This year, He-Man and the Masters of the Universe turns 40. And over four decades later, the franchise is still widely popular dabbling in various forms of media from comics to a couple of new animated series, an upcoming live-action movie, and of course, toys and action figures.
With all the new media that is coming for the franchise in the foreseeable future. This year, one announcement that certainly piqued my interest is that Sun-Man and the Rulers of Sun will be joining the Masters of the Universe toyline this year.
Sun-Man is an action figure created by Yla Eason in 1985. Eason created the figure after her son told her he could never be a superhero because of his skin color while they were on vacation. “[My son] was playing with the He-Man toy. [Myself and my former husband] said something to him about being a superhero and he looked up at us with the straightest face possible and said ‘I can’t be a superhero because I am not white,’” Eason told IGN when retelling the story about the inspiration that led her to create Sun-Man.
When asked about Sun-Man’s name, Eason told us that his name was inspired by two things: the first one being her son. The second and more important one is that Eason began researching “why is our skin brown” and she learned that it was because of the melanin or pigment that gives color to your skin, hair, and eyes and can also help protect against sun damage and reduce the risk of sunburn. “The more melanin in your skin, the darker you are,” Eason said.
While further noting that the sun is a source of energy. “All his powers come from his magical melanin skin which can’t be cut, torn, scraped, bruised, or nothing can happen to his skin. And that was all intentional to place the positive actions, thoughts, and beliefs about my son’s skin color and other kids who may think that there is something negative about dark skin,” Eason explained.
At first glance at Sun-Man, he looks like he could easily fit in the He-Man universe, which was always the intended goal so that if fans of the He-Man toys were to buy one of the Rulers of the Sun toys, it would not stick out like a sore thumb. “That was a conscious decision; we did not want Sun-Man to be seen as an outsider through this massive He-Man collection,” Eason said. “That’s why his size, his muscularity, his obvious superhero stance was all intentional.”
While creating Sun-Man, Eason told us that she spoke with Dr. Kenneth Clark, an American scientist who is best known for a series of experiments using dolls to study children’s views on race during the 1940s. The tests themselves were massively influential back then as they observed the racial perceptions in children. “At that time, segregation is when children can’t see themselves in a toy, it affects what they think of themselves, their self-worth, their importance, and may even affect their achievements in their life,” Dr. Clark told Eason when they met.
Eason explained that in the 1980s, He-Man and the Masters of the Universe toys were among some of the most popular figures, noting it was “the landscape” of toys aimed at little boys at the time. “Everyone was into He-Man,” Eason said. When she went out looking for black superhero toys, Eason was surprised to find none at the stores and she later asked other mothers of color about it to which they concurred that they could not find anything for their boys that looked like them.
“People are recognizing that the market is very diverse and that we’ve got to cater to the cultural, social needs of everybody out there.”
Sun-Man is not the only hero that Olmec created, though, as the Rulers of the Sun also brought along other allies for Sun-Man. Including Digitino a computer wizard of Latino descent, and Butterfly woman, one of the rulers of the sun who served as a black counterpart to She-Ra.
Yet creating Sun-Man was not the most difficult part about Sun-Man and the Rulers of the Sun toy line: marketing it was. Eason explained that when she introduced the toy, she pointed out the demographics and importance to Sun-Man and was met with resistance from the retail buyers. “[The] resistance to the concept was severe, unexpected,” is what Eason said was said to her when trying to get Sun-Man to the market.
Despite this, Eason decided to sell the toy at various local spots, from bodegas to local neighborhood stores, and build up proof that showed there was a market for this type of toy. “I took out a full-page ad in Ebony magazine and announced the product to the market and then started getting through letter writing and this mailman type effort of getting people to got to the stores and say ‘Where’s the Sun-Man?’”
Looking to the present, Eason has a lot of hope for the toy industry in terms of the changes that are being seen. “People are recognizing that the market is very diverse and that we’ve got to cater to the cultural, social needs of everybody out there.” Eason believes that the toy industry has a lot of growth in which how these companies can recognize different figurines of ethnic backgrounds.
This would mark the second time Mattel released a Sun-Man figurine. Last year, the company released a special limited edition figurine of Sun-Man that sold out instantly. Sun-Man’s figure as part of the Masters of the Universe Origins toy line will arrive on shelves around the globe sometime in Q1 of this year.
Taylor is the Associate Tech Editor at IGN. You can follow her on Twitter @TayNixster.
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With all the new media that is coming for the franchise in the foreseeable future. This year, one announcement that certainly piqued my interest is that Sun-Man and the Rulers of Sun will be joining the Masters of the Universe toyline this year.
So, Who is Sun-Man?
Sun-Man is an action figure created by Yla Eason in 1985. Eason created the figure after her son told her he could never be a superhero because of his skin color while they were on vacation. “[My son] was playing with the He-Man toy. [Myself and my former husband] said something to him about being a superhero and he looked up at us with the straightest face possible and said ‘I can’t be a superhero because I am not white,’” Eason told IGN when retelling the story about the inspiration that led her to create Sun-Man.
When asked about Sun-Man’s name, Eason told us that his name was inspired by two things: the first one being her son. The second and more important one is that Eason began researching “why is our skin brown” and she learned that it was because of the melanin or pigment that gives color to your skin, hair, and eyes and can also help protect against sun damage and reduce the risk of sunburn. “The more melanin in your skin, the darker you are,” Eason said.
While further noting that the sun is a source of energy. “All his powers come from his magical melanin skin which can’t be cut, torn, scraped, bruised, or nothing can happen to his skin. And that was all intentional to place the positive actions, thoughts, and beliefs about my son’s skin color and other kids who may think that there is something negative about dark skin,” Eason explained.
At first glance at Sun-Man, he looks like he could easily fit in the He-Man universe, which was always the intended goal so that if fans of the He-Man toys were to buy one of the Rulers of the Sun toys, it would not stick out like a sore thumb. “That was a conscious decision; we did not want Sun-Man to be seen as an outsider through this massive He-Man collection,” Eason said. “That’s why his size, his muscularity, his obvious superhero stance was all intentional.”
The “Doll Test”
While creating Sun-Man, Eason told us that she spoke with Dr. Kenneth Clark, an American scientist who is best known for a series of experiments using dolls to study children’s views on race during the 1940s. The tests themselves were massively influential back then as they observed the racial perceptions in children. “At that time, segregation is when children can’t see themselves in a toy, it affects what they think of themselves, their self-worth, their importance, and may even affect their achievements in their life,” Dr. Clark told Eason when they met.
Eason explained that in the 1980s, He-Man and the Masters of the Universe toys were among some of the most popular figures, noting it was “the landscape” of toys aimed at little boys at the time. “Everyone was into He-Man,” Eason said. When she went out looking for black superhero toys, Eason was surprised to find none at the stores and she later asked other mothers of color about it to which they concurred that they could not find anything for their boys that looked like them.
“People are recognizing that the market is very diverse and that we’ve got to cater to the cultural, social needs of everybody out there.”
Sun-Man is not the only hero that Olmec created, though, as the Rulers of the Sun also brought along other allies for Sun-Man. Including Digitino a computer wizard of Latino descent, and Butterfly woman, one of the rulers of the sun who served as a black counterpart to She-Ra.
Yet creating Sun-Man was not the most difficult part about Sun-Man and the Rulers of the Sun toy line: marketing it was. Eason explained that when she introduced the toy, she pointed out the demographics and importance to Sun-Man and was met with resistance from the retail buyers. “[The] resistance to the concept was severe, unexpected,” is what Eason said was said to her when trying to get Sun-Man to the market.
Despite this, Eason decided to sell the toy at various local spots, from bodegas to local neighborhood stores, and build up proof that showed there was a market for this type of toy. “I took out a full-page ad in Ebony magazine and announced the product to the market and then started getting through letter writing and this mailman type effort of getting people to got to the stores and say ‘Where’s the Sun-Man?’”
Looking to the present, Eason has a lot of hope for the toy industry in terms of the changes that are being seen. “People are recognizing that the market is very diverse and that we’ve got to cater to the cultural, social needs of everybody out there.” Eason believes that the toy industry has a lot of growth in which how these companies can recognize different figurines of ethnic backgrounds.
This would mark the second time Mattel released a Sun-Man figurine. Last year, the company released a special limited edition figurine of Sun-Man that sold out instantly. Sun-Man’s figure as part of the Masters of the Universe Origins toy line will arrive on shelves around the globe sometime in Q1 of this year.
Taylor is the Associate Tech Editor at IGN. You can follow her on Twitter @TayNixster.
Continue reading...