A full year before the 1983 television premiere of He-Man & the Masters of the Universe, the most powerful man on Eternia made his first animated appearance in a toy commercial. This was fitting, of course, given He-Man was a toy before he became a cartoon star. But exactly when this ad actually aired is a mystery. It’s sometimes cited as the first TV marketing the action figure line ever received, however that is most likely false. Most experts on the franchise agree that at least one or two spots (maybe even three) came before it.

What is indisputable is that it was animated at Filmation, the studio which would go on to produce the TV series. Contrary to popular belief, this wasn’t made as a backdoor pilot, nor were the character designs here ever intended for the eventual animated show. Also contrary to some reporting is that John Erwin does not voice He-Man here. Instead the muscular man was played by Burr Middleton, who had previously lent his pipes to Billy Batson/Captain Marvel on the production company’s The Kid Super Power Hour with Shazam! Skeletor, Man-at-Arms, and Battle Cat were all done by Alan Oppenheimer–who would go on to voice all of them on the actual show. But all of them sound different, most notably Skeletor, whose Darth Vader-style vocals are a far cry from the much sassier ones Oppenheimer would later make iconic with the bony villain. As for Teela, well, I can’t find any information on who did her here. It might be Linda Gary (who would play her, Sorceress, and almost every child character on the show), or it might not. It’s genuinely hard to tell.

The most praised aspect of this commercial is usually the visuals, which are much more detailed than the budget of the TV cartoon would allow. Amazingly, it was produced in only two weeks by Filmation, though they had the resources and the reputation to make such material quickly when needed. And true to Filmation, although the character designs wouldn’t be reused, the animation itself would, so committed fans will be able to spot when it was recycled on both He-Man and its literal sister series She-Ra: Princess of Power. My “hot take” (I guess?) is that I’m grateful the actual show didn’t end up looking like this. Everyone seems so…angry, particularly He-Man, who is notably without his Power Sword here and is instead wielding the same battle axe which came with his action figure counterpart. Come to think of it, everyone looks like a toy here, including Skeletor, who even has the “straps” on his back which were used to keep his plastic armor on.

Now for a long time, this ad was considered to be “lost media,” as the only footage available online was a portion someone recorded off their TV at some point, and in order to do so, they simply videotaped their TV playing it. Several years later a completed version emerged, bookended by live-action segments of a dad (who many claim is John Erwin, although I highly doubt that since as previously mentioned he didn’t play He-Man for this) introducing Castle Grayskull to viewers. In fact, this ad seems targeted more towards parents than kids, probably because the playset retailed outside of the price range of your average youngster’s allowance.

Have the power tonight, y’all!