Princess of Power

When you think of iconic toy lines for each decade, Masters of the Universe sits right along side Star Wars, GI Joe and Transformers as the biggest thing to happen to toys in that era, and Princess of Power most definitely shares in that success. Mattel already had the girl’s toy market locked down with their ultra successful Barbie doll line, but they wanted to jump back into the boy’s toy market as well. Mattel had a good run with the Big Jim line in the 70’s and a semi-successful line with Battlestar Galactica but needed to develop something fresh for a new audience. So the Masters of the Universe line was finally released in 1982. The MOTU line went through several different designs prior to release but Mattel finally settled on a 5.5 inch tall action figure, which was not typical at that time, since Star Wars had made the 3.75 inch design the new norm. Each figure would also include a mini-comic to introduce each character to us and give a small back story on them. This was a fantastic way to personalize each character and make them important to their target audience. The massive success of the Masters of the Universe spawned a spin-off line called the Princess of Power in 1985. This series centered on Princess Adora, who was secretly She-Ra, who also conveniently happened to be the sister of He-Man. The Princess of Power animated series debuted in 1985, and proved to be a huge hit with children of all ages.

For all intensive purposes, this was basically the MOTU series with all the main characters being female instead of the male dominated Masters of the Universe. Since Mattel had long mastered the female toy business with their ultra successful Barbie line, they knew what it took to market to that demographic, so why not a female action figure toy line? The Princess of Power animated series by Filmation would be released on March 22, 1985 and ran for 93 episodes until it was finally cancelled on December 2, 1986. Like the MOTU, the animated series for Princess of Power acted as a 24 minute long commercial for toy sales. Surprisingly, there was no original comic books series to accompany the show. The first wave of the POP line, gave us nine brand new figures in 1985, including most of the central characters in the POP universe. The Great Rebellion team acted as the good guys and got the majority of figures from the first wave with Angella, Bow, Castaspella, Double Trouble, Frosta, Glimmer, Kowl and of course, the main woman herself, She-Ra. The Evil Horde only got one new character and that was Catra. Of course, many of the Evil Horde characters had already been produced in the MOTU line, so it wasn’t hard to get more bad guys to battle She-Ra and friends.

The Princess of Power figures really caught fire with a whole generation of children growing up in the 80’s, and sold extremely well. Mattel finally proved they could truly do more than just make Barbie Dolls and their accessories. Mattel had done an excellent job of promoting the Princess of Power toy line with some great looking figures, creatures, sets and vehicles, but in 1987, things were not looking up in the Princess of Power and Masters of the Universe world. The Masters of the Universe animated series had been cancelled in 1985, and The Princess of Power series followed the same fate, when it finally came to an end on December 2, 1986. Without any mass media outlets to promote the lines and increased competition from other successful toy lines, such as GI Joe and Transformers, Mattel’s toy sale numbers took a massive decline. Like most toy lines throughout the years, the MOTU and POP lines ran a typical cycle and their time was just coming to an end. The Princess of Power toy line was ultimately cancelled in 1987, and Masters of the Universe officially followed the year after.

Despite its short three year run, Mattel released some real quality products from 1985 to 1987 for their Princess of Power series. Just like every other toy line, the values of certain items can greatly fluctuate over time. This is based on several factors, including the item’s time period, scarcity, consumer demand and overall condition. The good news for Princess of Power collectors is there’s always a demand for items from this era, as Mattel created some truly iconic pieces. Many individual figures can still be easily found in loose condition without their accessories in most secondary markets, but MOC figures are becoming harder to find in good condition. The recent revival of the animated series by Netflix really had a huge influence on the classic POP Values over the last few years. In addition, we’ve also seen new Princess of Power items from Funko and Super 7, along with Mattel’s Classic MOTU Commemorative line. It has been proven over and over that the public and loyal fan base just cant get enough of these classic Princess of Power and Masters of the Universe characters. Values on the original POP items remain steady and have seen an increase in prices lately with 80’s nostalgia becoming hot again. POP Figures from this era will always maintain their value for a variety of reasons, with the biggest being that Masters of the Universe is an iconic brand that remains extremely popular with collectors, and Princess of Power goes hand in hand with that. These characters are remembered very fondly by the kids who grew up in the 1980’s. The figures, playsets, vehicles, and creatures from the Princess of Power lines will only increase in value as these figures and sets become rarer and harder to find in the future.