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{{quote|''"I am Adam, Prince of Eternia, and defender of the secrets of Castle Grayskull. This is Cringer, my 'fearless' friend. [[Have a Gay Old Time|Fabulous]] secret powers were revealed to me, the day I [[Stab the Sky|held aloft my magic sword]] and said, '[[By the Power of Grayskull]]!' '''I have the power!'''''"
|From the original series' [[Opening Narration]]}}
This [[Animated Series]] changed the face of children's television when it debuted in 1983. [[Filmation]] produced the show for daily syndication in conjunction with a pre-existing line of Mattel toys and action figures. Its huge success led to dozens of others [[Merchandise
Existing in a world that has both futuristic elements alongside sword, legend and lore, the series focuses on Adam, the crown prince of Eternia, who as described in the opening monologue, has the ability to transform into his super-strong barbarian ''alter ego'', He-Man. This [[Transformation Sequence]] also turned Adam's cowardly pet [[Talking Animal]] Cringer into the brave and fearsome Battle Cat.
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The title, ''Masters of the Universe'', referred to a mystical power hidden under Castle Greyskull. Chosen by the Sorceress of Greyskull to be its guardian, He-Man's strength came from there, channeled through his sword. Skeletor possessed a companion sword which, when combined with He-Man's, would open the secrets of Greyskull.
An amusing bit of apocrypha states that the franchise was originally intended to be based on the film ''[[Conan the Barbarian]]'', but a new plotline and characters were written when marketers realized the folly of basing children's merchandise on a very violent film that most children had not seen. Of note is that [[Paul Dini]] was a member of the writing staff (as was [[J. Michael Straczynski]]), and [[Bruce Timm]] did layouts; both would later go on to be main figures in ''[[
The show left syndication and was shown on the [[USA Network]], which back then was known for being the "used car" network for rerun lots of rerun shows.
A [[Live Action Adaptation|live action film]] was made in 1987, called ''[[Masters of the Universe (
An ill-fated [[Revival]]/[[Retool]], ''The New Adventures of He-Man'', premiered in 1990 but lasted only a year. Depending on whom you ask, it failed either because it was [[Recycled in Space]] or [[They Changed It, Now It Sucks]].
A 2002 [[Continuity Reboot]], first aired on [[Cartoon Network]]'s ''[[Toonami]]'', was much closer to the original series while being modernized and more consistently written. Unfortunately the new series failed after one and a half seasons due to [[Screwed
''[[She
The franchise still has loyal followers, who have created the comprehensive fan site [http://he-man.org He-Man.org].
There's a [[He
----
{{tropelist}}
* [[Action Girl]]:
▲* [[Action Girl]]: Teela -- all incarnations. Both [[The Eighties]] series and the 2002 revival shows Teela as being better in combat than Adam as well as being a reliable ally for the entire team. This is complicated by the fact that Adam makes a point of [[Obfuscating Stupidity|pretending to be a goof-off to protect his secret]] but it doesn't change the fact she's one of the best warriors in the King's service.
** Evil-Lyn, especially in the 2002 series.
** Even the Queen of Eternia, Marlena, gets a moment to flex her abilities. In the Eighties show, she's revealed to have been one of Earth's best fighter pilots when she leads a squadron against Skeletor to rescue her kidnapped family. In the 2002 series, she gets to reveal her swordsmanship.
* [[Action Series]]
* [[Adaptation Explanation Extrication]]: ''The New Adventures of He-Man'' was launched with four pack-in minicomics explaining the setup changes, including the change in appearance of He-Man and Skeletor, and the change of He-Man's "[[By the Power of Grayskull]]" to "By The Power Of Eternia". In the TV series, they appear from the beginning in their hi-tech costumes, and He-Man with his new transformation phrase, with no explanation for the changes. Some things in the comics were ignored by the cartoon however, such as Skeletor finding out Prince Adam was He-Man moments before the He-Man identity became '''''permanent''''', as well as the redesign of the sword to match the recently released toy, as the new Sword of Power in the cartoon looked nothing like the new merchandise. He-Man's secret identity also remained secret in the cartoon, and no explanation is given in the show for Skeletor becoming an apparently cybernetic being, though this was addressed in the comics. Perhaps the writers were expecting people to assume a tie to [[The Movie|the 1987 feature film]] to explain Skeletor's cybernetic augmentation if they hadn't gotten ahold of the minicomics. If so, it didn't work.
* [[Adapted Out]]: The live action movie used another character, Gwildor, to replace Orko.
* [[All Girls Want Bad Boys]]: Evil-Lyn and Keldor seemed to have a relationship going {{spoiler|before Keldor became Skeletor}}.
* [[All Planets Are Earthlike]]: Eternia, of course.
* [[All of the Other Reindeer]]: Ancient Snakemen think lowly of their modern descendants, except for King Hss, he loves all his children.
* [[All There in the Manual]]: In the original series, Evil-Lyn was an astronaut from Earth named Evelyn. This is only mentioned in the series' bible.
* [[Aloof Big Brother]]: In the 2002 series, Fisto to Man-At-Arms.
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* [[Bad Boss]]: In the 2002 series, at least, Skeletor is a ''terrible'' boss who constantly punishes and berates his minions while undermining any legitimate accomplishments they may make. The only reason they put up with this treatment is because they know he'd do much, ''much'' worse if they talked back.
** Later with his Council of Evil, he makes this striking threat to the giants over asking a simple question:
{{quote|
** Hordak in the '02 series. He vaporizes one of his warriors - not for questioning him, but for delivering bad news beyond his control that he didn't want to hear.
* [[Balance Between Good and Evil]]: While the original toy package labeled him a villain (because every toy had to be classified as one or the other, no exceptions), in the Filmation series Zodak was portrayed as more of a cosmic agent of balance, favoring the good guys, as they seem more likely to cooperate with his goals. The 2002 reboot has him as an angrier, more selfish character.
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** The 2002 reboot set up Hordak as, but we never got far enough to find out if Horde Prime would exist there or not.
* [[Bishonen]]: Poor, poor Keldor.
* [[Blessed
** this trend was continued in the 2002 reboot
** also in the 2002 reboot the [[The Faceless]] One is implied to be a powerful practitioner of magic, but can't leave the Temple of the Ram Stone
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* [[Broken Aesop]]: All OVER the place.
** Pretty much the whole 2002 episode "The Courage of Adam" implies that Adam is useless as Adam and really needs his ''alter ego'' form to be of any use. It also contradicts many subsequent lessons, about [[Be Yourself|being yourself]] and trying hard being the way... Adam is never allowed to develop his own, more realistic character. What we see instead is an instant of little-effort, power-gain Transformation.
** The original series was the real king of the [[Broken Aesop]], sometimes making and breaking an Aesop over the span of one or two scenes, or having the [[And Knowing Is Half the Battle]] scene clash with the
** For example, that episode that ends with an anti-violence message... after one more episode of an action show.
*** Three fights in that one. He-Man ''vs''. Demon, He-Man ''vs''. Wizard, Dragon ''vs''. Dragon.
* [[Burning
* [[By the Power of Grayskull]]: The [[Trope Namer]]. In ''The New Adventures of He-Man'', he would actually say "By the Power of ''Eternia''", though.
* [[Canon Immigrant]]: Orko, The Sorceress, and Evil Seed were originally created just for the Filmation cartoon. They all have since been adopted into the He-Man
** The Sorceress '''was''' in the original comics and all. She was just known by a different name: "The Goddess". The particular ''look'' of the Sorceress, nevertheless, puts her closer to this trope. "The Goddess" in the mini-comics looked like Teela in her snake armor form. The bird-woman look was from the cartoon, and, like Orko, was incorporated into the toyline and comics later.
** Depending on your point of view, the Snake Men and Stinkor may count as well. Absent from the original cartoon (because the show had ended when the Snake Men's toys came out and Stinkor was judged "waaaaay too stupid to use"), they became fairly large parts of the 2002 series. Fellow original toyline characters not featured in the original cartoon Rio-Blast, Clamp Champ, and Snout Spout were integrated into the 2002 canon in its comic and statue lines.
* [[Can't Catch Up]]: The rest of the team when compared to He-Man's borderline God Mode at times, though the show still does a good job of keeping He-Man out of the picture enough to get to know the other characters. The newer series' "The Monster Within" episode tried to show He-Man as being just as vulnerable as the other Masters under the right circumstances; Man-E-Faces got in trouble and He-Man had to save him, but mere minutes later the roles were reversed.
* [[Card
* [[Catch Phrase]]:
** "By the power of Grayskull!"
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** "ORKOOOOOOOOOOO!"
* [[Cavalry Betrayal]]
* [[Character Name and
* [[Christmas Episode]]: Yes, there was one, and it had a [[Trapped in Another World]] plot featuring a pair of young urchins from Earth. The children actually explain what Christmas is to Orko but that part gets the fade-off. [https://web.archive.org/web/20130924213954/http://thatguywiththeglasses.com/videolinks/thatguywiththeglasses/nostalgia-critic/14482-hmsrch The Nostalgia Critic] gave it a look, and it's as cheesy as you would expect.
** Justified with [[It Was His Sled]]. It was probably assumed that this was commonly known information that would just bore the audience.
* [[Clark Kenting]]: Nobody (other than the Sorceress, Man-At-Arms and Orko) spots that Prince Adam is He-Man, even though they have the same build and girly haircut and as Ram Man once pointed out, Prince Adam and He-Man are never seen together.
** To be fair, He-Man also has tanned skin, which may help the disguise some. Even so...
** Averted in the 2002 reboot by depicting Adam as looking more like He-Man's younger brother. He was half He-Man's size and probably gained at least a foot and a half in height and at least a hundred and fifty pounds of additional muscle after he transforms into He-Man.
*** Filmation actually wanted to do this from the start, but a limited budget and heavy use of stock footage forced them to give Adam and He-Man the same character design, so it would be easier to re-trace and re-use the animation. Then again, virtually ''every'' male character in the original cartoon has the same build (just like [[Merchandise
* [[Convection, Schmonvection]]: In the 2002 series, characters routinely stand near lava or dangle over it without suffering any ill effect.
* [[Cool Sword]]
* [[Covered in Mud]]: He-Man frequently threw his opponents into conveniently-placed mudholes or bodies of water. A soft landing, to be sure, but not very dignified. Sister superhero [[She-Ra: Princess of Power|She-Ra]] did it too.
* [[Cowardly Sidekick]]: Cringer
* [[Crossover]]: With [[Superman]], twice in fact (though this was the comics version of He-Man). The first featured the origin of Superman's weakness to magic.
* [[Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass]]: Orko is consistently the comedic relief, but there are times when he demonstrates skill and intelligence to help his friends.
** One of the best examples may be in the 2002 series, where Orko interrogates a captured Snake Man. Orko gets the needed information by whipping out a mongoose (a predator of snakes), making it grow and letting it attack the Snake Man's cell.
** In the Filmation series, Orko was from an alternate dimension where the rules of magic worked differently. On his home world of Trolla, he was his people's greatest wizard, but on Eternia, he had to relearn even the most basic spells, or else have them blow up in his face. When Orko was able to make his way back to his own dimension, he utterly dominated Skeletor in a magical duel, leaving his friends in complete awe. It should also be mentioned that Orko saved He-man's life when they first met, and showed great magical skill in the rescue (until he lost the medallion that allowed him to perform magic competently in Eternia).
* [[Cyber Cyclops]]: Tri-Clops, oddly enough.
* [[
* [[Dark Action Girl]]: Evil-Lyn, especially in the 2002 version.
* [[Darker and Edgier]]: The 2002 reboot.
* [[Darkest Hour]]: "The Price of Power" sees Skeletor arrange one of these for He-Man when he thinks he killed an innocent. He crosses the [[Despair Event Horizon]] and [[Ten
* [[Demoted to Extra]]: In the second season of the 2002 series, Skeletor and his minions appeared less frequently and had less impact on plots to make room for King Hiss and the Snake Men. (Season 2 being half as long as Season 1 likely didn't help, either.) Reportedly, this would've been rectified in a third season.
* [[Despair Event Horizon]]: "The Price of Power" where He-Man makes the decision to give up being He-Man and throw his sword into the bottomless abyss of Greyskull because he thinks he's killed an innocent while fighting Skeletor, resulting in the forces of good being left to fight a battle they can't win except through a suicide mission by one soldier (Teela).
* [[Distaff Counterpart]]: She-Ra
* [[Distracted
* [[Do a Barrel Roll|Do An Immelmann Turn]]: Queen Marleena gets to show off her Top Gun skills in "The Rainbow Warrior".
* [[Does Not Like Shoes]]: The 2002 series makes quite a few characters barefoot.
** Taken to an extreme with the Snake-Men. Not only did the majority have freakish two-toed feet, but only their king wasn't barefoot... and he wore ''sandals''.
* [[Drop the Hammer]]: Tytus, a giant twice He-Man's size, wields a similarly gigantic hammer. Hammers were also the preferred weapons of three giants who appeared in the 2002 show.
* [[Dumb Muscle]]: Both versions of Ram Man, the original Tri-Klops, 2002 Clawful, Baddrha, and to a lesser degree Grizzlor, Beast Man, Trap-Jaw, Whiplash, and Spikor. Clawful is probably the single most emblematic
** ''The New Adventures of He-Man'' also gives us Butthead and Staghorn.
* [[Early
* [[Eldritch Abomination]]: One-shot guest-villain Sh'Gora is a surprisingly hard-core example.
* [[Emergency Transformation]]: {{spoiler|Keldor to Skeletor, courtesy of Hordak}}.
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* [[Even Evil Has Standards]]: Evil-Lyn is willing to help Skeletor in his attempt for world domination, but she will not betray her father and returns his magical Ramstone back to him when Skeletor loses it.
* [[Everybody Do the Endless Loop]]: Constantly in the Filmation series, making the animation seem extremely robotic most of the time. Worst of all in the first season, where the budget was limited even by Filmation's standards.
* [["Everybody Laughs" Ending]]: Just about every episode ended with Orko screwing up a magic spell and making someone (usually Man-At-Arms) angry, while everybody else laughs.
* [[Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep"]]: The Sorceress.
* [[Evil Cannot Comprehend Good]]: In an episode where He-Man and Skeletor are forced into an [[Enemy Mine]] situation in order to save Eternia, Skeletor tries in vain to comprehend doing something good for a change. He asks He-Man, "Don't you ever feel like doing something evil?" He-Man answers, "Don't you ever feel like doing something good?"
** Another example would be Skeletor trying to understand what Christmas is in the Christmas Special, and then coming down with the Christmas spirit.
{{quote|
* [[Evil Counterpart]]: This series practically personifies this trope. Here are a few examples.
** Evil-Lyn to Teela
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** The many He-Man-themed segments on ''[[Robot Chicken]]'' could probably count, too. [[Ascended Meme|Mo-Larr, Eternian Dentist, is even getting his own action figure in the MOtU Classics line.]]
** [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8Nc8RCLy1s&feature=search This video] includes an... [[Camp Gay|''interesting'']] take on 4 Non Blondes' "What's Up", as well as the opening narration:
{{quote|
* [[Fish People]]: Mer-Man and the other Aquaticans. Mer-Man has an unfortunate speech impediment when speaking on dry land that undercuts his menace quite a bit.
* [[Five
** [[The Big Bad]]: Skeletor
** [[The Dragon]]: Trapjaw and/or Beast Man
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** [[Dark Chick]]: Evil-Lyn
** [[Sixth Ranger]]: Anyone else who accompanied them at the time.
* [[Five
** [[The Hero]]: Prince Adam/He-Man.
** [[The Lancer]]: Man-At-Arms, who also doubles as [[The Smart Guy]]. Teela occasionally takes on this role as well. In the 2002 series, Stratos and later Buzz-Off would occasionally play this role.
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** [[The Big Guy]]: Ram-Man, despite being the shortest character except Orko in the Filmation series.
** [[The Chick]]: Teela, when not being [[The Lancer]].
** [[Tagalong Kid]]: Orko usually plays this role, especially in the 2002 series, [[Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass|but not always.]]
** [[Team Pet]]: Cringer/Battle-Cat.
** [[Sixth Ranger]]: Anyone else who accompanied them at the time.
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* [[Fog Feet]]: The Faceless One is always portrayed, both in animation and comic books, as a ghostly figure with mystic smoke around his legs. When he finally received an action figure that had no representation of the smoke, many fans were displeased.
* [[Forgotten Birthday]]: In one episode everyone ''seems'' to have forgotten Orko's birthday, and Orko decides to run away. In the end, Orko is told that he should have known that everyone would remember his birthday, [[Broken Aesop|even though they were flat-out lying to him to cover up his surprise party]]. [[The Complainer Is Always Wrong|Stupid Orko!]]
* [[General Failure]]: Flogg in ''The New Adventures of He-Man'' isn't a particularly intelligent mutant and his strategies often leave something to desire, but he manages to subvert this
* [[Genre Savvy]]: In the '02 series, Skeletor demonstrates this now and then, especially when berating the failures of his team:
{{quote|
'''Skeletor''': He-Man ''always'' shows up! }}
* [[Glowing Eyelights of
* [[Giant Eye of Doom]]: Optikk, one of the evil mutants from ''The New Adventures of He-Man'', is essentially a giant eye sitting on a suit of armor. Optikk is an alias; his real name is pronounced through a series of blinks.
* [[Giant Spider]]: Webstor is a human-sized being with spider features. In the 2002 series episode "Web of Evil," ambrosia makes him even bigger and more spider-like.
* [[Go Mad
* [[Grand Romantic Gesture]]: Orko does this in the episode "The Bitter Rose" using the [[Flower From the Mountaintop]] method.
* [[Great Wall]]: In the backstory of the 2002 reboot, after Keldor (aka Skeletor) failed in his first insurrection, the Elders erected the Mystic Wall at the border of the Dark and Light Hemispheres, in effect making the entire Dark Hemisphere a prison for Skeletor and his minions. Presumably, this wall had some sort of magical ward that prevented them from climbing or flying over it or burrowing under. They would eventually break free after two decades, having spent that time gathering Corodite crystals to craft a weapon capable of breaking through it.
* [["Growing Muscles" Sequence]]: Averted in the first cartoon because in order to cut animation costs, Adam is already as buff as He-Man, [[Clark Kenting|his lighter skin and clothes being the only differences between the two]]. Played straight in some episodes of the 2002 series, until He-Man gets his armour.
* [[Half
** In the 2002 series, Keldor is Randor's half-brother, and as such is implicitly half Eternian human and half... some kind of blue... something.
* [[Happily Adopted]]: Teela, by Man-at-Arms.
* [[Happily Married]]: King Randor and Queen Marlana.
* [[Have a Gay Old Time]]: Half the reason for the [[Ho Yay]].
{{quote|
** [[Hilarious in Hindsight|She-Ra happens to enter the room right after he says that.]]
* [[Heart Is an Awesome Power]]: Even during the 80s run when Stinkor was deemed too ridiculous to use, a supplemental book version of his rejected episode showed this. Stinkor's stench was so powerful that it sapped He-Man's strength and Stinkor almost beat him.
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* [[He's Back]]: "The Price of Power". When Orko reveals to Prince Adam that Skeletor tricked him into believing he had killed someone, Skeletor really isn't too thrilled to find He-Man comes back.
* [[Hidden Depths]]: Regardless of continuity, Cringer can be a lot braver than even he thinks he's capable of.
{{quote|
* [[High
* [[Hollywood Cyborg]]: Trap-Jaw.
* [[Hot Amazon]]: Teela, and Evil-Lyn (especially the 2002 version).
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* [[Hot Witch]]: Evil-Lyn.
* [[Human Alien]]: Every 'human' character is this.
* [[Humans Are
* [[Hunk]]: He-Man himself.
* [["I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight]]: When King Hiss turns some Heroic Warriors into Snrake Men:
{{quote|
'''Man-at-Arms:''' I can't... nor do I ''want'' to! }}
* [[I Surrender, Suckers]]: Skeletor tends to do this on a near-daily basis.
** In the first battle between He-Man and Skeletor of the '02 series, he does this ''[[Good Is Dumb|twice]]''.
* [[Important Haircut]]: In ''The New Adventures of He-Man'', but in reverse: He-Man's hair inexplicably (but quite explicitly) gets ponytail-length longer during a moment of awesome mystical display.
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* [[Intergenerational Friendship]]: He-Man and Duncan.
* [[Ironic Echo]]: The 2002 [[Continuity Reboot]] starts with Adam doing the [[Opening Narration]], but as soon as he gets to the line, "Fabulous Secrets", he's cut off in mid-sentence as the area he's standing in front of is under attack.
* [[
* [[I Want You to Meet An Old Friend of Mine]]: In the 2002 series, Teela was voiced by Lisa Ann Beley and Evil-Lyn was voiced by Kathleen Barr. By an amazing coincidence, Lisa was also the voice of the heroic [[Catgirl]] Felicia and Kathleen was also the voice of the evil [[Hot Witch]] Morrigan from the ''[[
* [[I Was Beaten
* [[The Key Is Behind the Lock]]: In one version of the [[Backstory]], Prince Adam was questing with Teela for what would later become his magic sword. Wielding this sword was the only way to enter Castle Grayskull. And yes, the sword was inside the castle.
* [[Lady of War]]: Teela and Evil-Lyn.
* [[Legion of Doom]]: After all of his normal minions are captured by the Masters, Skeletor teams up with every villain not affiliated with him up to that point in the series (Evilseed, Count Marzo, and the three giants. Webstor was there, too, but apparently he just happened to live in one of Snake Mountain's hidden corridors), thus forming the Council of Evil.
* [[Leotard of Power]]: All the [[Action Girl
* [[Living MacGuffin]]: "The Starchild"
* [[Loin Cloth]]: Part of He-Man's outfit. Sadly, She-Ra does not wear a [[Fur Bikini]].
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* [[Loud Gulp]]: In the very first ''Masters Of The Universe'' episode, "Diamond Ray of Disappearance", Teela is confronted by the villain and does a '''very''' deep gulp that sounds rather mannish!
* [[Loves My Alter Ego]]: Teela has a crush on He-Man but dismisses Adam as a lazy coward.
* [[
** Two examples, actually: {{spoiler|Although never covered in the series itself, the later minicomics (which notionally conformed to the animated canon) were set to reveal that Skeletor was in fact Keldor, Randor's [[Cain and Abel|long-lost brother]] and thus Adam (and He-Man)'s uncle. In the 2002 reboot, Skeletor was even shown in his Keldor days in the pilot and through flashbacks, but they didn't get around to pointing out the familial relationship (although they probably intended to: the writers discussed the fact that they were half-brothers on the DVD commentary).}}
*** It goes much deeper than that in the 2002 reboot: We learn that Fisto is actually Man-At-Arms' brother,
* [[Magical Girl Warrior]]: Oddly enough, this show is fairly close to that particular sub-genre of [[Magical Girl]] in spite of its macho overtones.
* [[Male Gaze]]: A common occurrence when the female cast is involved in the 80's series. How many times has the viewer been treated to Teela's backside, whether she was landing or being crept up upon by a villain?
* [[Meaningful Name]] / [[Meaningful Rename]]: Consider names like Cringer/Battle Cat, Skeletor, Evil-Lyn, Man-E-Faces, Beast Man and so forth. With this franchise, character backstories tend to fall on the latter trope when it comes to names.
* [[Mega Neko]]: Battle-Cat
** Also Panthor, Skeletor's pet, er, [[Exactly What It Says
* [[Merchandise
* [[Missing Episode]]: A 40th episode of the '02 series was scripted, but never animated. A [[Comic Book Adaptation]] of it was included as a special feature on the DVD, though. {{spoiler|King Hiss is fully healed and Man-At-Arms is turned into a Snakeman again to be ''their'' [[Gadgeteer Genius]].}}
* [[Mordor]]: The Dark Hemisphere of Eternia.
* [[Morph Weapon]]: Man-E-Faces has a weapon with three modes, much like himself. Staff, gun, and
* [[The Movie]]: ''Secret of the Sword'', and in Live Action, ''[[Masters of the Universe (
* [[Mythology Gag]]: The 2002 [[Continuity Reboot]] series has an identical opening narration except that it is cut off by attacking villains:
{{quote|
(Castle Greyskull gets attacked) }}
** The Classics toyline has released "Wun-Dar", an attempt to make canon the mysterious "Wonder Bread He-Man" with brown hair and different armor (who nobody can prove was actually offered by Wonder Bread). He even comes with an "Eternian baked good".
** Skeletor's [[Bifurcated Weapon]]. The original He-Man and Skeletor toys each had a sword designed to join together to form a single powerful one.
* [[
** Also, [[Beavis and
* [[Names to Run Away From Really Fast]]: Skeletor, of course. Oddly, this could apply to both sides. Who would really want to hand around people named Ram-Man, Fisto, or Buzz-Off? The Classics line tries to make this all less silly by giving most of the characters real names and establishing their more familiar monikers as simple aliases.
* [[Never Be a Hero]]
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* [[Nobody Calls Me Chicken]]: The episode "Buzz-Off's Pride" shows this about Buzz-Off.
* [[No Celebrities Were Harmed]]: In the 2002 series, Stratos' voice is plainly based on [[Sean Connery]]'s -- apparently, it was felt that Stratos' beard brought Connery to mind.
* [[Non
* [[No Name Given]]: The Sorceress. {{spoiler|What about in the sorceresses backstory episode? She is referred to as Teela-na}}
* [[Normal Fish in
* [[Notable Original Music]]: Music by the team of [[Mighty Morphin Power Rangers|Shuki Levy and Haim Saban]]. Some of the music was recycled from ''[[
** The [
{{quote|
por el Poder de Grayskull...
¡Con secretos poderes de este gran castillo
He-man luchará hasta el final!
Teniendo a su lado la magica espada
y amigos que no fallaran,
fuerzas malvadas querran liquidarlo
y nunca descansaran!'' }}
** Translation:
{{quote|
by the Power of Greyskull...
With secret powers of this great castle
He-man will fight to the end!
Having by his side the magical sword
and unfailing friends,
evil forces will want to kill him
and will never rest!'' }}
* [[Not Blood Related]]: Teela and her adopted father Man-At-Arms.
* [[Obviously Evil]]: Skeletor and his army in spades. So much so in fact that he even provides the trope picture.
* [[Old Hero, New Pals]]: The New Adventures of He-Man. He-Man and Skeletor travel to planet Primus, where they join the Galactic Guardians and the Evil Mutants respectively. The Sorceress appears from time to time and there's one episode with Teela.
* [[One
* [[Only Six Faces|Only Six Body Types]]: This sums up every character's build in the show quite nicely.
* [[Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping]]: Orko in the Filmation series sometimes had an urban and/or Jersey accent.
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* [[Overtook the Manga]]: Or, in this case, overtook the mini-comics.
** Then again, Filmation's show wasn't really based on the mini-comics anyway.
* [[Paper
** It gets worse; in the Filmation cartoon they [http://www.he-man.org/cartoon/feature.php?id=44&fid=47 didn't make him blue.]
*** Allegedly they intended to have him become blue in his next appearance... which never ended up happening. Funnily enough, virtually identical events transpired in the '02 show as well.
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* [[Popcultural Osmosis]]
* [[The Power of Acting]]: Man-E-Faces once received three standing ovations for concurrent performances; suffice it to say, the guy's good.
* [[Power Fist]]: Sort of with
* [[Poor
* [[Psychological Torment Zone]]: The Valley of Winds.
* [[Punny Name]]: Yeah...who ''doesn't'' have one?
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* [[The Rashomon]]: The Battle of the Quagmi Swamp in ''The New Adventures of He-Man''. Flipshot, Hydron, Slushhead and Flogg each tell their own version of the story - their versions, of course, exaggerating their own role and aggrandizing themselves. Interestingly, we never get the real story and are forced to simply piece it together from the common elements in each tale.
* [[Recycled in Space]]: ''The New Adventures of He-Man''. To be perfectly fair, little more than He-Man and Skeletor themselves remained from the original series, and in both cases their appearances were altered quite a bit.
* [[Red Eyes, Take Warning]]: Skeletor, at least in the 2002 series, and Count Marzo.
** Tri-Klops has one red eye, one blue eye, and one yellow eye.
* [[Red Oni, Blue Oni]]: He-Man and Skeletor, who wore red and blue and were on the sides of good and evil respectively.
* [[The Renaissance Age of Animation]]
* [[Reptiles Are Abhorrent]]: Played completely straight with the cannibalistic, scheming, and downright evil snake-men. Also Whiplash, a crude bully considered an embarrassment and a traitor by the rest of his people.
* [[Rich Idiot With No Day Job]]: Adam uses this "fake identity" along with [[Obfuscating Stupidity]] to keep his secret. Done a bit more believably in the newer series, where Adam and He-Man's appearances are drastically different instead of He-Man just being more tanned and having a different attitude.
* [[Right
* [[Robo Speak]]: Roboto. [[Captain Obvious|He's a robot.]] Also Man-E-Faces' robot face.
* [[Rogues
* [[Samaritan Syndrome]]
* [[Save the Villain]]: A lot of times.
* [[Schizo
* [[Sealed Evil in
* [[She's Got Legs]]: Teela, Evil-Lyn, and the Sorceress.
* [[Shipped in Shackles]]: In the 2002 series, Kobra Khan is shackled and muzzled when transported. The muzzle is left on in his prison cell due to his venom-spitting abilities.
* [[Shout
** In the episode "The Remedy", the Tacktryl is basically a pink [[Blackstar|Warlock]] Come to think of it, that's actually more of a [[Palette Swap]]...
* [[Sibling Yin
* [[Single Tear]]: He-Man sheds one when She-Ra vanishes into the sunset in ''He-Man and She-Ra: Secret of the Sword''.
* [[Skull for
* [[Smug Snake]]: Skeletor and almost every villain in the series.
** King Hiss takes this to a literal extent.
* [[The Smurfette Principle]]: Teela is the only girl on Team Good, and Evil-Lyn is the only one on Team Evil.
* [[Spell My Name
* [[Spider Tank]]: The Spydor from the original toyline.
* [[Spin
* [[Split Personality]]: Cringer/Battle-Cat
** Man-E-Faces has a human face, a robot face and a beast face, each with an accompanying personality. One episode of the 2002 series has him learning to accept the advantages of his beast personality and overcome the weakness he had with Beast Man's power over animals. In the original, the number of faces he had and their exact unique qualities was never specified.
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** Also Kobra Khan in the 2002 series when pretending to align with Skeletor. He was completely loyal to King Hiss, however.
** Tri-Klops in one episode of the 2002 series, "Roboto's Gambit". He builds an army of skeleton soldiers that multiply when destroyed, and sets out on his own to prove to Skeletor that they work. He then decides to just take the castle for himself. Of course, once He-Man smashes the remote that controlled them and Skeletor finds out about his plan, he's quick to get back in line.
* [[Strong
* [[Suicide Mission]]: In "The Price of Power" Teela takes one of these to stop Skeletor from completing a dimensional gate that will bring through an army capable of conquering Eternia. Due to He-Man's [[Ten
* [[Superhero]]
* [[Taken for Granite]]: Snake Face's power. It gets [[Hoist
* [[Take Over the World]]: The goal of Skeletor and pretty much every villain is to take over Eternia.
* [[Take That]]: The [[Christmas Special]] featured an appearance by new villains in the form of giant evil robots called the Monstroids, who have the ability to transform into aircraft. You can probably guess [[Transformers|which competing toy line they were knocking off here]].
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* [[Talking Animal]]: Cringer/Battle Cat in the original series. Averted in the 2002 series.
* [[Talking to Himself]]: In the 2002 series, [[Scott McNeil]] voiced Clawful, Mer-Man, Stratos, Ram Man, and Beast Man; an astonishing ''five'' regular characters. While in this series most of the cast voiced at least two people, that's still impressive.
** And that's just at the start of the series.
* [[Team Pet]]: Cringer/Battle Cat, especially in the '02 series where he can't talk and acts like any normal (though large) feline.
* [[Techno Wizard]]: Man-At-Arms
* [[Temporary Blindness]]: Happens to He-Man and Ram-Man in "Not so Blind". Fortunately, a boy who's already blind leads them to safety.
* [[Ten
* [[That Man Is Dead]]: Keldor died when he got a face full of acid. Skeletor was born shortly afterwards. Figuratively speaking, of course. Among Skeletor's minions, Trap-Jaw (whose original identity of Kronis was abandoned after he became a cyborg) and Stinkor (who changed his name after becoming a formidable force for evil) arguably count, as well.
* [[That's No Moon]]: {{spoiler|Snake Mountain is really alive but frozen in place -- until King Hiss sets it free.}}
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* [[Theme Tune Roll Call]]
* [[Title Theme Tune]]: Opening theme just has "He-Man!"
* [[Took a Level
* [[Transformation Sequence]]: Adam to He-Man.
* [[Transformation Trinket]]: The Sword of Power. Curiously, Skeletor wields a nearly identical sword in the toyline, which could merge with He-Man's sword and the two were known collectively as the Power Sword when merged, but it lacks this little ability. Skeletor's sword appears only in the children's books and occasionally the mini-comics, and is outright ignored in the cartoon. He did seem to have a duplicate version of the blade in [[Masters of the Universe]], however, but it's so dark it's almost impossible to see if it really is supposed to be the 'dark half' of the Power Sword (referred to as The Sword of Grayskull in the film) or not.
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* [[Use Your Head]]: Ram-Man: "''Duuuuuh'', good door! Soooo-lid!" Ram Man, as you might expect, loves to rush at things headfirst. Mekaneck also likes to land a good headbutt when he gets the opportunity. ''The New Adventures of He-Man'''s unfortunately named Butthead was essentially an evil Ram Man.
* [[Walking Shirtless Scene]]: He-Man and most of the male characters on the show.
* [[What Kind of Lame Power Is Heart, Anyway?]]: Meckanek's extendable neck, with [[Lampshade Hanging]] on it in the 2002 series. Mekanek's power is even more pathetic if you know the original toyline, because included therein was Extendar, who could extend his entire body outward, making Mekanek redundant. Rattlor has powers similar to Meckanek's, but they're much better suited to a Snake Man. Additionally, the toyline only character Blast-Atak is a robot who can
* [[When All You Have Is a Hammer]]: He-man is sometimes pretty clever in how he defeats his enemies in the 2002 series but most of his solutions usually involve crushing something since he's not quite as versatile as most of the bad guys. Supposedly, that version would always have enough strength necessary to complete any given task he just needed to apply it correctly.
* [[Whip It Good]]: Whiplash, as his name implies, is very fond of using his long tail as a whip, but he also has an actual handheld whip that mimics its appearance somewhat (though he uses it less often). Beast Man uses a
* [[White
* [[
* [[Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?]]: Ram-Man is afraid of the dark.
** This pretty much sums up everyone's feelings in the 2002 series Snake-Man season.
** Orko is also afraid of dragons in another episode. But to quote the recurring line of the episode, "Who isn't?"
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{{reflist}}
[[Category:Toys]]
[[Category:Toys of the 1980s]]
[[Category:Western Animation]]
[[Category:Western Animation of the 1980s]]
[[Category:The Renaissance Age of Animation]]
[[Category:Christmas Special]]
[[Category:Thud and Blunder]]
[[Category:The Eighties]]
▲[[Category:Toys]]
[[Category:Fantasy Western Animation]]
[[Category:Toonami]]
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