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| MOTU Day logo courtesy of The Toy Box |
Happy
Masters of the Universe Day!
For those of you that have come to
Needless Things for the first time thanks to the awesome team-up of
sites celebrating this magical day, welcome! I am your host, Phantom
Troublemaker, and I run things around here (which really just means I
pay for the hosting).
1987
was a magical year. I saw RUN DMC and the Beastie Boys play the
Astrodome. Star
Trek: The Next Generation
debuted on television. Hulk Hogan defeated Andre the Giant to become
the WWF Champion.
Also, Los Angeles mayor Tom Bradley declared April 28th
to be Masters of the Universe Day.
I
could talk about all of those other things at length (and have, right
here on Needless Things!), but since today is, in fact, April the
twenty-eighth, I’m going to talk about Masters of the Universe.
Which I also do quite frequently here on Needless Things and the
Needless
Things Podcast.
I’ll
post the list again at the end so you don’t have to scroll back up.
Because I’m nice like that.
Today
I want to talk a little bit about my own Masters fandom, and also put
over a couple of books that I think are essential reading for any fan
of the outrageous exploits of He-Man and his pals.
My
first big memory of He-Man comes from a birthday party. I can’t say
for sure that it was 1982, but I do believe it was before I had seen
He-Man
and the Masters of the Universe.
I would have been six.
Back
then it was a big deal to have a birthday party at McDonald’s. The
restaurants weren’t quite the raging dumps of filth and hostility
that they tend to be now. My early memories of Mickey D’s are of
happy places with clean playgrounds, bright interiors, and excellent
mascots like Mayor McCheese and Grimace. At this particular event
there was a whole back room cordoned off for the birthday party. I
don’t remember whose birthday it was – probably not even a close
friend. When you’re that age you just try to invite as many people
as you can to maximize your presents.
I
may not remember the kid, but I certainly recall the bulk of his
gifts – muscular men and monsters with bizarre combinations of
swords and guns. They were bigger and more colorful than my Star Wars
action figures and I was immediately intrigued. And scared –
particularly of Beast Man. I found his face horrifying. Skeletor was
no treat, either.
I
remember watching as this lucky kid – whoever the heck he was –
opened present after present and amassed what might have been the
entire collection of Masters of the Universe figures that were
available at the time. I didn’t care much about the humans, but my
hands were itching to play with those monsters. Especially the fish
guy. Once the presents were all opened a few of the figures
inevitably were released from their packaging. One ended up in the
cake. I don’t know why, but I remember that. The kid and his circle
of friends were playing with the figures, but I managed to get my
hands on that green and yellow fish guy, who I would later find out
was Mer-Man.
At
this point in my life my main toy experiences had been with Mego
figures and with Star Wars. I can’t remember how the shift from
Mego to Star Wars happened, but from 1979 through 1983 Star Wars was
the dominant toy factor in my life. I loved the figures, the
vehicles, the creatures – everything. But this fish guy; he was
something different. Bigger. He could hold his weapons properly. And
when you twisted his waist it snapped back into place, simulating an
attack with his weird-looking sword. His face with the big, round
eyes looked so intense and angry. I was fascinated.
There
must have been a brief window between that birthday party and my
discovery of GI Joe, because I managed to talk my mom into buying me
some He-Man figures before I made the full-on switch from Star Wars
to A Real American Hero. Mt flirtation with the denizens of Eternia
was brief, so I don’t remember exactly which figures I had. I know
He-Man and Skeletor were among them because I can still feel the
frustration over never being able to get the Power Swords to connect
together just right (you don’t even know how excited I was to
assemble my first Classics Power Sword with improved Power Sword
Combining Technology). I’m pretty sure I had Beast Man and
Tri-Klops as well. I think Tri-Klops was in there because I never
really liked Tri-Klops that much. To my young mind he was just a
human with a stupid hat.
I’ve
since softened on ol’ Klopsy (nobody calls him that).
As
I’ve mentioned here on the site and at many of the toy panels that
I’ve hosted, my parents were one toy line at a time kind of people.
My mom would crumble frequently and I would end up with odds and ends
from lines I didn’t necessarily collect – Centurions,
Transformers, M.U.S.C.L.E, Battle Beasts – but I was definitely
encouraged to focus my attention on a single line. And when GI Joe
came along, that was it. My dad was a military man, and it very
quickly became clear that GI Joe had the advantage in prying dollars
out of his wallet. Plus, most of the rare father/son moments that we
shared involved him explaining the various vehicles and weapons to
me.
So
GI Joe won the day and Masters of the Universe became another cartoon
that I loved but only had a couple of toys from. And those toys
didn’t get a ton of play because I was not a kid that could mix
action figure styles. Even Star Wars and GI Joe figures were too
aesthetically different for me, though COBRA did have some kickass
space rides (vehicles were a different story).
But
the Masters time would come.
In 1987, in addition to Mayor Bradley's designation of Masters of the Universe Day, we also got a live action He-Man movie starring Dolph Lundgren (the reason for the Mayor's wacky action). For more on that, check this out Episode 11 of the Needless Things Podcast recorded live at Dragon Con and featuring none other than Masters of the Universe production designer, William Stout!
In
1990 Mattel launched The
New Adventures of He-Man
and, quite frankly, I don’t see any need to discuss that.
Years
later in 2002, I was all about the relaunch. Toy
Fair
magazine had dropped all 0of the details about a new cartoon and toy
line and I was stoked. These new figures were being designed by a
crew of rock star toy madmen called the 4 Horsemen. They were more
streamlined versions of the original characters and the cartoon
looked to be updated as well. Once again, I was intrigued.
These
figures didn’t have the articulation of Toy Biz’s Spider-Man
Classics or the ridiculously detailed sculpts of McFarlane Toys’
offerings, but they looked incredible. There was a sturdiness and
artfulness to them that those lines were lacking. They were clearly
toys, but also something more. The aesthetics were incredibly
appealing to me.
But
you don’t know until you buy one. So the first time I came across a
Skeletor at Wal-Mart, I picked him up (I was still relatively
uninterested in the humans at that point). He was fantastic. The
sculpt was beautiful and the way that his sword worked was awesome.
At this point in my life I was unrestricted by parental toy
enforcement, so after that first figure I was hooked. On the bad
guys, at least.
I
scoured the toy aisles for any non-human characters I could find.
Sadly, we all know how lousy the distribution was on that line. It’s
one of the most challenging I’ve ever collected and there are still
figures I’m on the lookout for. It was a frustrating experience
that was ultimately all the more rewarding when I actually did find a
new figure. To this day finding a new 2002 He-Man figure that I want
is still one of the more exciting collecting experiences that I have.
I finally broke down and bought a He-Man a couple of years ago. Now
I’m eyeing a Trap-Jaw repaint that I should have just bought the
first time I saw him.
The
cartoon, on the other hand, was a whole other story.
I’m
pretty sure that Cartoon Network made a big deal out of showing the
first episode (or episodes – however it premiered) and I saw that.
But I think that the show jumped around several times during its run.
Also, we didn’t have DVRs then and I had something of a social
life. Catching a cartoon on TV wasn’t as easy to do. I kept up with
the toys as best I could, but I lost track of the cartoon fairly
quickly. It wasn’t until years later when the series came out on
DVD that I would finally see more than a handful of episodes. Now
I’ve watched the Mike Young series several times and it’s one of
my favorite cartoons ever. I still bothers me that we never got that
third season with the Evil Horde (my favorite faction).
Finally
there’s the current iteration – Masters of the Universe Classics.
Nearly
thirty years after the original line launched, and yet once again I
found Star Wars, GI Joe, and family to be factors in my collecting.
When
I became aware of the Classics line I was not initially interested.
Hasbro was deep into Star Wars and GI Joe lines that I was quite
happy with and those were the main portions of my collection. He-Man
wasn’t really
one of my things. Inasmuch as it was, it was the 2002 version. And
these new toys were not anything like those. Sure, they boasted nice
sculpts and great articulation, but they were too reminiscent of the
older, beefier He-Man. I didn’t want to devote any of my precious
toy collecting dollars – now parsed away from the finances needed
to take care of my family – to such a thing.
They
got me with Scareglow.
I
couldn’t resist that beautiful, glow-in-the-dark skeleton. And once
I had the figure in my hands and actually got a feel for the line, I
wanted more. My favorite character, Trap-Jaw, was offered just a few
months later. And then I wanted Skeletor, so I bought him when he was
offered again. I spent the rest of 2010 cherry-picking releases and
then, when the 2011 sub was offered, I gave in and subscribed. And
while I have certainly had moments of doubt (subscribing for 2013)
and regret (opening the box with the Star Sisters inside), overall I
would say that the Classics line comprises the best part of my toy
collection.
That
line may be ending, but consider this - in just three short months we
will find out what the future holds for the Masters of the Universe
toy line. Classics is over, but it has been all but confirmed that
the style will continue on in a new line. According to the
MattyCollector.com message boards, the Filmation Teela that was
teased earlier in the year will be part of that.
Masters
of the Universe has been a part of my toy collecting in one form or
another for thirty-three years now. It isn’t my favorite thing, but
I have to admit that, collecting-wise, it has been one of the most
consistently exciting. From the few pieces I had as a child to
desperately hunting the 2002 figures to the constant drama of the
Classics line, He-Man and his associates might have provided more big
collecting moments than any other single franchise.
I
managed to ramble on for far longer than I thought I would, but I did
promise a couple of book reviews. I’ll post full reviews at a later
date since I’ve gone on so long.
Lou
Scheimer: Creating the Filmation Generation
by
Lou Scheimer & Andy Mangels
I’ve
always wanted to use the phrase “invaluable tome”, and now I can.
This is an invaluable tome not only for any Masters of the Universe
fan, but for any television enthusiast. Scheimer and his biographer,
Mangels, cover the years that Filmation was creating He-Man
and the Masters of the Universe
and She-Ra:
Princess of Power,
but that is just a tiny fraction of this book’s fascinating
content.
This
volume serves as a document not only of Scheimer’s life and the
rise and fall of Filmation Studios, but also the history of
television. Lou and Andy provide a look behind the scenes at
everything from contracts to licensing to voice acting – every
aspect of producing television and selling it to networks is covered
in varying degrees of detail. There’s enough here to satisfy anyone
curious about the workings of the business, but it doesn’t bog down
so much that you want to skip parts.
Lou
Scheimer tells the story at a brisk pace in his enthusiastic,
sometimes grandiose (but also at times self-deprecating)manner. When
shows I wasn’t particularly interested in came up, there were
always details that made the section worthwhile. And on top of that,
Scheimer and Mangels jump around and pepper in enough anecdotes that
the reader never really has the opportunity to zone out. Every show
from Filmation’s grand and varied history is covered – their many
collaborations with DC Comics, Fantastic
Voyage,
The
Archie Comedy Hour,
Fat
Albert and the Cosby Kids,
Star
Trek: The Animated Series,
and so many more. I had honestly forgotten just how many of the great
shows of my youth had come from Scheimer’s production company
beyond just He-Man and She-Ra.
I’ve
had an absolute blast reading this. I’m reliving fond childhood
memories and learning all kinds of interesting things about
television and the people who worked in it. Plus, the book is
massive.
This isn’t just some coffee table book with a bunch of captioned
pictures. Sure, there are plenty of pictures inside, but the written
content is extensive. We’re talking 1963 to 1989 (the same as the
original run of Doctor
Who,
which is a wild coincidence; OR IS IT!?! [it is]).
The
Art of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe
by
Tim Seeley & Steve Seeley
Buy
this right now.
If
you’re reading about Masters of the Universe Day, then you have
some kind of interest He-Man in his many iterations. So just trust me
and buy this thing before it’s gone.
This
is the very best book I have ever owned. As a reading enthusiast, as
a toy collector, and as a pop culture commentator, I say that this is
the book I would take out of the burning house over all of the
others.
I
have never before seen such an exhaustive and thorough look at a toy
line specifically and a franchise in general. Every question you
might have about MOTU will be answered here. And it’s chock full of
things I never even imagined we’d have the opportunity to see –
unproduced toys and characters, concept art, and notes about the
various toy lines. This is essentially the stuff that Matt Nietlich
was using to plan Masters of the Universe Classics. It’s an amazing
and unprecedented collection of information and art.
From
the inception of the line and that famous first sketch of He-Man
(looking exactly like Conan) to an explanation of animation cells for
the cartoon to designs for the minicomics to concept art for the
(hopefully) forthcoming motion picture. I cannot emphasize enough
just how comprehensive this book is. It’s staggering. And
beautiful.
Whether
you’re new to Needless Things or a regular visitor, I hope you’ve
enjoyed today’s look at Masters of the Universe. If you are new,
please check out the NeedlessThings Podcast,
especially our Masters
of the Universe episodes.
Add us to your feed and share us online.
And
remember to check out all of our friends who are also celebrating
today:
Until
next time, we don’t say goodbye…
We
say
Good
Journey
My copy of the book came in the mail this evening! It truly is a thing of beauty so far!
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