The Most Powerful Man in the Universe

This blog was originally posted on February 6, 2009, at http://www.parentclick.com/BlogPost.html?id=923

When I was little, He-Man was a bit of a controversial figure in my household, at least in the Baptist-enhanced family I lived in. Too violent, they said. He-Man runs around with a sword, chopping people up, and hangs around with Satanists. Yes, before Obama palled around with terrorists, He-Man hung with Satanists.

Of course, none of this is true, and watching even one episode reveals a few interesting things. First and foremost is that there was rarely any real violence more severe than a villain being thrown in a lake. He-Man's famous punch rarely (if ever) connected on another character. He punched mountains (to create a flood-stopping rockslide, natch) he punched vehicles (to stop them), but never another person. The villainous Skeletor? Nope. Beast-Man? Mer-Man? Never raised a hand to them.

And that magic sword? It was used for harnessing the power of Greyskull, and for occasionally deflecting a laser or magic blast, but was never used to harm anyone.

So he was the perfect new role model for Riley, my oldest (he turned 4 on Feb. 2). He quickly became my newest, but in many ways oldest, ally in raising my children right. Of course He-Man is my greatest love of TV characters, something akin to that first girlfriend that you never get over. So I asked for and received a He-Man DVD box set for Christmas last year, popped one in and sat down with Riley for a show.

He immediately fell in love, and the light-up sword we bought him a few weeks prior at the circus became his own magic sword (by the way, best impulse purchase I've ever made). He began stuffing it down the back of his shirt the way I did when I was 8, I even have a video of Riley, fresh in the throes of He-Man bliss, standing up in his sister's crib, naked from the waist down (I believe we were preparing for a bath), bellowing "By the Power of Greyskull!" as he held his sword aloft.

That love has only grown, as I found one of the newer He-Man action figures (they revamped the franchise with a new series of cartoons and toys a few years back), and it's become a full-fledged obsession. We got a couple more seasons for Christmas this year, and it all came back anew.

Last week when I picked him up from pre-school, he told me that he had been He-Man that day while playing with his friends. "Bud, does anyone at your school know who He-Man is?" I asked him. He shook his head without hesitation. "No." I only patted him on the shoulder. "Don't worry. They will."

That's because I learned a few weeks back that the He-Man franchise is being made into a new movie. It had been stuck in development hell for several months before emerging with a new director in tow, ready for filming.

You can bet Riley and I will be in line first for tickets.