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Masters of the Universe (commonly abbreviated MOTU and sometimes referred to as ''He-Man'', after the lead hero) is a media franchise created by Mattel. The main premise revolves around the conflict between the heroic He-Man and the evil Skeletor on the planet Eternia, with a vast line-up of supporting characters in a hybrid setting of medieval sword and sorcery and sci-fi technology. Later spin-offs also featured He-Man's sister She-Ra and her struggle against the Evil Horde, along with other planets/settings; however the main premise usually remained the same. Since its initial launch, the franchise has spawned a variety of products, including six lines of action figures, four animated television series, several comic series, and a feature film. ==Origin of the franchise== 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''.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Mastering the Universe: He-Man and the Rise and Fall of a Billion-Dollar Idea by Roger Sweet and David Wecker )〕〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=The Birth of He-Man )〕〔The rights to manufacture the ''Star Wars'' toyline were later acquired by Hasbro.〕 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.〔〔 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 would have won 90% of the battle (although this is not officially acknowledged by Mattel and is disputed by some other contributors).〔〔Sweet, Roger; David, Wecker ''Mastering the Universe : He-Man and the Rise and Fall of a Billion-Dollar Idea'', Emmis Books July 11, 2005, ISBN 1-57860-223-8〕〔Authorship of the He-Man character has been subject to debate, as designer Roger Sweet claims to be the chief creator of He-Man and MOTU〕〔The general consensus among the fandom is that it was the collaborative efforts of many designers and artists (Mark Taylor, Roger Sweet, Anthony G. Guerrero and Ted Mayer), that produced the original MOTU toys.〕〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=The Power and The Honor Foundation )〕 The earliest storybooks and much of the original backstory were written by Donald F. Glut.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=E-mail interviews with Donald F. Glut )〕〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Mattel wins fight with comics writer over He-Man rights - Robot 6 @ Comic Book Resources )〕 Two other designers, Mark Taylor and Jill Barad, have also taken credit for creation of the superhero.
Roger Sweet presented the He-Man concept to Ray Wagner at the Mattel Product Conference, in the form of the aforementioned three large three-dimensional plaster prototype models, which Sweet dubbed the "He-Man Trio". These prototypes were molded from an extensively modified Big Jim action figure, and had some painted formed sheet wax outfit parts. The He-Man Trio models were a barbarian, a soldier, and a spaceman. Out of the three concepts, the barbarian version He-Man was chosen to be the basis of the toyline (this original trio-prototype idea was released around thirty years later as the figure ''Vykron'', and the barbarian concept on its own as ''Vikor'', in the 'Masters of the Universe Classics' line). In 1980, the rights-holders of Conan the Barbarian began negotiating the character's toy rights with Mattel. They entered in an agreement the following year regarding characters from the Conan movie. Upon Mattel introducing a toy line starring He-Man, the rights-holders sued the toy company claiming the character was a copy of Conan. Mattel eventually won the lawsuit.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Conan The He-Man—The REH Forum )〕 Taking in consideration that the Conan character was created almost 50 years prior to the development of the He-Man franchise, it is likely that the Masters of the Universe borrowed many aspects from Conan, but it appears that it was not intended to be a toyline for the film after legal agreements were dissolved.〔 Additionally, Roger Sweet has claimed also to have been "real impressed" by the paintings of fantasy artist Frank Frazetta when creating He-Man.〔 and the barbarian sculpt was based on an illustration by Mark Taylor.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=The Power and The Honor Foundation )〕 The decision to change He-Man's hair to blonde was made by Mattel's Tom Kalinske. To further expand on this initial barbarian theme, Mattel hired comic book writers such as Donald F. Glut and artists like Earl Norem (who painted covers for the Marvel Comics Savage Sword of Conan since issue #16 in 1976〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Earl Norem Gallery Contents )〕) to create additional characters and their backstory, posters, package inlays, box art and mini-comics to be distributed with the action figures. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Masters of the Universe」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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