Children’s He-Man doll, 26th March 1988. (Photo by Dinello/The People/Mirrorpix/Getty Images)
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Roger Sweet, a toy designer who created the He-Man action figure that spawned Masters of the Universe cartoons and an upcoming feature film, has died.
Sweet’s wife, Marlene, told TMZ that her husband died early Tuesday morning. His wife told TMZ that Sweet had been battling dementia.
Sweet worked in the 1970s and ‘80s for Mattel, where he designed the muscular action figure that was first released in 1982. The first He-Man and the Masters of the Universe cartoon series, based on the Mattel action figure line, ran on TV from 1983 to 1984.
The most current iteration of the characters will be featured in the live-action feature film Masters of the Universe, which will be released on June 5. Directed by Travis Knight and written by Chris Butler, the new film stars Nicholas Galitzine as He-Man and Jared Leto as his nemesis, Skeletor.
Because of Roger Sweet’s health challenges, Marlene Sweet — his wife of 40 years — started a GoFundMe page in February to help pay for her husband’s memory care bills, which exceeded $10,000 per month.
“He’s a very meticulous person about doing things, but not in the past couple years and certainly not in the past couple months,” Marlene Sweet told The Herald newspaper in Lake Stevens, Wash., where the couple resided. “The doctors at the hospital said he could not come home because he’s too much of a fall risk.”
Among the donors to the GoFundMe drive was the Mattel Foundation, which donated $5,000. Nearly $94,000 has been raised as of the publication of this article.
‘Masters Of The Universe’ Turned Into TV, Film And Video Game Franchise
Several animated series followed after the release of the original Masters of the Universe, including She-Ra, Princess of Power (1985-1987), The New Adventures of He-Man (1990-1991), She-Ra and the Princess of Power (2018-2020) and Masters of the Universe Revelation/Revolution (2021-2024).
In addition there were two more iterations of the animated He-Man and the Masters of the Universe series, which ran from 2002-2004 and 2021-2022. In addition, the Masters of the Universe characters were featured in the He-Man & She-Ra Christmas Special and the animated feature The Secrets of Sword, which were both released in 1985.
Prior to the new version that will be released in June, there was a live-action version of the Masters of the Universe, starring Dolph Lundgren as He-Man, which was released in theaters in 1987.
He-Man and Masters of the Universe has also been turned into eight video games, a role-playing game, comic books, magazines and audio plays, as well as more toy lines from Mattel.
While Roger Sweet designed He-Man, he did not have ownership of the character, his wife said. “Nobody that worked there had any ownership,” Marlene Sweet told The Herald, adding that her husband “just worked for Mattel and Mattel has ownership.”
Roger Sweet told The Herald in 2019 that for his work on the He-Man toy line, he received bonuses. “Three years in a row, midway through managing the original series, I got 50 percent of my salary as a bonus from Mattel,” Sweet told The Herald.
After his work on He-Man and the Masters of the Universe action figures, Sweet helped design accessories for Mattel’s famed Barbie doll line. According to The Herald, Sweet left Mattel in 1991.