Speaker 1: Back in 1985, nice son said he couldn't be a super hero because he was black. And that's why I went out and said, we have to have a super hero that looks [00:00:30] like him. Sunman the greatest hero of them. All. Sunman gets all of his superpowers from the sun that protect his skin. He can it be stabbed or punched or pierced that nothing can harm his skin, his beautiful brown skin. When children cannot see their image, it limits their abilities and their self-esteem and what they can do later in life
Speaker 2: At the time [00:01:00] of some man clearly was when I was, you know, beginning to understand race and its value in America, there needed to be more heroes and she created one. And I mean, you don't really get much better than that.
Speaker 3: Sunman is very well known in the Heman collecting community. And I was doing a little research on him online and came across wireless name and wireless story. And so I dug a little deeper, reached out to her, and I think she saw that I was from Metall was intrigued and immediately got back to me. And in [00:01:30] that first conversation, the idea of collaborating and bringing Sunman and Heman together came out. I felt like
Speaker 1: I had a sensitive and sensible and committed person at Mattel who was going to embrace Sunman as his child, the way he was created, that it would come from his heart
Speaker 3: Once wi and I started talking about it. It just felt like it was the right thing to do. [00:02:00] It really just resonated with me in that probably not many things in my career have resonated for
Speaker 4: Her to fill that void with Sunman and rulers of the sun. A diverse cast of character is representing so many different races and ethnicities was really groundbreaking
Speaker 5: Work. The fact that he was created to fill a hole in the toy industry of underrepresented ethnicities is a big deal. And it's something that we [00:02:30] really held onto as we designed this product to really make sure that we're doing the same thing and really honoring the character.
Speaker 6: This has cultural relevance to a lot of things that are going on today. Um, so we had to be a little bit more, uh, meticulous and careful and keep a closer eye on this product because it's not just for us. It's also for Wila. And we know that it's important to ourself, a lot of
Speaker 5: Responsibility on our shoulders.
Speaker 3: Uh, I'm very pleased and proud to introduce to you. Mattel's version of Sunman. [00:03:00] We always really liked just how nice the design looks. He really looks good. There's a lot of really good choices in his materials and Mattel meticulously created bespoke sculpts of all the details of his outfit and his accessories. Uh, this is a figure that falls in the range of vintage plus or retro plus where it looks like the toll you might have had as a kid, but it's got a lot more articulation. Uh, this is better than you remember it being, but still looks the [00:03:30] part
Speaker 7: We took the original Sunman comic that was written by Wila and we really wanted to do justice to it, bringing it forward to a new generation. And honestly, probably for the original fans too,
Speaker 8: We were able to give him, um, his own moments, but at the same time, also introducing him to masters of the universe.
Speaker 4: There's a real opportunity in partnering with WLA eon and bringing Sunman and rulers of the sun to stress of the [00:04:00] universe, to better reflect the world around us
Speaker 3: As a black man in America. In the last couple of years, my perspective on the importance of race and inclusivity has really shifted. And it's the thing that has really been ringing in my mind, as I think of a out this project.
Speaker 2: Some men was created for the black market because it was a hole in the market, but now it's a toy just for everyone.
Speaker 1: There's so many layers in the country [00:04:30] right now, a pain. Uh, I think that this is something that is refreshing to see a company with renowned and respect say that this is something that we'd like to show to everybody that this is a partnership that we believe in to come back this many years later, and now we are working together and now Heman and Sunman are in the same universe. I think that's just fantastic.
Speaker 2: And you were just ahead of your time and now it's, everything's [00:05:00] caught up.
Speaker 1: Why see what you guys have brought a mother son moment.
