Vintage toys - MOTU: the drawings I sent to Mattel in 1984
Published
online (September
2024).
When I was 9 (1984) my dad came
to me one day with an incredible proposal. At the time, and until
recently, he used to work as an internal auditor at 3M. Like any good dad, he
knew about my passion for Masters - he was the one paying! - and he
knew how creative and good at drawing I was (who's not creative at 9?).
"Marcello, today I met this man at work, he said he also works for Mattel, and talking with him about you, we made this plan: you draw some new Masters characters for them to produce, he will bring your drawings to Mattel, and who knows, they might use them to create new figures!". Currently, my dad can't remember the man's name or position.
So I spent the following days and weeks creating and drawing new characters. Even if forty years have passed, I remember how difficult it was not to fall into the same concepts over and over again. Once you use the idea of an insect, let's say an ant, you can't draw another character that looks like a mantis, otherwise you become repetitive. So I tried always to be original, taking inspiration from different subjects: magic, sport, insects, animals, legends, household electrical appliances, etc. I knew that the Masters' names were the English version of the Italian word for the main feature of the figure, so I just got an English dictionary and I made up the names too.
Once the creativity was over, I returned to my dad with the papers and the wait began. My father gave the man the photocopies and we kept the originals. I don't know how long it took before we got some news, but I remember it was a looong time, I'd say a few months at least.
We were too naive to think about copyright and intellectual property theft. Probably my father wasn't thinking about money either, but rather about making me very happy. For sure I wasn't thinking about money. I only hoped in the open acknowledgement that some of the next figures would have been based on my ideas, acknowledgement followed by a nice box full of free figures.
After a few months, my dad came to me and said: "That man came back from Mattel, he said they already have their own creatives, so they don't take fans' drawings into account, I'm sorry".
Now, here are the original drawings. I'm not gonna give any suggestions, because I don't want you to think: "Well, that's a long shot". I leave any interpretation to you. If any drawing makes you think: "Ah, that one looks like...", then check this link with the dates of release of all MOTU figures.
I never deposited my drawings, I have no proof that they are from 1984, I can't prove any of the facts that I just reported, and even if I could, it would be hard to find the creatives involved (if they are still alive), and even if I could, they would have all the rights to say, in good or bad faith: "I've no idea where I got that idea from, it was forty years ago", and if they admitted to the contrary, this would put many people in an awkward position. But to be fair, I think this story and these drawings should at least be out there.
"Marcello, today I met this man at work, he said he also works for Mattel, and talking with him about you, we made this plan: you draw some new Masters characters for them to produce, he will bring your drawings to Mattel, and who knows, they might use them to create new figures!". Currently, my dad can't remember the man's name or position.
So I spent the following days and weeks creating and drawing new characters. Even if forty years have passed, I remember how difficult it was not to fall into the same concepts over and over again. Once you use the idea of an insect, let's say an ant, you can't draw another character that looks like a mantis, otherwise you become repetitive. So I tried always to be original, taking inspiration from different subjects: magic, sport, insects, animals, legends, household electrical appliances, etc. I knew that the Masters' names were the English version of the Italian word for the main feature of the figure, so I just got an English dictionary and I made up the names too.
Once the creativity was over, I returned to my dad with the papers and the wait began. My father gave the man the photocopies and we kept the originals. I don't know how long it took before we got some news, but I remember it was a looong time, I'd say a few months at least.
We were too naive to think about copyright and intellectual property theft. Probably my father wasn't thinking about money either, but rather about making me very happy. For sure I wasn't thinking about money. I only hoped in the open acknowledgement that some of the next figures would have been based on my ideas, acknowledgement followed by a nice box full of free figures.
After a few months, my dad came to me and said: "That man came back from Mattel, he said they already have their own creatives, so they don't take fans' drawings into account, I'm sorry".
Now, here are the original drawings. I'm not gonna give any suggestions, because I don't want you to think: "Well, that's a long shot". I leave any interpretation to you. If any drawing makes you think: "Ah, that one looks like...", then check this link with the dates of release of all MOTU figures.
I never deposited my drawings, I have no proof that they are from 1984, I can't prove any of the facts that I just reported, and even if I could, it would be hard to find the creatives involved (if they are still alive), and even if I could, they would have all the rights to say, in good or bad faith: "I've no idea where I got that idea from, it was forty years ago", and if they admitted to the contrary, this would put many people in an awkward position. But to be fair, I think this story and these drawings should at least be out there.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|