WIDGET, LOOKOUT, WOULD-BE GIANT
Squinch
Squinch is the Widget in the horned helmet, the lookout at the Widgets' fort who startles at every noise and still wants to be a hero. His own episode gives him the size of He-Man at the worst possible moment.
Squinch is a Widget, one of the small forest people of the Filmation He-Man series, and the lookout at their fort. Voiced by John Erwin, he appears in four episodes and gets his own in "The Littlest Giant" (1984), where he wishes he were as big as He-Man.
The record
The facts
WHO HE IS
The Widget on the wall
The Widgets are one of the friendlier inventions of the Filmation He-Man series: a tribe of small, round-nosed forest people who live in a stone fort and mine coridite, the rare mineral He-Man's own baldric is made of. They arrive in Paul Dini's "Evil-Lyn's Plot" in 1983, when Skeletor wants their coridite, and Squinch is the one in the blue horned helmet with orange hair sticking out from under it, keeping watch from the fort wall.[1]
He is a poor fit for the job, and the show plays that for laughs. In "The Mystery of Man-E-Faces" a monster has been pounding on the fort's door at night, and when the others call up to ask if he can see anything, Squinch answers "It's scary up there." He startles easily and talks himself into trouble, but he means well, and when he causes a problem he works to put it right. John Erwin, the voice of He-Man, voiced him in every one of his episodes.
[1] ^ Filmation's own series bible outlined the Widgets differently: Squinch closer to a Gabby Hayes type, Kando with a white beard and Lara more of a tomboy. An earlier version of the premise called them the dwarves of the Iron Forest.
THE SIGNATURE EPISODE
The Littlest Giant
Douglas Booth's "The Littlest Giant," which aired on October 4, 1984, is the one episode built around Squinch, and it opens by making his problem as literal as possible. A storm drops a huge tree across the fort's gate. He-Man has just cleared a fallen tree with a few swings, so Squinch decides he will clear this one himself, axe in hand, because that is what a hero does. He fails, and he sits under the trunk wishing he were as big as He-Man.[2]
Evil-Lyn plays on the wish. At Snake Mountain she hands him a sealed gold box to deliver to He-Man, and Squinch takes it even though he can tell the deal is a bad one; when the box opens, it puts He-Man and Battle Cat to sleep. While Skeletor and Beast Man raid the Royal Palace, Squinch goes to Snake Mountain with Teela and Orko to set things right.
The rescue turns on his size. Evil-Lyn nets Teela almost at once, and Squinch, on his own, finds a hole in the dungeon wall that is too small for anyone but a Widget. Evil-Lyn's answer is to grant his wish on the spot and zap him up to full height, which shuts him out of the one job he can do, and he has to beg Orko to shrink him back down before he can be any use. The episode ends with Squinch himself delivering the closing message to the audience: "what's important is being the best person you can be."
[2] ^ The script for "The Littlest Giant" was approved on April 19, 1984.
Squinch, axe in hand, at the fort in The Littlest Giant.
Clipped from our own copy of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, The Littlest Giant (1984), 2:13 to 4:08, 1 minute 55 seconds. Nothing is added and nothing is sped up. Copyright Mattel.
WITH THE WIDGETS
Man-E-Faces, Jacob and a fishing rod
Paul Dini's "The Mystery of Man-E-Faces" (October 17, 1983) is told as a flashback to the time Man-E-Faces was a bitter outcast, and its story starts at the Widgets' fort, where he is the monster shouting "Let me in!" through the door. Skeletor and Beast Man try to put him to use, and by the end he is the court actor the palace knows.
"Jacob and the Widgets" (October 18, 1984), written by Harvey Brenner, is his last Filmation episode. The Widgets take in Jacob, a cranky old hermit whose fishing boat has been wrecked by Mer-Man's robot sea monsters, and keep caring for him whether he likes it or not. When Mer-Man comes for their coridite, Jacob hooks him with the fishing rod Squinch gave him, and Teela finishes the job.
IN PLASTIC AND LATER SERIES
A lookout in sixth scale
Mondo put Squinch in plastic as an extra with the Timed Edition of its sixth-scale Man-E-Faces, billing him as "the Widget look-out Squinch"; that edition was on sale for seven days and is sold out.
Squinch does not appear in the later He-Man series. He is not in the 1987 movie either, or in the 2026 film.
IN BRIEF
Squinch, from 1983 to 1984
"Evil-Lyn's Plot" airs
The Widgets' first episode, written by Paul Dini.
"The Mystery of Man-E-Faces"
Squinch on lookout duty when a monster comes to the fort.
"The Littlest Giant" airs
His own episode, aired on October 4, 1984.
"Jacob and the Widgets"
His last Filmation episode, aired on October 18, 1984.
Questions
Squinch questions, answered
Who is Squinch?
A Widget, one of the small forest people who mine coridite in the Filmation He-Man series. He wears a blue horned helmet and keeps lookout at the Widgets' fort.
Who voices Squinch?
John Erwin, credited in the cast list of each of his episodes. Erwin also voiced He-Man and Prince Adam.
Which episodes is Squinch in?
"Evil-Lyn's Plot" and "The Mystery of Man-E-Faces" from 1983, and "The Littlest Giant" and "Jacob and the Widgets" from 1984.
What happens in "The Littlest Giant"?
Squinch wishes he were as big as He-Man, Evil-Lyn tricks him into delivering a box that puts He-Man and Battle Cat to sleep, and he helps rescue them by squeezing through a hole only a Widget could fit.
What is coridite?
The rare mineral the Widgets mine. He-Man's own baldric is made of it, which is why Skeletor goes after it in "Evil-Lyn's Plot."
Is there a Squinch action figure?
Mondo included a small Squinch with the Timed Edition of its sixth-scale Man-E-Faces, which was on sale for seven days and is sold out.
Is Squinch in any later He-Man series?
No. He belongs to the Filmation series.
Compiled by the heman.org desk from the He-Man and the Masters of the Universe episodes "Evil-Lyn's Plot," "The Mystery of Man-E-Faces," "The Littlest Giant" and "Jacob and the Widgets," their cast lists, Filmation's series bible, and Mondo's listing for its Man-E-Faces Timed Edition.
Alongside
