The Gambler

During a celebration in honor of Man-At-Arms new Corodite Reactor invention, a showman called Melbrag tricks one of the Widgets into giving him some Corodite. When He-Man attempts to retrieve the Corodite he is severely weakened by a weapon powered by the volatile mineral and passes out. After He-Man regains consciousness he learns that Melbrag plans to sell both He-Man and the weapon to Skeletor and he is too weak to escape. Prince Adam tells viewers to not gamble with things that are not theirs.

**Prince Adam:** "You know, a big part of growing up is learning to respect other people's property. When Smudge lost all his money gambling, he gambled wish someone else's property . And that's when things went from bad to worse. If you want to use something that belongs to someone else, ask them permission. Well, if you don't you may get more than you bargained for. Right, Orko?" **Orko:** "Right you are!"

John Erwin as He-Man/Prince Adam and Melbrag

Alan Oppenheimer as Skeletor, Smudge and Cringer

Linda Gary as Teela

Lou Scheimer (credited as Erik Gunden) as Orko, Spikor King Randor, Melbrag's henchmen and the Announcer

1. Behind the scenes: Script was approved July 23, 1984 and final script revision took place September 26, 1984. Spikor's animation model, based on the toy concept by Mattel, was designed by Harry Sabin. Melbrag's character model was designed by Dale Hendrickson.
2. The name 'Melbrag' is an anagram of the word 'Gambler'. The script originally indicated that Spiker would be thrown from the Land Shark and get stuck in a tree.
3. Continuity: During his transformation sequence, Adam/He-Man stands before the same cavern background seen in the She-Ra: Princess of Power episode Of Shadows and Skulls during the transformation of Adora/She-Ra. The lighting effect that surrounds He-Man and covers his sword was previously used in Temple of the Sun. The animation of He-Man lifting and throwing was first seen in The Taking of Grayskull and would be re-purposed to be used again in Return of the Gryphon; Quest for the Sword and a reanimated version was seen in Fisto's Forest. The close-up of He-Man lifting and throwing is re-purposed animation from Dree Elle's Return also seen in A Bird in the Hand and The Bitter Rose.
4. More continuity: The animated sequence of Teela falling over was previously used in The Taking of Grayskull.

A wandering Eternian gambler bets against Skeletor in a magical contest. He-Man must decide whether to intervene in the wager.

Catalogue source: heman.fandom.com (CC BY-SA 3.0).