are 25-35 year olds the last of the real toy marketing generation

as television came into its infancy in the fifties certain programs had toys tied in with them. for example the howdy doody show.

as cartoons came into being thanks to hanna barbera we got more active cartoons for older kids but still very little merchandising. at the same time saturday morning cartoons started getting fuller.
and then star wars

by the eighties, cartoons and merchandising worked hand in hand. in fact toy lines were created and cartoons to support them. many of the wonderful cartoons we loved as children sold us everything from gijoe to transformers to even gummi bears.

You realize you could actually watch cartoons monday thru friday from seven to nine and two to five without watching repeats. ALmost all cartoons were supported by toys. heman, she ra and others.

then their was saturday morning. from seven in the morning till one or two in the afternoon. all cartoons no power rangers.

all on network telly. not cable.

you could even watch sunday cartoons on usa channel during the morning if you wanted to.

so why did they stop? why did they stop marketing to us and those who came after us. sure they had a few shows made up from comic books but only to garner some toys. not like the eighties.

by the mid nineties it was pretty much over. you cant even watch a cartoon on some network channels anymore.

kids cartoons for those under five get more toys and press then the others.

what went wrong?

was it nintendo, even they had shows based on their games. mario brothers, the nintendo cartoon show, even sega had a few shows.


Internet killed the cartoon star

 

I don't remember all the details, but there were actual federal regulations put in place to stop marketing to children. There was a huge campaign using catchphrases like "30 minute toy commercials" to push the good shows off the air. I remember a huge lobby of concerned mothers and politicians looking for supporters getting behind the idea that kids were being "exploited" for marketing. Now the shows are supposed to be "educational." Personally as a teacher, I really think the old shows with plot, character development, and real-life lessons were much superior. Kids have lost a lot of their imagination and understanding of human interaction because they immerse themselves in the shoot-to-kill world of video games as early as 3-4 years old.

Now to be a hypocrite I'll go back to playing Battlefront II.

 

How could you not like GIJOE? real american hero. after each show there was a life lesson.

 

If anything the interent did not kill the cartoon star. Ebay proves daily that old show TV toys are still worth big bucks.

 

The "internet generation" being born right now will probably not care about cartoons, action figures and comics the way us 80's kids did. For us, it was a way of life. You came home from school and watched GI Joe, Transformers, He-Man, Thundercats, Voltron, etc, and spent every penny of your allowance on figures, toy spaceships, action figure sets and comics. From what I've seen nowadays, kids are much more into video game consoles, PC games, cellular phones and gadgets. They grow up very fast!

Also, I've noticed that non-cable channels play cartoons much less than they used to, even on Saturday morning. The only people I see buying comics and action figures any more are adults from my generation. I always see their kids in the Xbox and Playstation aisle.

 

But the DVDs of the old shows are still around. You can find DVDS of cartoon shows for everything.

 

Boy, I can remember those glory days! Waking up and watching Ultraman, Starblazers and Battle of the Planets! Then later on, G.I. Joe ("And Knowing is Half the Battle"), Transformers, Robotech, Mighty Orbots, Bionic Six and the Smurfs! Oh those were the days, before the dark times, before Pokemon and/or Yugi-Oh! Talk about 30 minute commercials! Dude!

Anyway, Saturday morning cartoons have gotten pretty lame. Not too much out there to watch. What the Hell is that Pinata show about? Or Coconut Fred?

Well, the old 80's cartoons live on mostly in DVD, but I'm still waiting for all the seasons of Thundar the Barbarian to come out! Princess Ariel was fine and Ookla was the bomb!

~DZ

 

I remember my local station showed Transformers and GI JOE right after school.

 

Those were the days! As someone else who grew up in the 1980's, I also remember G.I. Joe, He-man, Transformers, and Thundercats, Thundarr the Barbarian, etc.
I also vaguely remember Robotech.

I think with the advent of 24-hour cable TV with a huge selection of stations, DVD's, TiVO, etc., these types of cartoons have fallen by the wayside.

However, as has been said, these cartoons do live on in DVD format, which is great, and the picture quality is sometimes better than when they were originally released.

 

It's tough to imagine a childhood without Afternoon & Saturday morning cartoons... We had video games and cable as kids but toys still played a huge part of our childhood... but like everyone has said, it's impossible to overstate the role the internet has played... Who needs "My Buddy" when there's "Myspace"?


And no, I never played with a "My Buddy" doll... Honestly, I didn't... Stop looking at me like that!

 

LOL,

Hey I enjoyed the fruits of my sister's miniature bakers oven


even when she messed it up the first two times.

for a kid there is a such a thing as too much sugar or chocolate powder.

 

And not for a 32 year old man either!

 

Hey, My Buddy was a cool dude...he even had his own official G.I.Joe uniform! My little brother had one. My little girl has both My Buddy and Kid Sister.

 

Holy they still make 'em!? I never actually had one, but it was always hard to get that darn theme song out of my head when the commercials came on during Saturday morning cartoons.

"My Buddy... My Buddy... Wherever I go, he gooooooes!"

Ahhhh, it's stuck in there now! (Replacing the 'Conan the Barbarian' theme which has been stuck there for two days )

 

I wouldnt know about the 25-35 year olds being the last of the toy market generation. I'm 26 and still into trying to buying any Star Wars figure that comes out but lately I just dont have that fun anymore because of the expensive price for the Original Trilogy Collection of certain figures like Luke in his Tatooine cloth outfit that costs 15 bucks just for a regular 3 incher. Same goes for the new Transformers series and I would love to spend money on an Optimus Prime Armada figure or the new one where Optimus changes into some slicker semi truck without the trailer. I still have two old cardbard boxes full of my old toys ranging from Ninja Turtles, Star Wars, GI Joe, Marvel and DC, and those big old rubber WWF figures. I just dont know what to do with the stuff that I have now.

maybe the nervousness in me is preventing me from buying the new stuff? I dunno

 

No, I don't think they still make them. I managed to get some nicer vintage ones at garage sales. In case anyone is interested, My Buddy cleans up real well in the washing machine. Kid Sister does well too, but the hair is a real mess.

See what being a father has done to me!

 

There are still cartoons on The CW like Teen Titans, The Batman, Krytpo and Legion of Superheroes. Not to mention the staples of Cartoon Network like Dragon Ball Z and other anime.

They all have toy lines, maybe not as wildly successful as He-Man was. But they do alright, I see them at Target and Toys R Us.

I still see kids from time to time picking up a Star Wars toy as well. Although the background characters are definitely only appealing to the completists.

 

Yeah, Anime seems to be what kids are into these days. I've seen a few action figure lines at the stores over the past few months that seem to be based on Japanese cartoons of some sort... But yeah, nothing will ever dominate the market again the way MOTU or GI Joe did.