What I've decided, after quite a lot of thinking, is that I'm not sure this documentary is for me. I wouldn't actually consider myself a "hardcore" He-man fan. I don't even have a collection of vintage He-man figures (they were mostly given away as a kid) and I don't have an encyclopedic knowledge of it. However, I'm not a casual fan, either. And, I feel like maybe this documentary is being pitched to a more casual/mainstream audience. I don't think it's a bad thing, necessarily. I just think it's going to be interesting to see how people react to it once more people see it. Let me be clear, as I was watching it, I was generally entertained. There was probably about 35 people in the audience, and many times the film elicited some laughs. But even in the midst of the movie, there were things I just found... uncomfortable? Troubling? I'll explain in further detail...
Sweet V. Taylor
As some have thought/feared, a large chunk of the movie is taken up over the argument about who created He-man. In fact, I'd go so far to say that it forms the narrative thrust of the movie. I think this presents a couple problems. Because the documentary is supposed to be about how "He-man and Mattel Conquered the Universe" the movie does go into the history of the toy line and cartoon and subsequent iterations SOME. But, it ends up coming back to the conflict again and again, in a way that made it feel a bit scattered to me. It almost feels like there are two documentaries fighting for the right to live here. One that's all about the conflict of who created Masters of the Universe, and one (that I'm much more interested in) that's about the creation of the line, it's eventual demise and attempts at resuscitation. But so much of the latter is so fleeting that it's a bit frustrating, to be honest.
But let's put that aside for a second and focus on the depiction of this conflict. Both sides of the argument (actually, there's more than just two people making a case for themselves, here, so let's say the MANY sides of the argument) are laid out, as is what I think is a fairly realistic TRUTH, which is that this was a collaborative effort made at a large international toy company so the real answer is that a lot of people really contributed to the creation of what we think of as He-man and the Masters of the Universe. In fact, this point is made so early by one interview subject and makes so much sense that it makes all the he said/he said that follows feel a bit... pointless.
Also, while there is an attempt to put a sort of "bow" on the subject by the film's end that gives neither "side" the upper hand, I'm not sure I felt like that rang true. Because, over the course of the documentary, I feel like Roger Sweet was really not given the same level of respect as the other participants. They cut to a shot of him doing pull-ups several times, and it just felt sort of derisory, whether it was intended that way or not. It's actually really strange how differently Sweet and Taylor/Mayer are presented. I don't know if it's merely a production thing (was a certain style only established later?) or on purpose, but the latter are presented as nearly everyone else is, in talking head format that you're used to seeing in a documentary. But Sweet is often in his home, watching footage of Taylor (we never see the reverse) and being filmed reacting to it. The filmmakers are in the shot, asking Sweet somewhat pointed questions. It's... all very strange. They seem to really want Sweet to meet Taylor, but Sweet isn't interested. I can't say I blame him, frankly. There's a very fine line between digging deeper into a subject to find some sort of "truth" and being exploitive. And, to be honest, this just started to feel exploitive to me. It was a real turn off. My partner, who is not a He-man fan, said this made him uncomfortable and turned him off, too. I mean, let me just say for the record I consider Taylor and Mayer personal heroes. I treasure the Power & Honor catalog they signed for me. I absolutely love the art they did and what they gave to us as part of MOTU. But my heart kind of broke for Roger Sweet. Sitting there, watching footage of Mark Taylor saying how one time he saw Sweet working at Home Depot (because he couldn't get another job in the toy industry, he worked as a sales person and forklift driver at one point) and saying how he felt sorry for sweet... it just felt like such a personal jab amongst a lot of personal jabs. It just felt plain ugly. Not that Taylor would SAY that, so much, but that Sweet would then be shown it and filmed. The truth is, I don't think this is really interesting enough to take up this much of the film. I think it should have been a fourth of it, max. Maybe a third at a stretch.
MOTU Cliff Notes
Let's put that aside for the minute, because I think the thing I ended up being most bummed about is, because the Sweet/Taylor stuff takes up so much of the movie, it felt like a LOT of stuff was left out. Stuff I hope makes it on as bonus material in some fashion. The decline of MOTU the first time, for instance, is given pretty sort shrift. They talk about them pushing out old product to try to boost sales and how that clogged store shelves, but it seemed like there were some other interesting factors that got left out. Filmation is given a decent chunk of the movie, and seeing Lou was so marvelous. He's great in the movie, and he got the biggest laugh. I would have had to have liked a little more time on Filmation, but I think the time we do get is fairly respectable. The movie gets some decent coverage, though I did long for more. Now, after that... New Adventures is glossed over. As is the 2002 He-man. The latter was most egregious to me only because I think A.) It seems strange the Four Horsemen weren't in it at all and B.) There are some interesting parallels between the demise of the vintage line and the 2002 one that would have been interesting. Oh, and Classics barely gets a footnote. HOWEVER, all those things I just mentioned... I can kind of understand why maybe they are given short shrift, if the focus was really on vintage. But, one thing that is missing that just seems downright WEIRD...
She-Ra? What She-Ra?
Neither She-Ra nor Princess of Power is mentioned... not even once. Not even in passing. Now, I'm not some uber-hardcore POP person by any means. But it just seemed really weird not to mention it at all. I understand the need to focus a narrative, but not mentioning it made it sort of odd (to me) when they talked about Filmation and talked about the end of the line, because if nothing else mentioning She-Ra might have been interesting as far as how ending the MOTU show in favor of POP might have had some effect on the popularity of the MOTU toys.
Now, the things I've mentioned.... that's why I said that maybe this movie will play with more casual fans or mainstream audiences. The things that seem to be missing to me, you might not even notice if you didn't know better. I went in expecting a show more about MOTU in totality, and this documentary really isn't that. But does that mean the documentary is bad, or just not what I expected? I think it's more the latter. I definitely wouldn't say the documentary is bad. Like I said before, I was entertained. But, the next point, I think, is where I think the documentary has some issues that I think make it not quite as successful as it could have been.
Where The Heart Is?
I recently watched the documentary Plastic Galaxy. I found it hugely entertaining. It's all about Star Wars toys and Star Wars collecting. Now, until the recent Star Wars Black 6'' figures, I had never really been a Star Wars collector. But I still thought the documentary was a really interesting look at the phenomenon of the toys. Maybe my lack of familiarity helped with that. But, it's hard for me to not compare the two documentaries, and when I do, the thing that strikes me is that Toy Masters feels a LITTLE heartless. Predictably, Filmation provides a LOT of the heart that is there. Lou, talking passionately about why he was making the TV show is a great example. As is the female Filmation employee (her name escapes me right this second) who spoke eloquently and passionately about why it bothered her that organization like ACT judged the show without really looking at what the show tried to do for children. There are some nice shots of the filmmakers as children (and other fans) as kids enjoying or opening He-man toys. That brings some heart to it. But, my overall impression is that in addition to the general uncomfortableness of the Taylor/Sweet stuff, there's also a lot of people poking fun of MOTU. Now, let me say, I have no problem with this. I found Don Glut to be kind of hilariously cynical when I met him and heard him talk at PowerCon. I found him the same here. I know it was just a job for him (and one he didn't spend a lot of time on) and I understand his viewpoint. And find it entertaining. It's also hilarious when they talk about the stock animation of He-man laughing. The problem is, there's not a TON to counter balance all of this. Other than the people from Filmation and some of the comments from Taylor about the creative passion he and Mayer were putting into it, there is a distinct lack of anyone talking about what made MOTU great. Which leads me to...
Send in the Fans... There Ought To Be Fans....
I think the biggest misstep the doc makes, frankly, is that they don't have ANY fans in it talking about why they love He-man. There are the still photos. There are YouTube clips of people playing the theme song on various instruments. But that's it. This is something Plastic Galaxy did so well, and it really humanized that movie. It also gives you an opportunity to show why ANYONE actually gives a damn about MOTU. It allows you to show why the characters still matter to people. How it influenced them as people and artists. It just would have added a lot of warmth to counter balance all the squabbling about who created what, and the people for whom (at the end of the day) this was about making a buck. I don't begrudge them for that, but talking to the organizers of PowerCon, the Power & Honor Foundation, people in the industry now who loved He-man as a kid and collectors in general would have helped counterbalance it some. This is also where glossing over the whole existence of Classics kind of stings, because it'd be a great opportunity to talk about how fans have supported the line, and after all the failures to bring back the line, there was a very real and substantial success.
Graphic Content
My final point is a minor one, but as someone who has a background as a graphic artist, I have to mention it. The graphics, I feel, could use a bit of polish. The screening was not of the finished movie. At a minimum, I believe, it still had to color corrected and mixed. But I just was not a fan of the typeface they used for most of it. I get the reason for using it, but in larger blocks of text (like, beyond a couple words) it actually was a bit hard to read. Also, the title of the movie was rendered in a slightly blah typeface. I think Emiliano an Eamon did the poster, which looked really good. I wish they'd used the treatment there somewhere in the movie. Also, when the titles of who was speaking popped up, they used green bricks. Now, this feels kind of weird because it's SO closely tied to Classics (which they barely mention at the end!) and is not terribly well-loved by fans. It's too bad they couldn't have used somethink like the red chunks of rock from the classic packaging or something. Again, this isn't going to make or break the movie (and maybe this is still going to be worked out) but stylistically the movie felt a bit rough in this instance.
Final Thoughts
Now, this might seem like I'm putting the doc through the ringer or that I hate it or something. I didn't hate it at all. There is probably a certain sense, here, of three years anticipation building up expectations, for a start. And, as I said, I really think if I were a more casual fan I might have been able to enjoy it even more, though I think the lack of showing fans and the more uncomfortable bits with Sweet still would have felt a bit off. At the end of the day, I do think fans of MOTU should go see it. I think it's worth checking out when it comes out officially for sure. But, I can't help but feel like there are maybe some missed opportunities here. I don't think it's going to be the definitive MOTU documentary some of us might have hoped. And maybe that ambition is simply too lofty for anyone one movie to actually meet? I'll see it again. I'll buy it on Blu Ray (especially hoping for the interviews/bits of interviews we don't get to see) too, I'm sure. I am also really intrigued to see how others feel about it. After all, this is just one guy's opinion.
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