Tony’s Timeless Thursdays™: He-Man and the Masters of the Universe — By the Power of Grayskull, a Legacy That Still Has the Power

Tyrone Tony Reed Jr.
Jan 22
17 min read

Some stories don’t fade with time. They wait.

They wait for the next generation to rediscover them, for culture to circle back around, for meaning to rise again when the world is ready to hear it.

When He‑Man and the Masters of the Universe premiered in 1983, it wasn’t just another cartoon. It was a declaration—one wrapped in myth, muscle, morality, and imagination. And now, more than forty years later, with Amazon Studios releasing a teaser for a new live-action He-Man film set to release June 5, 2026—one day before my birthday—the timing feels less like coincidence and more like destiny calling back.

So today, let’s do what Tony’s Timeless Thursdays™ does best.

Let’s slow down.

Let’s remember.

Let’s understand why this story mattered then—and why it still matters now.

🏰 The Origins of Eternia: When Myth Met Marketing—and Became Meaning

The origins of He-Man are often told as a business story: toys first, cartoon second. But that framing undersells what actually happened.

Yes, Mattel wanted a powerful fantasy toy line. Yes, Filmation was brought in to support it. But what emerged was something more thoughtful than anyone expected. Eternia wasn’t just a backdrop—it was a mythological playground, blending science fiction with sword-and-sorcery, ancient prophecy with futuristic technology.

Eternia felt old and new at the same time. Floating castles coexisted with laser weapons. Ancient wisdom stood beside advanced machines. This wasn’t accidental—it mirrored a timeless truth: progress without wisdom is dangerous, and tradition without growth becomes stagnant.

At the heart of this world stood Castle Grayskull—not merely a fortress, but a sacred space. A place of power that demanded restraint. A reminder that true strength must be earned, not seized.

👑 Prince Adam: The Reluctant Heir Who Chose Responsibility

Prince Adam (voiced by John Erwin) is often dismissed as a disguise, but that interpretation misses the point.

Adam is who He-Man (also voice by Erwin) is when he isn’t transformed. He is gentle. Curious. Sometimes insecure. Occasionally unsure. And that humanity is the entire reason he is worthy of the Sword of Power.

When Adam raises the sword and declares, “By the power of Grayskull, I have the power!”, it is not bravado—it is acceptance. He is stepping into a role that demands sacrifice, secrecy, and constant vigilance.

That choice—to become more than he is for the sake of others—is the foundation of true heroism.

💪 He-Man: Strength Guided by Wisdom

He-Man’s physique became iconic, but his defining trait was restraint.

He does not rule Eternia. He does not dominate others. He protects. He defends. He intervenes when balance is threatened. His strength exists for service, not supremacy.

In a genre filled with conquest narratives, He-Man stood apart by teaching that power is a responsibility, not a reward.

🦁 Cringer / Battle Cat: Courage That Acknowledges Fear

Cringer (voiced by Alan Oppenheimer) is afraid—and that’s why he matters.

When transformed into Battle Cat, he does not lose his fear. He chooses to act despite it. This distinction is crucial. The show teaches that bravery isn’t the absence of fear—it’s obedience to duty in its presence.

Cringer mirrors Adam’s journey: courage is not personality; it’s decision.

🧙 Orko: The Fool Who Carried Wisdom

Orko is often remembered as comic relief, but that reading sells him short.

Orko represents vulnerability. He is well-intentioned but flawed. His magic frequently backfires. And yet—his heart is always aligned with good.

Voiced by Lou Scheimer (credited as Erik Gunden), Orko embodies humility. He shows that usefulness is not measured by perfection. Eternia needs Orko because he reminds the Masters that compassion matters as much as strength.

🛠️ Man-At-Arms (Duncan): Science, Discipline, and Paternal Strength

Man-At-Arms is Eternia’s backbone.

A master engineer, tactician, and warrior, Duncan represents the marriage of intellect and discipline. He builds. He plans. He prepares. While He-Man responds to crises, Man-At-Arms prevents many from happening at all.

Also voiced by Oppenheimer, Duncan also serves as a father figure—not just to Teela, but to Adam as well. His role reinforces the importance of mentorship, preparation, and quiet strength.

🧙‍♀️ The Sorceress: Guardian of Balance and Sacred Trust

Teela Na a.k.a. the Sorceress is Eternia’s spiritual center.

She understood that power must be guarded, not flaunted. Castle Grayskull was not a prize to be won—it was a trust to be protected. The Sorceress rarely acted directly, but her influence shaped everything.

Voiced by Linda Gary, the Sorceress embodies wisdom, restraint, and foresight. She taught a lesson rarely emphasized in children’s media: sometimes the most important role is not to fight, but to watch, guide, and preserve.

🛡️ Teela: The Warrior of Honor and Questioning Faith

Teela (also voiced by Gary) is one of the most progressive characters of the era.

A captain of the Royal Guard, she is skilled, disciplined, and brave. But what makes her compelling is her questioning spirit. She seeks truth. She challenges assumptions. She demands accountability—even from those she loves.

Teela represents integrity. Her journey shows that faith does not mean blind obedience—it means wrestling with truth until it reveals itself.

🧠 The Other Masters of the Universe: Strength in Diversity

The Masters are not a monolith.

Stratos represents aerial mastery and strategic oversight
Ram Man embodies raw strength and loyalty
Buzz-Off balances humor with courage
Zodac serves as a cosmic observer and moral compass

Together, they demonstrate that victory is communal. Eternia survives because its defenders are diverse in skill, temperament, and perspective.

🧙‍♂️ Skeletor: The Villain Who Wanted Power Without Purpose

Every great hero needs a great villain, and Skeletor is one of the greatest ever created.

Skeletor didn’t lack intelligence. He didn’t lack ambition. What he lacked was restraint. His obsession with Castle Grayskull wasn’t about protecting Eternia—it was about feeding his ego. His obsession mirrors humanity’s worst impulses: the desire to possess what should only be stewarded. Skeletor is what happens when ambition anddesire outpace character.

And yet—he is not foolish. He is strategic. Intelligent. Persistent. Which makes him dangerous.

🐍 The Villains of Snake Mountain — Corrupted Reflections of Power

Skeletor may be the face of evil on Eternia, but he never stood alone. Around him gathered a twisted court — warriors, monsters, and opportunists — each embodying a different way power can go wrong when it is severed from wisdom, compassion, or restraint.

Together, they formed not just an army, but a philosophy of domination in direct opposition to the Masters of the Universe.

🧙‍♀️ Evil-Lyn — Intelligence Without Allegiance

Evil-Lyn is one of the most complex characters in the entire franchise.

Unlike Skeletor, she is not driven by obsession. She is driven by clarity. Intelligent, composed, and fiercely independent, Evil-Lyn often feels like the most self-aware person in Snake Mountain. She serves Skeletor not out of devotion, but calculation — always prepared to abandon him if a better path to power emerges.

Voiced memorably by Gary, Evil-Lyn represents a chilling truth: evil does not always roar — sometimes it reasons.

She is the villain who understands the system well enough to manipulate it, and that makes her dangerous in a way brute force never could be.

🐗 Beast Man — Strength Reduced to Servitude

Beast Man is raw physicality stripped of dignity.

Once a proud warrior, Beast Man becomes a creature of instinct and humiliation under Skeletor’s control. His immense strength is undeniable, but it is constantly undercut by fear, punishment, and abuse.

Voiced by Erwin, Beast Man embodies what happens when strength is divorced from self-worth. He is a cautionary figure — proof that power without autonomy is not power at all.

🌊 Mer-Man — Pride Drowned by Bitterness

Mer-Man rules the depths, yet is perpetually consumed by resentment.

Once a king of the oceans, Mer-Man allies with Skeletor not because it benefits Eternia, but because it feeds his grudges. His anger is ancient, his pride wounded, and his loyalty unreliable.

Voiced by Oppenheimer, Mer-Man represents a familiar danger: the leader who lets bitterness turn guardianship into vengeance.

🦾 Trap Jaw — The Price of Dehumanization

Trap Jaw is one of the most visually striking villains in animation history.

Part man, part machine, Trap Jaw is living evidence of what happens when identity is sacrificed for efficiency. His interchangeable mechanical jaw and weaponized body make him formidable — but also tragic.

Trap Jaw symbolizes the erosion of self in the pursuit of usefulness. He is not evil by philosophy, but by reduction — a being transformed into a tool.

👁️ Tri-Klops — Vision Without Perspective

Tri-Klops can see everything — except truth.

With rotating cybernetic eyes granting him multiple modes of sight, Tri-Klops is obsessed with perception and control. Yet despite his technological superiority, he consistently fails to grasp the larger moral picture.

He is the embodiment of surveillance without wisdom — proof that seeing more does not mean understanding more.

🐈‍⬛ Panthor — Power Without Choice

Finally, there is Panthor, Skeletor’s monstrous feline mount.

Panthor is strength, speed, and ferocity — but also enslavement. Unlike Battle Cat, Panthor does not choose his role. He is bound, controlled, and weaponized.

Where Battle Cat represents courage born of trust, Panthor represents power stripped of agency. The contrast between the two is one of the most subtle — and powerful — visual metaphors in the series.

⚔️ Villains as Mirrors

What makes these characters endure is not their designs alone — it’s what they represent.

Each villain is a distorted reflection of something once good:

Intelligence without morality
Strength without dignity
Leadership without compassion
Vision without wisdom
Power without choice

In opposing them, He-Man and the Masters aren’t just fighting monsters — they are fighting outcomes.

They are standing against what Eternia could become if power is ever taken instead of entrusted.

Against this gallery of corrupted strength, the Masters of the Universe did more than defend Eternia — they modeled what power looks like when guided by wisdom, community, and restraint.

📺 The Moral Lessons: Why This Show Was Different

Each episode closed with a moral lesson—direct, sincere, unapologetic.

These lessons were not optional. They were foundational. He-Man believed children deserved honesty, clarity, and encouragement.

In hindsight, that confidence feels revolutionary.

🧸 By the Power of Plastic: The Toy Line That Built a Myth

It is impossible to talk about He-Man and the Masters of the Universe without acknowledging a fundamental truth:

This franchise did not just dominate television — it conquered toy aisles.

When Mattel launched the Masters of the Universe toy line in 1982, it ignited one of the most successful and influential merchandising phenomena in pop-culture history. What followed was not simply strong sales — it was a cultural takeover.

⚔️ Hero Designs: Modular Power and Playable Myth

The heroic figures were designed with bold simplicity and endless imagination in mind. Broad chests. Action-ready stances. Minimal clothing that suggested myth rather than realism. These were not toys meant to replicate a single story — they were tools for creating stories.

He-Man’s harness and Sword of Power became instant icons. The design communicated strength, authority, and heroism at a glance.
Battle Cat wasn’t just a mount — he was a revelation. A flocked green tiger that could be armored? That alone sold millions.
Teela and Man-At-Arms introduced diversity of role and form — warrior, tactician, guardian — expanding the idea of what “hero” could look like on a child’s bedroom floor.
Orko’s floating form and removable hat weren’t about power fantasies — they were about personality, reminding kids that not every hero needed muscles.

The toys encouraged imagination over instruction. There was no single “correct” way to play. Eternia belonged to the child.

🐍 Villain Designs: Fear, Color, and Corruption

If the heroes sold strength, the villains sold danger.

Skeletor’s skull face and hood instantly separated him from every other toy on the shelf. He didn’t look human. He looked like death given intent.

Each member of Snake Mountain’s ranks was designed to stand out:

Beast Man’s orange fur and whip made him both primal and unsettling.
Mer-Man’s armor and aquatic features suggested a fallen king.
Trap Jaw’s mechanical mouth was pure body-horror for kids — frightening, fascinating, unforgettable.
Tri-Klops’ rotating visor introduced the idea that technology itself could be menacing.
Panthor, flocked and armored like Battle Cat, became the dark mirror image that every kid needed to complete the set.

The brilliance of the villain designs was this: they looked dangerous without being grotesque. Parents approved. Kids obsessed.

📈 Demand, Sales, and Cultural Saturation

At its peak, Masters of the Universe generated hundreds of millions of dollars annually in toy sales. The figures flew off shelves. Accessories, vehicles, playsets, lunchboxes, bedsheets — He-Man was everywhere.

Castle Grayskull became one of the most sought-after playsets of the decade. It wasn’t just a toy — it was a headquarters, a battleground, a sacred space.

Retailers couldn’t keep the line stocked. New characters were introduced rapidly to meet demand, which in turn fed the animated series, which then fueled even more toy sales. It was a perfect feedback loop — one of the earliest and most successful examples of multimedia franchise synergy.

By the mid-1980s, He-Man wasn’t competing with other cartoons. It was competing with everything.

🎥 From Toy Aisles to Theaters: Why Hollywood Took Notice

This level of commercial dominance did not go unnoticed.

Hollywood, always alert to cultural momentum, saw He-Man not just as a cartoon — but as a proven brand with a built-in global audience. The logic was simple: if children were this invested in Eternia at home, surely they would follow it into theaters.

That confidence led directly to Masters of the Universe.

But here’s the crucial distinction:

The toys thrived on limitless imagination. Cinema demanded physical reality.

What worked effortlessly in plastic and animation suddenly faced constraints — budgets, effects, locations, and studio expectations. The leap from toy shelf to silver screen was bold, ambitious… and far more difficult than anyone anticipated.

In many ways, the 1987 film wasn’t just adapting a cartoon.

It was attempting to translate an entire merchandising mythology into flesh and steel.

And that challenge — more than casting or script choices — defines why the film looks the way it does, feels the way it does, and ultimately became the fascinating, flawed artifact it is today.

With a toy line that had already conquered childhood and a mythology beloved across the globe, it was only a matter of time before Eternia was called to the big screen — even if the world wasn’t quite ready for it yet.

🎬 The 1987 Masters of the Universe Film — Ambition, Compromise, and What Was Missing

The 1987 Masters of the Universe film is often remembered unfairly.

Too often, it’s reduced to jokes about Earth settings, low budgets, or what it wasn’t instead of being examined for what it attempted to be. But when viewed through the proper lens — as a bold, transitional experiment trying to translate myth into live action at a time when the industry simply wasn’t ready — the film becomes far more fascinating.

This was one of the earliest attempts to bring a myth-heavy animated fantasy universe into live-action cinema, long before audiences were conditioned by modern superhero epics. There was no Marvel Studios blueprint. No Lord of the Rings trilogy to study. No CGI safety net. What existed instead was ambition, latex, matte paintings, practical effects, and sheer belief in the material.

And belief matters.

🧠 Frank Langella’s Skeletor — The Film’s Crown Jewel

If the film has a soul, it lives in Frank Langella’s Skeletor.

Langella famously accepted the role not for the paycheck, but because his young son loved He-Man. That decision shows in every scene. He does not play Skeletor as a cartoon villain. He plays him as a Shakespearean tyrant, fueled by obsession, ego, and existential hunger.

Langella’s Skeletor doesn’t just want Castle Grayskull — he resents it. He believes power has been unjustly denied to him. His delivery, posture, and voice command attention. Even today, many fans — myself included — consider this one of the greatest live-action villain performances in genre cinema, full stop.

Modern adaptations could learn from this: take the villain seriously, and the story elevates itself.

⚔️ Dolph Lundgren’s He-Man — Strength Without Context

Dolph Lundgren looked the part. There’s no debating that. His physicality was unmatched, and he brought quiet nobility to the role. Where the film struggled wasn’t in Lundgren’s performance, but in the script’s hesitation to let He-Man fully exist as myth.

By pulling so much of the story onto Earth, the film deprived He-Man of the very thing that made him timeless: his role as a guardian of balance within Eternia. Instead of standing as a symbol, he became reactive — responding to chaos rather than embodying purpose.

That’s not a failure of the actor. It’s a limitation of the era and the budget.

When discussing the 1987 Masters of the Universe film, accuracy matters — because part of understanding its legacy is acknowledging what the film chose to include and what it was forced to leave behind.

This was not a full translation of the animated series. It was a selective adaptation, shaped by budget constraints, studio hesitation, and an industry that had not yet learned how to handle myth-heavy fantasy at scale.

🎭 The Supporting Cast — Faces at the Beginning of Their Journeys

Beyond Dolph Lundgren and Frank Langella, the supporting cast adds an important layer of historical context:

Courteney Cox appeared as Julie Winston, marking her feature film debut. Long before Friends and global stardom, Cox brought warmth and relatability to the story’s Earth-bound perspective. Her presence grounds the film and serves as an audience entry point — a deliberate choice by the filmmakers.
Chelsea Field portrayed Teela, bringing a physical, capable presence to the role, even though the script limited Teela’s mythic depth compared to her animated counterpart.
Jon Cypher played Man-At-Arms (Duncan), offering quiet authority and paternal gravity, though his technological genius and strategic brilliance were underexplored.
Meg Foster portrayed Evil-Lyn, delivering an icy, commanding performance that hinted at a far richer character dynamic than the film had time to fully explore.

Together, this cast carried far more potential than the script allowed — and that’s a recurring theme with this movie.

❌ What the Film Did Not Include — And Why Fans Noticed

For longtime fans of the animated series, several absences were impossible to ignore — and they weren’t minor.

🚫 No Prince Adam → He-Man Transformation

Perhaps the most significant omission: there is no on-screen transformation from Prince Adam into He-Man.

In the animated series, the transformation was sacred — a ritual of responsibility and calling. In the film, He-Man simply is. By removing the transformation, the movie loses the symbolic weight of Adam choosing to bear the burden of power.

This wasn’t just a visual cut — it altered the story’s spiritual core.

🚫 No Cringer / Battle Cat

Cringer and Battle Cat — essential emotional anchors in the series — are entirely absent.

Without them, the film loses:

A symbol of courage overcoming fear
A companion who mirrors Adam’s internal struggle
One of the most beloved character dynamics in the franchise

This absence further distances the movie from the heart of the animated mythos.

🚫 No Beast Man, Mer-Man, Trap Jaw, or Panthor

Skeletor’s iconic henchmen — Beast Man, Mer-Man, Trap Jaw, and Panthor — do not appear.

Instead, the film replaces them with new, less-defined antagonists. While this was likely a practical decision (costumes, effects, time), it had consequences:

The sense of a fully realized evil faction is diminished
Skeletor feels more isolated than imperial
Eternia’s broader ecosystem of good vs. evil is narrowed

Fans didn’t just miss these characters — they missed what they represented: a living, breathing world.

⚖️ Understanding the Choices — Not Excusing Them

It’s important to be fair.

The 1987 film did not ignore the source material out of disrespect. It operated under limitations that modern audiences often forget:

Fantasy films were considered financially risky
Practical effects were expensive and time-consuming
Studios demanded Earth settings to “ground” stories
Myth-heavy sincerity was viewed with suspicion

Seen through that lens, the film becomes less of a misfire and more of a transitional artifact — a stepping stone between eras.

🕰️ Why These Omissions Matter in Retrospect

What the film lacked helps explain why the 2026 adaptation feels so necessary.

Modern audiences now understand:

Long-form myth
Sacred transformation moments
Ensemble worldbuilding
Emotional symbolism

The things missing in 1987 are exactly what today’s storytellers know must be included.

In that way, the 1987 Masters of the Universe didn’t fail the franchise — it revealed what the franchise truly needed to thrive.

🎬 Masters of the Universe (2026) — Official Cast List & Character Breakdown

As He-Man and the Masters of the Universe prepares for its theatrical return on June 5, 2026, we now have a definitive look at the ensemble bringing Eternia to life — heroes, villains, and supporting players alike. This cast list shows that the film is staking its claim as a mythic, character-forward epic, not just a nostalgia reboot.

🏆 Lead & Core Heroes

Nicholas Galitzine as Prince Adam Glenn / He-Man — The heart of the story: a young warrior raised on Earth, destined to reclaim the power of Grayskull and defend Eternia. Galitzine’s portrayal is already being described as transformative, reflecting not just He-Man’s physical strength but his emotional journey.
Artie Wilkinson-Hunt as Young Adam — Depicts the early, vulnerable years of Prince Adam before destiny calls him home.
Camila Mendes as Teela — Captain of the Royal Guard and fierce warrior. The adoptive daughter of Man-At-Arms, Teela is poised to be both a tactical leader and emotional anchor in the story.
Eire Farrell as Young Teela — Offering flashback depth to Teela’s origins and her bond with Duncan.
Idris Elba as Duncan / Man-At-Arms — A brilliant inventor, seasoned warrior, and mentor to Teela and Adam. Elba’s casting signals a grounded, powerful presence at the heart of Eternia’s resistance.
Morena Baccarin as The Sorceress — Guardian of Castle Grayskull’s magic, providing mystical guidance and spiritual stakes to Adam’s return.
James Purefoy as King Randor — Ruler of Eternia, father to Adam, and a symbol of lost stability that He-Man must help restore.
Charlotte Riley as Queen Marlena Glenn — Adam’s Earth-raised mother with a mysterious past tied deep into Eternia’s fate.
Sasheer Zamata as Suzie — Adam’s human friend and connection to Earth, adding relatability and grounding to the story.
Kristen Wiig (voice) as Roboto — A beloved mechanical ally from the classic canon, reimagined for live action with a nod to both heart and humor.

💀 Villains & Fractured Forces

Jared Leto as Keldor / Skeletor — Eternia’s greatest threat and the fallen prince whose lust for power has scarred his soul — and the world. Leto’s embodiment of Skeletor promises a villain with depth, fury, and narrative weight.
Alison Brie as Professor Evelyn Powers / Evil-Lyn — Skeletor’s cunning lieutenant and powerful sorceress, whose allegiance is as strategic as it is fearsome.
Sam C. Wilson as Kronis / Trap Jaw — A Gar cyborg weapons expert with lethal upgrades.
Kojo Attah as Tri-Klops — A bounty hunter and swordsman with enhanced vision and insight — a foe as clever as he is dangerous.
Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson as Goat Man — A physical powerhouse whose presence adds raw, intimidating scale to Skeletor’s ranks.

🛡️ Allies & Warriors of Eternia

Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson as Malcolm / Fisto — Duncan’s younger brother and Teela’s uncle, a seasoned combatant with distinctive might and heart.
Jon Xue Zhang as Ram-Man — A warrior whose headbutt strength and unshakeable courage make him a wild card on the battlefield.
Christian Vunipola as Hussein — Part of Eternia’s wider warrior ranks, adding depth and community to the forces allied with He-Man.

🎥 What This Cast List Means for the Movie

This is not a cameo-driven stunt casting. This is a roster built for worldbuilding — actors with dramatic range, history with genre work, and a solid mix of youth and seasoned performance.

Here’s what it signals:

🪄 Depth Over Gimmick

With players like Idris Elba and Morena Baccarin portraying mentors, guardians, and mythic figures, the film is clearly leaning into emotional stakes and monster-level character work, not just effects.

⚔️ Ensemble Worldbuilding

Characters like Fisto and Ram-Man might have been toys with minor screen time decades ago — but in this live-action context, they point to a fully realized battlefield, a real community of defenders, not lone heroism.

🔥 Villainy With Intent

Having Skeletor, Evil-Lyn, Trap Jaw, and Tri-Klops portrayed with physical presence and narrative purpose suggests that the villains won’t be one-dimensional obstacles. They’ll have motives, psychology, and impact.

✨ THE SPIRITUAL BRIDGE TO S.O.L.A.D.™

And this is where everything comes full circle.

At its core, He-Man and the Masters of the Universe is about chosen responsibility. About individuals who did not ask for power—but accepted it when the moment demanded courage.

That is the same heartbeat that runs through S.O.L.A.D.™: Soldiers of Light Against Darkness™.

It's no secret to those who know me that I gre up watching He-Man and that my novel series is inspired by it, from Juanita and Kevin's transformations into the Soldiers of Light Against Darkness™, to Angelo's sword, Angeline's costume and the demons they face.

Just as Prince Adam is chosen not for his perfection, but for his willingness to stand, Kevin and Juanita are not chosen because they are flawless—but because they are faithful.

Both stories explore:

battles between light and darkness
power that must be restrained
heroes shaped by sacrifice
responsibility that outweighs desire
spiritual warfare made visible

He-Man teaches us that strength without wisdom destroys. S.O.L.A.D.™ takes that truth deeper—showing what happens when spiritual authority is wielded without humility, and what it costs to stand firm when darkness pushes back.

If Eternia taught us that power must be guarded… S.O.L.A.D.™ reminds us that light must be defended.

And like the heroes of Eternia, the soldiers of S.O.L.A.D.™ don’t fight because it’s easy. They fight because someone has to.