Some toy brands are effortlessly eternal. Or, at least, inescapable. Mattel struck gold with Greta Gerwig’s Barbie in 2023, but even before that film won a billion at the box office and clinched a few accolades during awards season, the Barbie brand was in good enough shape. Other brands have to work a lot harder to keep interest in their property alive: Transformers and G.I. Joe have each struggled to give their cinematic franchises a new life. It’s not easy appealing to the next generation, especially with traditional toys and action figures — bread and butter for a lot of these brands — largely appeal only to collectors now.
Something like Masters of the Universe, meanwhile, falls somewhere in between blockbuster success and nigh-obscurity. Yes, the 1984 cartoon is a classic, but can this translate into a live-action tentpole? For the first time since 1987, Mattel is trying once more to turn He-Man into the action hero he was always meant to be. The company is partnering with Amazon MGM for a new Masters of the Universe — and though it’s a pretty nostalgic property, it’s also had several animated reboots and continuations over the years. In fact, as of right now, there are two distinct contemporary animated versions of Masters of the Universe on Netflix: a 3D animated reboot called He-Man and the Masters of the Universe (2021), as well as the Kevin Smith-created Masters of the Universe: Revelation (2021) and its sequel series, Revolution (2023), which use more traditional animation.
