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by Jox on 15 Jul 2014, 21:00
by Jox on 27 Jul 2014, 10:19
These were very simple characters -- He-Man, Skeletor. There was never a back story for the comics, because we didn't feel the need to create one. Do you know the history of He-Man [the toy] -- how it came about?
HMT: Most of it. It was originally conceived as a Conan: The Barbarian line, right?
GC: Mattel was looking at the movies. There was another [toy] company doing the Star Wars toys.
HMT: Kenner.
GC: Kenner. Well, they were making them a lot of money from them. Then, there was a little science fiction film that came out called Alien.
HMT: With Sigourney Weaver (in panties and tanktop). Sure, I remember that. [And how!]
The conversation gets a little difficult to follow here.
At this point, the journalist in me steps out for a smoke, and the doe-eyed fanboy is too awe-struck to take any notes and trying desperately not to blow this.
What Mr. Cohn laid on me about MOTU's beginnings he heard directly from Mattel's people and most of it is pretty well known already -- to hardcore fans, at least. Mattel got licensed to do the[i] Alien toyline, and before you knew it, big, ugly hunks of plastic were being shipped off to toy retailers all over the States -- the Alien action figure. They were taller than nearly every other action figure you'd collected up to this point. In spite of high hopes that movie tie-in lightning would strike twice, Mattel's Alien line never took off the way Kenner's Star Wars toys did.
It tanked, and when the proposed Conan The Barbarian toyline promised a similar marketing disaster, He-Man and the Masters of the Universe were born.[/i]
GC: Have you ever seen Conan The Barbarian?
HMT: Oh yeah. There was quite a bit of nudity in Conan, wasn't it?
GC: Mm-hmm.
HMT: Like that scene, where Conan prostitutes himself to this sorceress in the desert. Remember -- there was this chick he meets before he hooks up with Sandahl Bergman?
GC: This was not a children's movie.
HMT: [Laughing.] What did Mattel's marketing team do, when they saw this?
GC: Mattel thought it had another Alien [toyline] on its hands. Well, they had to do something. They changed the names. The colors.
HMT: And the Masters of the Universe was born.
GC: [Chuckles.] He-Man. Beast Man. Skeletor ...
HMT: This was the biggest thing to happen to Mattel since G.I. Joe, right?
GC: They believed it might do well for a few years.
HMT: You're kidding! Only a few years? I guess Mattel figured it wasn't going to top STAR WARS.
GC: And Mattel missed out on the [licensing] to do the Star Wars toys.
HMT: I think Kenner did a pretty good job on those toys. I had most of the them. Clearly, Masters borrowed from that movie and a few others though, wouldn't you say?
GC: Absolutely.
HMT: There seem to be a lot of mythical and fantasy themes in the early MOTU minicomics. Where does all of that come from?
GC: I came at this from an American popular culture studies background -- it's what I majored in at Bolling Green (College), back in Ohio. Have you heard of popular culture studies?
by viendammage on 28 Jul 2014, 05:05
by Jox on 29 Jul 2014, 11:03
by Jox on 29 Jul 2014, 13:49
My first full time job in the industry was helping out with the graphics for Gremlin's Masters of the Universe - The Movie. The job was originally going to be freelance work but having shown the guys at Gremlin my 'portfolio' I was offered a full-time job with them. And so my career in the Games Industry proper began.
screenshot: City Streets
An 80's cinematic landmark realised in interactive form...
Masters of the Universe had been in development for some months when I came on board so my job was to join in and produce backgrounds and some sprites for the Atari ST version. Based upon the movie with Dolph Lundgren in the role of He-Man, the game comprised a number of different mini-games that were connected together by a scrolling shoot 'em up section that saw the player running around the streets of 1987 America blasting the evil Skeletor's henchmen. As He-Man made his way around the streets, his friends contacted him and ordered them to go to various locations to engage in the mini-games.
The hand-built title screen
These were an Operation Wolf-style shoot out outside an electrical store, a beat 'em up against 'Blade' and 'Beast Man' and a vertically scrolling shooter with He-Man on board a flying disk blasting yet more of Skeletor's minions. With all eight 'Chords' collected the player activated the 'Cosmic Key' and returned to He-Man's home planet of Eternia for one final beat 'em up against Skeletor himself.
(Bit of ridiculous trivia - in the days before affordable flatbed scanners, the title screen graphics were created by overlaying a piece of tracing paper with a grid on it over a copy of the movie poster and by hand laying down the image a pixel at a time...it took me two solid days, but it seemed to work! )
by Jox on 01 Aug 2014, 12:02
by Jox on 03 Sep 2014, 10:51
by Jox on 04 Oct 2014, 13:00
by savagesketch on 05 Oct 2014, 06:24
by Jox on 05 Oct 2014, 10:46
by savagesketch on 17 Oct 2014, 06:01
by Jox on 17 Oct 2014, 10:12
by Jox on 19 Nov 2014, 01:59
Jox wrote:Mattel and Dark Horse announced the publication of THE HART OF HE-MAN AND THE MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE, a book containing concept sketches, prototypes, behind-the-scenes material etc, including a chapter about the movie.
http://www.darkhorse.com/Blog/1798/sdcc ... man-and-ma
http://images.darkhorse.com/darkhorse/i ... HeMan1.jpg
http://images.darkhorse.com/darkhorse/i ... HeMan2.jpg
pre-order:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1616555920/
YOU HAVE THE POWER!
The Art of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe HC
Tim Seeley (W), Steve Seeley (W), and various artists
On sale Apr 15
FC, 304 pages
$39.99
HC, 9" x 12"
In 1982, the world was introduced to He-Man and the Masters of the Universe. What followed was a cultural sensation that changed the landscape of children’s entertainment forever! Join Mattel and Dark Horse in this comprehensive retrospective chronicling He-Man’s decades-long, epic journey from toy, to television, to film, to a true pop culture phenomenon!
• Includes rarely seen images of concept sketches, prototypes, restored art from master illustrator Earl Norem, and more from Mattel’s archives!
• Features interviews with Dolph Lundgren, Paul Dini, Erika Scheimer, and many more!
by Jox on 01 Dec 2014, 21:36
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