Not unlike most other He-Man collectors out there, I have very found memories of growing up amongst the battles between He-Man and Skeletor. Most of my original childhood He-Man figures have disappeared over the years, so about 5 years ago I began buying loose figures to get my collection back. I began slowly picking figures up for 25 to 50 cents at yard sales and flea-markets. An early find came when my girlfriend bought me a 3-foot tall plastic vacuum-form He-Man. Later I was to find out that she had picked up a hard to find vintage store display. About a year went by before I was able to amass about 60 different figures. I was so happy that I had finally put together a near complete He-Man collection... or so I thought.

     Though this excitement still survives, I have found that completing a He-Man collection is a long, expensive, time consuming process. Over the years I have come across hundreds of items I never knew existed. I began finding (with the help of other collectors) more and more figure variations, foreign released figures, and other collectibles like cake pans, fabric, magazines, and jewelry. As I began to look deeper into the world of He-Man collecting, I saw that He-man collectibles are everywhere.

I made up my mind that I needed a truly complete He-Man collection. I was soon buying carded figures, as money permitted, to build up my MOC collection. I came across so many variations on the carded figures, from the original 8-Backs, to the Man-E-Weapons special pack, to the Black Face Grizzlor. I soon found many of the cool foreign exclusive figures like the Laser Power He-Man, Laser Light Skeletor, Tytus, and Megator. I also found many foreign carded variations like the "Super" Hordak, the Dutch figures that came carded with a mask, and the Mattel licensed Top Toys figures from Argentina. One day at a toy show I came across a 3-Pack of Moss Man, Buzz-Off, and Mekaneck. I thus stumbled across the very rare new field of multi-packs. I was soon able to track down other multi-packs including figure/vehicle 2 packs, figure 2-Packs, and brown-boxed store catalog multi-packs. Though I was able to find some of these items, other multi-packs have still eluded my grasp.

     About 2 years ago my collection was getting to the point that my doubles were taking up too much space and money. I decided that in order to continue my quest I would need to start selling off some of these doubles. With the introduction of eBay, I had a whole new outlet for buying and selling He-Man figures. Although I was selling I was also buying large collections from friends, other dealers, and off of eBay. This was how I was able to amass a huge loose figure collection of my own plus help other collectors complete their collections.

At about the same time, I decided to start a website, The Cafe Wha?. All the while, I was still building my collection one piece at a time. Always on the lookout for new or different figures, I soon came across a He-Man with brown hair and black boots. It was advertised as a "Wonder Bread Mail-In Figure" and I knew that I needed it. Though it meant spending more than I had ever paid for a loose figure, it quickly became part of my collection. Though my collection was continually growing, I knew that the end was no where in sight.

In the past couple of years I have had the opportunity (thanks to friends) to buy cases of vintage He-Man carded figures and boxed vehicles. It still amazes me how these have survived over the years. In one of the purchases, I bought over 20 cases of figures; in another, I purchased cases of the hard to find "Powers of Greyskull" dinosaurs. Though these seemed like the highlight of my collecting experience, I was soon to find something I had never even dreamed of owning.

About 2 years ago I saw an ad in Lee's Action Figure & Toy Review magazine that listed "He-Man Prototypes" for sale. I had recently seen 2 examples of collectors having a single prototype figure so I too wanted one for my collection. I called the dealer and found that this collection consisted of 17 test-shot prototype He-Man figures. I conferred with my girlfriend and soon decided that I needed them all. Though this cost an arm and a leg, I felt that I would regret passing on the opportunity to purchase these rare artifacts of the He-Man production process.

     Though I still haven't completed my He-Man collection I am still working as hard as ever on doing so. I have met many collectors on my way who have helped me find and obtain items and sources. I hope that I have also helped many people on their quest to getting their childhood memories back. Though there will always be very elusive items out there, I find the hunt for them as exciting as looking at the collection I have now.



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