I've written it many times in the past, but I'll do so again because it's quite appropriate for today's post: I may have been born in the 70s, but I grew up in the 1980s.
You couldn't escape that decade without knowing about He-Man and the Masters of the Universe.
The cartoon, which was ultimately a huge vehicle for Mattel to sell toys, was very popular during my era. I had a lot of the action figures. I even had the Castle Grayskull so I could imagine my own storylines with my toys.
Anyway, I'm going to make a giant leap - for this moment - and take you to yesterday.
I watched the teaser trailer for the Masters of the Universe movie that's coming out this summer.
I came away from it with mixed thoughts. I'm so far away from my days as a fan of the franchise to care too much about it, though.
On one hand, it looks true to the series. In other parts, it looks far off.
But, let's head back to the 1980s for a moment. I think this is an important point.
I remember where I was when I found out about the Masters of the Universe movie from 1987.
It was during a visit to the American Air Force base my uncle was stationed at. I was making my daily browse through the bookshop, which sold comics, magazines and newspapers (my order of preference at the time!), and I came across a mag with photographs from the movie. To say I was excited was an understatement.
Ivan Drago was He-Man (I didn't know Dolph Lundgren's real name but knew he was 'the man from Rocky IV').
I couldn't keep that magazine in the shop. I asked if someone could buy it for me. They did.
This was during the times when movies would come out in the US months before the UK. I believe the USA had Masters of the Universe for their summer and we, here in the UK, had it released in time for Christmas of 1987.
I recall going to the cinema with my parents and sister. The females went to watch Snow White and the Seven Dwarves in one screen while my Dad and I went to see the He-Man film. For a useless trivia note: I had peanut M&Ms for the first time while watching that movie.
My young self loved it. The movie. The M&Ms were lovely as well. Critics and hardcore Masters of the Universe fans didn't share my enthusiasm, however.
Looking back, I can understand why. There were many major characters from the cartoon missing from the film. For example, there was no Battlcat. That omission would be like the Lone Ranger not having Silver. Orko (the wisp type being which performed magic) was also a conspicuous absence from the silver screen version of Masters of the Universe although we were given a knockoff, of sorts, in Gwildor.
As I watched the 2026 edition's trailer yesterday, I thought 'oh, well they've finally done Battlecat' because he was featured in a few of the clips. No sign of Orko, however.
I'll definitely check the film out. Eventually. But, I'll try my best to do so with a 'would I have liked this if I had watched it back in the day?' mindset. With that said, I loved the 1987 movie, so - going by the trailer - I'm sure I would have loved this edition as well.
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