He-Man and the Masters of the Universe animation house Filmation faced pushback from TV networks over having black lead characters in its animated shows.
Speaking with Scoop about his career with studios such as Hanna-Barbera and Filmation, veteran animator Tom Cook addressed how Filmation's She-Ra: Princess of Power set a precedent for animated television with its female lead. "I hear the She-Ra story all the time. Because it was the first female who had her own show," he explained. "We had Wonder Woman in Super Friends, but she was just one of the group."
Despite She-Ra's success, the animation studio was rebuked for trying to pitch an animated series with a black lead character. "Filmation was always that way. We had the first Indian superhero. Before He-Man, there was a character called Blackstar and he was originally supposed to be black and the networks wouldn't let us make him black because they didn't think it was the right time yet, for that," Cook revealed.
Cook started his career as a storyboard artist at Hanna-Barbera. He worked on classic animated series such as Super Friends, He-Man, She-Ra and The Smurfs. Later on, he worked on films such as The Jetsons Movie and We're Back! A Dinosaur Story.