How did Eternia get technology? The real world and in-universe backstory of He-Man's world 

With the volumes of backstory between Mattel, DC, Filmation etc., I'm surprised there's never been an adult novel line (ala Star Wars) exploring the deep histories of Eternia, Etheria and all the various He-Men.

"Hey, Skeletor, after you put artificial intelligence in Landshark, can you do something to give the castle some air conditioning and decent lighting?"

That's what I also loved about the cartoons! A world where magic and technology were both used and valued.

The orginial mini comics reminded me of Thundar the Barbarian. Some great catastrophe happened in the past, now there are bit and pieces of technology, and magic on the planet. I loved this concept much than what it later became with Prince Adam.

Thank you!⭐⭐⭐As a kid, I couldn't understand how He-Man had flying vehicles, but no pants.🤣🤣

Jack Kirby's art influencing MOTU?? It never occurred to me but it makes so much sense

It would be awesome to have a He-Man and Thundarr crossover.

Mixing technology and midevil armor! Is what makes he-man and the masters! Awesome! As a kid, you go crazy! With the toys! It opens your mind!

This is actually something I have wondered for awhile now. You see the rest of the world and then see Man-At-Arms creating Roboto. Like, did I miss something, here? It somehow fits the world so well that you don't even realize or question it anymore. That's one of the things that the live action got right. The problem was that the transition didn't carry very well and it stuck out. It ended up drawing attention to itself. But, after awhile, it became background noise like it did with the cartoon. On the subject of MOTU, I've recently made some purchases of the line; "MOTU:Origins." Kid's today do not have a clue how good they have it. I loved my He-Man figures but, I always hated how nothing was posable. The figures had that dumb rubber band that held the legs together (That would rot and become brittle or snap and break) and, even though you could position the legs around, (Which, I did like a lot, because toys that you can't move the legs at all suck) you couldn't bend the knee, elbows, etc. These "Origins" figures, though. I would have loved them as a kid. TMNT and X-Men got a line that had fully posable bodies. I had some but, I was already out the door of youth to fully enjoy them. He-Man was the one I wanted the most. The line of the 2002 was awesome. I had (have?") a few of them. Shame the cartoon didn't last long. I'm not much for reboots but, they did very well on that. I'm loving the Origins line, though. The vehicles are chunky, Battle Cat and Panthor are bigger than the originals, and everything looks exactly the same, except you can pose them.

It’s there because Mumm-ra fought Eldor in a battle of magic vs sorcery. During their fight, Mumm-ra was growing weak away from the black pyramid, but could sense the wicked roots of the virus in the pool. In order to create a diversion for escape, he destroyed the pool knowing it would infect Eternia...

As someone whose only real exposure to the mythos has been largely based on the animation (be it Filmation, MYP, or whoever did New Adventures), I really enjoy your deep dives into the lore. Always come out of it with at least one “Huh, didn’t know that” moment per video.

I think I read somewhere years ago that Eternia had been a high-tech planet, but that a cataclysm had resulted in society becoming barbaric again. Occasionally, a barbarian or wizard would stumble upon some abandoned and long forgotten machinery, and such technology was integrated back into society.

I liked it back when I was a kid. We didn't question the why, we just played along.

Original mini-comics represented Eternia as a post-apocalyptic world. But that was in a time before Prince Adam etc.

I think that's one of the reasons I had so much fun with MOTU.... everything worked with it. When Transformers came about, they fit with my He Man stuff because there was a bit of everything there.

Thanks for mentioning something I long suspected - the ER Burroughs John Carter on Mars connection. That's probably one of the first major IPs where there was a fantasy world (Barsoom/Mars) where swords and sorcery and monsters existed alongside high technology. Not to mention his Venus and center of the Earth stories. Even Tarzan got in on the fun at the center of the Earth.

I never thought about it, but once the question was out there I couldn't fathom that I would love the explanation so much.

Man-E-Faces (Galactus), Zodac (Eternals) , Man-at-Arms (New Gods), it's all there. And it was just perfect.

This was interesting, thank you!

Such an interesting, awesome video man! Everything from Kirby's influence to the techno virus and He-Ro's backstory, so very cool, did not know a lot of these things! I have certainly subbed lol 😃🐀

As Spock would say "Fascinating! "

... A world of Savagery ! Super-Science and Sorcery !! But one man bursts his bonds to fight for justice! ... He is THUNDARR the BARBARIAN !

I always saw it as tech having evolved without commercialization. Also, the mini comics seemed to say the tech was repurposed from the Great Wars. That works, too.

I'm glad you did this video, because this juxtaposition and combination of seemingly contradictory tropes is something I locked onto as a kid, and really resonated with me. The fact that you had these wizards using robot knight enforcers/robot storm troopers was just so wild to me. Every time Hordak magically transformed into some kind of robot tank or attack jet was just so cool to me. Always love when you can work a Cable reference in btw :D

My favorite of your serise thus far.

Awesome explanation. Thank you for all this great content.

As an avid MoTU fan...I must say that this was a great take on the lore, reasoning and mythos of the planet Eternia. How technology and sorcery merged to create and fascinate our young minds. Hollywood is really missing out on what a (true-to-form) motion picture of MoTU would do at the box-office...if done right.

Excellent video! Thank you!!

Another fantastic history. Thanks Spector.

Another great episode!

Dude....that sounds like an awesome origin story!

As a big fan of both Kirby and MOTU this channel is such a treasure. Please keep doing what you're doing!

The reason why Jack Kirby’s Fourth World incorporated Barbarians and that iconic Medieval and futuristic technological look is because the Fourth World was originally supposed to be the the next and final installment of the Thor Comics after the Ragnarok Event destroys Asgard and the other realms, leaving Midgard which is Earth, intact and a brand new Fourth World which now encompasses the twin worlds of Apokolips and New Genesis. Knowing that the Fourth World is supposed to be all of the Norse Realms reborn into two distinct worlds and the fact that the characters are now called the New Gods makes total and absolute sense. That’s why in my opinion the Fourth World is the most Marvel-esque thing in DC Comics. Just think that if Stan Lee had treated Jack Kirby a bit better and gave him the creative control to the certain characters he wanted, he would’ve never gone over to DC and the Fourth World would be a Marvel imprint. Luckily Kirby’s time at DC was very short lived and when he came back to Marvel he created the Eternals and there immense backstory and history which made up for the loss of the New Gods and the Fourth World. Nevertheless you can tell Masters of the Universe was greatly influenced by Kirby’s Fourth World and that is truly an awesome thing!

That was pretty dang cool. Got to get my hands on those comics.

Love this vid. Always capture my imagination and pound for pound it probably edges TFs in my childhood

Wow technology changes so fricken fast lol. I think my favorite piece of tech was my first iphone...ahh such memories. Great job on your video!

I'm not sure where I read it, maybe I just imagined it when I was younger but I thought the original concept was that Eternia was now a post apocalyptic world where a massive war had set them back to almost sword and sorcery times with limited technology left over that had not been destroyed.

Loved it as a kid,so awesome my kids loved it too.

As a kid, I thought Man-at-Arms would've made a better main hero in a world with tech. Go Duncan!

Love these!

Great video, my friend! :) Its explain all: The technology; the bio-mech dinosaurs; the monstroids; the cyborgs masters; Hordak; etc. A Tecno-virus changed the creatures in this world (and anothers).

thanks scott!

I was just having a conversation with a friend about why Funko Savage World didn’t quite shine. We both felt that they missed the the point in just the way you bring up here: HeMan and his friends weren’t cave men, it was a good mix of sword and sorcery & science fiction. Raypunk.

Excellent video ( I just found your videos all of this background history and information is really interesting.) I was wondering about the Maps that were designed in MOTU classics (which are awesome.) in particular the map of Subternia as I do not have much information on King Skeletor's reign I was wondering if you can shed some light on it?

My belief is, when MotU was being created for Conan, and then switched to He-Man, they were competing with Kenner Starwars. I think to compete, they added the "science" to He-Man to both have a Conan like world with Sci-Fi mixed in. To this day, I think it's one of the very best concepts to come to pop culture. Sometimes oil and water does mix!

Man that really clears that up for me and actually a really neat creative concept. I remember watching in the 80s and it never made any sense to me. Why does castle gray skull have laser guns on it ? Lol , some of the weaponry always looked out of place mixed with the barbarian style weapons, but this, this really pulls it together for me . Thanks for the explanation!!

I can't comment on 4th World, because I never read it, but early in the video, some of those paintings reminded me of Boris Vallejo, whose art goes back to the 60's. He did work on Conan The Barbarian, and a bunch of other fantasy stuff.

I saw it from day 1. Personally, though, I thought it was Kamandi. Great video!

It wasn't just a John Carter thing. Burroughs had a similar motif in his Venus and Pellucidar series. Hell Gor started a few years prior to Kirby's Forth World. In fact, this whole Sword and planet genre mostly happened before He-man and Darkseid: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sword_and_planet

Aww yea! 0:12:30 Man-At-Arms sporting the fur cape and driving a custom tricked-out battle ram. '82 He-Man, Man-At-Arms, and Teela were next-level cool. Would love more comics with those characters, that eternia, and that art-style. And the '82 baddies were chef's kiss. Their inclusion in the MotU Megaconstrux was a surprise. Someone at mattel still knows what's what. 😀

Great video! That artwork of the animals with the tech advancements was fantastic. Is there a source where I could find more?

I always saw Kamandi just like a beginnings of an Eternia-like planet.

I always thought that the world of He-Man had a few orders of scientists that studied and taught eachother the secrets of technology and science. Just like a wizard order. It also shows that on Eternia science is a lot like magic to the people.

Question, are Eternian humans physically more powerful than Earth-based humans?

Well this is a different and very unique answer to what I originally thought where the technology came from. I thought that it came from the Gar after there planet was destroyed and they landed on Pre- Eternia. Considering that they were a advanced technological race. After Earth's astronaut Marlena Glenn pasted through the wormhole, through the Gar's home planet with that time dilation. This is still great information to help put things in perspective. Thanks for sharing!!!

It was a unique blend of Science Fiction and Fantasy.

Excellent video as always! I would like to point out the obvious, though, which is that in addition to Burroughs' Mars and Venus adventures in a literary medium, Alex Raymond's *Flash Gordon* was the first in a purely visual medium to combine swordplay and sorcery with technological weaponry and vehicles. We've almost forgotten about Flash these days, but there were dungeons and monsters and flashing blades, alongside laser rifles and soaring ships, all colorfully painted and exquisitely illustrated, way back in the 30s. First came the comics, then the motion picture serials throughout the 40s and 50s. And of course Star Wars followed this aesthetic to a degree, from 1977 onward, though perhaps not as obviously as Flash Gordon. And hey, lest we neglect another clear predecessor, Thundarr the Barbarian had been a controversial cartoon on Saturday morning television in 1980, while He-Man was being developed at Mattel, and it too involved fantasy and technology combined, with a barbarian, sword-wielding hero up against both evil sorcery and evil machinery! So yes, of course, Kirby's Fourth World/New Gods was undoubtedly influential. I love that you explore that in this video. But! it was neither the earliest nor the most prominent of visual media to meld sci-fi and medieval fantasy iconography. Thanks as always for a stimulating exploration of MotU's origins.

So Thundarr the Barbarian was the direct visual precursor to He-Man since Kirby directly influenced both artistically.

Always reminded me of Thundarr the Barbarian.

Personally I always thought there was certain influence on MOTU from Lin Carters Gondwane epic, as it featured a giant white haired warrior in an era with barbarian influences and technology.

It's funny, as a kid I never asked why Roboto hung out with He-Man or why He-Man would want a Battle Cat when the Road Ripper was available. Cool stuff here to muse on.

BRILLANT 🤘😜🤘

Nice vid! Very informative as I was not aware of this backstory/lore. Only qualm is there is no such word as "weapondry"

Very cool. What would be the in story theory of magick for that universe?

He-Man's vehicle is the coolest.

i remember reading some large book of a Masters of the Universe story and they showed Man at Arms helpers who were these little/dwarf sized green people? i forget what they looked like, but they were the ones who built the BattleRam vehicle and other things

I love the gleefully anachronistic world. It’s the best part of MotU. I’m not into stories set in the distant past. In fact, I have trouble with stories set before the industrial revolution. But the splashes of scifi keep MotU in my realm of interest. And it’s a wonderful and weirdly singular mix of ancient and futuristic. Cant think of too many other stories with this vibe. Nor retro-futurism, not steampunk, something closer to cyberpunk with barbarians. Love it! Do you think the loss of the ancient elements is central to the failure of New Adventures of He-Man?

Really love it when your topic is with preternia And honestly jack kirbys influence didn't come in to my mind

Very interesting stuff here - I know that there've been several DC/MOTU comics crossovers over the years - the most recent being the one with the Injustice DC Universe, which makes me really wish that He-Man and/or Skeletor could show up in that game, but I digress - but I don't know if Darkseid or any other Fourth World characters have met the MOTU cast yet - if not, missed opportunity, yes? In the meantime, the mix of magic and technology is definitely a key part of the fun with the world of MOTU, as is the case with other 80s toy properties such as Thundercats or Visionaries, albeit usually to a lesser extent...of course, you also got quite a few Sci-Fi/Western mash-ups that played a similar time-twisting trick, most notably Galaxy Rangers and Bravestarr - in fact, a video exploring that particular sub-genre of 80s toy properties in more depth might be fun too some time, yes...?

It all makes perfect scence now. Long live King Kirby

I realize the Classics line is the best MOTU line that exhists. Alot has changed since then with more articulation, pinless joints, swappable parts, photo real tech and all sorts of accessories and effects. Do you think they could potentially make a Classics killer in the future?

I'm disappointed that we never got a character or figure representing Eternia's IT guy.

Thanks for the research and explanations. You probably mentioned it in previous video's but where can I get the comic you keep showing? I thoroughly enjoyed the He-man thunder cat's Dc crossover. But this cohesive and balanced origin story is one I would love to read. I recognise the Technosyst virus from: Genocyber and other Anime, Marvel and that weird Donald Sutherland disaster movie at sea. I had no idea how far back the concept was used! Also supreme from Image and some other supers look alot like He-ro. Who I never heard of. I like Etrigan and other Kirby stuff. I know he is legendary and deep. I'll look for his hardback collection's as well. It seems many of the questions that bothered us as kid's are due to marketing decisions or content that was cut off from the prototypes and original concepts for being too violent or mature. Could you also fill in the blanks for other shows? Visionaries,, Bravestar , Ullyses 31,, Jayce and the wheeled warriors etc. No problem if not. Filling in the blanks for Motu is great. Thanks again!

Hey big guy this is #sledgemaster back for another show. Good morning to u and ur family. From the #sledgemaster

Shades of John Carter and Barsoom in the adventures of He-Man!

What is the character/stories at 3:59? Both have great aesthetics, especially the one to right...the armor to the far right at 3:59 is amazing!

Do you think might be possible to see at some point Bravestarr figures released again?

Kind of interesting this Jack Kirby connection, because Gary Goddard seemingly totally independently drew Jack Kirby inspiration in for the 87 MOTU movie. He even wanted to bring in Kirby as a concept Artist though I think William Stout did a wonderful job there. I really like the 87 movie I think working within it's limitations it did a good job... But it's interesting to see how the Kirby stuff which was highlighted in that film was always there. It also kinda makes sense... I recently l learned that the Prose Edda gives a handwave to explain the Norse gods as being so technologically and mystically advanced that people just accepted them as gods even though you can trace their lineage back to Noah (so that the Church would accept it being written)... So the idea of techno-Barbarians is actually around seven hundred years old!

"And the animals are all dinosaurs because... Reasons" You don't have to skimp on the explanations. We all know it's because Mattel still had a bunch of dino tooling laying around they wanted to resell by adding a chunk of armor to it.

good video. MASTERS OF TECHNOBARBARIAN UNIVERSE

Interesting stuff. My interest was really piqued with the comment in the first OG minicomic, when the Goddess said gave He-Man his gear, and said that the tech was "left over from the great wars." I thought there was LOADS of unexplored potential there. Like despite it being a medieval fantasy setting, maybe the idea wasn't that Eternial was behind us in technological development, maybe it was way, WAY ahead of us; and the planet was just so war-ravaged that after some kind of nuclear-esque holocaust, the ability to make such tech was simply forgotten.

you should make a video explaining why eternia is the major exporter of furry underwear in the universe ehehhehehe

The 4th World image at 5:13, those purple things look alot like Sentinels from X-Men.

I can't help but also feel a particular influence from Dune conceptually. The very early concept of He-Man's power coming from his harness that generated a force field for example. With some rare exceptions (early on iirc, that is), magic and seers is overwhelmingly female, like some bene gesserit stuff. The quest to control Grayskull's power thus the planet Eternia thus the universe has a very strong "He who control the spice [i.e. also the planet Arakkis] controls the universe". The powerful warrior with mystical powers "the most powerful man in the universe" also being the prince (granted it was an addition, albeit early) also gives me a Paul Atreides -> Muad'Dib vibe too. Maybe it is all just too much overlap in the genre, but dunno, when I see the early world building, I often times get that Dune whiff.

Hey Scott, will you be going to Power.con this year? Thanks

Which mini-comics did that story (of the sword) take place in?

This has always been a great thing about MOTU mixing magic & technology and that is the focal point that any movie would need to be able to capture. The 80s film was far too much technology and not enough magic. It will be interesting to see how this new movie.

Never knew most of this background

Is the techno virus the same technique used to create dragstor and extendar?

Anyone know who's in the Roton on the box art at the beginning of the video? 1:20

I just want to say that, while it has almost completely died off, Sword and Planet is absolutely my favorite genre of adventure novels. While I had never heard of John Carter at the time MOTU came out, I can totally see why I loved those books when I discovered them later. Very MOTU-esque. Or should I say that MOTU is somewhat John Carter-esque??

Always a good explanation of interesting MOTU data. So far only twice I have not been convinced in your otherwise correct assumptions. First that Orko is a spy and that he is just pretending to be clumsy. Second that Fisto is Teela's father, nowhere in the series that has not been officially confirmed, there are indications but I hope they are not accurate.

This was originally was going to be Jack Kirby's New Gods that's why!

Id leave half of castle gray skull w/ its medieval look for my diorama, probably the Sorceress throne room, I don't need that trap door gimmick, maybe Ill try it once ;)...then I'll put my own throne & decos..Id retain the computer room for that mixed medieval-tech theme

Did Jack Kirby's The Horde inspire The Horde? I just saw the e-mail from Mile High Comics about the discovery of the manuscript

Also: I figured some newer tech was used (confiscated) by The Palace after reverse-engineering Queen Marlena’s crashed ship.

I always assumed that Eternia was sort of like the universe's drain-catcher in-canon, hence the strangely schizophrenic and varied things that show up there. I did know about the Jack Kirby influence, though! DID YOU KNOW that a few panels of the New Gods comics make it explicitly clear that the series was a "sequel" to Marvel's Thor? As in, the battle that destroyed the Old Gods was Ragnarok, and the remnants you se came from Marvel's Asgard (including Thor's abandoned, destroyed helmet).

I've always got the impression that Eternia was set on a world where they had their own Atlantes cultures that rose Fought their world wars and fell to ruin before the time of He-Man. There are a few cultures appeared in both classic and 2003 cartoons. Several episodes had them visiting a ruin of some lost society that used both Magic and Tech.

I love the videos you post. I don't know of you can answer this question but was wondering way mattel gives America everything of motu especially these day but the rest of world gets screwed over and have to buy online. Can't get anything in shops here. We have Walmart here in Scotland and we get fek all.

i think kyby started this tecno medieval thing bak in the 60´s with thor and his designs for asgard