It only took 30+ years for them to catch up with me.
When I was a kid, I had three great overriding passions: Horror movies, professional wrestling, and comic books. Under these three umbrellas fell many subcategories. I loved the Masters of the Universe toyline, for example, and the cartoon. When I got a little older and got into wrestling, my MOTU figures became professional grapplers. It was an easy transition, given how buff the He-Man figures were. They *looked* like wrestlers. All the feuds from the He-Man mythos simply transitioned over into wrestling. My love of Horror also became infused into my imaginary world. I fashioned a crude hockey mask for my Gorgeous Jimmy Garvin wrestling figure—conveniently sized like a MOTU figure—and Jason from FRIDAY THE 13TH became my world champion. After Skeletor lost a loser-leave-town match to He-Man, he became a character I named “The Ghoul.” Hordak and Grizzlor fought over who would be the leader of the Evil Horde. And Beast-Man, once I removed his armor, was a werewolf. I later took off Grizzlor’s chestpiece and he, now “naked” except for his fur and wrestling boots, became a Sasquatch who did bloody battle with “The Werewolf.”
My mother had a toy wrestling ring built for me for a Christmas present. You couldn’t just buy them in those days, like you can now. I wouldn’t have traded my homemade ring for a store-bought one anyway. I confess, though, I felt a little tingle of that inner child’s imagination when I saw the new WWE Universe Grayskull Mania wrestling ring at my local Walmart. I think I have some MOTU figures who, for just a split second, felt a jonesing to get back in the ring.