NTWICA? What’s that? An American assocation for nitwits? Close, but no. It’s an acronym for a term that I just made up: Now That’s What I Call Art!

NTWICA #1: Dragon Walker!

Beauty (and art!) is in the eye of the beholder and a lot of what I find visually pleasing today has its origin in artwork and design that was featured on toy packaging in the 1980’s, a time when I grew up and a time which will officially go down in history as the coolest decennium to grow up in for anyone EVER. Toy packaging from that era is some of the most beautiful packaging ever created. No really, I’m not biased :-) One of the reasons why toys from the 1980’s (and to some extent also toys from the 1970’s) had such cool packaging was not only because of the cool design of that era, but also because of the absolutely amazing artwork that was created for these toys. Something that is sorely missing from most toys today if you ask me!

Masters of the Universe – Dragon Walker (1985) Mattel / Europe

While most of the major toy lines from the 1980’s certainly had packaging that was endowed with beautiful artwork, to me there is one toy line that stands head and shoulders above everything else. That toy line was the Masters of the Universe…. Words can only say so much. Take a look at this (and click on the photo for a larger version):

Dragon Walker artwork

Damn, I remember seeing this artwork on the Dragon Walker packaging for the first time in my local toy store somewhere around start of school in 1985, which must have been late August or early September. I was ten years old back then and I was blown away by the sight of all the boxed Masters of the Universe toys and the Dragon Walker is one I remember the most of all. I can still recall the sense of wonder and awe that I felt as kid back then, whenever I see this artwork today. Quite amazing, when I think about it.

Even more amazing is the fact that we live in a time where so much of what makes up our childhood memories has been preserved both physically and digitally, which allows us to relive our childhood joys and examine things in greater detail than we were able to when we were kids. Case in point being a lot of the Masters of the Universe box artwork, which can be found online on several websites in nice and high resolution. There’s just so much beautiful detail to behold and today I would just like to share some of those beautiful details!

“Coat of Arms”

One of my favourite details about the Dragon Walker artwork is something that is not immediately apparent when you first look at the painting, but is something that does register on a subconscious level and adds to the sense of realism of this painting. Check the close up below. Right behind one of the smouldering craters, on the side of the Dragon Walker, we find what looks like a coat of arms!

Dragon Walker – Coat of Arms

I was fascinated by the design of this coat of arms. I never realised it was present on the actual toy itself as well. It shows blue in the upper right portion, which I guess could represent sky or water. Then there’s a black and green checkered portion on the bottom left, which I somehow believe to be related to the dragon itself. I guess it most reminds me of the dragon’s hide. Both portions are seperated by a red diagonal line, which is the colour of the dragon’s fire or his tongue. On top of that there’s a stylized letter “H”, which of course stands for He-Man!

Dragon Walker – Coat of Arms

“He-Man”

Talking about He-Man, here’s a close up of our hero himself riding the Dragon Walker. If you look closely you can see that same stylized letter “H” on his battle armour. He-Man looks just positively bad.. ass.. in this painting. Awesome!

Dragon Walker – Battle Armor He-Man

Now, He-Man does not particularly have the most manly hair cut there is. Truth be told. However, somehow the incredibly talented artist who made this painting (his name is William George by the way, remember that name) succeeded in making He-Man look like the baddest mofo on the block. Check those biceps!

Dragon Walker – Battle Armor He-Man: bad ass!

“Baby Dragon”

Another little detail that I would like to draw your attention to can be found at the bottom right of this painting. Here we find a little baby dragon waving his wings angrily at the Dragon Walker. This part of the painting is obscured on the front of the Dragon Walker packaging. It can only be seen at the bottom of the box.

Dragon Walker – Baby Dragon

“The Dragon’s Head”

The next portion of this painting that I would like to direct your attention to is the head of the Dragon Walker. I mean, get a load of this:

Dragon Walker’s head

AaaRgH! By the power of Greyskull, how cool is this! (Note to self: say “By the Power of Greyskull” more often when I see something cool) Granted, the artist had the toy to go by, but man, what a fantastic translation from toy to mythical, fire-and-brimstone vibe dragon! *bows head in awe* (Note to self: this would look awesome on a poster…. ) For comparison purposes, here’s a photo of the toy itself from a 1985 French toy catalog:

Dragon Walker – Noël 1985 catalog

Cool looking toy? Hell yizzeah!

“Beast Man and Tri-Klops”

Finally, as is often the case with Masters of the Universe artwork we can find some characters in the background. Here’s a close up of Tri-Klops and Beast Man standing in the distance, both looking very defiant. Tri-Klops is holding his sword and Beast Man is lashing his whip in the air. Awesome! How can you not be impressed with something as cool as this as a young kid?

Dragon Walker – Tri-Klops and Beast Man

Thank you for joining me in this short look at what will hopefully be the first in a long line of “NTWICA” posts. The 1980’s live on! ;-)

Stop a thirty-something year old dude on the street and yell “By the Power of Greyskull!” to his face. Chances are very slim you will be beaten up. Chances are you will see him stop dead in his tracks, a smile appear on his face and a spark of nostalgia in his eyes. For the uninitiated, I am talking about a little thing called the “Masters of the Universe”. It was the shit in the 1980’s and today’s blog post is about one of the most iconic characters of that very toy line: Battle Cat!!!!!

Battle Cat (1983) Mattel Europe

“By the Power of Syndication!”

The Masters of the Universe has got to be one of the greatest toy line successes of all time. It was the proverbial snowplow that paved the way for many more toy line/cartoon tie-ins to come. At the height of its succes it made Mattel 400 million dollars a year and its success was in no small quantitites due to the popularity of the eponymous cartoon series by animation studio Filmation. In an unprecedented move for children’s programming the major US network were circumvented and a whopping total of 65 episodes was dropped into syndication in 1983. First run syndication cartoons were born. Five days a week of He-Man cartoons on TV certainly aided Mattel’s record sales.

Trade ad for He-Man and the Masters of the Universe cartoon (1983) Filmation Associates

The cartoon series had its world premiere not in the US, but on UK channel ITV on September 5th, 1983. Three weeks later, on September 26th, the series debuted on local TV stations all over the US through barter syndication. France was introduced to the cartoon shortly thereafter on January 6th, 1984 on channel Antenne 2. On July 20th, 1985 the series premiered on pan-European satellite broadcaster Sky Channel, which meant that more European countries were introduced to the cartoon like the Netherlands, Switzerland, Norway and over time even more countries as Sky Channel’s reception in Europe grew.

“Battle Cat”

Battle Cat was part of the first series of Masters of the Universe toys that were released by Mattel in the US in 1982 and was He-Man’s trusty feline friend. I don’t have exact data on other European countries, but the toy line was introduced in the Netherlands one year later in 1983. My guess is that the same goes for the rest of Europe and that 1983 was the European debut of the Masters of the Universe toy line (France maybe being the exception with a possible 1982 debut through imported Canadian bi-lingual Masters of the Universe toys).

European bi-logo

The European packaging of Battle Cat is easily recognized by the bi-logo packaging (two logos: “Masters of the Universe” and “Maîtres de l’Univers”), Although Canadian Masters of the Universe toys came with this same bi-logo packaging the European packaging will have additional German and Italian texts spread throughout, so the packaging itself is really quad-lingual, with English, French, German and Italian as the languages of choice.

European quad-lingual packaging

“Distribution”

Distribution of this European version of Battle Cat was done by the various international Mattel subsidiaries. Mattel UK, Ltd for the United Kingdom, Mattel France SA for France, Mattel GmbH for West-Germany and Mattel SpA for Italy.

European Mattel subsidiaries

The remaining European markets where Mattel was not active themselves were mostly handled by local distributors. In the Netherlands in 1983 distribution of Mattel products was being handled by a toy wholesaler/importer called “Borka B.V.”, operating from a small town called Etten-Leur in the south-west of the Netherlands. Borka B.V. was a subsidiary of Dutch trading company Borsumij Wehry N.V., which also owned the exclusive Belgian distributor of Mattel products. Borka B.V. held the exclusive distribution license for Mattel products for many years until 1985, which is when Mattel finally founded their own subsidiaries in the Benelux countries and decided to take distribution into their own hands. (A nasty law suit followed, which dragged on until 1991 and went all the way to the Dutch Supreme Court).

Article on Borka’s 1984 product line (Speelgoed + Hobby) April 1984

“The Recycling Machine”

It might come as a shock to some, but Battle Cat was not really an original toy. Mattel was certainly known for its predilection for re-using moulds. The first recorded occurrence of this mould is from Mattel’s 1970s toy line Big Jim. It was released in 1976 as Big Jim On the Tiger Trail.

Big Jim on the Tiger Trail (1976) Mattel

Then in 1978 Mattel decided to cash in on the popularity of the Tarzan cartoon (also from Filmation) and released a Tarzan and Jungle Cat set which re-used the same tiger mould, but now as an all black feline:

Tarzan’s Jungle Cat (1978) Mattel

And then 1982 rolled along and Mattel needed something for their Masters of the Universe toy line. “Hey, why not re-use our tiger mould again?!” And thus it was that Mattel re-painted this mould once more, but this time in its iconic green with yellow stripes. Battle Cat was born:

Battle Cat (1982) Mattel

But Mattel didn’t stop there. One year later in 1983 they decided that Skeletor needed a feline of his own. It was called Panthor and guess which mould Mattel used for that. Yep…. Check it out:

Panthor (1983) and Battle Cat (1982) Mattel

“One Cool Cat”

Despite the fact that this mould has been recycled over the years, Battle Cat has a style of its own and this is in no small amount due to the cool armour it came with. Anyone who grew up with the Masters of the Universe cartoon instantly recognizes this cool colour scheme. I mean, just look at Battle Cat fully armoured up:

Battle Cat fully suited up

And if you thought that looks cool, just look how awesome Battle Cat looks together with a He-Man action figure!

Battle Cat and He-Man

Doesn’t it look fantastic? I can tell you it looks just as cool in real life. I was setting up He-Man and Battle Cat for this photo session and was simply struck by how cool the scene looked. I took multiple photos from several angles and they all looked great!

Battle Cat and He-Man

“Mesmerizing Artwork”

There’s one more thing I’d like to touch upon regarding this “Tigre de Combat” and that is the awesome, amazing, fantastic art work. I mean, just look at how mystical and awe inspiring this looks:

Battle Cat artwork (by Rudy Obrero)

The Masters of the Universe toy line was blessed with many talented artists doing the packaging artwork. This mesmerizing depiction of Battle Cat with its helmet off is by a talented artist called Rudy Obrero. It’s a sight that regular visitors to this website will immediately recognize, because it is often visible in the randomly changing header of this very website!

“Gallery”

I hope you enjoyed this little look at Battle Cat. Masters of the Universe was certainly one of my favourite toy lines when I was growing up and I plan to feature more of my MOTU collection in the near future. For now, please enjoy the additional photos I made of Battle Cat below. See you back soon!

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“Credits”

• Topless Robot for the Big Jim Tiger photo
• Bigjimforum.com for packaging of Big Jim on the Tiger Trail photo
• Plaidstallions.com for the Tarzan Jungle Cat photo

Every generation will look back with fondness at their childhood. For me -and I will wager for the majority of the male audience visiting this website- the decade called the 1980s was the decennium where most of our childhood years were spent…. and that was an awesome time to be alive and growing up! I was born in 1975, so for me the 1980s started when I was almost 5 and they ended when I was almost 15. Those are very important and formative years for a boy growing up. The 1980s had some of the coolest toys and cartoons ever!

Orko says hi!

“1980s rule!”

Yeah, I know that’s a bold claim and some will say that every generation will say the same about their childhood decade(s). But there really is something different about the 1980s and I think I can back that up with facts. The 1980s were the decade where some of the most classic toy lines were launched. Some of these have seen numerous reissues and relaunches since then and some of them still exist to this day!!! The 1980s were also the first decade where toy based cartoon series exploded onto our television screens!!

Your childhood says hi!

While pessimists might claim that these cartoons were nothing more than 30 minute advertisements for the toy lines they were based on, the kids of the 1980s will tell you a whole different story!!

“Soapbox”

Allow me the priviledge to step on my soap box and to be so bold as to represent a whole generation of kids worldwide, who grew up in the 1980s, whether they grew up in Europe, the Americas or Asia….. These cartoons and toys were a fucking blast! They have stimulated our imaginations like nothing else and for some of us they still resonate profoundly in our adult lives and still fill our lives with pleasure! Hands up all of you who consider Optimus Prime a personal hero. Hands up all of you who got all choked up inside when Optimus Prime died in the 1986 Transformers Movie. Hands up all of you who still get goose bumps every now and then when He-Man holds up his magic sword and says “By the Power of Grayskull!”. Hands up all of you who think the intro theme to the M.A.S.K. cartoon is one of the coolest pieces of music written evah!! :-)

Yo Joe!!

“The 1980s are still rockin’!”

I guess some sceptics might still claim that the 1980s are nothing different from the decades before and the decades after. Well, I beg to differ. Let’s have an objective look at some of the 1980s properties that are still alive today, shall we? The Transformers exploded onto an unsuspecting planet in 1984 and have remained with us ever since! The toy line just never stopped and kept being reinvented and has recently reached new levels of awesomeness in the 21st century with three major motion pictures and no end in sight yet!!! Next up: G.I. Joe! In the 1980s Hasbro relaunched their G.I. Joe line and it became a major, major hit worldwide. Again, today we still have G.I. Joe toys being released and two succesful blockbuster motion pictures!

Memories….

But those are not the only 1980s properties that saw re-releases or re-issues. How about the numerous Masters of the Universe re-issues and relaunches over the years and the MOTU Classics line still going strong? How about the Inspector Gadget movies? How about the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles revival around the corner? How about the Battle Beasts trademark being brought back by Diamond Select Toys and Takara gearing up to release the true successor to the Battle Beasts line: Beast Saga! There’s probably loads more examples you could come up with.

Kick ass packaging design

“Wonder, magic and adventure”

That’s one of the many reasons I like to collect vintage toys from the 1980s. They’re so frickin’ cool! Another reason is that it recaptures some of the enthousiasm and joy that I felt when I was a kid. I would certainly not want to give you the impression that I don’t feel joy and enthousiasm in my adult life, far from it. But there’s just something about that sense of wonder, magic and adventure that you would feel as a kid that rarely happens anymore in your adult life. Coming home and opening a package that arrived from the US, the UK, France, Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands or any other place on this planet makes my heart beat faster and I feel like I’m 10 years old and it’s my birthday when I’m tearing the package open! And that’s a good thing if you ask me.

My childhood friends!

Thank you for allowing me to get all emotional on you and to indulge in a little personal nostalgia here. I’ll step off my soapbox now. Normal blogging will resume shortly. ;-) I’ve added a lot of goodies to my collection in the past few weeks that I hope to feature here as soon as I can get them photographed.

“Gallery”

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Hi and welcome back for another post where I will delve into the wondrous world of Dutch 1980’s toy store catalogs. In the past two posts I have concentrated mainly on Transformers, because (obviously) they rock. However, the 1980’s were a veritable gold mine of cool (and less cool) toy lines, which you could probably spend life times exploring and collecting. The one toy line that immediately springs to my mind right behind Transformers is none other than Masters of the Universe! Let’s have a look.

“By the Power of Grayskull!”

I don’t know exactly when Masters of the Universe came into my life, but I know it was there right before Transformers. I remember that the cartoon started airing on Sky Channel somewhere during 1985. Sky Channel was a pan-European satellite channel that used to broadcast over large parts of Europe in the 1980’s. Mattel, the maker of the Masters of the Universe toy line, was believed to have been frustrated with the lack of Saturday morning cartoons in Europe and subsequent possibilities of airing commercials for their product. In the mid-1980’s the concept of  Saturday morning kids TV was still alien to most European countries, where the status quo was still mostly controlled by government owned broadcasters.

Sky Channel logo (1984-1989)

This changed in July of 1985 when Sky Channel launched a 4-hour kids programming block called Fun Factory. Mattel is regarded as one of the catalysts behind this new concept as it immediately signed a contract with Sky Channel for a whole year’s worth of commercials during the Fun Factory program. The Masters of the Universe cartoon could be seen as part of Fun Factory every weekend and the commercial breaks were filled with many commercials from Mattel pimping the eponymous toy line. Good times! I still fondly remember buying my first MOTU action figure in 1985 in my local toy store. I convinced my mom to pay 18.95 Guilders for Skeletor. Later on I would also get He-Man and I also had a Dragon Blaster Skeletor a few years later.

Masters of the Universe – V&D (November 1985)

Above you see the oldest Masters of the Universe ad I was available to find, which is from Vendorama #13 from November 1985. Vendorama was a monthly publication from Dutch department store Vroom & Dreesmann. Back in the 1980’s department stores in the Netherlands often had very respectable toy sections. In this ad we can see Castle Grayskull and a couple of action figures including He-Man, Orko, Evil-Lyn and Fisto. I love the creativity that goes into these scenes. I’m not sure if this is stock photography that was supplied by Mattel Europe or whether this was work done specifically for this V&D catalog, but it looks great. What kid could resist?

“I Have the Power!!”

I’m still not sure when the Masters of the Universe toy line actually hit the Netherlands. I think it was 1984, but it was definitely not before the cartoon started airing on Sky Channel that the popularity of the line started to mushroom. The only thing that managed to trump the Masters of the Universe toy line popularity wise was the Transformers, which started to gain traction after its premiere on Sky Channel in November 1985. But let’s get back on track! Here’s another late 1985 catalog, which might seem familiar, because part of it was featured in an earlier post.

Masters of the Universe – Bart Smit (November 1985)

The Transformers shown on this catalog page were discussed in this post, but today it’s the Masters of the Universe stuff we’re interested in! At the top of the page we see a nice diorama, with both Castle Grayskull and Snake Mountain, Panthor and Battle Cat and a host of action figures. Let’s have a closer look at that.

Masters of the Universe – Bart Smit (November 1985)

The thing that strikes me the most is that Snake Mountain is so much more expensive as Castle Grayskull. Now, I know that Snake Mountain has the added bonus of electronics inside in the form of a microphone that you could talk into, which would alter your voice to create a “scary” effect. But still, it’s almost twice as expensive as Castle Grayskull! I don’t know how the price of both castles compared in the U.S., but I do know that Castle Grayskull was released in 1982 as part of the toy line’s introduction and that Snake Mountain did not see a release until the third wave in 1984. Maybe Castle Grayskull was available in the Netherlands earlier than Snake Mountain as well, which could also account for the big price difference.

Masters of the Universe – Bart Smit (November 1985)

The lower half of the page is shown above. You can see He-Man on top of Stridor and a basic price list beneath. Action figures seemed to cost 17.95 Guilders a piece at V&D, while I remember they were 18,95 at Intertoys in my home town.

“By the Power of the Discount!”

Below is a photo of the Masters of the Universe page from the November 1986 Bart Smit catalog. As you can see some of the stuff from the year(s) before was being discounted. Castle Grayskull has dropped in price from 89.50 to 79 Guilders. Also, the He-Man and Battle Cat combo was dropped from 49.95 to 37.95! Boy, if only I could find a mint-in-box specimen for that price today!

Masters of the Universe – Bart Smit (November 1986)

But the action figures still remained the same at 17.95 and even worse, the new 1986 “Horde” action figures are priced at 19.95!! Damn. For your reference, that would be about 20 euros today in 2012. I also cannot believe how friggin’ expensive Spydor was! 89.50 Guilders! On the other hand, there was some ancillary stuff available as well on the cheap, like this Masters of the Universe “Flashlite”:

Masters of the Universe Flashlite – Bart Smit (November 1986)

And how about the awesone Weapons Pak shown in the photo below for just 7.95 Guilders? LOL. I happen to have this Weapon Pak, but the photo below is one of the U.S. version. The European version has two logos on the card (an English and French logo). The funny thing is that I think I paid more than double for this Weapon Pak in 2011 compared to the price shown below. That’s vintage toy collecting for ya… ;-)

Masters of the Universe – Bart Smit (November 1986)

“By the Power of the Recommended Retail Price!”

So here’s another toy catalog from late 1986, this time from Vedes. What strikes me is that the prices shown here for Snake Mountain and Spydor are identical to those at Bart Smit. I guess Mattel was good at convincing the retailers not to compete too much in price in late 1986.

Masters of the Universe – Vedes (Sinterklaas 1986)

Another cool looking diorama from Vedes though, who were also repsonsible for a cool looking Transformers diorama that I showed in my previous posting here.

“Princess of Power”

Although it probably had been available earlier in the U.S., in September of 1986 a Masters of the Universe spin-off toy line was launched in the Netherlands by Mattel, called She-ra: The Princess of Power. She-ra was meant to be an action-fantasy toy line that would appeal to girls. It was supported by a cartoon series made by Filmation, just like He-Man.

She-Ra: Princess of Power – Bart Smit (November 1986)

Although I did not dig the toy line, I do admit to watching the cartoon on Sky Channel’s Fun Factory and even enjoying it (though not as much as He-man of course).

“One More Thing….”

Before I leave you today I would like to draw your attention to an obscure little toy line that I found inside the Bart Smit November 1985 catalog on the page right next to the Masters of the Universe page. It is called “Defenders of the Planets” and it does not seem to make an effort to pretend not to be a straight Masters of the Universe rip off. I mean… have a look at this:

Defenders of the Planets – Bart Smit (November 1985)

Not convinced? Have a look at this dude right here on the three-wheeler, called Orion:

Defenders of the Planets – Bart Smit (November 1985)

If this is not a straight He-Man rip-off I don’t know what is. They even ripped of He-Man’s awful medieval hair cut and managed to make it worse by throwing in a 1970’s vibe to his coiffure! But I have to admit, I’m a real sucker for obscure toy lines like these. If I ever come across some Defenders of the Planets stuff inside its original packaging, I will be sure to pick it up! :-)

“To Be Continued”

Loads more of 1980’s toy ads to come in the next couple of weeks whenever I have an afternoon to myself, so stay tuned!

Before God created the Transformers, he created the Universe. Masters of the Universe, that is. At least, that’s how my memory as a child of the 1980’s goes. For me, the Masters of the Universe was the snowplow that really paved the way for many more US toy lines with cartoon tie ins to come. I was introduced to He-Man and the Masters of the Universe by watching the Filmation cartoon on Sky Channel in 1985 and I was mesmerized by the beautiful packaging of all the Masters of the Universe toys in my local toy store. These were seriously cool toys!

Teela, Sorceress & Evil-Lyn (Mattel) – from my personal collection

I’ve acquired quite a few European Masters of the Universe toys over the past few months and I plan to feature them here in the next few weeks. Today we start with Teela!

“Teela”

According to the mythos of the Filmation cartoon of Masters of the Universe, Teela was the daughter of the Sorceress. Teela was raised by Man-at-Arms as if she was his own daughter. In the episode “Teela’s Quest” she shortly discovers the truth about her mother, only to have the memory erased by the Sorceress for her own protection.

Teela – from the cartoon by Filmation

“European Teela”

In the US, Teela was part of the first wave of Masters of the Universe toys that were introduced in 1982. I am not sure at what time the toy line got introduced in Europe, but it was probably introduced first in France and the UK in 1983 and in the rest of western Europe in 1984 I’d guess. I found this MOSC (mint on sealed card) European Teela not too long ago on one of my many travels through the internets. The bubble has yellowed and it seems there’s some discolouration on the arms, but otherwise it’s in pretty good condition and has never been opened!

Masters of the Universe – Teela (Mattel) 1983

“Single logo card”

What struck me as odd is that Teela comes with a “normal”, single logo on the card as is seen on the US cards. Most of the European releases came with two logos on the card, one in English and one in French as you can see from the photo at the beginning of this post. There are three languages on the front of Teela’s card below the Masters of the Universe logo, which are English, German and Italian. This is also unusual, because the language missing here is French! I am not sure what the significance of this is, but I do know it’s hard to find good information on all the packaging variations that existed in Europe, especially in the early years! The back of the card does have the usual quad-lingual texts including French.

Masters of the Universe – Teela (Mattel) 1983

“The Women of He-Man”

I don’t know exactly how it happened, but the funny thing is that all the MOSC (mint on sealed card) Masters of the Universe action figures I have are female! As you can see from the photo at the top of this post, besides Teela I also have Evil-Lyn and the Sorceress. These will feature in a future post soon so stay tuned!

“Gallery”

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