The Masters of the Universe: 200x Happy Meal Toys (Mattel, 2003)

2003 McDonald's Masters of the Universe Happy Meal Toys

The Masters of the Universe toy line first appeared in 1982 and by the end of 1983, with the help of the Filmation animated series, it had become one of the most popular toy lines in history.  However, it's initial popularity was relatively short lived and by 1987, the original line was winding down.  A feature length film came out in 1987, but it didn't do much to breath additional life into the franchise and is generally considered to be...well...not an awesome movie.  The New Adventures of He-Man cartoon and toy line appeared in 1991 and was dead by the end of 1992.  This Sci-Fi reinvention of He-Man didn't make much of a splash and went mostly unnoticed (I never heard about it until many years later).

McDonald's Happy Meal He-Man and Skeletor

Nearly a decade went by with no official Masters of the Universe product, but that decade coincided with the early days of the internet.  Masters of the Universe fans connected with each other and kept the memory alive.  Mattel noticed and in 2000, they released a commemorative line of figures.  The sales must have gone well because by 2002, a new line of re-imagined Masters of the Universe toys was in the stores and a new cartoon was on TV.  The new toy designs were created by the Four Horsemen who had met while working McFarlane Toys and left to start their own studio.  The toys were cool and the TV show, which lasted two seasons, was actually pretty awesome.  Unfortunately, this incarnation (which fans often refer to as 200x) wasn't able to recapture the magic of the original 80s toys' and cartoon's success.

McDonald's Happy Meal Man-at-Arms, Ram Man, and Beast Man

The failure is typically blamed on too many He-Man and Skeletor figures and not enough of the supporting characters.  There were more than a dozen different versions of He-Man, but collectors and kids alike had trouble finding the other characters which were apparently mailed to stores in much smaller numbers.  However, during this time, Mattel was trying hard to promote the new line and in 2003, they partnered with McDonald's to include 8 different Masters of the Universe figures that everyone actually could find simply by stopping by McDonald's and buying a Happy Meal!

All 8 MOTU 2003 McDonald's Happy Meal Toys in numbered Packages

The 8 Happy Meal figures were: He-Man, Skeletor, Battle Cat, Man-at-Arms, Panthor, Beast Man,  Orko, and Ram Man.  Each figure had an action feature and most came with accessories.  These toys may not have been the best versions of these characters, but I think He-Man, Skeletor, and Beast Man are actually pretty cool!  Battle Cat and Panthor aren't bad, but I was never very excited about the bulkiness of their weapons in the 200x line and the McDonald's toys recreated that bulkiness in a softened form for younger kids.  If you take off the removable weapons, the two cats are also cool, but there are relatively large holes left behind.  Man-At-Arms could have been much better, but his action gimmick was a shield that spun off of his torso with the press of a button and that gimmick prevented him from having a left arm / hand which makes him considerably less fun to me.  I was never much of a fan of Orko or Ram Man, so even though these figures are decent versions of these characters, I would have preferred another pair of characters like Teela, Mer-Man, Faker, Trap Jaw, Tri Klops, etc.

Insert included with the 2003 Masters of the Universe Happy Meal Toys

Overall, I would say that for Happy Meal toys, the Masters of the Universe figures are definitely some of my favorites.  I'm so glad that they didn't go the route of Masters of the Universe mini-vehicles with He-Man and Skeletor torsos and heads sticking out like McDonald's has done so many times with other properties (I'm looking at you, Batman Returns...and you, Batman: The Animated Series...and you, Star Wars!)  The figures that we got from Masters of the Universe are actually real action figures and look good enough that I often find them for sale with regular figures bought in toy stores and not with Happy Meal toys.  So aside from the ebay sellers who keep thinking they're selling a regular 200x Beast Man and not a Happy Meal toy, I'm glad these figures are out there and you can usually pick them up for pretty cheap too!

Did you pick up these action figures from McDonald's in 2003?  What did you think of them at the time?  What do you think of them now?  Tell me below in the comments!

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