The Netflix documentary series "The Toys That Made Us" focuses on some of the popular toys of the 20th Century. The first four episodes focus on Star Wars, Barbie, GI JOE, and He-Man. What it shows us about creative collaboration is that great things can happen, but inevitably there will be a falling out.
The origin of the Barbie was kind of interesting. The lady credited with Barbie's creation got the idea from a Swiss doll that starred in a pornographic comic strip. The idea then was to tone it down and make it suitable for young girls like the lady's own daughter, Barbie.
But she didn't actually make the doll itself. A guy actually did most of the work to create the dolls. He even created the knee joints that click when you move them.
GI JOE has a similar story not long after Barbie's creation. There was a guy who pitched the idea to Hasbro, but they weren't all that interested. Another guy did the actual creation of the first "action figure."
The creation of He-Man can be attributed to a number of people at Mattel, but one guy in particular drew the first rendition of He-Man foe Skeletor and eventually He-Man himself. Another guy created He-Man's green tiger Battle Cat by taking a tiger from the old "Big Jim" action figure line and painting it green.
The Star Wars toys were made by a bunch of different people at Kenner in Cincinnati when everyone else--including Hasbro and Mattel--passed in 1976. It was actually the only one where it didn't really end with any animosity.
The other stories the collaboration all doesn't end all that happily. The animosity over He-Man's creation is more of a friendly rivalry. When they ask different guys, they all take credit for it and in a way they're all right! There was no sole person responsible for the whole thing.
With Barbie the lady and guy who contributed the main parts of the doll's creation worked together into the 60s. Then the guy started getting weird with drugs and wild parties and stuff. So he got cut loose. The lady ran Mattel for a while but then got caught cooking the books and was banished for a decade or so.
With GI JOE the guy who had the original idea did a Colonel Sanders and sold his rights for only $100,000. He could have got $50,000 and a small royalty. But that small royalty would have been worth millions! I mean when you consider how much GI JOE made in the 60s-70s and 80s even 1% would have ended up with a lot. But he was short-sighted and took that extra $50,000 as would many of us probably.
These stories are kind of like what happened with Batman. For the better part of 75 years Bob Kane was given sole credit, despite that writer Bill Finger actually contributed a lot of ideas that made Batman the iconic hero we remember today. Like being a bat. And wearing black-and-gray. Kane would have basically created a red Birdman. Finally after years of petitions and lawsuits Finger was given credit, though they still kind of screw him by saying "With Bill Finger" like he's a secondary creator.
The point being that whether it's a toy or a comic book or a book people working together can create something great. But people being people, there's usually going to be a falling out to embitter things, especially when large sums of money are involved. Nothing severs a creative bond like monetary success!
It's probably better then that I don't work well with others. I don't have to share the success (what little there is) with anyone that way. Unfortunately I can't blame anyone else for my failure either. Kind of a double-edged sword.
1 comment:
Fascinating stories especially Barbie. The He-Man story I'd heard but it added that it started from losing the toy rights to Conan. It's hard collaborating on things because you never know what will happen. Fight for more and if it fails you look like a jerk. Give up stuff and if it's successful you look short sighted. Collaboration is a twoedged sword indeed.
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