Full episodes available on YouTube.
Official Synopsis
After a calamitous battle fractures Eternia, Teela and an unlikely alliance must prevent the end of the Universe in this sequel to the '80s classic.
- Chris Wood (The Vampire Diaries, Supergirl) as Prince Adam / He-Man
- Mark "Luke Skywalker" Hamill (Star Wars, Batman animated) as Skeletor
- Liam Cunningham (Game of Thrones) as Man-At-Arms
- Sarah Michelle Gellar (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) as Teela
- Lena "Cersei Lannister" Headey (Game of Thrones) as Evil-Lyn
- Diedrich Bader as King Randor and Trap Jaw
- Alicia Silverstone as Queen Marlena
- Stephen Root as Cringer
- Griffin Newman as Orko
- Susan Eisenberg as Sorceress of Castle Grayskull
- Kevin Michael Richardson as Beast Man
- Kevin Conroy (Batman animated) as Mer-Man
- Henry Rollins as Tri-Klops
- Jason Mewes as Stinkor
- Alan Oppenheimer as Moss-Man (voice of original Skeletor... and Mer-Man)
- Justin Long as Roboto
- Tony Todd (Candyman) as Scare Glow
- Phil LaMarr as He-Ro
- Cree Summer as Priestess
- Harley Quinn Smith as Illena
- Tiffany Smith as Andra
- Dennis Haysbert as King Grayskull
- Adam Gifford as Vikor
- Jay Tavare as Wundar
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| Top left clockwise: Kevin Conray as Mer-Man, Liam Cunningham as Man-At-Arms, Mark Hamill as Skeletor, Justin Long as Roboto, Lena Headey as Evil-Lyn, Sarah Michelle Gellar as Teela. Source: Whats-on-Netflix.com |
Calling all Eternia fans! Don’t miss out on the debut of Masters of the Universe: Revelation. ❤️ this tweet to get a reminder for when #ThePowerReturns on @Netflix July 23rd pic.twitter.com/WJj9VNygXn
— Masters of the Universe (@MastersOfficial) July 19, 2021
THE POWER RETURNS! Masters of the Universe: Revelation premieres TOMORROW on @netflix! #ThePowerReturns pic.twitter.com/f8r3ryHR7L
— Masters of the Universe (@MastersOfficial) July 22, 2021
It's somewhat surprising Moss-Man was included in this first set instead of Teela which is expected to play a major role in Revelation. But there's no shortage of “shoes” to fill with such a huge cast of colourful MOTU heroes & villains from the new series to be realised in plastic . Already out are He-Man's loyal Battle Cat and a deluxe version of Skeletor, which may be a bit spoilery.
There's even brick building toys for MOTU under Mattel's Mega Construx line that allows fanboys to build Castle Grayskull itself from over 3500 pieces for a price of USD 250 (RM1056). WoW!
Oogle more on these MOTU toys from the official Mattel Toys website.
Whilst Mattel toys are distributed in Malaysia, they may be a bit hard to find on shelves not because of MCO but due to hot demand from many middle-aged fanboy collectors! Instead of trying luck at Toys R Us in-store or online, consider following Mattel's official shops on Lazada and Shopee for hassle free delivery to your doorstep.
For more context to the younger generation as well as nostalgia for matured fans, let's briefly step back into the good ole early-80s and the impact of morning cartoons into modern pop culture. Remember that Mattel created the toys first in 1982 with design of He-Man inspired from Conan the Barbarian blending into a fantasy world of sword and sorcery in hopes to capture the success of Kenner with Star Wars in the toys for boys market. As Star Wars had movies to captivate young boys in space adventures, MOTU needed similar media to enthrall young boys into the fantastical world of Eternia. Hence, He-Man and the Masters of the Universe animated series was produced by Filmation to air the following year until 1985 and beyond through syndication.
The original cartoon quality certainly does look tacky by today's standard, and often times even felt that way in the day. This was an era before computer animation, when quantity took precedence over quality and even today no animation studio would probably dare attempt to produce 130 episodes within a span of 3 years. Filmation animation studios indeed managed this and more for He-Man and the Masters of the Universe as well as a multitude of cartoons such as Star Trek The Animated Series (1973-74) and Bravestar (1987-89). The trade-off was frequent re-use of animated sequences (stock footage) and frame rates lower than the standard 24 frames per second, saving time and money. But kids in those days were undeterred and flocked after / before school to catch the latest adventures of He-Man and then pestered their parents to buy them the toys. Toys that often looked ridiculous and sounded similar with character names like Buzz-Off, Extender, Fisto, Clawful, Faker, etc. (just Google these to “facepalm”).
For more in-depth entertaining look into the MOTU toys, watch the documentary series The Toys That Made Us currently streaming on Netflix as well. Here's the synopsis of episode 3 of Season 1 (47 minutes) featuring He-Man:
“Searching for a new toy line for boys to compete with Star Wars after their toy lines for Clash of the Titans and Flash Gordon flopped, designers at Mattel saw inspiration from Frank Frazetta's artworks, as well as their creative imagination, and launched the Masters of the Universe action figures. The toy line dominated in sales from US$38.2 million in 1982 to US$400 million in 1986 before its demise in 1987 as a result of sales dropping to US$7 million and the critical and financial failure of the live-action film adaptation.”
The success of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe led to a spin-off series SHE-RA: PRINCESS OF POWER. In this series complimenting Mattel's new toy line for young girls, Prince Adam's twin sister Adora leads a rebellion against the tyrannical rule of Hordak on the planet Etheria. Like Adam, Adora uses a magical Sword of Protection to transform into She-Ra. This new female version of He-Man was first introduced in the animated movie HE-MAN AND SHE-RA: THE SECRET OF THE SWORD released in 1985 before airing on television over 93 episodes. He-Man often appears in this episodes, possibly kicking off the first “shared universe” franchise now common place under the Marvel Cinematic Universe and DC on CW. This spin-off was recently rebooted by Netflix in 2018 as a new animated series titled SHE-RA AND THE PRINCESSES OF POWER.
As for He-Man himself, he has reappeared in different incarnations prior to Revelations, including a live-action movie in 1987 also titled MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE. The titular role of He-Man went to Swedish hunk Dolph Lundgren, following his rising stardom from Rocky IV (1985) as Ivan Drago plus stints in James Bond A View to a Kill (1985) and Red Scorpion (1986). Veteran actor Frank Langella donned the skull of Skeletor and new characters were introduced casting young Courtney Cox (Monica of sitcom Friends infamy) and Robert Duncan McNeill (best known as Tom Paris on Star Trek Voyager) as teenagers on Earth.
(Off-topic) Trivia about Dolph Lundgren: He has a Masters Degree in Chemical Engineering from University of Sydney and declined scholarship to study at the famed Massachusetts Institute of Technology MIT to pursue acting. He began studying martial arts during his military service and became a world class competitor in Japanese karate. During his early acting career after He-Man he played Frank Castle in Marvel Comics' The Punisher (1987). His more recent theaterical role teams him up with other action stars of yesteryears like Sylvestor Stallone, Arnold Schwarzeneggar and Bruce Willis in The Expendables movies as Gunner.
The movie flopped at the cinema for a variety of factors, the obvious one wrapping its plot around He-Man coming to our Earth. If even young less discerning kids wanted more action on Eternia but was served a much too familiar suburban America. And there wasn't even a proper MOTU toy line for the movie!
Well, if the 1980's animated series were to transition to live-action, these 2 recent parody videos by Moneysupermarket.com might just well satisfy long time fanboys:
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