Written by Adam McCombs
In collaboration with Club Masters del Universo and Yo Tengo El Poder, and in celebration of the 35th anniversary of Masters of the Universe in Spain, I’d like to present the first Mattel/Congost dealer catalog, dating from 1984. Images come courtesy of Dani Ramón Abril. All of the photos in the catalog were taken in Spain, with the exception of the Attak Trak photo, which was originally taken for the 1983 US Mattel catalog. The catalog largely focuses on first wave figures and vehicles. Although those toys were first released in the US in 1982, this was their debut in Spain, so Mattel/Congost started with that wave. The only exception is Attak Trak, which in the US was a “wave 2” vehicle
The photos themselves include lots of great rocky dioramas, with a bit of fog to give the scenes some extra mystery and drama, making the figures seem larger than life in their Spanish market debut.
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This needs to be more complete.. mm.. AH! i know how..
Subtitle translations ^_^
He-Man: “The Most powerful man in the Universe” This is the standard He-man title, so nothing new here
Skeletor: “Lord of the Forces of Evil” This sounds interesting.. the English one was, of course, Lord of Destruction, which is kinda a common title.. I guess would also apply to the manager of a demolishing company? but this makes him more the prime villain as he is in charge of the evil side, which was his role.
Teela: “Heroic Warrior goddess, Princess of Etenia”. Standard until the end.. Princess of Eternia is a new one to me.. sounds very much like Pre-adam idea.
Stratos: “Powerful Winged Warrior” – Not a great deal of change from the English one, like with some of these, just points out more that he is clearly a hero (which at this point, he was)
Man-At-Arms: “The Great Gladiator” – erm.. what? the English title ‘Master of Weapons’ might be able to be translated into this.. and after moving away from his original portrayal as a scavenger of ancient tech.
Beast Man: “Brutal Servant of Skeletor” This is just really an more fancy version of the English ‘Savage Henchman’. Sounds much better too.
Zodac: “Diabolic Cosmic Warrior” – This is back on the Zodac is a villain side which as we knew, was how he was kinda marketed at first, but this clearly defines him as evil more then just working with evil.. Though it’s not a huge difference from the ‘Cosmic Enforcer.’ of the English title
Mer-Man: “The Evil lord of the Oceanic Abysses” Oh i like this.. Much more impressive then his English one of “Ocean Warlord” but keeps with the same normal vide. just WAY more impressive..
Beautiful catalogue with stunning photography. Love it.
Hi there, I’m trying to research congost and Mattel might You have any information on them? Was congost a factory?
Congost was a toy company that acquired a license to make MOTU toys in Spain, similar to Leo Toys, Top Toys, Estrela, or in modern times Super7. I don’t know a ton about Congost actually, you might try the facebook links in the first paragraph for more information on them.