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Gone (Adult) Toy Hunting

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Ah, let’s not kid ourselves, these aren’t exactly adult toys, but they do indeed invoke nostalgia, a yearning if you will, for us adults of a certain vintage to want raid the toy shelves of our nearest department store!

If you are lucky enough to have a BIG W near you, you may want to head in and check out the toy section, as they are stocking a myriad of toys that us Gen X’ers will go absolute bonkers over!

The toys that grabbed our attention were of course the Star Wars action figures and the Nintendo related toys. What I wasn’t expecting was the variation of Masters of the Universe stock, which also included the retro 40th anniversary line – we had to wipe our drool!

See anything that takes your fancy?

This packaging brings back memories!

The MOTU Revelation line is very tempting!

Not sure we can relate to this MOTU, but younger generations may appreciate it

Stratos ($19) versus Mer-Man ($50) – big difference

Pokemon, Minecraft and Roblox – Big W has you covered!

Cat Peach!

Our favourite Princess – we miss her so much



By The Power Of Grayskull: Passing the Sword!

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Celebrating its 40th year of existence, the Masters of the Universe has brought a lot of happiness to generations of peeps, including us Gen X’ers.

For those of us with young kids, we need to pass the baton (Power Sword) to the next generation to ensure MOTU lives on for years to come!


source: Masters Of The Universe via Facebook



Celebrating 40 Years of Masters Of The Universe

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We have posted a fair bit about Masters of the Universe lately, so we thought why not do it again! Well, the MOTU franchise is celebrating its 40th year, so there’s that too!

Following the official Masters Of The Universe social channels (Facebook, Twitter & Instagram) has been a trip down nostalgia lane for us folks who had (still have) their original MOTU action figures and accessories.

Some of the posts that the MOTU social media team shares are funny and cool, but it’s the stop-motion posts that grab our attention – just like this latest one (created by Stuntpuppets), where Beast Man takes on He-Man (after beating down Man-At-Arms) in a one-on-one Beast-Brawl!


source: MOTU on Facebook



Is A Stern Masters Of The Universe Pinball Machine Coming in 2023?

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Will Stern Pinball join forces with Randy Martinez to create a cornerstone title based on Masters of The Universe in 2023?

Yeah, the title may be wishful thinking, but who doesn’t like a spicy rumour – we do, as long as it becomes true!

For those of you that know us well, you’ll know that we love the old 80s Masters Of The Universe and pinball! Since the silverball bug bit us over a decade ago, we have been patiently waiting (and praying) for a pinball manufacturer to acquire this license and make our dream theme into a real pinball machine – and according to this poll, we aren’t alone!

We usually stay away from rumours, but this time we are adding fuel to the already on fire rumour mill. At last month’s California Extreme expo, the amazing artist, Randy Martinez, made a point about his love for Jaws, Seinfeld, The Big Lebowski, Star Wars, basketball and MOTU to YouTuber/Streamer, Mike Mattsson (aka: DRI374), and how us pinball peeps loving reading into the smallest of tidbits that may (or may not) be true:

“I gotta be careful in how I say this. Well, I’ll give the answer that I gave at the other pinball shows that Stern was there for. These are purely my personal tastes, I’m not confirming or denying anything.”

Further to this, at the recent 2022 San-Diego Comic-Con, Randy stated that (about his love of Star Wars, basketball and MOTU art):

“And by the way, these styles have nothing to do with pinball. This is stuff that I’ve actually worked on before. I know how people talk out there. I’m new to this but I’m learning. I know how people take stuff and run.”

Yep, we have run with it Randy! If you have no idea who Randy Martinez is (Ed: shame on you!), he is the artist that created the gorgeous art packages for Stern Pinball’s The Mandalorian and Star Wars Comic Art pinball machines (which we own) amongst his many brilliant bodies of artistic work. So it stands to reason (and a lot of wishful thinking!) that Randy is again involved with Stern in developing the art package for a Masters of The Universe cornerstone pinball machine in 2023!

Randy Martinez proudly stand with two of his pinball artwork creations! Could he be making a third art package for Stern Pinball?
image source: Randy Martinez via Instagram

Randy tells Mike (aka: DRI374) that we will see a Stern Pinball machine with his artwork very very soon – meaning: in the next 18 months!

So what would a Masters Of The Universe pinball machine be like? Well, we would like to see us able to transform from Prince Adam to He-Man by lighting up the I-H-A-V-E-T-H-E-P-O-W-E-R targets which would then kick off a He-Man Battle multiball mode. Imagine if there was something mechanical in the game that would physically transform Adam to He-Man!!! Of course Castle Grayskull would have to feature prominently too, perhaps like the interactive castle in Medieval Madness, without the need to destroy it – He-Man would have to defend the Castle! The pin would be a classic good versus evil battle, with the ultimate goal being to defeat Skeletor and his army of evil-doers before he takes over Castle Grayskull and Eternia. We have so many ideas, but there is only so much you can fit onto a pinball playfield. Coupled with Randy’s comic art style, we reckon a Stern Pinball Masters Of The Universe machine would be an absolute winner!

So let’s will this rumour to reality and hope that Stern Pinball is listening 😉

source: From the personal MOTU collection of ausretrogamer



40 Years Of Masters Of The Universe

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40 Years of MOTU

We still remember the day when we visited Treasureway (defunct now) store in 1982 and seeing He-Man and Skeletor on the shelf for the first time – we were immediately drawn to the action figures and the MOTU universe in general. It would seem that Mattel knew exactly how to market these muscle-bound toys to kids. We begged to get one and after some incessant begging, we were told that we could choose one that day. It was a tough choice, but our very first MOTU action figure was He-Man! Our second one was Zodac, closely followed by Stratos. We didn’t get Skeletor till well after.


source: Masters Of The Universe on Facebook

Over the course of the early to mid 80s, we had a modest collection of MOTU action figures, so when we finally got Castle Grayskull for Christmas in 1984, we felt like we had completed our MOTU journey. Upon hearing that there was going to be a cartoon based on Masters Of The Universe, we couldn’t contain our excitement. The cartoon couldn’t come fast enough! Saturday mornings on the couch with the doona (duvet to our UK friends) over us, watching He-Man battle Skeletor and his evil minions was a perfect way to start our weekend!

40 years on and Treasureway may no longer exists, but we still have our collection of original He-Man and the Masters of the Universe action figures – long live MOTU!

Some of our original MOTU collection



I Have the Power: Mattel Adventure Park

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This may not be new news for some, but we thought we’d share it anyway – Masters of the Universe, Barbie and Mattel Games are some of the eye-popping attractions that will be at the new Mattel Adventure Park in Glendale, Arizona (USA)! It’s another automatic bucket list entry for us at Ausretrogamer!

The amusement park, which is a collaboration between Mattel, Inc. and Epic Resort Destinations, LLC, is set to open early 2023. Other recently announced experiences include a Hot Wheels roller-coaster and go-karting, a Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends indoor park. Barbie will be involved by way of a beach house flying theatre, hologram technology and a rooftop F&B area.

But wait, there is more! There will also be a nine-hole mini-golf experience, as well as a Masters of the Universe’s Castle Grayskull that will be transformed into a 4,500+ sq. ft. state-of-the-art laser tag arena where fans “have the power” to fight for Eternia. This all sounds pretty darn good to us. We can’t wait for this adventure park to open!

image source: Mattel



Regressing To A Simpler Time With Modern Devices

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It is amazing how far technology has come in the last few decades, with a super computer in our pockets and gaming consoles that blur the line between reality and the virtual world.

We are in awe of our smartphones and can’t even imagine what our 15 year old self would have thought of this contraption if we were able to time travel back to the 80s. Back in the old days, we would play and then trade or sell our last gen system to fund the next big shiny new gen gaming system – this cycle was repeated for close to 3 decades! As we have gotten older and perhaps wiser, we keep yearning for the good old days, hence why we have immersed ourselves in retro gaming, reliving and revelling in games and systems from our distant past that gave us (and are still giving us) much joy.

The PocketCHIP beast!

Anyone for tennis?

Even with all of the classic gaming systems and games we have in our possession to intoxicate ourselves with nostalgia, we felt like something was missing, but we didn’t know what. We then stumbled upon contemporary technological marvels that stirred up something deep within us that made us take note. Thanks to playing retro-inspired games on the fantasy video game console, the PICO-8, we went down the rabbit hole of finding out more about playing pixel perfect 8-bit style games on modern devices, which also allowed us to tinker and do other stuff like coding! Welcome to the world of the PocketCHIP and Arduboy FX! Yeah, yeah, we are aware that you can play 8-bit style games on modern consoles, but these two little beauties are different – they are simple (in comparison), yet powerful, and very very elegant indeed.

Bit of Linux action

The Arduboy FX modded to be used as a gamepad for playing PICO-8 games on the PocketCHIP!

Selecting our next PICO-8 game

The PocketCHIP and Arduboy FX are both marvellous technological achievements, which fit the bill of being modern enough to be able to get on the net, code, tinker and also create our own games! The fact that you can also play games that other people have created is certainly the cherry on top!



Masters Of The Universe ‘Remastered’ Exhibition

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Thanks to our friend and sometimes contributor, Dr Brant Raven, for informing us about Radio Velvet’s Masters of the Universe “Remastered” Exhibition (and store) in Melbourne.

As huge MOTU fans, this exhibition, museum, store and everything in between is right up our alley! Thank you to Radio Velvet Clothing for giving us a hit of nostalgia!

Now, if you are in Melbourne and are a MOTU fan, then get to the 1st floor, St. Collins Lane at 260 Collins St (between 10am and 4pm every day) before the end of January 2022! Oh yeah, the exhibition is totally free, so what are you waiting for, go now!

PS: If you need more convincing, check out the article with heaps of pics at A Nice Home.

story & image source: A Nice Home



Awesome Pop Culture Art Works by Pappas Pärlor

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There is no shortage of awesome and talented artists in this world. The latest artist to capture our attention is Johan Karlgren, aka: Pappas Pärlor.

Johan’s creations are unique as they are refashioned framed art pieces injected with very clever pop culture themes and franchises, including popular Star Wars and video gaming characters.

Check out all Johan’s art works here. Here are our favourites:

source: Pappas Pärlor



Masters of the Universe: The Board Game – Clash For Eternia

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We made a promise that we would stop posting Kickstarter campaigns, but for this particular one, we made an exception. Oh, if you want to blame anyone, blame Alex Kidman, he got us onto this one!

If you are like us and have been living in a cave lately (lockdown will do that to you), you may not have known that there is an awesome Kickstarter for a new Masters Of The Universe – Clash of Eternia board game! Consider yourself informed!

This Kickstarter is quite straight forward with two different pledge rewards, the US$110 Master of The Universe pledge or the US$220 Defender of Grayskull pledge. The Kickstarter has smashed through a number of stretch goals, so you will be assured that you get all the Kickstarter exclusive bonuses, like additional models, tokens and cards! If you are MOTU fans, you may need this board game in your life!

PS: Now someone please make a MOTU themed pinball machine 🙂

source: Kickstarter and CMON