dyscipleX and the Masters of the Universe

Posted on by dyscipleX

I’ve been doing my homework. Months ago, derryX announced he had an official mascot for derryX.com, Twitch, from Toy Story 3. He explained how it was a nod to the old Mattel He-Man figures, and reading that reminded me to look back at these toys.

He-man toys were pretty standard back in the day. They were your average action figure. Sometimes they did special things, like move their arms after winding them up and other strange things.

There were also some crazy figures.

Here are a few:

Faker - a palette swap of He-Man who smelled
Stinkor - who smelled repulsively
Mossman - who was made of an oddly furry material that would rub away and also smelled
Ram Man - who was made from a different plastic than any other figure
Man at Arms - who resembles Twitch a lot
Buzz - who also resembles Twitch a lot

There was the cartoon where all of these characters made their debut, and then the action figure line, which generated a lot of money, I’m sure. I didn’t stop nagging my parents to buy these things. They did draw a line; they didn’t buy anything that smelled. A few of my friends had those first few I listed, but I was never allowed. I did get Ram Man, but I never understood why he was made out of a hard plastic while everyone else was made out of a softer plastic.

I also didn’t understand the idea behind the slime pit in Skull Mountain. They actually sold the slime, and I had some. Once you put the toys in the slime, it was impossible to get it out of the joints. That makes sense to get people to buy more toys because the slime ruined them.

I remember these toys being under $5. In a recent walk through Walmart, I saw that the toys now are sometimes over $9. That’s pretty crazy. How are people able to afford these? I understand maybe a few a year, but if the kids are anything like I was, I used to nag and get a toy every month or so.

Ohh the good old days…

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5 thoughts on “dyscipleX and the Masters of the Universe”

  • Darth

    Mosquitor was my favorite. His chest was filled with fake blood and it moved around when you squeezed his legs together or something like that.

    And wasn’t the slime pit part of Snake Mountain? I don’t remember a Skull Mountain. I think you’re confusing it with Castle Grayskull.


  • Keith

    Hate to break it to you, but the toys came first. They were released in 81, with mini-comics telling the stories of the heroic battles forged on Eternia.

    The toy sales prompted the television series and additional waves of figures, She-Ra and the live action movie. Not to mention the reboot in the late 80s in The New Adventures of He-Man or the 2002 series produced for Cartoon Network (which I highly recommend).

    Mattel has also been releasing a collector’s line of toys called Masters of the Universe Classics, where they create highly articulated, modern representations of the the MOTU classic figures.

    Pretty good stuff.


    • derryX

      Holy crap those classic figures look amazing. All the ones I want are sold out, otherwise I would have just spent $200.

      If you ever meet my mom, I’ll have her tell you the story of Dom getting hit in the head with a Battle Cat figure back in 1986.


    • dyscipleX

      Thanks for the info. I really only got the toys once the TV shows came out. I guess that’s good advertising!


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