and King Grayskull upon acquiring the Scepter from Skeletor's severed Kaiju arm.
- Lightning Lash: R'Qazz's whip can run an electric charge for an extra bite.
- Little Bit Beastly: Beastopoids are more animalistic than humans, with Pointy Ears, sharp claws and larger canines. When transformed by Havoc, R'Qazz becomes a true Beast Man inside and out.
- Necromancer: His Dark Master Strike, Necro Echo, allows him to use the animal skulls he wears to summon their spirits as minions.
- The Nose Knows: As Beast Man, his sense of smell is heightened significantly. He claims he can tell exactly how long his quarry has been in the area and what they've eaten recently by smell alone.
- The Pigpen: R'Qazz is filthy from living in the wilds. There is a cloud of fleas and flies around him even in the desolate Snake Mountain.
- Rewarded as a Traitor Deserves: Played with in the fact that while Skeletor rightly distrusts him for his prior betrayal in Season Two, and subjects him to a horrifyingly agonizing transformation into a Skeledrone explicitly to make him remember never to cross him again, the end result is actually far more beneficial than would be anticipated for R'Qazz as he becomes far more intelligent, far crueler, and more Skeletor-like himself.
- Running on All Fours: R'Qazz is prone to crawling around on his hands and feet rather than walking upright. He starts the actual running as Beast Man thanks to his more ape-like physique.
- Sadistic Choice: R'Qazz forces one on Cringer. Either Cringer fights to the death with his Brainwashed and Crazy tigers, or he'll have the tigers kill Adam and Krass. Cringer is able to Take a Third Option when he discovers he can transform into Battle Cat without Adam invoking the power of Grayskull.
- Skeletons in the Coat Closet: R'Qazz wears the hollowed-out skulls of his killed prey, much to Skeletor's approval. As Beast Man, these skulls serve as the medium for his "Necro Echo". Up to eleven by the time he becomes a Skeledrone, as he becomes as bony as Skeletor altogether.
- Soft-Spoken Sadist: When not snarling or growling, R'Qazz speaks in a harsh whisper about the joy he takes in hunting his prey. His voice loses its softness when transformed into Beast Man. The soft voice returns to Creepy Monotone levels when Beast Man is turned into a skele-drone by Skeletor.
- Spikes of Villainy: R'Qazz wears tiger claws on his arm guards and shoulders among his other hunting trophies.
- Spin to Deflect Stuff: Beast Man can spin his Lash of Beasts in a tight circle in front of him while charging it with energy, creating a shield to block most attacks.
- Stop Hitting Yourself: When Skeletor shows his control over the Dark Masters, thwarting their attempted coup, Skeletor makes Beast Man punch himself in the face a few times for his part in the attempt.
- Third-Person Person: Always refers to himself this way which is something Skeletor finds highly amusing. However, it is exorcised by Skeletor later in Season Three when he turns him into a Skeledrone, making him far too intelligent to keep doing this.Skeletor: Who's R'Qazz?
R'Qazz: R'Qazz is R'Qazz.
Skeletor: ...Oh, I see, it's a whole thing. Yeah, I can respect that. - Whip of Dominance: R'Qazz uses a whip for combat as well as for controlling animals. The pommel has a high-tech brand that can enslave animals to his will.
- Whip Sword: As Beast Man, the whip upgrades into an armored whip ending in three-bladed tips.
"Panthor"
"Oh, great. Two giant cats."
A shadowy duplicate of Battle Cat created by Evelyn's magic to attack the Masters of the Universe.- Dire Beast: Every bit as huge as Battle Cat.
- Evil Knockoff: A magically created double of Battle Cat.
- Living Shadow: Evelyn creates him from Battle Cat's shadow, turning it corporeal.
- Mythology Gag: His color scheme and being an evil version of Battle Cat evokes the original series's Panthor.
- Never Found the Body: Was he incinerated by the power of Grayskull or merely transported elsewhere like Keldor, Evelyn, and Kronis?
- No Name Given: Never named in the show and only called “Panthor” by the fandom.
- One-Shot Character: Only appears in Episode 4 of Season 1.
- The Speechless: Despite the fact that Battle Cat can speak, "Panthor" never vocalizes anything other than a growl or roar.
Tri-Klops
Voiced by: Grey DeLisle (controlling one of Man-E-Face's assistants), Fred Tatasciore (controlling King Randor), Stephanie Sheh (controlling Justine), Kevin Smith (self-controlled voice)
"I don't have wants. Only a directive."
A robot built by Kronis, capable of controlling anyone it latches onto.- Adaptational Heroism: After Duncan repairs it and gives it the ability to talk, Tri-Klops stays on the heroes' side.
- Adaptational Species Change: Tri-Klops goes from being a human follower of Skeletor to a floating, squid-like robot in this version.
- Adaptational Wimp: On it’s own, Tri-Klops is not particularly powerful, with its main threat coming from its ability to cloak itself to track targets undetected and Mind Control anyone it latches onto, making many battles with it an instant Hostage Situation.
- Cyber Cyclops: While it has three eyes, only one of them works at a time, settling in the front to give this image.
- Evil Counterpart: Serves a similar role to Ork-0 as the group's robot. Later ends up as Ork-0's friend, complete with Secret Handshake.
- Extra Eyes: The Tri-Klops has three optic lenses, each capable of a different kind of vision.
- Funny Background Event: In Season 3 when the Masters get turned into Navits, they beat up Tri-Klops while Ork-0 and Randor try to figure out how to turn them back.
- Heel–Face Turn: Duncan takes pity on it when it gets offlined during a sneak attack, realizing that the two of them, along with Ork-0, basically share the same backstory of being Kronis' "creations". Once repaired, it ends up siding with the heroes, eventually becoming Ork-0's assitant.
- Hostage Situation: Pulling double-duty as Human Shield as when Tri-Klops controls a host, it makes fighting it without harming the host difficult.
- Invisibility: The Tri-Klops can render itself invisible, though certain machines like Ork-0, can detect it. Various animals and reflections also hinder the invisibility.
- Limp and Livid: Victims controlled by the Tri-Klops shamble around, weighed down into a slouch by the machine's heft.
- Mind-Control Device: The Tri-Klops can latch itself onto a human victim and control them, even using any magic or other special abilities its host might have.
- Ridiculously Human Robots: Despite it's declaration of not having wants or desires as a machine to Ork-0, the moment it returns to Kronis, it shows itself to have an absurdly silly sense of humor while puppetering Randor's body by dancing around for no other reason than it's own particular amusement and later audibly pouts when Kronis sends it off to it's "room" much to the latter's increasing chagrin.
- Voice for the Voiceless: It is unable to speak for itself, so it speaks through the voice of whoever it posesses. It would later get a voice of its own after being repaired by Duncan.
Justine
Voiced by: Stephanie Sheh
A young Eternian girl who serves as Tri-Klops's host for Season 3.- Genki Girl: Is surprisingly cheerful given her situation.
- "I Can't Look!" Gesture: Justine's so nausiated by the sight of the snake men being converted into Havoc that she grabs Tri-Klops and shoves it on her head so the robot can be in control for a while and she doesn't have to watch.
- Phrase Catcher: "Shut up, Justine!" from the Dark Masters who don't want to put up with her complaining.
- Sympathy for the Devil: Has this for Tri-Klops at least. In one scene where Tri-Klops gets frightened enough that it stops possessing her to instead hide behind her, she decides to comfort it.
- Token Good Teammate: At least she's not seen doing anything overtly evil when in control of her own body.
- Whatever Happened to the Mouse?: After the Dark Masters get their powers back, she isn't seen or even mentioned again for the rest of Season 3.
Eternos
King Randor
"Never trust shadows, General."
Voiced by: Fred Tatasciore
King of Eternos, older brother of Keldor, and father of Adam. King Randor is a stern leader and unpopular with those outside of Eternos's upper class.- Adaptational Jerkass: The apparent deaths of Keldor and Adam obviously greatly affected him, and Teela stealing the sword, which he knows had a hand in what happened to them, doesn't exactly endear him to the heroes either. It's also heavily implied he is basically allowing the kingdom to fall apart due to his anger at his son's death, like how he's been doing nothing about the poachers the Tiger Tribe has to deal with.
- The Good King: Despite his faults, he genuinely cares for his subjects. In the first season finale, he refuses to abandon them to Skeletor's evil whims.
- Hope Is Scary: This is part of why he stopped looking for his brother and son a while after their supposed deaths; the idea that Adam in particular could be alive meant that if it turned out to not be true, it would be particularly devastating for him.
- My God, What Have I Done?: In "The World Below", he feels guilty for not bothering to help the people living below.
- No Man Should Have This Power: Firmly believes this about the power of Grayskull, in part because of how messing with it supposedly ended up killing his brother and son (and in part because keeping that power from being misused has been a major duty of the royal family since Grayskull himself). Even when he finds out that Adam is alive and is He-Man, he quickly tries to convince him to give the power up, even to the point of having him arrested if he doesn't hand over the sword willingly. But in the season finale, he allowed his son to wield it in the fight against Skeletor.
- Properly Paranoid: Randor did more than just lock up dangerous artifacts in the royal vault. The entire vault is in fact a high speed hover train designed to take off if the castle falls into enemy hands and self-destruct if it slows down or is entered by anyone actively hostile.
- Right for the Wrong Reasons: He's more or less right that the Power of Grayskull is dangerous for anyone to wield, since it's revealed that King Grayskull also used Havoc to defeat the Snake-Men and nearly ended up becoming Drunk on the Dark Side.
- Took a Level in Kindness: Towards the Masters after they came to save the kingdom in the season finale. He allows Adam to keep the sword after all and apparently no longer intends to arrest Teela for the theft in the first place.
- Unusually Uninteresting Sight: When reunited with his long-lost brother, Randor is pretty unfazed to see him as a hulking brute with a skeletal face. Likely seeing Keldor's new form reflecting his hunger for power. When Skeletor says he thought Randor would be more horrified, Randor just laughs and asks if he got a haircut or something. This also makes him the first and only person to out Troll Skeletor.
Tuvar and Baddrah
Voiced by: Yuri Lowenthal (Tuvar) and Fred Tatasciore (Baddrah)
A pair of Eternian royal guards.- Adaptational Heroism: Unlike standard runs of them, the two of them are on the side of Eternos.
- Adaptational Job Change: From bounty hunters in their 2002 iterations to palace guards here.
- Adaptation Relationship Overhaul: The two of them here have a friendly relationship, both in and out of work. In the 2002 adaptation, the two of them were bitter rivals towards each other.
- Adaptation Species Change: Compared to their reptilian-esque designs of their 80s and 2000s iterations, the two of them appear to be built much more humanoid, albeit still with their odd skin colors.
- Comic Relief: Invariably lighten the mood in whatever scene they're in, even if it's a very serious situation.
- Mythology Gag: They're basically a walking version of this to a minor villain from the original series named Two-Bad and the Tuvar and Baddrah from the 2002 series.
- Those Two Guys: The two are always on guard together, giving witty dialogue at various times during their screentime.
General Dolos
Voiced by: Roger Craig Smith
Captain of the royal guards. A common target as a disguise by the enemies due to his high ranking.- The Bus Came Back: Dolos was absent for season two, but appeared again toward the climax of season three.
- Canon Foreigner: Unlike the other characters, he has no original counterpart, being wholly created for this series.
- Brainwashed and Crazy: Dolos was the first person Skeletor enslaved with Havoc, using him to trick Randor into bringing the Red Legion to Snake Mountain so Skeletor could brainwash all of them as well.
- Meaningful Name: Dolos is the Greek god of spirit and trickery, fitting the man that has his identity constantly taken by the enemy.
- My Greatest Failure: In "Cry Havoc, Part 1", he stated that he never should have let King Randor given up his search for Adam years ago.
RK Units
Voiced by: Tom Kenny
Eternos' robotic guard system. A series of drone-like robots hooked up to a hive mind to patrol the castle and city. Ork-0 is one of them, albeit a malfunctioning one.- Anthropomorphic Shift: Like the original Ork-0, once they take place in the 'Orkening', they pull themselves into a faux-bipedial stance with visible arms, unlike their original drone setup.
- Convenient Color Change: RK Units in patrol mode have purple highlights. Putting them into maker override turns them red. Ork-0, meanwhile, has blue highlights, fitting his separate nature from the others. The other RK Units gain this color scheme when Ork-0 taps into them.
- Hive Mind: All of the RK Units are hooked up to an identical hive mind. Deviation from it causes a factory reset. Ork-0's malfunction and data cog change stripped him from being part of it, but it also means he can be the template for a different hive mind as well.
- Identically Named Group: After the 'Orkening', all of them identify as Ork-0, differentiating themselves by profession.
- Robot Soldier: The RK Units are part of the Eternos Royal Guard, often supplementing the actual guards in their fighting.
- Shadowed Face, Glowing Eyes: Like Ork-0, the remainder RK Units are designed in a way to invoke this, with lit-up eyes on a screen.
Man-E-Faces
"Teela!"
"Welcome back..."
"TO THE WORLD BELOW!"
Voiced by: Stephen Fry
The self-proclaimed three-faced King of the Lower Wards. Previously an actor for Eternos' court, he was cast out by Randor's father. Protective of the poorer citizens, he holds a grudge against the royal caste. He took care of Teela when she was a child.- Adaptation Deviation: A small one; previous versions' faces moved sideways as they shifted. This version's faces move vertically.
- All Girls Want Bad Boys: Gender Inverted. Man-E falls for Evelyn when they first meet, calling her his muse.
- Bodyguard Babes: While tending to his "royal" duties, Man-E is almost always accompanied by a pair of Hand Witches for support.
- Composite Character: Took Duncan's original role as Teela's father figure.
- Deal with the Devil: Man-E-Faces originally planned to aid Skeletor by delivering King Randor to him in exchange for supplies and penalty for himself and the people of the Lower Ward. He's aware of how likely Skeletor would doublecross him, but figures a 50/50 shot of getting what he asks for is better than the lack of any aid his people get from Eternos. He abandons the plan when Beast Man attacks him to take Randor personally.
- Freudian Trio: Thanks to his augmentation, Man-E-Faces is a trio unto himself. The Machine face is the Superego, logical and emotionless. The Man face is the Ego, introspective and caring. The Monster face is the Id, emotional and volatile.
- Hypocritical Humor: Man-E's Monster face bellows at King Randor for leading Skeletor's forces to his sanctum. When they yell back how they're sorry for that, Man-E switches to his Man face and calmly says, "no need to shout."
- In-Series Nickname: Teela calls him Man-E, pronounced like "Manny", for short.
- King of the Homeless: The self-proclaimed King of the Lower Wards. He takes care of the people that the remainder of Eternos has ignored.
- Large Ham: Fitting his acting background, he still has a flare for the dramatic.
- Ludicrous Precision: When Teela asks Man-E-Faces how long he's known her for, the Machine Face is able to calculate it down to the second.Man-E: Sixteen years, nine months, four days, three hours, and point-seven minutes... point-eight minutes...
- Made of Iron: Man-E-Faces is more durable than the average person, able to take direct fire from Eternos soldiers with only minor injury.
- No Indoor Voice: The Monster face always bellows his dialogue in a melodramatic fashion.
- Parental Substitute: He took Teela in when she was a young child.
- The Performer King: Man-E-Faces was a one-man acting troupe before he was cast out of King Miro's court. As King of the Lower Ward, Man-E provides for Eternos' downtrodden and frequently puts on plays for his "subjects" to roaring applause.
- Theme Naming: All of his personas are addressed with names starting with the letter 'M'. Man, Machine, and Monster.
- Two-Faced: Or rather, three-faced. He has three separate personalities: his standard human face, a logical robotic face, and a brutal monster face.
King Grayskull
Voiced by: Alan Oppenheimer
- Adaptational Villainy: King Grayskull in almost all versions since his introduction in the 2002 series has been depicted as wise and noble leader who was the original He-Man without a hint of darkness in his heart. And while he started out this way initially, he eventually fell to corruption as War Is Hell and desperation forced him to create Havoc to fight King Hiss and the Snake People, turning him into the first Skeletor, forcing Eldress to kill him before his rampage got out of hand.
- Bald Head of Toughness: Is completely bare-headed when without his helmet and unquestionably the greatest hero that ever lived on Eternia, however it becomes Bald of Evil when he's corrupted by Havoc and turns into the first Skeletor.
- Casting Gag: He is voiced by one of the first-generation MOTU voice actors. Namely the original voice for Skeletor, which foreshadowed his fate, complete with his classic nasally Evil Laugh as he fully succumbed to Havoc.
- Composite Character: Combined with Decomposite Character. King Grayskull was the first bearer of the Skeletor identity in this series, something wholly unique to this incarnation of the character as Skeletor menaces Eternia centuries after Grayskull's death in every prior incarnation.
- Dying as Yourself: After Eldress mortally wounds him, Havoc leaves his body, allowing him to return to his senses and realizes how wrong he was to create Havoc in the first place, with his Last Request to Eldress to ensure that his mistakes don't become the world's undoing.
- Evil Sounds Deep: Inverted, he has a deep, commanding baritone when he was still a hero... when he became the first Skeletor however, his voice became rather shrieky much like Alan Oppenheimer's voice from the original cartoon.
- The Faceless: Images of him are always covered by his helmet, only leaving glowing eyes revealed. It took until season 3 for him to unmask, finally revealing himself.
- Facial Markings: When we finally see his face in season 3, he has Tron Lines like Adam has on his arms as He-Man on his face.
- Fallen Hero: He was forced to embrace Havoc after the Sword of Power alone could not save Eternia from the war with King Hiss and his snakes; in turn, he became the original Skeletor in the process as Havoc consumed him completely, attempting to conquer the world with his power until Eldress was forced to kill him.
- Greater-Scope Paragon: Essentially, he was the previous He-Man and hero of Eternos before Adam. Subverted however, once it was revealed he was also the previous Skeletor once he succumbed to Havoc, which he helped create, making him also the Greater-Scope Villain simultaneously.
- I Did What I Had to Do: Since the Power of Grayskull could not kill, King Grayskull and his allies were losing the war against the snake men. Desperate to stop them and despite Eldress counseling against the idea, King Grayskull used a ram stone to create the Power of Havoc to turn the tide in his favor.
- Legacy Character: Was the original He-Man, wielding the Sword of Power into battle against the snakes. However, as he had created Havoc in the first place when the Sword alone was not enough to beat them, he was eventually fully consumed by it's power and became the first Skeletor as well.
- Mistaken Identity: A tangible vision of King Grayskull attacks He-Man in season 3, believing He-Man to be a servant of King Hssss.
- No Man Should Have This Power: His dying words to Eldress, after freed from Havoc, are to utter that no one should have that kind of power ever again and requests that she ensure that never comes to pass. Well, about that...
- Supernatural Gold Eyes: The Power of Grayskull dyed his eyes gold, showing how much the power ran through him.
Other
Orko the Great
Voiced by: Wallace Shawn
- Adaptational Jerkass: Compared to the Orko from the original series, but rather implied instead. Since he commanded a mastery of his magical skill that original series Orko could only dream of wielding on Eternia, he never learned humility and became pompous and arrogant in his abilities. Subverted, come Season Three, where it's revealed he is actually more like the original series, and it's more of a combination of people forgetting the kind of person he actually was due to the eons and cowardice to accept his mistakes.
- Ambiguously Evil: Although he is often remembered as a great and noble wizard, and certainly had many heroic deeds to his name, Eldress mentions that Ork-0, unlike his predecessor, has a heart, which may indicate that the original was not such a good person. Season Three dispels these notions, revealing him to be more misguided and cowardly, but his heart is in the right place deep down, seeing how he genuinely wanted to help King Grayskull when he became Drunk with Power on Havoc and attempted to guide the Trollans to a new peaceful dimension, only to port them to the wrong one along the way and has been hiding ever since.
- Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence: What he and the other Trollans eventually did, centuries before the series begins.
- Condescending Compassion: If Ork-0's early behavior is to be believed, Orko was rather prone to this towards other people. It turns out this is from centuries of people forgetting who he actually was and possibly him claiming more competence than he actually possessed.
- Court Mage: Orko was the royal magician of King Grayskull himself.
- Decomposite Character: The Orko character is split in two, with the Sidekick part being given to the robot and the "Court Wizard" part given to him. Most of the original Orko's personality has stuck with him, though.
- Freeze-Frame Bonus: At one point in season 3, you can clearly see his legs before they vanish back into his robes.
- I Meant to Do That: When it's revealed that this Orko was every bit the Inept Mage the Orko of the original series was, his list of great accomplishments starts to look a lot more like this than what people thought he was. This is supported by the fact that he's found hiding in a pocket dimension after sending the Trollans to the wrong dimension and lying that it was their intended destination all along, implying that this was something he did regularly to cover up his failures.
- Inept Mage: It turns out that the legacy that was built up for him was false. He was instead a coward that bungled magic, to the point of teleporting the Trollans to the wrong dimension, lying that it was the real one all along, and hiding away in a pocket dimension.
- That said, despite his frequent failures at actually performing, he is insanely adept at understanding magic itself and is able to create spells beyond even the most powerful magicians alive as he was able do devise a way to remove Havoc from one's body when even Eldress was convinced at a time it was impossible, and while he failed to land them in the proper dimension, the fact he was able to safely transport all the Trollans to a new dimension to begin with is a considerable feat.
- My Greatest Failure: His biggest failure came when he was ascending the Trollans to New Trolla. He bungled the dimensional location, and lied that the location they ended up in was New Trolla. He's been hiding in his own pocket dimension since, afraid of the consequences. It takes a pep talk from Ork-0 to give himself the courage to ask for forgiveness.
- Nice Guy: In true Orko fashion. Despite earlier seasons hinting that he may have been a bit of a Jerkass, when we actually meet him in season 3 he turns out to be friendly, helpful and supportice. His main flaw is a tendency to run away from his mistakes rather than acknowledge and try to fix them, but he's never anything less than amicable and encouraging towards his namesake Ork-0.
- Older and Wiser: Probably not all that wiser by a great stretch, but this is probably the most mature incarnation of Orko both physically and mentally that's been seen in any version of Masters of the Universe to date.
- Posthumous Character: This Orko ascended to Trolla around a thousand years before Ork-0 was brought online with a data cog containing a legacy recording of all of Orko's knowledge and memories. It's this cog that brings Ork-0 to life as he is. It turns out he's still around, albeit in his own pocket dimension away from the other Trollans.
- Shadowed Face, Glowing Eyes: Like other iterations of Orko, his face is made up of a shadow with just his eyes visible. For this iteration of him, his eyes are a 2D mapped effect.
- Sheep in Sheep's Clothing: It's built up throughout the series that Orko the Great was, while an incredibly gifted mage who even eclipsed Eldress's power seeing how he came up with a spell to cure Havoc when even she couldn't, a massive condescending prick that barely anyone supposedly tolerated. However, when Ork-0 arrives in his pocket dimension to seek said spell to cure Adam, Orko is entirely sincere and innately curious to a fault. In fact, he's so sincerely compassionate that it proves to be his greatest failing as he is too cowardly to accept his mistakes because they have hurt people he cared about clearly, either in his inability to save King Grayskull with his spell or properly guiding the Trollans to their peaceful parallel dimension.
Tiger Tribe
A tribe hidden away in the jungles of Eternia made up of sapient tigers and various humanoids who want nothing to do with Eternos.
- Does Not Like Magic: Not yet explained, but the tribe immediately locks up Teela for using magic to stop herself from falling.
- Raised by Wolves: Well, tigers, and they tend to Invoke this by adopting refugees like Adam and Krass into the tribe.
- Talking Animal: The actual tiger members of the tribe can all talk.
- Technophobia: Also not yet explained, but the tribe does not like it when Evelyn and Keldor show up with robots.
Stratos
Voiced by: Zeno Robinson
"When you're dealing with King Stratos, there isn't time for anything other than awesome."
The King of Avion. Having won his position via his power, Stratos is an overconfident and smug ruler, who, despite having Avion's safety in mind, wants to show off too much for his own good.- Adaptational Jerkass: A bit more of a jerk with an ego, but developed out of it later.
- Adaptational Wimp: Previous versions of Stratos were more than capable of keeping up with their fellow Masters. Since this versions lacks the power of Grayskull, he tends to be easily swatted aside by Skeletor and his minions.
- Age Lift: Original iterations of Stratos were far older, often with greying hair. This version is far younger, closer to the age of the other heroes.
- Boisterous Weakling: Despite having great flying skills, his combat abilities are less than impressive. In "Eternia 5000", he just barely held his own against a couple of Mooks, and was quickly overpowered by Mo'squita-ra.
- Bird People: Like other Avions, he is part of a part-bird, part-human race. Unlike other iterations of Avions, this series's version focuses more on the human size, with feathered wings on their arms and sharper beak-like noses being the only bird parts of their builds.
- Character Catchphrase: "Stratos out!"
- Fictional Disability: He was born without natural feathered wings, unlike the other Avions. He has a pair of gauntlets that create artificial laser-based wings for him instead.
- Feigning Intelligence: In "Eternia 5000", when Duncan corrects his use of the term "Molto-Havoc" to "Proto-Havoc", he scoffs that that isn't a real word.
- Freudian Excuse: He was born a "nobody" with no natural wings. Working his way up to being king in spite of these handicaps have made him deeply arrogant and full of himself.
- Gasp!: A running gag for him is a loud and bird-like shrieking gasp.
- Handicapped Badass: Unlike the other Avions, he was born without wings. He has special laser-based wings to compensate. Because of this, he had to fight to rule, and succeeded, being crowned king for his abilities.
- It's All About Me: During his time working with the Masters, he acted like he was in charge, and would often jump into action first so he could get the glory.
- The Load: His recklessness and lack of power compared to the Masters causes the team a lot of problems.
- Race Lift: The original Stratos, along with the other Avions, were white. This version turns them into black characters with a reddish tone to their skin.
- Razor Wings: Because his wings are artificial laser constructs, they are sharp and able to cut through objects with ease.
- Small Name, Big Ego: He is genuinely talented at both flight and combat, and can back up a fair bit of his bragging... just not quite as much as he himself thinks.
- Smug Super: Thanks to his flight abilities, along with being his land's ruler, he's very smug and cocky, to the point of annoyance from people not from his land.
- Start My Own: When He-Man finally puts his foot down about Stratos being The Load, Stratos goes out and recruits Mo'squita-ra, Gary the Dragonfly, and Webstor to make his own hero team, "Stratos and his Heroic Warriors".
Mo'squita-ra
Voiced by: Grey DeLisle
"There are no good and bad guys, just power, and I want it all!"
A desert bandit that is only focused on power, literally. With the ability to track energy of both people and machines, she uses her mosquito mask to gain energy.
- Above Good and Evil: Mos'quita-ra doesn't believe in "good and bad guys" and is only interested in consuming power, regardless of the source.
- Adaptational Heroism: Joins up with the good guys late in the second season.
- Bad Boss: She's quick to fire assistants that fail her missions.
- Desert Bandits: She's first introduced in a desert-like area, as a paralell to a train robber. She only cares for what the train runs on instead of the goods inside it, though.
- Energy Absorption: Mos'quita-ra feeds and grows stronger by draining energy sources with her needle-nosed helmet. She can consume electrical energy from vehicles and cosmic energy like Grayskull and Havoc.
- Gender Flip: She's based on Mosquitor, a character that's been male through the entire series until now.
- Mosquito Miscreants: A mosquito-themed bandit that's obsessed with sucking energy out of everything.
- Nominal Hero: Starting off as a bandit, she joins Stratos' band of heroes... because he promised her an endless supply of energy.
- Power Glows: When Mos'quita-ra feeds, the red of her helmet glows brightly.
- Red and Black and Evil All Over: She is a mosquito-themed bandit and she has black armor with red accents that glow when she's feeding. Subverted in that she technically joined the good guys, if only for selfish reasons.
- Sssssnake Talk: Speaks with a hiss in her voice to give an insect-like buzz to her words.
Gary the Dragonfly
Voiced by: Bobcat Goldthwait
"Uh, hi, I'm... Gary? Gary the Dragonfly! At least I think I'm still a dragonfly. What does it mean to be a dragonfly?"
A dragonfly mutated by the power of Havoc during the events of "Cry Havoc part 1". He is driven by an intense hunger that can be satiated by Havoc, but means no harm.
- Aerith and Bob: He is a giant mutant dragonfly named Gary.
- Big Eater: A given, considering how large Gary is, but he went on a feeding frenzy trying to quell his hunger after mutating, enough for Eternos to consider him a threat.
- Brown Note: Teela and Evil-Lyn learned the hard way that his voice isn't just grating, but downright agonizing at times.
- Canon Foreigner: He has no counterpart in any of the other series.
- Character Filibuster: After Evelyn gives Gary the means to speak and communicate, he goes on a long ramble of everything that happened to him and goes on to sing about his new way of life. He goes on for hours until it's night.
- Chekhov's Gag: A random dragonfly was seen blasted away by the shockwave of He-Man and Skeletor's Beam-O-War as a Distant Reaction Shot. That dragonfly is revealed to have been mutated by the clashing energy into Gary.
- Dreadful Dragonfly: While Gary's an okay guy, he is a giant, monstrous dragonfly mutated by Havoc.
- Giant Flyer: A dragonfly turned into a giant insect by Havoc. As Gary puts it, he's more "dragon" than "fly".
- Horror Hunger: Though he's very casual about it, Gary was driven by an endless hunger that only ceased when he found a source of Havoc to consume.
- Magic Eater: Being mutated by Havoc, energies like Havoc can nourish Gary and end his hunger. Cringer advises transporting Gary to the Mystic Mountains, where everything is infused with magic, to satisfy his hunger and end his threat.
- Non-Malicious Monster: Outside of needing to eat, Gary isn't a hostile person. He only begins to actively attack Evelyn and Teela after being hit by several of their magic blasts and Evelyn's relentless attempts to kill him.
- Swallowed Whole: After first being exposed to Havoc, Gary was swallowed by a Battle Bones. He eventually ate his way out.
- Uplifted Animal: First mutated by Havoc into a giant, then given the ability to speak by Evelyn.
Webstor
Voiced by: Dee Bradley Baker
An Arachna warrior from the Mystic Mountains. Making his territory in the forests of the mountains, he is a savage and territorial creature.
- Adaptational Heroism: Joins up with the good guys late in the second season.
- Facepalm: For as feral as Webstor is, even he shows annoyance with Stratos by cradling his face when given yet another nickname.
- Feral Villain: Compared to other iterations of Webstor, this version is a snarling and territorial creature, not speaking a single understandable word.
- Giant Spider: Unlike other versions of Webstor, he's more of a gigantic spider with a human body at the back of a spider's body, rather than a humanoid spider.
- Heel–Face Turn: Eventually joins Stratos' band of heroes.
- Offscreen Moment of Awesome: When the Snakemen try to invade the Mystic Mountains, Webstor and his people manage to restrain them in their webs, handily bypassing their ability to revive when defeated.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: "Webstor" is a nickname Stratos gave him. His real name, if he has one, is unknown as he doesn't speak a coherent language.
- Spider-Man Send-Up: This Webstor is primarily blue with glowing red webbing that gets around the field of battle by shooting webbing from his arms and swinging about.
Serpos
The undead army of snake men that menaced Eternia in the past. Come in several varieties aside from the basic soldiers like Rattlers and Lashers.
- Implacable Man: As the Serpos revive over and over again if their bodies are destroyed, it's impossible to win a real victory against them. Unless the Sigil of Hiss is destroyed.
- Made of Phlebotinum: Their revived bodies are made of Porto-Havoc which Evelyn, Kronos, and R’Qazz use to regain their powers as Dark Masters.
- Why Won't You Die?: As summoned undead, they revive when killed.
- Zerg Rush: The Serpos come in waves, and even if their numbers are thinned, they will just revive almost instantly.
King Hssss
Leader of the Serpos, who attempted to conquer Eternia in ancient times.
- Greater-Scope Villain: He threatened all of Eternia centuries ago, and was defeated by King Grayskull. His Sigil, which has the power to raise the dead, is the focus of Skeletor's plans in the second and third seasons.
- Multiple Head Case: Like previous versions, he has five heads.
- Spikes of Villainy: His center head has a row of spikes on its back.
Mer-Man
Voiced by: George Takei
The ruler of the Aquaticans, a race of Fish People living in an underwater realm of Eternia.
- Adaptational Badass: This version can fight the combined forces of the Masters and Dark Masters solo. And, no, it's not a Mêlée à Trois.
- Adaptational Heroism: Downplayed. He was indeed an ally of King Grayskull and helped him defeat the Snake-Men. But was antagonistic towards the Masters of the Universe, due to both being associated with Eldress, whom he blames for King Grayskull's demise, and preventing his potential resurrection.
- Adaptational Ugliness: While previous versions of Mer-Man weren't exactly lookers, this version is even more hideous, possess a Jagged Mouth and Glowing Eyes of Doom.
- Combat Tentacles: Mer-Man can grow tentacles out of the palms of his hands, using them as whips against his enemies.
- Genius Bruiser: Mer-Man is explicitly displayed as far more than a simple warrior; he also uses tricks and ploys to ambush the enemy and put them off-guard, reserving certain powers to be used as trump cards, and even tricking Adam into rushing to Grayskull's tomb so King Grayskull can get the sword back.
- Green Thumb: He has the ability to project seaweed whips out of his palms.
- Last of Their Kind: Discussed as being the only Aquatican left.
- My Master, Right or Wrong: He does not care that King Grayskull became a Fallen Hero and still reveres him without reservation.
- Oh, Crap!: When the giant snake beast emerges, he barely has time to say "Oh, my..." before being crushed by it.
- Psychic Powers: He has psychic abilities that he can use to send sonic pulses out to disarm opponents and the ability to form psychic domes around others to force them to view things.
- Really 700 Years Old: No comment is made about Mer-Man's age, but he served King Grayskull personally in the war against the snake men, making him over a thousand years old.
- Tragic Villain: Mer-Man is the Last of His Kind and defined by Undying Loyalty to King Grayskull, wanting to resurrect his old ruler. It's clear that if not for Eldress' actions and his utter loyalty to his king, he wouldn't be so evil.
- Uncertain Doom: He's crushed by a giant snake beast, and is never seen again after that point, but has also been shown to be very durable.
- Undying Loyalty: He's completely loyal to King Grayskull, and will put aside any reservations he has about Skeletor if he and Krass are able to bring him back to life.
The Emissary (Spoiler Character)
Voiced by: Kevin Conroy (2022)
"Consider me an independent thinker, much like yourself."
Hordak is an emissary of the Evil Horde and Evil-Lyn's father, set to become an even bigger threat than Skeletor after the latter's defeat.- Actor Allusion: His voice actor is more famous for voicing a certain other bat-themed character, though this time, he's playing a villain.
- Adaptational Badass: Much like his 2002 incarnation, Hordak is introduced as a far bigger threat than that of Skeletor, to the point that Keldor smugly mocks Randor of his coming before being imprisoned—and given Skeletor's colossal ego—it's saying something that he bothered to have any concern about Hordak and the Evil Horde, which is a far cry of his Laughably Evil General Failure he was in the original show.
- Affably Evil: Maintains a cool, fairly compassionate head when talking to his frustrated daughter and is definitely 100% oozing pure evil from the moment he appears.
- Canon Character All Along: The bat that Evil-Lyn summons in her "Wings of Horakoth" Master Strike is revealed to be him in the Season 3 finale.
- Casting Gag:
- He is a bat-themed character and is voiced by Kevin Conroy who’s most well known role is that of Bruce Wayne/Batman in Batman: The Animated Series. Hordak is also the second MOTU villain voiced by Conroy in as many years, as he also plays Mer-Man in Masters of the Universe: Revelation.
- A more indirect one is that he voiced Hordak at roughly the same time The Joker was voicing Skeletor in Revelation.
- Composite Character: He resembles his classic version mixed with some design elements from She-Ra and the Princesses of Power with his lean build (as opposed to Hordak's traditional bulky build in most incarnations), red veins elf-like ears, and even his armor design, but is also Evil-Lyn's father, which is mostly the role of the Faceless One.
- Family-Values Villain: Clearly cared about Evelyn enough to save her from having her Havoc absorbed by Cosmic Skeletor, and despite her hostility about being dragged against her will, Hordak shows no indignance towards her behavior and addresses her as his equal... which makes sense given he's her father.
- Luke, I Am Your Father: Is Evelyn/Evil-Lyn's father, something that Evelyn is visibly shocked by when he personally reveals it to her.
- Nightmare Face: His smile is arguably scarier than the average entry in
Nightmare Fuel. - Related in the Adaptation: Here, Hordak is Evelyn's father. The two have never been related in any past media beyond being acquaintances and sometimes outright enemies, period.
- Rogues' Gallery Transplant: He traditionally is the nemesis to He-Man's sister She-Ra, who doesn't appear in this show. He did confront He-Man several times but he still mostly kept himself as She-Ra's main enemy.
- The Stinger: He appears at the end of Season 3 to Evil-Lyn.
- Walking Spoiler: Oh, is he ever. His existence and relation to Evil-Lyn are big whammies in and of themselves.
- We Can Rule Together: After rescuing Evil-Lyn from Skeletor, Hordak invites her to become a herald and help prepare Eternia for the Evil Horde. Not as a minion, but as his equal.
- Winged Humanoid: Hordak has a pair of celestial bat wings growing out of his back. Their cosmic nature implies he is a master of cosmic power like the Masters of the Universe or the Dark Masters.
