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Interview With A 10 Year Old He-Man Fan
By: Hoju Koolander
On August 25 & 26, 2018 thousands of Masters of the Universe fans swarmed the Torrance Marriott Redondo Beach hotel in Los Angeles, CA for Power-Con: The He-Man and She-Ra Toy & Comic Book Experience. I was not one of them.
6 months prior to the event my cousin who joined me at Retro-Con in 2017 told me that his 10 year old son had become a vintage Masters of the Universe fanatic over the last year and invited me to join them for the He-Man sized fun. But with a wife that was 6 months pregnant and children who could easily earn their place among Skeletor's ranks when left to their own devices, I had to decline.
Though I wasn't attending in person, that didn't mean I couldn't live vicariously through their father & son adventure via text message. Of course, I bugged them for updates all throughout the weekend and they supplied me some amazing photos of the experience.
What was even more exciting though was to see a kid enjoying Masters of the Universe in the way so many of us did back in the 80's. So today I am bringing you an interview with a real life He-Man fan who knows his stuff, even though the collection of muscular plastic toys on his shelf is 3 times older than he is. So let's meet JT or as I call him, J-TOR.
HK: Where did you get your first vintage Masters of the Universe action figures?
JT: At my grandma's house last year. She said she had a bunch of toys from when my Mom and uncles were little, so I went over to look at them and the first person I saw was He-Man. I definitely wanted it.
HK: Had you seen the Masters of the Universe cartoon show before you found the toys? What do you think of the show?
JT: I found the cartoon a long time before, when I was 4. I thought it was pretty good with all the goofy characters. I didn't even know they made action figures for it.
HK: Who is your favorite good guy? Why?
JT: That's actually kind of hard. Probably...Orko? Yeah, definitely Orko. I just liked him because he was a goofy character that was always messing around. But there is one other guy that I'm not sure that you've heard of. I don't know too much of his back story, but this came out about 9 years ago from He-Man Classics, which I got at Power-Con, his name is He-Ro. Have you heard of him?
HK: I think so, he's He-Man's son, right?
JT: Yeah, they were going to make him a figure in the 80's for The Powers of Grayskull line, but it never came out.
HK: Who is your favorite bad guy? Why?
JT: I have three. Definitely Skeletor. Then Hordak is another favorite and Trapjaw. He's just so cool with his jaw and mechanical arm where you can put on a gun or other weapons.
HK: What made you want to collect more of these action figures?
JT: I was just so excited to have them and know they existed. So then I started looking on eBay and found out they weren't too expensive. I really wanted a Battlecat and then I got one at RetroCon and was so excited.
HK: Was RetroCon 2017 your first convention experience? What was your favorite part?
JT: Yes. I really had fun dressing up with my Dad as Chunk and Sloth from The Goonies and winning the costume contest. I would have been happy getting 3rd place, but I got 1st place and was really surprised.
HK: And what did you use your prize money on?
JT: He-Man!
HK: I thought so.
JT: I got a Man-At-Arms and a Thunder Punch He-Man. I was looking for the caps on ebay, but they're really expensive.
HK: Did I tell you I got a Skeletor figure signed by Alan Oppenheimer at Retro-Con 2016?
JT: The Filmation one? Whoa. I wish I could get one of those, but I only started collecting the newer figures recently at Power-Con.
HK: Where do you get your figures from usually?
JT: I mostly get them for birthdays and Christmas.
HK: That's so cool because that is how the kids of the 80's originally got them, for special occasions. Now you get to have that same experience.
JT: Yeah.
HK: How many figures are in your collection these days?
JT: About 50 right now.
HK: What is the favorite figure in your collection so far?
JT: Well I was really excited about the exclusive figures at Power-Con, but I was sad when I heard they were sold out. Then my Dad told me a week before we went there that he had already got them for me. So I was really surprised.
HK: What were they?
JT: Do you know Spikor?
HK: Yeah, he's my favorite. I have him in my own collection.
JT: I got the Filmation version of Spikor that was a con exclusive. And do you know Jitsu?
HK: Sure, shiny golden chopping hand.
JT: Well, on the cartoon he was called Chopper. So I got him.
HK: Oh, I didn't realized they renamed him.
JT: And do you know Orko's Aunt Dree Elle and Uncle Montork? I got them too. They were in a 2 pack.
HK: What is the Masters of the Universe toy you really want to add to your collection now?
JT: Have you heard of the Eternia playset? I want that. Also Laser Power He-Man that was only made in Italy. Nobody really knew about him until computers were made and you could just look them up.
HK: I always liked that Skeletor figure that had the spitting dragon backpack thing.
JT: Dragon Blaster Skeletor? I have that! He is my favorite version of Skeletor.
HK: Does anybody in your class at school know who He-Man is?
JT: If they do it's only because I have told them about it or maybe because of the Geico commercial.
HK: How do you feel about being an expert He-Man collector at your age?
JT: It's pretty cool because I'm not like the adults that collect them, I'm a little kid. But at Power-Con, nobody was really surprised. I guess it wasn't that weird to them.
HK: Were there other kids your age there?
JT: No. I mean, there were 3 and 4 year olds whose parents dressed them up and I think there was a 12 year old there, but that was it.
HK: So how did you find out about Power-Con?
JT: I thought if RetroCon was so close, maybe Power-Con was in New York or something. But then I found out it was in California and I wasn't too happy about that because I thought we couldn't go. But then my Dad was like, "We can go!" and we got our tickets.
HK: Any Masters of the Universe celebrity run-ins?
JT: You remember that mini-comics collection book you sent me?
HK: Yep.
JT: I got it signed by Mark Taylor and got a picture with him. He was really nice. I asked him a lot about the original model of Castle Grayskull they had on display.
HK: How do you feel about the controversy between Mark Taylor and Roger Sweet regarding who came up with He-Man?
JT: I kind of have to give it to Mark Taylor. He created what the main characters like Skeletor looked like. I think Roger Sweet created the idea of what He-Man and the emblem on his chest looked like, but for the rest of Masters of the Universe, I think it's Mark Taylor.
HK: What was your favorite costume that you saw?
JT: That's hard, I saw a lot of cool ones. Hordak was definitely my favorite.
HK: I saw that you found guys in Stinkor and Snout Spout costumes as well.
JT: Yeah, those were awesome.
HK: How did people react to your Orko costume?
JT: Well, I couldn't stay in it very long because we were outside waiting to get in and I got really hot. Then my Dad started to notice that I couldn't really see in the costume, so I had to take the mask off. So I just wore the hoodie that I got from Amazon, which people liked.
JT: If we go to Power-Con next year I plan on dressing up as Trapjaw and I think my Dad will do Man-At-Arms again, because the helmet is pretty cool, but we should do a full costume instead of just a shirt.
HK: Was there a specific item you were looking to buy at Power-Con?
JT: I was looking for Mosquitor. Also a different guy called He-Ro II from He-Man Classics. I got him too. I also got this special blue axe for my Battle Armor He-Man, because his is kind of broken, so I just gave him the blue weapons pack one until I get a real one. Also, the scepter for Tung Lashor, because mine didn't have anything to hold and he looked kind of boring.
HK: Can you remember any other figures you found?
JT: Yeah, we got a Rio Blast and Fisto, too.
HK: What was the most fun part of the experience?
JT: It was meeting Mark Taylor. I thought he seemed kind of mean when I was watching this documentary one time, but when I met him in real life, he was super-nice. It was really cool to get his autograph and picture.
HK: What is the next thing you are going to do as a Masters of the Universe fan?
JT: Super 7 is making Filmation figures in the vintage figure size, which I think are available for pre-order now. I want to get a He-Ro in that style. So I should probably start saving my money for those.
HK: If somebody asked you why you are a Masters of the Universe fan, what would you tell them?
JT: I would tell them about the TV show. My Dad got the 10 episode collection on DVD for my older brother Ethan who was kind of into it, but I was more into it. It's like my favorite cartoon ever. My Dad doesn't have any of his old He-Man toys anymore, so I don't any of have his personal collection, but he has some of his comics and stuff.
There you have it, an interview with a true Masters of the Universe fan. I want to thank J-Tor for his time and especially for gifting me a Battle Armor He-Man to put on my retro room shelf. His generosity will ring through the halls of Castle Grayskull for eons.
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