MOTU He-Man Mystery Figure

[hedrap]

So, there's a thread at He-Man.org that's about 15 years old, and it's dedicated to solving the mystery of one figure, a He-Man variant.



The legend goes this was a mail-in offer from Wonderbread, hence the nickname Wun-Dar. But no proof of a Wonderbread figure offer has ever been found. The closest was an offer for MOTU trading cards. This promo material popped up on eBay last year. The figure is stamped 1981, but all recollections has this guy pinned to a 1983 release.

He supposedly came polybagged with generic weapons. The insert card behind him is this one...



I'm wondering if the collective powers of the Museum can piece this together because when I see a figure in a polybag, there's only group of people to ask...

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[MRP]

There was an episode of Toy Hunter where Jordan tried to track down the story behind this when he found one up for sale. The only conclusion it came to is no one really knows. A local vintage toy shop near hear just ran into a half dozen of these and sold all 6 via his Instagram in a matter of hours.

-M

[Werewolf]

To the best of my knowledge the figure came with no accessories. The reddish brown weapons were included with some Man-E-Faces and black zodac armor and gun, often shown with the figure, are from the weapons pack.

I remember Toyguru/Scott Neitlich searching the Mattel archives for info. It is a real Mattel figure (though there are a ton of fakes and customs out there) and was most likely a random figure from a mail in or store offer. Definitely not Wonder bread. Other than that, not even Mattel knows. It also would not have been sent in a bag like that with the mail in card still in it.

[hedrap]

The debate seems to be "is this proto-Conan" which...I dunno.

I tend to believe it was either an all-purpose promo from a failed He-Man run or it was supposed to be this guy from the DC mini, which had just come out. The timing makes sense and this was apparently the bridge from the mini-comic depiction to the new version DC created, (ala Marvel/GI Joe). It's not Mattel was above cheap repurposing.

[Werewolf]

The debate seems to be "is this proto-Conan" which...I dunno.

I never bought into the Conan movie theory. I've heard Mattel did briefly have the license but chose not to pursue it do to the violence of the R-rated movie. Also, Mattel's work on MOTU pre-dates the Arnold Conan and the sculpt looks nothing like him. I think He-Man's head sculpt actually shares a lot of similarities to Pulsar which I believe was based on the likeness of a Mattel employee.

[hedrap]

^The licensing debate is interesting, especially after the 80's Mattel memo surfaced about securing property rights and how they needed a readymade toyline for whatever big movie falls their way.

The strangest coincidence is how the original prototypes and designs were this crazy infusion of fantasy and sci-fi, and that's exactly what the pre-Ahnuld Conan script, written by Oliver Stone, mixed together. I don't think any He-Man creators would know that, so there was a larger, cultural influence happening. It wasn't until Milius came on board, what we would call Thundarr, was scrapped for the Hyborean age.