Toy links
Which came first—the comic or the toy?
“In rare instances, there’s a comic, then a toy and another comic, and then another toy and comic a decade later!”
The secret history of G.I. Joe.
“In those days, everyone in the toy business knew that toy soldiers were three-inch-high, immobile, plastic or lead figures, and the initial response to Joe ranged from doubt to scorn to laughter …”
G.I. Joe, the world’s first action figure, turns 50.
“Most boys in the ’60s had a father or a relative who was or had been in the military …”
The secret origins of the Marvel G.I. Joe comic.
“G.I. JOE quickly became a top tier title and our number one subscription title.”
How did G.I. Joe become the world’s most successful boys’ toy?
“As long as there are boys or children who have imaginations and who want to see their imaginations come to life, I think there will always be a need for action figures.”
How G.I. Joe inspired a movement to ban war toys.
“I had numerous conversations in Vietnam about the fact that we are conditioned by war toys to think it’s OK to kill in battle.” (See also.)
The troubled legacy of toy guns.
“Guns have been made for children for more than 150 years, as toys and as training tools for boys who would follow their fathers into hunting.”
Up in arms over guns in toyland.
“In Texas, 61-year-old Sue Spencer of the fledgling company Toys for Peace says she’s preparing to market toys like a diplomat doll to ‘involve children in our struggles for peace.'”
The Toys of Peace.
“There’s a jolly game for you boys to play. I never had such toys when I was young.”
Toy guns: do they fan aggression?
“I don’t like toy guns … But ultimately children don’t learn values from toy guns and G.I. Joe. It’s parents and other role models who have the most important influence on a child’s behavior.”
Todd McFarlane changes another industry.
“Anybody coulda painted their toys like I did. There’s nothing that prevented any company for the last 50 years, prior to my entry, that stopped anybody from painting them, sculpting them or designing them the same way.” (YouTube, 41:10)
Jordan Butler, toy sculptor.
“One of the hardest things is interpreting a 2-dimensional figure into 3D space.”
Toys as collectibles.
“To me they’re a form of art … The attention to detail and the creativity. I would say they’re not too far off from sculpture or what’s considered ‘proper’ art.”
McFarlane: artist as toy brand.
“Toys didn’t typically have creator names attached to them before he got into the hustle, so he became the industry’s first — and greatest — auteur.”
McFarlane on the toy industry today.
“… I’m starting to see just a little bit of a pull-back now in some of the big companies, of doing some of the tricks that they were doing 20 years ago to save a nickel, that to me eats away at the quality of the product to the consumer.”
The 20-year-rule.
“Typically, about two decades after a particular toy is popular, the kids who played with it have become adults with a yearning to recapture their youth.”
Adults at play.
“Toy companies have picked up on this trend and are digging through archives and vaults to produce new spins on properties that were popular in the ‘70s, ‘80s, ‘90s, and early 2000s.”
Plastic fantastic.
“What collectors are looking to find is something that represents themselves. When an artist produces a toy, it’s a piece of their soul …”
On toy collecting.
“Humans have collected since the dawn of time … Our tendency to forget leads us to seek out tokens or memorials of experiences that have had a significant impact on our lives.” (See also.)
Istanbul’s Toy Museum.
“Toys are a witness to their time. You see the history of humanity in a toy museum, from architecture to the conquest of space, from the Industrial Revolution to fashion.”