So I just found out about He-Man

And it's better than I expected. Superior to Transformers by far, at least the animation budget for this thing is decent.

Somehow I can take Skeletor more seriously as a villain than Skeletor.

And I'm watching it in a thunderstorm as it rages outside. I HAVE THE POWER indeed!

yeah skelly is a great villian. He's funny too. He gets so pissed off all the time at his minions, Beastman, Merman, etc.

Ken says the transition from enjoying episodes of He-Man to those of She-Ra is a very easy, safe and comfortable transition

The toys were available up in canada long before the TV cartoon was. I really enjoyed my Masters of the Universe toys. I played the hell out of assaulting castle greyskull etc...

When the tv show finally started being broadcast up here I thought it was total shit and ruined the personalities I had for the characters.

The figurines came with these little books when they came out and the characters weren't nearly as whiney or bumbling in the books as those insulting tv characters were.

JacobMartin wrote:

Somehow I can take Skeletor more seriously as a villain than Skeletor.

What?

Sounds like you are watching the 2002 re-do which only Space Ghost and I would be familiar with. Most people know the property via the original 1983 filmation series, which while very cornball was also revolutionary being the first cartoon released immediatly into syndication (it was a daily cartoon rather than weekly) and the first released based on a toyline (it was previously against the law to do that.)

I was a huge fan of these toys when I was younger. To think that women thought that Barbie created impossible to aceive goals for young girls... I'll never look like He-Man, and can you get a more masculine name then that!

My favorite Skeletor line is;

"Don't you ever want to do something evil?"

Why, yes Skeletor, I do.

I love the backgrounds in the cartoon still to this day, and the music is pretty fucking rockin' too, but the animation itself is shit, like all 80's cartoon (except possibly Gummie Bears). They got maximum use out of Adam's change to He-Man footage though. Maybe three times every episode.

I always liked Thundarr better. Post Apocalypse fantasy, mage babe in a one-piece, and something called Ookla the Mok.

Seconded on Thundarr.

I particuliarly like the episode where the apemen try to reassemble their god- King Kong

Steve"Lords of LIGHT!!"Avery

I must admit, I've never seen a He-Man episode.

I was working at a toy store in 1983-84 when the mania hit (along with Cabbage Patch Craziness)...but I heard many a kid screaming "By the Power of Greyskull" while they messed up my endcap ("Damn kids get outta my yard!!!")

Any value in the series you aren't in it for nostalgia-sake?

(Me---I'd rather watch some Wonder Twin goodness with Superfriends for stupid cartoon time)

Mr Skeletor wrote:

JacobMartin wrote:

Somehow I can take Skeletor more seriously as a villain than Skeletor.

What?

Sounds like you are watching the 2002 re-do which only Space Ghost and I would be familiar with. Most people know the property via the original 1983 filmation series, which while very cornball was also revolutionary being the first cartoon released immediatly into syndication (it was a daily cartoon rather than weekly) and the first released based on a toyline (it was previously against the law to do that.)

I meant to say Megatron, not Skeletor the second time. My dissing of Transformers earlier should have implied that. No, I am watching the original one.

Merkles wrote:

Any value in the series you aren't in it for nostalgia-sake?

God no. Same with Thundarr actually, which may be mildly better but at that point... who cares? It doesn't have the cultural impact nor the nostalgia attachment. Your better off just watching Popeye's from the 30's for silly beat-em-up fun.

Although I still say those backgrounds were killer.

No...He-Man really is only for nostalgia's sake. Dungeons and Dragons the cartoon had some pretty good episodes though.

Merkles wrote:

Any value in the series you aren't in it for nostalgia-sake?

(Me---I'd rather watch some Wonder Twin goodness with Superfriends for stupid cartoon time)

Hard to say. If you like superfriends you might like it.

I wasn't the biggest fan of the toon when I was a kid (loved the toys though.) As a toon I preferred Transformers, Thundercats, and real ghostbusters. But oddly as I have gotten older I have grown to appreciate the he-man toon more, and think it holds up much better than the other toons I loved in the 80s.

Transformers, thudercats etc were sort of pre-anime and to me have been sucessfully replaced by modern kids cartoons which have much better action and excitement and the like. He-man was never really an action toon (being the first toy based toon it came under heavy fire from family groups as did D&D, and the studio pretty much WAY overcompensated) but was more 'lesson' and relationship based. No one makes toons like that anymore which gives it an almost timeless quality, despite the fact it's dated as fuck. The fact it was one of the last American animated cartoons helps as well (different style). I think it belongs more with material like the flitstones, scooby doo and the smurfs than cartoons like Mask, centurions, D&D, transformers, batman TAS etc.

It's not edgy, its not at all 'dark' (Skeletor was to never say 'kill', they all had swords they never used, etc) and it doesn't have irony, self awareness, hipness or any of the stuff that defines modern kids entertainment. It's total 80s cheese, but that is what makes it appeal.

There are over 120 episodes (180 if you count she-ra) so there is a heck of a lot of filler, so if you did want to check it out I'd just download a copy of "the best of..." which was a DVD of the 10 fan favourite episodes. The best episodes are on there from memory.

I don't know anything about He-Man. When I was young I watched stuff like Alfred Jodocus Kwak.

To quote Wikipedia:
"In the cartoon, Alfred fights against a fascist dictator, takes in refugees fleeing from a country under Apartheid (with white geese and black ducks), saves whales against hunters, and oversees the changeover of his country from an absolute monarchy to a constitutional monarchy with a democratically-elected president candidate."

I guess it shows.

my favourtie cartoon as a kid were:

1) Visionnaires (I might have the name wrong but it's where the guys have a hologram animal on their chest that they can turn into, some have a staff with a super power too)

2) Robotix (the cartoon was awesome and very scary)

3) Transformers

4) Transor Z (a rip off of Voltron but was awesome). There was a female robot who's breasts fired as round missiles.

those were my faves

Ha ha, somebody else remembers the Visionaries. Those guys were so lame...