Man what a cool time period

There are several reasons why there were so many action-oriented cartoons in the 1980s. The success of Star Wars showed that there was a large audience for science fiction and fantasy stories and that merchandise associated with a popular movie or TV series could be huge sellers. Internal documents reveal that Mattel's Masters of the Universe toy line was inspired by Star Wars, Flash Gordon, Conan the Barbarian, and the fantasy art of Frank Frazetta. To promote the toy line, Mattel hired Filmation to make the animated series He-Man and the Master of the Universe. He-Man demonstrated that an animated series created for first-run syndication could be commercially successful. It was soon followed by other syndicated cartoons, many of them based on toys. This was possible because of deregulation of children's programming during the Reagan era. Restrictions were lifted on using TV series to advertise products to children.

Anime styles had an increased influence in the 1980s. While He-Man and most of Filmation's other series were made entirely in the U.S.A., many competing cartoons from the decade were imported from or outsourced to Asia. Japanese studios such as Toei and TMS were good at animating action sequences while keeping costs low.

The industry changed in the 1990s and 2000s, leading to a decline in Saturday morning and syndicated cartoons. By the late 1980s, there was a glut of animated series competing for a share of the syndication market, which caused a decrease in revenues for production companies such as Filmation. The rising value of the yen against the U.S. dollar in the mid-1980s made it less attractive for Japanese studios to produce animation for the American market. Changes were made to American TV regulations in the 1990s. Restrictions were placed on advertising aimed at children. It was mandated that all broadcast networks air a minimum of three hours of "educational and informational" programming for children per week. This limited the time slots for non-educational children's programming and made action-oriented cartoons less financially viable. Saturday morning and syndicated cartoons faced increased competition from home video, specialty cable channels, and other sources of entertainment. Cable channels did not have to follow the same rules as full-power or class-A stations.