The Toys That Made US

[palitoy]

Mattel oversaturated the marketplace with MOTU, they did similar things with Big Jim.

When I was in college ('93) there was STILL a four-foot wide MOTU clearance section full of less than popular characters, Mark Huckabone was smarter than me and filled my trunk on more than one Canada trip.

The She-Ra theory is putting blame on someone else, pure and simple.

[Klosterheim]

I would have thought She-Ra would have had the opposite effect since the animated series added the all new Horde characters.

[comicmike]

(season 2) Next 4 episodes may be before April:

https://www.google.ca/amp/s/www.polygon.com/platform/amp/2018/1/10/16875164/the-toys-that-made-us-season-2-release-date-lego-transformers-star-trek-hello-kitty?espv=1

http://amp.denofgeek.com/us/tv/the-toys-that-made-us/270717/the-toys-that-made-us-season-2-netflix-brian-volk-weiss

https://m.facebook.com/thetoysthatmadeus/

[huedell]

I would have thought She-Ra would have had the opposite effect since the animated series added the all new Horde characters.

Not to mention, a few MOTU characters who were too late to be included in the MOTU cartoon.

Would've been nice if POP gave MOTU new legs. But, regardless of if they hurt MOTU, they certainly didn't help. The Princess Of Power girl dolls weren't all that blendable with MOTU... even MOTU's Teela and Evil-Lyn lacked POP's rooted hair and stood a bit less imposing than their POP female counterparts.

And, according to the Toys That Made Us doc, the girl toys design department originally wanted to go much bigger (akin to Barbie), but according to the Mattel design women, those silly, insecure men designing the boy's toys said it was a bad idea to have such a thing occur.

The She-Ra theory is putting blame on someone else, pure and simple.

I'd say that's a reasonably inaccurate statement.

Blaming She-Ra in the context that it was explained in TTTMU as "little sisters making older brothers feel their territory was breached (and subsequently tainted and worth abandoning)" checks out sufficiently (logically) to me... and, unless you think that sounds entirely unreasonable (which, I concede you may), the 'little sister Kryptonite" theory's plausibility is one reason She-Ra's emergence taking both MOTU/POP down is not such a simple a theory to discard.

Interestingly, another theory of MOTU's initial demise put forth in that totally awesome TTTMU documentary (which Werewolf, as a big MOTU fan, MUST see) was hinted at in your post:

When I was in college ('93) there was STILL a four-foot wide MOTU clearance section full of less than popular characters...

The documentary stated that both He-Man and Skeletor figures were NOT being shipped out with those lesser known characters proportionally.
(Re-edited to acknowledge that Earth 2 Chris mentioned this same theory above)

Mucho Buzz-Off... Poquito Skeletor and so on.

Reminds me of how it was the opposite for me and Mego WGSH.... I never saw anything except the big 4 in stores (barring the wall of Kresge Riddlers in a K-Mart one time).

[Bravestarr]

I need to see this but dont have netflix anymore

[pmwasson]

Season 2 available on May 25th!

Available May 25
Ibiza (NETFLIX FILM)
Steve Martin and Martin Short: An Evening You Will Forget for the Rest of Your Life (NETFLIX ORIGINAL)
The Toys That Made Us, Season 2 (NETFLIX ORIGINAL)
Trollhunters, Part 3 (NETFLIX ORIGINAL)

[Earth 2 Chris]

Huzzah!!!

[Klosterheim]

I'm looking forward to season 2!

Star Trek!

[MRP]

Apparently the 4 episodes in season 2 are Transformers, LEGO, Hello Kitty and Star Trek...



-M

[Iron Mego]

So they're calling it season 2 now? Thought these were supposed to be the second batch of episodes of season 1? Guess that's neither here nor there, but I confuse easily.

[comicmike]

Great news, can't wait

[rykerw1701]

"Hello Kitty" might be a tough pill to swallow, but I see why they did it. But I'll probably watch it, I actually enjoyed the "Barbie" episode and they aren't really my thing, either.

[Falstaff13]

I've watched this new season. I appreciated the Hello Kitty installment since that's not a toy I've ever had more than a passing acquaintance with, and the Transformers one was fine (although I never really got into them). Both LEGO and Star Trek ones were more up my alley in terms of personal interest. Star Trek had a different nature, since that was more a case of fitting toys to an entity than following the creation and development of a license. It would be like doing an episode on superheroes that touched on Captain Action and Mego then Super Powers and Secret Wars, all with quick nods. The result for it was that I felt like I followed it because I already knew the larger context. I do hope this series continues, but I think I enjoyed the initial quartet a little more.

[Klosterheim]

I watched the Star Trek episode and really enjoyed it.


Spoilers-













It's good that they included Mission to Gama VI. I guess they would not pass that up.

I don't think that I ever encountered the Star Trek: The Next Generation toy commercials on television before. Maybe they were fast-forwarded since I watched many episodes on tape. It was weird having no memory of the toys on TV, when the show originally played on the air. Saw them in magazines and paper catalogs, but they went right by me on TV.

Some toys I really loved on there.

I liked when they talked about the Gorn. One feature was there that I never knew was a part of the Mego Gorn! I had a loose Gorn too, just didn't know all about it.

[comicmike]

I especially loved the Star Trek one: The Mego content was very well done, IMO.