"What created He Man?" Topic

I am not really asking what the back story of the show was. I grew up watching it. My interest is more on what created the theme that became the show. For fantasy gaming D&D and beyond a lot comes from Tolkeins books. It's safe to say that he was a galviniser for fantasy as a whole.

So it has to be more than just van art and heavy metal that inspired the post Apoc, swords and laser guns, mutant fest that created he-man, Thundarr the barbarian, and so on. Is there a point, a source that defined it?

It was one of those convoluted round about stories like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, both TMNT and He-Man were created to sell a toy line and not the other way around.

Roger Sweet and Mark Taylor are credited (and currently fighting over the rights) with the design of the He-Man universe.

It was one of those convoluted round about stories like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, both TMNT and He-Man were created to sell a toy line and not the other way around.

Actually, TNMT started off as a comic book satire long before it became a toy line and cartoon.

hmm – I would say comic books. Especially Jack Kirby who created Kamandi and Thundarr.

He Man had some comic guys writing in (Paul Dini for one).

I know more about TMNT but the stories are close…Laird and Eastman created the basic property then they worked with Freedman to develop it into a toy line…no one would touch it so they focused on the comics and other media, then the toys took off.

But where did they get the design whoever came up with it?

Was it just fear of the bomb that pushed the idea?

I have never heard of Kamandi…. hmm off to search.

Of course the real winner is Eastman…two words, Julie Strain.

Kamandi the last boy on Earth…fun stuff. Planet of the Apes, Dogs, Cats, etc. Humans are savages.

He-man started off as prototypes of Conan the barbarian toys, that, after seeing the finished movie, got shelved. The studio had NO interest in marketing toys based on a film that…. adult.

I have never heard of Kamandi…. hmm off to search.

Next you'll be saying you don't know who Devil Dinosaur is. :) Kamandi might be Kirby at his very best – they really let him have a free hand with it, the only other book that came close to showcasing his creative lunacy at its peak was his brief run on Jimmy Olsen.

Was it just fear of the bomb that pushed the idea?

Bomb-dread was more a 50's thing than 70's. Thundarr and Kamandi are post-disaster(s), but there are no nukes involved – Kirby wasn't scared of nukes, and they're both his creation. He Man isn't post-apocalyptic at all, as Revenant said it was a series designed to sell retasked fantasy toy concepts. The character designs were pretty much dictated by the merchandise. TMNT was a parody of Miller's run on the Daredevil comic at first, and kind of stumbled into becoming a toy/toon franchise.

Now, IIRC Heavy Metal (the magazine) had a fair amount of the kind of post-apoc, science fantasy stuff in it back in the 70s, and it was certainly an influence on the look of heavy metal bands, van art, and Games Workshop's early design studio staffers. Same could be said for 2000AD. Where they got the riff from I couldn't say – did they originate it tehmselves, or did it bubble up out of some cultural meme?

" TMNT was a parody of Miller's run on the Daredevil comic at first, and kind of stumbled into becoming a toy/toon franchise."

Funny you should say that – the same accident that legend says gave the Daredevil his abilities also created the TMNTs . . . Check out Number One on this list ( the rest are pretty well known ) link

This came after the toyline by about a year… the production bible for the He-Man cartoon:

link

Chris K.

The studio had NO interest in marketing toys based on a film that…. adult.

'Adult'? You mean awful and silly?
Then, I'd have to check the dates,but seemingly at least two of Dark Eldars©™® flying contraptions appeared first in the movie?

(This one, and -more original, less SW-copied?- the individual skimming platforms of Skeletor's escort.)

Watching some of the special features and interview pieces on the He-Man and She-Ra DVD collections, it's neat to find out that a lot of the artists and writers they brought on the shows were actualy guys that had written modules for TSR stuff like D&D and GammaWorld. So it's a kid's cartoon, but when you watch it with that insight it's really amazing to look at the variety of locales and creatures and tech that show up in the show. It just feels like something you should be able to game the heck out of.

Gathranwn,

That was part of my interest in it. He-man, Thundarr, and the like seem to be such a conglomeration of ideas that I figured it sourced from something singular and grew from it.

But it seems to be a rip off of Conan, Planet of the apes, Star wars, Buck rogers, Edgar Rice Burroughs, and classical tales and myths all mixed together.

'Adult'? You mean awful and silly?

If you actually read his post, he was talking about the Conan movie, not the much, much later He-Man one. And yes, it would probably have been a poor choice for a range of kiddie toys, which is why the prototypes got retasked into He-Man.

I grew up with Space Ghost, the Herculoids, Dino Boy, Mightor, and Thundarr, among others, and liked all of those shows for the same reasons: Lots of cool alien and fantasy races, weird geography and architecture, and just enough story to hold it all together.

I wonder if there are origin stories or show bibles for those characters? Where did Space Ghost come from? Why are the Herculoids so anti-technology? The world wants to know!

TMNT has it's roots in two guys sitting around doodling on a pizza box. They were trying to one-up each other in crazy cartoon characters. Splinter and the turtles were born ehre and run as an obscure and eventually quite popular independent comic. It ran for years in this fashion before eventually moving into the realm of silly children's cartoon.

He-Man is really just an extension of the heroic action figure craze. I imagine he was influenced by the popularity of fantasy adventure at the time. I'd say it's probable that there is a bit of Conan influence in the basic asthetic to begin with. Maybe some Boris Velejo too. Hecjk, if you look at the style in that toy line it even shares a lot of common themes with album covers for rock music. Metal monsters, barbarians, scanty clad sorceresses, snaked, big riding beasts. etc.

-Eli

-Eli

He-Man is really just an extension of the heroic action figure craze. I imagine he was influenced by the popularity of fantasy adventure at the time. I'd say it's probable that there is a bit of Conan influence in the basic aesthetic to begin with.

So true: that's why I bought the essential figures of the range to my (very, very young, then) daughter in the hope to interest her to sword & sorcery gaming, and then who knows, wargaming. Did not work, truth to tell

After further research, it looks like DC Comics did an origin story for Space Ghost a few years back: link

Now someone needs to take on the Herculoids.

You should check out Mike Grell's "Warlord", it was a comic before He-Man but it has similar elements. Sword and Sorcery, technology, and some E.R.B. style fantasy. It's a great comic!