Major spoilers for Masters of the Universe: Revelation
The series was released on Netflix on January 25, 2024.
He-Man and the Tropes of the Universe!
- Abdicate the Throne: After King Randor's death, Adam, feeling he is unfit for the crown due to his duties as He-Man, decides to abdicate his claim to the throne and give it to his father's older half-brother Keldor. When Keldor is revealed to be Skeletor and is deposed, he sticks with the decision by fully dissolving the monarchy and making Eternia a democracy instead.
- Actor Allusion: Keldor mocks Skeletor with, "I'm laughing at the 'superior intellect'."
- Aggressive Negotiations: During their audience with Scare Glow in the first episode, Adam and Orko's attempts at peaceful diplomacy quickly break down into armed conflict. Orko and Adam even lampshade the trope, calling it Plan B.
- Ambiguous Situation: Just how much of the story that Keldor told Adam was true and how much was fabrication? Hordak later confirms that the broad strokes are all true, but that leaves thing like what was Keldor and Randor's relationship as children actually like, and when exactly did Keldor become resentful and started coveting the throne completely up in the air. Skeletor also implies to Adam that he can't be sure if Randor knew who he became, since even he didn't.
- Ambiguous Syntax: When Marlena, out of concern for those around her, asks, "Is everyone good?" Lyn says she hasn't decided yet.
- An Arm and a Leg: Skeletor loses both arms when fighting against Hordak, and then just conjures up new ones and keeps going. After being depowered back to just being Keldor, he somehow ends up regaining flesh arms.
- The Atoner: Lyn's main motivation is to repair the damage to the universe that she created during the previous series.
- Bait-and-Switch:
- Just after Teela is transformed by the snake magic of Ka, she's behaving ferally, and chasing and trying to kill Evil-Lyn. It's all only a training session in using the new power Teela's gotten.
- Skeletor originally being Keldor, as presented in the 2002 series, seems averted when Skeletor attacks Eternos while Keldor is also present. Afterward, Motherboard drops being disguised as Skeletor and Skeletor himself drops his Keldor disguise. Later, Skeletor recalls that he actually is Keldor.
- Big Damn Heroes: Just as a kaiju-sized techno-titan is about to attack Teela and disrupt her spell to restore Preternia, Granamyr swoops in out of nowhere and engages it in single combat.. The Magnificent indeed.
- Body Horror: During the flashbacks to Keldor's transformation into Skeletor, we actually get to see his face melt off (skin and muscle alike) and all while Keldor/Skeletor screams in agony.
- Broad Strokes: Gwildor's past adventures with the Cosmic Key are alluded to, implying some version of the events of the Cannon film had already took place in the original animated continuity before he went into seclusion.
- Brought Down to Normal: Revolution concludes with He-Man draining Skeletor of the nanotech and Havoc magic, reducing the once mighty enhanced-Skeletor into the completely powerless Keldor, to be imprisoned beneath Castle Grayskull with the just-as powerless King's crown he coveted for so long.
- Canon Immigrant:
- The series shows the first animation appearance of Gwildor, who was created for the live-action film and then only appeared in comics until this.
- Despara, the alter-ego Adora had in the 2012 DC Comics series, makes an appearance in this series.
- Casting Gag: Motherboard is voiced by Meg Foster, who portrayed Evil-Lyn in the live-action Masters of the Universe.
- Charge Meter: The upgraded Power Sword has one, and once He-Man notices and figures out what it is charging from, changes his tactics to use this.
- Engineered Heroics: Skeletor and the Motherboard Cult stage an attack on Eternia so Skeletor's second identity Keldor can win the trust of the heroes and claim the throne.
- Everyone Can See It: When Adam and Teela finally have their Big Damn Kiss, absolutely no one, except for Gwildor, is surprised.
- Eviler than Thou: Alarmingly the Cold Ham Keldor personality may be worse than the Card-Carrying Villain Skeletor, lacking Skeletor's grand standing and running on wits and pure viciousness. Notably, once this personality starts to influence Skeletor, his threat level skyrockets and he becomes a danger to everyone, Horde and Eternian alike.
- Evolving Credits: The font for 'Revolution' in the opening recolors itself and is accompanied by noticeably different effects for each episode as the plot progresses. After Castle Grayskull is taken over and reshaped by Motherboard's nanotechnology, its new appearance is seen in the openings of episodes four and five.
- Exact Words: After Hordak is finished conquering the home of the Rock People, he is challenged by a single member of their race to single combat. Hordak mocks him before he is killed, telling him there is always a hero that comes in to try one last final battle to save their planet and it always goes the same way. Fitting that Hordak is finished off not by any of the heroes, but Skeletor-a card carrying villain.
- After the aforementioned combat challenge is issued, Hordak allows it to play out...but he never actually said he would be doing his own fighting. After all, Hordak is the leader of a galaxies-spanning empire; he has people to fight *for* him. Cue Hordak's minions taking out the poor Rock People's champion.
- Expy Coexistence: Gwildor was created as Orko's replacement for the live-action MOTU film due to budget concerns. Here the two exist in the same continuity and even share a scene together. As a nod to this, they naturally can't stand each other.
- Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse: As He-Man lays it out for him, Skeletor may have had a genuine grievance as Keldor and suffered under Hordak, but in the end he still chose to become the bad guy to get what he wanted.
- Genuine Impostor: Skeletor really is Keldor but believed otherwise until Motherboard accidentally unlocked his memories of being Keldor.
- Good Stepmother: Queen Amelia (Randor's mother and Keldor's stepmother) constantly argued with King Miro to get him to do right by Keldor, pointing out that Keldor was in a lose-lose situation regardless if he stayed in Eternos or Anwat Gar since his illegitimate birth status meant he couldn't inherit the throne while Randor would, pointing out that he would at least get a chance to make something of his life in his own homeland. It's especially worth noting since Keldor wasn't even her's and was born from her husband's affair (not to mention, half-alien).
- Graceful Loser: Skeletor... of all people. On being reduced into Keldor and surrounded by the heroes, instead of his customary ranting and raving, he only gives a resigned, "Myah."
- Inadequate Inheritor: Hordak's plan centers around the fact that Adam, while a confident, veteran warrior as He-Man, is not emotionally prepared for the responsibilities of kingship, especially not on the extreme short notice that Randor concealing his fatal illness until only a day or so before his death brought about.
- Late-Arrival Spoiler: The series shows that Adam was revived, Teela is now the Sorceress, Andra is the new Man-at-Arms, Evil-Lyn had a Heel–Face Turn, Orko Took a Level in Badass, and Skeletor is back working for his old master.
- Leitmotif: Bear Mccreary carries over his major themes from Revelation, while also weaving in new leitmotifs for the new series and characters (ex. Hordak, Keldor, etc.).
- Lighter and Softer: Despite how dire the stakes seem on paper with the introduction of the Horde and King Randor unexpectedly passing away, the series overall is a Decon-Recon Switch to the previous series's pure Deconstruction. Adam and Teela's relationship that was once fraught with tension over him hiding his identity as He-Man is now one of deep mutual trust that eventually becomes a full Relationship Upgrade, the focus on the heroes' side of the story is about fixing the unaddressed damage to the world caused during Revelation's events right down to the restoration of Preternia rather than trying to prevent an apocalyptic event, and Skeletor is seemingly beaten for good by the end in a classic showdown.
- Locked Out of the Loop: Adam was not informed of Randor's failing health in the weeks before the Subternia mission. Only the Queen and Mendor knew.
- Long-Lost Relative: At King Randor's funeral a Gar named Keldor reveals himself as the late King's half-brother, and Adam's uncle. If that wasn't enough, after initially turning out to be Skeletor in disguise, he discovers in rapid succession that not only does Keldor actually exist, but is who he originally was.
- Magitek: Skeletor and He-Man duke it out in the climax after both merge Eternian magic with technology.
- Gwildor quotes a variation of Clarke's Third Law: "Any advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic, but that doesn't mean it is magic".
- Mythology Gag:
- Teela obtains a new form with a design similar to the Goddess from the original mini-comics.
- Skeletor discovers that his supposed backstory of being an interdimensional demon was a fake and he's really Keldor, brother of Randor. In the original mini-comics, he truly was an interdimensional demon at first, but the 1986 "The Search for Keldor" comic first hinted at the connection with the toy bios outright retconning Skeletor's backstory, and then from the 2002 series onward his backstory as Keldor became his standard one. To boot, Skeletor's retconned backstory was explained as Keldor having been merged with an actual interdimensional demon known as Demo Man whose influence caused a split-personality that became Skeletor to develop, who'd inherited the memories of both his components leading to the initial backstory.
- Keldor in flashbacks looks like he did in He-Man and the Masters of the Universe (2002) and like that version Hordak was responsible for his transformation into Skeletor.
- In the flashback depicting Adora’s kidnapping by Hordak, a stuffed Pegasus resembling her steed Swift Wind is shown by her cradle. The flashback itself is also more or less a Shot For Shot remake of the kidnapping depicted in Secret of the Sword.
- Hordak yells to Skeletor, "Let this be our final battle!" during their final fight in the fifth episode, one of the most famous lines from the live-action Masters of the Universe.
- Hordak tends to snort at random points, echoing his speech pattern from Filmation's original She-Ra cartoon. And during Hordak and Skeletor's climactic battle, Hordak uses his Horde technology to give him an Arm Cannon and change his lower torso into a rocket, similar to the powers he sported in the same cartoon.
- Gwildor's existence, the reference to the Cosmic Key, and Duncan referring to their past adventure as "travelling to the far side of the universe" implies that a close approximation of the events from the live-action Masters of the Universe took place in this continuity as well.
- When Teela gains the magic of Ka, she's outfitted with a cobra-shaped armor and staff, which was her original action-figure design, while the franchise's first ever comic book (and newspaper comic-strip) appearances featured it as the design of the Sorceress, so those old backgrounds are now combined.
- Adam's new Magitek Power Sword and new He-Man transformation takes several cues from He-Man and the Masters of the Universe (2021) (particularily the emblem on his chestplate and how the Power Sword changes it's shape and size when it's full power is utilized) and the live-action film.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Andra accidentally helps Keldor's plot to enslave the people of Eternia, when he preys upon her dissatisfaction with having to be more out of the action as the new Man-At-Arms, so she'd help him develop and distribute the technology needed for the task, under the pretense of "giving power to the people." She later makes amends by breaking out a depowered Adam and his mother.
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain:
- Motherboard inadvertently restores Skeletor's true memories as Keldor by squeezing his head a bit too hard while she was admonishing him for interrupting her message to Hordak. This results in a smarter and even more vicious Skeletor turning on Hordak.
- Hordak too also plays this ball by explicitly utilizing the Keldor identity to begin with, after deliberately making an effort to suppress Skeletor's knowledge of his real identity in the past to keep him in check all just to get an easy-in with conquering Eternia with Keldor's legitimate claim to the throne by lineage. This, in tandem with his sheer lack of respect towards his minion as little more than a egotistical pissant has Hordak taken completely off-guard when a much more intelligent and especially indignant Skeletor finally ends up nearly killing him during his coup.
- Not-So-Harmless Villain: Motherboard and Hordak dismiss the cybernetically controlled Skeletor as nothing more than a Small Name, Big Ego minion to be mocked and threatened when his antics get annoying. This does not go well for them when Skeletor starts to remember his old life - the Keldor personality starts to influence him. Cue him murdering Motherboard while she’s distracted, presenting her severed head to Hordak, and battling his old master for control of the Horde. Skeletor, thanks to combining magic and technology, ultimately overpowers Hordak, kills him and then uses his new powers to brainwash the Horde Fleet into being his minions.
- Plot-Triggering Death: The main story of the series starts off due to Randor succumbing to an illness.
- Real After All: Skeletor thought Keldor wasn't a real person until Hordak told him Keldor was no fabrication.
- Recycled Soundtrack: There are multiple instances where cues from Revelation are reused here — particularly Adam draining Skeletor of his nanotech, which reuses the climax of "The Power of Grayskull"
. - Reforged into a Minion: Skeletor's Unwilling Roboticisation, shown at the end of Revelations, has brought him back under Hordak's influence.
- Reused Character Design: Two-Bad looks nearly identical to their 2002 counterpart.
- Royally Screwed Up: The Royal House of Eternos turns out to be far more dysfunctional than anyone gave it credit for...
- For starters, it had the deep, dark family secret that Randor's father, King Miro had a bastard, half-Gar son named Keldor who was denied the throne despite being his first-born and was effectively banished to the Gar homeland due to their laws, and distrust of magic, forbidding him from ever returning.
- As a consequence of the above, Keldor grew to resent Randor and covet the throne he saw as his birthright so much that when the Evil Horde invaded Anwat-Gar, he willingly became Hordak's acolyte for the chance to gain the throne, leading him to become Skeletor.
- Which retroactively means that (unbeknownst to even Skeletor himself, whose memory of this had been wiped by Hordak) the entire conflict of the original series was actually a colossal family feud; one that the Sequel Hook implies is only going to get even messier, once Despara/Adora comes gunning down for both her brother Adam/He-Man and her uncle Keldor/Skeletor.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: The second they are released from Skeletor's mind control the crews of all the starships in the Horde armada pull a Hyperspeed Escape.
- Sequel Hook: The final scene shows Hordak recovering in a Healing Vat while a masked woman (identified in the end credits as Despara) promises him that she and Horde Prime will be paying Skeletor and He-Man a visit.
- Sequel Series: To Masters of the Universe: Revelation
- Shipper on Deck: Everyone shows support for Adam and Teela's burgeoning relationship. Lyn claims that no less than King Randor desired for them to become a couple and find happiness together.
- Shout-Out:
- When Skeletor's former personality as Keldor (voiced by William Shatner) re-emerges for the first time inside Skeletor's head, he says, "I'm laughing at the superior intellect." (Also an Actor Allusion.)
- After cutting off Motherboard's head, Skeletor seemingly takes an idea from Se7en and bestows it to Hordak in a gift box.
- Many viewers have commented that the He-man/Teela dual transformation sequence give very heavy Sailor Moon Henshin vibes.
- Shut Up, Hannibal!: Skeletor claims that his being evil is all the fault of He-Man and his family, as Randor took the throne of Eternia which Skeletor, in his old persona as Keldor, arguably had just as much claim to. He-Man countered that he had gotten Adam to recognize Keldor's claim to the throne, and once he'd gotten it Skeletor couldn't think of anything to do with it besides enslaving those who were already following him willingly, so being evil was clearly his own decision.
- Split Personality: For all practical purposes, after Motherboard smacks him in the head one too many times, Keldor’s personality starts functioning as a fully independent personality inside Skeletor's mind, having conversations with him and advising to turn against him masters. Its only once Skeletor begins to use magic and sorcery in tandem that the two personalities merge.
- Status Quo Is God: After its destruction at Lyn's hands late in Revelation, Preternia is fully restored by the end of Revolution's mid-Season finale.
- Succession Crisis: A fair part of the plot centres around the aftermath of King Randor's death, with Adam struggling between choosing to lead as himself or He-Man, while Skeletor and Hordak make their move to seize control of Eternos.
- Take That!: When Lyn is taunting Teela to help her master snake magic, one of the insults she hurls at her is calling her a "Bait-and-Switch". Given how purposely petty it was, it's likely a dig at those who accused the prior series of doing this with He-Man's Heroic Sacrifice, by mostly targeting Teela specifically.
- Tomato in the Mirror: After being cyberized and subsequently damaged by Motherboard, Skeletor discovers he was really Randor's Gar half-brother Keldor transformed by the Havoc Staff, and that his belief that he was an extra-dimensional demon was a constructed lie by Hordak.
- Took a Level in Badass: The return of the more calculating schemer Keldor's personality to his mind, Hordak's cybernetic upgrades and his greater self awareness about his origins result in Skeletor successfully pulling a Dragon Ascendant on Hordak, surpassing his old master via combining magic and technology, obtaining mastery of both and taking the Big Bad position back via force.
- Unresolved Sexual Tension: Exploited by Lyn when she brings up Teela and Adam's unspoken attraction to help the new sorceress get a gasp of Ka magic since it's derived from base emotions unlike the Zoar magic of Grayskull.
- Wham Shot:
- At the conclusion of Adam's eulogy to his father, a hooded man steps forward and reveals himself as Keldor, Randor's brother and rightful heir of Eternos.
- During Skeletor's flashbacks to his life in Hordak's service, we see one where he was being restrained by Eternian guards in baby Adam's nursery, as Hordak escapes while stealing away another child who can only be none other than
Adora. - The Locksmith finally steps out to reveal himself as none other than Gwildor.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: The fates of Tri-Klops, Trap Jaw, Two-Bad, Whiplash, the Motherboard cultists, as well as Hordak's trio of minions, Grizzlor, Mantenna, and Leech, are left unrevealed at the conclusion.
- Wounded Gazelle Gambit: Marlena lets herself get captured and plays helpless, counting on being thrown into the same dungeons where Adam's being kept. It works, and so Andra is able to follow and rescue them.
