Even if He-Man action figures had more staying power than the cartoon that went with them, there is some magic in that old, budget animation. While the action figures can take on whatever personality traits their owner desired (and we desired for He-Man to lie in various baroque poses on the floor of our bedroom), the cartoon injected a very specific idea of masculinity into the characters that no little kid could muster on their own.

He-Man's alter-ego is a lavender-tights-wearing pansy who tranforms into the ultimate tan fitness god: a man who isn't afraid to say "I'd like to hear more about this hooded seed-man of yours!" Perhaps it titillated our six-year-old self enough to keep us watching, or maybe there were just so many action figures to collect that our compulsive tendencies arose even at that young age.

We haven't seen a He-Man cartoon in many years, but Slate explores what it's like for the most devout fan to revisit his beloved fantasy world more than twenty years later and realize something shocking: He-Man is totally gay.

By the Power of Grayskull! [Slate]