He-Man.org is temporarily down.

[DEPP76]

Just throwing it out there...the website seems to be down for the next week or so.  

[Mosquitor]

To be more specific, the website at large has been down for quite a while now. The forums were still up, but are currently down now too.

[TheLurkerFromBelow]

Thats quite a few days already. Anyone knows whats going on?

[DEPP76]

On 1/27/2023 at 9:00 AM, TheLurkerFromBelow said:

Thats quite a few days already. Anyone knows whats going on?

No clue, unless they are finally getting the whole site working properly again.  That would be great.  But yeah it's been nine days now.  🙄

[DEPP76]

Going on a month now.  🙄

[DEPP76]

And now today it's like the whole website is just 'gone'.  🤨

[TheLurkerFromBelow]

31 minutes ago, DEPP76 said:

And now today it's like the whole website is just 'gone'.  🤨

It is weird that otherwise there seems no talk about it. I visited only occasionally but was under the impression it is kinda massive with lots of content and even former and current ppl working for and with MOTU connecting to each other?

Weird x2 considering that MOTU is still in a phase where its going stronger globally than it ever has been since the 80ys. And that even with what feels like a 2 $ marketing campaign from Mattel to promote it (outside their own spaces).

If at all it would make most sense now to give the site a massive modernized overhaul than ever.

[DEPP76]

10 minutes ago, TheLurkerFromBelow said:

It is weird that otherwise there seems no talk about it. I visited only occasionally but was under the impression it is kinda massive with lots of content and even former and current ppl working for and with MOTU connecting to each other?

Weird x2 considering that MOTU is still in a phase where its going stronger globally than it ever has been since the 80ys. And that even with what feels like a 2 $ marketing campaign from Mattel to promote it (outside their own spaces).

If at all it would make most sense now to give the site a massive modernized overhaul than ever.

Yeah it is weird for sure.  I guess I just assumed people from there would come here to chat about it, but I guess not lol. Maybe they're all on Facebook somewhere discussing it.  Or maybe people are just not really talking about it and just waiting for it to come back.  Who knows lol.  I'm just hoping that they really are doing a complete overhaul and getting everything back that has been missing for so long.  It's just strange that today it's like it just doesn't exist at all now.  I surely hope that's not a permanent thing.

[mkpat]

I used to post on there quite frequently and was surprised that this is the ONLY place that has even acknowledged the site is even down.  I hadn't been on the main site in a while but was on the forums.  Weird that it is just gone without any reasoning...

[PatrickG]

I've heard some things on this. It sounds like Val Staples' contacts with Mattel have not been as positive as one would hope and I've heard he's moderating Facebook to remove mention of He-Man or He-Man.org in new posts. I hope this is not accurate but that's the word around the internet.

It sounds like things might have soured since Mattel declined to do Powercon in 2022 and come to a head recently.

Keep in mind: Mattel has had an aggressive approach with companies doing MOTU homage or MOTU adjacent product (including Funko and, more recently, Formo Toys) and that is now Val's bread and butter.

I think it could be a mistake on Mattel's end. Hasbro has great relationships with fan websites that cover transforming robot toys, including bootlegs and including retailers and reviewers who promote bootlegs and stolen factory samples. (Hasbro invited one reviewer of stolen samples to red carpet movie premieres and company events.) Hasbro also has strong relationships with independent toy makers who make "companion" products to Marvel Legends and G.I. Joe Classified like Robo from The Fwoosh. On multiple occasions, Hasbro has (quietly)  taken product submissions and R&D samples from third party designers and customizers. Hasbro even recently released a Marvel vs. Capcom deco Marvel Legends as a sly companion to Jada Toys' Capcom 6 inch figures and sometimes designs collector products to be customized, such as their Haslab Ghostbusters Proton Pack. Everything from the ALICE frame connector hardware to the easily accessed connectors to the microcontroller board (no soldered) to the empty switch were designed to be modded and paired with other companies' products.

I'll be honest. Mattel refers to their place in boys' action figures and adult collector toys as a "challenger category" for them. While Mattel is a much bigger actual toy company than Hasbro and is much more profitable to investors, they ARE an upstart challenger in the categories where MOTU operates, despite being king in dolls, toy cars, and preschool toys. Hasbro knows the collector space better and I think Mattel should be looking at Hasbro's lead on intellectual property, competition, and product modification in the "kidult" segment.

And I think Mattel acting like Mattel is probably why He-Man.org is down and probably won't be coming back, costing us an invaluable reference library into the brand's history and behind-the-scenes information going back 40 years.