Grayskull: Masters of the Universe - Part 2

[Airwings]

Adam should be a teenager, He-Man in his mid/late 20s. There has to be a difference!

Dakota Goyo should be Adam, Hunnan as He-Man!!!

 

[Jordacar]

I don't see what advantage it actually serves in having a secret identity in this case. It's not like if Skeletor or Hordak's forces knew that Adam was He-Man they would attack his family and friends, because they do that anyway all the time. And if Skeletor were Keldor, then he has his own personal grudge against Randor, so it's not like he's targeting him because he's Adam's father as a way to get to He-Man.

Exactly. That's really the biggest hole in the dual identity setup. If Skeletor found out it would certainly be a problem, but nowhere near as big a problem as, say, Norman Osborn learning who's under Spidey's mask.

So the question becomes, what other reasons would there be for Adam/He-Man to maintain the secret (besides protecting his loved ones from the already present menace of Skeletor)?

 

[Human Torch]

Adam is the core person, not He Man. They dealt with this in an episode of the Filmation series. I remember an interview with Paul Dini in the DVD set where he compares it to Clark not being able to just be Superman all the time. I mean, it's the same logic. Why not just be Superman all the time? Who really needs Clark anymore at that point?

 

[terry78]

Yeah you can start to kinda lose yourself.

 

[Pink Ranger]

So the question becomes, what other reasons would there be for Adam/He-Man to maintain the secret (besides protecting his loved ones from the already present menace of Skeletor)?

So that the future King Adam will be judged by his people for his acumen, wisdom and humanity, rather than his strength and power. That's what separates the House of Randor from Skeletor and Hordak.

 

[Dark Raven]

So that the future King Adam will be judged by his people for his acumen, wisdom and humanity, rather than his strength and power. That's what separates the House of Randor from Skeletor and Hordak.

He can still be judged by the people for those qualities rather than strength and power even if he had a public identity. It's whatever quality you decide to make most prominent and use in certain situations that people will remember.

There are various historical leaders who possessed more than one quality, but are particularly remembered for specific ones.

If Adam and He-Man were one and the same, it could easily be said of him by future generations that, although he was considered the most powerful man in the universe, it's not those qualities that will ultimately stand out in people's minds. What people will remember him by is his wisdom, honour or being a just and merciful king.

It's just like Captain America. He is a super soldier with super speed, skill, agility and even super strength. But there are other personal qualities that particularly stand out, and people often laud his tactical abilities, humanity or his fighting spirit - things which aren't part of his super soldier make up. Do the presence of his special abilities exclude him being thought of for the things that most people remember him for?

 

[Paradox1]

Ive just never liked the adam persona to begin with. The greatest influences I see in this property is Conan and Star Wars. The secret identity I guess comes from the superhero influence but that just doesnt fif here to me at least.

 

[X Knight]

somehow I have the feeling they will just do away with the "He-Man" name and persona all together. he'll just be Prince Adam.

he can still "transform" when he wields the Power Sword and shouts the incantation. but he won't turn into a separate muscle bound persona. he'll just don magic armor and receive a boost in strength or whatever.

 

[Paradox1]

He-man brings some name recognition so I doubt that changes.

 

[Dark Raven]

somehow I have the feeling they will just do away with the "He-Man" name and persona all together. he'll just be Prince Adam.

he can still "transform" when he wields the Power Sword and shouts the incantation. but he won't turn into a separate muscle bound persona. he'll just don magic armor and receive a boost in strength or whatever.

I think they should keep the He-Man name, but that it could just be a slight mispronunciation that someone makes. The name could be Heman, which could either be the actual name of the warrior, or a nickname given to Prince Adam, like Heman the Ezrahite in the Bible.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heman_the_Ezrahite

The Jewish name "Heman" means "Faithful", which is what the Sorceress could give as the title to Adam for being the faithful protector of Grayskull and Eternia.

So instead of "Hemun" as it might be pronounced, someone might say "He-Man", and then it sticks, becoming a double meaning for someone who is the faithful protector, and also someone who is mighty in strength and brawn.

 

[X Knight]

I think they should keep the He-Man name, but that it could just be a slight mispronunciation that someone makes. The name could be Heman, which could either be the actual name of the warrior, or a nickname given to Prince Adam, like Heman the Ezrahite in the Bible.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heman_the_Ezrahite

The Jewish name "Heman" means "Faithful", which is what the Sorceress could give as the title to Adam for being the faithful protector of Grayskull and Eternia.

So instead of "Hemun" as it might be pronounced, someone might say "He-Man", and then it sticks, becoming a double meaning for someone who is the faithful protector, and also someone who is mighty in strength and brawn.

oh, I didn't know that about Heman and it's meaning. that's interesting.

I supposed that scenario could work.

I'm just not sure how the name He-Man would translate to today's audience. Sure, it worked in the 80s and it has name recognition for those of us who grew up with it. but to attract a new audience? I'm not sure. Would the audience today find it kind of silly or "stupid?"

After all, it is kind of redundant. He and then Man. it's not exactly descriptive like say Superman, Batman, Spider-Man, etc.

 

[Pink Ranger]

He-Man is the brand name, and the title of the movie needs to retain that. That stated, I don't think the characters should repeatedly call him "He-Man" throughout the movie. When setting up the character, they can describe the concept as someone who was once known as "He-Man, Champion of Grayskull" and the characters can refer to him casually as "Grayskull" throughout the subsequent films.

 

[X Knight]

I guess it depends on how they pull it off. if the hyphenated names like He-Man and She-Ra are common in the culture, then it might be more acceptable.

that being said, I wouldn't be surprised if they decided to drop both He-Man and She-Ra altogether and just go with Prince Adam and Princess Adora instead.

 

[Human Torch]

I frankly don't see the problem in calling him He-Man. It's not much different from "Superman" or several other names that people take for granted.

I've always been a bit dubious of the term "Masters of the Universe".The 03 cartoon going as far as dubbing the good guys "The Masters".It's not like Jedi Master or Ninja master.In this kind of "barbarian" context, I always felt it seemed to have a more negative connotation. But in any case, I think the name He-Man is a must.

 

[Paradox1]

In my dream He-Man and the Masters of the Universe movie which I base off some fan-fiction I wrote. The name He-Man is a name a grown up Adam gives because Skeletor has his parents as prisoners, while he rules.

 

[TheVileOne]

That's stupid. He-Man and the Sorceress aren't Jewish.

Also, his sword is also the Sword of He.

 

[Jordacar]

So that the future King Adam will be judged by his people for his acumen, wisdom and humanity, rather than his strength and power. That's what separates the House of Randor from Skeletor and Hordak.

I could get behind that. I'm working on an angle where Adam's gotta keep on with his princely duties and He-Man can't sit on the throne, cuz them's the rules. He-Man shows up when needed and disappears and nobody knows where he comes from, that way all his awesome punchy power can't be misused.

Also a thing where the bad guys can't know the secret source of his powers, but that's a bit moot since Skeletor is always gunning for Castle Grayskull (in both the 'toon and the mini-comics), so that would bring it back to square one.

As for the name He-Man, well, that's how he stays anonymous and mysterious. That's all my head-canon anyway.

 

[Lord]

He-Man is a bit more ridiculous than Superman, i mean, it just sounds like a name that's trying to prove how masculine it is. The secret identity is also a bit ridiculous imao, it doesn't realy work very well with the medieval/ science fiction setting.

 

[Human Torch]

I don't see how He-Man is any different from Superman,name wise. In both cases it's signifying an "Alpha Male". Only difference is people have gotten used to Superman for over 70 years. He-Man,not quite so long.

But that's the thing a lot of people forget about MOTU. It's not just swords & sorcery meets sci-fi. There's a healthy dose of comic book-isms involved that can't be simply swept away.

 

[Lord]

I dont think superman is that bad, i mean, what would you call him? Superhuman? The Super is what makes the name imply something powerful, He-Man actualy has a "He" to imply strength.

And it's because of all of those mixed elements that i don't think connect very well, that i don't have much respect for the franchise, it always just seemed like them trying to connect every concept they liked from other franchises, and i don't think it realy works, the best they can do is to drop those elements that just seem a bit out of place. Even Iron Man, Thor and Captain America had to drop the unnecessary secret identities.

 

[Mikelus]

Like I said, in the comics everyone knows Adam is He-Man, it works better this way, specially now that he's King of Eternia.

 

[Rowsdower!]

I say do away with the secret identity thing. I don't think it works that well. And yeah, I know that's one of the complaints people made about the MOTU movie, but that movie had way more problems than that.

 

[terry78]

I think they should keep the He-Man name, but that it could just be a slight mispronunciation that someone makes. The name could be Heman, which could either be the actual name of the warrior, or a nickname given to Prince Adam, like Heman the Ezrahite in the Bible.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heman_the_Ezrahite

The Jewish name "Heman" means "Faithful", which is what the Sorceress could give as the title to Adam for being the faithful protector of Grayskull and Eternia.

So instead of "Hemun" as it might be pronounced, someone might say "He-Man", and then it sticks, becoming a double meaning for someone who is the faithful protector, and also someone who is mighty in strength and brawn.

Split the difference and call him He-Mensch.

 

[Pink Ranger]

Split the difference and call him He-Mensch.

Oi vey! You want that I should summon the Talon Fighter right now?

 

[Human Torch]

I frankly don't get this push to drop the secret identity thing. As a kid- heck even now- the highlight of watching the show was the transformation scene. Do we really wanna go back to having just a fan service moment like Dolph holding up the sword saying " I Have Da Powa!"? Can't they just adapt the thing the way it was when it was popular? Sheesh.