Thursday afternoon in Hall H, Masters of the Universe: Revelation scribe Kevin Smith was joined by creative members spanning the history of the iconic He-Man & The Masters of the Universe franchise. Smith moderated a panel that was not only a look at how MOTU had reached its current place in the cultural zeitgeist but took a look at where the franchise would be going.

The show kicks off with a reel celebrating He-Man's history, including toys, cartoons and more. Alan Oppenheimer, original Skeletor voice actor, appears via video to welcome fans. Oppenheimer, in character, informs fans he's here to celebrate 40 years of Skeletor. "I'm not beautiful like YOU," he says. "I'm beautiful like ME!"

Kevin Smith makes his way to the stage, introduced as the "Cringer of creators."

"A lot of people have asked me 'why are you involved in the show?'" Smith explains "I love ALL the many, crazy charactes on the deep, long bench of Masters of the Universe."

"The thing about it that always worked for me was the story behind the story. It's all about Prince Adam. Prince Adam knows he's the most powerful person in the universe. For someone who grew up fat, that meant something. It meant you weren't relegated to a position where you're less than you are, because people don't see your light. And that's why Revelations was a very Adam-forward story. At the end of the day, Adam was my hero."

Smith addresses Revolution and presents a scipt to the room. "My mouth got me in a lot of trouble last time so tonight I will be closey following a script."

Joining Smith on stage are EP & Showrunner of He-Man & MOTU Rob David, VP of action figure design Derek Handy, YouTube personality PixelDan, Tales of Eternia writer Gregory Mone, MOTU: Revelation Andra voice actress Tiffany Smith, 1987's live-action He-Man actor Dolph Lundgren and MOTU: Revelation's Battlecat voice actor Stephen Root.

The show starts with talk of He-Man action figures, led by PixelDan, author of the book The Toys of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe.

"My favorite thing about the book that I'll always look back on is how I got to interact with the fan community. WHen we set out to do this book, we decided we were going to do this right, which meant we had to find and photograph every single toy that had been recepted between 1982 and 2019. Basically we travelled all around the country, finding fans who would let me set up a photo studio for the weekend and photograph their action figures and open stuff. Everytime I did that, they would always say "Well, you should go to talk to this person." Fans kept recommending mroe and more people for me to meet, and that's how we were able to capture everything for this book."

"It makes me so proud that this book is written by the fans. It is written by the fans, for the fans, and I am so proud of this."

Dan relates a story from his childhood, where he started collecting action figures thanks to his mother. He warns he'll get emotional; "Do it!" Smith yells at him, encouragingly.

"This is because of her. She told the story all the time about how she would make friends with people at retail so she would know when new He-Man toys came out. SHe was the original toy hunter! I went to see dolph in the movie wtih my mom. She was justa s into this as me. So when I look at this stuff, it's all for rmy mom, too."

Handy highlights a new Castle Greyskull tying into the new animated series and MOTU Origins. It's the first Greyskull with a working drawbridge and lights. He promises a lot of new Origins line content, including "more snakemen than you can shake a stick at."

A massive Eternia playset is revealed, which will be releasing this fall and will be crowdfunded. They also announced Fall Guys He-Man skins and 3D printed Fall Guys figures.

Mattel will begin weekly MoTuesday social media events, highlighting new toys and merchandise.

Rob David discusses He-Man & the Masters of the Universe Season 3 releasing August 13. He mentions they've brought the trailer for the season.

The trailer focuses on Adam & the Masters fighting to save Eternia from an army of zombie Snakemen, pondering if they'll need to use Havoc to save the world. The team is also still reeling from the loss of Krass, who has become the Evil Nemesis Rampage, and the returning Eldress. Skeletor and Mer-Man both appear in the trailer, and both have new forms -- Mer-Man becoming a giant dragon and Skeeltor having a new, terrifying monster form.

Mone reveals an upcoming Tales of Eternia novel, I, Skeletor, an autobiography of Skeeltor written entirely in first person.

"Telling a story from Skeletor's perspective...he kind of retells some of the events from the series in a funny way. He and He-Man get in a fight outside Snake Mountain and in his version, before the final punch landed, Skeletor says he decided to take a quick, restorative nap."

"We even did the acknowledgements in his voice. He's very bitter about having to write them!"

Smith asks Lundgren if there was a lot of pressure to embody He-Man for the first time.

"I had a flashback walking in here to Radio City Music Hall about three decades ago where I was announced to play He-Man in front of a bunch of kids. And I"m standing in front of these kids cheering and screaming 'I have the power!' and I was wondering if it was a good idea at the time. But the fact that we're all sitting here means this is still very relevant, and I love to be a part of that."

"I was looking at your costume, and you must have been cold!" Smith says, "Not a lot left to the imagination. Had to think a lot about baseball, I'm sure."

"I used to say my costume was the size of a stamp. It was very cold. We shot 54 nights in a row in Wittier, which was a record of the most night shoots ever in Hollywood until Scorses made After Hours. It was VERY cold. I didn't have to think about baseball. Things were...very small."

Smith: "Who wins in a fight? HE-Man or Drago?"

Ludgren: "He-Man. Obviously."

Kevin Smith introduces Tiffany Smith. "I grew up watching these cartoons. I had a school photo where I took one of my She-Ra action figures. I don't think they told me to bring a She-Ra toy, but I did anyways." From that moment to now, it's like kid dreams come true."

Smith praises Smith's personality, citing her natural warmty and welcoming nature for how Andra, a character meant to introduce new fans into the world of Revelation.

Smith also praises Root as the hardest working person in showbiz. "A lot of you folks may know know this, but the guy who voices Cringer was Milton in Office Space." he says to rounds of applause.

"We go back to Jersey Girl" Smith says to Root, "That was your fault."

Smith: "What was it like to play a big green cat?"

Root: "It was cool because I was 30 yars old by the time the first incarnation of He-Man came out, so it was really cool to go to YouTube and see Cringer. I noticed Cringer had a bit of a stutter, but in my first session they said they wanted more heart."

Smith: "We were so enthralled by Stephen's performance that it shaped the narrative. Stephen's performance was so heartfelt that we took out the Battlecat lines, because it felt silly to have him sound mean. But this time...and this is a spoiler for Revolution....we do have Cringer speak as Battlecat. We told him to basically do his version of Christian Bale's Batman. And Root said he wasn't thinking about doing that, but playing himt he same as Cringer, but full of self esteem. And so he stepped up to the mic and did a performance that is Cringer grown up! And he did so well that we wrote more lines for Battlecat."

Root: "This wouldn't have happened wtihout such good scripts, though. And that's thanks to this guy."

The panel puts Smith in the hot seat now. "Is there anything you can tell us about Revolution?"

"I thought it would be cool to do a world without a Superman story. This time around we figured out how to tell a He-Man story with He-man! It's all about the big fight: He-Man versus Skeletor. ANd if you saw the end, there was a subtle nod to a third party -- Hordak."

"I've seen all the scripts I've seen two animatics. It's incredibly moving. THe story is full of fun and adventure but the story is really great. WE didn't play with every character in the box, but this time we start pulling some very time honored characters off the bench."

William Shatner steps out on stage, announced as joining the cast of MOTU Revolution. Smith & Shatner both refuse to divulge who Shatner will be playing.

Smith: "I'm not just saying it because he's here, but being able to say I was invovled in any way shape or form -- a witness! -- to a performance by a legend liket his checked a lot of boxes."

Smith asks Shatner to hand Lundgren a replica Power Sword on his way out. To end the show, Lundgren holds the sword up and cries "By the power of Grayskull...I have the power!" wiht the crowd.