Roger Sweet, the toymaker behind 'He-Man,' dies at 91

Roger Sweet, the toymaker who designed the brawny superhero He-Man, has died. He was 91.

Mattel, Sweet’s longtime leader and the artifact institution down the Masters of the Universe characters, confirmed his Tuesday decease to The Times. No further details were instantly available.

“Roger played a pivotal relation successful the aboriginal improvement of Masters of the Universe, helping present iconic characters similar He-Man and Skeletor to the satellite and inspiring generations of fans to find their interior power,” Mattel said successful a statement.

“His bequest endures successful the characters helium helped bring to beingness and the imaginations helium ignited.”

Sweet’s decease comes aft his wife, Marlene, launched a GoFundMe leafage successful February to assistance enactment his determination into a representation attraction installation aft helium was diagnosed with dementia. The money raised much than $90,000 arsenic of Thursday, with the assistance of immoderate die-hard “He-Man” fans.

Sweet was calved April 4, 1935, successful Ohio. He attended the Institute of Design successful Chicago and moved to California successful 1972, wherever helium took a relation arsenic a artifact decorator astatine Los Angeles-based Mattel.

At the time, Mattel had conscionable passed connected a artifact licensing connection from filmmaker George Lucas. Instead, the institution plotted its ain intergalactic artifact enactment to marketplace to young antheral audiences.

In a 2019 interrogation with the Everett, Wash., paper the Daily Herald, Sweet said Mattel’s marketplace probe recovered the astir fashionable toys of the clip progressive “barbarian fantasy, futuristic subject arsenic successful ‘Star Wars,’ and existent subject arsenic successful ‘GI Joe.’”

The Ohio autochthonal worked connected a ample squad of designers and is regarded arsenic the preliminary decorator of “He-Man.” He told the Daily Herald helium created “the 3 prototype models that brought He-Man and Masters of the Universe into existence.” He is besides credited with giving the pb quality its name.

“I took this 9-and-a-half-inch fig and I glued him successful an enactment airs and I widened his shoulders. A lot,” Sweet said successful the interview. “Then I added a immense magnitude of clay to him.”

The toy, archetypal released successful 1982, was wide embraced successful America. Its occurrence spawned the instauration of the Masters of the Universe franchise, which includes the villain Skeletor, the warring tiger Battle Cat and He-Man’s sister, She-Ra, different 1 of Sweet’s designs. Mattel reportedly sold implicit 125 cardinal Masters of the Universe toys successful the archetypal 3 years.

Soon, Mattel launched a cartoon for the artifact line, called “He-Man and the Masters of the Universe.” The series, which ran from 1983 to 1985, nailed down He-Man’s iconic conflict cry, “I person the power!” and continued to grow the hero’s reach.

In 1987, a live-action He-Man movie starring Dolph Lundgren deed theaters but didn’t execute good with audiences. It signaled the extremity of He-Man’s reign, arsenic different toys similar Transformers gained much traction.

Sweet worked astatine Mattel for implicit 15 years and besides helped make assorted manner accessories for Barbie. He and Marlene met portion moving for the company. He retired successful 1991 and moved to the Lake Stevens, Wash., area.

After leaving the company, helium publically expressed his disdain for the payouts helium received from Mattel for creating He-Man.

“Three years successful a row, midway done managing the archetypal series, I got 50 percent of my wage arsenic bonus from Mattel,” Mr. Sweet said successful the Daily Herald interview.

He besides wrote a 2005 memoir entitled “Mastering the Universe: He-Man and the Rise and Fall of a Billion-Dollar Idea,” wherever helium accuses Mattel of attempting to instrumentality recognition for his ideas.

Despite the friction betwixt Sweet and the artifact manufacturer, helium continued to marque his rounds astatine conventions similar Comic-Con, talking each things Masters of the Universe with dedicated fans.

“I ever wanted to beryllium a He-Man and ne'er could,” helium said. “I knew astir each feline successful the satellite would emotion to beryllium a He-Man.”

In caller years, He-Man and the Masters of the Universe person seen a flimsy resurgence successful popularity. Netflix rebooted the animated bid with “Masters of the Universe: Revelation” successful 2021, and the Masters of the Universe toys were inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame successful 2022. In June, He-Man is poised for his movie theatre instrumentality with Amazon MGM and Mattel Film’s caller live-action “Masters of the Universe” revival. Nicholas Galitzine volition prima arsenic He-Man, alongside Jared Leto arsenic Skeletor and Idris Elba arsenic Man-At-Arms.