I don’t recall being aware of Mattel’s 1985 Create-A-Character contest, or Fearless Photog, the winning entry by Nathan Bitner. I was first introduced to it when I started frequenting the old He-Man.Org forums. Since I haven’t really covered the topic yet on Battle Ram Blog, I thought it was about time that I rectified that situation!

In 1985, Mattel announced its create-a-character contest. The earliest mention of the contest I’ve found dates to September 4, 1985, in the The Crowley Post Signal:

The first newspaper ad I’ve found for the contest dates to September 8, 1985. However, I understand that at least some of the ads were also slipped in as a loose flier into newspapers. Those kinds of things don’t always get preserved in newspaper databases, so it’s possible it could have been advertised a bit earlier than the date I found.

Here are the contest rules. The October 10 deadline makes me think that the ad must have gone out earlier than September 8, but then again maybe they wanted to limit the number of entries with a tight window of time.

OFFICIAL RULES-NO PURCHASE NECESSARY

1. On plain paper no larger than 8 x 11″, draw your new MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE character and handprint on the back of your drawing your name, address, phone number. and age, the character’s name, its special physical features and actions it can do, and if it is heroic or evil. Have your parent or legal guardian write and sign the statement: “My child and I agree to abide by the official rules of this contest. If a parent or legal guardian does not sign this statement, the entry will be eliminated from further judging. Include with your entry 2 proof-of-purchase seals or UPC codes from any MATTEL TOYS MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE items or on a separate 3 x 5 paper, name 3 different MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE action figures.
2. Mail to: MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE CHARACTER CONTEST, PO. Box 3317, Syosset, NY 11775. Enter as often as you wish, but each entry must be different, mailed separately, and received no later than October 10, 1985. No responsibility is assumed for lost, late, or misdirected mail. Every entrant will receive a gift of a MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE Comic Book. One book per individual no matter how many entries are submitted. Allow 8-10 weeks for receipt of comic book.
3. Entries will be screened and judged for semi-finalist selection by National Judging Institute, Inc., an independent judging organization whose decisions are final Judging will be based on judges’ perception of: appeal of action features and accessories (0-30 points) originality of idea (0-25 points); appropriateness to MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE theme (0-20 points); appearance-how clearly do the drawing and description present the character (0-15 points); ease of manufacture (0-10 points). 1,005 semi-finalists will be selected from among all valid entries. 5 finalists will be selected by a panel of experts using the above judging criteria. Semi-finalists will receive a MATTEL TOYS MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE FRIGHT ZONE” Playset. The 5 finalists’ characters will be rendered in color by MATTEL-selected artists and described by MATTEL-selected writers to appear in Sunday Comics on December 8, 1985, whose readers will be asked to vote by telephone for their favorite character. Votes will be tallied by National Judging Institute, Inc. The entry receiving the most votes will be the Grand Prize winner. In case of ties, duplicate prizes will be awarded. Credits shall be given or not at MATTEL’s option in those entries published In the Sunday Comics.
4. The Grand Prize winner will have his or her character produced by MATTEL TOYS and will
   also receive:
   a) A Trust Fund valued at $100,000 upon maturity to be used as a college scholarship, or however deemed fit by the winner, and paid out in 4 equal installments of $25,000 per year commencing upon the winner reaching the age of 18.
   b) A MATTEL TOYS MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE toy collection worth $200, MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE video tapes, and a video cassette recorder.
   c) The right to be Honorary President of MATTEL, INC. for one day, including a 5-day trip to L.A. for a family of 4, round trip coach airfare, ground transportation, hotel accommodations, meal allowance and sightseeing.
5. The remaining 4 finalists will each receive:
   3) A MATTEL TOYS MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE toy collection worth $200.
   b) A Trust Fund valued at $50,000 upon maturity, to be used as a college scholarship, or however deemed fit by the winner, and paid out in 4 equal installments of $12,500 per year commencing upon the winner reaching the age of 18.
6. Only one prize to an individual. Prizes may not be exchanged or transferred. All prizes will be awarded and winners notified by mail. No entry will be returned or acknowledged nor will correspondence be entered into with any entrant about the entries.
7. Each entry must be the sole, individual, unpublished original work of the contestant, Judges may disqualify any entry known or found to have been previously published or produced or to have been a winner in any other contest. Parents or legal guardians of winners will be required to sign an affidavit of authenticity, eligibility and release. Entry constitutes permission to use entrant’s name and likeness in any planned promotional activity associated with the MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE CREATE A CHARACTER CONTEST without further compensation. By entering the contest, each entrant acknowledges and agrees that his entries and all rights of copyright in copyrightable materials contained therein shall be deemed as works made for hire, and become the sole and exclusive property of and are hereby assigned to MATTEL, INC., which thereby has the right to alter, adapt, and modify, copy, publish, promote and otherwise use any and all rights pertaining thereto in any way for any purpose, the entrant’s character, name and description without compensation or payment (other than the gift referred to in paragraph 2) to the entrant.
8. Contest is open to children who are US. residents, 12 years of age or younger as of September 1, 1985, except children of those engaged in the design, manufacture or sale of toys, present and former employees and their families of MATTEL, INC., Its affiliates, subsidiaries, advertising agencies and Don Jagoda Associates, Inc. Contest void wherever prohibited or restricted by law. Taxes on prizes are the sole responsibility of the winners. 9. For a list of the major winners, send a self-addressed, stamped envelope to: MATTEL MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE CONTEST WINNERS, P.Q. Bax 3356, Syosset, NY 11775.

So the prizes were quite good – a $100,000 trust fund for the winner, plus $50,000 for the runners up, as well as $200 worth of Masters toys. The grand prize winner would also get to be the honorary “Mattel President” for a day, and be flown out to LA with their family.

Mattel selected five finalists and published pictures of their creations (professionally redrawn by Bruce Timm) in early December 1985. They asked fans to call in and vote for their favorite of the five as a way to choose the winner. The finalists were:

• Fearless Photog, a character with a camera for a head
• Netta, a human net character
• Compactor, an evil character with suction cups all over his body
• Eye Beam, a living eyeball with human arms and legs
• Brainwave, a character with a giant brain with a powerful crystal

The Albuquerque Tribune actually did a little story on the finalists in a November 28, 1985 story:

The story, which focuses on Brain Wave, also summarizes all of the finalists:

Youngster’s ‘Brain Wave’ nets $50,000 prize
By CLAY BAILEY Scripps Howard News Service COLLIERVILLE, Tenn.

“Brain Wave” already has earned 9-year-old Eddie Stafford of Collierville a $50,000 prize. And
that could double.

“Brain Wave” is Eddie’s entry in the Masters of the Universe Create a Character Contest, sponsored by Mattel Toys.

The entry reaped benefits this month. The company selected “Brain Wave,” a warrior who uses a crystal in his brain rather than muscle to overcome evil, as one of five finalists in the contest. Eddie now is eligible for the grand prize, which would mean an additional $50,000.

“I just sat down and started doodling,” the excited youngster said. “Sometimes I let my imagination run wild, but I sort of restrained it. I didn’t think I would make it to the five finalists. It took me about a day.”
“Brain Wave” uses cosmic power packs to energize the crystal, which “stuns or destroys” his enemies.

“Brain Wave” is vulnerable only if the energy packs on his wrists are removed, or if his hands are tied behind his back.

The selection of Eddie as a finalist “shocked the fool out of us,” said Donald Stafford, Eddie’s father.
“We really didn’t expect it,” added his mother, Lynn Stafford. “We thought it was good, but the competition in a nationwide contest is so steep, we just didn’t think he’d win.”

Eddie’s creation will be published along with those of other finalists in newspapers nationwide on Dec. 8. Readers will be asked to vote by telephone for the best of the quintet.

Other finalists include Nathan Bitner, 11, of Naperville, Ill. His creation, “Fearless Photog,” focuses on villains with a camera-shaped head and drains their powers.

The only female finalist, Josette D’Ambrosi, 9, of Brooklyn, N.Y., created the one female super-hero, “Netta.” “Netta,” a large net-shaped figure, traps Evil Warriors for the classic hero, He-Man.

John Rowe, 11, of West Elizabeth, Pa., designed the only evil figure that made the finals. His creation, “Compactor,” traps victims in his vise-like chest.

The fifth finalist, Ricky Ardmore, 11, of Eatonville, Wash., sketched a heroic figure in the shape of an eyeball with hands and legs. “Eye Beam” is a seeing-eye guardian for He-Man. The finalists will begin receiving the $50,000 at age 18. The money will be paid in four annual installments.

The winner of the contest will receive $100,000 in four annual installments of $25,000 beginning when the child turns 18; a five- day trip to Los Angeles and bragging rights for supplying the idea for a future Masters of the Universe character. Mattel will produce the toy.

While in Los Angeles, the winner will be Mattel’s honorary president for a day.

There’s also a fun story about a semi-finalist who didn’t win one of the big cash prizes, but instead was rewarded with toys. Benjamin Pace, aged 7 at the time, created an Evil Horde character with a bloodshot eyeball for a head. Interestingly, an early name for the character of Optikk was Eyegore, which you can see kind of crossed out and replaced with Eye-Yik in the concept art below:

The Baltimore Sun, January 5, 1986:

From the story:

Who knows what evil lurks in Ben’s heart? Eye-Gor
By Abby Karp
Staff writer

Who knows what evil lurks in the heart of Benjamin Butler Pace, a sweet, soft-spoken 7-year-old from Crofton?

Behind Ben’s four missing front teeth, his neat brown hair and the squeaky voice carrying a little lisp is the imagination that produced Eye-Gor, a creature ugly inside and out.

Eye-Gor has a bloodshot eyeball for a head and a radar unit where the rest of us have hearts. A member of the “Evil Horde,” a gang so bad that even the bad guys hate them, Eye-Gor instantly hypnotizes enemies by twitching his oversized eyeball.

Eye-Gor wields a triple-headed weapon, bares two fangs and stands on a pair of green spindly legs, which are dotted with small green bumps.

“Those are supposed to be muscles,” explains Ben’s older brother, Duncan.

Ben picks up the story of the master hypnotist. “He’s got three spikes on each arm and one on each leg and he can see if any- thing’s coming near the Evil Horde base. And he can go underwater.

“Um, I just made that part up,” he admits, with a giggle.

This double-ugly creature made Ben a winner in a recent contest by Mattel Inc., the company that created the Evil Horde as part of the He-Man and Masters of the Universe cartoon. Of 44,000 entries in the Masters of the Universe Create A Character Contest, Eye-Gor was one of 1,005 creatures promoted to semi-finalist status.

At least, the Pace family thinks Eye-Gor was the semi-finalist. Ben sent in a total of four drawings, including a snake-man, an insect-man and a tree that grabs bad guys when they flee through the forest.

But the form letter from “The National Judging Institute,” which carried the good news to Ben, didn’t say which of his characters won. And with no phone number listed for the institute in Syosset, N.Y., the Paces must be content to assume Eye-Gor made the grade.

The first-place winner in the national contest was a 12-year-old Illinois boy, who created “Fearless Photog.” His prize is a $100,000 scholarship and the chance to be president for a day of California-based Mattel, the country’s biggest toy company. Fearless Photog, a “heroic camera-man,” will appear in the cartoon and be produced as a molded plastic toy.

Ben’s prize as a semi-finalist was an Evil Horde Fright Zone Playset, one of the few Masters of the Universe toys which he and Duncan don’t yet own. The letter telling Ben of his prize came the Saturday after Christmas, providing a quick relief to the after-Christmas blues.

Given the size of the top prize, Barbara Pace says, entering the contest “was worth the price of the stamp.” But generally she regards the He-Man show as “one long commercial” for the toys Mattel makes.

“I don’t like cartoons in general. This one [Masters of the Universe] is not as bad as some. They try to have a moral at the end,” says Ms. Pace...

Fearless Photog

Nathan Bitner’s Fearless Photog was of course chosen as the grand prize winner of the contest. Nathan described his character in a story in the Wausau Daily Herald, published December 19, 1985.

From the story:

Fearless Photog wins
12-year-old dreams up toy

NEW YORK (AP) Watch out Skeletor! Beat it, Hordak, and take your Evil Horde with you! Fearless Photog is on the way. thanks to a gifted 12-year-old who was named winner of Mattel’s Create a Character contest.
Fearless Photog is the brainchild of Nathan Bitner, a student from Naperville, Ill., about 40 miles west of Chicago.

With a video-camera turret-head, film-reel belt and flashbulb reflector shield, Fearless Photog focuses on his enemies and zaps their evil powers, leaving only the good behind.

“I wanted to make a humane guy who defeated evil but left the good behind because there’s some good in every person.” His creation is fearless, Nathan said, because “he doesn’t use any weapons really and still goes into battle.”

“We think it’s an excellent figure,” said David Capper, Mattel’s director of marketing. He said it encompasses the Masters of the Universe theme, which is that good always conquers evil but always in a non-violent way.

Nathan’s winning entry was chosen by children who voted by telephone for one of five finalists.

Nathan Bitner, 12, of Naperville, Ill., displays a drawing of his toy creation, “Fearless Photog,” in New York Wednesday. Bitner got a $100,000 college scholarship, for winning Mattel’s Create a Character contest.

Nathan said he entered the contest because “I thought it was neat that Mattel would let kids give their ideas and then listen too one of these ideas.” He also wanted to win the top prize: $100,000 college scholarship, payable in four installments when he turns 18.

His creation will be sold as part of the 1987 Masters of the Universe collection.

Interesting, in this story, it’s said that not only does Photog drain villains of their powers, he can also convert them into good guys. That’s an aspect of Fearless Photog that is not usually mentioned.

The story said that Fearless Photog was to be a part of the 1987 Masters of the Universe collection. Of course that was not to be. It’s not entirely clear what happened with it. The 1987 Mattel Dealer Catalog actually shows several figures that would end up not being made due to the cancellation of the line that year. But Fearless Photog is nowhere to be found. You’d think if Photog was in the works he might have shown up in that catalog. Maybe he was going to be pushed back to 1988 instead – a year that never happened for MOTU in the US.

Here’s one more newspaper story about Nathan and his character. It was published in The Dispatch on December 26, 1985:

Nathan’s winning entry was announced in the US He-Man and the Masters of the Universe Magazine, Spring 1986. Nathan was honored as the “He-Man of the Issue”

Side note: in the same magazine in the Spring 1985 issue there was a Create-A-Character activity! Thanks to hk_toyworks for the tip!

The lack of a figure in the vintage line kind of gave the figure a quasi-mythical status among fans. There was certainly some pent up demand, which was finally met with the arrival of the figure in the MOTU Classics line in 2012.

Fearless Photog had been teased previously in the bio released for MOTU Classics Captain Glenn (ie Queen Marlena before she crash landed on Eternia.) It’s said that she was assigned to something called “Project Photog.” However this project was never elaborated upon, even in Fearless Photog’s bio.

Captain Glenn (Matty.com version)
Real Name: Marlena Glen
Heroic Cosmic Adventurer
Before she was Queen of Eternia, Marlena Glenn was a heroic explorer and space captain from Planet Earth. Along with her courageous crew, she traveled the stars in search of new sources of fuel for her homeword. A crack shot with almost any laser riffle, she prefers a Higuchi 1114 model for its speed and accuracy. On many adventures she learned to rely on not only her strength and courage but her intellect as well. After completing her assignment with Project Photog, Marlena volunteered to pilot an experimental Warp Ship through a black hole. Arriving in the center of her dimension, she become the first Earthling to make contact with the magical planet of Eternia. Late in life, she used the power of the Cosmic Key to return to her homeworld, discovering a great secret that linked the two planets she called home!

And here is the bio for MOTU Classics Fearless Photog:

Fearless Photog
Real Name: Jey
Heroic Master of Cameras
BURST: Created by Nathan Bitner!
Apprentice to Gwildor, Jey often daydreamed of life as a member of the Masters of the Universe. His dreams became a reality when he was selected along with five other inventors by the Science Council to journey to Eternos to present his latest creation; the Photog Emulator. During the presentation a slight miscalculation lead to a flux overload merging Jey with his invention. Finding he could drain his enemies powers and display their defeat on his chest, Jey called himself the Fearless Photog and was offered membership with his idols in the Masters of the Universe. He heroically fought during the Second Ultimate Battleground helping to defeat several of Skeletor’s warriors including Clawful and Whiplash. Photog drains his enemies’ power, displaying their defeat for all to see!

The release of the figure also sparked some additional interest in Nathan Bitner’s story. He was interviewed back in 2012 by John Atkin for He-Man.Org. You can read the interview here.

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