From our correspondent in California,
Impossible to miss the giant statue when arriving in the lobby of Mattel. Musclor, who celebrates his 40th birthday this fall, still makes The Rock look like a weakling and proudly wears his timeless fur briefs. But when it was worth more than two billion dollars in the early 1980s, the franchise of Masters of the Universe collapsed. The American company, which relaunched it last year with two animated series on Netflix, presented new figurines at its Californian headquarters in El Segundo, Los Angeles, at the end of September. With the ambition to seduce nostalgic dads and their children.
Success and meteoric fall
1982. Mattel is biting its fingers to have passed its turn to produce a line of figurines Star Wars. His answer, inspired by Conan the Barbarian: Adam, the gentle prince of Eternia, who, brandishing his magic sword, becomes He-Man (Musclor here), a bodybuilt hero fighting against his sworn enemy Skeletor. To convince dubious toy stores, the marketing director, Mark Ellis, bluffs and promises a cartoon that does not exist but arrives a year later. The success is dazzling. In France, it was broadcast on Récré A2 from September 1984. But sales of figurines, which reached 400 million dollars in the United States in 1986, were divided by more than 50 the following year, to 7 million dollars. .
What killed Musclor? Inventory problems, with a surplus of secondary characters sold off in the shops? Internal dissension at Mattel, as designer Roger Sweet claims in his book Mastering the Universe, with the end of the cartoon? The explosion of video games? “The reality is that the fashion for heroic fantasy quickly passed. The science fiction turn has begun, with transformersthen the Ninja Turtles were furious. Musclor has failed to adapt, “said Dan Eardleyavid fan and co-author of the encyclopedia The Toys of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe. The monumental 1987 film starring Dolph Lundgren ($17 million at the box office) definitely buries the franchise. Mattel tried a comeback in 2002 with a new cartoon but canceled it after two seasons. Musclor survives thanks to fans, who meet at annual conventions, and collectors.
“Content first”
In 2018, Ynon Kreitz becomes the 4th CEO of Mattel in four years. Society is in crisis. The children are glued to the screens. The giant Toys R Us declares bankruptcy, brought to its knees by online commerce. Mattel’s revenue continues to fall for the 5th consecutive year. The reality is implacable: “In the toy departments, there is not a product that is not derived from a film, a cartoon or a video game. To arouse the interest of children, you need attractive content,” notes Dan Eardley.
After Fox Kids and Endemol, Ynon Kreitz restructures the company and sets a new priority: content-firstwith toys that must be based on global franchises declined in television and cinema, such as its competitor Hasbro with transformers. At least 14 projects are in development, including Barbiewith Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling, and enigmatic projects One and Magic 8 Ball.
The great return
MOTUas the franchise is known in the United States (Masters of the Universe), has already returned with force last year on Netflix. Masters of the Universe: Revelation plays the nostalgia card to the fullest, with the geek Kevin Smith at the helm and Mark Hamill for the voice of Skeletor, Muscleman and the masters of the universea revamped 3D animation series that targets children.
This segmentation can be found on the figurines side, with the old-school Origins line, intended for adult collectors, while the Masterverse range, which incorporates modern design, hopes to appeal to the youngest. In France, the new He-Skeletor, Moss Man and Serpent Mountain set are expected in early 2023. Christmas will be a test for Mattel in the United States, which must try to find a place in a market cannibalized by Star Wars, marvel, Minecraft, Roblox and Fortnite.
The company will especially play big with its future film Masters of the Universe. In the making for more than 15 years, the project started from scratch and finally landed at Netflix. Production is due to start next year with Kyle Allen (West Side Story) in the title role. A crossover blogger at Mattel, who obtained a draft of the script, described it on condition of anonymity as “a muscle man with sauce Guardians of the Galaxy “. Time is running out for Mattel, warns Dan Eardley: “If Masters of the Universe fails to reinvent itself to appeal to a new generation, the franchise risks dying with us. The power of the ancestral skull has its limits.