Mattel has released images of new He-Man Power-Con exclusives for 2021..
Now, if the latest hunt across American toy aisles for He-Man toys is any lesson, getting these newer editions for 2021 will be just as rough if not worse..
Pre-orders begin next Saturday, May 15th 2021.. The Power-Con website is going to continue posting updates about the pre-sale..
It is getting frustrating for a HE-MAN fan to find the new 2020 and 2021 toy lines..
Did Mattel falter in making the action figures? Did scalpers strike in their finest fashion?
Either way it is clear: You can hardly find HE-MAN toys anywhere!!
There are two schools of thought.. 1) The company just did not make enough. Walmart was alone in selling, and all you can find was He-Man and Skeletor with a random Man-At-Arms thrown in for the mix.. but the rest off the line, regardless of the wave, was hard to find. Impossible in most places.
Facebook pages have popped up informing fans where some of the newer figures and items have been located nationwide.
2) Scalpers and adult collectors have ruined things for kids.
Yes. Scalpers online have been selling action figures for dozens of dollars above what stores have them for.. And that just plain sucks.
I remember as a kid, with family driving me to the local mall and me being hopeful of finding the newest action figure I wanted. I always lucked out, thankfully.. But if there were new He-Man fans in the younger age bracket trying to find action figures, they are completely out of luck in our modern age.
You just cannot find them…
Plain and simple.
And for any newcomer to the fold, that just is terrible. Dreams of new toys are dashed.
Instead you have to go to eBay to find the $80 figure…
All we can find is Skeletor and HE-MAN.. a few Man-At-Arms and a few Prince Adams.. But there are so many HE-MAN 2020/21 releases at Walmart that are not showing up.
Are you having better luck?
x x x
We are referring to the the new line of MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE toys that has been released by Mattel in 2020 and now in 2021. We were able to score several, including He-Man, Skeletor, Tea-La, Evil-Lyn, Beast Man, Man-at-Arms, and Roboto.. but we are lacking so many others…
The shortage of toys .. is it on purpose? By accident?
Will stores across America one day be overwhelmed?
We know that local fans are trying to locate them as much as we are.. when we visit Walmarts in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Jersey, and Tennessee, we are greeted with HE-MAN toys messed up.. taken off shelves.. people are actively searching for the latest waves.
And not finding them anywhere..
Collect them all!?
How about … find even one new one!! Good luck on that!
It has been all quiet on the Eternia front.. so much so that some fans got nervous..
But now Kevin Smith, creator of the Netflix upcoming HE-MAN series, announced that Bear McCreary of WALKING DEAD music fame, will also be the composer for the upcoming show!
Here is the video:
Smith allowed us to listen to the music as Adam becomes HE-MAN.. “By the power of Grayskull” .. As Smith says, Bear goes into the wood.. and we have a theme re-born in the 21st century..
Noah Centineo is prepping to become as ripped as possible for his role as HE-MAN in the upcoming planned film..
When it came to dieting, Centineo stated, “It’s a lot of eating…You would think it’s awesome, but it’s like, 6,000 calories a day.” Centineo also added that “As a person, you’re supposed to eat like, 2,000 calories a day.” but followed up by saying, “It’s great, I’m not complaining, but, you know, if I’m honest, I eat so many eggs.” Since he started his diet and workout regimen, he has put on thirty pounds of muscle and lifting insanely heavy amounts of weight!
There are a lot of universes in our pop culture. The DC Universe is moving to HBO. The domninant Marvel Universe seems to be everywhere..
But missing in action since the late 1980s: The Master of all of the universe, He-Man.
So the dazzling amount of toys that are now for sale at Walmart may touch at the nostalgic heart. But will they sell well for modern kids?
THE HE-MAN BLITZ
The new 2020 toy line is a little familiar. A little different. The plastic of the toys seems a bit lighter.. The face of the characters look a little lazier .. The figures stand the same, but movable arms and legs are now in play. And gone are the rubber bands that held legs on during the Reagan era.
Excitement began to build in June with the announcement of the toy line–albeit mostly in adults with kids. Not with their children, quite yet.
Walmart was named the official distributor of the news at this time, until some time in 2021 when the line will expand beyond just one retailer.
However there some anger initially in June. When Walmart listed the action figured online, they sold old immediately.
And now in August, as this image shows from my own local Walmart, the shelves cannot even stay filled. Although Battle Cat doesn’t seem as popular as the figures themsevles.
The boxing looks reminiscent of the 80s. Each figure even includes a comic book! Though not as long as in length, it certainly adds to the air of the past.
HE-MAN RE-ENTERS THE MOMENT
So why the sudden reemergence?
There seems to be a thought that NOW is the hot moment for He-Man’s triumphant return to the small and big screens alike. So why not toys, too.
Noah Centineo showed fans just how he’s transforming into his role as HE-MAN for a new film with two photos posted to his Instagram.. The movie is set for release March 2021 (we will see) ..
Information regarding the upcoming Netflix series is still a mystery, though it does boast an impressive voice cast, including Mark Hamill, Chris Wood, Kevin Conroy, Sarah Michelle Gellar and many more. Additionally, the series will serve as a new chapter in He-Man lore instead of being an origin story. Kevin Smith initially announced plans for a new He-Man series in August 2019 at Power-Con.
There are a number of parents that grew up during the prime time for Eternia in the 1980s that now have their own children.. those kids are consumers of pop culture. Consumers of Youtube. Consumers of all things comic and creative.. But will they consumer He-Man and his masters of the universe?
There seemed to be a sense of death in the He-Man world with the 1980s live action film .. while some secretly like it, it was a huge flop. It seemed to be made at the wrong time, the wrong era.. Kids just…outgrew it by the time it made it to theaters.
When He-Man was brought back in a new cartoon in the early 2000s, it was met well by critics and reviews were strong.. but it didn’t meet the same approval of younger kids the way the 80s version did.
And now we are back to the past: A cartoon is on the way back. Toys are too..
But will kids?
We don’t know.. we are unsure if this will be a hit that some hope for. But as fans of the 80s version, we are sure happy to see HE-MAN on toy shelves again.
The only thing missing is the KAY-BEE or Toys-R-Us store that they were in originally..
Noah Centineo has been cast as HE-MAN.. While details are slim, the studio is looking for a male actor in his 40s to take on the role of Skeletor.. woman in her 20s being sought to play Teela… and finally King Randor will be in the film..
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The story is being billed as an exclusive by Hollywood papers.. But the characters being named aren’t surprising. They are the main people..
Now if they named Whiplash of Webstor? That could be a shock..
According to The Hollywood Reporter, a documentary about the entire He-Man brand will make its North American debut thanks to High Octane Pictures.
The film, titled Power of Grayskull: The Definitive History of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, was directed by Randall Lobb (Turtle Power: The Definitive History of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) and Robert McCallum (Nintendo Quest: The Most Unofficial and Unauthorized Nintendo Documentary Ever!).
“The Masters of the Universe brand is bigger than ever – as this very solid documentary reminds us – and we’re excited for North American audiences to see it,” Galen Christy, High Octane president, told THR. “This is both an insightful and very entertaining film that’ll appeal to fans and non-fans of Masters.” The documentary includes in-depth interviews with artists, actors, and fans. Even Dolph Lundgren and Frank Langella make appearances to talk about their roles in the live-action (and very poorly received) Masters of the Universe movie from 1987; Lundgren played He-Man and Langella played Skeletor. High Octane will also be in charge of courting foreign buyers at the European Film Market, which kicks off today in Berlin and runs through February 15.
“Iron Man” and “Men in Black International” scribes Art Marcum and Matt Holloway have been set to pen the “Master of Universe” reboot at Sony Pictures and Mattel Films.
That’s right.. the potential return of ADAM, SKELETOR, even maybe MAN-AT-ARMS and RAM MAN.. no clue on which of the hundred plus characters from the famous cartoon of so many of childhoods filmmakers would pick. The cast could be endless…
The SONY and Mattel dreams are risky..
Yes, the cartoon was a smash hit in the 1980s and the toy line was the best thing that happened to Christmases during the Reagan years, but will it transcribe into modern day 21st century success…?
The kids who loved HE-MAN were a little to grown up by the time the late 80s movie appeared in theaters where a young Dolph Lundgren appeared as He-Man and ruined it all..
That movie was such a failure! Such a misconception of art .. such an overwhelming box office blunder. No words could describe how unlike the cartoon it was. Even if the kids of that 80s were getting older, they still would have overwhelmingly loved a film that captured the spirit of the cartoon, Grayskull…and Eternia. This movie did not.
But that is also where this modern age could be the best time to go back to the past!
STRANGER THINGS and other shows on Netflix have capitilized on the kids of the 80s being in their 30s and 40s now, and yearning for the nostalgia of the past. Craving for shows that could capture the spirit of their youth, and their generation. They are buying up old pop culture and re-introducing it to their own kids.
Enter.. HE-MAN. This could be, potentially, the perfect time for a return to Eternia.
….but new characters? They failed with Gwildor. So hopefully filmmakers would stick to the 80s script and not re-invent the wheel…..
WE love the concept of HE-MAN in theaters.. but we all so fear it equally…
MOTU Origins: Faker 2-Pack
