80's Influences of Toys and Toons

loved the 80's when I was growing up. There were certainly many original cartoons popping up back then, Thundercats, M.A.S.K., Transformers, G.I. Joe, etc. But my personal favourite was and still is He-Man and the Masters of the Universe! I remember when the toys first came into the shops and my mother asking me if I wanted one. Back then I admit, I was quite into Star Wars, and I said to her quite plainly that I wasnt interested in these 5" figures from Mattel that were stacked together on red blister cards. I know what you're thinking, heresy! But it's true, I had zero interest in MOTU at that time. 
  Anyway, after about a week the TV programme, He-Man and the Masters of the Universe was aired on television. I was hooked. That was it. My parents probably never heard the last of it, ever LOL. 

Like I've probably mentioned I spent a lot of time drawing when I was a kid. My grandmother used to save rolls of wallpaper just for me, and I'd visit after school on a Friday, lay sprawled out on the carpet and doodle MOTU characters to my heat's content.

 I was in another world, usually the world of Eternia. Then the universe expanded, and then it was the world of Etheria where characters such as Shadow Weaver concocted her dark spells to thwart the heroic Great Rebellion.
   Yes, loved drawing these as well as other cartoon characters. In fact, if you stuck a piece of blank paper of any description in front of me it would be your mistake, because I was an opportunist to the hilt. Sufficed to say that piece of paper wouldn't stay blank for very long. A lesson my first math teacher learned long ago when she handed out blank text books to all the children in class. She caught me doodling Mr. Men on the pages and called me up before the entire class of laughing, jeering kids and commenced to shame me before the entire assemblage. I believe that was my very first taste of the world's propensity to keep the artist down, and crush creative sensitivity and expression LOL. Yes, I'm certain even to this day that teacher was a member of the Evil Horde! 

   But anyway, back on topic; my favourite character in the whole universe would have to be Dylamug or Dy-la-mug- whichever way you prefer,- a character that appeared in the very first She-Ra cartoon here in the UK. Had I been any older I'd have probably written off to Mattel and begged them to make an action figure of him. Sadly though I was only a child so I never. Such an awesome character. His expressions. Those spindly arms and legs. The collection of severed wires and light bulbs emerging from the top of his head/torso. What a design stroke of genius there! I loved many of the character designs for the She-Ra cartoon more than the ones for the He-Man one, I have to admit. It was a totally new take on the expanded universe. I loved the fact that Mantenna had four legs and had those big gangling eyes that suddenly stuck out on stalks to shoot lasers at his foes, and the Horde Leach with his suction cup hands and feet. Great stuff!

The toys were great as well. All the action figures came in a squatting pose to make them appear battle ready as it were. If you ask me it had probable less to do with battle preparation and more to do with Eternia's lack of proper sanitation and cleanliness, and they'd just all come down with a heavy dose of squits.

That's me above, playing with my toys. 

 This is a promotional stunt they had organised for children at one of the local supermarkets. Two guys came in dressed as He-Man and Skeletor and started signing autographs. That's me there in the picture with the black arrow pointing me out.  

Oh dear, how did those pictures get there? LOL. Me last Halloween. 'I'll get you next time, He-Man!'

Ehem, moving on. The collection mania still hasn't left me. after 30 years I have probably amassed an impressive collection of toys both new and vintage, that would probably take your breath away.

 Most of my vintage 80s stuff are packed away. But I display mostly my recent stuff, namely my Masters of the Universe Classics sets. The amount of times I get asked, 'do you play with them?' No, I say. I just display them to look at...

Yeah right! 😏😆

Chances are I'll be collecting this stuff in my 80's. But only for display purposes you understand. 

If you are interested to see some of my character creations please feel free to take a look around my blog. I'm on Facebook too: https://www.facebook.com/tailoredtoons  

And thank you very much for reading.