Inducted Year: 2022
The story of Masters of the Universe begins in 1979 when Ray Wagner of Mattel formed a Male Action Team to explore creation of the company’s next big action figure line. The company recognized that it needed to compete with the success of Kenner’s Star Wars action figures. Roger Sweet, a member of the team, added modeling clay to bulk up Big Jim. In turn, Mattel illustrator Mark Taylor developed the proposed aesthetics for the action figure and, voila, He-Man was born.
Mattel premiered their Masters of the Universe action figures with an elaborate back story in mini comic book form. The comic books supplied a wealth of characters as potential toys and soon Mattel and Filmation launched an animated television series based on them. The cartoon series, which aired from 1983 to 1985 and featured a bold style and comical voices, further shaped and enforced the commercial power of Masters of the Universe characters.
Over the decades, Masters of the Universe has enjoyed significant popularity, in part, because Mattel used comic books, television, and the big screen to create a cohesive world for its toys and related consumer products. New variations and characters were regularly added to the line to keep the toys in front of the kids. In 2021, Mattel entered a licensing agreement with Olmec Toys and Yla Eason to add Sun-Man into the line. Sun-Man was initially released in 1986 as a Black action figure that did not use violence to defeat evil, but instead used intelligence. The team at Mattel understood that kids like the opportunity to project themselves into the role of the heroes. Masters of the Universe characters had the strength, weapons, and power to defeat the villain. He-Man, after-all, regularly asserted “I have the power.”