THE PASSING OF MICHEAL HALPERIN: Read his Obituary, his 1982 “Masters of the Universe” Bible and the story behind it (in his own words) in honor of Michael’s passing.

Michael Halperin is no longer with us.

The legendary creator of the “Masters of the Universe” Bible (as well as the vintage minicomics and so much more), a man so instrumental to the brand we love, has sadly passed away at age 91.

Here is his obituary:

Michael Halperin Obituary
It is always difficult saying goodbye to someone we love and cherish. Family and friends must say goodbye to their beloved Michael Halperin (Los Angeles, California), who passed away at the age of 91, on February 25, 2026. You can send your sympathy in the guestbook provided and share it with the family.

In the vast expanse of eternity, may Michael find peace everlasting, cradled in the gentle embrace of the universe. And as we stand on the shores of remembrance, may his legacy inspire us to live each day with purpose, passion, and profound gratitude for the gift of life itself.

He was best known for writing the origin story for He-Man and the Masters of the Universe in 1982, his Holocaust narrative Jacob's Rescue, and for his contributions to television including award-winning work on Star Trek: The Next Generation.

To honor the great Michael Halperin…

…we have posted his “Masters of the Universe” Bible dated December 1st, 1982…

…as well as the story behind that bible in his own words (including a bit from Erika Scheimer and J. Michael Straczynsk, courtesy of SFX.)

The Beginning:

MICHEAL HALPERIN: I was contacted by Mattel for the specific reason that I had written a sword-and-sorcery screenplay (that was never produced). They read it and thought that I would be the perfect person to come in and work with them on Masters of the Universe. They were having trouble marketing the toy. Not that it wasn’t selling well. It was selling well. The problem they were having is that they would get phone calls and letters from parents of kids who had purchased the toys. And they didn’t know who were the good guys and who were the bad guys, except for He-Man. He was obviously the hero.

So they wanted to have someone come in and give a sense for who the good guys were and who the bad guys were. I suggested that we also do some background on each of the characters to explain motivations. I was very interested in mythology and literature, such as the Epic of Gilgamesh and Beowulf. I love Beowulf and thought he was an archetypal character when I thought of He-Man. So I based the character on Beowulf — not, as a lot of people think, on Conan the Barbarian. The modeling of the character might have been influenced by Conan, but I wasn’t the artist or modeling the toys themselves. They brought me in to write all the background materials for the characters.

Parents wanted to know who these characters were. Who were the white hats, and who were the black hats? That was my job at the beginning.

SFX: Prior to this, there was no “world” for the characters to inhabit. The action figures had names and little else.

MICHEAL HALPERIN: There was nothing. I came in and created planet Eternia. I even at one point drew a map of Eternia with all the place names and labels. Now, I’m not an artist, but I handed over my crude map to the artists, and they created this wonderful map of Eternia. We also had this enemy—Skeletor — and his minions, which I called the Lords of Destruction. But there was no place for him. He didn’t have a headquarters. He just lived “over there.

“So I came up with the name Snake Mountain. I had no idea what it was supposed to look like. I just had a vague idea in my mind. My children were very young at the time. My oldest was 10 years old, but he was very good at drawing. So I asked him what he thought Snake Mountain would look like. And he actually drew a picture, and I gave that to the artists. They used that drawing to flesh it out, but his drawing had most of the prominent features we ultimately saw on Snake Mountain. He never got a penny for that drawing, though!

SFX: In early 1983, with some backstory for the characters filled in and the toys a roaring success, Mattel made a deal with Filmation for an animated series.

MICHEAL HALPERIN: They wanted me to be a creative consultant and write the bible for the show. My task then primarily was as a liaison between Mattel and Filmation to ensure that the animated series would reflect Mattel’s needs and desires in terms of the characters and toys and that there would be no confusion among the viewers.

At the same time, Mattel was going to package these comic books with the toys. They did three or four of them prior to my coming aboard, and each one of them had a different origin story. It was as if everyone wanted to do their own thing. I knew we had to have consistency. Otherwise, how would anyone know what was going on with the characters unless we have a consistent story? So the bible I wrote became the story and character guide not only for Mattel’s marketing but also for the animated series.

Filmation had done a proposal for Mattel to present to television stations to sell the series. It was a very superficial pitch, which is not unusual. A pitch is usually very short. So what they were looking for [from me] was an in-depth exploration of the characters, the story, and where it took place, so when they finally started doing the animation, the writers and directors would know exactly where we were in space so it would all make sense.

ERIKA SCHEIMER: My dad spent over a million dollars developing He-Man. Mattel gave us a bible that wasn’t something that Filmation would produce. So my dad started from scratch. And Mattel put no money into the development of it. My dad made it very clear to them that we were going to finance the show, we were going to get it on the air, and [he wasn’t] going to allow them to tell him what toys we had to put in it.

He managed to get the whole thing to be wholly subsidized by Westinghouse. I’m sure it seemed like too good a deal to be true for Mattel because they didn’t have to come up with much of anything. So Filmation had carte blanche because we funded it. And we could choose which toys we would or wouldn’t use. They didn’t make us do anything. And as a result, [Lou] had complete and total creative control.

SFX: The bible — which described the world of Eternia, how Prince Adam became He-Man, and all the supporting characters — was turned over to Filmation.

J. MICHAEL STRACYNSKI: Initially, there was a fairly surprising degree of flexibility in the storytelling. Mattel mainly got involved in terms of sending along lists and photos of new toys they wanted worked into the series. Beyond that, we were left largely to ourselves as long as we colored within the lines of common sense by not going after topics that were too controversial.

I’d been a fan of the first season of He-Man, which may seem dopey but true. I could tell that some serious thought to world-building had been done in the show, and I very much responded to that. I was still fairly new to TV scriptwriting at the time, so the tools I had to use were limited, but I set out to tell the best stories I could with what I had.

MICHEAL HALPERIN: I wanted to create characters that reflected the idea of the classic myths but with a spin on it. I didn’t want to do something that was already done. I wanted to have a hero who was brave and strong and almost invulnerable but who used his wits rather than his brawn. He only used his strength when it was absolutely necessary. That was my goal. And since it was aimed at children, I wanted them to understand that you don’t need to punch someone in the face to get your way. That was the goal — to create a better world.

I worked with Filmation almost every day for the first year. When you’re doing a show like this, you need to set rules. They can be crazy rules. And, obviously, He-Man has rather odd rules because it combines the technologically advanced society and a primitive setting. So every story has to work within those boundaries. That was part of my job. That was the goal of the bible.

I reviewed every single story that came through and made comments on them. And then I would give them back to Lou Scheimer or the producer of the show. I’d say, “This works” or “This doesn’t work” or “How about doing this instead?” They were receptive to my notes, but I know there was a feeling that I was being intrusive.

One of the problems that Mattel had was the contract I had said that my job was to approve all stories that went into the series. The problem is that it didn’t say all the scripts had to be approved. Very often, I would have arguments with Filmation about some of the stories, and they would just go off and do their own scripts. That doesn’t mean the show was not a success. It was obviously an incredible success from the get-go.

But I had clashes with Filmation because my loyalty was to Mattel. It was loyalty to the idea of He-Man. There were clashes, but those were creative clashes that happen all the time on television series. I’ve worked on a lot of them over my career. So when I say “clashes,” I mean legitimate discussions about stories, what works, and what doesn’t. So even though it wasn’t quite what I wanted it to be, I was just one person. Mattel supported me, but the show had to get on the air. You can only argue up to a point. But I loved working with everybody on that show.

Thanks for everyone in this terrific community who reached out to us to let us know.

Michael Halperin

April 6, 1934 – February 25, 2026
(91 years old)

Los Angeles, California

Rest in Peace, Michael