I believe someone posted something about this in the TF News forum at some point, but I figured it's time to post it HERE since the December 22nd release date is so close.

"The Toys That Made Us explores some of the most iconic toys of the '80s"



There's no official trailer yet, but so far the information floating around is that Season 1 will be compromised of 8 episodes that are each about an hour long. The episode order hasn't been released yet, but the breakdown for each one includes:

- Transformers
- Star Wars
- G.I. Joe
- He-Man
- Lego
- Barbie
- Star Trek
- Hello Kitty

Their social media pages are LOADED with great BTS images as well as various collections of each pertinent toy line being featured. There is a particularly large amount of Transformers stuff in there.

Facebook
The Toys That Made Us

Twitter
Toys That Made Us (@toysthatmadeus) | Twitter

Instagram
The Toys That Made Us (@toysnetflix) • Instagram photos and videos

 

Yeah, glad this show is finally almost here.

I feel like they've been promoting this thing on Twitter for an entire year...

 

Yeah, it's really been taking for what feels like forever. But I have high hopes! The fact that they apparently visited Takara HQ for the Transformers episode already covers more ground than we've really seen before in those DVD "bonus content" docs.

The only question mark I have with the line-up of episodes is Star TREK. I honestly had no idea it was really a toy line apart from a few oversized dolls, let alone an influential or iconic one. But maybe I just didn't pay enough attention since I could not have cared less about Trek as a kid.

 

They finally have a trailer. Unfortunately, not one mention or even an image of Transformers despite there being an entire episode dedicated to them...

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=1878056958894163

 

Yeah, weird that they would show Kenner's Star Wars, Mattel's He-Man and Barbie, but then only show G.I. Joe from Hasbro. Odd.

 

Well... shit. It looks like only 4 of the 8 episodes are going up tomorrow, and the other 4 will be sometime in 2018.

Based on that trailer I posted a few days ago, it's a good bet that the eps we'll be getting will be for Star Wars, Barbie, G.I. Joe and He-Man. That's a shame - I was *really* looking forward to the Transformers episode... obviously.

 

I just watched the Kenner Star Wars and Hasbro G.I. Joe episodes -- overall, it's a quite entertaining (and even funny) documentary series.

I'm just slightly disappointed that the Star Wars episode completely glossed over POTF2 and the G.I. Joe episode actually shows clips of Reagan (his inauguration), but doesn't mention the advertising deregulation that allowed for the cartoon to be made.

 

I really wanna see this entire series. It really looks very cool to watch.

 

Binged them all yesterday. Have to say, it's a pretty decent series and covers more ground than I thought they would in the short run times. A few highlights for me...

Star Wars - I loved the backstory about how no toy company would take on the brand, and when Kenner jumped at it, the insane way they got everything off the ground. I also liked hearing more about the deal that Lucas (and Fox) signed where they got royally bamboozled. All these years everyone talks about what a genius Lucas was for having a stake in merchandising, but damn, it was in fact a completely shit deal that he resented for years. Was also surprised at how bad I felt for the Kenner guys after everything got gobbled up by Hasbro.

Barbie - Gotta admit, far more interesting than I ever would have thought. Particularly the early days of the figure, where & how it came to be (lol), and the way the original designer of it made gerbillions only to essentially lose (read: piss, snort & drink) it all. The outrage over the doll having breasts was pretty funny.

He-Man - This is by far the most entertaining one of the bunch. Every one of the guys behind this franchise were just hilarious to listen to... the way they described and told stories had us laughing out loud several times. I had a bunch of He-Man when I was a kid, but never really knew anything about the whole brand outside of the toys and the show, so the whole thing was quite enlightening. Was glad they covered some ground with She-Ra as well, albeit a little too briefly.

G.I. Joe - I was looking forward to this one because I knew it would end up being very parallel to Transformers. I have always wondered how & why Marvel published Transformers, and this doc basically answered that. But THE standout part of the episode for me was the reason Snake Eyes looks the way he does: they just couldn't afford to paint the figure, so boom, he's "all black". Haha, that was gold. I also liked how they went more into the history of Hasbro itself, for better AND worse (ie: the way they completely fucked the original creator of Joe).

So, yeah, I'm happy with what I've seen thus far. Cannot wait for the Transformers episode to pop up even more now.

 

Have watched the Star Wars episode and most of the Barbie one so far. I do have to LOL that the one lady they keep interviewing seems to have a blow up doll in a chair behind her. Some sort of naked lady thing. Seems weird the producers didn't say to her, "Ummm...could you move that." I knew most of the Star Wars info but the Barbie one is interesting since I hardly knew any of that info. LOL that fact that Jack Ryan keeps having these creepy looks on his face in every photo of him.

Unless they are planning Season 2 already, I would have swapped out Star Trek for Hot Wheels/Matchbox. Those are way more a part of kids lives then Star Trek toys could ever hope to be. Also, swap Hello Kitty for another girls brand. MLP or something. Guess I don't know enough about Hello Kitty to know how big an impact it had.

Maybe an episode not based on a single franchise. Fisher Price or something where there is a wide variety of toys.

 

I like the humor in this. Watching the SW one. Snickered at the line "So they turned to their best, and only, lawyer.."

Watching it now. Love the bit on Battlecat. This is the funniest of the two i watched so far.



Edit: BONG!!!!

 

Heh, yeah, the explanation behind Battlecat was gold.

Looks like the other 4 episodes aren't going up until early/mid 2018, according to their FB page. Can't believe we have to wait that long for the Transformers one, especially when it's being bundled with Star Trek & Hello Kitty aka two brands I would never consider being a big thing in the 80's when it came to toys. I never knew a single person that collected Trek toys, let alone even knew they really existed. And HK... that seems to be way more of a 90's thing, at least in North America. But I digress. If they get a Season 2 out of this, there is a LOT more interesting and/or relevant brands they can hopefully include.

 

I would have done TMNT instead of ST of HK.. TF and Lego yes. Those are a stretch.

 

Watched All but Barbie. He-man was the most entertaining, those guys had fun in the process and didn’t take themselves seriously- which probably helped make the line great.

 

Agreed, TMNT is a must. I'd even suggest MASK, Centurions, Smurfs and stuff like Strawberry Shortcake and MLP (I hate it, but understand the relevance). All WAY bigger deals toy (and show) wise than ST or HK.

 

Thundercats was pretty big as well. Unfortunately, Thundercats, MASK, Centurions & others are not long lasting franchises. They had a couple years of being popular then have laid dormant for the most part since (TC had 1 year comeback but then went back to sleep) Besides He-Man, the ones they have episodes for have more or less been active franchises for multiple decades with maybe only a few years of no product. I guess even He-Man has a toyline running now.

Maybe they can do shorter episodes for franchises that were popular for only a few years so there isn't much info to talk about.

 

Yes TMNT and MLP. Both are bigger than HK and ST toy wise.

MASK, Thundercats, Smurfs, Voltron in season 2.

 

Just watched the MOTU/Mattel episode - loved it, especially the inception of the mini-comic and all the "BONG!" bits.

I have to say I'm loving the humor of this series - a lot of this info will already be known to collectors communities, so I really appreciate how entertaining (beyong just informational) these episodes have been.

 

Anything instead of Star Trek. Speaking as a kid who loved Star Trek growing up in the 1970s and 1980s, there weren't enough Star Trek toys to Make Us. Turtles would have been an obvious choice, but even Six Million Dollar Man or Big Jim would have been better choices than Star Trek.

 

Not just POTF, but Droids & Ewoks were brushed aside. I would have like to seen a little bit about them.