Danielle Gelehrter has long been one of the most prominent contributors to Masters of the Universe to come out of the fan community. A long-time member of the He-Man.org forums (and before that, a member of the Guardians of Grayskull mailing list in the 1990’s), she was also a co-host of the popular Roast Gooble Dinner podcast. She did quite a few interviews with Mattel creators that were published on He-Man.org. From there she contributed (with research, writing, photography, scanning and/or proofreading) to most of the great Masters of the Universe books that have come out in the last decade, including:
The Power and the Honor Foundation Vol. 1 Catalog
The Art of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe
He-Man and the Masters of the Universe Minicomic Collection
He-Man and the Masters of the Universe – A Character Guide and World Compendium
He-Man and the Masters of the Universe: The Newspaper Comic Strips
The Toys of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe
Character Guide and World Compendium Supplement Vol. 1
Danielle contributed to the Battle Ram Blog in the interview we conducted together with Mark DiCamillo. She and Eric Marshall co-wrote the Masters of the Universe Classics toy packaging bios and the digital “Masters Mondays” bios in an official capacity after the departure of Scott Neitlich from Mattel. She also created a horror-themed character called the Crimson Countess who appeared in those bios. In short, you won’t find any fan with more MOTU bonafides than Danielle.
Image courtesy of Danielle Gelehrter
Having said that, Danielle is also a popular horror hostess under the name of Penny Dreadful, and she hosted the television show “Shilling Shockers” from 2006-2016. Currently, she hosts the Terror at Collinwood Dark Shadows podcast. She has been a fan of all things creepy and ghoulish her whole life, and you’ll find her focused mostly on that area of fandom these days.
Why the backstory about Danielle? She was kind enough to send me a box of materials she collected over the course of her research. Much of it came from her work as the lead researcher for the Newspaper Comic Strips book. I was blown away by her generosity and by the fascinating material she sent me, and I will be working over the next months to share that material with you.
To begin with, I’ll be covering three items included in the box from Danielle. They are photos of prototypes/hard copies for Scare Glow, Ninjor and Blast Attak. They are pretty close to final in regards to the looks of the actual toys, but there are some differences, which I will discuss shortly. First, here’s Danielle’s description of the three photos:
Those photos were given to me by Chris Weber and Karen Willson. They were in their files and given to them by Mattel for reference when they were working on the comics strip. They used all three of them in the storyline, ‘Ninjor Strikes by Night’. So those are original ’80’s Mattel reference photos.
For reference, Chris Weber was a writer for the He-Man newspaper comic strip series, and Karen Willson was the editor. A couple of pages from the “Ninjor Strikes by Night” story as they appeared in He-Man and the Masters of the Universe: The Newspaper Comic Strips are represented below:
Images courtesy of Jukka Issakainen
All right, so let’s take a look at the reference material that Mattel sent to Weber and Willson!
Scare Glow
Scare Glow is quite interesting. You can tell that the figure is really just a standard Skeletor or similar figure that has been painted by hand, and given a new head. Because the white had been painted on, it’s quite brilliantly white, more so than the glow-in-the-dark plastic of the actual figure. You can see the paint starting to peel/crack around the tops of the legs. The paint pattern around the knees is a bit different than the actual figure.
Probably the most obvious difference is his halberd weapon (or “scythe of doom”), which has been painted black. The white paint of the figure’s hand has rubbed off on the weapon, as you can see. In the US his weapon would be cast in bright green, and in Europe it was usually cast in glow-in the dark white. The cape is similar to the production version, except the elastic at the neck is white. The production figure also got the Dragon Blaster Skeletor legs with the enlarged feet, while the prototype has the original Skeletor legs. The figure was designed by David Wolfram. You can read more about the history of Scare Glow here. (I haven’t yet added this prototype image to my original Scare Glow article, but I will do so soon.)
Ninjor is quite a clean prototype or hard copy. I can’t tell if it’s another Skeletor figure painted over, or if it’s actually been cast in black plastic at Mattel. I suspect the latter because of the cleanness of the black on his arms and legs. You can tell that his sword is the Jitsu katana that has been painted silver – it has lost some of the paint at the handle and the original orange is showing through. His bow is a repaint of the accessory that came with the Eternia playset. His only new parts are his head and his nunchucks. The big difference between this prototype and the production Ninjor is the emblem on his shirt – it’s much more crude on this prototype, compared to the final toy. He also has the original Skeletor legs with the smaller feet, while the final toy got the larger feet of the Dragon Blaster Skeletor legs. The figure was designed by David Wolfram. Eventually I’ll update my original article with this new prototype image.
Mass-produced Ninjor figure with updated emblem on costume. Eternia playset bow and arrow weapon prototype, made from wood originally!Image via heritage auctions.
Blast-Attak
Blast-Attak here is a hard copy that is very close to the final look for the figure. The only differences here are his much darker green boots and gloves, his red “thermometer” that is painted red all the way up, and the gold connectors inside his body (they were red on the final figure). You can also see that his weapon was cast in white and painted red: some of the red paint is flaking off. This prototype (or a similar copy) was actually shown in the 1987 dealer catalog (below), although you can see that the Scare Glow in the same picture is production, not a prototype:
Prototype Blast-Attak, as shown in Mattel’s 1987 dealer catalog. Image source: Nathalie NHT. Mass produced Blast-Attak figure
The figure was designed by Mark Jones and Richard Lepik. Once again, I’ll be updating this image into my original article about Blast-Attak soon.
So, that’s all for now. Danielle sent me quite a lot of material related to the newspaper comic strips, but she also sent me some other things as well, and I will document them here on the blog over the next weeks and months. Many thanks again to Danielle for sending these things with me so I can document and share them with fellow fans!
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Recently in the Masters of the Universe Technical Variant group on Facebook, some images of 1986 and 1987 MOTU product lists were posted by MOTUology, Sean McMurtrey and Kris Oneida. Many thanks in advance to them for posting their images, and especially to Kris for providing higher res images for this article.
I remember seeing the 1986 list years ago, but I lost track of the image. Looking at it and the 1987 list now, there is quite a lot of valuable information in both lists, and I’d like to provide my analysis here. I think this information not only gives us a clearer picture of how the Masters of the Universe line was distributed in the US, but also what eventually ended up killing it.
For some background, I’ve already done quite a lot of work in trying to understand the timeline of the production dates and release dates of Masters of the Universe toys, gathering dates from copyright filings, trademark filings, patent filings, concept art dates and the earliest appearances of each toy in newspaper ads. You can find that information in the articles below:
Of the two articles above, the Newspaper Ads Timeline is the most relevant to this discussion. It fits rather closely with the data found in the 1986 MOTU Product List, with a few outliers. The product lists (in a letter dated March 10, 1987) appear to have been sent out by Mattel in response to a customer inquiry about which products were currently available. The customer seems to have been trying to get a hold of a Mattel catalog.
The customer service response from Mattel was that their catalogs were intended for retailers, not consumers, but they did provide the person with lists of all of the current figures. The lists included the four digit SKU number (SKU stands for Stock Keeping Unit – each individual product had a unique number) for each toy, and importantly, the date range for each of them as well.
My assumption is that these dates represent the dates that Mattel was shipping these products out to retailers. For example, for Attak Trak, the list says “83 – 85.” That would mean that Mattel was shipping Attak Traks to US retailers from 1983 to 1985, but did not ship any more units out in 1986. However, some stores might still have had some Attak Traks on shelves in 1986, left over from the previous year.
Images courtesy of Kris Oneida
At the end of the article I have included text transcriptions of these lists that are searchable, for convenience. Immediately below you’ll find my key findings from this information:
The “1986 1/2” Wave of Toys
Some figures are listed as “86 – Current.” These are the figures that we typically think of as belonging to the 1986 wave of figures, such as Rio Blast, Dragstor, and King Hiss. However there are some toys that are designated “86 1/2 – Current.” Meaning these were kind of an additional wave of figures released later in 1986. These are figures that are normally associated with the 1987 wave of figures, and appear in Mattel’s 1987 Dealer Catalog, not the 1986 catalog. When I put together my timeline of earliest advertising dates for figures, I did in fact find that many so-called 1987 figures were in stores by November and December 1986. Here are the newspaper ad dates I found for traditionally “1987” figures that were released ahead of schedule:
11/27/1986: First Beam Blaster & Artilleray newspaper ad 11/27/1986: First Mosquitor newspaper ad 11/27/1986: First Ninjor newspaper ad 11/27/1986: First Scare Glow newspaper ad 11/27/1986: First Snake Face newspaper ad 12/09/1986: First Clamp Champ newspaper ad 12/09/1986: First King Randor newspaper ad 12/09/1986: First Faker (reissue) newspaper ad
1986 Scare Glow figure, intended for the 1987 wave. Image source: Hakes Auctions.
However, the 1986 MOTU Product List actually includes several more “1986 1/2” figures that were released early, including:
• Buzz-Saw Hordak • Blast Attak (called Krak Attak, probably an early name for the figure) • Sorceress • Sssqueeze • Tyrantisaurus Rex
For the above figures, I didn’t find any ads for them until some time in 1987. However, toward the end of the line, MOTU was advertised very sparsely in newspapers because it was dying off – I find it very plausible that these toys were actually in stores by late 1986, and either weren’t advertised in 1986, or were advertised too sparsely to have made it into the Newspapers.com database.
For a look at what Mattel had originally planned to ship in 1986 and 1987, see the catalog images linked in the articles below:
Some Mattel employees have talked about how over-shipping killed the Masters of the Universe line in the 1980s. What they’ve said is that some senior executives took some of the warehouse stock reserved for the European market and shipped it out to US stores in order to improve their own performance metrics. These were existing figures that had already sold through and were no longer in demand in the US. However, shipping these figures out to retailers was counted as a win on paper, and would be reflected in their year-end bonuses.
Stores had the practice of over-ordering, because they would usually get fewer figures than they asked for from Mattel. So if they actually wanted 20 figures, and asked for 20 figures, they might only get 10. So they would instead ask for 30 figures, expecting to get 20. It was understood by both sides that stores actually wanted less product than they were ordering, but the executives opted to ship them the full amount so they could make their performance metrics. This happened not once, but twice. For more on this, check out the Toy Masters podcast, episode 4. Paul Cleveland, a former marketing leader at Mattel, discusses the problem in depth.
On top of that, I would posit that these “1986 1/2” figures that had originally been intended for 1987 may have also been a part of what killed the line. The main 1986 wave already had more unique SKUs than any previous wave in Masters of the Universe history. Adding more “1986 1/2” figures on top of that wave, on top of the older figures Mattel had shipped out from their reserve stock would have absolutely overwhelmed the toy shelves with Masters product. In short, 1986 was a mess, with a huge glut of product that choked the life out of the brand. Although Masters was extremely popular, no brand could have survived such reckless over-shipping. So to sum up, this is what was being shipped to US stores in 1986:
Excess product from the previous year that was originally intended for Europe
A gigantic wave of new figures for 1986
Another smaller wave of new figures originally intended for 1987, rushed out in late 1986
For reference, here is the new SKU count for each annual wave of Masters of the Universe:
1982: 12 new SKUs 1983: 11 new SKUs, 12 if you include Mekaneck rushed out in December 1983 1984: 17 new SKUs 1985: 19 new SKUs 1986: 35 new SKUs 1986 1/2: 12 new SKUs 1987: 12 new SKUs
MOTU Toy Shelves during happier times
Night Stalker
One outlier in this data is Night Stalker. The list says that Night Stalker was shipped from 1984 – 1986. However, I have not found any Night Stalker ads in 1984, when MOTU ads were extremely plentiful. The earliest Night Stalker ad I’ve found dates to June 14, 1985. Moreover, all of the Night Stalker packaging I’ve seen shows off other 1985 toys on the back of the box, such as Moss Man, Stinkor and Land Shark, indicating that Night Stalker really did come out in 1985. I think the date on this list is a mistake, and the dates for Night Stalker should be 1985 – 1986. But as always if new data comes out I will update the blog.
Night Stalker and other toys on shelves, presumably 1985
Mekaneck
Mekaneck is listed having been shipped to stores from 1983 – 1985. Way back when I started this blog, I was skeptical of fan claims that Mekaneck was a 1983 figure. However, a couple of years back I did eventually find two pieces of evidence that he was shipped out in December 1983, which you can read about here. My theory now on Mekaneck is that he was rushed out early for Christmas because the 1983 line had a fairly sparse wave of figures. Getting an extra figure out early was a way of getting some new product out in stores for the holidays. Without Mekaneck, the 1983 wave would have had fewer new SKUs than any other wave, and it was relying heavily on reissues of product from 1982 to keep Masters stocked in stores. Mark Taylor’s departure from Mattel in 1982 (when the 1983 wave was being developed) must have left the company scrambling, and it took them some time to put together a new design team. That also explains why the 1983 wave was front loaded with easy repaints like Faker, Special Offer He-Man (so-called Wonder Bread He-Man, who doesn’t have a SKU), and Evil-Lyn, who required only a new head and wand.
1983 Mekaneck figure, via eBay/Wheeljack’s Lab
Snake Face
Snake Face is an anomaly on this list. He appears in the 1987 list, not the “1986 1/2” wave on the product sheet. However, I did find a newspaper ad for the Snake Face figure dating to November 27, 1986. That means he should have appeared in the 1986 1/2 wave, correct? Maybe. It’s also possible that the newspaper ad was incorrect and the retailer didn’t actually have Snake Face available for sale yet. Either option is a possibility.
Snake Face figure. Image via LCG Auctions.
Missing products, unproduced products
The 1987 list includes Gigantisaur, a toy that Mattel intended to make that ended up being cancelled. It also omits Scubattack for some reason, perhaps just a simple oversight due to human error. The Meteorbs do not show up in the 1986 list, although we know they were released that year.
The Meteorbs
Product Life Cycle
Another key piece of information that I’ve gleaned from the 1986 and 1987 product lists are the product life cycles for each individual toy. Assuming the dates are largely accurate, we now have real data about exactly how long each individual toy was being shipped out to the US market by Mattel.
So which figures were in the market for longest? Let’s find out!
First, a quick note on how I’m calculating years. If a figure was available during 1984 and 1985, I’m calling that two years. Product was being shipped out from Mattel over the course of two different calendar years, even if the total number of days may have been less than two years, technically. I believe that’s how Mattel calculated things too; the 1986 Flying Fists He-Man was called the “Fifth Anniversary Edition He-Man,” even though it had only been four years since He-Man debuted in stores. They were looking at it by how many different calendar years the product had been appearing in stores. Hopefully that makes sense!
5 Calendar Years
The following figures were in the market for the longest, from 1982 to 1986. The only one that surprised me here was Wind Raider. It’s not that it’s not a popular vehicle, but it beat out the Battle Ram, which I think is even more popular with fans today. Maybe it survived longer because it was smaller and less expensive. Or maybe it was just more popular than I think! Update: it looks like He-Man and Skeletor may have been shipped out in limited quantities in 1987 as well, so they may actually have been shipped for a total of 6 calendar years – the totality of the duration of the line in the US. More information on that has been added toward the end of the article.
These toys were on the market during four calendar years. Probably the most surprising thing to me is that of all the 1983 human-shaped figures, Evil-Lyn lasted the longest. I also wouldn’t have expected Stratos and Mer-Man to be on the market quite that long. Mer-Man is one of my favorites, but reportedly he tested poorly during product testing.
Some of the more popular 1984 characters like Prince Adam and Orko likely could have lasted longer if the line hadn’t started to tank in 1986. Surprisingly Trap Jaw shipped only until 1985. I would have thought he would have lasted longer than that.
It appears that Zodac is the least popular toy of the original 1982 wave, which doesn’t surprise me, but a three calendar year run is still pretty respectable, all things considered. Faker is interesting because he is the only figure in this list with a break in production; he was available from Mattel in 1983 – 1984 and then reissued in the “hard head” format in 1986.
1986 Faker figure, intended for the 1987 wave. Image source: LCG Auctions.
2 Calendar Years
This list is full of a lot of 1985 characters. For the most part their product life cycle was probably cut unnaturally short by the over-shipping problem. Still a few things to mention – Point Dread and Talon Fighter only lasted from 1983 to 1984. Clawful, Fisto and Whiplash only lasted from 1984 to 1985, despite my perception that they are all pretty popular characters. The same goes for Battle Armor He-Man and Battle Armor Skeletor. I wonder if those last two were cut short by Mattel to make way for the other He-Man and Skeletor variants that followed. Fans today universally seem to consider the Battle Armor variants to be the two most popular He-Man and Skeletor variants in the vintage line. Interestingly Clamp Champ is the only figure on the 1986 list who also appears in the 1987 list, although he is called by his early working name “Klamp Champ” in the 1986 list.
This list is mostly 1986 and 1987 figures that never got a chance to be reissued for additional years due to the tanking of the line. There is one exception to that, and it’s Spikor. Spikor is the only pre-1986 figure in the entire line that was shipped during only one calendar year. I’ll be honest, Spikor is my least favorite figure of all the figures from 1982 – 1985, so on some level it vindicates my blah feeling toward the figure. Still, he seems to have plenty of fans and I would have expected him to have been shipped for at least two calendar years. As previously mentioned. the 1987 product list includes Gigantisaur, which didn’t end up getting released.
Spikor, who shipped from Mattel only in 1985. Image via LCG Auctions.
Caveats on Accuracy
In writing this analysis I’m assuming that the information on these lists is largely correct. I’m fairly certain that the 1986 list contains at least one error (the dating on Night Stalker), possibly two (the Snake Face appearance in the 1987 wave rather than the “1986 1/2” wave), and it’s always possible that I may find information in the future that will contradict other parts of the lists. If so, I’ll provide an update.
Update: Brian Jones points out that he remembers seeing the original versions of He-Man and Skeletor on the shelves in 1987 when the movie came out, with 1987 MOTU movie stickers on the blisters. It’s possible that Mattel did ship out a small batch of new He-Man and Skeletor figures with the 1987 movie sticker added to the bubble to try to take advantage of the movie and sell some more units. Another possibility is that the stickers were added to existing product after the fact. According to MOTUology, these figures were marked G9 on the back and were the last He-Man and Skeletor figures produced. They are not present on the 1987 product list, but it could have been a decision made after that particular list was made. I’ll provide more updates as I learn more.
Image: MOTUology. Interestingly it is packed with one of the 1984 minicomics.
My take is that these lists are probably largely correct, even if there are a couple of errors, and they are enormously helpful on providing a clearer picture of the actual distribution and eventual demise of the original Masters of the Universe line in the US.
Text Transcriptions of the lists
I’ve transcribed the 1986 and 1987 lists below, so that you can search for any toy by name. Please note that “Current” in the 1986 list just means 1986, and “Current” in the 1987 list means 1987.
1986 MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE LIST
Attak Trak 5470: 83 – 85 Bashasaurus 9039: 85 – Current Battle Armor He-Man 7302: 84 – 85 Battle Armor Skeletor 7301: 84 – 85 Battle Bones 9173: 85 – Current Battle Cat 5048: 82 – Current Battle Ram 3990: 82 – 85 Beam Blaster 3139: 86 ½ – Current Beastman 5043: 82 – Current Blasterhawk 2607: 86 – Current Buzz-Off 4923: 84 – Current Buzz Saw Hordak 1732: 86 ½ – Current Castle Grayskull 3991: 82 – Current Clawful 7017: 84 – 85 Dragon Blaster Skeletor 9017: 85 – Current Dragon Walker: 4902: 84 – 85 Dragstor 2313: 86 – Current Eternia 2855: 86 – Current Evil Lyn 4712: 83 – Current Extendar 2797: 86 – Current Faker 4482: 83 – 84, 86 ½ – Current Fisto 7015: 84 – 85 Flying Fists He-Man 9413: 86 – Current Fright Fighter 1053: 86 – Current Fright Zone 9410: 85 – Current Grizzlor 9171: 85 – Current Hordak 9172: 85 – Current Horde Trooper 2549: 86 – Current Hurricane Hordak 9413: 86 – Current Jet Sled 2084: 86 – Current Jitsu 4924: 84 – 85 King Hiss 2420: 86 – Current King Randor 3068: 86 ½ – Current Klamp Champ [Clamp Champ] 3073: 86 ½ – Current Kobra Khan 7098: 84 – Current Krak Attak [Blast Attak] 1710: 86 ½ – Current Land Shark 7892: 85 – Current Laser Bolt 9602: 86 – Current Leech 9169: 85 – Current Man-At-Arms 5041: 82 – Current Man-E-Faces 5879: 83 – 85 Mantenna 9168: 85 – Current Mantisaur 2085: 86 – Current Mega laser 2083: 86 – Current Mekaneck 4919: 83 – 85 Merman 5046: 82 – 85 Modulok 9174: 85 – Current Monstroid 2418: 86 – Current Mosquitor 1191: 86 ½ – Current Moss Man 9219: 85 – Current Multi-Bot 2312: 86 – Current Night Stalker 4965: 84 – Current Ninjor 3069: 86 ½ – Current Original He-Man 5040: 82 – Current Original Skeletor 5042 82 – Current Orko 7354: 84 – Current Panthor 4714: 83 – Current Point Dread/Talon Fighter 4306: 83 – 84 Prince Adam 7353: 84 – Current Ram Man 5896: 83 – 84 Rattlor 2036: 86 – Current Rio Blast 2792 86 – Current Road Ripper 4903: 84 – 85 Roboto 9041: 85 – Current Rokkon 9863: 86 – Current Roton 4892: 84 – Current Scare Glow 3072: 86 ½ – Current Screech 4713: 83 – 85 Slime 2487: 86 – Current Slime Pit 9989: 86 – Current Snake Mountain: 4949: 84 – Current Snout Spout 2803: 86 – Current Sorceress 1787: 86 ½ – Current Spikor 7986: 85 – 85 Spydor 9055: 85 – Current Squeeze 1417: 86 ½ – Current. Stilt Stalkers 2082: 86 – Current Stinkor 9236: 85 – Current Stonedar 9862: 86 – Current Stratos 5047: 82 – 85 Stridor 4966: 84 – Current Sy-Klone 7997: 85 – Current Teela 5045: 82 – Current Terror Claws Skeletor 9413: 86 – Current Thunder Punch He-Man 9056: 85 – Current Trap Jaw 4302: 83 – 85 Tri-Klops 4301: 83 – 85 Tung Lashor 2331: 86 – Current Two Bad 9040: 85 – Current Tyrantisauros-Rex [Tyrantisaurus Rex] 1273: 86 ½ – Current Weapons Pack 7303: 84 – Current Webstor 4895: 84 – Current Whiplash 4935: 84 – 85 Windraider 5117: 82 – Current Zoar 4014: 83 – Current Zodak 5044: 82 – 84
1987 MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE LIST
Blade Figure 3295: 87 – Current Bionatops 3061: 87 – Current Clamp Champ 3073: 87 – Current Cliff Climber Power Gear 1942: 87 – Current Evil Twistoid Figure 3025: 87 – Current Gigantisaur 1399: 87 – Current Gwildor Figure 3294: 87 – Current Heroic Rotar Figure 3024: 87 – Current Saurod Creature 3670: 87 – Current Snake Face 1967: 87 – Current Tower Tools Power Gear 1947: 87 – Current Turbodactyl 1858: 87 – Current
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Issue #71 of ToyFare revealed many fascinating aspects about the reboot 2002 incarnation of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe in an article by Keith Allison. From Zodac’s skin color change to Skeletor’s belt design, Teela’s cobra armor, and more!
The page spread illustration is by Ed Benes with colors by Hi-Fi Color. Curiously the artist chose to illustrate Beast Man seemingly without his fur pelt and blue necklace. The creature that Beast Man rides also seems to be a new creature invented by Benes. Stratos exhibits some color choices making it appear as if he has red gloves and a back canister.
Mr. Benes would years later illustrate some covers for DC Comics on “Masters of the Universe” and “DC Universe VS Masters of the Universe” in 2013.
While the article was published in a July 2003 issue, it’s hard to determine when the artwork may have been commissioned. He-Man is sporting for example his signature templar cross on the armor, which was present in the early figure releases by Mattel in 2002 before they updated for the H-symbol (that fans dubbed at the time as the “asterisk” symbol). He-Man’s hair is also modeled after his 80s classic style.
One thing to note is that the figure marked as “Old He-Man” in the article looks to be the 2000 Commemorative version of He-Man (the face sculpt had a squished appearance). ToyFare would reuse the same photo, only mirror-flipped in issue number 134 too.
The article reveals that for the 2002 reboot, Mattel had plans at first to make Stratos black. But opted to change Zodac (now Zodak) instead. The Mattel concept art can be seen in this video “7 Things You Didn’t Know About Zodak”.
The articles and interviews in ToyFare magazine were always insightful on the world of Eternia and its characters, as well as its creators.
One of the more… controversial articles came in July 2009 edition with ToyFare issue #143. The Masters of the Universe Classics line had just started in 2008, and the newly invented story for ‘Classics bios’ was at the time the only existing story media for the characters written on the toy card backs. In the article, the people who worked on the 2002-2004 MOTU Comics teased some of their story ideas and plans that never came to be. Fans obviously were eager to learn more about these ideas, but at the time the then-current brand manager at Mattel didn’t want any confusion between the storylines, so it was asked that the comic bible mentioned in the interview not be posted online. In contrast, by the 30th anniversary Mattel’s creative media department was able to create new stories through DC Comics between 2012-2016 that were not associated or hindered anymore by the Classics narrative, oftentimes creating better origins and adventures with the characters.
Below is a close-up scan of the He-Ro design illustrated by Emiliano Santalucia. The armor design uses an insignia associated with both He-Man, She-Ra, and the “Guardians of Grayskull” symbol (based on the vintage Warrior’s Ring). There are also influences from the then-current Snake Armor that He-Man was wearing in the cartoon and comic. He-Ro did sneak an appearance in the comic on three separate occasions.
Below is the Shadow Weaver art by Emiliano Santalucia. In the comic by MVCreations (vol 2 issue 6), she appeared as a silhouetted character in a single panel.
