Reading – The Art of Masters of the Universe Toy Design

Masters of the Universe* fans who have not already bought themselves a copy of The Power and the Honor Foundation Catalog Volume One: The Art of Masters of the Universe Toy Design need to stop looking at this post and go order a copy right now. The book costs $55 — which includes worldwide shipping — and is right here. Seriously, this is the book I wanted Mattel to publish instead of the flimsy book they produced (first mentioned here, he-man.org forum discussion here), but since I’ve now got this book I no longer feel the urge to search for Mattel’s official book.

Page After Page of Incredible Concept Art

This 160-page hardcover book is loaded with artwork. For a small sampling of the images in the book I posted 19 photos at Flickr, but that’s really just a taste of what’s in the book and doesn’t come anywhere near being a replacement for actually owning the book. What’s inside is a mix of character, vehicle, and playset concepts including several creations that never made it past the art stage.

And what’s even cooler is that some of the designs are being made into action figures in the current Masters of the Universe Classics line.* In the above image you can see the art that is transformed into Demo-Man, a figure set for release at Matty Collector in December. You can see photos of the figure at Action Figure Pics and Figures.com. Clearly I need that green dude!

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It’s an Umber Hulk!

I do not know Roger Sweet. All I know of him is what’s written in his Mastering the Universe book* and that book does not make Sweet sound like a friendly person. The battle between Sweet and Taylor, the two people claiming to have created Masters of the Universe, has been discussed many times before and it’s not something to get into but I will say that we’re all inspired by millions of things around us.

As an example I present the “Mandible Man” image above. That may be presented in this book as Sweet’s design, but that looks a hell of a lot like it went through the Advanced Dungeons and Dragons filter of the day and is a very close relative of the Umber Hulk (see umberhulk.com). This is by no means an exact match, but it’s close enough that I suspect the Mattel designers had stacks of AD&D books in their offices while working on this series in the early eighties.

And that’s not a bad thing. Reference is awesome and inspiration is vital to creativity. I just found it kinda funny that after hearing so many things written/said by Sweet about the brand and his contributions that one of his images is not all that distant from a fantasy monster that was created in the late seventies.

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Brain!

Above you can see my favorite character concept in the book, Brain by Ted Mayer. Mattel needs to create this character for their Masters of the Universe Classics series* or someone’s gonna have to craft me an amazing custom of the character because that four-armed, brain-skulled Horde member has gotta live on my shelves. There are a lot of fun character designs in the book, but this one is the best. You hear me, folks? The best!

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Playsets

A large section of the book covers playset designs, from giant contraptions that feature dragons to small pieces that are traps. I love all of the playset designs in the book, but the best of the bunch has got to be the concept art for playsets designed to be hung from doorknobs. The image above is one of two such playsets shown in the book, and it’s cool that both of them have winches and ladders to take advantage of the suggested height of the playset in relation to the floor. And looking at the designs I’ve gotta say that I expect some fan out there to attempt this concept in resin; there’s nothing there that a real artist couldn’t execute with resin, paint, and a hell of a lot of time.

I’ll take one, please!

Closing Thoughts

This is one impressive book and one that I really believe every Masters of the Universe* fan should own. The peek behind the curtain of the toy line’s creation and even during its height of popularity is well worth the $55 cost and anyone who has ever wanted a peek at toy design needs to see inside this book.

The book is still listed as available for reservations so trust me and order one today. You’re gonna regret it if you miss this . . . especially if a second volume comes out and you hear me drool and rattle on about how great that book is. Because everything I’ve seen in this first volume tells me that the people behind this project are true fans of the line and are going to do everything they can to make the next book at least as good as this one.

And this is one great book.