FANS RALLY TO SAVE HE-MAN FRANCHISE

[MattBrady]

<i>Press Release</i>

<blockquote>Fans from the popular site www.he-man.org are rallying support to save the Masters of the Universe franchise in the United States.

Relaunched in the summer of 2002, the new toy line has received rave reviews from critics and fans alike. The new cartoon and comic have also received praise as well, and are strong fan favorites. But all of this could change.

Despite a large following with adults and collectors, the new toy and cartoon did not appear to find its intended audience with children. After numerous reports of the toy line being dropped by major retailers, no reports of new figures debuting this spring, and the cartoon airing one day a week in syndication, fans of this brand are joining together in an effort to keep Masters in production for the extensive collector community.

"Masters of the Universe is a brand that has a very large and very passionate following," says Val Staples, writer of the Masters of the Universe comic and administrative contact for He-Man.org. "As a fellow fan, I can say without a doubt that the huge Masters fan base has been dreaming about this kind of relaunch for over a decade."

Mattel has a history of producing toys that are primarily child-oriented. And thankfully this has struck home with international markets, as both children and adults appear to be taking to the relaunch. But Masters in the U.S. has not been as fortunate. And since Mattel does not specialize in collector-oriented toys, fans fear that Masters may be gone for good in the U.S.

"We know this line would have a long and successful life in the U.S. as a collector and fan-oriented brand." added Staples. "The fans won't stop until Mattel realizes this."

He-Man.org has started an online petition as one way of sending Mattel their message. The petition is just one of a few measures they have planned to let Mattel know about their love for this property.

"We take this very seriously. Masters is our passion. It's just as important to us as the hobbies and collections embraced by millions of others," says Staples. "We set out to create a petition that proudly displays the names and comments of every unique Masters fan and their love for this property. We hope our efforts might ensure that fans across the globe will look forward to not only new toys, but new cartoon episodes or specials, comics, and more."

The fans of He-Man.org hope that other fans who enjoy Masters of the Universe will add their names to the petition, and join them in the other events to raise Mattel's awareness.

You can sign the petition at:
http://www.he-man.org/petition/
and you can track regular updates about the Masters of the Universe brand and the efforts of its fans at
http://www.he-man.org/ </blockquote>

[stlfan79]

This is suprising to me. Although I have never been one to collect toys, its seems to me that they are doing well. My niece has shitloads of the new He-Man toys and always watches the cartoon when on. Its sad to see that the franchise isn't doing well.

[tralfaz]

Mattel has a history of producing toys that are primarily child-oriented. And thankfully this has struck home with international markets, as both children and adults appear to be taking to the relaunch. But Masters in the U.S. has not been as fortunate. And since Mattel does not specialize in collector-oriented toys, fans fear that Masters may be gone for good in the U.S.

thats really stupid. dont they realize that toy buying has changed over the years?

[Fazhoul]

Originally posted by tralfaz
thats really stupid. dont they realize that toy buying has changed over the years?
If they do they don't seem to care.

[TheColdEsq.]

quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Originally posted by tralfaz
thats really stupid. dont they realize that toy buying has changed over the years?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


If they do they don't seem to care.
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Or there is much more money to be made by selling two million of them to kids than there is to be made by selling twenty thousand of them to collectors.

Also, you are right the toy buying has changed. Kids buy tons of toys that are popular to them while a dwindling number of adults continue to buy the toys that were popular when they were kids.

[yikescomics.com]

Collectors supporting a franchise is not unheard of, as more kids would most likely play with HeMan than they would 12 inch Joes. The most popular lines during Christmas at mass market retailers were Beyblades, Power Rangers, and Transformers.

All are based on one simple premise: No main character. Yes, it's called "Masters of the Universe" but there is only one MAIN charactor that does the same thing in every episode. Once a kid has a Heman and Skeletor and all they see in a store is Heman and Skeletor then that's all they're going to want to get.

The original HeMan line only lasted in popularity thru 5 or 6 series and although the later series are sought by collectors now, there was no interest when they came out. Team-based concepts and lines with multiple characters (continuous, not all rehashed) are the lines that will survive.

Lord of the Rings is a more popular franchise than HeMan - WITH KIDS. That tells you there is something HeMan is not doing.

I like HeMan as much as the next guy and collect the figures but unless the marketing changes and more characters play lead roles, the inevitable will happen.

Maybe another (but better!) live action movie...?

[OM]

...Kids, this is Mattel. I know people who've worked there, and unless it's Barbie or Hot Wheels, they're going to take about as much interest in promoting products that don't immediately take off on word-of-mouth as DC gave books like <i>Orion</i>. Right now, the only thing that's swell about Mattel is the heads of their marketing goons and the suits they provide lipservice to. If anyone at Mattel had a clue that could make decisions, they'd have pushed He-Man more than they did.

Hell, if they had <i>half</i> a fucking clue, they'd be doing a new generation of <i>Major Matt Mason</i> figures at a 3.5" scale, where we old first-generation Astrobuffs can put up space station in our cubes w/o really looking retarded...

[mpg]

Originally posted by yikescomics.com
Collectors supporting a franchise is not unheard of, as more kids would most likely play with HeMan than they would 12 inch Joes. The most popular lines during Christmas at mass market retailers were Beyblades, Power Rangers, and Transformers.

All are based on one simple premise: No main character. Yes, it's called "Masters of the Universe" but there is only one MAIN charactor that does the same thing in every episode. Once a kid has a Heman and Skeletor and all they see in a store is Heman and Skeletor then that's all they're going to want to get.

The original HeMan line only lasted in popularity thru 5 or 6 series and although the later series are sought by collectors now, there was no interest when they came out. Team-based concepts and lines with multiple characters (continuous, not all rehashed) are the lines that will survive.

Lord of the Rings is a more popular franchise than HeMan - WITH KIDS. That tells you there is something HeMan is not doing.

I like HeMan as much as the next guy and collect the figures but unless the marketing changes and more characters play lead roles, the inevitable will happen.

Maybe another (but better!) live action movie...?

honestly, you couldnt be more wrong..

the reason he-man didnt last was because the toys they were producing had absolutely no tie in to the show. people had no reason to care, unless they were die hard fans.

the problem wasnt with having a main character, the problem was two fold

1) the horrible allocation of the figures. 4 he-mans, 1 stratos 1 man-at-arms. the adult fan comes in , swoops up the 2 stratos and man-at-arms, then looks at the 8 he-man's ont he pegs and says "now, why should i buy him now for 7.99, when he will certainly be 4.99 in a few months??" the causal and new fans of the show, say children, see the 8 he-mans, ask for 1, and that is it.

2) the retailer (target,wal-mart, etc) see that they arent making any money on this line, especially having to slash the prices in half to get all those damn he-mans and skeletor variations of the shelf, so they have no motivation pick them up again.

if mattel woudl have evenly or even more fairly allocated the figs, the fans and the retailers wouldnt have been screwed. do you realize how many people would purchase an evil lynn or a teela figure for 7.99 off the shelf?

kids love variety. if a kid saw beastman, merman, stratos, man-at-arms, ram-man, teela, evil lynn, mekanek next to heman and skeletor on the shelves, things woudl have been different

i gave my gf's 5 yr old nephew 4 he-man figures for x-mas. he never even saw the show, but he went nuts with glee.

i got hooked on heman when i was a kid, and that show was awful. the present show is actually very well done. lots of action, story, etc. if i was a kid right now, i am pretty sure i would like some motu's to choose from

[Wrath]

NO kidding!!

I swear toy makers pack the boxes HORRIBLE!!


look at the HULK line of figs... HOW MANY HULKS DO YOU NEED!!?!?!!


If i was a kid I want something for my hUlk to beat up.... well he can beat up my Heman figure cause that is the only Masters of the universe figure they sell ... it seems

but they sell like 5 versions of him... or more. WHO CARES!?!

i dont need action battle arm heman with glowing chest symbol with kung fu grip

VARIETY is what makes toy lines fun. Also having the HOT figure come one in a box is stupid

Same goes with GI JOE... come on how hard is it to understand that SNAKE EYES is the most popular character... um I would love to see more than one in a box so that MAYBE i can get a chance of getting one with out some TOY MONGER snatching it up to sell on EBAY

The toy collector market is not what it use to be 5 years ago... a lot of people just got caught up in the hype of toys for adults... its great time for real collectors .. they dont have as much competition for the few cool figs out there

For some reason toy companies feel that kids dont buy Female action figures as much as male figures.. that is why you dont see a lot of teela and evil lynn.. what boy would play with a doll?

silly mattel

Chicks are for kids :P

[Marc Patten]

Originally posted by mpg

1) the horrible allocation of the figures. 4 he-mans, 1 stratos 1 man-at-arms. the adult fan comes in , swoops up the 2 stratos and man-at-arms, then looks at the 8 he-man's ont he pegs and says "now, why should i buy him now for 7.99, when he will certainly be 4.99 in a few months??" the causal and new fans of the show, say children, see the 8 he-mans, ask for 1, and that is it.

2) the retailer (target,wal-mart, etc) see that they arent making any money on this line, especially having to slash the prices in half to get all those damn he-mans and skeletor variations of the shelf, so they have no motivation pick them up again.

if mattel woudl have evenly or even more fairly allocated the figs, the fans and the retailers wouldnt have been screwed. do you realize how many people would purchase an evil lynn or a teela figure for 7.99 off the shelf?

kids love variety. if a kid saw beastman, merman, stratos, man-at-arms, ram-man, teela, evil lynn, mekanek next to heman and skeletor on the shelves, things woudl have been different.

I couldn't agree more. As a consultant in the toy and collectibles world, companies like Mattel or Hasbro often only look at the immediate or short term picture for a new brand or relauch. The company spent so much time pushing the brand to collectors in the toy magazines, but really never pushed it or marketed it well to the kids in the mass market. they aimed the chase paint variations at collectors too obviously, and now since stores aren't carrying the new stuff, even the collectors can't find stuff to buy it.

I mean really, what did they expect, they reissued all those old figures as a test, and then pushed a new line at the San Diego Comic Con two years ago. Fans went nuts, and they subsequently got a deal for a new show during the producion of the pilot movie. They should try and sell the show in syndication for new outlets, to keep the brand going.

Rumor has it that the brand has a new brand manager who will streamline the line and continue to produce toys for the specialty markets, but it seems that the desire to support the brand for kids has wained. Too bad really, as I agree, my nephew loves the show and the toys, but he was always frustrated that you could never find any characters on the shelf that weren't He-Man or Skeletor. Kids can't buy what isn't offered to them. The old marketing strategy for toys assortments used to be, if you make one figure scarcer the kid is more likey to keep dragging Mom back to the store to find it and buy something regardless--that doesn't hold water anymore, as collectors scoop up the cool or short packed figures way before little Johnny can ever get there.

Give me a call, Mattel, and I'd be glad to give you some advice on how to market the Master's Brand to kids AND adults to financial success.

Marc Patten
President, Destination Entertainment, LLC

[mpg]

Originally posted by Marc Patten
Give me a call, Mattel, and I'd be glad to give you some advice on how to market the Master's Brand to kids AND adults to financial success.

Marc Patten
President, Destination Entertainment, LLC

can i pick up the other line and be on mute??

[FigNewton]

The handling of Master's of the Universe has been the single biggest disappointment to me in the toy world of the last few years. I've been less active in my toy buying since graduating college - I just don't have the time to go toy hunting, and DEFINITELY can't make those store openings in the mornings. Hasn't happened in at least 4 years, not happening any time soon.

I wanted to be in love with the new Master's line. But as many have outlined here - all you ever see on the shelf are He-man and Skeletor variations. Hell, you can't even find a standard He-man anymore, just ten thousand armor/deco variations that have no real point.

And don't even get me started on the figure exclusives.

[Val]

True enough, the case distribution was... well.. not so good.

We don't ever expect to see the toys return to the major retail accounts.
But if we can get Mattel to focus on the creators and work to micro manage this line a bit, we'll also work on getting some good case assortments.

They actually did get better here on the last few assortments...
Some 1:1:1:1:1:1 and 2:2:1:1 cases.
But it seems a bit too late for the major accounts.

I'm a geek, I know.
But I love MOTU. :)
It doesn't just stop at the comics we're doing.

[FIG]

If they want the He-Man toys to sell, they have to realize that those toys are going up against the McFarlane toys and the highly poseable G.I.Joes. G.I.Joes in my days were the sh!t and still are. The fact that they're 3 inches tall and can be posed like real humans makes them better than almost any action figure out there. The problem with McFarlane toys is that they aren't fully poseable, they're more like detailed statues. I'd say that the He-Man toys should be modeled directly from Emiliano Santaluccias detailed renditions from the comic and the toys should be smaller, be as poseable as G.I.Joes and have that McFarlane Toys detail. Then you'd have adults flocking to those toys. Maybe even possibly do realistic versions of He-Man, showing him more as a barbarian and less as a cartoon. Whatever the case I'm glad the comics still doing good because it kicks ass each and every month.

[Redmond]

I don't buy figures, but having seen those I have to say that not only do they look way nice. The artists working on those have really given it their all. And it takes alot for me to admit that I think this publicly.

[Chris]

I started buying the figures when they first came out, but after a while, I realized that I never SAW most of them... so I just gave up. I think I still have the first few around here...

If they had packed the cases evenly, and had some variety, I'd still be buying them right now. I even had a place on my display case set aside, but now... well... I'm glad I don't have a problem buying Transformers (Except for Energon Ultra Magnus! He continues to evade me!).



Chris

[Darth Presley]

Stop me if I'm wrong, but...

I remember something really unusual about He-Man's launch and success in the 80s....

On the heels of Reagan Era de-regulation, the toy companies discovered a unique opportunity. They created a toy-line concept, partnered with an animation studio to create a series, and then offered that series in syndication to then independent TV stations (like WPIX 11 in NY) as afternoon or morning kiddie programming. The twist was that all the stations that signed up got a piece of the action on toy sales in their market. So the cartoon was basically an infomercial.

I believe this formula was also used for the 80s relaunch of GI Joe and series like BraveStarr, etc...
But He-Man was the first.

I think (but I'm not sure) that outrage over this shameless, cynical, and bass-ackward way of making a buck on the backs of kids inspired new regulations to combat it BUT if it worked once...

Anyway, since I was into my late teens when MOTU debuted and I found out about this scheme, I never felt any "love" for the character or toys but did somebody mention Major Matt Mason? and Callisto? Groovy Ghoolies? Korg 70,000 BC?!?!?