PowerCon 2019… or “where my money went that year…”

So who is Roger Sweet?

The Wiki on him does a good job of explaining –

In 1976, Mattel’s CEO Ray Wagner declined a request to produce a toyline of action figures based on the characters from the George Lucas film Star Wars. Upon the commercial success of the film trilogy during the next few years and all related merchandise, Mattel attempted to launch several unsuccessful toylines, none of which captured the public’s imagination or made a significant dent in the toy market. These included: Kid Gallant, a medieval knight; Robin and the Space Hoods, a sci-fi figure; and the daredevil Kenny Dewitt (pronounced “Can He Do It)?”

In the race to design the next hit action figure, Roger Sweet, a lead designer working for Mattel’s Preliminary Design Department throughout much of the 1970s and 1980s, realized simplicity was the key to success he says in his book. According to his book Mastering the Universe: He-Man and the Rise and Fall of a Billion-Dollar Idea published in 2005, Sweet knew that if he gave marketing something they could sell, he’d won 90% of the battle.

“The only way I was going to have a chance to sell this [to Wagner] was to make three 3D models—big ones. I glued a Big Jim figure [from another Mattel toy line] into a battle action pose and I added a lot of clay to his body. I then had plaster casts made. These three prototypes, which I presented in late 1980, brought He-Man into existence.”

“I simply explained that this was a powerful figure that could be taken anywhere and dropped into any context because he had a generic name: He-Man!”

– Roger Sweet

My “He-Man Year Book” looks pretty solid with so many signatures…