7/22/2023 0 Comments Original he man figures for sale![]() In the race to design the next hit action figure, Sweet realized simplicity was the key to success. Ever since that fateful day when CEO Ray Wagner balked at George Lucas’s $750,000 asking price in 1976, Mattel had been playing catch up, launching failed line after failed line, none of which captured the public’s imagination or made a significant dent in the toy market. MOTU was born out of Mattel’s great failure - the decision to pass on the rights to Star Wars action figures. Questions of ownership didn’t matter while He-Man was enjoying his initial success. Since Sweet tossed most of it into the dustbin years ago, he is left with a few internal Mattel documents to bolster his claim. He made few friends along the way and only one former coworker goes on record supporting him. Even in the cutthroat corporate world, Mattel was known for its toxic internal politics and, as he makes clear throughout the book, Sweet was no politician. At least two others, Mark Taylor and Jill Barad, have taken credit for the superhero, which prompted Sweet to write Mastering the Universe in the first place. Not only did he preside over the MOTU line during its sudden rise and even more abrupt fall, he invented the brawny warrior. Sweet, a former designer at Mattel, would seem to be the perfect candidate to tell this toy story. Mastering the Universe: He-Man and the Rise and Fall of a Billion-Dollar Idea, written by Roger Sweet and David Wecker, should have been He-Man’s long overdue obituary. If Barbie’s responsible for Pam Anderson and Victoria’s Secret models, then He-Man deserves at least some of the credit - or blame - for Brad Pitt in Troy. Even the Star Wars figures have received a steroid infusion, where once they were puny, stiff and ready for a nap. ![]() Fast-forward 20 years and stars like Tobey Maguire and Tom Cruise who have bulked up to He-Man proportions dominate the A-list. In the early 80s, most actors had the bodies of your typical homeroom teacher and only Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone sported the massive physique of a body builder. ![]() Much as Barbie came to define an impossible ideal of female beauty, the bulked-up action figure has come to represent a similar caricature of the masculinity. He-Man has been waiting for a proper send-off ever since, despite his profound influence on the popular culture of today. What Skeletor failed to do, corporate mismanagement accomplished in months. But business missteps caused MOTU’s sales to plummet from $400 million in 1986 to $7 million the following year. For a while, He-Man really was the master of the toy universe, eclipsing even Barbie, Mattel’s perennial favorite, in sales. With knees bent and arms flexed, He-Man and his cohorts in the Masters of the Universe (MOTU) stood poised to defend himself against the evil minions of his archenemy, Skeletor. For American children growing up in the 1980s, He-Man was like no action figure they’d ever seen - a muscle-bound hero truly ready for battle.
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