Barbarian Beginnings: A He-Man and The Masters of the Universe Retrospective | Part 1
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- Опубліковано 26 гру 2021
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Prior to its release, few movies or series had those who grew up in the eighties quite as hyped as «Masters of the Universe: Revelation». The He-Man revival promised audiences it was made by the fans for the fans, and that it would continue the story from the original Filmation series left off.
But rather than live up to its promise, Season one Part one subverted expectations in ways not seen since Rian Johnson and Kathleen Kennedy’s crowning achievement, Star Wars: The Last Jedi.
Something went wrong along the way, and in this series of franchise retrospective leading up to a Revelation postmortem, we will explore what that was.
In part 1, we will begin by going through origins of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, including the legal battles with the rightsholders of Conan the Barbarian, and the beginnings of corporate and rights issues which would culminate in Kevin Smith’s Masters of the Universe: Revelation.
Part 2:
• She-Ra, and the Rise o...
Part 4:
• The Movie that Ended a...
The Ultimate Conan The Barbarian Retrospective:
• The Ultimate Conan The...
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Los orígenes bárbaros: Una retrospectiva de He-Man y los Amos del Univer... ua-cam.com/video/IcnYzbWyrQs/v-deo.html via @UA-cam #Heman #MastersOfTheUniverse
I've said it before and I'll say it again: a cartoon doesn't sell toys. Intersting characters do. We weren't buying toys. We were buyong our favorite characters.
Difference between you leaving us on a cliffhanger and Netflix is most are going to want to see what comes next for this lol
Amen
👌💯
I do love these retrospective deep dives. Especially into copyright shenanigans. Even before this channel rights holding on entertainment properties has always fascinated me.
Plus, I just like listening to Andre's (Dutch?) accent. It's pretty relaxing.
@@fattiger6957 He is Norwegian.
Watching this reminds me of the historical moment in which these toys emerged. Families were disintegrating as divorce became the go-to method for dealing with marriage issues. I was at my mother's new boyfriend's apartment and one of them had bought me mer-man and I thought he was awesome. Now that I think about it, it's no wonder we're all taking this era's attack on masculinity and especially white male heroes to heart. They were my surrogate models of masculinity and what it meant to be a man - hyper-masculine toys like MotU, Ghostbusters, Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Harrison Ford and Kurt Russell and Bill Murray in everything good, Bryan Ferry singing Let's Stick Together - that was the strange 80s experience of outsourcing your paternal relationship to pop culture.
Sadly, well said. This was the generation that, far more than earlier ones, started gaslighting kids who were brokenhearted over their broken homes and missing at least one parent (usually their dads, but in my case, my mom), teaching them that this is normal and they should want their parents to be happy. If anything, I suspect that these positive models of masculinity were the last vestiges of appreciation for men before the sexual revolution's aftermath destroyed that, too.
But it's all an Illusion, Look at the Scene where Dana is Possessed by Zuul, A Hyper Masculine man would have taken advantage of her in that state (Like what happens in the Porn Parody of that scene) but Peter does the Right thing cause that's what a real Man does. Kurt Russell was Man enough to play a Fool in Big Trouble in little China next to the Real Hero of the Film Wang. You guys got it all wrong real Men do the right thing always. You guys talk about them not making men like you remember but the Men you remember were KIND, HELPFUL, GENEROUS, LOVING. Can you say the same bout yourself?
@@Fenris30 That’s literally the argument of most of these channels that say stop deconstructing masculinity, it wasn’t toxic in the first place as like you said pop culture didn’t promote men to be assholes, the opposite.
@@Fenris30 I guess I didn't write that very clearly. I didn't mean every example cited was hyper-masculine, just the MotU toys.
Bill Murray is obviously brilliantly nuanced and subtle. Indy was always getting the crap beaten out of him, it was his on-the fly creativity and dogged endurance rather than raw strength that made him an awesome 80s hero. And I loved Kurt Russell because his characters were always a couple of steps behind the forces that drove the situations in his movies - far from masterful - and he managed to make it through anyway.
All those guys were role models for me, that's why it's awful to see them so degraded and debased in these shitty culture bomb movies now.
@@creativeconsciousness7392 To Me the Culture Wars is just The Girl in the Short Skirt bending over to distract you while her Partner picks your Pocket. Who's her Partner? The Politicians backed by Monied interests of Course. They were the ones that pointed the woman out in the first place. Think about it.
I hope Part 2 is Andre tearing into Netflix writers. Hehehe Andre please save one of my childhood hero's. Hell I am willing to send money your way to buy the Conan/He-man franchises, it would be pennies to the millions but I know that it would be greatly cared for in Midnight's edge's hands.
No, it should be Mexican IronMan ripping into the netflix nitwits. All of the original he-man fans could share in his outrage during the original roundtable
I learned a little bit more about the origins of the MOTU toy line and comics.
I expected this retrospective from Midnight's Edge in tribute to T. Mark Taylor, the lifelong Mattel toy designer who famously came up with the visual designs for the entire Masters of the Universe line as well as the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle line. RIP.
Did you watch till the very end? The tribute is there;p
@@MidnightsEdge I have indeed and saw it at 18:39. Great picture you chose. Great start of the retrospective and very nice of you guys to acknowledge him. I hope you are all having a great holiday season and look forward to more from you in 2022.
Yeah but you guys act like Teela wasn't there from the beginning. Hell if you want to get technical she was the second character shown in the Mini-Comics since she and the Sorceress were one Toy back in the days.
Wow, what a cliffhanger! I can't wait to see part two.
As Lioconvoy once said, The Filmation series was what put He-Man on the pop cultural map.
This was the cartoon series that enkindled my love of Fantasy. The Conan Short Stories by REH, were the others.
Can you imagine a faithful adaptation, live action or animated, of REH's original stories? It could be the best fantasy adaptation since The Lord of the Rings.
I can't like heman it's like fruity Conan that's trash for action figures
Watching Hollywood and the MSM give each other (mouth) hugs over and over got old a long time ago. NY Times and K. Smith patting each other on the back is like 2 arsonists shaking hands after burning down a St. Jude's.
The liberal has become establishment. The indies have become the mainstream.
The MSM is bought and paid for by Hollywood. You can't trust anything they say now. Maybe you could never trust them, but you especially can't trust them now. They aren't even covert about their collusion anymore.
That new adventures of he-man sword looks like a keyblade :3
I liked He-Man the Barbarian. Imagine a movie based on that first mini comic.
As an 80's kid MOTU will always be near and dear to my heart, cannot wait to see Part 2 of this analysis of such a beloved memory
The syndicated tv station where I lived in the 80's didn't play He-Man so I could only see it on VHS tapes rented from the video store so I never had a chance to really get attached. I just remember him randomly popping up in a Superman comic.
This was a wonderful respectful video. Thank you!
Awesome!!! Now we will finally see/hear about all the ownership issues about the MOTU franchise.
For those that want more history and characters of the MOTU go to Spector Creative's channel. He worked on the revived He-Man toy line among various others.
One thing he talks about MOTU's origin and Conan that isn't explained here is that the development teams for said lines has no clue what the other were doing. Even though they worked in the same building they were completely separate. The He-Man line was originally supposed to be like like Barbie in that the one character fit many action genres. They instead decided to focus only on the barbarian character and that's how He-Man was born.
Fascinating!! Excellent work guys! 👍👍
Glorious video once again, guys. I can't wait for the next part.
He-Man was the Jordan Peterson of the 80’s, teaching boys to be responsible men lol.
And putting himself into a coma by abusing drugs, due to clinical anxiety.
Don't forget Mr T
@Blank Blank I thought he put himself in the coma to get off of the drugs?
@@samgott8689 A real man decides for himself what being a responsible man means, having feminists or Jordan Peterson doing the thinking for you just goes to show you never understood what masculinity meant in the first place
@AeneasGemini if you mean a real man is and should be able to judge for himself what’s good and appropriate for a given situation, without needing to be browbeaten into doing it, then I’m right there with you. Personally I think it’s ludicrous that someone can make so much money and fame doing something dudes fathers should’ve been doing all along, but, well, here we are anyways.
For the record, there was nothing even close to the whole Jordan Peterson phenomenon when I was a younger. When I was 17, I was already working for years to save for college, told my dad and my mom after 9/11 that I was going to drop out of school, get my GED, and enlist instead and asked them to cooperate in the paperwork and stuff. Like, no one had to tell me to stand up straight, clean my room and shit like that since I was a kid, much less, “hey, joining the Army in a time of need might be a good use of your youth”. I guess that’s what we are now though - a culture of children that have to be talked down to like children. Doesn’t matter if it’s the left, right, or center doing it - it’s a fucking travesty that it’s even happening at all. Idk how else to think about that shit.
Damn Great video,! I also love the rotoscope animation of the cartoon. I think it’s beautiful. I had the toys long before the cartoon, so I was always partial to the stories in the min comics.
A great video! My Christmases were populated by these Mattel toys as a kid, moreso than even Star Wars, He-Man and the Masters of the Universe was MY first franchise love!
I love how the rotoscope model for Teela has to bend her leg as not to appear to be taller than He-Man :P
I've always loved he=man's cartoons & movies too!
Hey Man, u did an awesome
Job on this video /retrospective. I appreciate the hard work u must put into these videos. Keep up the great work. Can’t wait for part two
Love the "He-man" intro!
The original show taught what masculine virtues could be. Something that to many people these days see as an enemy.
I didn’t realize how much of an impact He-Man had on animation. Sucks that most people only see it as “the cheesy 80s show people only remember because of that one famous meme video.
Excellent work. Can't wait for next part.
Man I don't know who you're but you're the best narrator this channel has, I love how you tell a story
The narrator is André Einherjar, the founder and owner of Midnight's Edge. It's true -- nobody he can hire to assist him is ever quite as good as he is.
This was so great. Thank you for sharing. Made my day 👍
A+++ gréât video brining a lot together! Looking forward to part 2!
I went back and watched this again this morning…SO GOOD! I love this series! Great job gentlemen!
Good to see the retrospectives are back.
This space machine intro, not sure if that was a UA-cam creator's intro or Midnight's Edge custom made, but it was epic. Does anyone know what that was?
It was seriously awesome, I really want to know where it is from.
Fantastic retrospective
Season one left a little to be desired. Good none the less. Season 2 fkn awesome!!! Animation is fkn epic!!!
Excellent. Can't wait for part 2.
Noo, not a cliffhanger! Will Eternia survive? I need to know!
Seriously though, thank you for this video Andre. Your documentaries are always wonderful, and this one is just as great as the others. You strike a perfect balance between making assertions and doing research, so your videos have a point to them, but are also full of fun nostalgia.
It's really interesting to see how... uninspired the original toy line was. Or rather, how they blatantly ripped off both Conan and the 4th World. Conan Properties should have won their lawsuit, but I guess if they had won we'd never have gotten the full experience of He-Man and his world. There was something in the air in the early 1980's, a yearning for wonder and adventure, that led to so many incredible movies and TV shows and books and comics... and toys. Masters of The Universe (kind of an astoundingly vainglorious name for a toy line, imo) had a basic good vs. evil structure, but was also open-ended enough to let kids create their own stories on the living room floor.
I first became aware of MoTU thanks to those DC comics you showed in your documentary. I've still got all four of them in a box somewhere downstairs. The toys made their way to Canada a few years later, but when they hit they hit big and were everywhere all at once. I remember the toy section at the department store just had mounds of action figure boxes piled up on tables. If you wanted a specific figure you had to dig in the pile and hope you didn't start an avalanche. Then there was the MoTU aisle that had a cardboard standup thing that made it look like you were entering Castle Greyskull. That's where they sold the really expensive play sets and boxes with multiple characters together, like He-Man and Battlecat. I didn't have the money to buy MoTU stuff, but I used to stare at the box art and imagine the adventures that He-Man and his friends were having.
I never saw the Filmation series, though. It may have been the catalyst that made MoTU an enduring hit, but it was only available on cable TV.
Lol filmation series was not only on cable TV. I would know as a kid never had cable. I watched it everyday. Get your facts right people. Normies always twist reality.
@@dang75790 Here in Canada those 80's cartoons were only on US stations, and those were only available on cable. I never saw He-Man, GI Joe, Transformers or Robotech. We had Saturday morning cartoons, but they was mostly kid stuff like the Smurfs and Care Bears.
@@Kevin_Street that fine . But don't say it was only on cable. That's not true.
But it was only on cable.
@@Kevin_Street lol nevermind
Wat u mean Pt 2?!
No seriously, I wish there wasn’t a cliff hanger at the end of this video. 😂
Can’t believe you’ve let us in such a dire cliffhanger, Andre!
Oh please hurry with part 2 please. This was very entertaining.
This was great. Thank you
Very informative and cool!
Thats a great series. Awesome work.
7:55 Looking FABULOUS Adam!
16:33
I wanna pin you on this comment right here because this is exactly what Revelations and a lot of other 'deconstructed' series have been tearing away at when it comes to presenting heroes and role models for boys. He-Men showed boys strength not just physically but mentally and emotionally as well. Revelations did nothing but emasculate every male character for daring to be born male while every female character is shown to only have 'real strength' when they pick up the looks that men have.
I honestly find this disheartening because kids really don't have role models in their own shows anymore and are constantly being told to reject what they like in order to avoid being 'problematic' not for themselves but for a group of predatory adults who want to use them to validate themselves. Take into consideration that while He-Man was a role model for boys who grew up int the 80s, the 'ideal' role model being pushed on them now are characters like Steven from Steven Universe and if you managed to stick through the entire series and know how Steven ended up, you'll understand why the idea of Steven being an accepted role model while characters like He-Man are called toxic is frightening.
And this is something that I hate on both sides. Even as a woman, I see the idea being pushed that in order for women to be strong they have to reject femininity and cosplay the worst aspects of what we put on men which is why we have passive aggressive jock Teela who is not only ugly on the inside she is also ugly on the outside as well mostly due to her shitty personality they put on us as 'strong'.
Excellent comment! ... and as you will see, we included that particurlar comment for the a reason;p
Good stuff
Really good video.
Glad you enjoyed it
I want Andre to have a reason to say "Frrrrraaarankeshtein" in EVERY video from now on. OK? Thank you!
It sounds so nice with his accent.
Frrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr! MMMM!
Had these toys right from the beginning and always preferred the original barbarian style, with those pre-filmation mini storybooks etc!
Here in Brazil He-Man has always been first a cartoon show and second a toyline. Not everybody bought the toys, but everybody watched the show!
Cool!
A cliffhanger!? Noooo! You insane, well-spoken, scheming, dashing, dastardly do-gooder! This is a trick to get me to comment isn’t it!?
Well, it won’t wo- awww dang-it!
Unlike Revelations, this video will make people come back for the second part.
Excellent video. I'm a casual, old school He man fan. I remember buying most of the toys in the first 2 years before the TV show even came out, what a great time for toys. I didn't know that D.C. Fontana and J. Michael Stracynzski were writers on that show, quite a bullpen Filmation had.
Thank you Andre and Tom
Before He Man Filmation made a similar series called Blackstar. And Ruby-Spears did Thundarr the Barbarian.
Well this channel is rad
claim your "I was here first" medal right here, folks!!
DANG IT!
😄
@@SuperCosmicMutantSquid what?? 😏
Can't wait to see part too but I'll explain about the he-man and master of universe Rights issue about the fraction
Do share!
13:25 "They imbued Mattel's creation with life."
You could say that they imbued it with a... _soul._
Get it? Because "animation" comes from "anima", which means "soul"... eh?
Neat but thus has a soul and MOTU has "subverting expectations" and "agenda"
" Wonderful overview!"
Haha, the movie poster for the Dolph film, I remember seeing it in a theater as a kid when it came out.
“Ain’t nothing like the old school!”- Tupac Shakur
As a Kid i LOVED the Barbarian origin of He-Man. Even then i found the prince Adam/He-Man duality pretty silly tbh.
I remember either in the toy in a book or something, that there was savage looking he-man pictures just with his fur underoos on and he was fighting someone in a darker style Conan style. Sometimes there was lava daringly close to him or blades dug in the ground near his feet. I can't find any trace of the images though.
I hope you touch on the CG show since that version seems better recived by fans than revelations.
I love Revelations
Damn!
Netflix did a competent job on Transformers. You should do a video on that.
I HAVE THE POWER!! - PRINCE ADAM
You uploaded a videograph before Gary Beuchler and before the critical slider-into-jail-institution-or-premature-death.
2:04
Oh, I see now why Andre did this video; it’s so he can talk more Conan. Hail geekdom. Respect ✊🏻
...and best of all - it's on topic!
J. Michael Straczynski would later go on to be the Main Story Creator for another brilliant Toy-Line / Action Serial, in the Canadian Tokusatsu interactive laser-tag Sven Ole-Thorsen vehicle 'Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future'!
Looked for part 2. Where is it... I'm waiting... JK. Nice video sir.
Hey Andre, glad to see you showing respect to Mark at the end. ✊️
More than I can say about Kevin Sad-Sack-of-Shit Smith.
Called him out on the twatters over this and still not a damned thing.
Apparently a single "RIPmarktaylor" message is too much to ask while making bank on the man's creations. 😡
According to Wikipedia, Kenner was founded in 1946, so I'm not sure your statement that it was founded by a rogue employee of Mattel around the time Star Wars came out is factually accurate.
I'm not even all that interested in MOTU, but this is the sort of thing ME does best so I'm in!
I always thought the original barbarian backstory was the best one.
I disagree. "From the outside looking in" HeMan was always distinct from Conan, and could only be claimed to be stolen IP if every muscular, melee wielding character could be said to be a rip off of Conan. Seeing the connections between the two companies, I can see where Mattel thought they had a case. But only after knowing about those connections. That's not "outside looking in", that's "inside looking around".
I don't remember which cartoon it was but one had a scene where the villian consults a crone for info. She casts a spell, summons demons from a pit and a swarm of gold bees erupt out of it. They attack and sting her all over. She screams but cackles as well then they leave her crumpled on the floor and retun to the pit.
She staggars to her feet and relays the message the bees gave her to the villian. It was content like this that riled up parents and religious groups and they accused the cartoons of indoctrinating children into the occult.
Thats when changes were made and these animated series episodes began ending with a moral.
Sounds interesting, you try googling it?
I really hope one day you go into detail about the 2002 series. The true He-Man reboot.
That is coming. Note that this was only "Part 1" of a franchise retrospective.
I am eighteen and just got the castle grey skull set for Christmas I really want more like it but I fear the franchise might not make anymore which is a bummer I really like the designs
15:15 "... even Disney"
I think you mean ESPECIALLY Disney!
Yeah, that's what I meant. Should have gone with that.
The original mini comics that came with the original action figures is what got me hooked as a kid... I always wanted to know why they steered away from the original story line. Was gut wrenching to me as a kid LOL.
It focused on the sword of power. Skelator had one half and He-Man had the other. Who ever could connect the two swords would rule Greyskull. The original toy of the two characters came with half of the sword. The two would snap together to make the sword of power. This part of the story died with the original action figures.
Do not forget to mention Robert E. Howard's another creation "Kull the Conqueror". Kull is forerunner of Conan and He-Man borrowed many elements from Kull. That tiger motive comes from Kull and Thulsa Doom is actually Kull's enemy, somehow Conan movie used it and serpent men cult used in Kull stories first.
Jack Kirby is the king of the comics indeed. How fourth world not used that much is a crime.
This is the mention in the Conan retrospective referred to. Link is in the description, check it out.
@@MidnightsEdge Thanks, gonna check it.
He-Man: Heavyweight torso, bantamweight legs
Masters of the Universe is a great movie.
Damn Regan made it possible for action figures 😮
Remember the "Wonder Bread He-Man" (who wasn't really from Wonder Bread at all)? With that hairstyle, I always thought that he looked like Arnold Schwarzenegger circa 1977, and I wondered if once the Conan deal fell through, Mattel just said "Get rid of these Arnolds. Give them away for free!"
However, Scott Neitlich said the timelines don't match. ☹️
When I was a kid I was allowed to watch pretty much what ever I wanted so I seen the Conan movie before I saw the motu cartoon. Conan along with Thundar really informed the way I imagined the world of motu so I was pretty disappointed when I tuned into the original show.
He-Man went from a really cool barbarian to a hackneyed Shazam/Captain Marvel pastiche.
Then again I was 8 at the time, so maybe I was a little jaded by then?
25 years, and my life is still;
Tryin’ to get up that great big hill of HUH-ope
For a destiNAYshunnnnnnn
I think its not a good Midnight's Edge video if it doesn't have the word Frankenstein in it. In that this one gloriously succeeds.
I have been a fan of Midnight's Edge's He-Man content for a few years now. You guys hearing anything from your sources on if Netflix is doing a live action movie still?
Haven't heard a word.
@@MidnightsEdge Thanks for the reply. Kristin Harloff reported on his channel that Netflix was doing it and they had an actor cast. That was earlier this year.
Looks like Kristen scoop was on point.
Skeletor: "Ha, just like a woman."
Only for the insiders ^^
I think that this illustrates a sad truth: that scandal and thievery are foundational concepts in business.