As promised, the second spread is here for you to enjoy.

This time we will let you take a peak  at the vehicles section of the catalog, on a spread showcasing the evolution of the Road Ripper. The image on the left page appeared first on Tomart’s Action Figure Digest, scanned from a laser copy of the art. The one appearing in the catalog has been scanned from the original painting by Ted Mayer, and printed full page so fans can appreciate every brush strokes.

The third spread will be revealed the week after San Diego Comic Con.

We plan to keep fans updated on all developments both here and our facebook page.

In the meantime, check Bootlegs of the Universe website and Facebook page.

Errol McCarthy in his studio

He is perhaps the most prolific Masters of the Universe artist of all time. His artwork is featured on more licensed products than any other artist. He created much of the vintage cardback artwork that we all know and love. For 30 years, his name remained unknown to all He-Man fans around the world. Meet Errol McCarthy, one of the visionaries that shaped the world of Eternia!

Not only did Errol illustrate the mood-setting and often action packed illustrations found on the cardbacks, but he also illustrated the original licensing art style guides. In short, Errol created hundreds upon hundreds of pieces, and his artwork was licensed onto hundreds upon hundreds more. If you own any original piece of MOTU vintage merchandising, there are good chances one of Errol’s illustrations is featured on the product or the packaging.

As a teenager Errol developed an interest in anything with an engine. His high school buddies had real hot rods and many, many evenings were spent cruising, and occasionally actually picking up girls. He soon realized that his plans that involved placing V8 engines into certain vehicles were (most of the time) limited to just being plans, whereas his ability to illustrate with great proficiency meant that he could create anything that his mind could visualize!

A short stint in the Air Force as an Aviation Cadet convinced Errol that he was not the military type, and so in the late sixties he attended the Art Center College of Design in California, where he met future Mattel employee Mark Taylor. Their friendship was born out of their love for comic books, something that was frowned upon at art school. The two men had initially met when Errol approached Mark upon seeing him reading a comic book. When Errol made a comment, Mark instantly assumed this was a sarcastic attack and took offense. However, it soon became apparent that the two men had a great deal in common (both men met their wives at the college, too).

Errol’s artistic journey led he and his wife, Mitzi, to become freelance artists that have worked on such historic toylines as Big Jim, Hot Wheels, Barbie, Masters of the Universe, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and many more! Although he was officially used as a Boys Toys artist by Mattel, he would often go to any meetings that he thought might be interesting, such was his passion for illustration and design.

In 1981 Errol was brought onto the Masters of the Universe brand as a freelance artist by his friend Mark Taylor. His ability to produce a great deal of work in a short space of time resulted in him working at Mattel for many years. One of Errol’s most iconic illustrations was that of Castle Grayskull. The image was reused time and time again, and can be seen incorporated on numerous other MOTU illustrations, where Errol simply photocopied and pasted the castle in the backgrounds. In order to maintain the house style that Mattel were often aiming for Errol would utilize Fred Carrillo’s drawings of He-Man’s head on his own submissions. This way he knew that he would not be asked to redraw the face of the most powerful man in the universe!

During his time at Mattel he was also contracted by the Bates company to illustrate a plethora of artwork for a variety of products. However, for some reason, a great deal of these products were never produced, leaving us with a great deal of unseen artwork!

Errol was asked to join Mattel by Mark Taylor in 1989 where he immediately contributed to The New Adventures of He-Man toyline. Working side by side with Mark, his concept artwork revealed that Taylor was thinking of going into a darker, more hand-to-hand battle concept for the line. He left Mattel in 1995.

The Power and The Honor Foundation is proud to house high quality scans featuring all of Errol’s artwork. Within Errol’s portfolio are the original cardback illustrations for the Powers of Grayskull line. Not only are He-Ro and Eldor included, but also a plethora of unnamed figures  which took the parts reuse concept to an entirely different level!. At some point the Foundation will share all of these wonderful pieces with you!

Errol is still an incredibly active artist. As a matter of fact, when sending us sample scans of his art, he even digitally corrected the artwork from the original Evil-Lyn cardback because he thought that He-Man’s neck was too stumpy!

The Power and The Honor Foundation is grateful to Errol and Mitzi for allowing us to visit them in their home, and spend the day reminiscing about He-Man, their time at Mattel, and most importantly of all, the friendships they built.

The Foundation is also proud to present a small gallery of samples of his Masters of the Universe work:

[Show as slideshow]

Mark Taylor entertains a group of fans with his amazing retelling of He-Man’s history.

The Friends of The Power and The Honor Foundation Reception was a great success.  We got to share an evening with many friends, ate, and got to look at some amazing pieces of He-Man history.

Mark and Rebecca Taylor surprised us by telling us Saturday afternoon that they were coming to the reception.  They joined us for the rest of the night and chatted with fans for over 3 hours!

You can see a few photos from our Reception on our Facebook Page.

We can’t thank Ricky Lyle Campbell enough for the amazing He-Man cake that was made using the vintage Wilton cake pan and even featured the original plastic He-Man face.

Thank you to Chuck Bowles and Josh Bolling for helping us pack up the (heavy) displays well past midnight.  They didn’t even complain when they had to tie boxes closed since we forgot the tape.

We are so happy that we were able to continue to share the art and history of He-Man and She-Ra and couldn’t have had this reception without the continued support of so many fans.

We had a great time meeting and talking with everyone and hope that you enjoyed yourselves as well.

Friends, Food & Art

Thank you to everyone who has already signed up for the Friends of The Power and The Honor Foundation Reception. So many fans, collectors, and artists have contributed to make sure this will be a great time for everyone.

We understand that there are other events occurring Saturday night and don’t want you to miss any of them. There is the Road Ripper Race at 6:30, the Roast Gooble Dinner starting at 7, The Fountain of Life showing at 7:30, a live cartoon commentary screening with our own James Eatock at 10, a Pixel Dan video debut at 10:30, and much more. The Reception opens at 5:30 and will be a busy place until well after midnight. Food will be served from 6-7:30.

We have heard from a lot of fans that they are going to the Roast Gooble Dinner, which is sure to be a great time, but we need to remind you that you will still need to reserve your spot at the reception if you plan on coming afterwards. The Foundation has to pay for the attendees and the food and we need to provide the hotel with the exact head count in advance.

For those of you who can’t attend our reception but would still like to support The Power and The Honor Foundation please click the link below.

Friends, Food & Art

We had an amazing time at last year’s Power-Con where we were able to share some incredible artwork, and more importantly, were able to meet and talk to other fans.

We are pleased to announce the first annual Friends of The Power and The Honor Foundation Reception. The reception will be held on Saturday September 22, 2012 starting at 5:30pm in Suites 9 & 11 at the Torrance Marriott South Bay, 3635 Fashion Way, Torrance, California 90503.  We have the room until 1:00am so be prepared to relax, eat, and enjoy some time with friends.

As many of last year’s Power-Con attendees chose to either eat at the hotel’s bar or venture outside the hotel for dinner, we thought it would be nice to have a friendly on-site reception that allowed people to remain at the event hotel.

The Foundation will be giving FREE space to collectors to display art, toys, and merchandise in the room. Expect some great He-Man AND She-Ra artwork showcased for your enjoyment, including art from the personal collections of Mark Taylor, Josh Van Pelt, Emiliano Santalucia, James Eatock, James Sawyer, Mike Zolotorow, Chuck Bowles, and Lee Clevenger. Contact us if you have something in your collection that you would like to display!

For your $35 donation you will gain access to this private event and receive an assortment of finger foods as well as refreshments. The tentative menu includes chicken fingers, flatbread pizza, buffalo wings, and sandwiches & wraps. The room only holds 80 guests so be sure to secure your spot today!

For those of you who can’t attend our reception but would still like to support The Power and The Honor Foundation please click the link below.

The Power and The Honor Foundation is officially a non-profit 501(c)3 public charity organization and donations and contributions are now tax-deductible.

The IRS has applied our 501(c)3 status retroactively to our original filing date last year, so it is effective as of May 26, 2011.  The IRS allows you to refile or amend your taxes for the last two years if needed. We have kept detailed records, and if you made a donation after our official filing date, you are welcome to contact us for a copy of a tax-deductible donation receipt.

501(c)3 public charity status is something we have been working towards for the past year. The formation of the Foundation, the drafting of bylaws, and the submitting, clarifying, and resubmitting of paperwork has been a long and intricate process; one which we hope will help us to better serve the fans of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe and She-Ra Princess of Power.

Our mission remains the same: To collect, archive, preserve, and educate the public about the creative origins of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe and She-Ra Princess of Power. Attaining tax-exempt status is critical to our mission and to our development into a sustainable organization.

Our continued operation relies heavily upon contributions made by other fans. You can help by being involved with the Foundation, by telling us what you’d like to see us improve, by attending events where we get to share artwork with the public, and by contributing to The Power and The Honor Foundation, either by donating toys and artwork or through cash donations- which are now all tax deductible!

Please consider making a contribution today to help preserve the art and history of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe and She-Ra Princess of Power.  Please visit www.powerandhonor.org for more information.

In the coming weeks, we will begin working on a many new projects that will require volunteers.  We will begin building databases, creating archives, and organizing photographs.  If you would like to be considered for one of our volunteer roles please contact us at info@powerandhonor.org.

In this interview we hear how Josh helped found The Power and The Honor Foundation, how instrumental James Eatock and Emiliano Santalucia were in producing the first catalog that looks at the art of Masters of the Universe toy design and what his favorite figures are!

Click here to listen – http://popculturenetwork.com/article…11030115848361

For his winning effort he receive a 12″ testshot RotoCast Skeletor figure from the 200x MOTU toy line!

Thanks to everyone who participated.