"He-Man": How It All Came Together
"All" meaning "He" and Man", apparently.
Roger Sweet sounds a bit like Dirk Diggler: "When I close my eyes ... I see this thing, a sign ... I see this name in bright blue neon lights with a purple outline. And this name is so bright and so sharp that the sign — it just blows up because the name is so powerful ..." when discussing his most famous creation.
The Sneeze has the scoop on the origins of the name "He-Man":
How did you come up with the name?
At the time I did the first prototype figure, I still didn't have a name for him. So I brainstormed 40 or 50 names. Among those names were Mighty Man, Megaton Man, Strong Man, Big Man, but the instant I got that name He-Man ...
You knew that was it.
[Long Pause] I cannot tell you... [breathes deeply]... how big a bell rang in my head. The whole line came together. Here was a highly generic name that had a kinda brute-force feel to it. And what could be more of a direct name than this for a heroic figure? It's just one in a million.
For a second, I thought it was going to be another baseball post.
Of all the major things I remember from that period, it seems like He-Man was toward my least favorite, ranked just above Rainbow Brite (but below Jem).
Something about the audio of the cartoon made you kind of sleepy. Anyway, Lion-O could beat up He-Man any day.
Posted by: Od-ll on April 19, 2006 2:18 PM | permalinkI loved He-Man, but it was definitely more childlike than Thundercats. They both were big on animal-man hybrids and juxtaposition of ancient and modern weapons.
Posted by: Joe Grossberg on April 19, 2006 2:34 PM | permalinkNo more comments! Either someone has violated Godwin's Law, I'm tired of the discussion or, most likely, the ten-week window has closed. You can, however, contact me through email.