Frank Frazetta, the fantasy painter both Roger Sweet and Mark Taylor point back to. Pen-and-ink portrait by Graziano Origa (1997), CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons. No free image of the Masters of the Universe figures exists — they are Mattel IP.
Masters of the Universe
What it took directly
- statedMasters of the Universe answered Kenner's Star Wars figures, after Mattel turned down the Star Wars licence"He Man came about because Mattel had turned down Star Wars, and was desperate to come out with an action figure line to rival [Kenner’s] Star Wars line." Ted Mayer, Mattel designer on the line, interviewed by Adam McCombs, Battle Ram (Dec 2015)
- statedMasters of the Universe took from Mattel's research into how boys aged three to six play"We looked at boys ages three to six and found that, unlike girls, they spend a lot of time fantasizing about good vs. evil." Glenn Hastings, Mattel President, to TIME (January 1985)
- statedHe-Man took from Torak, Hero of Prehistory, Mark Taylor's own character"He-Man’s original name was Torak, Hero of Prehistory." Mark Taylor, Mattel designer, interviewed by Adam McCombs, Battle Ram (May 2016) — his account of He-Man's creation; Roger Sweet's differs
- statedHe-Man (the late-1980 presentation prototypes) took from a Mattel Big Jim figure, glued into a battle pose and built up with clay by Roger Sweet"I glued a Big Jim figure [from another Mattell toy line] into a battle action pose and I added a lot of clay to his body. I then had plaster casts made. These three prototypes, which I presented in late 1980, brought He-Man into existence." Roger Sweet, Mattel designer, to ToyFare #97 (Sept 2005), reprinted by The Sneeze — his account of He-Man's creation; Mark Taylor's differs
- documentedHe-Man (the presentation prototypes) took from Mark Taylor's character sketches, dressed onto a GI Joe by Roger Sweet"Mark did all the sketches of the various characters and Roger dressed up a GI Joe to look like Mark’s sketch for the big presentation." Ted Mayer, Taylor's colleague at Mattel, to Battle Ram (Dec 2015) — a third account, differing from Sweet's on both credit and the body used
- statedSkeletor took from a carnival scare ride's dropping, rattling skeleton figure"visually by a carnival scare ride with a skeleton like figure that dropped down and rattled (turned out to be a real mummified outlaw)" Mark Taylor, Mattel designer, interviewed by Adam McCombs, Battle Ram (May 2016)
- statedMer-Man took from Bernie Wrightson's Swamp Thing"(I based him on Bernie Wrightson’s Swamp Thing)" Mark Taylor, Mattel designer, interviewed by Adam McCombs, Battle Ram (May 2016)
- statedBattle Cat took from the toy tiger Mark Taylor had already used on Mattel's Tarzan line"I had used the Cat on the Tarzan line, I liked the sculpt but the 5.30″ He Man figures wouldn’t ride on him" Mark Taylor, Mattel designer, interviewed by Adam McCombs, Battle Ram (May 2016)
- statedSnake Mountain took from a drawing by Michael Halperin's oldest child, then 10"My oldest was 10 years old, but he was very good at drawing. So I asked him what he thought Snake Mountain would look like. And he actually drew a picture, and I gave that to the artists." Michael Halperin, writer of the series bible, to Jamie Greene, SYFY WIRE (Jan 2019)
- statedThe vehicles (Battle Ram, Wind Raider) took from the surface detail Ted Mayer had just been drawing on Star Wars"Also recently coming out of working on Star Wars, I added all the surface detail that we put on all the vehicles." Ted Mayer, Mattel designer on the line, interviewed by Adam McCombs, Battle Ram (Dec 2015)
What it learned to do
- statedMark Taylor learned from Hal Foster's comic strip, and the books of Burroughs and Howard"influenced by Hal Foster’s beautiful strip and Burroughs and Howard’s books." Mark Taylor, Mattel designer, interviewed by Adam McCombs, Battle Ram (May 2016)
- statedRoger Sweet's barbarian pitch learned from Frank Frazetta's paintings"I had been real impressed by Frank Frazetta paintings and I [submitted an idea] that I called monster fantasy. But it was actually a barbarian fantasy." Roger Sweet, Mattel designer, to ToyFare #97 (Sept 2005), reprinted by The Sneeze
- documentedThe box art (Rudy Obrero's paintings) learned from Frank Frazetta — Mark Taylor hired Obrero as the one painter who could paint like him"He was the only guy who could paint like Frank Frazetta" Mark Taylor, on why he hired Obrero, Battle Ram (May 2016) — Taylor's judgement, not Obrero's own words
- statedThe first He-Man figures learned from sculptor Tony Guerrero's extra step: a non-articulated 'beauty sculpt' made from the design sheet"This was Tony’s idea and without this extra step, the confidence in this “weird” concept wouldn’t have happened." Mark Taylor, Mattel designer, interviewed by Adam McCombs, Battle Ram (May 2016)
- statedCastle Grayskull's labels took from Rebecca Taylor's washes of Dr. Martin's dyes over line art"I used Dr. Martin’s Dyes and let the colors run and wash into the line art." Rebecca Taylor, who drew the labels, interviewed by Adam McCombs, Battle Ram (May 2016)
- statedThe figures' larger size answered the smaller GI Joe and Star Wars figures already on shelves"So I felt we would be making a big mistake if we tried to do everything the same size as what was in the marketplace for GI and Star Wars." Joe Morrison, Mattel VP of Marketing for boys' toys, to Blake Harris, /Film (Oct 2015)
The tradition it sits in
- statedHe-Man (as written for the series bible) comes from Beowulf — not Conan the Barbarian"I love Beowulf and thought he was an archetypal character when I thought of He-Man. So I based the character on Beowulf — not, as a lot of people think, on Conan the Barbarian." Michael Halperin, writer of the series bible, to Jamie Greene, SYFY WIRE (Jan 2019)
- statedZodac comes from Flash Gordon and the flying Vikings"I was influenced by Flash Gordon and the flying Vikings." Mark Taylor, Mattel designer, interviewed by Adam McCombs, Battle Ram (May 2016)
- statedSkeletor comes from Mexican Day of the Dead art and sculpture"also a lot of Mexican Day of the Dead art and sculpting." Mark Taylor, Mattel designer, interviewed by Adam McCombs, Battle Ram (May 2016)
- statedThe Battle Ram's design comes from the air shows, car concourses and hot-rod shows Mattel's designers went to as a group"We used to go to air shows, car concourse and hot rod shows as a group — a lot of testosterone going round. So the six big fat wheels, multiple exhaust pipes, Recaro-type seat, came out of that." Ted Mayer, Mattel designer on the line, interviewed by Adam McCombs, Battle Ram (Dec 2015)
- inferredMasters of the Universe comes from barbarian fantasy"And the third was what we were calling a "Barbarian theme."" inferred — Mattel's research named a "Barbarian theme" (Joe Morrison, /Film) and Roger Sweet called his pitch "a barbarian fantasy" (ToyFare), while Mark Taylor and Michael Halperin each say they steered away from Conan; nobody places the line in that genre in so many words
- inferredMasters of the Universe comes from Big Jim, Mattel's earlier, short-lived line for boys"We had done a character called Big Jim, which was mildly successful in the early 70s, but it didn't last long." inferred — Roger Sweet says he built the first prototypes on a Big Jim body, and Battle Ram's interviewer calls Battle Cat's base the Big Jim tiger; Tom Kalinske (/Film) names Big Jim as Mattel's earlier attempt. No one calls it the line's ancestor
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