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This. I feel a big problem the industry has is that they started to care more about ads and just grabbing attention than actually caring about product quality.

by slx26 9y ago

This. I feel a big problem the industry has is that they started to care more about ads and just grabbing attention than actually caring about product quality. Sure, you will sell more and toys will be frequently replaced, but in the end I do not believe that's an stable plan. I mean, economically understandable, but I hope we get our focus back on 'good toys' soon. Actual engagement over stimulus overload. Toys are so important for kids, and I think parents are already realizing again.

scarface74 9y ago
This. I feel a big problem the industry has is that they started to care more about ads and just grabbing attention than act In the 80s, weekdays were full of 30 minute toy commercials masquerading as cartoons - Superfriends, GI Joe, Transformers, etc. The 80s Transformers movie killed off all of their characters and introduced new ones to sell more toys.
- dspillett 9y ago
  > The 80s Transformers movie killed off all of their characters and introduced new ones to sell more toys. Constantly introducing new characters (and letting others fall into the background) worked for them, but actively killing them off backfired badly. Transformers saw meteoric growth, from the first introduction of the comics and TV series in 1984 to the star-studded cast of the movie in 1986, then viewing figures plummeted. They misjudged how invested a large part of the audience were in their favourite characters: mainly Prime but also others. In fact they brought Prime back only one year later, though the damage was done: kids were moving on to the next fads. The decline would likely have happened anyway due to the audience moving on to other things, but the movie for all its success is credited with accelerating that significantly.
lmilcin 9y ago
It's our collective fault that industry produces shitty producs. If consumers were not buying shitty products and preferred more expensive but better quality toys, what do you thing industry would be producing? The fact is that average toy buyer does not care much about quality and people who actually do are too few for the industry to change the trend. Also, I suspect, a large part of the reason is that having X dollars to spend most consumers will prefer to buy more flashy toy.

by slx26 9y ago

scarface74 9y ago

This. I feel a big problem the industry has is that they started to care more about ads and just grabbing attention than act In the 80s, weekdays were full of 30 minute toy commercials masquerading as cartoons - Superfriends, GI Joe, Transformers, etc. The 80s Transformers movie killed off all of their characters and introduced new ones to sell more toys.

dspillett 9y ago
> The 80s Transformers movie killed off all of their characters and introduced new ones to sell more toys. Constantly introducing new characters (and letting others fall into the background) worked for them, but actively killing them off backfired badly. Transformers saw meteoric growth, from the first introduction of the comics and TV series in 1984 to the star-studded cast of the movie in 1986, then viewing figures plummeted. They misjudged how invested a large part of the audience were in their favourite characters: mainly Prime but also others. In fact they brought Prime back only one year later, though the damage was done: kids were moving on to the next fads. The decline would likely have happened anyway due to the audience moving on to other things, but the movie for all its success is credited with accelerating that significantly.

lmilcin 9y ago

It's our collective fault that industry produces shitty producs. If consumers were not buying shitty products and preferred more expensive but better quality toys, what do you thing industry would be producing? The fact is that average toy buyer does not care much about quality and people who actually do are too few for the industry to change the trend. Also, I suspect, a large part of the reason is that having X dollars to spend most consumers will prefer to buy more flashy toy.