What If He-Man Had Been A 3.75" Figure?

The 3.75" action figure format became the standard size for boys figures in 1978 when the 3.75" Star Wars figures completely dominated the toy market.  From 1978 to 1982, we saw 3.75" action figures of everything from DC and Marvel comic book characters to The Dukes of Hazzard to Universal Monsters to Love Boat!  By 1982, the last wave of Empire Strikes Back figures were arriving in the stores and Hasbro was relaunching their home run G.I. Joe property from the 60s and early 70s in the new standard format of 3.75" as G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero.  The new G.I. Joe toy relaunch combined with an extremely well written comic book and an action packed afternoon cartoon would find such great success that it would guarantee the 3.75" action figure format continued on for another decade.

However, 1982 was also the year that Mattel introduced The Masters of the Universe toy line...only they weren't 3.75" like everything else.  They were 5.5" tall and bulky.  Mattel wanted a product to rival the big names in Toys like Kenner's Star Wars figures and Hasbro's G.I. Joe.  Like G.I. Joe, Masters of the Universe had an after school cartoon to help sell the toys.  They also had a mini-comic included with each figure to let the kids know who these characters were.  He-Man was a muscular barbarian-like good guy who would beat the evil Skeletor and his minions each day on their Sci-Fi meets Swords and Sorcery planet; Eternia.

But what would have happened if The Masters of the Universe had been manufactured in the 3.75" scale?  Because so many figure lines were in the same scale, kids could mix toys from different lines into one huge cast of characters.  Mego didn't make a Perry White figure to go along with their 3.75" Superman?  No problem, there's a guy from the Fisher-Price Adventure People line who looks kind of like him.  Can't find Princess Leia in the stores?  Well the stores have plenty of Wilma Deering from the Buck Rogers line.  Do you need a bunch of background characters or miscellaneous bad guys to fight G.I. Joe?  Simple, grab a handful of any other figure from your toy box - they're all in the same scale!

Super 7 ReAction He-Man with Becky and Luke

When He-Man and Skeletor arrived.  There were no other figures in that scale to join in the battle...or to become collateral damage.  There are dozens of figures from other lines that could have fit right in with 3.75" Masters of the Universe toys.  Tiger Man from the Buck Rogers line would have made a great henchmen.  Mer-Man could have led an army of cantina aliens.  The gray-cloaked, skull-faced Charon from Clash of the Titans could have crept out of the shadows to advise Skeletor.  Hell, I could see Man-At-Arms zooming around Eternia in a Land Speeder.  The difference in scale made incorporating those first few Masters of the Universe figures into daily play pretty tough.  However, in the end it may also be what made He-Man and company stand out from the masses.  Sure there was a cartoon to promote the toy line, but how many other toy lines with cartoons completely failed?  The bulkiness and durability of The Masters of the Universe line set them apart from all of the other lines out there.  Their spring action punches and their quirky designs may have been just the alternative to the more straight forward sameness of everything else on the shelves.

We'll never know what would have happened if He-Man had begun his life in the 3.75" scale, but after selling a couple billions dollars worth of merchandise, I think it's safe to say that Mattel made the right choice when designing their buff barbarian.

What do you think of the of the 3.75" Super 7 Re-Action figures?  How do you think a 3.75" line of Masters of the Universe would have done in the 80s?  Tell us in the comments!

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