Masters Of The Universe: Revelation Showrunner Kevin Smith Attempts To Explain Why He-Man’s Armor Was Changed

Source: Masters of the Universe: Revelation

Masters of the Universe: Revelation showrunner Kevin Smith recently addressed why He-Man’s armor in the upcoming show, that is pitched as a sequel to the original 80s show, was changed.

As seen in the original He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, He-Man sported a giant cross on his breastplate.

Source: He-Man and The Masters of the Universe

Now, in the upcoming Masters of the Universe: Revelation show, He-Man sports a giant H across his chest.

MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE: REVELATION (L to R) SUSAN EISENBERG as SORCERESS and CHRIS WOOD as HE-MAN in episode 101 of MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE: REVELATION Cr. COURTESY OF NETFLIX © 2021

The change is notable given the marketing for the show is that it is a successor to the original 80s version. In fact, Smith has even described it as the next episode of that show.

He explained that “narratively our show is set up as the next episode in the legacy ’80s animated series that aired from 1983-1985. This is a continuation of that story.”

“We’re playing with the original mythology and characters, and revisiting and digging deeper into some of the unresolved storylines,” the showrunner continued.

As you can see in the last episode of the original 1980s episode, He-Man is still sporting the iconic cross on his chest.

However, Smith previously hinted that the visuals would be different.

He explained, “Visually we also made the conscious decision to lean into the MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE line of toys for inspiration as well. Mattel owns this entire vast library of that artwork, so right away we wanted the show to open with classic pieces of that artwork.”

MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE: REVELATION (L to R) MARK HAMILL as SKELETOR and CHRIS WOOD as HE-MAN in episode 101 of MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE: REVELATION Cr. COURTESY OF NETFLIX © 2021

According to He-Man.org there were multiple designs for He-Man as part of the Masters of the Universe – The Original Series toy line.

One of them did show He-Man sporting a giant H on his chest. This toy was part of Wave 3 and was released in 1984.

Source: He-Man.org

However, the iconic design, and the one used in the show was part of Wave 1 and was released in 1982, two years before the one with the H on his chest.

Source: He-Man.org

Now, Smith has further explained why they changed He-Man’s design from the original show.

He stated on Twitter, “For Revelation, we went with the H looking logo from the Masters of the Universe Battle Armor figure. The points in the H do give it a Hordak feel – but as you can see in the image below, Hordak’s symbol is very specifically a bat, man. No insignia robbin’ here. (Puns Sold Separately).

Source: Kevin Smith Twitter

As you can see in the image below, they didn’t actually use the battle armor. Rather they just took the H from the battle armor and put it on the original design and removed the cross.

MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE: REVELATION (L to R) BATTLE CAT and CHRIS WOOD as HE-MAN in episode 101 of MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE: REVELATION Cr. COURTESY OF NETFLIX © 2021

If the show is indeed supposed to be the next episode as Smith touts, it doesn’t really make sense why He-Man would change his armor.

What do you make of Smith’s explanation?

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