Masters of The Universe

I had a rummage in my loft and found some treasures I had not played with in years, perhaps even decades! Check out the video

This video says it all really :)

I will add more detail here though as I remember it.

I was in the USA for the World Speedway Championship in 1982 it was being held in America for the 1st time at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. The American Bruce Penhall won the title and I remember being incensed cos we thought he cheated and that Englishman Kenny Carter should have been the winner. I have found a video of the meeting here from YouTube, I need to watch it again myself for sure. Perhaps I'll see little me in the crowd somewhere!!

We had two weeks travelling on a coach around Arizona, California and Nevada. I had my 13th birthday whilst we were there although I was pretending to be a year younger so we got a cheaper ticket haha my dad's a cheeky chappie lol

We saw the Grand Canyon, the Hoover Dam, Las Vegas, (I was too young to gamble!! or drink but I had a few cans of Coors!), San Francisco (I never knew about the Bay Area thrash scene although this might have been a bit too early for it!), saw the prison at Alcatraz, Ripley's Believe It Or Not and loads of other great sites.

I am sure it was right at the end of the holiday that we went to a Toys R Us, I don't think the stores had arrived in the UK yet, I am sure that the Masters of the Universe toys that I bought there hadn't either as I had never seen them before. I picked up Man-at-Arms cos he is by far the coolest looking dude and Beast Man as he's a good feral looking villain. I played with them on the plane all the way home.

After that I collected as many of the figures as I could, getting them for birthdays and Christmas. I was probably too old for action figures, all my mates had grown out of them but I didn't want to. I remember thinking that growing up sucked and once you stopped 'playing' life would be a joyless thing. I did 'grow out' of them eventually but I also proved myself right. Never give up your play time, being an adult sucks!!

If you want to reject your adulthood and rekindle your imagination through the medium of Masters of The Universe then check out this link for some great stuff that you can pick up.

Masters of The Universe

I remember the cartoons came later to UK television and I was never a fan, I had already created my own stories, mythos, pantheon whatever for my toys and the cartoon version was decidedly not for me. It felt childish to me, I was probably 14/15 by then and it felt like they were aimed for a much younger audience. I still watched them but with the teenage arrogance that my MOTU world was better than the cartoon canon.

I imagine that it would be like the old Batman 60's TV show, as a kid I LOVED it, it was THE best. I would bristle with excitement knowing it was coming on and stare rapt at the TV then await feverishly the resolution of the cliffhanger on the next show. Then as a surly and wiser(?!) teen I saw the Batman movie again and watched slack jawed, amazed, astounded at how absolutely rubbish it was. I berated younger me for ever thinking it was cool. "Bat Shark Repellent Spray" I seethed?! For an obviously plastic prop shark! Young me was an idiot!! I think teen me was like that with the MOTU cartoons, they came at the wrong time for me to appreciate them with childish wonder and awe. Like the Batman cartoons though I am able to appreciate them with an older head. Yes they are twee and camp and daft and totally unbelievable as stories and characters but that becomes charming and fun and quirky and downright enjoyable as you get past your teen angst and are able to grasp their simplistic charm. I used to have the old 60's Batmobile, I think I sold it in the end on Ebay. As a young adult I wanted room for other things, booze, girls, gigs, whatever... I wish I still had it now cos it was damned cool!

After the TV series came the live action film, I was kind of excited as after the cartoons I thought a live action film would be grittier, harder, with more action & violence. It had Dolph Lundgren in it who was bad to the bone as Ivan Drago in Rocky IV. It wasn't too terrible but as an 18 year old, wanting to pretend to be mature and grown up (whilst still playing with toys) I was not impressed. Again as an older person, less angry, less hungry for experience, less hormonal maybe, I can appreciate it for what it is and am quite keen to check out the re-make which is in development and is slated for a 2019 release.

If you can't wait til then why not check out the 1987 version again, or even the cartoon versions.