The new Adventures of He-man

“The New Adventures of He-man”, also known as “Las nuevas aventuras de He-man” in Spanish, is an animated television series that is part of the Masters of the Universe universe (MOTU), created by Mattel. The series was produced by Jetlag Productions and originally premiered in 1990. This series explains a new adventure of the iconic 1980s character, He-Man and attempt to continue the story of Filmation’s hit series “He-man and the Masters of the Universe”.

The plot of “The New Adventures of He-man” revolves around the ongoing struggle between good and evil on the planet Primus. This planet is besieged by a group of evil mutants who want to invade it, the inhabitants of Primus, which have a highly developed technology, through a time machine travel to the past for help, and that is how they reach Eternia at the time where the original series of He-man.

Once there they are tricked by Skeletor who makes them think he is the hero who will help them, when in reality he just wants to dominate them and thus gain access to their most advanced technology. He-man interferes and after a fight they both end up returning to the future, to the planet Primus.

During the course of “The New Adventures”., He-Man embarks on multiple missions to stop Skeletor and the mutant army, and thus protect the planet Primus. In this new series, the hero is aided by a new generation of allies and friends known as the galactic guardians, among whom are Flipshot and Hydron, the two people in charge of traveling to the past to go and look for He-man.

In Primus, He-Man encounters new challenges and never-before-seen creatures on his home world, Eternia. The planet Primus is a technologically advanced place, in contrast to the medieval and fantastic environment of Eternia. This new setting provides a different backdrop for the hero’s adventures and allows him to explore different dimensions and conflicts.

“The New Adventures of He-man” stood out for its action, new characters for the franchise and colorful animation. Although the series did not have the same impact as the previous incarnation of He-Man in the 1980s series “Masters of the Universe” created by Filmation.

The Toy line

Mattel produced this series to sell its new toy line simply called “He-man”, but just like the series, this line of figures did not get the same success as the previous line, so a few years later it ended up being cancelled just like the animated series.

The reasons for the “failure” of “The New Adventures” could be several, in my opinion the transition between the previous series and the new one was not well done, the design of the characters was too different and I think that many people were not even aware that the new He-man was the same as the previous one.

Just as in the 1980’s a minicomics series was launched along with the figures, in the history of minicomics the transition to the futuristic He-man was explained somewhat better than in the animated series.

Thetoy line also changed a lot and the characters were much less muscular than in the previous one, and again it doesn’t give the feeling of being a continuation of the successful 80’s MOTU line. Still I think it is a very good line of toys and this time the figures were very similar to the characters of the series.

Conclusions

Over the years, the popularity of He-Man has endured, and has been the subject of several adaptations and reboots. Today we have 5 animated series and multiple lines of comics that tell different stories. All of them have been united in a multiverse or “Masterverse”, thus giving some more sense to the space adventures of He-man. Even in the comic book “The Masters of the Multiverse” there is a reappearance of the “The New Adventures” timeline. Also several collections of figures that came out later, such as MOTUC or Masterverse include figures of the characters of this series.

In short, “The New Adventures of He-man” did not enjoy much success at the time, but over time fans of the franchise seem to have gradually accepted the series as part of the canon, even rediscovering it and realizing that it is not as bad as they remembered. This is evident if we look at the prices of the figures of the toy line, the value of this product, which for many years has been somewhat repudiated and in the last few years has increased a lot, due to the fact that many collectors of this kind of products of MOTU are now beginning to be interested in this line;

Figures collection of this series:

• He-man, New adventures
• Mattel – (1989-1992)

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