Grim Crew Presents: Dead Future

I sort of missed the boat on this one. Although He-Man was not a huge part of my childhood, just the mention of his name sends millions of geeks over the internet into a chorus of “By the power of Gray Skull… I HAVE THE POWER!” The original He-Man and the Masters of the Universe series aired from 1983 to 1985, which explains why I never really watched it. I was born in 1985.

A spin off series aimed more towards female fans called She-Ra Princess of Power came about from 1985 to 1987. If you watch the two opening themes, you can see that the creators weren’t really creative a bout the new series. Although the dialogue changed a bit, the sequencing was pretty much exactly the same. Even some of the supporting characters looked similar as well as the bad guys.

From there He-Man doesn’t even make an appearance until 1990 where he returns, but to the future in The New Adventures of He-Man. There be haters out there, but I have to say that The New Adventures did have better animation, and better voice acting. People were turned off on it however because it did take place in the future, with flying ships and areal battles. Other changes to the series caused some fans to be pretty angry about the new series but in the end it only came to their own fandom downfall.

After The New Adventures of He-Man is taken off the air in 1991, He-Man goes on a 10 year vacation. That’s practically a whole generation of fans that got to miss the vote because some people couldn’t roll with the punches.

But finally in 2002 someone had the bright idea to remake He-Man with a more up to date look. With modern cartooning techniques He-Man looks better than ever. What I really loved when you take a look at the introduction was how it paid homage to the original intro, and right in the middle of Adam’s useless speech, the bad guys attack out of nowhere. Now that’s what I call action! Cut right to the chase. Long intros are so 80’s. Evidently people liked it a little more than The New Adventures because it lasted for 2 full years before the series finished up in 2004.

The Original Battle Armor He-Man {1}

When you take a look at the timeline, GI Joe He-Man ant’. But he does make for a good Zombie Toy. The first series of toys had a great run between 1982 to 1988. During the same time frame the Princess of Power series only lasted from 1985-1987. From 1988 Matel dropped the Masters of the Universe line of toys and immediately picked up its He-Man line in 1989. This new series was based on The New Adventures TV series and promptly stopped after the show ended in 1992.

In 1999, He-Man was given new life (or at lease his toy line) as a commemorative series was brought out the first figure was released in 99, and the last figure was released in 2001. One has to wonder if this is what cause the TV series to be made in 2002.

A much more extensive toy line was released in 2002 featuring the style and the look of the modern cartoon. And with 2004 we see the series die again, not to show face for another 6 years.

Masters of the Universe Classics version of Battle Armor He-Man {2}

And now finally we come to the Masters of the Universe Classics. The reason this whole blog is being written. It seems 6 years after the last toy line Mattel is making yet another commemorative line of toys. The Masters of the Universe Classics look like the toys of old, of course with 2010 toy making technology. The color scheme has changed slightly, and they finally gave He-Man a tan, but really this is a good representation of the original figures.

I swear it’s like Mattel is the Mad Evil Doctor of the toy world. They just love to resurrect old toy lines. If you take a look at the dates in between production of the toys, and even the tv series, it’s not hard to see that He-Man has gone zombie on all of us. Those poor souls of Eternia never expected the mightiest hero in the universe to turn to the side of Skeletor, did they?

If you have an idea for the next Zombie toy blog, email me at penguinprince@grimcrew.com. Just want to add your two cents, comment below. You can also follow Dead Future on Facebook and Google +. You can also follow me on Twitter and Google +.

Till Fate brings our Future…

Penguin Prince