Conan vs Masters of the Universe

MoviesTV
Written By Chris Well

Was He-Man actually made from canceled Conan the Barbarian toys?  

With the new Masters of the Universe movie hitting theaters, the folks at @ConanTheBarbarianOfficial saw this is as an appropriate time to investigate just how much original sword-wielder Conn the Barbarian really influenced He-Man.

“This is one of the biggest conspiracies in pop culture history. Just telling you the story of this case is not enough. So, we dug up all the old court case files…”

But first, some background info about both parties in the battle… 

About Conan the Barbarian  

One of the most striking characters in storytelling history is sword & sorcery icon Conan the Barbarian AKA Conan the Cimmerian, created by pulp fiction legend Robert E. Howard. The sword-wielding adventurer facing dangerous wizards, monsters, soldiers, and thieves, Conan debuted in a 1932 issue of the legendary pulp magazine Weird Tales.

In the decades since, the barbarian has made all sorts of appearances in books, movies, TV shows, comic books, games, and more.  

Significant to the case at hand, there was the 1982 movie Conan the Barbarian starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and James Earl Jones. Directed by John Milius, the epic movie showed slave-turned warrior Conan (Schwarzenegger) fighting the snake cult to avenge the deaths of his parents.

Toy company Mattel got the rights to create toys connected to the movie—but decided that Conan was “too violent” for children. (We’ll hear more about Mattel shortly.)

Related links:

About He-Man and Masters of the Universe

The hero of the sword-and-planet brand Masters of the Universe, He-Man and company were created in the 1980s by toy company Mattel. (Remember them?)

The series focuses on the conflicts between He-Man and Skeletor on the planet Eternia. The MOTU spin-off She-Ra: Princess of Power starred He-Man’s sister, She-Ra. There were LOTS of supporting characters (i.e. ideas for more toys) in a world that mashed up sword & sorcery with sci-fi.

(That genre mashup was essentially building on ideas established just a few years earlier by the Saturday morning cartoon Thundarr the Barbarian.)

In addition to this new movie hitting theaters, the Masters of the Universe brand has launched all kinds of kid products, including dolls (excuse me, “action figures”), TV shows, comic books, games, and more.

He-man & Conan: THE HORRIFYING TRUTH

One of the biggest conspiracies in pop culture history?

Toy company Mattel and the Conan people had a contract while the Conan movie was being made. But, apparently, the toy company was at the same time also working on a different “barbarian” toy line altogether…

The folks from the official Conan The Barbarian channel dive into the hidden origins of He-Man—exploring how Masters of the Universe might actually owe everything to Arnold Schwarzenegger and the 1982 movie Conan the Barbarian:

“Discover the lawsuit that shook pop culture to its core—and hear new legal insights that could rewrite the story forever. Finally, the truth is revealed once and for all!”

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Chris Well

Chris Well been a writer pretty much his entire life. (Well, since his childhood.) Over the years, he has worked in newspapers, magazines, radio, and books. He now is the chief of the website Monster Complex, celebrating monster stories in lit and pop culture. He also writes horror comedy fiction that embraces Universal Monsters, 1960s sitcoms, 1980s action movies, and the X-Files.

https://chriswell.substack.com/
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