![]() Mastering the Universe: He-Man and the Rise and Fall of a Billion-Dollar Idea, written by Roger Sweet and David Wecker, should have been He-Man’s long overdue obituary. If Barbie’s responsible for Pam Anderson and Victoria’s Secret models, then He-Man deserves at least some of the credit - or blame - for Brad Pitt in Troy. Even the Star Wars figures have received a steroid infusion, where once they were puny, stiff and ready for a nap. Fast-forward 20 years and stars like Tobey Maguire and Tom Cruise who have bulked up to He-Man proportions dominate the A-list. In the early 80s, most actors had the bodies of your typical homeroom teacher and only Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone sported the massive physique of a body builder. ![]() Much as Barbie came to define an impossible ideal of female beauty, the bulked-up action figure has come to represent a similar caricature of the masculinity. He-Man has been waiting for a proper send-off ever since, despite his profound influence on the popular culture of today. What Skeletor failed to do, corporate mismanagement accomplished in months. But business missteps caused MOTU’s sales to plummet from $400 million in 1986 to $7 million the following year. For a while, He-Man really was the master of the toy universe, eclipsing even Barbie, Mattel’s perennial favorite, in sales. With knees bent and arms flexed, He-Man and his cohorts in the Masters of the Universe (MOTU) stood poised to defend himself against the evil minions of his archenemy, Skeletor. For American children growing up in the 1980s, He-Man was like no action figure they’d ever seen - a muscle-bound hero truly ready for battle.
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