Eternian Blues

I have been so busy with the logistical (and less fun) parts of finishing The Silmarillion Primer, and life in general, that I haven’t had time for very much else. But I’m here to say right now that it’s been killing me not discussing and anticipating the Master of the Universe movie. . . which I’m going to see for the first time later today with my wife and son. I’m excited.

As I should be. I was squarely in the demographic that Mattel marketed to back in the mid-80s. And while Mattel execs just wanted to sell toys and make money, there were a bunch of artists and animators and voice actors who put some real artistry and morality into what otherwise was a very goofy fantasy world with sci-fi elements. But it totally worked on me.

See? This is me receiving the Snake Mountain playset for Christmas.

I was damned lucky. I appreciate it, and the memory, and the many hours playing with that thing.

The point is, I credit The Masters of the Universe for sparking my interest in fantasy and science fiction, even if I didn’t think in those terms back then. To be clear, this was before my discovering Tolkien and Dungeons & Dragons, both of which really sealed the deal forever. Sure, I liked Transformers and the more fantastical aspects of G.I. Joe, but He-Man has a special place in my heart. He-Man and all the crazy characters of that world. My imagination flourished not just with the toys, but the mini comics the toys came with, and of course the Filmation cartoon. They’re burned deeply into my memory.

Now . . . There is so much talk, and debate, and argument, in fandoms today about what’s canon and what’s non-canon. It often leads to gatekeeping and bad behavior. Even in franchises or intellectual properties like Tolkien’s legendarium—which I care the most about—the matter of what should be considered “canon” is anything but clear-cut. BUT: It’s never worth becoming a jerk about it.

While I’m an oldschool He-Man fan, I’m not going to fuss about lore too much. It was all a big jumble of ideas right from the start. The first few comics that came out didn’t include Prince Adam (He-Man was already an almost Conan-like warrior from a jungle tribe), He-Man got his powers from his “super suit,” the sword came later, and the Sorceress was green (and she and Teela were one and the same). To name just a few. The cartoon did its own thing, and the toy line only sometimes corroborated with these things. It’s all fine.

Whatever the Masters of the Universe movie does with the lore, I’m generally okay with it. It can’t be as deliberately subversive as that Kevin Smith Revelation cartoon that came out a few years ago. That looked amazing but all-in-all was a far cry from the original series or even the admirable 2000s reboot series.

Anyway, I’ll be back to talk about He-Man a whole lot more, I think. Not just about this movie, but its lore in general. I have such opinions, and they’re mostly positive. And I’d sure like to talk more about what I like than I don’t these days.

For now, all I can say is: This stuff rocked. I’m pretty sure I had this poster at one point, too: