YMMV / He-Man and the Masters of the Universe (2002)

• Audience-Coloring Adaptation: Skeletor's backstory in this incarnation of the series. Where he was once Keldor, King Randor's evil Gar half-brother who invaded King Randor's kingdom and has his face burned when Randor reflected the acid Keldor threw at him. Who then made a deal with Hordak which turned him into Skeletor. While the 1983 series is the most well known version of the Masters of the Universe, the majority of fans see this version of Skeletor's backstory as his canon one.
• Complete Monster: See here.
• Creator's Pet: He-Man and Skeletor, to fans of the toyline. They are popular in the cartoon, but the collectors despised them because Mattel kept packing three ugly He-Man variants and three ugly Skeletor variants into every wave, while shortpacking any new characters and making them impossible to find. Many blame the line's cancellation on their oversaturation.
  • Also King Hiss, at least in the "Rise of the Snake Men" two-parter. He came closer to claiming the power of Castle Grayskull than Skeletor ever did. Later episodes dialed him back; he was still a formidable foe, but not practically unstoppable.
• Fanon Discontinuity: "Out of the Past" features a flashback that introduces the Sorceress's husband and Teela's father. He is said to have fought in the Great Unrest—requiring many bandages for his wounds and having suffered amnesia. The episode never reveals his true identity and just says that he eventually departed for unknown reasons not long after conceiving Teela. The show ended before his identity could formally be revealed, but Word of God says that he is Fisto. Some fans rejected this claim, though—preferring for him to instead be Man-At-Arms. A theory that had a strong basis in the final scene of "Out of the Past", when the Sorceress tells Man-At-Arms that because her duties didn't allow her to devote the time to raise a child, she left Teela with her father. Man-At-Arms corrects that he is Teela's adoptive father, to which the Sorceress offers no reply.
• Foe Yay Shipping: In "The Last Stand", Skeletor flat out says that Adam is good looking although in a taunting way.
• Harsher in Hindsight: At the end of "The Last Stand", Man-At-Arms intended to retire because he blames himself for Skeletor almost being victorious. But King Randor stopped him and insists that it wasn't his fault. Come Masters of the Universe: Revelation where He-Man/Adam sacrifices himself to prevent Skeletor from getting the power of Grayskull and King Randor finds out Adam is He-Man, he blames Man-At-Arms for his son's death and banishes him from his kingdom; a complete 180 turn here.
• Nightmare Fuel: The Snakemen. Especially King Hssss. Their first appearance involves them eating Zodak's brother alive.
  • Hordak falls into this as well. One of his officers provides legitimately good advice since Hordak was previously involved in a battle with the Snakemen; while Hordak appreciates the counsel, he also doesn't like bad news, and thusly causes him to self-destruct on the spot. That is not even getting into the Evil Horde itself, as well as his bunch of In the Hood sorcerers that helped him threaten to swallow Castle Grayskull into darkness...
• Retroactive Recognition: Nicole Oliver, best known as Princess Celestia, originally voiced Queen Marlena and The Sorceress.
• Too Good to Last: The show was quite beloved by fans of the series and even the original creators for how well it updated the 80's show. But a combination of Executive Meddling constantly moving the show around with little-to-no advertisement and the poor toy sales gave it an early end.
• Vindicated by History: While the show was critically acclaimed by fans and critics and is considered a Cult Classic, it had very little advertising and poor toy sales and the series ended up only lasting two seasons and there wouldn't be another entry from the franchise until 2018's She-Ra and the Princesses of Power. As the years gone by it's gotten more attention over the years, especially as the concept of cartoon reboots became controversial in the late 2010s. This series has been highly praised for being ahead of its time and being very faithful to the original while also having its own creative spin. It also gotten further vindication when Masters of the Universe: Revelation released and became very divisive among fans to the point some wished that this show was continued instead.
• The Woobie: King Nikolas Powers, otherwise known as The Faceless One. Once King of Zalesia, his love for Queen Maligna was such that he broke a treaty with King Hiss to marry her and have a family. This led to Maligna dying in childbirth, him being stripped of his humanity and cursed with immortality, being confined to his castle, and being powerless to watch as his realm was destroyed. Even worse, he had to send his daughter Evelyn into the future to protect her, and though he was eventually able to raise her she turned to evil and joined Keldor, who eventually became Skeletor.

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