I’m 42, He-man was my favorite part of living and I never understood what happened... until now. I was so devastated and confused as a child. Thank you for explaining what happened to my childhood. Maybe now I can finally heal and move on with my life.

Business Executive: They'll come for He-Man, but they'll stay for She-Ra. Kids: I'm about to end this man's entire career.

Also in 1985, the Nintendo Entertainment System was released. If anything lead up to the downfall in 86, it was this. I was there and let me tell you, toys in general started to take a hit.

Its insane that so many brand managers today wish to repeat this failure.

The last ten years has really been a masterclass of what not to do with a franchise whose core audience is your supporting pillar... And now we have a legacy example showing that times don't change and core audience is king.

So funny, in Germany He-Man was still really popular in the late 80‘s due to a stand alone audio drama series with its own continuity. I consider it the best thing produced under the Master brand name, actually.

>Expand boys' toys line to focus on girls >Boys leave >IP dies as a result Boys thank god no one ever repeated this after spending billions to acquire such an IP.

As a 12 year old girl in 1986, I remember liking She-Ra because she was pretty, smart, and strong, but I enjoyed the stories and action of the He-Man show more. I also didn't like the She-Ra toys because they were too "girly" and didn't look anything like the She-Ra that was on TV. Since the She-Ra show and the toys and didn't match up for me, I kind of lost interest. I think something that toy manufacturers, content creators, and society in general needs to remember is that people have many aspects to their personalities. I loved Barbie and My Little Pony, but I also loved my Star Wars action figures. I would have loved to have bought She-Ra action figures, but instead Mattel gave me another Barbie doll with their She-Ra toys. They didn't think that I, as a girl, would have wanted something different. Mattel should have thought about diversifying their girls line with toys that were for a different type of girl instead of just giving them more of the same.

As a 10 year old boy in 1986, I distinctly remember this time. The She Ra show felt different than the He Man show. It felt like watching a girl’s show about feelings rather than a boys show about action. The same was true for the She Ra toys. Their “real” hair and brush accessories rather than weapons, not to mention they were sold on the girls aisle in stores, made them pretty much anti-boy by their very nature. I actually tried watching the She Ra show, but I just couldn’t get into it.

"Our product line of creative toys is a huge success!" "Great! Let's cancel the commercial and take them off store shelves." ..."Oh, no! Where did the money go?"

As a 7 year old kid at the time I remember wondering why Jem was on the He-Man show. I didn't even give She-Ra a chance because my sisters liked Jem so much. I just walked away and waited like Seymour did for Fry...

I've said it for years. Kids don't buy toys, they buy characters. If they just shovel out characters without thought, the line fails. Happened to Transformers, Ninja Turtles, and more.

The graphic you used for the collapse of MOTU is utterly priceless.

I'll always remember being pissed off as a kid that the MOTU motion picture took place on Earth.

You hit the nail on the head. For me, I remember it being a combination of no new episodes and a lack of interesting characters in the toy isles. I would let She-Ra play in the background with no real interest except for the few episodes He-Man made guest appearances. I kept waiting for him to be a regular but that never happened of course. When the last wave came out Scareglow sparked my interest and my parents bought him for me. The rest of the line was uninspired: Sorceress, Randor, Clam Champ, Ninjor? So yeah, interesting figures would've kept the line alive for me even without the new episodes. After a few years without He-Man I got super excited when I discovered the New Adventures on toy isles but with no real push it was quickly forgotten.

This is fascinating. I was a Transformers/GI Joe kid as far as toy preference, but I do remember MotU practically vanishing from toy stores very quickly. Kinda like what's happening to Star Wars right now lol.

If Andre voiced Audible audio books Books, I'd never read again.

This video is 100% accurate. I was a huge He-Man fan as a young boy. My grandma worked at Mattel and I had every single figure and vehicle. Once She-Ra came out, it killed my enthusiasm for Masters of the Universe. My sister took me to see Secret of the Sword in theaters, which was mediocre and with no new He-Man after that, I lost interest. It became a girls toy. The terrible movie was the nail in the coffin.

As the world's foremost expert on He-Man.. I can tell you this..even though the drugs and women got to him, he was proud that he never skipped a leg day. RIP

As a child of the 80s I had tons of He-Man toys. I would not say that She-Ra killed it so much as many kids, myself included, moved on to Transformers and GI Joe. Then MASK and Thundercats. Toys were just ultra trendy and had peak marketability for one or two years before declining as kids jumped on the next big thing.

I appreciate this stroll down memory lane

Blows my mind that Mattel thought it was a good idea to make she ra its main cartoon when Heman was such a success. !

History repeats itself and nothing is learned, the cycle continues and never ends.

Great video Andre and Tom. It's interesting that these clowns at Netflix didn't learn a thing from the 1980's He-man and it success. In the Kevin Smith remake they used the exact formula that failed in 1987. SMH

Alienating your existing, paying audience to appeal to a potential audience. Sounds like it was a lesson learn 30+ years ago that corporations have completely forgotten.

Speaking of stonedar and rokkon, the gobots toyline also had robots that just transformed into rocks around the same time

My biggest complaint about being a lifetime geek(I was one before Star Wars came out). Was watching marketing people constantly chasing a new audience. All at the expense of the old audience. Which is illustrated very well with MOTU.

It would have been nice if you explained why they ended the He-Man cartoon at the height of popularity.

I think Lou Scheimer, and Filmation deserve alot of credit for keeping both 'He-Man' & 'She-Ra' part of the same brand more so than Mattel. Who were clearly at odds with each other, and were fighting tooth, and nail for shelf space. The 'She-Ra' team at Mattel really wanted to push 'He-Man' aside so they can dominate the toy shelves, and be 'THE BESTEST TOY LINE EVARR'. If Filmation was given the green light for a third season of 'He-Man', the momentum would've remained intact even with the presence of 'She-Ra'. Looking back on the 'She-Ra' toy line, you can clearly tell that Mattel wanted to make them look more like dolls to scare off the boys when She-Ra was already a unique entity that can stand alongside the boys. That's what sets her apart from Barbie, and a trait that she shares with Wonder Woman.

Well, that explain a lot, and many people dont know about that, they intentionally sideline their core audience and character. And i say, i liked the Masters of The Universe Movie, it was a afternoon session in my country. The dub here was awesome

Well that He-Man failed in the 1980's was a big mix of reasons but the morale of the story is - "You try selling toy figures for both boys and girls, you will lose both" - Common sence. Boys and girls are interested in different toys and I personally have never met any girl who liked He-Man, TMNT, Biker Mice tc-etc because they speak to boys. I know girls liked She-ra but never met one on any of my two schools I went to in lower grade school. Any way, The Real Ghostbusters came with awesome toys in 1986 and TMNT was in 1987 taking over the scene so it was unavoidable to happen.

Every time Andre says "Dolph Lundgren", an angel gets his wings.

Hmm... the big question left unanswered is why they decided to cancel the series. Didn't they want competition between big screen or small screen? Were they concerned that compared to live action, the animation might look cheap and start hurting the brand? Or did they think that they didn't need Filmation anymore? That they had served their purposes and it was time to get rid of them? Was it because Filmation wouldn't play ball anymore with all the half-assed new toys? Or was interest in the show declining? What were the ratings at time?

No one would ever make such a massive mistake by alienating it's huge built in audience ever again (cough, cough Star Wars, Doctor Who and Star Trek). Nobody could possibly be that dumb surely?

80s kid here, He-Man fan, LOVED this series. Been watching since Trankgate, this is truly one of the best pop culture channels on KZfaq.

The girls toy division ruined the She-Ra toy line. But the dumbest move was continuing She-Ra without He-Man. He-Man was the main atraction that kept the people coming back, She-Ra was a good expansion of MotU, but it was there to complement it, it could never replace it. Also i never stop being amazed at how people let rights scape them and making up messes of what used to be simple stuff.

Wow I just got to say this whole documentary was amazing so much I didn't know but as a kid growing up with the He-Man cartoon and toys it was an amazing time and when it ended it was very sad.

I started college in 1987, and with my job I had money that Christmas and planned to get my He-man crazy cousins some He-man figures. When I asked them what characters they wanted, they told me, "He-man is a girl's toy now". When I got a chance to baby sit some of my old regular clients (three sisters) their She-ra collection had added a ton of He-man toys, including a Grayskull playset. The boy across the street had unloaded his whole He-man collection on them because "He-man was a girl's toy now" (and he'd turned 14 and He-man wasn't "cool" for teenagers). So we spent the evening making up an epic story with this huge army of action figures.

I am absolutely loving this Retrospective you guys have been putting out. Your providing information on the He-Man Franchise that no else has done before.

thundercats, the ghostbusters, the real ghostbusters, GI Joe, transformers, and TMNT may have drawn customer base away not to mention the endless Hanna Barberra catoons.... ;)

Great retrospective! I was a kid back in the 80s, and I distinctly remember not being a fan of He Man - mostly because of the incredibly wooden and stocky animation of the series. As someone who was a fan of shows like Duck Tales, Tales Spin, the Care Bears and the Smurfs, which showcase some amazing animation, He Man was just unappealing to watch. I'm sure I'm not the only one who felt that way.

Really enjoying This series. Eager to see the retrospection on the 2002 series. That was my introduction to He Man.

Really enjoying this series of deep dives into a beloved show from my youth.

That all played out pretty much as I remember it playing out. That Castle Greyskull build I'm making reminds me of my wish I had, well me and my Sister both had as we were fans. She got She-Ra and Swiftwind, and Teela as i recall but she didn't like the other figures in that line. She thought they looked dumb. Even the headpiece that came with She-Ra looked stupid and Nothing like the cartoon either. We noticed quite plainly when the Power Hour had only MOTU Reruns and only New She-Ra episodes. What we Wanted were More crossover stories and more MOTU to Coincide with the other show. They were Twin Siblings, Brother and Sister and That was an aspect to it that actually had my sis and I Playing together even though I was older by 4 years. But that Overlapping story period was really Short and soon afterward we stopped playing together because we weren't inspired by the cartoon anymore. The movie looking practically Nothing like the cartoon or the toys didn't help, its story not set in Eternia, so few characters from the show and toys. Some Neat looking characters killed off immediately, dumb dialogue etc We Noticed as kids and it was a turn off. But around the same time also came other toys that would compete for kids attentions, and 1984 saw the debut of the Transformers toyline, followed by the Marvel 4 issue limited series guest starring the Newly Minted Symbiote Suited Spiderman Fresh out of Secret Wars in the 3rd Issue where he Webs Up and Immobilizes Megatron on the cover. G.I.Joe followed Transformers soon after as the Toy Market was now Legally Open to use animation to sell toylines from and the Gates MOTU had trailblazed through were left wide open. M.A.S.K., Visionaries, Thundercats, Silverhawks, Robotech, Voltron...Even Care Bears and Gummie Bears all that stuff began to steal the show from MOTU and She-Ra. For us kids it was like if Mattel isn't gonna take these things as seriously as we kids do, we'll just go to whichever Other things we liked as kids that WERE Taking their Stories SERIOUSLY as We did. That type of examination and judgement Criteria we developed for our Tastes in entertainment really also Began with the Rise and Fall of MOTU. My build is dedicated to That Dream of a Story built Equally around He-Man and She-Ra, not just if it were created for the 1st time today as well as a Mature take, but my headcanon for it is Based upon those Wishes we had as kids. And Andre you are So Right when you mention that it all comes down to Non Creatives doing All the Mismanagement. And Because Mattel Never Learned that lesson and have since really only Exacerbated the Problem the Kid in me and the Adult Artist in me Kinda wants to Stick it to Mattel a d the Various Rights Holders by simply showing a piece of Fan Art made from Garbage and Dollar Store Paints that already looks Better than anything Kevin Smith is able to dream up. The piece is in Homage to MOTU, it's also for FUN, it's a Shits and Giggles project, its Art Therapy, its...what I like to Imagine MOTU's Potential in Live Action Could have been like.

I remember the live action movie being very dark and Lundgren was thought of as a villain, coming off Rocky IV. Also, he didn’t look like He-Man.

This series is dope Andre. Most MOTU documentaries dance around hard subjects, or just don't cover the later part of the classic franchise in any detail.

Love the fact that the trailer for the He Man motion picture is using the soundtrack from Never Ending Story!

I can’t believe that you somehow got me to tune in for a documentary about He-Man, and I’ve never not once in my life been interested in the brand.

Wow! This has been a hell of a series and THIS may be my favorite video ever - great job guys !!

11:00-11:15 and 14:54-15:21 are- 💯 I was a child during this time and it's actually amazing, looking back, how the MCU, Marvel, DC, Star Wars, and He-man are making the same mistakes. What drew boys in just happened to draw everyone else in. It was the idea of bringing in girls by promoting girl toys as extensions to boys toys (it was their first attempt at gender neutrality) that things started to fall. Being 8-11 during this time, I got bored with He-man re-runs. I think I changed the channel or never paid attention to She-Ra (because I don't remember watching any episodes after the first 5) because we're talking about a time when Thundercats, GI Joe, Transformers, Voltron and more 80's shows than I remember (you can probably find on tubi now) that came on at the same time. I wasn't She-Ra's audience and the stories and toys were not marketed to me. I never wanted a She-Ra action figure and I never knew a boy that actually wanted one either. But, then they brought He-man back on tv (don't know how many parts this series will have, maybe a discussion in part 5). I'm quite sure it had it's fans, but I wasn't one of them. They moved to space, my favorites were gone and frankly, that He-man did not look like He-man. That motion picture "film" was trash. I remember going to the movies to watch it and 20 minutes in, I was ready to leave. I wasn't the only one either. It was a group event and I still remember asking "Why? WTH did I just watch? That was probably one of the worst film I've seen in my life (little did I know that other contenders would come along)." That Christmas special was terrible too, but I vaguely remember not liking it. That motion picture...OMG, that was a terrible. 🤢

Yet another excellent video from Midnights Edge. Your He-man coverage is some of the best and most informative out there.

The funny thing is that this exposes the grain of truth in all these cries of “sexism”. The girls would have loved proper action figures as She Ra wasn’t supposed to be a Barbie. Girls were obviously quite happy with the Barbie dolls they had, so it was unnecessary for Mattel to attempt to undermine their own Barbie line.

I managed the toy department in a department store during the time of He-Man, G.I. Joe and Transformers. There was a glut of action figures. One thing I noticed is that with every shipment there was few of the most popular like He-Man and too many less popular figures. By the late 80's Nintendo and Sega took over and boys in particular stopped buying action figures. As for Filmation they were going bankrupt as well as Sunbow who produced G.I. Joe and Transformers. Prior to Cartoon Network a lot of television stations stopped airing cartoons.

It’s interesting to get clarification and hindsight on something you experienced as a kid, even if you didn’t really realize it as a child. I had most of the early MOTU line, including Castle Grayskull, but then it was like you showed, the figures got really silly and the show went away. Combined that with the fact that GI Joe was hitting it pinnacle at the same time, and that shifted my interest quickly.

I remember the excitement of new He-Man episodes and visiting the toy stores only to have this exact crushing blow of no new He-Man 'toons and the release of She-Ra dolls which was never going to work with my collection of action figures.

I think you nailed it. Great series, sounds like you may have been a fan as a kid, like me!

Snout Spout, Extendar, and Rokkon are all some of my favorite vintage MOTU figures. Extendar especially.

Love the work you are doing on this. Keep it going. We are all, in our hearts, Masters of the Universe.

Extendar was actually one of my favorite characters. But actually more because of the mini comics with his origin and the origin of Dragstor. That mini comic and its art was awesome, especially the transformation of Dragstor.

Wow... history repeated itself HARD, and the rights-holders learned NOTHING. Also, I hope we'll get to see the 2002 series in this series eventually.

11:58 I had to rewatch that episode of He-Man where he gave up the sword of power because he thought he killed someone accidentally and Teela was the one that actually stepped up to fight Skeletor. That episode of classic He-man is 100x better than whatever crap Kevin Smith put out

He-Man is still big and always will be, the franchise is fascinating, unique and timeless. And don't forget to mention the amazing artwork of the comics and boxes.

I was 9 in 1987 and didn't have that sort of light switch moment of giving up on He-Man, as it feels more like I just drifted away with other things to keep me entertained.

at the end of the day the only question I have is that. If mattel decided to focus more on she ra, was she ra making big profits? or was the focus purely an ego internal fight within mattel to prove a point?

Let's not forget that the He-Man toys didn't keep up with the competition. Compared to the likes of G.I. Joe (Action Force in the U.K), M.A.S.K and Transformers, the He-Man toys were pretty basic, they felt like Duplo compared to Lego. Then as Mattel just seemed to pull random characters out of their backsides to fill the toy lines and the cartoons stopped it wasn't even a conscious decision to stop playing with the He-Man toys, there were just so many better choices on the market. She-Ra was definitely another nail in the coffin though. I remember watching the crossover episodes for He-Man, and then after those aired it just felt like a fantasy Barbie series, and so I stopped watching. The live-action movie kinda finished off all hope for me, it was terrible, when I saw the trailers for Smith's 'Revelation' I was hopeful...right up until it became obvious it was the Masters of the Non-Binary Universe: Teela Show. Although, I must say, I loved the original Teela character, and the Sorceress, both great examples of well written female characters.

I'm glad to see Midnight's Edge going back to what they do best! These mini-documentaries are fascinating!!!

Love these deep dives! This one's personal as I was born at just the right time to hit the He-Man peak. Wore a plastic He-Man costume for my first Halloween. This whole franchise was baked into my unconscious mind as a young child. Fascinating to learn the many layers of stories behind it.

This seems to be a common thing over and over again with brands that attempt to "diversify". It's the same mistake over and over. I lived through the 80's and I can tell you I loved both He-man and She-ra, but my biggest problem with them outside the shows. Was how the Toy lines were completely seperate. How She-ra wasn't an action figure like He-man, like how she just didn't fit with the shared universe that the shows had created. Hordak and all the male horde villains weren't even part of the She-ra line they were part of the He-man line it was confusing as hell. It's also important to note because also companies keep making this mistake even now. If you introduce a female or diverse character into an already popular line that has a strong male fan base. And then instead of having them share the spotlight (Which you would think would be what equality is all about.) You attempt to make the new character take over or do all the heavy lifting. Then you alienate your already built in audience and they leave. I get it.. These people want to prove that they can "Do it by themselves." The problem with that notion is that you have to actually do it by themselves. That means that in order for a show like She-ra to hold it on their own one of two things have to happen. Either it has to been an original creation that had no ties to a much more popular part of an already existing franchise. Or it has to get extremely lucky and like Xena become way more popular than it's parent show. The Xena thing is extremely rare, and I think happened mostly because Lucy Lawless and the stories on Xena were far more interesting than Kevin Sorbo and his show. And too be fair the main Hercules and Xena series were on the air together signifigantly longer than He-man and She-ra were. Them both sharing 4 seasons of tv together and Xena being on the air only 2 years by herself afterwards. So there was time for the idea of Xena by herself to be a more tasteful prospect. The show Xena also changed signifigantly after Hercules went off the air, it's storyline going off in it's own direction less reliant on the old shared universe stuff.. Though it still did have that stuff in there. But it's a rare occurence, the vast majority of the time. An attempt to take over a franchise seems to attempt to keep the core audience while not doing anything to cater to them anymore. It's weird... I don't see why they don't seem to understand that franchises are better if you respect both your old and new fans. That you can bring in new fans but you don't just abandon your old fans. I feel like She-ra could have been on the air by herself.. But they didn't set it up properly they didn't give She-ra the time she needed to establish herself. And they abandoned He-man far too fast. It has to be a gradual thing not "Welp we have this new shiny toy... Let's just throw out the old ones."

A lot of franchises tend to failed because they tried to aim for girls while sidelining boy. If they want to succeed, they need to aim solely directly for boys and men then the girls and women will eventually join the fandom.

I was really into MOTU toys and I remember this time well. This is a great video, you really capture the events well.

That oldschool "Filmation" opening of yours is awesome!

This cautionary tale is applicable to modern mishaps today…

In summary: He-Man failed because Mattel abruptly canceled the cartoon, and boy fans of He-Man felt insulted that She-Ra got new episodes but not He-Man.

Great series Andre, I'm really enjoying it, can't wait for part 4👍

Yeah! My man Stinkor! Missed you buddy!

Well, as a kid from the 80's, I remember the same sudden death happening to Transformers. Also around the same time as the animated movie. My memory is that I just suddenly lost interest not because they did something wrong necessarily but because I was growing up. I think the movies came out around the time a generation of kids was starting middle school and getting into sports, skateboarding, or baseball cards and Dungeons and Dragons for us nerds. Suddenly, banging toys around on the floor lost its appeal. The NES and Super NES was probably the nail in the coffin.

There's no excuse for toys not looking exactly like the characters on screen. This general lack of effort lasted well into the 1990s. The 1980s were especially bad for this, but Disney dolls looked wrong all the way up until Frozen.

I remember being a huge fan around 1985, and totally forgetting about it by 1987. I had no idea they stopped making new episodes. No wonder I forgot about it! This was before streaming and the internet. When a show was over, it was really over.

Honestly, series like this one is why I'm subscribed to this channel. I couldn't care less about the opinion pieces, but this type of fact-based docs? That's my jam! Keep them coming, MNE, and I'll on keep watching them.

Very interesting, now i know why it seemed to drop of a cliff back then. And while the background reason changed (internal competion rather than social politics) it is funny how that is the same sutuation as a lot of modern productions. Funny how this lesson gets either never learned or so easily forgotten with time/success.

Focusing on your core demographic seems like a no brainer. Yet here we are about to get a dc reboot that erases the two arguably most influential characters in the dc universe. The crazy thing is the animated dc movies are great. Why is live action so cursed?

I loved that episode of The Toys That Made Us. Mattel really spun their hay into gold.

There is a masterclass in how to attract the girl side in a franchise made for boys. That franchise is from japan and is called "Saint Seiya". Masami Kurumada the mangaka that created Saint Seiya notice that girls bought his manga and he added more emotional moments in his manga that not only elevated the content but complemented really well the manga.

She-Ra was a good show. The toys didn't land for me but a few years ago when Super 7 put out their Filmation line I bought the 7 inch She-Ra because she was an accurate action figure who matched with the rest of the line.

Oh snap! Can't wait for the next episode, subtitled: How to destroy two franchises on one budget!

Excellent series! Thank you Andre and company.

There was a cold war going on and Lundgren's "I must break you" line from Rocky was a meme at the time. It probably wasn't the best idea to cast him as He-Man. I saw it as a kiddie show with kiddie toys like Strawberry Shortcake which was marketed ad nauseum with likes of My Little Pony and the Smurfs. I was more into the more realistic looking Thundercats tbh.

I guess I was a boy based upon my liking of He-man over She-Ra. I never could get into barbie or She-Ra. it was either Popple's, MLP, He-Man, GI Joe and Transformers. Thankfully my brother was a sharing kinda person at the time and let me play with his until my dad finally allowed me to buy my own transformers and other toys.

Excellent commentary on the fall of Motu, really done your homework. Very impressive I'm subbed 👍

My mom was more into He-man than She-ra. And was even mad when she thought She-Ra replaced He-man and straight up refused to watch it until I tried it out.

Yes. But also, as a member of the target audience who lived through this era, Transformers were just way way cooler.

This video hit the nail on the head. It is very likely true minus some things we the general public may never know about. In the end, when you kill off or sideline a character that is beloved by the fans so that a new character can take the "mantle" you run the risk of destroying that franchise. UNLESS the new character is of equal value and equally enjoyed by the masses. He-Man and many more recent films are the hallmark of this insidious plot to destroy everything that many people loved about the originals. I.E. Stop the bull shit.

My Childhood super hero!! Miss you He-Man

I remember that in my country, Masters movie was premiered in 1989... I was then already deep into Ghostbusters.

Even back then-- 35 five years ago, forced diversity and needless diversification (let alone abandoning your loyal male fanbase combined uncontrolled greed) could kill a wildly successful franchise practically overnight! And to this day, big companies have still haven't learned the lesson. But we'll gladly teach them again...

I remember watching He-man in 85, 86 (I don't think kids noticed they weren't making new shows ) and wanting to get beast man or mer-man but the figures i could get were weird ones that weren't even on the show and seemed lame so I think that's why I stopped playing with He-man in 87 it was the product just wasn't available anymore.

Always great with these short documentaries :) I remember playing with He-man toys as a kid. One of my friends had a bunch of he-man toys. I was more of a turtles fan myself. That or Lego :)

I love He-Man action figures. My fave is Trap Jaw and He-Man

I never thought I'd be able to blame feminism for almost killing the heman brand, and yet? That's exactly what happened here! Maybe not in feminisms name but certainly some of its values were what caused this. In competition rather than coorporation it doomed both of them.

I only remember that i had SOME He-Man toys, i remember watching the show religiously and i remember liking She-Ra on TV a lot, i do not remember ever seeing a She-Ra toy, not in stores, not at friends houses. Born in 83 ...i probably watched re-runs exclusively, i never knew how many episodes there were or when it was cancelled, i just know for a fact, when the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles showed up i was instantly too old for He-Man and never looked back. I vaguely remember watching the He-Man movie yeeaaars later and thinking it was some awkward knock off from Star Wars. Skeletor being thrown in another bottomless pit, just like the Emperor... Eternia being a sand planet like Tatooine and there being Soldiers with black Helmets that were reminiscent of Stormtroopers, generic Soldiers is something Skeletor never had... but i overall liked the movie and felt they should have made more of it. Future movies surely would have gotten better.