He-Ro and the Land of Legend!

(From He-man.org)

Today I'll be talking about one of the least known parts of the Masters of the Universe world: He-Ro and the Land of Legend, an unreleased Filmation TV series strongly connected to the scraped Motu spin-off line "The Powers of Grayskull". Many Motu fans are aware of this cancelled spin-off, but for those who aren't, I'll go over it quickly.

(From he-man.fandom.com)

In 1985 Mattel set out to create a new spin-off line for Masters of the Universe. The line was set to debut under the title "The Powers of Grayskull" and have He-Man and She-ra's wizard ancestor He-Ro be the main character. The toys were planned to be released in 1987, but were eventually scraped. Despite being cancelled before it even began, five toys from the line did make it onto store shelves: the three dinosaurs, Tyrantisaurus Rex, Turbodactyl, and Bionatops, as well as the two giants Tytus and Megator who were only released in Italy.

(From charltonhero.wordpress.com)

What most likely happened was that a Powers of Grayskull series was in the works at Filmation, but when the toy-line was cancelled, the company tried to re-work what they already had into an entirely new series, which is how the series bible for He-Ro and the Land of Legend was born. 

The premise of this new show was that He-ro would have various adventures in the Land of Legend along with several new characters who as far as we know wouldn't have been part of Powers of Grayskull. He-Ro's buddies include Limbo: a small tree themed character, Kyle: a character who looked like a prehistoric human, and Kara: A girl who, like He-Man, She-Ra, could transform into a more powerful version of herself named Leadra.

He-Ro and Leadra. (From Battleram.com)

All of these characters would be on the side of good, while the villains would be a mix of characters, many of whom were lifted directly from Motu lore. The leader of these villains was named Horrorsaur, a character taken from a concept for a Masters figure. In addition to this, another character titled "Tarpit" bears a striking resemblance to "Glob" another Masters concept character. A third character taken from already existing material is "Slimy" a Humanoid snake who was a dead ringer for King Hiss as he appeared in snake form in the Motu comic strip story "Vengeance of the Viper King".

(From Battleram.com)

There are several other elements in the show which appear to be lifted from Motu. In the series bible, several robotic dinosaurs are shown, including a pterodactyl. He-Ro was also going to be the altar ego of a normal human, just like Kara/Leadra, however in Powers of Grayskull, He-Ro's real name was planned to be Gray, while in Land of Legend it would have been Jak.

Worth noting, is the fact that the land of legend seemed to be made up of many "tribes" of people; something that could possibly have been an interesting plot point. It's mentioned that Jak was a member of the Tree Tribe and Kara/Leadra was from the Desert Nomad Tribe. A Road Tribe is also brought up, and although I'm not sure where it fits in, a reptilian tribe called "The Saurians" have also been mentioned.

Although some of the elements from Land of Legend are very childish and goofy, the show did appear to have potential; it's sad that it never saw the light of day, (most likely because of Filmation going defunct in 1989). If further interested, You can see the series bible being read by Motu fan James Eatock, here. Thanks for reading!