Last month
I joined many other Masters of the Universe fans worldwide to
celebrate the 35th anniversary of this great toyline in Spain. A friend of mine
with a few other colleagues is writing a book about this topic that will be
published soon. The title is "Yo Tengo el Poder: La Historia de los Masters del Universo en España", haven't you heard about it yet? Visit their Facebook site for all information regarding this topic, and don't miss the release!
Note that the book "Yo Tengo el Poder" does not only talk about Mattel's Masters, but also about other figures that bootlegged or were inspired by them, I am quite sure they will extensively cover this toyline we are going to talk about today, so if you are interested, you will be able to read more there.
I will start this time with the blister pack, reminiscent of the Star Wars movies, with a Tie-Fighter on the right side and another spaceship on the left, both in front of some unknown planets. The logo of the collection is clearly made after Masters of the Universe. The backcard shows the first 4 figures, although there is a second type of cardback that shows 8 figures, the complete collection.
Note that the figures are clearly inspired by He-Man, Skeletor, Beast Man, Teela, plus other characters that share characteristics with other Masters or characters of other movies. I own two figures, both in their blisterpacks:
Andror (Servidor del Imperio Oscuro) (Ref. 113)
Andror, the server of the Dark Empire is a remarkable character for having a fire sword and some metal armour and mask that gives him a rather menacing look. Among the first four, is the only character that does not have a clear counterpart in the Masters of the Universe world.
Tara (Reina de los Guerreros Zarka) (Ref. 114)
Tara is the only woman in the collection and comes with a sword and is wearing some kind of bikini. Interestingly, this amazon warrior does not appear in its own backcard
All figures come with exchangeable weapons and the blister is fixed to the card with staples.
These figures are very interesting, like all bootlegs are, and not much is currently known about the company. Meipy also made some other plastic figures (like the Meipy-Ñecos) and also other novelty products for kiosks like hairspins. There is an interview with the company owners in the Coleccionismo de Juguetes magazine nr. 13, but I haven't read it. Surely very interesting.
The second type of blister is this one that shows eight figures instead of four. Here we can observe the characters Zarkan (He-Man with longer hair), Serpidor (Skeletor with a reptilian twist) and Lioman (pretty much Beast Man).
Also present are Tara and three more characters. The first of this triplet is Icaron, a winged warrior the reminds me strongly of Pygar, a character in Barbarella (Roger Vadim, 1968). This character is the only one using a firearm.
Finally there are Volcam and Gladiator, two figures very similar to each other that look like a crossing between Man-At-Arms and a Roman gladiator. Volcam has a club as a weapon and Gladiator an axe.
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| Picture taken from coleccionismo80-90.blogspot.com |
In my backcard somebody wrote with a pencil the price of the figure: 200 pesetas (that is 1,20 Euro). I think the price is original (I mean, it was written back in the mid or late 80s). I would say the price is quite high for such a toy, what maybe explains why they were not sold massively and are difficult to find nowadays.
Although I never saw them for sale in the 80s, they were widely available until somebody (or maybe some people) decided to take all of them from the popular auction site where they were available. Now there is none (or at least none complete with its accesory). Maybe they become valuable collectables in the next years, who knows?
Read more about Masters of the Universe in these links!
FACTS AND FIGURES:
- Name: ANDROR and TARA (Ref. 113 and 114)
- Toy Line: HÉROES DE LA GALAXIA
- Year: 1985
- Company: Meipy (Spain)
- Size of the figures: Around 9 cm
Esta colección era totalmente desconocida para mí. Hay mucha “colección secundaria” en torno a los MOTU.
ReplyDeleteLo mismo, nunca los vi en tiendas o kioskos, igual quedo en una cosa regional (levante). Cuando los descubrí hace un par de años fue todo un hallazgo. ¡Gracias por el comentario!
ReplyDeleteLos personajes de esta colección parecen inspirados tanto en Masters del Universo como en el Flash Gordon de Filmation. Leoman es claramente Tun (en el capitulo 2 lideraba una revuelta de esclavos, y quizá venga de ahí lo de "el libertador"), e Icarion podría ser uno de los hombres-halcón. Andror es muy similar a un guerrero anónimo que aparecía muy brevemente hacia el final del capitulo 12 "El Torneo de la Muerte".
ReplyDelete¡Ah, que bueno! No conozco esa serie de Filmation. Le echaré un vistazo a ver si veo al menos esos personajes que comentas. Yo creo que para crear una línea así, los diseñadores tienen los ojos bien abiertos para incorporar cualquier diseño externo que más o menos encaje con el tema y los demás personajes, no importa de donde venga la "inspiración".
ReplyDeleteEs de la época de Masters del Universo. Dos temporadas. La primera (16 capítulos) es magnifica, pero tuvo problemas con la censura americana por la propia forma de hacer las cosas de Filmation: muchas escenas violentas (puede que hoy en día no lo parezcan, pero en su momento Flash Gordon y MOTU eran series infantiles con un nivel de violencia muy alto, por lo realista del dibujo), y muchas mujeres hermosas y curvilíneas (nadie hacia mujeres como las de Filmation). Por eso la segunda temporada (8 capítulos) es mucho mas floja. Incorporaron al reparto una mascota, una especie de pequeño dragoncito volador, y los episodios giraban más en torno a las gracias del dragoncito que a otra cosa. Pero la primera temporada es deslumbrante, y en líneas generales, sigue la historia original de los primeros comics.
DeletePues muchas gracias por esas notas, ahora me pica mucho más la curiosidad, tendré que buscar algo para comprobarlo por mi mismo.
DeleteGog - Are these 'bendy' toys?
ReplyDeleteHi Hugh, no, they are not flexible. They are normal pvc figures, comparable to Comics Spain or so many others. Some come with removable (swap on/off) accessories. Thanks for reading!
ReplyDelete