The Toys that made Us - Season 1 (2017)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2017
	Director: Tom Stern
	Actors: Donald Ian Black, Mark Bellomo, David Vonner
	Country: USA
	Genre: Documentary
	Conditions of visioning: January 2018, VOD, 10" tablet screen
Synopsis: The history of the success of famous toy lines, and anecdotes behind those.
Review: An attractive concept for a Documentary TV-series, or at least for the geeks among us that look at the period around the 1980's with nostalgia. The series not only enumerates anecdote about the success of those toy lines, but what I found most interesting is that it replaces their success in the context of the period: political, social, economical, fashion... And explains clearly why it worked at that time, and you can deduce that it couldn't have worked under other circumstances. The first episode Star Wars feels a bit apart, as the toys were more a by-product of the movie's huge success. It is also less advertised (see poster above) maybe because of some image rights, or just not to over-shadow the other episodes. Anyway, the chaotic journey of those toy makers is fascinating and very funny at times. The Barbie episode taught me that it really was the first toy for girls, which explained its huge success. The He-Man collection seemed to have filled a gap that all boys needed (have more power) and G.I.Joe is the male pendant of Barbie for boys who also wish to dress-up their toys, in addition surfing on the wave of patriotism always a safe bet in the USA. Indeed I find that the series, as the toy lines, probably means more for an American audience that witnessed the arrival of those toys and the associated advertising at the time. In Europe the diluted wave arrived later and had less impact. Moreover at that time nobody I knew was able to afford those expensive toys so the trend just passed me by. So for me the Documentary doesn't bring much nostalgia, and I saw it more as an interesting piece of American pop culture history. I will review the second part of this first season when its episodes are released: LEGO, Transformers, Hello Kitty, and Star Trek. And a second season has been ordered.
Rating: 6 /10