Masters of the Universe 1980s Storybooks! He-Man MOTU RetroBlasting Review

[@robrusso1271]

This channel is simply put outstanding second to none! The passion and creativity alone lured me in yet the knowledge and portrayal of Michaels storytelling keeps me returning even watching videos not related to my personal interests! That says everything about this unparalleled channel. Great job! Sadly I only have a number of true real loves from my childhood experience. M.O.T.U., G.I.JOE, WWF figures, SEGA MASTER SYSTEM, Back to the Future films etc. With the growth of nostalgic based channels mostly here I somewhat wished I was interested in more lines such as Star Wars & Marvel universe of super heroes. Oh well Michael and his wife cover He-Man & G.I. Joe such in depth I have enough videos to enjoy myself almost daily. Thank You sooo much RB!!!

[@karastenberg2518]

Holy cow - I actually had some of these books and had completely forgotten about them! Thanks for the video!

[@JohnAquariusPodcast]

I like the books art covers you can clearly see Frazetta influence. great vid

[@retroblasting]

John Aquarian Thanks John!

[@Kusivittu666]

John Aquarian Agreed, the Frazetta-style covers look amazing.

[@JohnAquariusPodcast]

Frazetta was one of the main influences that created he-man. Very popular with Conan comics

[@TheClaudeHopper]

I have watched this MOTU golden book segment a bunch of times and I am not getting tired of it. Love it.

[@impossiblepie]

80's toys artwork is second to none, nothing beats, GI Joe, Transformers etc...card art, covers etc...

[@MrJon76]

The Masters of the Universe box art is second to none!

[@chrisf473]

I used to have a VHS tape back in the 80s that actually had 3 of these stories on it it really was like a book on tape it just showed pictures from the book as someone read the story but I specifically remember the sea monsters and it being discovered they were robots your channel is a dream come true for a child of the 80s thank you so much for your hard work to share your love and the love of others for future generations

[@nicholighkun]

So good. I love what I am calling Wobbly Skeletor, and I hope to see more from him. Seeing him waddle off screen was priceless. In fact, all of the action figure acted story bits and other illustrations really made this video special. Love the insight, love the art, love the presentation. Also, I hope to see more videos on this particular franchise in the future!

[@retroblasting]

nicholighkun There will be more MOTU, I promise. - Michael

[@simplegarak]

@@retroblasting I too enjoyed the Toy Theater. =D

[@Transfixed]

I remember these. The covers were so captivating! I made my poor Nan read these to me so many times :)

[@AnAverageGoblin]

The way you said "books" before your logo was the best thing i've heard today.

[@artpercy5944]

Thank you for yet another great trip down memory lane. I used to collect all manner of read alongs. and loved every one of them, both on 45s and cassettes.

[@MarkDemeo]

this brought back some memories,i had a few of those story books,the cover art was definitely great.

[@cyric2010]

I had a few of those books when I was a kid. I'd forgotten about them until I saw them on this channel. The cover art was indeed amazing.

[@JamesKenobi1138]

Another amazing video. Entertaining and informative. I learned a lot, keep up the great job !

[@retroblasting]

JamesKenobi1138 Will do, James!

[@wildsmiley]

Those MOTU Golden storybooks...man, those bring back memories. I must have had them all. A few years ago, I saw them for the first time in more than 25 years, on Ebay. Big nostalgic rush seeing those covers again.

[@Dylanio21]

I had a strong connection to these books. I had some VHSs and would see the cartoons on TV sometimes, but the books I’d reread over and over again. I found most of them at one used book store during a lucky trip when I was really little.

[@TheMelvor]

This video is why this channel is special. Thanks for bringing these comics to light. Those covers do look amazing. I only remember the little comics that came with the figures. I'd love to see a video on those as well. I appreciate the amount of time and work it takes to make something like this. Keep it up. Please!

[@retroblasting]

***** Thanks so much Melvor! We do plan to discuss the MOTU mini-comics as soon as that bound collection comes out in September(?).

[@ramsesrivera4332]

That was great. I had He-man as a kid and watched the cartoon. I was unaware or don't remember the books. I do remember the comics that came with the toys.

[@kingpinpkr316]

Terrific video. I loved reading these and the mini comics as a child. Thanks for sharing.

[@batangbatugan]

What perfect timing on this sudden summer evening thunderstorm. =D It's so great to hear you voice Skeletor again, and I have to admit we didn't care about the gaping plot holes and severe lack of logic within these stories as kids. As long as it's about He-man and his friends on another fantastic adventure in Eternia. For some reason the one Golden Storybook we owned was She-Ra: Glimmer of Hope, and it was one of those that came with a cassette that read the story to you with sound effects and really good voice acting. I still loved it just for the cover alone. My eyes almost popped out to see there were Golden Books for Visionaries! Man, I'd love to get my hands on even one of those.

[@retroblasting]

Wilson Tortosa Thanks Wilson! The Visionaries book has amazing interior art. I'll make sure to include it in the eventual Visionaries video feature.

[@muirdul]

Great review guys!!

[@retroblasting]

***** Thanks Cody!

[@darkempire37]

I just bought the sword of Skeletor and Secret of the Dragon's egg from a library book sale for a buck each today ! Love those Earl Norem covers , He also painted many covers of The Savage Sword Of Conan. the cover of that last book you showed looks like a Gil Kane illustration also . Great channel man ! this stuff was my childhood ! still awesome .

[@robdrabkowski2708]

I'm so glad that MOTU Classics made figures from a lot of those mini-comics and story books. Heck, they even provided an Alcala head for our Classics Skeletor!

[@slogra4gaibon]

Loved this video as I still have some of these books from when I was a kid. Agree that the covers are fantastic. Goat Man now has his own action figure in the MotU Classics series.

[@retroblasting]

Thanks!

[@rush34ify]

I have this collection, nostalgia at its finest!

[@Handlethis81637]

Nice analysis. I always loved the cover art as well.

[@toddtaylor316]

I had most of if not all of those Golden books.

[@codymcclainbrown7494]

When you announced this topic some distant alarm bell went off in my head. I knew there was something off about the He-Man story books. I had three or four and I remember I sort of shunned them from my regular viewing. I'd forgotten why. Now, I remember. Thanks.

[@retroblasting]

***** Sure thing!

[@scottstalcup4453]

Love it. Kenneth Williams as Prince Adam! "Ohhhh. Teela's so bourgeois!"

[@saturdaymorningfan3123]

I had many of these he-man books as a kid and still have them today! Have transformers, wheeled warriors, my pet monster, gijoe and yes I have gobots books! Love collecting 80s cartoon books. Great video.

[@maximpact24]

Excellent video. Those Masters books look like a nice edition to anyone's collection. ^>^

[@retroblasting]

maximpact24 They do look good with the toys thanks to those covers!

[@maximpact24]

For sure those covers look amazing. Love the old Masters feel. ^>^

[@GregorySesma]

Just watched your video and its fantastic!!! Thank you for sharing.

[@seancwilich8852]

I liked how you you did visuals with the toys, it was funny. :D

[@1701Tex]

Earl Norem (April 17, 1924 - June 19, 2015.) RIP

[@CaptWesStarwind]

I got some of his prints just a year before he died at a fan expo. Tom Cook was selling them and Earl had just given him a pile since he was too old to travel. Tom said that Earl didn't care about the money and just wanted his work out there. A true legend.

[@LaughItupFuzzball70]

Much enjoyed Guys, I suppose as characters appearance and story lines were 'adjusted' to add continuity to the toy lines and other media we could feel slightly duped, but maybe that's joy of childhood that for the most part were oblivious to the money men. Top work! Cheers, Fuzz.

[@Iamnotspecialandneitherareyou]

Nice to see a different medium looked at. Great job M&M

[@retroblasting]

Skeleton Studios Thanks Skele'!

[@lomaxx1138]

I had totally forgotten about these! I used to get at least two every Christmas because my grandmother was a beast about the "You need to read more" advise. Unfortunately these did not survive my move to college and my little brother.

[@retroblasting]

Larry Bailey We also didn't hold onto ours, but a generous friend supplied me with these about a year or so ago.

[@Maxxx1musP]

Great Video. I had all of these books. Except for the one with the robot sea monsters...

[@AMX-014S]

Woah, yeah that cover art is amazing.

[@retroblasting]

ＡＭＸ－０１４ i know, right?!

[@thevintagefetcher]

The Master of the Universe is a Prince named Adam who transforms into ultimately, the Master of the Universe. He wears a cross on his chest. He who enters the inner sanctum gains all knowledge. It really is a deep theme and gives the story layers. I really liked the small comics that came with. I remember a GiJoe Coloring book that was about the only back story I had to GiJoe before the series. Then came my interest in the comics. The back story gave kids time to enjoy the toy away from the toy. Then they can bring the story back to the play as well. Cassettes were fun as well.I think they were Golden too now that Im thinking of it. I'd have to ask Ebay. Thanks for sharing.

[@madmonkey823]

You guys are awesone!

[@CaptWesStarwind]

I never knew there were that many. I had the Rock Warriors and will probably spend the next couple days searching old boxes of books to find it. The mini comics were some of the best He-Man tales and really played the fantasy barbarian up a lot more, plus the art in them was really great and spooky. Something I loved when DC did their new He-Man series was keeping Eternia as the original planet and the source of the Power of the Universe.

[@Peppers19781978]

I had all of these things. Thanks mom for getting rid of them. I remember getting a few at the book fair in school

[@sgzartan]

I remember having a few of the books before the cartoon debuted. Even though I was a child, I preferred the less childish approach of the books and mini comics. Maybe I missed something back then, but the first time I ever heard or saw Prince Adam was when the cartoon debuted in 1983. I kept waiting for them to use the Sword of Power & Power Sword reference since it was shown in the books, and figured they would since it was used in Blackstar. I also kept wanting and waiting for Blackstar to show up (not the Temple of The Sun statute), but that never happened. Anyways, another excellent video!

[@retroblasting]

Thanks man!

[@KMFDM_Kid2000]

Interesting stuff here. Growing up, I was too poor to afford many of these extras like this. During book fairs, I always went for choose your adventure books as I felt they added the best value per dollar for a book. I didn't know He-man had a collection of books like this.

[@80sglammetalcast]

Thanks for this blast from the past....had some of these. Covers rocked🤘🏻inside art not so much

[@theverminmediaareyourenemi5612]

those audiobooks were fantastic. I had the Power of Point Dread and the one where He-Man threw water on Trapjaw that rusted him shut, The artwork was really nice and classic.

[@matthewfarmer8740]

I also remember He-Man had some really cool audio books that had some great stories!

[@GarouLady]

I miss all these other medias. The storybooks, the choose-your-own-fates, the audio cassettes. We use to listen and relistened to the Silver Hawks cassettes because they used the voice actors for those tapes.Oh for the good old days.

[@82bingbong]

i love the golden books too..greetings from germany !

[@miksolt]

Wow man, this was awesome!!!

[@simplegarak]

Whoa. I don't think I ever saw any of these. They need to collect them together like they did the minicomics and newspaper strips!

[@MrNiceKnife]

OMG I had some of these 😩😭 I NEED THESE are they still available!? So many memories flooding back. I used to draw these !

[@Lazarusrizing]

I had some of these Masters of the Universe books. They deeply evoked my imagination-- especially the covers. Oh and the Marvel comics run of G.I. Joe is a classic and great line.

[@Casimir1100]

In the last two weeks I have recently picked up 2 super adventure books from Value Village and the Goodwill bookstores one from MASK and one was the Galaxy Rangers. I'm planning a trip with my sister to our parents garage where we believe much of the treasures of our childhood will be unearthed.

[@retroblasting]

Take pictures!

[@Casimir1100]

***** I took the pictures and sent you an email with them.

[@chrisingram4209]

I remember having some with records!!

[@ScottsSlasherWorld]

Loved this video!

[@t00lnin]

I have a few of the books. The artwork is wonderful.

[@retroblasting]

agreed!

[@ruitorre]

Goat man already has an action figure in Masters of the Universe Classics collection

[@mitchfletcher2386]

His name is RAM-MAN.

[@MrJon76]

@@mitchfletcher2386 no, it's Goat Man!

[@kenzopo8125]

I was able to hold onto a couple of these from my childhood, that is, up until a few years ago when someone stole some of my collectables and my He-Man books were included in the stolen items. I Still have some of the miniature comics that came with the figures at least.

[@V2011F]

I want to see a series that follows the original idea of heman in the early books but keeping with the dark but fun and enjoying story kids can enjoy.

[@Pegwarmers]

Have you seen the VHS tapes they made of the golden book stories with super limited animation based on the art from the books?

[@retroblasting]

Heard of them, haven't seen them.

[@thekillermanmurphyshow4410]

Those books look pretty cool

[@jdigitalseven7]

I remember Spider-man story books with this kind of art too. A circus one comes to mind.

[@Goldenbane]

The stories inside the books were absolutely stupid...but man, those covers are pure gold! That one of He-man beating the snot out of Skeletor with the door is especially awesome!

[@shipwreak73]

Great video as always. So when can we expect a video on the mini comics?

[@retroblasting]

Torrey Frost HAHA! As soon as that book comes out that collects them all in one volume. Later this year most likely.

[@shipwreak73]

Yeah that book is a must have, can't wait.

[@cronocomics]

Undeniable the cover art was the best part of these books, they could tell the whole story by themselves.

[@benb3316]

That's cool - only saw one of the books. Interested in the action figure comics, but you can find them online. I remember one time Tri-Klops beats up Beast-Man, calls him a "Sub-human" and threatens to turn him into a RUG... Heh, imagine that today...

[@TheDuck632]

I miss those books so much

[@thrasher6499]

i owned the ghostbusters the movie storybook it was so cool i remember when they had the storybooks on vinyl they were cool too

[@rodster6campingprepper]

You should check out the Ladybird books too.

[@antiquariancrafts2454]

Have you seen the British Ladybird storybooks? They did He-Man and Action Force series.

[@damonrandall9844]

Will there ever be a Filmation Snake Mountain? If there already is, then pardon my ignorance, because I haven’t seen it.

[@ecnayonnA]

i had a couple of those. i recognize the covers. i wish i knew what i had done with them. oddly i still have every comic that came with the figures that i owned still.

[@jamesbrown-fb1gk]

in germany they made whole audio plays-with voice actors,sound effects and music-each one about 40 min long-i love all 37 of them-they also came as promo variatns within the first figures -

[@CosmoShidan]

Great overview! BTW will you ever take a look at Rom the Space Knight, Micronaughts and Crystar?

[@retroblasting]

yes, yes and yes

[@CosmoShidan]

***** Sweet! I don't often hear much about them others.

[@thepardoner2059]

The best version of the MOTU mythos, by far, is the one set forth in the original minicomics that accompanied the toys.

[@cykodestructo5316]

Goat man. Forever

[@trooper22222]

Have you come across the Listen and Read series that came with 45's (records)?

[@heidifedor]

In the comic Teela was the clone of the goddess(Sorceress), and she wore snake armor instead of a falcon. Also Skeletor had the hots for Teela.

[@AlynekoToys8692]

I’m in search for “Power from the Sky” of this Golden Books...😓 i can’t find anywhere..

[@sinjin90ful]

I bought 3 of these story books in the 80's you did not mention they cam with a 45 vinal record also. The covers where gorgeous

[@cjdickey1650]

I owned a couple of those...great memories.

[@Equint77]

i used to have the rock warriors book as a kid!

[@ccbeck]

Great video !!! Any chance on doing the She-ra books as well?

[@russellj.s.257]

I had all those MOTU storybooks

[@3faltigeralexandro]

RE: Spybats - it was even worse in the cartoon, where Skeletor frequently used magic to spy on Adam and friends, yet never found out about Adams secret identity. ;)

[@bobbyberetta4206]

I remember having he-man books but they came with 45s or cassettes.

[@1dbanner]

Several of these, like Caverns of Fear and The Thief of Castle Grayskull, were read-along books w records/cassettes. I still have the 45 rpm records but sadly not the books

[@boblowes]

I remember having a couple of read-along MOTU books as a kid, from two completely different publishers. They had completely different art styles as well. Once (I think from Golden, or USA Superstars (at least, that what it says on the tape, which I still have - can't find the book) was in a similar format to the books you show in the video. The other was from Ladybird, and had a very vivid art style where the illustrations are very much modelled directly after the toys. It looked really weird. We never got the DC Comics MOTU comic in the UK - but there was a MOTU comic, from another publisher. DOn't know if they licensed the material from DC, or if it was in-house, but it was cheap and nasty. For my money, the best MOTU comics are the earliest of the pack-in comics that came with the figures, where He-Man and co speak like extras in a 30s Hollywood production of Ivanhoe. "Hold, Knave!", etc. Kind of wish that style had been adopted by the Filiation series, which is perfectly good in it's own right. But the weirdly disparate tones of comics, storybooks, and animation that you got with multimedia properties back in the 80s is something you'd never get now.

[@gusbaker4u]

Great stuff...always fun to look back at something you thought was great as a kid, only to realize as an adult it makes no sense whatsoever

[@The1queencollector]

Great video keep it up.

[@retroblasting]

The Queen & toy collector Will do!

[@plop199]

The books also had cassette that came with them.

[@davidellis7630]

goat man got a toy in the new classics line

[@jrf84]

I had a few MOTU/He-man 'Ladybird' story books.They were in like other Ladybird books of the time which you could buy everywhere in the UK.They were hardbacked and had fair quality artwork on the front.There were quite a few titles in the series.But I can't remember exactly how many there were and who came up with the stories in them. There were other US cartoon franchises that adapted over here by Ladybird like She-ra and GI-JOE as Action Force.Yet most 1980s TV tie in Ladybird books were related to British made Children's TV like Puddle Lane and Thomas the Tank Engine. The He-man books weren't too great I seem to remember they didn't really appeal to me that much.Other books from Ladybird were some of my favourite books as a young child though.

[@lordzaboem]

I'm gonna need to see the Actors Guild card of every action figure in this video.

[@kerberos623]

I thought at first you meant the Panini? sticker books. Those could have been a European thing though. You basically got a packs of tradingcards that where stickers you then put into a collectors book. Each where numbered and sometimes you needed 2-4 to complete an image. Once the book was full it became a complete graphic storybook. hmm found more info online "The album is entirely Filmation-based. It retells eight of the season-one episodes (four pages per episode, except for The Curse of the Spellstone that only takes up three pages) and the stickers and pencil illustrations are direct screenshots from the show. The only "original" art is on the cover, the pair of introductory pages, and the couple pair of "character line-up" central pages, but those too are totally based on Filmation." I had this when I was 8-9. Can still recall the smell of the stickers. Never did complete the album though. And now It's lost to the ages. 8)

[@retroblasting]

kerberos623 They were in the states as well. I had the Voltron album and my brother had the Bravestarr album. I now have a complete Voltron album and a complete unused sticker set.

[@davidellis7630]

Great video. You guys going to do a panel at Dragon Con panel this year?

[@retroblasting]

David Ellis Yes, they're still deciding what panel we're going to do.

[@white-dragon4424]

Teela in the mini comics had long blonde hair, so how can that be keeping with the figures?

[@baron7755]

what was the filmation cartoon you showed a clip from with the 2 swords?

[@retroblasting]

Blackstar

[@mongrel-starcomics.109]

Is Goatman good or bad? From the brief look at him it could go either way.

[@rocketcon]

MONGREL-STAR COMICS. He's a villain, a servant of Beast Man.

[@mongrel-starcomics.109]

rocketcon Thanks for the info, better late than never I suppose!

[@richardjohnson5867]

looking for a youtube version of masters book and record-skeletor's home planet Infinita is mentioned