Secrets of Battle Armor He-Man from the MOTUC toy line - the hidden connection to Hot Wheels
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 3 май 2020
- Scott ToyGuru Neitlich provides Director's commentary on the MOTUC Battle Armor He-Man and also discusses the history and importance of this figure from the vintage line, including the secret origin of his action feature!
Развлечения
Battle Armor He-Man was the figure you got as a kid when your parents were the type who didn't get the first wave of a toy line back in the day. A lot of my friend/classmates had the classic Skeletor and He-Man while I got Battle Armor version of both..waaaaay later after the original versions left the shelves.
This was my Christmas present when I was 5. My big brother had BA Skeletor. Down the line I get regular He-Man but the first one has a special place into my heart.
It is amazing how for so many people this was the very first He-Man!
I always thought it would be cool to have a Battle Armor Hordak. Hordak did have a handful of variants, but I think it would have been really cool. The Horde emblem would have been a perfect fit for the battle armor. Anyways, another great video. Love this series.
Battle armor I think would have worked for a lot of different figures. If time had permitted!
When I was a kid I had BA He-Man and BA Skeletor, but not their regular versions.
So many did!
It's funny how they almost became the default versions of the characters after a while, at least in promotional material
@@Canoby in fact I think BA were the versions regularly sold at stores in later years of the 80s, at least here in my country.
@@TheBigOrangeCat IIRC I think they started including the BA variants of both figs with vehicles too... I'm sure they were on the shelves in various forms during the vintage run than the original "vanilla" figs for both characters
Yep. Same. It was hard to find the vanilla versions if you didn't get them first year.
I just found the MOTU Classics thunder punch He-man! It's my first MOTU Classics figure and it's still mint on card and unopened. I also have an original battle armor Skeletor and I remember vividly winding He-man up and letting him punch Skeletor in the chest 😂🤣great video
Ah the smell of a cap going off and He-Man punching. Brings back so many memories...
My first MOTU fig was the OG Skeletor. I got several of the first wave, but I never managed to snag the original He-Man. So for me as a kid, Battle Armor He-Man WAS my He-Man. Plus, he just looks cooler with some armor on him.
Many people have this memory
I forgot about this at some point when some random internet person was complaining about the Revelation’s change in design for He-Man.
This is the origin of that armor design.
Yup. It started here
My favourite action feature was definitely Mosquitor! But I also loved Roboto’s translucent torso and working gears!
And we did that in Classics! Took a LOT of work.
LOL! The art you put up when you were talking about "inappropriate" action features. I laughed so hard.
I do try...
I never had the standard He-Man growing up, but I did/still have Battle Armor He-Man. I still have both standard and BA Skeletor.
Yeah, BA versions I think were the "standard" version for a lot of folks.
found my old Classics BAHM lying around while digging up stuff tonight; instantly felt like watch some old reviews on it, here! ended up lining up my old vintage one with the Origins one as well.. 1980s-2010s-2020s lol.. Battle-Armors Assembled/United at last!! 😁😄🙌👍👍
Doing BAHM in Classics must be such a impactful/dream-like moment for you back then, Scott!
That is an awesome toy to hang onto
I think that the Battle armor He Man is one of the best figures of all time. I had mine even today , it is an aurimatt from 1982 !! To me The BA HeMan was the epithome of perfection and now that iam a well grow man its more special for me to see my Classics BA He Man alongside my vintage and origins figures, its looks awesome , and i feel happyness and satisfaction always. I have my Skeletor BA too in classics vertion and origins, i really think that those figures will never be surpassed for any other toy. EVER!!
I'm going to throw this out there (only 2 mins into the video), Battle Armor He-Man was only popular, because the original was never re-released. This was the only way I could get He-Man and Skeletor as a kid. Couldn't find the originals in the stores.
Oh that is an excellent point and a big reason for the implosion of the line in 86
Battle Armor He-Man was the very first He-Man toy I got back in the 1980s. Now I have two versions of him from the Origins line.
That is true for many motu fans!
Great video, bringing back some great memories! You even included my first-ever "Star Wars" figure, Greedo!
I used to put a cup on my mouth and pretend I was Greedo...
Whoops. Accidentally signed in on the wrong account, there!
I never had Battle Armor He-man as a kid for one simple reason. I'm not sure why, but I remember friends having him and his arm falling off, or seeing him on the peg in store with his arm loose in the blister.
I did have Skeletor and loved it, as well as one of the Hot Wheels, despite not being into toy cars.
His arm fell off! That is one way to disarm your foe...
Cool. Battle Armor versions were my He-man and Skeletor as a kid.
To so many they were!
Not sure if it was mentioned in the comments but the Hot Wheels cars if I recall correctly did not have a reset button to reset the damage action features you manually did it. Usually until it clicked and you were ready to start all over there was no reset button. By the way I love your videos I just discovered you and I've been binge-watching! Good stuff! I don't have a complete run of the Mattel He-Man Classics but I have a great majority of them
Yes you are right! I was mistaken. A manual reset was needed. I'll do a general "mistakes I have made" video and call this one out along with a few other details I got wrong here and there! Welcome to the channel! Thanks for watching.
Enjoying the vids and I am not even a MOTU guy. Great job. I would give credit to Mattel for popularizing action features but you may want to look at an earlier product of theirs, the Six Million Dollar man doll. That thing had the lifting action, plus the eye viewport and the rubber sleeve. It was a great line overall and in the mid-70s it was the HOT toy line. I wasn't into Big Jim so can't speak to that. Then in '77 I think some sort of space western came out that might have impacted toys.
Oh those were clearly an influence!
Nice channel man..Sweet
Thank you! Glad to have you on board!
I got my Battle armor He-Man with the Road Ripper. And I loved it because of I got to buy it with my own money
Nice. What a great toy memory of empowerment.
Hey, Scott. Hope you & your family are doing well. Thanks for the content. I enjoy the action figure history. When will you be doing a video on the MOTU scripts?
I jus did one a few weeks back! And thanks for the kind words
Never had the BA versions when i was a kid. Only had the Originals and at the time i didn't realize how rare that was
Rarer by the hour
The vintage Battle Armor He-Man was the He-Man figure I had as a kid in the early 2000s, it was from an Uncle of mine who I think got it back in the 80s. For a long time, that was the image of He-Man in my head. I'm very much considering getting a He-Man figure from MOTU Origins and I'm not sure whether to get the regular He-Man or get the deluxe Battle Armor He-Man. The only thing stopping me is one of the swappable heads, which is the vintage styled one. I actually like the head of the first Origins He-Man, the one that looks like the cartoon. The Origins BA He-Man also has this head but in a sort-of screaming expression, I rather want the teeth-bared grimace of the first Origins figure. Probably would have to find someone selling just the head of first Origins He-Man.
I always wanted to see the battle armor on another armored character like Zodac. He's the only character with a symbol of his own unless you count Wundar. I'd actually buy them both. I was excited to see it on the Royal Guards as well.
Well we did do that for Faker
Thanks scott... Love these videos
Glad to hear! Reposts are always appreciated
I never had one of these back in the early 80s, but my friend did, and we always insisted that the battle damage only be “activated” by the use of a weapon- specifically one held by an enemy action figure. It would have been anathema to us to just hit it with our finger, or holding say, Skeletor’s sword in our own fingers. Skeletor HAD to use his own sword or staff, and preferably swung with the twist waist action. I don’t think he had the battle damage Skeletor until later, and I don’t remember him being able to “swing” at the waist with the battle damage version. I might be remembering it wrong, though. Jeez, we were little weirdos! Thanks- great video!
NO ONE who plays with toys is a weirdo! Embrace the play. It is healthy. ;-)
@@spectorcreative1872 Haha- I was just trying to be funny- and you’ve got a really positive way of looking at it. That’s not surprising, seeing as what your job was. Or is it is? I’m still new here, so if you don’t mind me asking, are you mainly a historian and content creator these days, or do you still work in design? It’s a fascinating job, and one that I would have loved, had my life taken a different path. Have a good day!
You forgot to note that it was not just a H-logo, but a HM-logo. A mix of the two.
True!
I remember crack ups as a kid, but I dont remember them having a reset button. We would spin the damage back in place and it would lock in place like BA Heman.
You are correct, Scott is wrong, there was no reset button. The plate had to be manually rotated back into place.
Yes I apologized for this in the FAQ video. But I was referring to the Hot Wheels not He-Man in terms of a button
@@spectorcreative1872 The original poster was also referring to Hot Wheels. There was no reset button in Crack-Ups.
This was a fantastic video, besides the black video where an image of vintage BA He-Man should have been, lol. You mentioned action features throughout the video.
I think about the toy lines I've loved, GI Joe 1:6, Adventure People, Mego, Star Wars, ARAH up to 87, pre spring-loaded launchers, that's about it. I was born in '71 and have to tell you I never liked action features. I always felt they took away from the toy. But BA He-Man was executed so the Action feature in no impacted the movement of the figures or lessened suspension of disbelief.
Well stick around! Many videos on this channel to explore
I had the BA He-Man, and I hated it.
As a kid I loved He-Man. We had a pretty huge collection - or at least I thought we did, me and my brother.
I wanted the He-Man that looked like the one in the cartoon.
But no one had that guy -- we got almost all of our toys from the flea-market.
We didn't even know for sure if anyone made a different kind. But we had prince Adam with the painted on white shirt.
So we'd just strip off his vest and use him.
Worse two parts were that, for some reason, He-Man's arms kept breaking off.
That seemed to be a problem specifically with BA he man. Under the same kinda stress we put the toys under, the other figures didn't break.
Our Skeletor was the a non BA variant. May even have been one of the original variants. His arms didn't break.
The other problem was we could never get the battle damage to stay in the not damaged position. This was a problem with the hotwheels as well.
Probably because our toys were always older/used. But after a while, as a kid, you get tired of your He-Man always being damaged.
Don't mean to complain too much. I'm sure it was great from a marketing/sales perspective, even exciting.
Those were just my experiences/memories.
Despite it all, I still got a lot of good play out of those toys and loved them.
Up until we sold them all in a yard sale and got enough money to buy a Nintendo.
Great videos. Thank you for sharing your experiences making and marketing these action figures!
And your "want" of the He-Man from the cartoon is exactly what lead to the fall of the line. This version was not available and many kids stopped being interested in endless variants and D level characters.
I'm looking forward to the Origins one even if he doesn't do the power punch.
In our minds it will! The power of play!
Battle-armor He-man and Skeletor were my first motu-figures as a kid, along with the weaponspack. Replaced ba-heman with a normal one because his arms went limp. Replaced ba-skeletor with dragon blaster Skeletor because my dog chewed him up.
Your dog at your homework! I mean action figure!
@@spectorcreative1872 he just bit Skelly's furry underwear to pieces. My dad tried to fix it with band-aid's off all things, but that totally looked like a diaper and the legs flopped all over the place. Not a good look 😂
BA He-Man and Skeletor were my childhood versions of these characters. I loved them, but was disappointed by the fact that they removed the power punch! So you couldn’t have He-Man and Skeletor actually actvate the feature on each other!
An interesting point about the power punch!
Holy sheet, you are right. I just picked up the second wave of Mattel MegaConstructs (Megabloks. Why do they keep changing the name?) Masters of the Universe sets, which are coming out almost 2 years after wave 1. And low and behold. Teeny Tiny Fully Articulated Battle Armor He-Man, Skeletor and Faker.
Ooo! But MOTU introducing the Action Figure Action Feature? Ummm? No. Negative. Uh Uh. Most such things go back into the 70's. Heck look at the original Big Jim figures. You had the Karate chop arm and the expanding Bicep when he flex's and poses. Complete with a belt that would pop off from his muscles. I think some of the late line Mego 8" Super Hero figures had some action features. The Lone Ranger Line had a quickdraw mechanism. I think the late Marx Johnny West figures had the same. Early GI Joe's had the pull string sound box, but I'm not sure if it counts? Although we did use it as a climbing rope that he could scale cliffs with. I think there were Muhamed Ali figures with a punching mechanism. There was a line of Pirates that threw daggers and fenced with swords. GI Joe had not so much the Kung Fu grip, but his final feature, the Eagle Eyes, where a level on the back of his head would pivot his eyes left and right. It was oddly creepy yet mesmorizing. Actually the final GI Joe offerings included the Atomic Man, a Six Million Dollar Man wannabe. His Cyborg Right arm could hold a set of helicopter blades and spin them using a small gear wheel on his bicep. It was actually pretty cool. The arm was clear and you could actually see the mechanism as part of his cybernetics.
Hey when toys can surprise and delight that all adds to the fun!
scott, you have mentioned in a few of your MOTUC videos how expensive it would be to recreate the original toys mechanisms and why you chose not to invest in tooling. My question: how was Mattel able to afford to make the action figure the first time around in the 80s if its so expensive? Have set up costs changed that much? or did Mattel just bite the bullet on production costs ca 1981-85?
In the 80's Mattel was selling millions of MOTU toys. The more you sell the more you can afford to spend on tooling. MOTUC was a tiny tiny TINY line by comparison in sales vol.
@@spectorcreative1872 considering how uncommon such features were back then, I wonder if the huge number of action features was part of what made MotU such a popular line initially back in the day.
Not to say that filling a line with such a huge number of features would recreate such a lightning in a bottle moment; but because they entered the market at a point where such features were seen as unique, they were positioned to capitalize on that in a way no future line ever could.
I was a weird kid. I never liked action features in my toys. I didn't want any unsightly buttons, levers, or spring loaded anything!!
But that didn't stop me from loving Super Powers and MOTU.
Good. Nothing should stop love for toys!
I always wished Cringer had been articulated.
We had plans for one! The new team swapped him out for a less tooling intensive character.
ruclips.net/video/UXZmDD9MFuw/видео.html
Yes
Im pretty sure people were so upset at classics battle armor he man and skeletor was because they came from mattel and the line was doing bigger vintage figures. Would have been so cool for those to be done the original way,i was hoping they would be the old way for the origins line but after seeing the macho man figure i lost hope.
Created a mechanism that would replicate the action feature was just a bridge too far. Alas
@@spectorcreative1872 to be honest,im sure all of us collectors would have paid a little more to have it. I still love the figures i was able to get. Both from masters and dc classics.
So glad you touched on the emblem, it’s sad that it becomes such a controversial topic. So many of us OG collectors know He-Man by the cross, and never associated it with evil because He-Man to a child was the epitome of Hero. And with new media coming on the horizon there are lots of discussion and bummed attitudes that fall directly on what emblem is going to be on the chest. These discussions range from the evil connections of the cross, the positive nostalgia of the cross, even to Mattel not being able to copyright the cross vs a new symbol (200x) that can capture the approval of old fans and new alike. Such sad times we live in where everyone is way too sensitive. I miss the carefree era of the 80’s where things weren’t so crazy controversial but people where still aware of how things could have 2 different meanings and accepted the positives of it... rant over.... can’t wait for the next video
I was with you until you got to "everyone is too sensitive". I don't see anything wrong with considering other people a little more than we might have done in the past. A little more thought, a little more consideration for how your actions or decisions affect others, I don't see a problem with that. Now, I agree with you regarding this symbol. I had no idea it had a negative association until well into adulthood. I still think the Iron Cross is one of the coolest designs ever. And it had positive use before and after the negative association. It's still used by fire departments to this day, and who's more heroic than a firefighter?
@@AintNobodyAtAll didn't mean to leave such a loose cannon statement... when I said everyone is too sensitive, I just meant that everyone in today's society are more trigger happy to protest and call out anyone's fault or mistake almost to the point of vilifying them for just making use of, or reference to something that has any negative connotation. I would never want anyone to dismiss their opinions or feelings if they have any opposition to such things. But today, you are hardly given any opportunity to explain yourself or open the minds of others to why the door swings both ways.
While I never associated the cross with such hatred which we both agree on, i do however associated the swastika with all that malice and hatred, which unfortunately was superimposed on the cross to associated it more with that regime.
But again to clarify i meant no disrespect to those affected by things
And now the new DC Comics He-Man has an all new logo as well!
I was only a fan of variants in any toy line that appeared in the show. GI Joe, MOTU, TMNT, etc. I wanted to replicate the TV look and feel.
Yup, most kids do. The variants in any color or style are usually the second purchase
Love this figure! But Mattel seriously thought the original symbol looked like a swastika??? Seriously??? I get wanting a more superhero style emblem, but that’s a bit crazy. 😊
No, it did not look like a swastika at all. It looked like an Iron Cross, which was also used in Nazi Germany and sometimes a Swastika was placed on an Iron Cross like in the image.
Spector Creative Just checked it out and you’re absolutely correct. I never knew that. Guess the swastika has become so synonymous with Nazis that I never noticed the cross. Thanks for the info!
By the way, was there any discussion about this when He-Man was released in Classics? Stay safe!
Well the Nazi's liked to recycle stuff. Most of that came from the Templar nights. Because they saw themselves as recarnated versions of those knights. Fact is they had a castle where they ran wearing armor and had a special room where they were going to put Hitler's dead body and other SS members on display, kind of like a shrine mimicking the knights of the round table because that's what they saw themselves as. That's where it comes from.
Its like I'm Irish Catholic, but I don't consider the cross to be evil. Or the Star of David, or the crescent Moon in Islam, but if someone takes it and uses it in a Satanic ritual, does it make the symbolism of the cross evil.
Just the symbolism of turning something good to evil is symbolically deep and evil by itself.
I just thought the look was cool, had that 'knight in armor' vibe to it
I remember Christmas of 85 my little brother got battle armor he man with battle cat . And wow how awesome it looks come per to the original he man. When classic show up I was blown away. I also think battle armor selector is the best design. I wish faker bellybutton was orange he would probably look better than the original faker.
Yeah I also wish we used the armor torso on Faker
We’re both looking at that Invisible jet! It can’t be accused because we can’t see it, nor could we see the team that slid in and stole the idea from DCUC!
Yeah but they stole the idea from the invisible kid in the legion pack. Ours was in development first
@@spectorcreative1872 I was exaggerating the invisibility idea. Of course we know who actually stole it!
I had this one 😅
One of the best ones to have!
I enjoy your videos. I have my original heman figures but I wasnt collecting when the classics came out. Too bad because they are nice. I would of liked a Tri klops and trap jaw.. I like the original savage heman and was never a fan of the cartoon. I enjoyed the 200x cartoon but not the giant swords.
I miss the 200X cartoon and wish it never ended! Or at least didn't get cut short.
Two of the biggest 1980s Mattel brands unite! Hotwheels and Masters Of The Universe.
Note: Crack-Ups was 1985-1987 which is interesting as that’s when Masters Of The Universe was ending. Plus does that mean Masters Of The Universe did do it first as Battle Armour emerged in 1984 but the Crack-Ups was already in development.
I have seen so many times when teams « borrow »’ideas from each other. Looking at you Hot wheels invisible jet
@@spectorcreative1872 looking at you indeed.
Battle Armor are the First and Only Hotwheels & Motu Crossvover xD
Have you seen the new Hot Wheels Wind Raider?
That is a really neat summart
I have Battle Armor He-Man and Skeletor to this day (along with every other MOTU figure, sans Snake Face). He-Man still works fairly well, but Skeletor’s rotator won’t hold place.
Yeah, an action feature that really lasts the test of time.
Don’t say they stole it or you’ll feel the heat!
At least you didn’t have to fix the damage with a garage like Crack-Ups. Apparently the repairs never worked.
You needed a lot of glue
@@spectorcreative1872 ha! That would do the trick.
I created a video with all the He-Man releases from Classics (Mattel & Super7)! ruclips.net/video/TqsON1lIsT0/видео.html
Nice!!!
On my 10th birthday in 1982 He-Man came out that summer and I got him. Over the few years after that there was different he-mans coming out but the only other action figure of He-Man that I wanted was battle armor He-Man and I was never able to find him.. those are the only two He-Man action figures that you need all the other He-Man action figures were garbage to me
I love how everyone has "their" He Man!
I never had BA He-Man, I had the standard one. I never understood why it existed, as it never was in the original cartoon. I do whish I had one in the day. As it was cooler than the original.
It existed to sell more toys!
Action Figure - Action = Figure
Can't argue with that logic
I just got my son battle armor heman
Nice. way to parent.
Man what was Tarzan doing there??
You really don't want to know
Mine got stuck
They all tend to stick after too much time!
2:29 it go's black
Yeah sometimes RUclips cuts out images for odd reasons
one of these recently sold in canada for 300$. who has the power?
I suppose the after market!
@@spectorcreative1872 i try to buy new lots and not pay over 45 or so a fig depending on who's in there. I've bought toys more than I have not bought toys in my life and unfortunately for me classics came out during the time where I did not. Thanks for your work tho. your care shows in the product and these videos.
Wait...They actually sold empty blisterpacks for Wonder Woman's Invisible Jet and the other figure he'd mentioned?!? People paid for that shit?!?
It was only 5.00 at SDCC, but yeah, people paid for that. I have one on my wall in my office.
Na mine is stinkor def worthy of a fav or scareglow
Stinkor smells!
Don’t forget Star Wars had telescoping lightsabers. But BA He-Man was cooler.
And GI Joe had Kung Fu grip!
I'm so glad that you chose to avoid action features on Classics. Over the years so many otherwise great figures have been ruined by adding these gimmicks (I'm talking to YOU, 200X!). What's worse is the fact that most figures with these gear or spring-loaded mechanisms tend to be glued together, making repairs impossible when a gear inevitably shatters or strips inside the torso. As far as I'm concerned, you implemented the perfect solution with Classics BA He-Man and Skelly.
Glad you agreed. The vintage toy had a great action feature, but these were adult collector figures with a different play pattern.
Don't feel so bad. I give the WWE figures flack for not spinning. Macho Man's armor doesn't spin either. 😠
It’s the mechanism tooling
@@spectorcreative1872 I hear: "we don't care about the fans" lol -joke-
God I hate YT!
This is my 2nd time writing this...
Been watching your videos for the last couple weeks, putting out some really great stuff, but I gotta disagree with ya with the iron cross on He-Man's armor. I personally think its iconic, & makes the figure what it is. An iron cross is only offensive if you make it that way.
Not to rant, but I wouldn't be surprised if someone was offended at an iron cross, but would enjoy a Fanta.
My reference here is maybe the company itself wasn't founded by Nazi's, but the style/type of drink (as in the flavors) were picked and became popular under Nazi marketing/influence.
Where's the moral outrage? Get me?
In all honesty that certain aspects of the old He-Man cartoon actually aired because of heavy censorship at that time. You had the extreme religious right telling people what they could or couldn't put on air.
G.I. Joe for example was delayed because of boycotting/legally holding it up. It was meant to be aired the same time He-Man 1st came, but there was legal issues of it been shown claiming that it would've been too violent of a show to watch.
Heck... even Dungeons and Dragons which I thought was a good show into some issues because there was issues with Sheila (the their) couldn't outright steal things because it would promote bad behavior. So she only take things if it had a positive meaning/result.
Up to 10 years I used to work in radio, and to show you why I get so annoyed at this stuff, is every several months they'd give us a print out of what we could or couldn't say.
"Mother and father" was an example because we could offend same sex couples... but we were told that we couldn't take brown paper bags to work because that might be seen as a micro racial aggression. I guess because they're brown.
I don't think it was really a thing, but just an example of someone dog training you.
And the funny thing is there was a bunch of mom and pop places in the area, Chinese, Mexican, and guess how they would pack your take outs? LOL
Where does it end?
I'm sorry if I'm rambling because I am, but when I hear that an iron cross could be problematic and offensive, I just kind of get annoyed. It comes off wimpy and too PC for me. I can can understand how an iron cross might be offensive to some people, but just because something looks a certain way, doesn't mean that is what it is.
Everybody can be offended by something nowadays, and where does it end? The fact he had a cross on his chest plate shouldn't be offensive is my point.
Oh 100% it is not an iron cross. I was in a way being a little humorous. As an intense student of history, the symbol that we call "an iron cross" goes back over 3,000 years and was sacred in many culture including Norse, Sumarian, 3 Kingdoms (Aztec) as well as multiple Asian cultures.
@@spectorcreative1872 Agreed. It could be a "compass" of sorts. Representing the 4 directions. Even the "4 stages of life." It could mean many things. I just get tired of people of looking for something bad in something that might not even be there. That's just a personal opinion. I always thought that his original armor was iconic and timeless. I can't think of anyone who's got similar look. I do admit that I'm the barbarian He-Man camp... not even so much jungle He-Man... but I always felt that the TV series kind of "killed" the franisice. Meaning if they went with the original concept, He-Man being a barbarian, I think that the toyline would've been more popular for a longer time.
I spent most of my childhood playing with Transformers and Star Wars, and honesty with the direction that they went with the Gobots TV show (being Filmation) i actually think killed some of the popularity. It didn't test well in Japan, and they did a complete different cartoon. And for what I've seen of Machine Robo, I think it was a pretty good show. I liked it a lot more than the American version.
I think 1 of the biggest mistakes that Tonka made was selling of the rights to Hasbro. They should've hung onto it. But then again I think they have new management, and don't know how to run the company. Where I live I don't see much Tonka product. And what I have seen its not the quality of what I had as a kid.
But my point is especially with today's climate, I bet you they could reissue the original figures, don't have to do any remolds- just reissue the original designs, put them on vintage packaging, and put the old Machine Robo series online or on cable to stream... and it would do pretty damn good!
There would be some adult collectors that would be into it because of nostalgia, but a lot of 8-10 year olds would be into it because of the theme.
I think that is why Transformers out did them. I don't think it was so much the fact that they were bigger, better detailed figures, which was nice, but when the TV series started, it had a better storyline.
At 1st it was based on the Marvel comic, which I thought was WAY better written than the show, but that's what made it compelling.
It was when the movie came around and tried airing the 3rd & 4th seasons that killed it. It wasn't so much that Prime died & had a complete new cast of characters, its that the writing for the show got incredibly sloppy.
The 1 biggest mistakes that toy companies make with kids is never think that they're stupid, They get greedy, it becomes a money making machine, and they kill that emotional attachment that they have with that the customer that has some sort of emotional investment with that product.
I always thought if they took more of a Beast master/Sectaur/Thundarr vibe with the series (a gritty feel to it), versus the Prince Adam style, it would test and go over better I think because I think that kids would naturally want that.
Its been years since I've seen the show, but I do remember some very good stories and 'moral of the story' plotlines which I thought really drove the series... but I always thought that the setting, meaning the Prince Adam thing didn't jive right. Its like trying to do a Batman story, but everything is vividly colored. It just doesn't feel right.
I thought that it went with a Connani/Sectaur/Thundarr/Beastmaster theme where its kind of a barbaric world, sword and scorery,with a little bit of tech mixed in from a fallen advanced society always had the best feeling for He-Man for me. Where he didn't shape shift into anyone.
But that's my opinion.
Ranting as usual. I think you got my point intially and I went off on a tangent here, but like I said, cool vids and keep it up man!
Vintage Battle Armor He-Man has become expensive on Ebay. I still need one and loved him as a child!
He was a lot of folks "He-Man" back in the day.