Vintage Mattel Price Lists

Written by Adam McCombs

I was recently able to acquire three vintage Mattel price lists, which I thought would make good material for an article. I was able to grab examples of both A and B price lists. My understanding is that one of them was for big retailers, and the other was for mom and pop stores, although I’m not sure which is which. In any case, these documents, intended for retail buyers, provide a nice snapshot of the vintage Masters of the Universe and Princess of Power lines. I was only able to pick up 1982, 1983 and 1985, but if I ever find more price lists, I will update this article.

1982 Price List: A Price

This list includes all of the toys for 1982, including the two gift sets (He-Man/Battle Cat and He-Man/Wind Raider). There is no mention of the JCPenney two packs. Maybe there was a separate order form for them. Pages with Masters of the Universe toys have a red star on the bottom left corner (click to enlarge). Stores could order boxes of a single specific toy or boxed assortment of toys (the contents of the assortments were not always specified). Single figures cost $3.25 but would retail at $5 or $6.

MOTU Toys

Battle Ram
Castle Grayskull
He-Man
Man-At-Arms
Skeletor
Beast Man
Zodac
Teela
Mer-Man
Stratos
Battle Cat
He-Man & Battle Cat
MOTU Assortment #1
Wind Raider
He-Man & Wind Raider
MOTU Assortment #2
MOTU Assortment #3

1983 Price List: B Price

This list includes all of the toys for 1983, including gift sets like Skeletor/Panthor and Teela/Zoar. There is no mention of the JCPenney two packs. Maybe there was a separate order form for them. Pages with Masters of the Universe toys have a red star on the bottom left corner (click to enlarge). Stores could order boxes of a single specific toy or boxed assortment of toys (the contents of the assortments were not always specified).

Interestingly there were two options for Man-E-Faces. You could purchase a box of 12 of the regular Man-E-Faces, or a box of 6 of the “promo” version, which would have been the special version with the five extra weapons. The cost per figure was the same either way. “Savage He-Man” or Special Edition He-Man (now called Wun-Dar in modern lines) doesn’t appear because he could not be ordered directly from stores. Instead consumers would have to collect three proofs of purchase and mail them directly to Mattel to get their free brown-haired He-Man figure. Mekaneck doesn’t appear either. He was really a third wave figure who was rushed out early for December 1983, and he was not in the original plan for 1983, as far as I can tell. Single figures cost $3.67, but would retail at $5 or $6.

Tri-Klops and Trap Jaw appear as a “fall promo” – presumably these were the versions that came with the glow-in-the-dark warrior ring.

Here are the promo and regular versions of Man-E-Faces, for reference (images via https://lcgauctions.com/):

MOTU Toys

Battle Ram
Castle Grayskull
Zoar
“Triclops” Fall Promo
Trap Jaw Fall Promo
Pt. Dread
Faker
Skeletor & Panthor
Skeletor & “Screech”
Evil-Lyn
“Screech”
Panthor
Teela & Zoar
Screeech/Zoar
Panthor/Cat
He-Man
Man-At-Arms
Skeletor
Beast Man
Zodac
Teela
Mer-Man
Stratos
Battle Cat
He-Man & Battle Cat
MOTU Assortment #1
Wind Raider
He-Man & Wind Raider
MOTU Assortment #2
“Attack” Trak
Man-E-Faces
Man-E-Faces Promo
Ram Man

1985 Price List: A Price

This list includes all of the toys for 1985, including gift sets like Battle Armor Skeletor & Land Shark. There is no mention of the JCPenney two packs. Maybe there was a separate order form for them. Pages with Masters of the Universe and Princess of Power toys have a red star on the bottom left corner (click to enlarge).Stores could order boxes of a single specific toy or boxed assortment of toys (the contents of the assortments were not always specified). Single figures cost $3.85, but would retail at $5 or $6.

This list also includes Masters of the Universe and Princess of Power adventure books. Ram Man, Zodac and Point dread don’t appear on this order form because Mattel had discontinued them after 1984.