SAN DIEGO, DAY 1: New He-Man Unveiled

Thu, July 19th, 2001 at 12:00am PDT

[He-Man] Mattel, Inc. re-introduced it's classic action figure line, Masters of the Universe to a crowd of convention goers this morning. The toymaker unveiled a new design for He-Man nearly 20 years after the character was first introduced. New MotU toys are due on store shelves in February 2002.

Award-winning toy sculptors known as the Four Horsemen were drafted into the relaunch effort. Efforts were made to create a new He-Man that was clearly recognizable, yet streamlined for a new generation.

"He-Man was successful at first because of the innovative actions the figures had," said the Horsemen. "All the characters are strong with a lot of variety -- that is the key element to their success. He-Man paved the way for many other characters that followed."

[4 Horsemen] The Four Horsemen, James Preziosi, Chris Dahlberg, Eric Treadaway and H. Eric "Cornboy" Mayse stood assembled in front of a huge black tarp which disguised Ken Kelly's painting of the new look. After some preamble the cloth was dropped, introducing the new He-Man to a smattering of applause.