4 ms·

> My kid is only two, so I'm not quite there yet, but most of this children's advertising makes my skin crawl. I'm glad to see that I was right about Paw Patrol

by dwild 7y ago

> My kid is only two, so I'm not quite there yet, but most of this children's advertising makes my skin crawl. I'm glad to see that I was right about Paw Patrol, it's clearly modeled to be source for many lines of toys (wide cast of characters, each with their own theme and accompanying accessories that can be infinitely re purposed in different toy sets). Slap on "super hero" mode and you've added a whole other dimension to the matrix of possible toys. That was always the case though. Star Wars isn't worth billions because of the movies, it's worth billions because of the branded products. Never seen Transformers toys? GI Joe? TMNT? Childrens TV shows were always about selling toys, that was always the bread and butter. I agree with everything else though, theses unboxing videos and theses "loot crate", they are quite new and play with the instant dopamine rush. They are quite dangerous and seriously need to be stopped. It's crazy that the FTC put so much effort with COPPA to stop "tracking kids" on Youtube, but did nothing against theses kind of videos.

nkrisc 7y ago
Yeah, it's not new. It's a tried and true strategy that has been refined over the decades. That doesn't make it any better. It was as slimy then as it is now.
- dwild 7y ago
  > That doesn't make it any better. It was as slimy then as it is now. Oh yeah definitely, it still quite bad. It was just to mentions how that strategy isn't new and that we lived through similar abuse.
ahartmetz 7y ago
It is maybe worth noting that TMNT started as an indie comic making fun of superheroes. Think about it, superhero turtles livin in the sewers... No particular point, I just think it's funny.
- GuiA 7y ago
  The point I choose to see is that consumerism and capitalism do not discriminate. Anything and everything can and will be assimilated and squeezed for every cent that it’s possible to extract, no matter how punk and anti establishment/anti commercial your original creations may have been. (see also: the appropriation of feminist/LGBTQ/other originally fringe movements iconography by major companies the moment it became profitable to do so)
  - ahartmetz 7y ago
    This is one of the strengths of capitalism, I have thought about it many times. It came up in a fairly exemplary way once when there was a fashion photographer in a group I went drinking with. Nice bloke with some interesting stories. He mentioned a plan for an elaborate practical joke at a fashion show by showing some crudely made post-apocalyptic style collection. Anything "scandalous" would effectively just end up being good publicity.
- jariel 7y ago
  Yes, TMNT was very cool at the start, I always assumed it was some 'big monolith' that they sold out to, in fact, it was the original creators themselves. They saw $$$ in toys and completely adapted the creative line for toys, cartoons etc.. They pretty much cashed in on their indie creation.
  - tinco 7y ago
    As well they should have, the toys were great.
- timewasted 7y ago
  The story that I always remember is that TMNT is based roughly on Daredevil In Daredevil, Matt Murdoch pushes an old man out of the way of a truck that contains chemicals that blind him but give him superhuman abilities. He is then trained by his mentor Stick the fight against The Hand. In TMNT, there is an incident that involves chemicals getting into a sewer that transforms the turtles as well as the rat that is with them. That rat is named Splinter, and he trains the turtles to fight against The Foot. Also no particular point aside from my own amusement!
  - egypturnash 7y ago
    There’s a lot of comics nerdery scattered throughout the early issues. Up to and including an issue that is basically about Jack Kirby and how Stan Lee screwed him over.
crooked-v 7y ago
He-Man and the Masters of the Universe is a another classic example, as much of its storyline and character designs were constructed around being able to reuse random molds left over from other toy lines.
- krapp 7y ago
  And all of the transforming robot series (Transformers, Gobots, etc.) were just attempts at repackaging existing toy lines from Japan for the US. That's why one of the Autobots (Jetfire) is a Macross fighter.
mmcconnell1618 7y ago
There is a Netflix series "The toys that made us" which chronicles the history of the toys and the TV shows. In some cases, the cartoon came first. In most, the toy came first followed by a manufactured cartoon to sell the idea to kids: https://www.netflix.com/title/80161497 https://www.netflix.com/title/80161497
- krapp 7y ago
  The Youtube channel Toy Galaxy[0] does the same thing. [0]https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjoe3Qo_DymYyBR6X9VxFjQ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjoe3Qo_DymYyBR6X9VxFjQ
- krrrh 7y ago
  If anyone wants a taste of this show, this 1 minute clip about the arbitrary origins of He-Man’s Battle Cat is one of the funniest things I saw last year. https://mobile.twitter.com/ponettplus/status/1130876119828316161 https://mobile.twitter.com/ponettplus/status/113087611982831...
pcmaffey 7y ago
"Merchandizing! ...every kid's favorite: Space Balls the Flame Thrower"
agumonkey 7y ago
As a kid in this era, toys lines of shows/books were an immense joy. I understand concern over teasing kids too much with commercial products.. but unless it devolves into large social mania..(in which case makes some regulations) I don't think it's a problem at all. Toys are what kids want. They want to connect reality with imagination at their level. Just like video games.
dlhavema 7y ago
I remember transformers being one of the worst. Evey episode introduced new "characters"... Voltron was good, and then they needed a robot with like 50 cars that made up the big guy so there were more toys to sell.
vinceguidry 7y ago
> Star Wars isn't worth billions because of the movies, it's worth billions because of the branded products. Counterpoint: Scarcity of baby Yoda merch. The show purposefully withheld information about the character from marketing departments for fear of spoiling the story. Star Wars wants to make tons of money, sure. But it's not why they're huge.
- jjulius 7y ago
  What scarcity? They may have played that close to the vest to not spoil the story, but just look at Disney run with it now[1]. It's hard to imagine a scenario where they weren't fully aware of the demand for merch that the character would generate. [1] https://www.shopdisney.com/franchises/star-wars/ https://www.shopdisney.com/franchises/star-wars/
  - vinceguidry 7y ago
    Do you not remember the months and months in which it was not possible to buy a baby Yoda doll, at any price?
    - Camas 7y ago
      The Mandalorian first aired 3 months ago.
freddie_mercury 7y ago
> Childrens TV shows were always about selling toys, that was always the bread and butter. As the article points out this simply isn't true. They weren't always like that. It was the direct result of a change in law during the Reagan presidency. All of your examples come after that. Look at kid's shows from before the change in law. Say, the 1960s. Underdog, Rocky & Bullwinkle, Gilligan's Island, Flipper, Green Acres, Captain Kangaroo, etc.
PavlovsCat 7y ago
> Never seen Transformers toys? GI Joe? TMNT? That doesn't extract any legitimization from me, exactly like reading of a horrible crime in a newspaper doesn't mean the perpetrator has my blessing. People have been doing it; not "always", but for a while. It was a shitty thing to do from day one, and it's getting more and more extreme.

by dwild 7y ago

nkrisc 7y ago

Yeah, it's not new. It's a tried and true strategy that has been refined over the decades. That doesn't make it any better. It was as slimy then as it is now.

dwild 7y ago
> That doesn't make it any better. It was as slimy then as it is now. Oh yeah definitely, it still quite bad. It was just to mentions how that strategy isn't new and that we lived through similar abuse.

ahartmetz 7y ago

It is maybe worth noting that TMNT started as an indie comic making fun of superheroes. Think about it, superhero turtles livin in the sewers... No particular point, I just think it's funny.

GuiA 7y ago
The point I choose to see is that consumerism and capitalism do not discriminate. Anything and everything can and will be assimilated and squeezed for every cent that it’s possible to extract, no matter how punk and anti establishment/anti commercial your original creations may have been. (see also: the appropriation of feminist/LGBTQ/other originally fringe movements iconography by major companies the moment it became profitable to do so)
- ahartmetz 7y ago
  This is one of the strengths of capitalism, I have thought about it many times. It came up in a fairly exemplary way once when there was a fashion photographer in a group I went drinking with. Nice bloke with some interesting stories. He mentioned a plan for an elaborate practical joke at a fashion show by showing some crudely made post-apocalyptic style collection. Anything "scandalous" would effectively just end up being good publicity.
jariel 7y ago
Yes, TMNT was very cool at the start, I always assumed it was some 'big monolith' that they sold out to, in fact, it was the original creators themselves. They saw $$$ in toys and completely adapted the creative line for toys, cartoons etc.. They pretty much cashed in on their indie creation.
- tinco 7y ago
  As well they should have, the toys were great.
timewasted 7y ago
The story that I always remember is that TMNT is based roughly on Daredevil In Daredevil, Matt Murdoch pushes an old man out of the way of a truck that contains chemicals that blind him but give him superhuman abilities. He is then trained by his mentor Stick the fight against The Hand. In TMNT, there is an incident that involves chemicals getting into a sewer that transforms the turtles as well as the rat that is with them. That rat is named Splinter, and he trains the turtles to fight against The Foot. Also no particular point aside from my own amusement!
- egypturnash 7y ago
  There’s a lot of comics nerdery scattered throughout the early issues. Up to and including an issue that is basically about Jack Kirby and how Stan Lee screwed him over.

crooked-v 7y ago

He-Man and the Masters of the Universe is a another classic example, as much of its storyline and character designs were constructed around being able to reuse random molds left over from other toy lines.

krapp 7y ago
And all of the transforming robot series (Transformers, Gobots, etc.) were just attempts at repackaging existing toy lines from Japan for the US. That's why one of the Autobots (Jetfire) is a Macross fighter.

mmcconnell1618 7y ago

There is a Netflix series "The toys that made us" which chronicles the history of the toys and the TV shows. In some cases, the cartoon came first. In most, the toy came first followed by a manufactured cartoon to sell the idea to kids: https://www.netflix.com/title/80161497 https://www.netflix.com/title/80161497

krapp 7y ago
The Youtube channel Toy Galaxy[0] does the same thing. [0]https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjoe3Qo_DymYyBR6X9VxFjQ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjoe3Qo_DymYyBR6X9VxFjQ
krrrh 7y ago
If anyone wants a taste of this show, this 1 minute clip about the arbitrary origins of He-Man’s Battle Cat is one of the funniest things I saw last year. https://mobile.twitter.com/ponettplus/status/1130876119828316161 https://mobile.twitter.com/ponettplus/status/113087611982831...

pcmaffey 7y ago

"Merchandizing! ...every kid's favorite: Space Balls the Flame Thrower"

agumonkey 7y ago

As a kid in this era, toys lines of shows/books were an immense joy. I understand concern over teasing kids too much with commercial products.. but unless it devolves into large social mania..(in which case makes some regulations) I don't think it's a problem at all. Toys are what kids want. They want to connect reality with imagination at their level. Just like video games.

dlhavema 7y ago

I remember transformers being one of the worst. Evey episode introduced new "characters"... Voltron was good, and then they needed a robot with like 50 cars that made up the big guy so there were more toys to sell.

vinceguidry 7y ago

> Star Wars isn't worth billions because of the movies, it's worth billions because of the branded products. Counterpoint: Scarcity of baby Yoda merch. The show purposefully withheld information about the character from marketing departments for fear of spoiling the story. Star Wars wants to make tons of money, sure. But it's not why they're huge.

jjulius 7y ago
What scarcity? They may have played that close to the vest to not spoil the story, but just look at Disney run with it now[1]. It's hard to imagine a scenario where they weren't fully aware of the demand for merch that the character would generate. [1] https://www.shopdisney.com/franchises/star-wars/ https://www.shopdisney.com/franchises/star-wars/
- vinceguidry 7y ago
  Do you not remember the months and months in which it was not possible to buy a baby Yoda doll, at any price?
  - Camas 7y ago
    The Mandalorian first aired 3 months ago.

freddie_mercury 7y ago

> Childrens TV shows were always about selling toys, that was always the bread and butter. As the article points out this simply isn't true. They weren't always like that. It was the direct result of a change in law during the Reagan presidency. All of your examples come after that. Look at kid's shows from before the change in law. Say, the 1960s. Underdog, Rocky & Bullwinkle, Gilligan's Island, Flipper, Green Acres, Captain Kangaroo, etc.

PavlovsCat 7y ago

> Never seen Transformers toys? GI Joe? TMNT? That doesn't extract any legitimization from me, exactly like reading of a horrible crime in a newspaper doesn't mean the perpetrator has my blessing. People have been doing it; not "always", but for a while. It was a shitty thing to do from day one, and it's getting more and more extreme.