by Adam McCombs
If you look through newspaper archives for Masters of the Universe advertising, you see a steady evolution of the size and sophistication of posted ads. In the first year of the line, most of the ads took up little space on the page and relied mainly on cross sell, license kit, and line art. Later ads would include more photos and take up much more print area.
In Part 1, I posted every unique ad I could find from May (the earliest month for which I could find ads) until the end of September 1982. In Part 2 I showed ads from October and part of November. In this final installment I’ll be showing ads finishing out the rest of 1982. There’s also a bonus MOTU-related Christmas article at the end of the series. Enjoy!
Iowa City Press Citizen, November 17, 1982:
Kenosha New, November 17, 1982:
Daily News, November 18, 1982:
Herald and Review, November 18, 1982:
The Sacramento Bee, November 18, 1982:
Daily News, November 19, 1982:
Daily News, November 21, 1982:
Hattiesburg American, November 21, 1982:
Herald and Review, November 21, 1982:
Stevens Point Journal, November 24, 1982:
The Daily Oklahoman, November 24, 1982:
Santa Maria Times, November 25, 1982:
St. Joseph News Press Gazette. November 25, 1982:
The Boston Globe, November 25, 1982:
The Daily Herald, November 25, 1982:
Sunday News, November 28, 1982:
Daily News, December 2, 1982:
The Evening Sun, December 3, 1982:
The Morning Call, December 3, 1982:
Tucson Citizen, December 3, 1982:
The Miami Herald, December 4, 1982:
Dayton Daily News, December 5, 1982:
Albuquerque Journal, December 8, 1982:
Star Tribune, December 8, 1982:
The Capital Times, December 8, 1982:
The Dispatch, December 8, 1982:
Daily News, December 9, 1982:
Intelligencer Journal, December 9, 1982:
The Morning Call, December 9, 1982:
Wisconsin State Journal, December 9, 1982:
Tallahassee Democrat, December 12, 1982:
The Daily Advertiser, December 16, 1982:
The Arizona Republic, December 22, 1982:
Bonus:
This feature in the December 4th issue of The New Mexican talks about the hottest selling toys of 1982 Christmas season. The back of the first edition Castle Grayskull box is shown prominently:
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HA! The Dayton one where the Heroic Warriors are standing around a beaten Skeletor!
That one looks like ten seconds away from a real vicious beating.
I think the one from The Daily Oklahoman, November 24, 1982 is my favorite from this batch. Also cool to see one from my hometown newspaper, the Hattiesburg American, show up here! Of course, it’s one of the blandest ones, which suits the place, honestly, haha.
Yeah, the Daily Oklahoman is a great one, too!
The Daily News, November 19/21, 1982 ones have what looks like a late-stage prototype Teela – pretty much there for the final release but still carries her earlier version of the shield. Half-boots Skeletor makes a coupe of appearances, too.
I didn’t twig for a moment that Santa Maria Times, November 25, 1982’s Weapons Set was one of those kid-sized weapons thing; I thought it was some limited Man-E-Weapons-esque weapons bonus featuring a glow-in-the-dark Power Sword we’d previously not heard about!
The The Daily Oklahoman, November 24, 1982 illustration is interesting in that it shows a very figure-accurate battle, don’t think I’ve seen that image anywhere else, but yeah, that Dayton Daily News, December 5, 1982 one is classic, looking like Skeletor is about to get a real kicking! (I’m guessing the fact that ‘Evil Cosmic Enforcer’ Zodac is shown siding with the Heroic Warriors this early on I’d image to likely be a fluke, as for many of these early shots the photographers would often guess and characters would be seen fighting for the wrong side!)