Masters of the Universe
Masters of the Universe is the clearest example of the 1980s toy-first model. Mattel had declined the Star Wars licence and needed its own action-figure property, so it designed the toys first and commissioned the fiction afterwards — with mini-comics packaged in the boxes doing the initial worldbuilding, and the Filmation cartoon following in 1983 to advertise the line.
About Masters of the Universe
Masters of the Universe is the clearest example of the 1980s toy-first model. Mattel had declined the Star Wars licence and needed its own action-figure property, so it designed the toys first and commissioned the fiction afterwards — with mini-comics packaged in the boxes doing the initial worldbuilding, and the Filmation cartoon following in 1983 to advertise the line. The setting is a deliberate mixture of sword-and-sorcery and science fiction, on the reasoning that children would play with barbarians and spaceships together regardless of genre coherence. The cartoon's closing moral segments, added partly to satisfy critics of programme-length toy commercials, are now the most-parodied element of the whole property.
Mattel turned down the Star Wars toy licence, then built this line to compete with it.
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Key eras
| Era | Years | What happened |
|---|---|---|
| Toys and mini-comics | 1982–1983 | The figures ship before any screen fiction exists. |
| Filmation cartoon | 1983–1985 | The series that fixed the characters and added the moral codas. |
| Revivals | 1987– | A live-action film, then repeated animated relaunches. |