Roger Sweet

Roger Sweet is an American designer. He grew up in Akron, Ohio and graduated from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio and the Institute of Design in Chicago, Illinois. He served as a lead designer at Mattel throughout much of the 1970s and 1980s and worked extensively on the Masters of the Universe toy line. Before working for Mattel, Sweet held design positions with Walter Dorwin Teague Associates, an industrial design firm, and other design firms. He worked on the accounts of such companies as Boeing, Rubbermaid, Hoover, and Procter & Gamble, and on such products as the interior of the Boeing 747 jumbo jet airliner, and the Downy and Scope packages.

Masters of the Universe

In his 2005 book "Mastering the Universe", Sweet claims to be the "creator" of "He-Man" and the "Masters of the Universe" line. His claim is based on his early work on the product line, where he originated and developed the exaggerated physique, the action stance, and the swivel-action waist of the characters. He also originated the name, "He-Man", a character he intended to be generic, able to be used in all sorts of ways, from sci-fi to fantasy to real-world situations. He continued to work on the line throughout its original span, contributing to the line by originating many other characters, vehicles and playsets. He was not involved with the 1989 "He-Man" relaunch, nor any of the subsequent attempts at relaunching the line.

ee also

*Donald F. Glut, writer for the early "MOTU" booklets and developer of many of the characters.

References

*Sweet, Roger; David, Wecker "Mastering the Universe : He-Man and the Rise and Fall of a Billion-Dollar Idea", Emmis Books July 11, 2005, ISBN 1-57860-223-8
*LaConte, Vincent and Hoffman, Rebecca " [http://www.id.iit.edu/alumni/interviews/sweet_interview_sep05.html Roger Sweet, M.S. 1960] ", "Institute of Design, September, 2005