On June 5, the long awaited and much overhyped live action Masters of the Universe movie debuted to theaters worldwide. The movie was distributed by Amazon MGM Studios and had a budget of close to $200 million to produce. Putting a movie like this into production was a considerable risk given that the Masters of the Universe franchise was conceived back in 1982 by toy company Mattel, when the world was quite different. This was at a time long before the internet, streaming services, and even the proliferation of Nintendo. Masters of the Universe started as a very popular toy line designed to compete head on with Star Wars, which, back in 1982, was one of the most successful film franchises ever conceived. Kenner Toys quickly became one of the most profitable toy companies in the business upon securing the rights to produce toys and action figures based on the Star Wars movies. This left Mattel on the defensive as they had secured the rights to produce toys based on Battlestar Galactica, but Battlestar Galactica was no Star Wars. As the battle for the toy aisle heated up it was clear that Mattel could not bank on being able to compete solely on the mediocre success of BattleStar Galactica. In order to stay relevant in this rapidly changing toy world, Mattel went back to the drawing board. The company attempted to secure the rights to produce a line of toys based on the Conan the Barbarian franchise. Unfortunately, Mattel was worried that since the most recent Conan the Barbarian movies (starring Arnold Schwarzenegger) contained explicit amounts of violence and nudity, this would cause parents to avoid buying the toys for their kids altogether. As a result, Mattel decided to create a completely original property using a character that looked a lot like Conan, but set in the completely fictional universe known as Eternia. Mattel toy designer Mark Taylor was credited with initially coming up with the core concept. Introduced at the New York Toy Fair and hitting shelves in 1982, the Masters of the Universe toy line launched with eight 5.5-inch deluxe action figures; two vehicles; and one of the most legendary toy playsets ever created, Castle Grayskull. Each action figure came packaged with a free mini comic book, which served to introduce consumers to He-Man and his story. A 30-minute animated series debuted alongside the toys that helped to further explain the story and serve as free advertising to market upcoming toys to kids. In its first year on toy shelves, the franchise generated $38 million in sales alone. Masters of the Universe was an immediate success and would go on to become one of the most successful franchises of the 1980s, even spanning its own live action movie starring Dolph Lundgren in 1987. The movie would flop and was panned by both critics and fans alike for its unfaithful representation of the source material. However, Mattel was able to successfully compete head on with the Kenner Toys Star Wars line, and after the 1983 release of Return of the Jedi, interest in Star Wars started to wane. This allowed Mattel to have several very good years as younger kids transitioned from Star Wars to Masters of the Universe. Unfortunately, with childrens attention spans being what they are, the writing was already on the wall that the success of the line would not last. By 1988, the line was considered stale, but Mattel attempted to relaunch a new toy line based on the series called The New Adventures of He-Man. Sadly, the line was not as successful as the original Masters of the Universe line and was silently cancelled after a few short years, but the success of the Masters of the Universe franchise would live on in the hearts and minds of children everywhere who grew up chanting By the power of grayskull, I have the power! Mattel would struggle to bring the magic back to the Masters of the Universe franchise for younger generations, but they would have modest success re-releasing the toy line to adult collectors who fondly remember the original. However, the company would try to grow the franchises audience numerous times over the years. This is a common problem that toy companies have when trying to relaunch once popular franchises into the post-internet era. The modern internet era is nothing like the 1980s, and toys are no longer marketed the same way. In fact, action figures in particular are dying among younger generations. The most popular items on Christmas want lists today are Lego, Pokemon, Nintendo, Playstation, and iPhones. A lot of current modern-era action figures are actually being purchased by adult toy collectors who grew up with the original toys as kids. Complicating this is the fact that once major toy stores like Toys R Us and Kay Bee Toys no longer exist. A kid growing up in the year 2026 will never have the magical experience of walking into a Toys R Us store with their parents and seeing stacks upon stacks of toys piled high to the ceiling and experiencing incredible advertising displays meant to stoke their imaginations and open their parents wallets. This is an era time forgot, and it is wrecking havoc on certain segments of the toy market as a result. Walmart, Target, and Amazon cannot replace Toys R Us in its heyday. This is also why the new Masters of the Universe movie flopped at the box office. Sure, almost every adult male who grew up with the franchise went to see it in the theaters. The box office numbers from the opening weekend prove this, as the movie did about $29.3 million domestically and $25 million overseas, but the demographics of moviegoers were as expected. The audience was 68 percent male and skewed heavily older with 57 percent of all moviegoers over the age of 35 and 36 percent over the age of 45. This proves that younger audiences are just not willing to give up Pokemon for Eternia, and Masters of the Universe will eventually end up being a forgotten franchise much like Buck Rogers or Popeye. As one of the starry-eyed kids who loved Masters of the Universe as a child growing up in the 1980s, this is bittersweet. I am now understanding the emotional response that some baby-boomers feel when recalling once popular movies and franchises that have come and gone, never to gain popularity again. I cant help but wonder if maybe this is for the best? After all, its a different time and a different world, and those who remain focused on the past remain stagnant in time. I used to have a mentor in the trade, a toy collector no less, who would regularly lament that all great things end this way. For years, I wondered what he meant, but now I know. Shawn Surmick has been an avid collector since the age of 12. He currently resides in his hometown of Boyertown, Pa., and is a passionate collector of antiques and collectibles. His articles focus on various topics affecting the marketplace.