The MLP Arena
Pony Talk => Pony Corral => Topic started by: Leave a Whisper on December 30, 2017, 09:01:56 AM
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Hopefully this is in the right spot.
Could it possibly be that Hasbro is one of the only toy-toon companies left from that era? :wonder:
Naturally I'm referring to all their franchises whether they're with us today or not, but since this is a pony board and all.
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Wow . . . that's a really good question! Does Pokemon count as a toy-toon company? I guess it is more video game-toon in general . . .
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Wow . . . that's a really good question! Does Pokemon count as a toy-toon company? I guess it is more video game-toon in general . . .
Yeah The Pokemon Company could count. Though its more of an everything company.
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Gosh...this is a good question. I know animated shows do have merch, but it usually comes at fan demand, not as a toy line like hasbro. Hasbro makes toys then toons. These things make toons then toys.
But this is a good question, and I think hasbro is one of the few, next to Mattel and LEGO. Both make toys then make shows/movies for the toys in order to sell more toys, like hasbro.
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Was Playmates ever a toy-toon company? Because I'm thinking of Voltron...
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It's something that's definitely more common in Japan. Japan was doing it long before Mattel and Hasbro started here in the states with series like Gundam and Super Sentai. In fact, in Japan, the expense of animation is often covered by the sales of related merchandise.
Here in the U.S., the landscape is a bit different now. Hasbro is still making media related to their brands on a regular basis. However, even they seemed to have collapsed to just Transformers and My Little Pony for the moment. Mattel and LEGO make media, but they seem to have left television behind. Disney has several toy brands with shows, but the toys are more a way of cashing on brand recognition rather than using the show to create brand recognition.
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With Voltron, I feel like it's a "toon first, toys as an extra" show. As far as I know Playmates doesn't actually 'own' Voltron, they are just licensed to make the toys.
Care Bears used to be a toy-toon thing, but I feel like Care Bears have become so well-known that the company who owns them (American Greetings I think) only occasionally bothers to make a cartoon. They are more "mostly toy" now, like MLP was in the 80s.
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Nope, Spinmaster is up and coming and pretty big if you are paying attention to children's brands.
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Hmm. I dont think I'm familiar with them Squirmy.
I forgot about Matel and Lego Mewtwo.
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Hmm. I dont think I'm familiar with them Squirmy.
I forgot about Matel and Lego Mewtwo.
http://www.spinmaster.com/products.php
Responsible for:
Paw Patrol
Zhu Zhu Pets
Hatchimals
and more... basically the section of the toy shelves that isn't Hasbro/Mattel/LEGO
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Hmm. I dont think I'm familiar with them Squirmy.
I forgot about Matel and Lego Mewtwo.
http://www.spinmaster.com/products.php
Responsible for:
Paw Patrol
Zhu Zhu Pets
Hatchimals
and more... basically the section of the toy shelves that isn't Hasbro/Mattel/LEGO
Oh. >_< Yeah I'm familiar with em. My daughter isn't into them so I had no idea who was making them.
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With Voltron, I feel like it's a "toon first, toys as an extra" show. As far as I know Playmates doesn't actually 'own' Voltron, they are just licensed to make the toys.
That's very true. I confess while I know a lot about the plot of 80s Voltron, I know nothing about the actual stuff behind it except I know the States commissioned another 30 episodes from Japan because it was so popular. I'm more familiar with the Voltron they're making now, which is definitely a toy-pushing vehicle.
There are anime that push toys as well, like Bakugan and Beyblade and stuff.
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Oooo, good point about Beyblade! That also reminds me of Yu-Gi-Oh--a cartoon show pushing a card game, heehee.
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Yes that's true! Its good to know there are quite a few still left.
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Oooo, good point about Beyblade! That also reminds me of Yu-Gi-Oh--a cartoon show pushing a card game, heehee.
If you read the first chapters of the manga, they are NOTHING like the show. It wasn't even supposed to be about card games, it was supposed to be about a schoolboy possessed by an ancient demon who punished bullies and criminals through karmic challenges they were set up to lose. It was really dark. The mangaka started the card game arc and it became SUPER popular so that became its entire reason for existing.
The subsequent series are all about the cards, though. So now it's a toy-toon.
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Oooo, good point about Beyblade! That also reminds me of Yu-Gi-Oh--a cartoon show pushing a card game, heehee.
Yu-Gi-Oh was ALSO from Spinmaster! LOL
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Oooo, good point about Beyblade! That also reminds me of Yu-Gi-Oh--a cartoon show pushing a card game, heehee.
If you read the first chapters of the manga, they are NOTHING like the show. It wasn't even supposed to be about card games, it was supposed to be about a schoolboy possessed by an ancient demon who punished bullies and criminals through karmic challenges they were set up to lose. It was really dark. The mangaka started the card game arc and it became SUPER popular so that became its entire reason for existing.
The subsequent series are all about the cards, though. So now it's a toy-toon.
That sounds so much more interesting then what we ended up with.
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Oooo, good point about Beyblade! That also reminds me of Yu-Gi-Oh--a cartoon show pushing a card game, heehee.
If you read the first chapters of the manga, they are NOTHING like the show. It wasn't even supposed to be about card games, it was supposed to be about a schoolboy possessed by an ancient demon who punished bullies and criminals through karmic challenges they were set up to lose. It was really dark. The mangaka started the card game arc and it became SUPER popular so that became its entire reason for existing.
The subsequent series are all about the cards, though. So now it's a toy-toon.
That sounds so much more interesting then what we ended up with.
More interesting, but less marketable. Especially considering at least two people burned alive in the original incarnation of Yu-Gi-Oh. I thought how dark it was was awesome, but it would have definitely been too much for kids TV over here.
Doesn't Disney count in this? Or do they not since they license manufacture of their toys to other parties?
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Oooo, good point about Beyblade! That also reminds me of Yu-Gi-Oh--a cartoon show pushing a card game, heehee.
If you read the first chapters of the manga, they are NOTHING like the show. It wasn't even supposed to be about card games, it was supposed to be about a schoolboy possessed by an ancient demon who punished bullies and criminals through karmic challenges they were set up to lose. It was really dark. The mangaka started the card game arc and it became SUPER popular so that became its entire reason for existing.
The subsequent series are all about the cards, though. So now it's a toy-toon.
That sounds so much more interesting then what we ended up with.
More interesting, but less marketable. Especially considering at least two people burned alive in the original incarnation of Yu-Gi-Oh. I thought how dark it was was awesome, but it would have definitely been too much for kids TV over here.
Doesn't Disney count in this? Or do they not since they license manufacture of their toys to other parties?
Not really no. They're an animation/amusement park company first. Everything else is just super fancy, super expensive toppings.
Kinda like how Pokemon is best known for games, when they started out as cards.
I don't really count Yokai Watch either. Plus American animation stripped it down of anything unique and Asian. They dumbed down the humor so badly, not even kindergartners would find it funny. The toys focus on a handful of Yokai. It doesnt even have figures of the human protags.
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Kinda like how Pokemon is best known for games, when they started out as cards.
Pokemon started out as a video game.
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Oooo, good point about Beyblade! That also reminds me of Yu-Gi-Oh--a cartoon show pushing a card game, heehee.
If you read the first chapters of the manga, they are NOTHING like the show. It wasn't even supposed to be about card games, it was supposed to be about a schoolboy possessed by an ancient demon who punished bullies and criminals through karmic challenges they were set up to lose. It was really dark. The mangaka started the card game arc and it became SUPER popular so that became its entire reason for existing.
The subsequent series are all about the cards, though. So now it's a toy-toon.
That sounds so much more interesting then what we ended up with.
Those darker first few arcs were actually animated! It's referred to as 'Yu-Gi-Oh Season 0' and isn't connected to the later, more well-known anime. I love the animation style, it's so technicolor and surreal (like a lot of 80s-90s anime) but you have to watch it subbed because, naturally, it never got an English-language release (too violent!) ^.^
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Kinda like how Pokemon is best known for games, when they started out as cards.
Pokemon started out as a video game.
I was about to say, Pokemon started with the RPG's in 1995 in Japan.