I'll get to it, but G.I. Joe was my jam as a kid. Actually have it on right now.
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First four episodes of The Toys That Made Us now on Netflix
- Thread starter Deleted member 5745
- Start date
This, and the cringeworthy 'comedy' editing. Putting a ping sound over a wink was allready old before the 80ies.
Watched the first episode and finished it because as a Star Wars fan it was interesting enough, but due to the style this is made in I don't feel like watching the rest.
Saw the first episode. Interesting info trapped in 80s nostalgia circlejerk. This and Ready Player One is starting to really annoy me. I'm curios about the Barbie episode and Polly Pocket, the rest of the toys I'm meh about.
The 80s were an amazing time to be a child in. Not only did you have toys like The Transformers, G.I. Joe, He-Man, Shogun Warriors or Voltron, but you also had some pretty high quality cartoons to go along with them. Then of course, there was also Star Wars and Dungeons and Dragons.
edit: LOL. Watching the first episode and can't help but to be annoyed. When I was six, I had a Star Wars themed birth day party, and all I wanted was a single Luke Skywalker. My cake was a Darth Vader head, and I ended up getting not one, not two, but three Darth Vader figures, and not a single Luke.
edit: LOL. Watching the first episode and can't help but to be annoyed. When I was six, I had a Star Wars themed birth day party, and all I wanted was a single Luke Skywalker. My cake was a Darth Vader head, and I ended up getting not one, not two, but three Darth Vader figures, and not a single Luke.
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Good old days my man. What is Shogun Warriors by the way ? Never heard of it
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They were basically the cool, articulated robots that preceeded The Transformers and Voltron. They also might have been a bit too dangerous for the mainstream though as many of them had spring-loaded rockets you could shoot, or even a fist.
edit: Remember the Tranzor Z cartoon? You're looking at his brother.
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They honestly could have chosen a better name for the show.
I watched the He-Man episode and didn't like it very much, there were some interesting bits of information but the editing and voice over was so annoying. The entire "who created he-man?" thing for example, I get it, there are differences of opinion and several guys taking credit but who wants to see a fight enabled by the producers (the Mattel guys were clearly reacting to "so and so said" remarks by the interviewer).
I didn't care for the "She-Ra killed the MOTU line" dig either, that was completely unnecessary because the real reason was revealed five seconds later, Mattel flooded the market with tons of random characters which cluttered the toy shelfs and didn't sell.
The production had access to people with really interesting stories to tell but instead of simply telling the story they had to make it funny or quirky or whatever they thought that was. It felt very unprofessional and that's a shame considering the access they had to people with interesting stories to tell.
I didn't care for the "She-Ra killed the MOTU line" dig either, that was completely unnecessary because the real reason was revealed five seconds later, Mattel flooded the market with tons of random characters which cluttered the toy shelfs and didn't sell.
The production had access to people with really interesting stories to tell but instead of simply telling the story they had to make it funny or quirky or whatever they thought that was. It felt very unprofessional and that's a shame considering the access they had to people with interesting stories to tell.
Just watched the SW ep and I'm surprised it took this long for that to get referenced. That came out of nowhere, hilarious. I was only going to watch the SW one but I guess I should go back for He-Man.
Really looking forward to Lego and TF in particular from the next eps. A few years ago I got into collecting TF toys and a few masterpieces but those are so expensive that I cut it out. Also I didn't want it to get out of hand. Glad to have MP Prime and Soundwave though.
My childhood toys of choice were TF, Turtles and Lego by far. I had a whole bunch of those and they're not going anywhere.
It was one of those where you're half-paying attention and you think, "Wait...what did he just say?" My wife and I rewound it like 10 times dying of laughter.
I only had one but it was one of my favorites. I only watched a couple eps of the show, but played with this for ages:
There are a bunch of YouTube documentaries on those. I love watching them.
Not too long ago, in a fit of nostalgia for those Trek toys I posted, I bought these.
It's crazy how they look better despite being absolutely tiny compared to the Megos.
I would love to get those as well. Mezco right?
Yeah. I got them on clearance at an online comic book store in May.
I also have the Mirror, Mirror Spock. That one was really cheap when I got it. It's still "only" $33 new.
They were awesome no doubt, fun playing with my cousin's but never had those of my own. The Star Wars episode was interesting since I never knew these stories behind the figures. My favorite during those days was always GI Joe, so looking forward to that episode next. The fact that they were significantly more articulated than the SW toys always made them my fave even back then.
Now G.I. Joe is dead except for maybe one or two figures per year and Star Wars stuff is super-articulated.
It's a crazy world.
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Watched the first two episodes so far. The format seems accessible enough for people who are not hardcore toy nerds to get into but not mouth-breather basic like a YouTube Top 10 Things You Didn't Know (and neither did we until someone read the wikipedia entry) video.
They were lucky that some very talented people expanded on their great initial ideas each step of the way. Ended up being more than a toy line for lots of people.
I think a big reason why He-Man tanked is Filmation stopped making new episodes to do She-Ra. They should have kept making some He-Man episodes. I didn't care as much about the figures that weren't in the TV show. I watched a decent amount of She-Ra.
They had some tremendous writers including the future creator of Babylon 5 and a guy who would be executive story editor for that show. Couple people who worked on Batman: The Animated series and wrote acclaimed episodes of that too (Paul Dini being one).
They need to get Dan Larson on the show but really you can get more information with less cheese and no interviews on Toy Galaxy so I suppose...?...it's like the competition.
Also got a bonus at work and totally grabbed the He-man and Skeletor Classics figures thanks to that episode and the interview with Super 7 on it.
Also got a bonus at work and totally grabbed the He-man and Skeletor Classics figures thanks to that episode and the interview with Super 7 on it.
Watched the first four episodes and I really enjoyed them all. Any other recommendations for stuff similar? It can be on Youtube Netflix whatever. Don't mind if its not even quite as professional as these. He-Man was probably my favorite episode but I even really enjoyed the Barbie one, even more so than the G.I. Joe ep. Also I wasn't born until 1990, so this is all just me viewing it as an outsider I guess since I wasn't around for a lot of this stuff.
Watched the He-Man episode first as it was my top passion as a kid. It's hilarious how cynical the creation of the line was, it was basically oozing contempt at the little shits who will play with the new toys
You should still watch the rest of the series, but yea that episode was great.
1. He-Man
2. Star Wars ( Just cause I learned a few tidbits I never knew. )
3. Barbie
4. G.I. Joe
Just finished watching the 4 episodes, my wife and three children all watched every minute of each episode along with me. I can't even begin to describe how that never happens. I mean, it NEVER happens. Really enjoyed all of them.
Nice show, but man that intro animation is baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad.
Watched the He-Man and GI Joe ones, it's amazing how they were flying by the seat of their pants as far as creating stories and tie-ins.
Honestly, though, it's probably the best way to make successful toys; Design neat toys first, then build the properties around them. All the coordination and preplanning that goes into cartoon properties today probably makes for a better work structure and more congruent world-building, but it's no coincidence that practically nothing catches fire in the action figure aisle when "make things that kids will want to play with" isn't really part of the initial process, just an afterthought that comes after the show's already made.
I'd like to see a modern show that takes a page from those 80s properties and concerns itself with a solid stable of 'toyetic' designs first, then works outward from there. Cartoon writing is as good as its ever been, but most properties just don't translate to the toy aisle well.
Watched the He-Man and GI Joe ones, it's amazing how they were flying by the seat of their pants as far as creating stories and tie-ins.
Honestly, though, it's probably the best way to make successful toys; Design neat toys first, then build the properties around them. All the coordination and preplanning that goes into cartoon properties today probably makes for a better work structure and more congruent world-building, but it's no coincidence that practically nothing catches fire in the action figure aisle when "make things that kids will want to play with" isn't really part of the initial process, just an afterthought that comes after the show's already made.
I'd like to see a modern show that takes a page from those 80s properties and concerns itself with a solid stable of 'toyetic' designs first, then works outward from there. Cartoon writing is as good as its ever been, but most properties just don't translate to the toy aisle well.
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Did they talk to the guy who came up with the Dragonwalker?
Sadly not. I did enjoy the He-Man episode the most. It was super interesting that to learn how it was conceived, and how little boys were seduced by the power angle.
Hang on, was Tranzor-Z the show where the girl robot shot her tits off as rockets so the guy robot could grab them and fly around ?
He-man was before my time but I love this episode was super interesting. The creation of the IP is fascination. Great series, overall.
Bullshitting at its finest. I was impressed.
Wonder what the She-Ra reboot will do in the way of a toy line revival.
Yeah, the He-Man one was my favorite
. Got me hyped to read the Masters of the Universe comics I just bought from the Amazon sale.
Anyone know when the next four episodes are going up?
BONG!
Anyone know when the next four episodes are going up?
If your British we had GI Joes, it was just called Action Force, action force were also apparently loosely based on the bigger Action Man also.
I wonder if they were allowed to order some Chinese food too.
