By Sibylle Dorndorf

Where better to experience superhero fascination than at Ultra Comix? Even from the outside, this is anything but your ordinary shop. Instead, it is more of a melting pot for people with a passion. And from May to September, it will be the ultimate destination for MotU enthusiasts. 

It is a generally known fact that superhero stardom starts off as a normal tale: First, they are just like any other high school student, then a spider bite catapults them into superhero status following which the fight in a skintight blue-red latex outfit against all villains on this planet erupts. Stefan Trautner and Stefan Will had a similar experience. Both lived a modest everyday life until the comic and manga enthusiasts and passionate players turned their passion into a business idea. They became superheroes of the not-so-mundane UC universe. Their mantra: Looking for an exciting, one-of-a-kind game? Love playing cards? Want to immerse yourself in strange worlds? 

Destination Ultra Comix

Welcome to the parallel world right next door. On Vordere Sterngasse in Nuremberg is where kidults, pop enthusiasts, geeks, gamers and eternal seekers will find everything one could possibly think of in terms of comic, manga, fantasy and games on around 1000 square metres of retail space spread across three floors. And starting 25 May, a trip to the Franconian capital will be more than worthwhile. The Masters of the Universe exhibition, curated with great care by Ultra Comix in the shape of Stefan Trautner and Leon Will as well as the MotU collector, Patrick Hutter, will open its doors. Stefan Trautner and Leon Will have turned out to be wise wanderers between the worlds: “I am too old and Leon is too young”, Trautner muses. Viewed from the respective age distance, this makes him and Stefan Will’s son, Leon ideal sparring partners. The MotUs of the first hour and today’s fans are aged between 35 and 50. 

How it all began

For all those who remember only vaguely the fascination surrounding the He-Man heroes, the UC time machine will briefly catapult them into the past. Change of scene: 

Roger Sweet, so it has been said, was pretty desperate. The designer who worked at Mattel in the 1970s and the 1980s had the assignment to come up with a new toy line together with his colleague, Mark Taylor. Christmas was just around the corner and neither Sweet nor Taylor had any idea, let alone a master plan. A serious situation! Three dolls wearing a loincloth lay before them on the table in the conference room. Their bosses. As well as that of their boss, Mattel CEO Ray Wagner. 

The master plan

Under Wagner’s relentless eyes, Sweet and his colleagues had already presented countless designs for new action figures, only to see them discarded. Wagner, who had come up with the idea for a new toy line in response to the success of the Star Wars characters designed by Kenner, showed no mercy. So the goal was to improvise. Out of necessity more than anything else, Sweet had glued together three plastic Vikings using body parts from old dolls. He had created absurdly sized bulks of muscle. A suit of armour, the envy of Barbarians. It is said that he had copied a martial space helmet from the Start Wars character, Boba Fett.

The breakthrough

Roger Sweet and Mark Taylor refused to give up. In 1982, they got their breakthrough: A wild bunch of men with plastic muscles invaded children’s playrooms. Their names: He-Man, Stinkor and Man-E-Faces. For five years, the Masters of the Universe dominated the wish lists of kids and the shelves in toy stores. And then, out of nowhere, the wild bunch disappeared from the face of the earth. 

They came, saw and vintaged

Hire and fire – that was America in the 80s. The Masters of the Universe of the first hour – nowadays called vintage – sold like hot cakes between 1981 and 1987. Wagner’s bet had paid off: The line was a gigantic success and generated a huge fan following world-wide. And as if that was not enough: The original Masters of the Universe had their own two-season, sixty-five-episode animated series on TV between 1983 and 1985. The star attraction: Every figure had its own mini comic. 

Art meets comic

And this brought art into the equation. The comics were drawn by Alfredo Alcala, a Philippine comic illustrator, cartoonist and painter. None other than Rudy Obrero was in charge of the packaging’s artistic design. Obrero’s career started out with designing movie posters like Never Say Never Again (James Bond) and The Postman Always Rings Twice. His signature style defined the early art on packaging for the Masters of the Universe. Unforgettable is the first Battlecat, Wind Raider and the Classics Castle Grayskull. Rudy Obrero’s name is legend. Aged 80 by now, Rudy was the style guide artist for a number of renowned movies, including E.T., Peter Pan and The Mummy Returns.

A self-experiment

The Masters of the Universe were something of a self-experiment for Mattel. From the very start, they came with animations, animated movies and specials, revolutionising the way how toys, comic art and animation interacted. 

And yet, here too: One should not reach for the stars. The 1987 live action movie did not meet expectations despite becoming a cult classic for the huge and constantly growing fan community.

Masterful comeback

Over the years, Masters of the Universe underwent many relaunches and reinterpretations both as collectors’ items and as a toy line but even in animated format in various cartoon series. The 200x toy series launched between 2002 and 2007 are remarkable. They came out together with an animated series in its own, more realistic style.

The exclusive Classics product line which is highly coveted amongst collectors is considered a highlight to this day. 

The revival

MotU has returned to renewed vigour over the past years: Netflix came out with not one, but two animated series. A toy version of Origins launched. Although more in line with today’s taste, it still reflects the original toys. The Masterverse line with its unmistakable packaging concept takes up the art concept again. Many of the new Masterverse packaging designs were artistically revamped by Simon Eckert.

And if the rumours are anything to go by, Amazon will be rolling out a live action movie in the very near future.

The exhibition

It is an accolade for Ultra Comix. The who-is-who in the MotU scene, artists, collectors and fans meet up from May to September to celebrate the Masters of the Universe and immerse themselves in the world of their superheroes from days gone by. Everything started by pure chance: “We were able to buy a bundle of vintage, quality collector’s figures which will also be on sale during the exhibition”, so Stefan Trautner’s thrilled comment. Amongst the roughly 80 MotU exhibits are genuine rarities that are easily in the four-digit price range, he tells us. Peanuts for superheroes. Real passion has its price. 

About the author:

Sibylle Dorndorf has been covering the toy industry for almost 30 years. The journalist last worked as the editor-in-chief at the TOYS family of magazines of the Göller Verlag publishing house from Baden-Baden, Germany. Her passion: Companies that reinvent themselves; brands that credibly position themselves; people who have something to say; and products with a future.