[YouTube] Masters of the Universe Merchandise

https://youtu.be/fG-wo-QOgBc

It's been quite a while since I made a video, and this one isn't of any Masters of the Universe toys, just other products that are fitting for the time of year. During the month of August many parents shop for back-to-school supplies, and more than half of these items can be considered a school supply. As a kid, it was fun to get anything that featured my favorite cartoon characters, even if it was intended for use at school.

First up are a couple of pencils, perhaps the most important item everyone needs for school. These unused pencils each include a character head as a topper, of which I have Man-At-Arms and Mer-Man. If you take the character head off, there is no eraser, it's just a plastic bit on the top.

Since the pencils don't include erasers, we'll need some of those. These Orko and Ram Man erasers are a little dirty, but never used. When not being erasers, they make for nice miniature displays.

To take notes it helps to have some paper and this small memo pad will do. Unfortunately, I wrote on the cover. It says "Intellivision" a couple times and inside I jotted down various game scores on a bunch of the pages.

How about a folder, or two, to carry around papers. While I did write on both of these as well, it makes more sense here, though I'm not entirely sure if I ever used them for anything. As you can see in the photos, I wrote my name on the "Master" line and I put the name of  my elementary school on the "Planet" line. The images are the same on the front and back, with the only difference being the back has a barcode.

Licensed stamp sets were available for many popular franchises. I showed the A-Team stamps previously, and here is another one. This packaging doesn't completely match what's inside the box, as it was likely produced before the product was finalized. It shows Teela on all sides of the box even though she doesn't have a stamp. The four stamps are for He-Man, Man-At-Arms, Skeletor, and Beast Man. You can also see on the box that the plastic stamp holders are red, black, blue, and maybe another shade of blue or purple. The actual product comes with two red and two blue stamps. Activity sheets are listed on the box as well, but if my set is complete, the "activity" sheets are blank paper. Another item that is inaccurate is the He-Man stamp sticker. The sticker on the stamp shows him facing right, but the stamp has him facing left. Surprisingly, the Man-At-Arms ink pad hasn't dried up like the others, and the markers have a little bit of life too. This one has a Toys "R" Us price tag, or part of it, showing that it cost $3 and change.

The remaining items wouldn't be considered school supplies. One is a flashlight made to look like a tower from Castle Grayskull, and the window acts as the switch. I can't show it working because the bottom is broken off, and I don't know if I still have that part.

Next is a jigsaw puzzle that I mentioned previously in a post about, you guessed it, jigsaw puzzles. I'm thinking my mother purchased this at a garage sale, which might explain the masking tape, and why it is missing seven pieces. It's a cool image, I just wish had all the pieces to show it completed. In the picture, the bad guys appear to be attacking Castle Grayskull on foot, which is not a smart move, while the heroes control the skies and the ground with a Wind Raider, Talon Fighter, Attack Trak, and Battle Ram.

Here are two bonus items: I found a Nestlé Quik sticker of Tri-Klops and a piece of wrapping paper inside of one of the folders. The other folder contained some action figure cards, but you'll have to watch the video to see those!

Licensed Jigsaw Puzzles

Jigsaw puzzles and board games were something my family enjoyed quite a bit in the late '70s and into the late '80s. Unfortunately, due to them being predominately cardboard, many of them haven't held up after being stored in a basement for a long time. I've been getting rid of many board games over the past year, largely tossing them because they smell or the boxes and boards have mildew stains, though I've also sold a few, and am donating a bunch. This month I'm looking at the jigsaw puzzles and decided to do this post to have record of the items featuring licensed characters before they are gone forever. I put them on the floor to snap photos, sometimes more than one in a single photo, and I only put one puzzle together but then the box photos are exactly what the puzzles look like. You'll notice most of these are from Milton Bradley and of the ones that still have a price tag on them, none cost more than $1.98. 

The Muppets was a popular show in my youth and here are six puzzles based on that property.

My family watched the Peanuts specials quite a bit too though I've only got two puzzles for that one.

The Smurfs were a favorite of my sister's and I watched the cartoon as well. There is one good-sized puzzle and a couple average ones.

Here are three from Whitman that have nice artwork featuring Daffy Duck, Donald Duck, and Bullwinkle Moose. 

I'm going to group a bunch of random stuff into this next group. There is Magilla Gorilla, Garfield, Heckle and Jeckle, The Devil & Daniel Mouse, Family Circus, and Mork & Mindy.

I've got G.I. Joe puzzles too; was there any doubt? This is a set of four puzzles that can be combined to form one large puzzle. It was the first Joe puzzle series released and then there was another set of four later that I don't have.

Masters of the Universe is probably the largest puzzle I've got here with one side being 33 inches long. It's also the only one that has an image on the back of the box.

Last up are two WWF puzzles, one that is still sealed and the other is the one I put together this week. Unfortunately, I'm missing one piece so it is incomplete. The reason I built this one was for the old WWF post that I'm updating with these images.

While I've got to get rid of most of these, I'm definitely keeping the G.I. Joe and Masters of the Universe puzzles regardless if they smell or not.