If you were born in the 80’s then the chances are He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, along with Thundercats, Transformers and a few others were one of your favourite toys and cartoons.
He-Man was one of the most popular toy-lines and cartoons of the 1980’s and the show still has a cult following today. Whilst the cartoon may have had limited animation and not lasted as long as other popular shows, the toys themselves lasted for quite a long run and therefore you would see them everywhere in the late 80’s and early 90’s.
The first series of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe toys were released in 1982 and continued for six years before being cancelled in 1988. In 1989 He-Man re-branded as just ‘He-Man’ or ‘The New Adventures of He-Man‘ and had a sci-fi feel to both the toys and cartoon which was set in space rather than Eternia.
The first wave of toys actually pre-dates the cartoon by a year, the cartoon having not started until 1983.
HE-MAN SERIES 1 (1982)
Heroic Warriors, Vehicles & Playsets
Evil Warriors & Creatures
Non-Aligned
By the time the second wave of toys were released in 1983 the cartoon was on TV screens around the world and was incredibly successful, so successful it got its own spin-off series ‘She-R: Princess of Power’.
HE-MAN SERIES 2 (1983)
Heroic Warriors, Creatures & Vehicles
Evil Warriors & Creatures
HE-MAN SERIES 3 (1984)
Heroic Warriors, Creatures & Vehicles
Evil Warriors, Vehicles & Playsets
HE-MAN SERIES 4 (1985)
The fourth wave of toys saw the Evil Horde introduced, a third faction led by Hordak.
Heroic Warriors, Vehicles & Accessories
Evil Warriors & Vehicles
Evil Horde & Playset
HE-MAN SERIES 5 (1986)
The 5th wave of toys added a fourth faction, the Snake Men were a race of evil humanoid snakes ruled by King Hiss.
Heroic Warriors, Vehicles, Accessories & Playsets
Evil Warriors & Vehicle
Evil Horde, Creatures, Accessories & Playset
Snake Men
HE-MAN SERIES 6 (1987)
The sixth series of toys was the final major toy release and also the largest of them all with well over 30 different toys. By this point it seems like they are simply trying to cash-in on the popularity of He-Man and are releasing just about everything they can!
Heroic Warriors, Energy Zoids, Giants, Creatures, Meteorbs & Accessories
Evil Warriors, Energy Zoids, Meteorbs & Accessories
Evil Horde
Snake Men, Giants & Creatures
HE-MAN SERIES 7 (1988)
The final series of He-Man figures came in 1988, this was just two different items, a re-work of both He-Man and Skeletor! After so many items being released in series 5 and series 6 there probably wasn’t anywhere left for He-Man toys to go!
He-Man and the Masters of the Universe Toys
After so many toys being released, you may be forgiven for thinking that was the end of it. However, you would be very wrong! Just one year later ‘The New Adventures Of He-Man’ or simply called ‘He-Man’ was released and a whole new set of toys were released over four new waves.
