Roger Sweet, He-Man Creator, Passes Away

0:00On April 29th, Roger Sweet, the toy designer behind the legendary He-Man for Masters of the Universe, passed away on April 28th at 91 years old. He co-created the muscle-bound hero with Mark Taylor back in the day, turning it into a massive hit for Mattel. His wife Marlene, married to him for 40 years, said he went peacefully in a memory care facility after battling dementia. Earlier this year, she started a GoFundMe that fans poured into raising over $93,000 to cover his care costs, which ran more than $10,000 a month. Sweet spent nearly 20 years as a lead designer at Mattel in the 1970s and 1980s. He kicked off He-Man by beefing up a big gym figure with clay muscles and pitching it as a rival to Star Wars action figures. The line launched in 1982, sparking a cartoon series with filmation that ran for 130 episodes through 1985, plus a 1987 live-action flick.

1:00Over four decades, it's raked in hundreds of millions for Mattel through toys, comics, and more. Now a new Masters of the Universe movie drops June 5th, 2026, with stars like Nicolas Galadine and Jared Leto. Marlene's calling on the studio to dedicate it to Roger, honoring the man who muscled up a franchise still flexing strong today. From the spotlight, powered by AI, this is Entertainment and celebrity news today. I'm Corey with the story.