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a2z, a2z blogging, AprilBlogathon, challenge, First Born, He-Man, musings, postaday
I think I may have mentioned it somewhere in passing in one of the posts I have written. Or maybe I have not. It’s hard to remember. I have written too many posts to really keep on what’s been written and what’s not. So I am going to take my chances and write about it anyway. The First Born was a huge fan of He-Man. For those clueless: He-Man is a superhero from an old American series from the early 80s titled He-Man & The Masters of the Universe.
The show used to be aired here in India on the then only national television channel Doordarshan on Sunday mornings. Those were the days of black and white televisions. We had one too. Onida, if I remember the brand correctly. ‘Neighbour’s Envy, Owner’s Pride’ was its tag line. I don’t know if our neighbours envied us, but we were certainly proud of our acquisition. Anyway… Every Sunday morning, the First Born, almost four at the time, would plonk himself in front of said TV to watch his favourite superhero in action.
He-Man apparently is really Prince Adam, son of King Randor and Queen Marlena who rule the mythical planet of Eternia. But, whenever Prince Adam, as ordinary man as any apart from his royal origins, holds up the Sword of Power and declares ‘By the Power of Grayskull! I have the POWWWERRRRRR!’ he is magically transformed into the most powerful (Duh!) man in the universe endowed with amazing secret abilities. Cool, right?
The First Born thought so too which is why he never missed his Sunday meet up with the super hero. It thrilled him to watch He-Man fight his arch enemy Skeletor with Battle Cat, who by the way, is a cowardly tiger, pet of the prince, but magically morphs into a ferocious tiger by the same power of Grayskull that transforms He-Man. Skeletor meanwhile is your typical bad guy, wanting to harness all power for himself so as to rule Eternia and all of the universe.
When the First Born was not watching the show, he could be found imitating his hero by picking up whatever was handy, like a ladle, or a stick or ruler or a plastic bat, holding it up and exclaiming, ‘By the Power of Grayskull..’. I joined him in these games and would chant, ‘He-Man! He-Man!’ for his benefit, imagining we were in Eternia and about to fight Skeletor and his evil hordes.
Frankly though, I wouldn’t mind laying my hands on a Sword of Power in the present and getting some of those powers for myself. Believe me, it is the need of the hour to fight the modern Skeletors and their blind followers. Imagine being able to lift the sword and cry, ‘By the Power of (whatever the new equivalent to Grayskull is)! I have the POWWERRRR!!’ and find myself with the power (duh!) to send the power hungry monsters packing! Ahh dreams!
©️ Shail Mohan 2024
Shail's Nest 
Actually never heard of that show since I was born in the late 80’s, but I surely remember those days where my brother and I spent Saturday mornings and Sunday evenings watching our favorite cartoons and TV shows (think Rugrats, Doug, Nickolodeon Guts etc..). Used to watch a lot of old stuff too like Lassie, Brady Bunch, Family Matters, Little House on the Prairie, Dragon Ball Z…etc. I miss those times where life seemed carefree. So different today!
I am talking of the late 80s. I wonder how you missed this show! 🙂
I did write a reply to this post but it appears to have been swallowed by the internet! I’ll repeat myself again…
I can actually recall watching He Man as a boy – so you must have been VERY young when you had your first born, Shail! I was, to be fair, at the end of my childhood years and did find it a little silly, but I was still young enough to be watching kids’ TV. Isn’t it funny how some things stick in our heads?