THE 2002 MOTU TOYS

This page has been rewritten as it first appeared before the 2002 MOTU line was withdrawn from the shelves. Since then, fans have had a chance to reflect on what went wrong with the MOTU relaunch. Recently the Classics limited-edition line was created, which took the MOTU back to their origins. Further evidence, one might argue, that the cartoon-styling of the 2002 models was doomed to failure. The 2002 MOTU are sometimes known as 200X by fans.

Approximately twenty years after the original Masters Of The Universe toyline was introduced, Mattel decided that the time was right to revisit the world of Eternia. It seems that encouragement from fans helped to influence the decision. Of course the timing of the 2002 toyline must have been carefully considered too, as many of the first generation fans are now parents.

The 2002 toys stayed true to many of the themes from the original series. He-Man still battled against the evil Skeletor, preventing the skull-faced demon from entering the mystical Castle Grayskull. The figures were redesigned, but they were still instantly recognisable. The designers (The Four Horsemen) worked hard to create new versions of the toys, but their themes seemed more manga-cartoon than serious swords and sorcery. Their designs were more intricate than the originals, but the fundamental flaw was their cartoon-styling.

One significant difference between the 2002 figures and the old was the link to the cartoon series. Rather than the animation being created after the toys (as happened in the 1980s), the new toys and cartoons were developed together. This proved to be an unsuccessful approach, and ultimately limited the potential for development. It also undermined the mythology that was such a fundamental part of the original toys.

There were several theories put forward as to why the 2002 line failed, but there are two arguments that I believe stand above the rest. Firstly, there were many He-Man and Skeletor variants, which left little room for other characters. This was a repeat of a mistake that was made on the original line. Secondly, the Lord Of The Rings films turned the population of the world into epic fantasy fans, while Mattel was trying to launch a line of toys that looked like they jumped out of a Japanese comic. Did they really not see that coming?

Below are two photographs of figures in their packaging from the 2002 line - Battle Sound He-Man and Skeletor. Battle Sound He-Man was obviously one of the many He-Man variants and represents what was wrong with the line. You cannot see it from the image, but the figure is hunchbacked and completely out of proportion. The weaponry looks ridiculous. Designing the most important character of the line in such a way was a mistake.

By contrast, Skeletor was much better. The original figure (before the variants arrived) was actually a fairly good interpretation of the character. You can see the level of sculpting detail that went into this figure. Some fans prefer the 2002 styling to the original, and I can understand why. The figure still suffers from being out of proportion, but he does look malevolent. Skeletor was given a new title for the 2002 line - Overlord of Evil. I do not like the double-bladed sword, but I think the Havoc Staff looks good.

If there is one thing that proves to me how misguided this line was, it is the print on Skeletor's packaging which says Awesome Sticker Included! That is delusional - either that or the person who wrote it did not understand what 'awesome' means. Sometimes you have to accept that something simply is not as good as you think it is.