PILOT OF THE GALACTIC GUARDIANS
Flipshot
Hydron's partner in the cockpit, the pilot who brought He-Man to Primus, and the easiest man on the planet to flatter.
Flipshot is the hotshot pilot of the Galactic Guardians in The New Adventures of He-Man (1990), voiced by Scott McNeil. He and Captain Hydron travel back in time and bring He-Man to the planet Primus.
The record
The facts
WHERE HE COMES FROM
The pilot who went back in time
Flipshot flies for the Galactic Guardians in The New Adventures of He-Man, the 1990 series in which Jetlag Productions carried He-Man forward in time to the planet Primus and set him against Flogg's Mutants of Denebria. His story is later, non-canon material set beside the Filmation He-Man at the heart of this encyclopedia.[1]
He is there from the first scene that matters. In Jack Olesker's premiere, "A New Beginning," Master Sebrian sends Captain Hydron and his young pilot back through time to find the power of the good and the way of the magic, and the teasing on the way out, "Don't tell me you're scared, Flipshot," sets the terms of the partnership for the rest of the run. They come home with Prince Adam and, because they cannot tell the two claimants apart, with Skeletor as well.
After that he is Hydron's opposite number: brown-haired, quick, fond of his own reputation, and never far from a cockpit. He introduces himself on the radio as Lieutenant Flipshot of the Primus Space Force, flies in a blue flight suit and a white helmet with flared wings, and has a catchphrase ready whenever anyone suggests a quiet mission. In "Quest for the Crystals" the two of them fly a real starship for the first time, and Hydron's line, "This is the moment we've waited all our lives for, Flipshot," is about as sentimental as the captain gets.
[1] ^ Single-episode air dates for this series are mostly undocumented, so its episodes are dated here by the 1990 first run.
THE SIGNATURE EPISODE
The Sheriff of Gorn City
Jack Olesker's "The Sheriff of Gorn City" is the episode built around him, and it is a Western. The lawless mining town wants a new sheriff, a Mutant voice says it has someone in mind, and the someone is Flipshot.[2] Prince Adam smells a trap straight away and asks why Gorn City, home to the toughest, meanest alien miners in the galaxy, would want him. Flipshot hears only the insult: "I happen to be a Galactic Guardian, Adam. I was born for action." The Mutants offer a treaty banning military action in the town, Primus asks for the Galactic Council to witness it, and Master Sebrian, reasoning that Flogg would never anger every planet in the galaxy by breaking it, lets him go.
Flipshot's eagerness is his best quality and the easiest thing about him to use against him, and the episode is a string of small, staged wins that lead him where Skeletor wants him. On the way in, strange fighters attack his astrosub and Spinwit's until Flogg appears on the screen, orders them off, offers repairs and tells him the Mutants know him as a noble soldier. Flipshot admits he never thought he would be saying thank you to a Mutant. Once he is off the channel, the Mutants fall about laughing at their own performance.
Gorn City follows the same pattern. He gives a wanted alien the choice of the easy way or the hard way, gets the hard way, and jails him anyway. A shipment of gems arrives at the bank and Bi-Lock the Kid arrives to rob it, so Flipshot jails him too and decides that being a sheriff is a whole lot easier than he thought. Then the street empties, because Bi-Lock's brother Tri-Lock leads the Ugly Bunch, and they are riding in. Adam works out that it has all been too easy and calls in He-Man.
The showdown gives Tri-Lock the episode's best line. Told that his brother will be handed to the District Marshal unless he has release papers, he answers, "Papers? We don't need no stinking papers!" The Ugly Bunch is beaten, Flipshot hands the badge to a local miner named Meliac, and before the Guardians leave, someone has one more question for the room: "Who's going to clean up this mess?"
[2] ^ Fan sources disagree on who puts his name forward. Wikipedia's summary says Flogg appoints him at Skeletor's suggestion; the He-Man wiki's summary says Skeletor nominates him. The episode itself only has an unseen voice on the Mutant side say it has someone in mind.
Flipshot on the 1990 series, beside Hydron at the starship.
Clipped from our own copy of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, The Mind Lens (The New Adventures of He-Man, 1990), 11:50 to 13:49, 2 minutes. Nothing is added and nothing is sped up. Copyright Mattel.
THE SECOND ANGLE
The hero of his own story
Olesker's "Four Ways to Sundown" tells one battle several times over. Flying medical supplies to Muninos, Flipshot says he would not mind running into a stray Mutant patrol, and then reminds Hydron of his finest hour, the battle of the Quagmi Swamp. In his telling Hydron freezes at the sight of the planet and Flipshot lands the ship. In Hydron's, Flipshot is the one who cannot go on, and the captain promises him a trip back to flight school. On the Mutant side Flogg and Slush Head tell the same battle twice more, each the hero of his own version, and no two of the accounts agree.
The other episodes mostly use him as the pilot who is first to the fight. Under Skeletor's Mind Lens it is Flipshot who stands at Hydron's shoulder trying to talk him round; in "The Power of the Good and the Way of the Magic" he flies He-Man and Mara to the planet Danzig and takes the arrival of the Mutant mothership for bad news until He-Man points out that Flogg will not fire on his own ship; in "The Guns of Nordor" an officer complains that he never could follow orders. He is also the series' favorite example in the closing safety lessons. "No Easy Way" ends with Flipshot loosening his safety belt and nearly paying for it, and the advice that follows ends, "Don't be like Flipshot."
THE VOICE
Scott McNeil
Scott McNeil voices Flipshot through the series, along with smaller parts such as the scientist Krex and the Mutant BH.[3] It means that in "The Sheriff of Gorn City" the Mutant who volunteers for the job and is told to master walking and blinking at the same time first, and the Guardian who gets it instead, share a voice.
[3] ^ Scott McNeil is credited as Flipshot in IMDb's full credits for "The Seeds of Resistance", "The Test of Time" and "Flogg's Revenge", and Wikipedia's cast list for the series agrees. The same credits give him Krex and BH as well.
IN PLASTIC
Flipshot, and Icarius
Mattel made Flipshot for the first New Adventures wave in 1989, alongside He-Man, Hydron, Flogg, Slush Head and Skeletor. Press the button on his back and the wings of his jet pack spin, and he came with a helmet and wrist rockets. The toy came first, but the cartoon borrows its move.[4] In some markets the figure was sold as Icarius, and a second version followed in 1992 as a European exclusive, Missile Armor Icarius, with removable armor and a boomerang-style weapon.
That name stuck. When Mattel brought him into Masters of the Universe Classics in 2011, through its collector subscription, the figure was Icarius, with Flipshot kept as a nickname, a blue and silver flight suit, a flip-down red visor, a winged jet pack and a bareheaded second head.[5] Every Flipshot figure is long retired, so there is no Flipshot on sale new.
[4] ^ The He-Man wiki points out that Flipshot's movements as he plants a bomb on the Mutant mothership in "The Heat" copy the action feature of his figure.
[5] ^ The Toy Collector's Guide gives the 1989 figure a helmet, jet backpack and wrist rockets, says it was sold as Icarius in some markets, and lists Missile Armor Icarius in its 1992 wave as a European exclusive. Action Figure Barbecue's review of the 2011 Classics figure covers the Icarius name and the swappable heads.
IN BRIEF
From the cockpit to the sheriff's office
The first Flipshot figure
Mattel's first New Adventures wave puts him beside He-Man and Hydron, with a jet pack whose wings spin.
A New Beginning
He and Hydron travel back to Eternia and bring home He-Man and Skeletor.
Quest for the Crystals
The two pilots finally fly the Starship Eternia.
Four Ways to Sundown
He and Hydron each tell the battle of the Quagmi Swamp with the other as the nervous one.
The Sheriff of Gorn City
The Mutants flatter him into a job that is really a trap for He-Man.
Masters of the Universe Classics
A collector figure arrives through Mattel's subscription under the name Icarius.
Questions
Flipshot questions, answered
Who is Flipshot in He-Man?
A pilot of the Galactic Guardians in The New Adventures of He-Man, and Captain Hydron's partner.
Is Flipshot in the original 1983 He-Man cartoon?
No. He arrives with Hydron in the 1990 premiere, and the Filmation series never mentions him.
Who voices Flipshot?
Scott McNeil, who also voices Krex and the Mutant BH in the same series.
What episode does Flipshot first appear in?
"A New Beginning," the series premiere, in which he and Hydron travel back to Eternia.
What is Flipshot's catchphrase?
He says he was born for action, usually when someone has just suggested a quiet mission. He says it in both "The Sheriff of Gorn City" and "Four Ways to Sundown."
Why did the Mutants want Flipshot as sheriff of Gorn City?
As bait. The plan was to let him win a few easy arrests, anger the Ugly Bunch and draw He-Man into the town.
Who is braver, Flipshot or Hydron?
Depends who is telling it. In "Four Ways to Sundown" each man's version of the Quagmi Swamp makes the other the nervous one, and the episode never says who is right.
Why is the Flipshot figure called Icarius?
Some markets sold the 1989 figure under that name, and Mattel kept it for the Classics figure, with Flipshot as his nickname.
Can you still buy a Flipshot figure?
Not new. Every Flipshot figure, the Classics Icarius included, is long retired.
Is Flipshot in the He-Man movies?
No. The 1987 film has no Galactic Guardians, and he is not in the 2026 film's cast.
Compiled by the heman.org desk from The New Adventures of He-Man episodes and their English subtitles, and the guides to The Sheriff of Gorn City, Four Ways to Sundown, A New Beginning and The Mind Lens. The voice credit follows IMDb's episode credits and Wikipedia; the figures follow The Toy Collector's Guide and Action Figure Barbecue; air dates follow epguides and Wikipedia.
Alongside
