Virgil Abloh had also designed a line of toys

Before his death in late November 2021, Virgil Abloh was involved in a number of projects including Louis Vuitton, Church's, Cassina, Off-White™, MLB, and the Figures of Speech exhibition just to name a few. The fact that, almost inevitably, there is a kind of obsession with dusting off Virgil Abloh-related initiatives. Trying not to reduce it to exploiting Virgil's legacy, the issue is simply that the designer was actually involved in more things. 

One of the projects Abloh had begun developing as early as 2021 was part of his burgeoning collaboration with the toy company Mattel, maker of UNO, Barbie, and Hot Wheels. Going into detail, Abloh was in contact with the Mattel Creations team, responsible for overseeing the company's premium projects such as the Masters of the Universe toys redesigned by artist Madsaki. A Motu enthusiast, Abloh repackaged the toys in ways as surprising as burying action figures at the bottom of Off-White™ beauty boxes. Hence Mattel Creations' initiative to release a stand-alone line of Masters of the Universe figures c/o Virgil Abloh™ designed by Abloh and Alaska Alaska, the London-based design agency he founded, on Oct. 21. «The design direction sought to preserve existing iconography, using color theory as an entry point into novelty and collectible culture, drawing a parallel between art collectors and comic book collectors», Alaska Alaska said. The line bears the name Loaded Message and has transformed Abloh and Alaska Alaska's He-Man, Skeletor, Battle Cat, and Skele-God by cladding them in various shades of beige and stripping them of the vibrant hues of comic books. In addition, all models are accompanied by a comic book created by Abloh's longtime friend Reggieknow.