Headscratchers / He-Man and the Masters of the Universe (1983)

• How does Skeletor have such a nasal voice when he has no nose?
  • How does he manage to move his head and jaw when he has no muscles? A Wizard Did It, we just need to accept that he does and he can and move on.
  • In addition, Skeletor's voice is the hyponasal variety of nasal tone, in which there is little or no airflow through the nasal cavity. In other words, there is no air actually flowing through there, which could be why he has a nasal voice.
• Why does He-Man need a secret identity? It doesn't really protect anyone. And why doesn't he just stay He-Man all the time?
  • He-Man himself exists as a major hero who fights more or less all the time, and needs to constantly give life lessons. Adam needs a break too. As a person, he simply should be allowed to enjoy life and just relax. He still does useful things without his He-Man form too. Adam was created for the cartoon, although it's not entirely explained why from what I know. Lastly, the cartoon makes it clear that he enjoys being Adam as well. Cringer doesn't like being a super courageous beast and has fun being himself. He-Man and Battlecat are just alternate superhero forms used to fight evil. The other two are who they are. The fact Cringer even shows courage in another episode and Adam shows he can still be of use and can save the day without his powers helps too. It's simply so they can have a social life. It's one of the same reasons superheroes in other franchises bother to have secret identities. They can still have jobs, families, and so on.
  • Adam passes Beneath Suspicion. Skeletor doesn't take the foppish crown prince seriously, meaning that even if he gets captured, he can usually find a few minutes to break out and become He-Man. If he were He-Man all the time, he'd be under much tighter scrutiny. Notice that He-Man is often conveniently available to surprise Skeletor and his evil warriors precisely because they don't suspect that he's Prince Adam, and they may even bring him to Snake Mountain itself as a captive, only to have He-Man suddenly show up (Adora got away with this one too).
  • Related to the above, whenever Skeletor plans directly against the Royal Family, he generally doesn't bother with Adam. After all, from everything he's seen, Adam's a useless fop. Heck, if Adam actually became king because his parents were out of the picture, he'd probably run the kingdom into the ground and make it easy for Skeletor to waltz in and take over! Now imagine if he knew Adam's actually the biggest threat...
  • Also, where He-Man is, the Power Sword is. The Power Sword can open the door to Castle Greyskull. Adam also needs it to transform. Now imagine if Skeletor knows exactly where the sword is being kept 24/7.
• Why does Adam keep his identity as He-Man a secret from Heroic Warriors and his family? This is like Bruce Wayne not telling Alfred and the rest of the Batfamily that he's Batman.
  • As an extension of the above argument, maybe he doesn't want people bringing all their problems to him 24/7. I know that sounds kinda selfish but, as stated, even superheroes need to unwind sometimes. In a more Doylistic answer, natch, it's so the show can employ standard superhero tropes like I Need to Go Iron My Dog.
  • I question the keeping the secret from his parents in this and the reboot. While here the fact that Adora is a rebel leader and would probably take the throne when she returns, the reboot has not such character shown. It's possible that Randor would think his son was unfit for the throne, due to the fact he’s not aware his son is He-Man!
  • Mostly because the characters in this show are his enemies, his family and the rest of the Masters of the Universe. How could you play the "Secret Identity" trope if ALL the characters in the show are into the masquerade?
  • If his allies knew — or were known to know — they'd be tortured into giving up the secret.
  • After she becomes She-Ra, Adam makes a point to warn Adora not to tell their parents about their secret identities. Even though it really shouldn't make a difference if their now-adult daughter is introduced to them as Adora or She-Ra. It's entirely possible that the secrecy is something that the Sorceress, or even the Ancient spirits of Castle Greyskull, insist upon. Kind of like how the Sorceress doesn't just tell Teela that she's her daughter (and probable successor).
  • Another issue with Adam's secret getting out is that, as Adam, he's an incredibly valuable member of the royal family of Eternia. If anything happens to the king and queen, he's in charge. If his parents found out, he'd never be allowed to endanger the future of the kingdom like that, no matter what the Sorceress said.
• Why does no one recognise Adam when he turns into He-Man?
  • The spell that transforms him also provides an enchantment which disguises him.