Back in 1987, Tom Bradley, mayor of Los Angeles, declared April 28 to be Masters of the Universe Day, in celebration of the live MOTU Power Tour performance that was running at the time.
It continues to be commemorated by fans to to this day, but I would propose an additional day to celebrate the most powerful toyline in the universe: March 1.
From December 1981 to January 1982, Mattel filed trademarks for their completed Masters of the Universe toyline, in preparation for the big product launch. The line (largely designed by Mark Taylor, vehicles by Ted Mayer) was first shown to the public on February 17, 1982, at New York Toy Fair. I believe it was first made available in retail stores on March 1 of 1982. That’s based on a piece of evidence taken from the first MOTU minicomic, He-Man and the Power Sword.
Included near the back of the minicomic was a cash rebate offer. Parents who purchased two of the eight MOTU figures available that year could get a rebate of $1.25.
There was a purchase date restriction on the offer. Purchases had to be made between March 1, 1982 and January 31, 1983.
I believe the earlier date represents the earliest date that these toys would have been available in stores – shortly after they were unveiled at New York Toy Fair. That would mean that March 1, 1982 was the day that children all over the country (and later, the world) were first introduced to the world of He-Man.
Since Masters of the Universe Day is already taken, I’d suggest we commemorate March 1 as He-Man Day.
Incidentally, in the animated He-Man episode, The Energy Beast, King Randor tries to create a He-Man Day, but He-Man is too modest at the time to accept it. I’d say after 36 years defending Eternia and Grayskull from the evil forces of Skeletor, he’s more than earned it.
Update:
Chema Villalba recently sent me another piece of evidence for a spring 1982 release of He-Man. In The Business of Children’s Entertainment (referencing 1982 promotional material) it is said that Mattel had introduced the Masters of the Universe line in the spring of that year:
Thanks to Chema for the reference!
Update2: upon further research, the first time Masters of the Universe was in stores was probably May 13, 1982, or thereabouts (which still matches the Spring release schedule provided by Chema). That is the date of the earliest newspaper advertisement for MOTU toys that I have found.
One more thing – I recently noticed in a 2015 Slashfilm article about the MOTU toyline and movie, one of the people they interviewed was Joe Morrison, an EVP of Marketing at Mattel. Joe is quoted as saying:
When we got the go-ahead from management to do the original toy line, we put in an estimate of, like, $12 million in sales. Well, we didn’t even release the toy until May of that year and we wound up doing $32 million. These were significant numbers in 1982.
Now, it’s possible some figures were released earlier. There has long been talk of early “Test Market” figures that were distributed in a small geographic area to test how well the figures would sell. Supposedly this information came from a source at Mattel, but I can’t confirm it. It’s possible that those Test Market figures predate the May release date, but so far I have no solid evidence for that, other than perhaps the previously-mentioned March 1 rebate date.
Want to support the blog? Consider becoming a Patreon supporter. You’ll also gain access to exclusive content and early access to posts on the blog. Thank you!
In my continuing quest to understand the history of the vintage Masters of the Universe toyline, I’ve put together the following timeline. It’s generally focused on toy design, drawing dates from concept artwork, internal Mattel documents, patent filings, trademark filings, and even the Masters of the Universe Bible. My goal here is to give readers a sense of how the He-Man toyline developed and evolved. I’ve also included a few dates gleaned from the CPI (Conan Properties International) vs Mattel court cases. I believe this will help put to bed the idea that He-Man started out as a Conan figure. While He-Man was certainly influenced by Conan as depicted by Frank Frazetta, the He-Man project predates Mattel’s work on the Conan property by some time.
I drew on a number of different sources in compiling this information. Those sources include:
The Power and the Honor Foundation Catalog, Vol. 1
This is by no means an exhaustive timeline. I included only those pieces of information that were dated in some way. That includes information from court cases that was assigned an approximate date, like an early 1981 date for Tony Guerrero’s He-Man prototype. That also means that undated material like Mark Taylor’s Demo Man concept or Roger Sweet’s Mekaneck concept are not included in the timeline. I could of course infer dates for this kind of material, but I wanted to avoid guessing and stick to known facts.
I also have stayed away from dates tied to media not directly related to toy production. There are many specific dates available for individual episodes of the Filmation He-Man cartoon, for instance, but that is really outside of the parameters of this particular project.
I have only included a few images of concept designs here – some of them appear in earlier posts in this blog, and almost all of them appear in the sources I drew from. Unfortunately it would not be practical to try to include all of them in this post.
Finally, I’ve included some names that were listed in the Masters of the Universe Bible. The Bible itself is dated December 1, 1982, which gives us an early (if not exact) date for at least the conceptual existence of characters like Orko (or Gorpo, as he was first named) and Jitsu (or Chopper).
Update: on December 28, 2022, I updated this post with additional dates from previous research. That includes “first use in commerce” dates from the US Trademark office, which they say means:
“A date of first use in commerce is the date when (1) the goods were first sold or transported, or the services were first rendered, under the mark in a type of commerce that may be lawfully regulated by the U.S. Congress (such as interstate commerce or commerce between the United States and a foreign country), and (2) such use was bona fide and in the ordinary course of trade.”
Update 2: On January 1, 2023 I added first newspaper ad appearance dates from this article.
Update 3(May 26, 2023): I recently noticed in a 2015 Slashfilm article about the MOTU toyline and movie, one of the people they interviewed was Joe Morrison, an EVP of Marketing at Mattel. Joe is quoted as saying:
When we got the go-ahead from management to do the original toy line, we put in an estimate of, like, $12 million in sales. Well, we didn’t even release the toy until May of that year and we wound up doing $32 million. These were significant numbers in 1982.
This supports the data that I’ve been finding that all points to a May 1982 release date for the Masters of the Universe toyline.
Update 4 (Jan 24, 2025): I’m adding some color/shading coding to the list. In hindsight I think “first use in commerce” dates that were filed are somewhat vague and arbitrary. The most meaningful dates are concept art dates, certain key document and event dates, and the earliest newspaper ad dates. Most important dates will be bolded, least important dates in gray, and everything else in regular text. Oh, and I’ll color the dates related to the Conan license in blue, to easily distinguish them from the He-Man material.
1971
“King of Styx” – illustration for a short story by Mark Taylor. Some elements later reused for Skeletor. Image courtesy of Rebecca Salari Taylor
1971: “The King of Styx” concept, by Mark Taylor
1979
Torak, by Mark Taylor – 1979. Image source: The Power and the Honor Foundation
1979: First Castle Grayskull sketch, by Mark Taylor
1979: Torak (precursor to He-Man) sketch, by Mark Taylor
08/15/1979: Category Management Teams memo
1980
December 1980: Roger Sweet’s “He-Man” trio; the barbarian figure was based on designs by Mark Taylor. Image via the Power and the Honor Foundation.
05/22/1980: Fantasy Make Believe idea disclosure form
06/11/1980: Male Action Figure attributes list
09/08/1980: Figure Attributes list
09/21/1980: Space/Monster/Fantasy Figures budgeted hours form
11/03/1980: Megaton Man project request form
11/??/1980: Work started on “He-Man trio”, Roger Sweet; Barbarian He-Man based on illustration by Mark Taylor (late November)
12/??/1980: He-Man trio presented at Mattel Product Conference (mid-December)
12/30/1980: He-Man Characters & Accessories idea disclosure form
1981
Tony Guerrero’s early 1981 He-Man prototype. Image source: Tomart’s Action Figure Digest.
??/??/1981: Bird Man (Stratos) concept, by Mark Taylor
??/??/1981: Mer-Man concept, by Mark Taylor
??/??/1981: Castle Grayskull concept, by Mark Taylor
??/??/1981: Battle Cat concept, by Mark Taylor
??/??/1981: Sensor (Zodac) concept, by Mark Taylor
??/??/1981: Battle Tester/Combat Trainer concept, by Mark Taylor
??/??/1981: Heroic Figure (He-Man) concept, by Mark Taylor
??/??/1981: Heroic Figure (He-Man) battles plant monster concept, by Mark Taylor
01/06/1981: He-Man Vehicles and Accessories idea disclosure form (modular vehicles)
01/23/1981: Drawing by Colin Bailey depicting Mark Taylor working on He-Man project
03/30/1981: De-Man (Skeletor) concept, by Mark Taylor
04/01/1981: Man-At-Arms concept, by Mark Taylor
04/02/1981: Tree Man (Beast Man) concept, by Mark Taylor
04/06/1981: He-Man (tan boots) concept, by Mark Taylor
04/07/1981: Battle Ram (tank treads version) concept, by Ted Mayer
04/24/1981: Memorandum urging negotiation for Conan license
04/27/1981: Revised Battle Ram concept art drawings, by Ted Mayer
05/03/1981: He-Man (red/yellow boots) concept, by Mark Taylor
05/05/1981: CPI draft licensing agreement sent
05/20/1981: Skull Castle (Castle Grayskull) Weapons Rack & Weapons by Mark Taylor
05/28/1981: Female Warrior (Teela) concept, by Mark Taylor
05/28/1981: Battle Ram control drawing, by Ted Mayer
06/03/1981: Sorceress concept, by Mark Taylor
06/05/1981: Battle Chariot concept, by Ted Mayer
07/??/1981: He-Man designed by this month, per CPI vs Mattel lawsuit
07/09/1981: Draft Skeletor toy head design document
07/14/1981: Memorandum discussing Mattel’s presentation of He-Man to Toys ‘R’ Us
07/23/1981: Tony Guerrero worked on Conan toys from this date until Sept 11, 1981
07/31/1981: CPI and Mattel entered license agreement to manufacture toys based on Conan movie
08/02/1985: John Hollis Pre-Production Eternia Playset Center Tower Strut Drawing
08/04/1985: John Hollis Pre-Production Eternia Playset Elevator Crank Control Drawing
08/05/1985: John Hollis Pre-Production Eternia Playset Elevator Lift Platform Blueprint
08/01/1986: King Hiss copyright registered
08/07/1986: Horde Trooper copyright registered
08/15/1985: John Hollis Pre-Production Eternia Playset Grappling Hook Control Drawing
08/18/1986: Slime Pit copyright registered
08/18/1986: Extendar copyright registered
08/22/1986: Rio Blast copyright registered
08/24/1986: First Snout Spout newspaper ad
09/10/1986: First Hurricane Hordak newspaper ad
09/16/1986: Blast Attak patent filed
09/17/1986: Tyrantisaurus Rex first use in commerce
09/17/1986: Bionatops first use in commerce
09/17/1986: Gigantisaur first use in commerce
09/22/1986: Bionotops trademarked
09/22/1986: Gigantisaur trademarked
09/22/1986: Powers of Grayskull trademarked
09/22/1986: Tyrantisaurus Rex trademarked
09/28/1986: First Fright Fighter newspaper ad
09/30/1986: Turbodactyl first use in commerce
09/30/1986: Blast-Attak first use in commerce
09/30/1986: Gwildor first use in commerce
09/30/1986: Rotar first use in commerce
09/30/1986: Twistoid first use in commerce
09/30/1986: Cliff Climber first use in commerce
09/30/1986: Scubattack first use in commerce
09/30/1986: Tytus first use in commerce
09/30/1986: Eldor first use in commerce
10/xx/1986: He-Man military pitch, by Stephen Lee
10/06/1986: Eldor trademarked
10/06/1986: Rotar trademarked
10/06/1986: Turbodactyl trademarked
10/06/1986: Twistoid trademarked
10/06/1986: Tytus trademarked
10/07/1986: Blast-Attak trademarked
10/07/1986: Gwildor trademarked
10/11/1986: First Meteorbs newspaper ad
10/11/1986: First Multi-Bot newspaper ad
10/14/1986: Cliff Climber trademarked
10/14/1986: Scubattack trademarked
10/23/1986: First Monstroid newspaper ad
10/28/1986: Mosquitor copyright registered
10/28/1986: Ninjor copyright registered
10/28/1986: Scare Glow copyright registered
10/28/1986: Sorceress copyright registered
10/28/1986: Sssqueeze copyright registered
11/05/1986: First Extendar newspaper ad
11/05/1986: First Rio Blast newspaper ad
11/08/1986: First Horde Trooper newspaper ad
11/10/1986: Blast-Attak copyright registered
11/17/1986: H.E./M.A.N. concept, by James McElroy
11/23/1986: First Eternia Playset newspaper ad
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
1987
Megator concept, by Mark Jones, based on Mark Taylor’s Demo-Man concept – 1987. Image source: The Art of He-Man/The Power and the Honor Foundation
01/21/1987: The Evil Horde Slime copyright registered
01/28/1987: Snake Face copyright registered
02/02/1987: Artilleray copyright registered
02/02/1987: Beam Blaster copyright registered
02/02/1987: Blasterhawk copyright registered
03/14/1987: First Tyrantisaurus Rex newspaper ad
03/21/1987: First Blast Attak newspaper ad
03/21/1987: First Sorceress newspaper ad
03/21/1987: First Sssqueeze newspaper ad
04/04/1987: First Bionatops newspaper ad
04/04/1987: First Turbodactyl newspaper ad
04/15/1987: Saurod first use in commerce
04/15/1987: Megator first use in commerce
04/27/1987: Saurod trademarked
04/27/1987: Megator trademarked
04/28/1987: Bionatops copyright registered
04/28/1987: Turbodactyl copyright registered
05/18/1987: Laser Power He-Man concept art, by David Wolfram, based on design by Martin Arriola
06/22/1987: Regular Bio-Mechazoid Skeletor (early Laser Light) concept, by David Wolfram
07/22/1987: Battle Base concept for live action TV show, by Dave McElroy
08/08/1987: First Blade newspaper ad
08/08/1987: First Gwildor newspaper ad
08/08/1987: First Saurod newspaper ad
08/18/1987: Bio-Mechazoid Skeletor (revised Laser Light) concept, by David Wolfram
10/05/1987: Live action TV show vehicle concepts, by Dave McElroy
10/06/1987: Live action “Harm Arm” TV show vehicle concept, by Dave McElroy
11/11/1987: First Buzz-Saw Hordak newspaper ad
11/11/1987: First Rotar newspaper ad
11/11/1987: First Twistoid newspaper ad
??/??/1987: Megator concept/based on Mark Taylor’s Demo-Man, colored by Mark Jones
Thanks to Shawn for pointing me towards the CPI vs Mattel material.
“Death of Mark Taylor From Night Visitation.” Artwork by Colin Bailey, January 23, 1981. Given to Mark when he was working on his “dark project” (He-Man). Image courtesy of Rebecca Salari Taylor.
Want to support the blog? Consider becoming a Patreon supporter. You’ll also gain access to exclusive content and early access to posts on the blog. Thank you!
