Sean Akizuki's Fantasy Critic

In superhero shows, there's such a thing as the Status Quo writing vs. Non-Status Quo writing. He-Man and the Masters of the Universe was meant to be that in 1982. The sister show She-Ra: Princess of Power also followed that format. Sure, She-Ra had a prequel movie called Secret of the Sword . However, each show also ended with the Status Quo. I could miss an episode and didn't have to say, "Huh? What happened here?" The two shows had the standard formula where the recurring villains Skeletor and Hordak are usually defeated at the end of the day. The same couldn't be said when Mike Young Productions created He-Man and the Masters of the Universe (2002). I remember watching the show on Cartoon Network. It had a three-part introduction unlike the original He-Man  TV series. It had promising start but ultimately crashed. He-Man's secret identity becomes a problem when you move out of Status Quo for a more serious show   The show may have failed to shuffle one thi...

Conan the Cimmerian Shocker or not? Many characters inspire each other. It's no secret that He-Man has been inspired by Conan the Barbarian. Conan the Adventurer may have made that reference in the beginning. Hasbro might have wanted to use the skull-headed Thulsa Doom but opted out for a Thoth-Amon expy in Wrath-Amon. An episode of  The Toys That Made Us reveals that Skeletor was inspired by a real-life corpse . However, it may not be coincidental that Skeletor resembles the Kull villain Thulsa Doom (not Movie Thulsa). He-Man is an obvious retool of He-Man. Why Mattel used a skull-headed villain instead of a snake sorcerer isn't elaborated upon. Skeletor's base of operations is at Snake Mountain. The 2002 reboot retooled it as Serpos' petrified body. King Hiss only had an animated adaptation in the cancelled reboot. He-Man (2002) may have taken notes from Conan the Adventurer 's finale. Serpos was the placeholder for Set the Serpent God and King Hiss was obviously ...

  Some people grew up watching reruns of the 1980s cartoons such as He-Man and the Masters of the Universe , The Transformers , Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles , or G.I. Joe. I decided to compile some of the 1980s villains that got more dangerous in the remakes. For better or for worse -- some of these villains that got more dangerous in the remakes.  Cobra Commander (Sigma SIX)  Okay, this Cobra Commander still has the zany antics like the 1980s villain. However, Sigma Six created a Cobra Commander that you'd be afraid. What makes Sigma Six CC more dangerous is that he can actually FIGHT ONE ONE ONE. This Cobra Commander managed to give the Sigma Six team a run for their money more than once. Duke even learns the hard way that this isn't like 1980s CC. Sigma Six CC has a darker, more menacing personality. I could imagine how Sigma Six CC would probably get rid of Serpentor immediately.  What I think was the wrong target market. What made 1980s CC relatable because...

It's no secret that Conan the Destroyer (1984) is viewed as a convoluted mess. However, I think Hasbro still had a soft spot for it when they created Mesmira for Conan the Adventurer (1993) . The Conan mythos had various alternations from adaptation to adaptation or call it remake to remake. It's because each story is independent from different continuities like Marvel Comics, Dark Horse, and Robert E. Howard's original stories. One character that got lost in translation is the wizard Thoth-Amon. Thoth-Amon was a villain in "The Phoenix and the Sword". For some reason, later alternations of the Conan mythologies made Thoth-Amon from just another character (who never met Conan in earlier adaptations) that ascended to the level of the archenemy. Conan the Destroyer introduced a character named Thoth-Amon but played a VERY MINOR ROLE. The biggest antagonists were the mesmerizing Taramis (the Big Bad, though another Taramis from the novels was a good queen) and the fi...

The lore of He-Man and She-Ra were meant to be tied tightly. I enjoyed both 1980s cartoons even if She-Ra was meant primarily for a female audience. The three-parter introduction for She-Ra featured the expansion. It's revealed that Skeletor was once a member (and the favorite apprentice) of Hordak. Skeletor was once a member of the Evil Horde. The flashback involved Hordak and Skeletor attempting to steal both Adam and Adora. Skeletor was left behind by Hordak. Skeletor ratted out Hordak. It's revealed that Snake Mountain was once a base of operations for the Evil Horde.  Skeletor became a secondary antagonist to She-Ra. It's something that Skeletor was once a member of the Horde. It's possible that Skeletor agreed to work with Hordak, learned fast, but soon became more ambitious in the process. Hordak does use a combination of technology and sorcery. Later episodes of She-Ra reveal that Hordak did learn sorcery at some point. My only assumption is that Skeletor learne...

I remember watching He-Man (2002) and a new villain was introduced. This was none other than King Hiss. I made a comment that King Hiss was pretty much like Wrath-Amon from the  Conan the Adventurer cartoon from 1992. Is it a strange coincidence that He-Man (2002) would be on the 20th anniversary of the Conan the Barbarian (1982) movie? Wrath-Amon was a nasty-tempered boss. Instead, King Hiss was pretty much Thoth-Amon and the Movie Thulsa Doom when dealing with his minions.  Both King Hiss and most versions of Thoth-Amon were focused on the advancement of the Serpent Men. Both of them were the respective high priests of their respective serpent gods. He-Man (2002) reveals that King Hiss seeks to release his god Serpos. Serpos was a character created for He-Man (2002) and it reminded me of Set the serpent god. Marvel Set the Serpent God is represented as a multiple-headed snake, unlike Cartoon Set from Conan the Adventurer . What made King Hiss interesting was that he wasn't r...

Source Some openings during the 1980s to 1990s cartoons can be VERY MISLEADING. Who can remember how X-Men: The Animated Series featured Juggernaut among the goons in Magneto's Mutant Terrorists then the show reveals otherwise? Who can remember the catchy jingle of Conan the Adventurer featuring Wrath-Amon as the main villain when the true villain is the serpent god Set? Who can remember Biker Mice from Mars featured Laurence Limburger as the main villain all the while he answered Lord Camembert for his LACK OF PROGRESS? She-Ra says they want to free Etheria from the evil forces of Hordak.  However, just a few episodes later, Horde Prime's name is mentioned in episode 11 "The Peril of the Whispering Woods". Horde Prime later showed up in episode 18 where the MORAL STORY doesn't match the episode . Horde Prime doesn't really show up all too often but when he does - there's some comedic effect to him showing up! Horde Prime's family tree is revealed. App...

There was the urban legend that He-Man was supposed to be a Conan toy line . It's been refuted but we can't deny the similarities. Maybe, the most obvious one is how He-Man is based on Conan and Skeletor is based on Comics Thulsa Doom. Another really creepy similarity is the birth of the Snake Mountain fortress. The Conan movie came out in 1982 and He-Man came in 1983.  Conan the Barbarian (1982) had the Movie Thulsa operate from the MOUNTAIN of Power. Movie Thulsa also had a pet wild cat. Skeletor would also have a wild cat named Panthor. Many incarnations of Skeletor operated in Snake Mountain. Apparently, both fortresses were created by hallowing several caves and the main villain operates there.  The He-Man (1983) episode had the episode "Golden Disks of Knowledge". The episode explained that Skeletor had the golden disks to create Snake Mountain. In She-Ra , it's revealed that Skeletor used to serve alongside Hordak (and therefore, answered to Horde Prime, th...

There's always this myth that the He-Man toyline was supposed to be a Conan toyline. Some say it was supposed to be cased from the Conan the Barbarian (1982) film though the blatant inspirations are taken from the COMICS. For example, it's too obvious that Skeletor is indeed a lighter version Thulsa Doom (no, NOT the Movie Thulsa Doom) as both have a skull for a head. The more subtle (or not) was when the cartoon (and the later toyline) snuck past the snakemen into the He-Man mythos.  I guess the 1983 He-Man cartoon never spared to take some notes from the movie. Skeletor's base is known as SNAKE MOUNTAIN while the 1982 movie had a base called the Mountain of Power. In the comics, Thulsa Doom was a worshiper of the great serpent god Set centuries before Thoth-Amon. One of Skeletor's minions is Kobra Khan, a member of the Reptons. The Reptons are a distant relative of the original snakemen. King Hiss NEVER made an appearance in the 1980s cartoon. King Hiss was introduced...

While rewatching that awful Masters of the Universe movie, I had my thoughts on who should have been He-Man.  I didn't feel like Dolph Lundgren looked like the character and Brad Pitt (after seeing him as Achilles) looked like HE-MAN in that film.  Brad Pitt would have made a good He-Man after seeing that Troy movie, I think that for the 80s movie, he would have sufficed to play the role of the hero instead of Dolph Lundgren who felt pretty wooden IMO. So what's my issues?  Unlike Arnold Schwarzenegger's version of Conan, Dolph Lundgren was just too stiff.  Brad Pitt for me would have made a better He-Man for that stupid Masters of the Universe movie. Meanwhile, while I did like Frank Langella's role as Skeletor, I thought the villain should have been acted by... James Earl Jones for a better Skeletor.  Well maybe it's because Thulsa Doom in the comics was a Skeletor-based villain (and Skeletor is most likely inspired by Kull's archenemy Thulsa Doom). ...

Is He-Man based on Conan or Kull?  So it's time to do some analysis of both Conan and Kull: Kull- Born from Atlantis.  He was the forerunner of Conan and he established a great kingdom after fighting the forces of the wicked sorcerer Thulsa Doom (the literary one).  He fights the snakemen of old.  Most likely, He-Man's precedessor He-Ro was based on him.  He also fought the wizard Ram-Amon who was later adopted into the Conan cartoon. Conan- He is a Cimmerian, descendant of Kull.  He didn't fight Thulsa Doom in the novels by Robert E. Howard but he did in the comics adaptation.  His archenemy was the snake lord Thoth-Amon (who Wrath-Amon was most likely based from) and he later became king by his own hand after killing the King of Aquilonia. Apparently, He-Man is mostly Conan and his forerunner/ancestor is based on Kull.  However the fact that his archenemy was Skeletor and not King Hiss, makes a little more of Kull reference but He-Man like...

He-Man, supposedly inspired by Conan in many ways but loosely anyway. So I thought about it that the hero is Prince Adam who transforms into a barbarian-like hero with a giant tiger named Battlecat (in the comics, Conan had a lion named Amra) whenever he used the mystical sword to battle the evil sorcerer Skeletor who is somewhat a parody of the Robert E. Howard version of Thulsa Doom while He-Man somewhat combined aspects of Kull and Conan except that Kull must have inspired the creation of He-Ro instead of He-Man as He-Man may supposedly be Conan. In the Conan comics (not the novels), the skull headed wizard Thulsa Doom was a major enemy too. So I personally thought that only a few characters here were ever inspired by Conan. Most of them were derived from other sources, which prevents He-Man from becoming a Conan rip-off as alleged. A spin-off series was called She-Ra: Princess of Power revealing that He-Man had a twin sister and an interesting side story of He-Man's archene...

Before He-Man was finalized, He-man greatly resembled Conan storywise. He started off as a barbarian but a lot more humane than Conan was, who was destined to fight against the evil skull-headed sorcerer known as Skeletor. Rather than portray him to be super strong, he isn't that super strong. He is portrayed to be more human, like Conan was in Conan the Adventurer. He is the member of a barbaric tribe and its champion. The arch-villain Skeletor was meant to be the quite similar to Thulsa Doom. Rather than being a bonehead, Skeletor was meant to be a SCARY villain. He was from some other dimension, he was an immortal foe that just wouldn't die. Well I believe that in order to avoid being too much of a Conan inspired cartoon, a lot of changes were made such as making He-Man the alter ego of Prince Adam instead.

Skeletor I believe had several inspirations. Here are the possible characters that inspired him: The evil wizard Thulsa Doom by Robert E. Howard- He fought both Kull and Conan in different eras of his life in the comics version since he never fought Conan in the novels. Like Skeletor, this guy is an UNDEAD sorcerer who uses force as means to control his troops. Thulsa Doom's personality was slightly used for the He-Man live movie. Dr. Destiny- Actually it's all just appearance-wise.

I remembered watching the He-Man movie when I was still a naughty child, yes... naughty and TV obsessed. Anyway, I have noticed that the movie version of Skeletor had greatly deviated from the cartoons. Instead of being comical, he is portrayed to be more mature and not only that, far more menacing to the point he does succeed in entering Castle Grayskull and nearly defeated He-Man.  His personality was almost like the comics version of Thulsa Doom. Also, he was able to use the powers of the Universe for himself, which was NEVER done in the cartoons. I sort of later compared this scene to Conan fighting the comic version of Thulsa Doom (where his inspiration is apparently from), much more epic than Conan beheading the movie version of Thulsa Doom. I personally thought however, maybe James Earl Jones should have voiced him. :-P

What was pretty interesting was this that He-Man being inspired by Conan the Barbarian in some ways, was that He-Man in the draft was intended to be a wandering adventurer, much like Conan, a more child friendly version of Conan. He wasn't intended to be royalty and his real identity as Prince Adam was never created until later. So it was apparent that they wanted a barbarian character to be He-Man, and that he wasn't going to be that strong either. Also, the character of Skeletor was intended to be an undead menace, much like Thulsa Doom and was intended to be less comical and more serious, which was later used for the live He-Man movie.

I was surprised to find out that the literary version of Thulsa Doom served as a nuisance to both Kull and later Conan who is Kull's descendant. This guy had some interesting backstory rather than a smooth-talking villain, he was a cruel despot who relied on brute force and was obsessed with revenge to the point that after Kull defeated him, he later returned to haunt Kull's descendant Conan. Others may mistaken his action figures to be Skeletor which again may bring the Conan-He-Man controversy. In his confrontation with Conan, he frequently mentioned his immortality because he was an undead sorcerer. Later on, he kept returning to life to haunt Conan as well. So why do I consider him underrated? The Conan movie didn't use the name Thoth-Amon for the Snake Cult's leader. The name Thulsa Doom was used although the character was widely different. Perhaps they thought the name Thulsa Doom was more fitting for a villain who carries a doomsday cult. The first draft ...

There has been the myth that the He-Man series was supposed to be a Conan franchise. So I think it is wrong because He-Man toys were sold in 1981. On the other hand, the He-Man cartoon was shown in 1983 a year after Conan the Barbarian was shown in 1982. It may have not been meant to be a Conan cartoon but the inspiration was certainly there. Why I do think there has been a connection? He-Man started off as a barbarian in a mini-comics but the idea was later scrapped. Even if they changed him into the alter-ego of Prince Adam, some things can't be denied with the following characters of having Conan influence even if the setting of the show is not the same with Conan's ancient times: He-Man has to be the most obvious. Self-explanatory. She-Ra is similar to Red Sonja except she is He-Man's twin sister. He-Rol is similar to Kull the Conqueror. Both are ancestors to their respective protagonists. The main villain Skeletor is similar to the Conan villain Thulsa Doom. No...