Masters of the Universe 1987 the end of line.

[Werewolf]

Speaking of odd variants from the 2002 line...



This one is so bizarre it has actually gained kind of a following over the years. You know it's really not that bad. In my opinion there's actually far worse He-man and Skeletor variants in the 2002 line.

[hedrap]

As we all know the 80s were a different toy culture from lets make Batman in every possible color. Super Powers got one figure of Batman and Superman. That would never happen now.

The He-Man and Skeletor variants were not poor sellers. Battle Armor He-man and Battle Armor Skeletor sold especially well. But if a kid could only have one He-Man and one Skeletor they are always going to go for the original versions first. The deluxe Thunder Punch and Dragon Blaster Skeletor figures also cost more. From what I understand 85 was a very strong Year for MOTU. Things started to sour in 86 when they absolutely flooded the market with new figures and vehicles. Kids could not find He-Man, Skeletor, Beastman, Trapjaw, Battle Cat etc. and became frustrated. It's not that they didn't like the new characters. They did, they were just WAY over shipped.

I do think the line was cancelled too soon and Mattel could have righted the ship. They must have thought so as well because not long after they rebooted the brand with the NA line.

Just as personal opinion I do feel there was a bit of disconnect between some of the designers and engineers at Mattel and what kids liked about the line. Kids loved the characters and the action features were an added bonus but not the main selling feature. The designers felt the action features were the main selling point and were always looking for the next gimmick to build a figure around.

This had me thinking because a toy company is only going to cancel a line when revenue drops. For MOTU, revenue is coming from two arms: toys and cartoons. Filmation stops new production by 85 and goes into re-runs until it heads to cable in 89-90. From 86-89, rerun MOTU would not have a prime syndicated slot which means weaker ad buyrates. Now that drop in revenue would be substantial and coincides with the lines end in 87.

So I decided to cross reference the JCP Christmas catalog with Mattel's toy retailer, from 82-87.

Individual Figure Prices/New Releases
82 - 4.00/ 8chr
83 - 4.50/ 6chr
84 - 5.00/ 11chr
85 - 5.50/ 14chr
86 - 6.00/ 14chr
87 - 5.00/ 15chr

Deluxe Figures
85 (Thunder Punch) - 8.00
86 (Flying Fists) - 6.00

Mattel was producing more new products after Filmation's original run than during. That matters because free station advertising for the cartoon would have been heavily reduced for reruns, while Mattel would have had to pay out more for new marketing (tv commercials) due to all the new product. Following this, Mattel went all in after Filmation, then yanked the plug. I can certainly see how overpriced, gimmicked He-Man's wouldn't sell and thereby drag the entire line down, but any demand for standard He-Man and Skeletor wouldn't have made a difference considering how may had already been sold from 82-85.

To me, it looks like Mattel had a solid seller thanks to the packaging and DC mini-series. Filmation and the weekday syndicated timeslot put it over the top. The cartoon then changed the perception of what MOTU was and the toy line kinda/sorta matched it. It went to reruns while Mattel went all in on new products, and it tanked.

[Werewolf]

Mattel has been on record stating they way over shipped some assortments and failed to keep popular figures like original He-Man and original Skeletor on the pegs. The two main characters are needed for kids just getting into the brand and also for kids replacing ones they lost or broke. Like Enyawd said they even mentioned it again in reference to the 2002 line when they overcompensated in the other direction. That's just what happened.

[melstapler]

I recall finding the Laser Light figures by accident at a U.S. discount toy store located in an outlet mall around 1990 or so. That store had lots of MOTU figures and some of the vehicles, in addition to many other brands including a large number of the 3 inch GI Joe figures from the 80s which were already out of production and difficult to find by 1990. Their figures came from factory cases and were MOC.

[scott metzger]

MOTU was the next big line I got fully into after Mego. Got the issue of DC Comics Presents which introduced them, saw on the letters page that they were new figures coming out. Drove around after class for a week until I found them at Wards. I remember being disappointed at the scale when I actually found them, having hoped they'd be in the 8" range. Still went all in on them, and they became my other favorite property alongside the DC Universe after the cartoon premiered. Some of the prices for these later figures are getting shocking on eBay of late (although I think Scratch the Cat from Turtles has to take the prize for most bat-poop crazy prices for a vintage 80's/90's action figure).