Mattel Shows Off New MOTU Art Style for 2012

You may recall this odd little news item from February where an artist showed off a Mattel-commissioned “badass” depiction of MOTUC.

I don’t know if that was a dry run or what, but Mattel has now revealed its art plans for the 30th anniversary of MOTUC in 2012:

MOTU Fans,

The holidays are just about here, so we thought we’d give you a little present…here’s your first official look at the all-new artwork for the Masters of the Universe® 30th Anniversary celebration!

Gabriel De La Torre, Staff Product Designer from Mattel Entertainment Design, told us, “This ‘alt’ style to the Classic brand was created as a visual way to re-imagine the vast characters and worlds of Masters of the Universe® with a contemporary edge. This dynamic artwork will be used across multiple categories in consumer products and beyond, celebrating our Masters of the Universe 30th Anniversary program launching in 2012.”

Creating a new look for an iconic brand like MOTU while still retaining the integrity of its original style was no simple task. Gabe and his team searched for an artist who not only had the style they envisioned, but also a love for MOTU. “We landed on a well-known talent named Alvin Lee, whose work can be seen in a variety of brands and also many popular video games. With the finished product, his passion for the characters and the brand really shined through. Raymond Makowski (Staff Product Designer) and I worked with Alvin Lee to create a dynamic collection of poses and battle scenes that not only pushed the designs of the characters, but also captured the essence of the Masters of the Universe® feel–heroic, perilous and empowering,” Gabe said.

Look for the new art to appear on toy packaging starting in Q1, and on licensed goods from shirts to lunchboxes throughout 2012. We’ll have more updates at New York Toy Fair in February, but in the meantime, click here to feast your eyes on images of favorites including Skeletor® and Beast Man®!

–Matty

The art style seems to be MOTUC-by-way-of-Millennium. Castle Grayskull looks very much like the Millennium version, while this piece almost seems like a spiritual sequel to this Millennium poster by Boris Vallejo.

Alvin Lee‘s artwork looks good to me, except perhaps for He-Man’s head, which looks a little too youngish/Millennium. I’m curious to see what toy packaging it shows up on–it would be nice if they revamped the standard packages a bit.

It’s a bit of a tease to show Ram Man when they haven’t announced a month, or even a year, for the figure yet.

Thoughts?

Previous

Pic of the Day > Santa & Herme (2) Crop by Dysonstarr

Next

Guest Review > Holiday Spud

1 Comment

  1. Enigma_2099

    No offense to Alvin lee, but who goes through the headache of trying to buy these figures for the art?

Powered by WordPress & Theme by Anders Norén