A
joke at the office got me and some of the guys talking about
He-Man. I visited your site for the first time, today (july
17,2000) and after reading the "memories" section, felt compelled
to write.
My
first encounter with He-Man's world was in the sandbox, during
a second grade recess in 1982. A goofy kid had a He-Man figure,
riding a rubber lizard. He proclaimed his figure, not as He-Man,
but as "Conan the Barbarian". Intrigued, I made it my mission
to find out about this "Conan" toy line. I was especially
confused because I never saw Conan with blonde hair!
That
Friday, I was at a toy store in the mall, and saw this huge
display for "Masters of the Universe". I sat there for about
30 minutes, reading all the descriptions of the various characters.
Buying a new figure was a huge step for me. I already had
tons of Star Wars and GI Joe figures...and these guys were
bigger than both of those! A few weeks later, my older brother
saw the same display at the mall and thought it was 'cool'.
Since MOTU now had my big brother's seal of approval, I had
to buy one!! We searched a couple stores that night and ended
up buying Mer-Man..simply because I had never seen him in
any of the stores. We took him home and appointed him a "general"
in Darth Vader's Emperial Fleet. He was bigger... but it wasnt
a problem.
As
we found out more about MOTU, we were intrigued. My brother
was into the role playing games "D&D" and "Gamma World"
at the time..and MOTU seemed like a cross between those two
role-playing worlds. Plus, there seemed to be a dark mystique
to the early MOTU packaging and minicomics. By Xmas of that
year, I had received Castle Grayskull and every character
except Teela and Beast Man. I picked up the MOTU DC Comics
and began to mold my stories around that one.. but with a
few exceptions. He-Man and his pals didnt live in a happy
kingdom with King Randor, they were rebels, fighting against
the tyrannical Skeletor. I never had He-Man use his sword..
I had Skeletor steal it and use it to take over Grayskull..just
like he did for awhile in the DC stories. Plus, I had a cheesy
rule, that each character was only allowed one weapon, thus
He-Man only used his axe, and not his sword. In the early
months of MOTU, there was no real set format or story to follow..
so I concocted my own.
There
was also a promo at some toy store,a little bit later. They
promised "personal appearances by He-Man and Skeletor!" I
remember being disappointed at the "characters" that showed
up, though. I expected to see a Skeletor straight out of a
horror movie and some Schwarzenegger dude as He-Man. What
I saw was two dudes in rubber suits....ugh...
When
the cartoons began showing, around the fall of 1983, I think...
I was disappointed. He-Man was alot friendlier and the dark
mystique was missing. Plus, the "cool" characters, like Stratos,
were'nt seen enough. I watched the show.. but not with alot
of passion. Also, I didnt have a "Prince Adam" figure, so
I didnt care for the whole "He-Man has a secret ID" aspect.
Still, depsite my disappointments, I still had a huge collection.
I added other second rate MOTU rip-offs, like Blackstar and
Remco's "Warlord" line (with the coolest being Blackstar's
"Congor" figure and Remco's "Snake Man" figure).
About
the time I went into fifth grade, I began the "maturation"
process. I wanted to distance myself from toys, in an attempt
to act older and cooler. He-Man and MOTU were the first to
go. I was a bit fed up at seeing He-Man baby bibs and Halloween
costumes...that stuff was for little kids! So, around September
of 1984, I packed up all my He-Man stuff in a box under my
bed. I believe the last MOTU stuff I ever bought was either
Kobra Khan, or Fisto and his robotic horse (forgot the horse's
name...Strider?). Of course, the whole "maturation" process
was negated weeks later..as the Transformers/Go-Bots bug hit
and I got engrossed in those...
I
would still follow He-Man, occasionally. When the whole She-ra
thing hit, I gave up for good. I remember seeing ads for the
movie in summer of 1987, and laughing at it... at that time,
my interests were Iron Maiden, X-men and Anthrax...or course
I wouldnt be into some goofy kids' movie :)
A
few years later, in 1990, I saw the MOTU cartoons in syndication
on USA cable. I remember thinking "Dang..I never noticed Teela
had such a nice caboose!" and other, more "mature" observations.
The show cracked me up with it's cheesiness. Lasted about
a month for me...then He-Man disapeared forever from my world.
I'll
never forget the fun I had with He-Man. In my opinion, the
early days of MOTU were THE days.. because you got to use
your imagination more. I do believe that some of that imagination
is still with me, at 26.
