An excerpt from a new doc on the making of the 1987 Masters of the Universe film. I remember being disappointed with the the movie when I saw it in the theater back in the day. It’s neat to hear from the people that made it just how difficult was to even get made at all.
(Source: he-man.org)
It’s no secret I’m a toy collector. It started with vintage Transformers not long after college (when I finally had a job in my field and some disposable income). In 2008 Mattel launched Masters of the Universe: Classics, a line of re-imagined He-Man figures with modern sculpts and articulation for the adult collector crowd. I was in love! He-Man was my favorite cartoon as a kid before Transformers came out and I had owned many of the toys and play sets. Looking back, however the original Masters toys haven’t aged that well. This new line of toys completely lets me relive the nostalgia of those original toys while updating their proportions for my modern tastes.
Enter: She-Ra.
In the original cartoon, She-Ra was He-Man’s long lost twin sister. They often battled side by side like in the 1985 animated film. To me she’s always been another Masters of the Universe character but her vintage toys (and to an extent her own cartoon) were squarely aimed at girls.
I’d never owned any She-Ra toy before, but In this modern line they’ve done away with the rooted hair and real cloth dresses for the Princess of Power. Finally, a She-Ra action figure that I can confidently own and place right next to my He-Man figure!
A year later Mattel decided to release her magical steed, Swiftwind. “Great,” I thought, “he’ll look amazing next to Battle Cat!” There was a problem, however. The original She-Ra toy (as well as every other female Masters figure in the line) was made in such a way that she couldn’t open her legs wide enough for her to fit on her horse. What Mattel did to solve this issue was devilishly clever.
With the release of Swiftwind this November they also released a brand new “Bubble Power She-Ra” toy. This look is based on a vintage variant of the same name. She comes with a new set of armor and weapons as well as a recreation of the toy bubble wand that all came with the original figure.
I didn’t care about any of that. What I did care about was that they had redone this She-Ra’s buck so that she could now ride her horse! By taking off her new armor, cape and head and replacing them with the ones from the first release of She-Ra you can create a customized hybrid figure that both looks like the original Filmation cartoon and can also ride her horse! You can then put the new armor and head on the old figure and either use that for display or throw in a bin somewhere and forget about. We just wanted you for your legs, Bubble Power She-Ra!
So now I’ve spent the morning (of my 32nd birthday) playing with She-Ra toys and a flying unicorn. And you know what? I’m ok with it because she fits right in with all my manly Evil Horde figures! How cool is that? 
