Recommended music: Cyndi Lauper – True Colors
As we wrap up the last month of #MastersMonday posts from the archive, let’s have some fun and check out a vintage Masters of the Universe game and novelty item. Today, we’re looking at the 1983 Masters of the Universe Colorforms Adventure Set!
If you don’t remember them, Colorforms are thin, die-cut vinyl pieces in bright shapes, usually with printed images, that stick to a smooth, plastic-laminated paperboard background. They were first made in 1951, and their popularity grew in the late 1950s when licensed characters like Popeye and Mickey Mouse were added. In recent years, Colorforms even got its own animated series on Netflix. Licensed Colorforms sets are still made today, featuring everything from Barbie and Batman to Michael Jackson, Steve Urkel, and The Three Stooges.
One hot license the brand used in the 1980s was Masters of the Universe. This ‘Deluxe Play Set’ featured characters from the first wave of the toy line and allowed users to: “Create your own adventure scenes with MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE™ figures – Mighty HE-MAN, ™ MAN-AT-ARMS, ™ BATTLE CAT, ™ SKELETOR, ™ BEAST MAN, ™ TEELA, ™ ZODAC, ™ STRATOS™ AND MERMAN. ™ Set contains 29 COLORFORMS plastic pieces that Stick Like Magic, background, and instruction booklet. Ages 3 and up.”
A fun note about this set is that a helmetless Battle Cat was included in the background, and multiple characters came with different leg options so they could more realistically ride in the saddle. The Castle Grayskull background was updated for a new Colorforms set dated 1985, which added Snake Mountain to the backdrop art and swapped out most of the characters for figures released 1984 – 1986.
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Dale's Toys 