MASTERING THE UNIVERSE
He-Man and the Rise and Fall of a Billion-Dollar Idea
By Roger Sweet and David Wecker

July 2005 - The cutthroat toy industry is no place for children. MASTERING THE UNIVERSE ($16.99, Emmis Books, July 2005) takes readers inside that world with an unprecedented behind-the-scenes look at the inspired creation, meteoric rise, and devastating fall of one of the top-selling toy lines ever - He-Man and Masters of the Universe (MOTU to fans) - as told by He-Man's creator, Roger Sweet.

The outrageously muscle-bound action figure and his allies and villains created a fantasy world for boys that, at the height of MOTU's popularity in 1986, reached $400 million in sales, only to plummet to $7 million the following year. During its six-year run, the line sold $1.2 billion worldwide and spawned a syndicated cartoon series and a major motion picture - a feat not even the venerable Barbie can claim.

Roger Sweet and co-author David Wecker reveal the office politics that influenced the development of He-Man and MOTU, starting with Mattel's initial call for a male action figure that could compete with the Star Wars craze - on which Mattel had notoriously missed the boat.

The authors also recount the creative process, from He-Man's origins as three separate characters - a barbarian, a military man, and a futuristic space man - to the moment when Mattel's president, in choosing among several toy concepts, pointed to the He-Man prototypes and uttered the prophetic line, "Those have the power."

MASTERING THE UNIVERSE is a must-read for members of the He-Man generation as well as for toy collectors, pop culture enthusiasts, and anyone interested in the drama of business history - as bloody a battleground as anything He-Man ever faced.

Roger Sweet has a Master of Science degree in Product Design from the Institute of Design in Chicago. He worked twenty years doing general consumer product and graphic design and twenty-five more years doing toy product and graphic design. Companies for whom he has designed products include Boeing, Procter & Gamble, Rubbermaid, Hamilton Beach Scovill, Hoover and Mattel. He is currently researching and developing new product concepts. Roger resides in the Pacific Northwest.

David Wecker is a columnist for both the Cincinnati Post and the Kentucky Post. He is also co-host of Brain Brew, a weekly one-hour radio program distributed by PRI, Public Radio International and co-author of Jump Start Your Brain. He lives with his wife and children in a 200 year-old log cabin in Kentucky.

MASTERING THE UNIVERSE: He-Man and the Rise and Fall of a Billion-Dollar Idea
by Roger Sweet and David Wecker
Emmis Books - July 2005 - $16.99
Trade original - 224 pages - ISBN 1-57860-223-8