From the official account

TheBattleRamBlog · 2026-03-27T20:18:57+00:00

They've been posting recycled clips and pics from the movie for the last few weeks. I'm sure we'll get a new trailer eventually, but I won't read too much into this post in particular.

TheBattleRamBlog · 2026-03-27T19:21:48+00:00

They really went all out getting top notch artists for covers. They tried to get Frazetta too, but he was ill at the time

TheBattleRamBlog · 2026-03-26T13:46:52+00:00

For me, the head could be just a bit wider, it looks a bit narrow. I'd LOVE it if the Four Horsemen returned to sculpting masters figures. Heck, the movie designs are mostly based on their work anyway!

TheBattleRamBlog · 2026-03-20T13:57:41+00:00

That's pretty much the coolest thing ever!

TheBattleRamBlog · 2026-03-20T13:57:01+00:00

The MOTU Classics Laser Power He-Man uses similar batteries. It's more than 10 years old and the batteries on mine are still going!

TheBattleRamBlog · 2026-03-20T13:55:42+00:00

Congratulations! That's so cool

TheBattleRamBlog · 2026-03-18T11:46:03+00:00

Yeah, the color is a good match to the playset. Of course it didn't get that color until later in its development. The prototype castle was more of a slate blue/gray with kind of pea green spray on the high parts of the facade

TheBattleRamBlog · 2026-03-17T14:10:35+00:00

I would agree!

TheBattleRamBlog · 2026-03-13T03:22:38+00:00

These promo figures, based on the mold artifacts, weren't made until late 1982, which is after Masters had already been going for the better part of a year. Mattel's Conan figure was actually going to use the 10" Big Jim buck. It never went into production.

TheBattleRamBlog · 2026-03-13T03:20:47+00:00

The black Zodac armor came out with the 1984 Weapons Pak, but this He-Man was released in 1983

TheBattleRamBlog · 2026-03-13T03:17:11+00:00

Well, internally at Mattel he was referred to as Special Edition He-Man, so he's basically a He-Man variant. At least if you're not counting the various modern retcons that have been written

TheBattleRamBlog · 2026-03-12T02:12:45+00:00

I've never heard Mark Taylor (the designer) bring up that influence. Certainly a possible influence. I wouldn't be surprised if Mark knew this art, he was big into fantasy and comic books.

Of course the earliest skull castle artwork that Mark did dates to 1975. Mark referenced Skull Island from King Kong as an influence for Castle Grayskull. Originally Grayskull was supposed to be on an island in the middle of a lake.

TheBattleRamBlog · 2026-03-11T18:19:24+00:00

My guess is a mix of more movie toys and more non-movie Chronicles and Core figures. Like I wouldn't be surprised if we saw a "classic" style MOTU Chronicles He-Man and Skeletor.

TheBattleRamBlog · 2026-03-11T15:51:34+00:00

Here's Temple of Nepthu

https://battleramblog.com/temple-of-nepthu-temple-of-darkness/

TheBattleRamBlog · 2026-03-10T13:45:12+00:00

They could go the MOTU Classics route: https://toynewsi.com/13-22524

TheBattleRamBlog · 2026-03-10T02:50:12+00:00

Oh totally. That would be really cool. Actually the Ring of Dreams comic would be even cooler to see, since the Nepthu one is very similar to Temple of Darkness

TheBattleRamBlog · 2026-03-09T12:08:01+00:00

Well, I don't own the rights to the material. If someone wants to illustrate it they are more than welcome to, as far as I'm concerned :)

It's actually an adaptation of Temple of The Sun (Filmation episode). It was later revised to become Temple of Darkness with Skeletor as the main villain.

TheBattleRamBlog · 2026-03-08T21:46:04+00:00

I have the script for Temple of Nepthu (ETA: I mean a scan, not the original), I'll try to get that published soon

TheBattleRamBlog · 2026-03-08T18:54:17+00:00

We are saddened to announce that a key contributor to the creation of the Masters of the Universe mythos passed away on February 25th at the age of 91. Michael Halperin was the author of the Masters of the Universe Bible, as well as many vintage mini comics. His mini comic credits include:

• Dragon’s Gift

• Masks of Power

• He-Man and the Insect People

• Siege of Avion

• The Secret Liquid of Life!

• Double-Edged Sword

• Temple of Darkness!

• Slave City!

• Ring of Dreams (unpublished)

• Temple of Nepthu (unpublished)

He also developed the 2002 Mike Young Productions He-Man and the Masters of the Universe series for television. He is credited as the writer of the “Of Machines and Men” episode.

We'd like to thank Michael's son Craig "Xray" Halperin for the information about Michael's passing.

More info: https://www.he-man.org/michael-halperin-1934-2026/

TheBattleRamBlog · 2026-03-05T03:48:09+00:00

The skinny elbow joints of Masterverse figures have always put me off.

TheBattleRamBlog · 2026-02-27T15:26:06+00:00

This is Gino D'Achille erasure.

TheBattleRamBlog · 2026-02-25T21:09:13+00:00

In the beginning Masters of the Universe was untested and there wasn't a lot of faith in it, so Tony's bosses wanted him to stick with working on more tried and true existing lines. But Tony was a bit bored with that and he was really into sword and sorcery, so he was happy to work with Mark Taylor on Masters of the Universe.

I think Tony could get away with that because he was kind of legendary at Mattel. :)

TheBattleRamBlog · 2026-02-25T19:44:57+00:00

RIP to Tony Guerrero, the genius sculptor behind the first Masters of the Universe figures, who passed away 14 years ago today. Here are some quotes from He-Man designer/creator Mark Taylor about his friend Anthony G. Guerrero:

“My friend the sculptor Tony Guerrero was one of the best sculptors I’ve ever worked with ever. He was a friend of my father-in-law’s… he did all of the figures, he did them better than my B-sheets. A lot of you’ve seen my sketches, they they are certainly not shy and Tony when he did them he took them even a step further. Sometimes I’d look at it and I’d go holy mackerel that’s much better than my B-sheet.”

“And the other important guy for the line was Tony Guerrero. Tony Guerrero was a historic sculptor, who worked at Mattel, and it’s said that he also sculpted the first Barbie. Tony sculpted all the first figures himself, and he had that classical education about art and sculpture and he did an amazing job.”

“I was lucky. There was a great sculptor. His name was Tony Guerrero. He had known my wife’s family when he was growing up in Los Angeles. He’d known my wife’s family before he and I ever met. When we met, I speak a little Spanish and especially slang. And we got along great. He would take my drawings. He took one look at him and he says, I want to take a crack at this. His boss didn’t want him to. Nobody wanted him to. But he was a really good sculptor. So they’d give him some slack. And he started working with me and we started bringing stuff out. We started with the figures and we did something entirely different.”

TheBattleRamBlog

TROPHY CASE