It was roughly 35 long time ago that Mattel decided to do its own action - adventure toyline , to make up for its decision not to do Star Wars toy in 1977 . In an single excerption from the book The Art of He - Man and the Masters of the Universe , we ’ve got exclusive early sketches , plus the first He - Man pitch shot memo !
Above is early “ yield artwork ” for the first He - Man toon ever produce — which was n’t an episode of the Masters of the Universe TV show , but rather a commerical for Mattel ’s Castle Grayskull play band . The level of detail and rendering in that first effort at the characters was really gamy than that of the 65 - episode TV show that came afterwards .
This artwork comes from a new book calledThe Art of He - Man and the Masters of the Universe , being issue in April 2015 by Dark Horse . That leger is the fruits of the labor of thePower and Honor Foundation , a non - profit that aims to “ collect , archive , uphold , and educate the public about the originative origins of He - Man and the Masters of the Universe and She - Ra Princess of Power . ”
Below is another spreading from the book , control what reckon like the other pitch to Mattel for He - Man and the Masters of the Universe :
In that memo , lead decorator Roger Sweet ( usually credited with coming up with the concept ) writes :
It may be clip to usher in into the [ Mattel Action Figures ] line a new subject of “ phantasy make - trust . ” The theme would be orient towards Frizetta [ sic ] type figures possibly combined with parts of Conan , and Flash Gordon and Star Wars . Frizetta [ sic ] type subject field matter had no “ modern technology ” vehicles and accessories but these can be added within this theme . In increase giant ( Shogun sizing ) , mid - size of it and nine figures ( 1 1/2″ – 2″ ) can all be combined in this theme and make for with together .
So there you have it — the genesis of He - Man was basically taking Frank Frazetta and mashing his dash up with everything else that was popular . And it absolutely works .
Here ’s some amazing artwork , including a couplet of calling card - back artwork pieces explain the top executive of Stinkor ( TM ) and Moss Man ( TM ):
And here are a twosome of varlet of layouts , including Bob Kline ’s layout for the installment “ Colossor Awakes , ” which were so good and expressive , the show decided to apply barely any gillyflower animation for that one :
To retrieve out more about the Power and Honor Foundation , check outtheir website .
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