If you were a little kid between 1982 to about 1987 there’s a good chance you were transfixed by the world of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe. During that five year period, the action figure toyline from Mattel spawned a hit animated series, a spin-off show and toyline (She-Ra: Princess of Power), and tons of non toy merchandise, from lunchboxes to underwear. Then there was the live-action movie starring Dolph Lundgren as He-Man, which was so lame it’s probably what killed that original iteration of the franchise.

Masters of the Universe wasn’t based on any one known property, but in a weird way, it was based on several; there’s a little Star Wars in there, lots of Conan the Barbarian, a healthy dose of Dungeons and Dragons and Lord of the Rings, and a whole lot more. It all shouldn’t have worked, but it if you were the right age for it when it came out, it worked like gangbusters. It was in many ways the original “mashup”property. If you’re an eight year old, what’s not to love?

Now, some thirty years later, a comprehensive documentary is being made about this pop culture phenomenon called Power of Grayskull, described by filmmakers Randall Lobb and Rob McCallum as “the definitive history of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe.” The production team have just launched a Kickstarter with the hope that they can raise $25,000 by Friday, Feb 26 2016. (At the time of this writing they are almost half-funded.) As with most crowdfunded projects, their will be different rewards based on how much you choose to give, including a custom He-Man style action figure in one’s likeness. 

You can watch a teaser trailer for Power of Grayskull below, and to help fund this film, hit up their Kickstarter page right here. You can also follow the film’s progress on HeManDoc.com and Facebook.com/HeManDoc.

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HT: Kickstarter

IMAGE: Mattel