I'm in cartoon hell

BeYourLover has once again offered me full creative freedom in a collaboration post so you have them to thank for the hours I spent painting muscular men in miniskirts.

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Thank you! I will ABSOLUTELY use this opportunity to talk about He-Man and Skeletor’s whole deal (in parts, because it won't post with all the videos I want to include)

Part 1/3: He-Man is Gay

So the first thing to understand about the original He-Man cartoon is that it’s gay.

There’s positions and angles that make you go hmmmmmm.

The second thing to understand about the original He-Man cartoon is that it was made to sell toys and thus is not very good. I think it’s silly and fun, and I like it a lot, but it isn’t good quality television. (If you want a good MOTU show, watch MOTU Revelations, which does some really interesting stuff with the lore in general and Teela in particular!)

I’m sure a lot of people know this but I’m repeating it for emphasis: there was a big aesthetic overlap between “cool muscular action figure” and “homosexual ideal” in the 80s. The societal perception of gay men being super effeminate was one of several factors that led to a rise in hyper-masculine styles among gay men, which was exacerbated by the general rise of bodybuilding culture. Big muscular gay dudes in leather harnesses were a Thing, and uh… so was He-Man.

But he doesn’t look like this all the time. Prince Adam is, in his day-to-day life, actually more effeminate.

He pretends to be uninterested in a lot of things, especially manly things like combat training, which causes some tension with his father, who doesn't approve of him and doesn't know about his secret life, where he transforms into a big hunk wearing nothing but a harness and underwear to go off to Snake Mountain and fight another hunk wearing nothing but a harness and underwear…

We'll get to that guy in part 2.

Side note, but on the topic of Adam's wardrobe, I’m quite fond of his nightgown, shown below in the episode The Shaping Staff. (So if anyone wants to draw Adam/He-Man in flowy fantasy dresses, there is canon support for him wearing that type of thing!)

To me, this isn’t really a ship where the big bad villain dominates the hero. Oh he wants to, sure, but ultimately Skeletor is no match for He-Man in purely physical combat.

He has to use magic, trickery, or hostages to gain the advantage. And as soon as he loses it---and he always does---he’s putty in He-Man’s large, muscular hands:

Pictured: Guy who wants to be a dom sooo bad but the only person he likes is literally THE MOST POWERFUL MAN IN THE UNIVERSE.

But what about those times Skeletor gets the upper hand, if only for a little while? It doesn't happen as often as he would like, but it does happen!

And when it does, Skeletor never misses a chance to gloat, which is why we know how desperate he is to see He-Man on his knees.

Skeletor and He-Man

Enjoyed this movie quite a bit! Inspired me to do a practice drawing based on my favorite scene in it.

I'm admittedly not very familiar with the source material, but please, go watch it in theaters if you can! I need a sequel! I need more of Skeletor's self-indulgent monologuing injected into my eardrums!

This too me like 7 hours, god why did I have to lie Ultron so much T-T

To 2025:

Hell, they even cover the devastating heaviness of MASS SHOOTINGS without censoring or watering anything down.

They've been doing this for YEARS, and it's ALWAYS handled with dignity, respect, seriousness, understanding, and love.

Or how about when someone is put into the foster care system because their home isn't safe anymore and their needs aren't being met?

Maybe some discussions about group therapy/getting help and support?

Hey look! Here's a segment about gender expression vs taught expectation, including unlearning harmful biases and what to do when you hurt someone on accident because you didn't know it was wrong!

Look! The topic of race and diversity! The importance of unity and equity!

They even also have a more allegorical take on discrimination and being looked down on for who you are, featuring Big Bird. The conflict is about how he's not being let into a club because the one bird running the club personally decided he didn't want someone like Big Bird there.

Big Bird goes out of his way to keep changing parts of himself in order to "prove" he can fit into this club if he just changed enough. The truth comes out though, and there's nothing he can do to gain the approval of that bird. He will never be good enough in his eyes, and Big Bird starts to hate himself. His real friends see this finally put their feet down, emphasizing that you should never change yourself just to fit into one singular narrow idea someone else has.

There's A LOT of different situations this can be an allegory for. Racism, sexism, homophobia, basically ANY form of exclusion is put on full blast in this 15 minute clip. Sesame Street can be both blunt and allegorical when approaching difficult topics, and it NEVER misses or looses the point.

It does an exceptional job in both styles of representation WITHOUT watering anything down. The more sanitized everything gets, the more radical Sesame Street is suddenly considered, hence why so many "particular groups" want it gone. Hmmm! I can only imagine why that could be, in this current political climate! (I'm being sarcastic)

When Sesame Street is suddenly labeled as "questionable" or "politically/agenda motivated" content...it says A LOT about where we currently are and who gets to decide what's "best" for kids or not. Don't fall for the censorship and topic-dodging excuses that are covered by the "But think of the children!!!" movement. Never fall for it, because you know which side you're on if you do.

Sesame Street proves kids can be taught and trusted with learning about these topics when it's handled with the right amount of understanding and care. It shows what all this "controversy" is all really about. What it's always been about, actually.