PT Dilloway: #AtoZChallenge Reflections: Toy Lines Like Any Franchise Struggle to Maintain Momentum

Monday, May 7, 2018

#AtoZChallenge Reflections: Toy Lines Like Any Franchise Struggle to Maintain Momentum

The A to Z Challenge is over...again. I doubt I made any lasting friends or contacts or that anyone really gave a shit. I didn't even get one of those random drive-bys from someone else in the "Challenge."

Since this year I talked about GI JOE and last year Transformers, and I watched Netflix's The Toys That Made Us, it became clear that toy lines struggle in the same way as movie or book franchises to maintain the momentum. Really you can think of each successive wave of toys as a sequel and like any sequel there can be problems.

The thing about toys is that what starts with a decent concept soon has to dilute itself with more figures, vehicles, playsets, or whatever with new gimmicks. When GI JOE started it was just one ~~doll~~ action figure with a variety of ~~outfits~~ uniforms and accessories. While it was first a pretty normal soldier then they had to add things like astronaut outfits.

Later the Real American Hero line went the same way. They started out with figures that were relatively ordinary troops and vehicles, on par with what the real military was using. But over time they had to get more and more unrealistic. New gimmicks had to be added. Some (like bendable arms) were good while others like repainted figures categorized as new teams (Python Patrol, Night Force, Tiger Force, Sky Patrol, etc) or lame concepts like Eco Warriors or Drug Eradication Force were not such good ideas.

Hasbro's Transformers line went pretty much the same way. It started out with robots who turned into normal vehicles or one a handgun and another a tape recorder. Then they added a Veritech fighter (awesome!), dinosaurs (Me Grumpy Bulldog like dinosaurs), a rocket base guy (meh), and a combining team (good concept, meh execution). Then there were more futuristic vehicles. More combining teams. Headmasters, Targetmasters, Powermasters, Pretenders, and micro bots. The last gasp concept were Action Masters who were Transformer-shaped figures with movement like GI JOEs and transforming vehicles.

Then they recolored the classic toys for "Generation 2" before they started making new ones. When that didn't work, they came out with Beast Wars. And that started the process again. The first Beast Wars were pretty much just normal animals that turned into robots. But less than 18 months later they diluted their own concept with "Transmetals" that were still animals but robots on the outside. And then Fuzors and Transmetal IIs...and then a new line called Beast Machines that was just a waste of time.

The problem Kenner had with Star Wars was they couldn't really do all sorts of weird gimmicks. All they could do was come up with slight variations of the main characters and make every possible minor character and vehicle into a toy. Like Prune Face:

So a couple years after Return of the Jedi, with no new movies on the horizon, they had to quit because there was no material left to mine.

Part of the problem is that kids get older and tastes change. So kids who were into Transformers or GI JOE in 1985 might have turned to Ninja Turtles a couple of years later. Or they might have just discovered girls or something. Toy franchises use new gimmicks to try to keep interest or recruit new buyers, but this is usually diminishing returns. Once a toy isn't "in" it's hard to get that momentum back. And though adults may not want to admit it, even kids can sense a phony. They can often see through a gimmick and reject it.

In a way it's harder for toys than movies or books because toys don't really have a story that much. With a movie or book you might want to watch or read the next part to find out what happens to your favorite characters. That doesn't really work as well for toys because there's not a story to keep people's interest.

But on the other hand Barbie has been popular for almost 60 years now. I guess in large part it was because they never had much serious competition until this century with Bratz, Monster High, and so on. Now even they're in the struggle to maintain relevance.

Anyway, if you've written a series you know how hard sequels can be. Designing toy sequels is even tougher!

That's the end of this year's A to Z Challenge. What about next year? I did Transformers and GI JOE, so what next: He-Man? Voltron? Go-Bots? How about Robotech? Actually, I've been giving this some thought: