For those of you who want to learn a bit more about the new Masters of the Universe Classics figure, known as Vikor, Poe Ghostal has posted an in-depth and simply glowing review of the action figure over at his site; Poe Ghostal's Points of Articulation. Head on over and check it out.
He even touches on the whole Conan/He-man myth (although he seems to agree with the whole Conan the Barbarian movie figures thing as a fallacy). But he does acknowledge the inspiration of Conan as noted in this original Vikor sketch from the late 70s...
In fact, while you're at it, swing on by Mark Taylor's website featuring a bunch of late 70s MOTU concept art (from which the original Vikor sketch came).
Also, if you want to put the myth to rest one and for all, I suggest reading Roger Sweet's book about the early days and development of He-man; Mastering the Universe. It's a tough read, and Sweet spends a lot of time bragging, but there are some very interesting insights to the early days of He-man's creation.
The plot thickens...
I left a post over there. I will not be addressing the CONAN/MOTU controversy here on CROM ...we're done with that and have moved on.
ReplyDeleteNeat article..very informative.
I'm going to do a more extensive write-up on the CPI/Mattel court case in a few weeks, but based on all the evidence I've come across over the years, I do think Masters of the Universe was already in development prior to Mattel exploring the Conan rights.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the link!
I'm with Poe on this. Thanks for stopping by, man!
ReplyDeleteHmmm...who likes toys more?
ReplyDeleteI read the Sweet book and enjoyed it. Working in the toy biz myself, I have to say some things haven't changed in thirty years.
ReplyDeleteThere's something that might require clarification. Sweet (who does brag a lot) created the TOY idea of this male action here, He-Man. Taylor created many of the sketches and designed the whole world and other characters, as well as the look of He-Man, based on his love of fantasy and adventure tales like Prince Valiant. To read just Sweet's book you'd think he created everything, but it was more than one man at work to create that whole toy Phenomenon.
ReplyDeleteHere = hero. Sorry!
ReplyDelete