“It was the end of the 1970’s and toy manufacturing giant Mattel had a big problem: in 1976, CEO Ray Wagner had unwittingly passed up the opportunity of a lifetime, declining to buy the rights to a space flick called Star Wars. Thanks to Wagner’s lack of vision, the biggest name in toys was watching the tiny, unknown Kenner Toys make money hand-over-fist selling little plastic spacemen with laser swords to 5–8 year old boys.
Finally, in the early 80’s the Mattel design team came up with a character concept that they thought could challenge the Star Wars toy empire (no pun intended) where so many others had failed: a bulky, larger-than-life barbarian warrior, light on clothes and heavy on muscle. He carried a sword in his hand and a huge battle ax on his back. His chin looked like it could smash through walls. He was 5 1/2″ of sheer brawn. They called him, “He-Man.””