Masters of the Universe was one of the big toy series in the 80s. Of course, there were a few video game adaptations of He-Man and Skeletor. I'll take a closer look at these today. I'll also go into the history of Masters of the Universe and Mattel in a little more detail. ???????????????????????? -- If you want to support me: https://www.tipeeestream.com/diepixel... ???????????????????????????? : / dpixelspieler ???????????????????????????????????????????????? -- You can download the He-Man fan game here: http://gamejolt.com/games/he-man/19434 At the beginning of the 1980s, the market for action figures was dominated by Hasbro's GI Joe and Kenner's Star Wars action figures. Mattel's Big Jim action figure series had not been able to establish itself since its introduction in 1971. With Barbie and Hot Wheels, Mattel had consistently successful toy series, but they did not cover the action figure business. Roger Sweet developed a figure called He-Man, around 24 centimeters tall, with superhuman muscles and a combat-ready pose, which could basically be combined with all three themes for which action figures were made: 20th century military (GI Joe), science fiction (Star Wars) and sword and sorcery. Mattel ultimately decided on a combination of science fiction and fantasy. Contrary to earlier assumptions, the Masters of the Universe were not planned as merchandising for the fantasy action film Conan the Barbarian. Mattel did indeed have the rights to release a Conan action figure, but the plan was simply to put a head that looked like Conan actor Arnold Schwarzenegger on the body of a Big Jim figure and to equip it with appropriate clothing. However, the management found the film too brutal and development of the Conan action figure was stopped. This was good for Masters of the Universe, as Mattel would hardly have released both series at the same time. In the first year (1982), Masters of the Universe achieved sales of 38.2 million US dollars in the USA, which was well above expectations of seven to 19 million. In 1983, sales rose to 80 million US dollars, in 1984 to 111 million,[3] and then 250 million in 1985.[4] In 1986, the peak was reached with sales of 400 million US dollars in the USA. In 1987, sales collapsed to seven million[5] and led to the discontinuation of the series. The last products were only released in Italy in 1988, after which Masters of the Universe disappeared from toy store shelves worldwide for over ten years. The reason for this unprecedented decline was misjudgments of the action figure market by Mattel. After the Masters of the Universe series was initially underestimated, management decided after the successful first three years to drastically increase production numbers and flood the market with merchandise products. In addition, other action figures such as the Transformers became fashionable and retailers had to be given large discounts so that they would continue to put the Masters of the Universe on their shelves. Nevertheless, the Masters of the Universe is considered one of Mattel's greatest successes. The action figures alone achieved worldwide sales of 1.2 billion US dollars, in the USA sales of figures and spin-off products such as bed linen and cake tins exceeded the two billion mark. At their peak, the Masters of the Universe, together with Barbie, were responsible for 75 percent of Mattel's total profits. He-Man and the Masters of the Universe became part of the popular culture of the 1980s through their ubiquitous presence in children's bedrooms in western industrialized nations.