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Toy Commercial Nostalgia/Wonder Bread He-Man
9 years ago
Browsing Youtube I came upon a channel of 80s toy commercial collections. it had collections of the commercials for some of favorite remembered toy brands. Transformers Generation 1, Thundercats, Silverhawks, GI Joe MASK etc. Naturally Master of the Universe was in the mix, and what shocked me was how.. subdued the advertisements really where. No massive flashy special effects, or loud kids declaring how awesome the toys where. Usually just show the figure and then an example of play time with some kids. Lots of the commercials show their age with mention of price points, rather mundane by today's standards gimmicks (free holo foil stickers kids, free!). One MOTU spot even featured of all things a Vinyl "Adventure Record" pack in.
Thus the deceptively simple, amazingly successful MOTU line was on my mind. And I though about the "mysterious" toys you sometimes came across. Early released meant to be recalled that got missed, toys sent to the wrong market, things like that. Only one still to this day remains unexplained, it's origins unknown, it seems to materialize in toy boxes out of no where. Known today as Wonder Bread He-man this strange loose MOTU figure was your standard He-Man but with differences. NO accessories to speak of and a different color pattern to the official figure. Normally a tan skied, blonde haired barbarian with red trunks and boots WBHM instead was "flesh" toned with brown hair, brown boots and brown trunks. Most remember him as a mail in with proofs of purchase from Wonder Bread.. except.. Wonder bread doesn't recall ever having this figures or a mail in to send out loose action figures for proofs. Mattel the makers of MOTU also have NO records of ever working with Wonder Bread or such a early mail in figure give away. So what is WBHM? A strange artifacts created by the Mandelia Effect? a Conspiracy by the government? a bunch of early He-man figures accidentally released to the public or give away by Mattel employees?
Thus the deceptively simple, amazingly successful MOTU line was on my mind. And I though about the "mysterious" toys you sometimes came across. Early released meant to be recalled that got missed, toys sent to the wrong market, things like that. Only one still to this day remains unexplained, it's origins unknown, it seems to materialize in toy boxes out of no where. Known today as Wonder Bread He-man this strange loose MOTU figure was your standard He-Man but with differences. NO accessories to speak of and a different color pattern to the official figure. Normally a tan skied, blonde haired barbarian with red trunks and boots WBHM instead was "flesh" toned with brown hair, brown boots and brown trunks. Most remember him as a mail in with proofs of purchase from Wonder Bread.. except.. Wonder bread doesn't recall ever having this figures or a mail in to send out loose action figures for proofs. Mattel the makers of MOTU also have NO records of ever working with Wonder Bread or such a early mail in figure give away. So what is WBHM? A strange artifacts created by the Mandelia Effect? a Conspiracy by the government? a bunch of early He-man figures accidentally released to the public or give away by Mattel employees?
GoBots is interesting too as Tonka was a bit fast and loose with the license, allowing 3rd parties to produce inferior toys under the GoBots banner. Hasbro eventually absorbed Tonka and claimed ownership of Gobot's mythos. There was also a series of Wendy's licensed Gobot's kids meal toys, so yes those where official licensed and acknowledged toys.
WBHM is odd because no company remembers him