Hey, I'm Actually Going By They-Man These Days — He-Man and Skeletor on a trans flag with the They-Man punning dialogue overlay.

Hey, I'm Actually Going By They-Man These Days

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Published October 31, 2026

LOVESTRUCKBEAR's February 2018 Twitter post showed He-Man telling Skeletor he was going by 'They-Man' in front of the trans flag, with Skeletor politely acknowledging the update. The two-panel image turned into a template for any cartoon or game character with a gendered syllable in their name, with edits featuring Herobrine, Shego and Slender Man by 2022.

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Overview

The two-panel image puts He-Man in front of the trans flag announcing he now goes by 'They-Man,' while Skeletor answers 'oh cool thanks for letting me know' from the lower right corner1. Edits replace He-Man with another cartoon, game or horror character whose name contains 'he,' 'she,' 'man' or 'woman,' letting the same gag land on figures like Herobrine, Shego and Slender Man7.

Humor in the template sits in the mundane second panel. Skeletor's deadpan acknowledgment plays the pronoun update as unremarkable casual information, which is the whole joke. Some versions change the trans flag to the non-binary flag when the pronoun announcement calls for it3.

Origin & Background

Platform
Twitter (origin) / Reddit (viral spread)
Creator
LOVESTRUCKBEAR
Date
2018

Twitter user LOVESTRUCKBEAR posted the original image on February 6th, 2018, pairing He-Man's 'Hey I'm actually going by They-Man these days' with Skeletor's agreeable reply over the trans flag1. The tweet collected over 45,100 likes and 10,400 retweets7. More than a year later, on March 30th, 2019, someone printed the image onto a sheet of paper and photographed it for Reddit's r/comedyheaven, where the shot picked up over 56,000 upvotes2.

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How It Spread

Tumblr user abolishice posted a Minecraft version on September 19th, 2019, placing Herobrine and Alex in the He-Man and Skeletor slots and gathering more than 3,800 notes over the following three years6. On June 8th, 2020, Reddit user BestGirlClaire took the format to r/traaaaaaannnnnnnnnns with Tom Nook from Animal Crossing and a Jacob's Ladder/Lily of the Valley gag, which cleared 1,400 upvotes5.

Twitter user DaisVeronica reworked the image on August 14th, 2020, putting Shego and Kim Possible in front of the non-binary flag; the post collected over 30,700 likes and 4,900 retweets3. On June 10th, 2022, Twitter user skunkgender set Slender Man and Jeff the Killer into the template, earning over 23,000 likes within two days and showing the format still worked on horror characters whose names contained the right syllables4.

Timeline

2018-02-06

Twitter user LOVESTRUCKBEAR posts the original He-Man and Skeletor image, which gathers over 45,100 likes.

2019-03-30

A photograph of the printed meme is posted to Reddit's r/comedyheaven and reaches 56,000 upvotes.

2019-09-19

Tumblr user abolishice posts a Minecraft edit featuring Herobrine and Alex.

2020-06-08

Reddit user BestGirlClaire posts a Tom Nook edit on r/traaaaaaannnnnnnnnns.

2020-08-14

Twitter user DaisVeronica posts a Shego and Kim Possible edit set against the non-binary flag.

2022-06-10

Twitter user skunkgender posts a Slender Man and Jeff the Killer edit, hitting 23,000 likes within two days.

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Frequently Asked Questions