17 Comments
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The Observer's avatar

Something tells us Rowdy left with some of those He-Man decorations that afternoon.

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Retroist's avatar

Agreed, those were on his bedroom walls for at least a decade afterwards.

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John WB's avatar

Great story. Rixie and Rowdy were wronged!

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Retroist's avatar

Justice for Rowdy!

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Alpha Centaurian's avatar

When I saw people talking about Rowdy, I thought they about the Hot Rod himself. Not the case, I'm disapointed to say. I would love to see He-Man getting ragged on in the Piper's Pit!

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John Toma | NOSTALGIA NATION's avatar

I wish I could have been there, honestly. MOTU and several other cartoon characters, like The Thundercats really resonated with us like you said. I remember there was a live action Thundercats play back then too that I really wanted to go to but never did. Still, for that many folks to show up is quite incredible!

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Retroist's avatar

I am assigned that many people lingered. If my mom has shown up and the estimated 1500 she would have turned around right away.

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John Toma | NOSTALGIA NATION's avatar

Lol, my dad... the first sign of any traffic would have turned right around!!

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Ben L.'s avatar

HE-MAN COMES TO ABILENE sounds like an epic movie even today. And he DID cross over to our universe in the crappy 80s movie.

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The Sci-fi Strategist's avatar

folks don’t understand how big He-Man was in the 80s

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Jeff K's avatar

Something getting cancelled because of the wind is peak West Texas.

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David Perlmutter's avatar

"...the station would donate VHS copies of all 130 existing episodes of the show to the city library..." Which have probably been weeded out by now and replaced with DVD collections of the show.

"He-Man" was a syndicated program, so all of the stations that aired it focused on local reception in order to succeed. KTXS clearly got egg in the face taking it off the air, and then more so when the supposed live appearance by He-Man bombed.

And for once in the history of television animation, we see parents overseeing a drive to get an animated program returned to the airwaves. Usually, they wanted them taken OFF...

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Retroist's avatar

It is a surprising twist. Cool Moms. I would like to talk to them about it. Especially wonder if the still have the plaque.

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J Draffin's avatar

The power of Cool Moms!

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Sean Valdrow's avatar

This is the first I've heard of this. Wasn't a fan; a teenager at the time. Surprising that crappy cartoon generated such enthusiasm.

The He-Man Riot of '85.

That's a laugh.

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Retroist's avatar

I really wanted to call this post something like that but it felt misleading. If only one of those kids had started a 🔥.

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Sean Valdrow's avatar

Quick! To the time machine! We will fix that right up.

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