Toy analyst and historian Chris Byrne answers the internet's burning questions about the toys. Do kids still play with action figures or are adult collectors fueling the industry? How did the pet rock become such a hot trend? What's his favorite toy fad? This toy expert answers all these questions and much more.Director: Justin WolfsonDirector of Photography: Ben DeweyEditor: Louville MooreExpert: Chris ByrneLine Producer: Joseph BuscemiAssociate Producer: Paul GulyasProduction Manager: D. Eric MartinezProduction Coordinator: Fernando DavilaCasting Producer: Nicholas SawyerCamera Operator: Mar AlfonsoSound Mixer: Rebecca O’NeilProduction Assistant: Sonia ButtPost Production Supervisor: Alexa DeutschPost Production Coordinator: Ian BryantSupervising Editor: Doug LarsenAdditional Editor: Paul TaelAssistant Editor: Billy Ward
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TechTranscript
00:00 I'm Chris Byrne, I'm an independent toy analyst
00:03 and historian.
00:04 I'm here today to answer your questions from the internet.
00:07 This is Toy Support.
00:08 (upbeat music)
00:11 @addy915 says, "Why are they called teddy bears?
00:16 "Like is it short for Theodore or what?"
00:18 Actually, the teddy bear is named for Theodore Roosevelt.
00:22 And in 1905, Teddy Roosevelt refused to shoot a baby bear
00:27 on a hunting trip.
00:28 It was turned into a cartoon.
00:30 Morris Mictum of the Ideal Toy Company saw that.
00:32 He wrote to Teddy Roosevelt and said,
00:34 "Can I make that teddy bear?"
00:37 And that's how the teddy bear came along.
00:39 Now, that's not the only story because Steiff,
00:41 which is a German plush company,
00:43 also said that they made teddy bears at the same time.
00:45 So that's one of those historic conflicts.
00:47 But at the end of the day,
00:49 the teddy bear is still named for Theodore Roosevelt.
00:52 @macktagny says, "Just seen a commercial of a toy that poop.
00:55 "How do toy makers come up with these dumb ideas?"
00:59 There is millions of dollars that's been made
01:00 with poop toys over the years.
01:02 Whether it's a magic toilet where the poop disappears
01:06 or it's a pooping dog,
01:08 this is comedy if you're three years old.
01:11 Consistent with the Freudian anal stage,
01:13 as children are discovering their bodies.
01:15 So for example, when Baby Alive first came out,
01:18 Baby Alive was designed to replicate a real child.
01:22 We'd seen tiny tears that cried.
01:24 We'd seen Betsy Wetsy that wet.
01:26 But suddenly there was a mechanism
01:28 that allowed the doll to have solid food put in
01:31 and it came out into the diaper.
01:33 So for a child, that was really important
01:36 because they were understanding their bodies at the time,
01:38 but they also got to nurture in the way
01:40 that they were being nurtured in changing the babies.
01:43 It's a very short road from that to dogs that poop,
01:46 to monkeys that poop, to kangaroos that poop,
01:48 and poop is funny.
01:50 @keithl wants to know,
01:51 "How different do prototypes usually end up being
01:54 from final product?"
01:55 Usually when people are developing toys,
01:57 they start with two different models.
01:59 A looks like model, which is often done today
02:02 with 3D printing, and a works like model,
02:05 which is a mechanism.
02:06 So when those two things move together,
02:08 very often that's used as the basis for the manufacturing.
02:12 So the prototype may go through many different iterations
02:16 and revisions as you're getting to the final product.
02:18 But when you get a final prototype,
02:19 that's almost the complete toy.
02:21 @keegantindle asks,
02:23 "For ages eight and up,
02:24 how do they decide that for toys?
02:26 Are they giving it to younger and younger kids
02:28 until something really bad happens?"
02:30 No, there are elaborate testing mechanisms
02:33 that happen for kids of all different ages.
02:36 And because of the way children's bodies develop,
02:39 you can have a mechanism that measures the size
02:41 of a child's air pipe.
02:42 And then when it gets to eight and up,
02:44 there's also the cognitive development.
02:46 There is the, is my child intellectually ready for this?
02:49 And so it's a real good guideline,
02:51 but definitely for younger kids,
02:53 you wanna pay attention to those age gratings
02:55 for what kids can do and what's most safe.
02:58 @tobyteaback wants to know,
03:00 "How can you use math to design a toy?"
03:02 Toy design is almost all engineering,
03:04 so it's almost all math.
03:06 And you need to figure out the tolerances of plastic,
03:09 and that's chemistry and physics put together.
03:11 So you really need to understand
03:13 the different levels of math
03:15 so that you can engineer a toy effectively.
03:17 So it'll stand up under pressure,
03:18 it'll pass safety regulations,
03:21 and of course it'll be fun.
03:22 @the71legacy says, "Do kids still play with action figures?"
03:26 Yes, they do.
03:27 Action figures are huge.
03:29 This is one of the most iconic action figures of all time.
03:33 This is Optimus Prime from Hasbro.
03:35 The term action figure was actually coined
03:38 when Hasbro introduced GI Joe.
03:41 And one of the things they brought GI Joe to market for
03:44 was to be a boys' toy that competed with Barbie,
03:47 which by 1964 was doing pretty well.
03:49 So any toy really targeting largely a boy audience
03:54 based on a TV show or that is a figure,
03:57 or that's a doll, is called an action figure.
04:01 But then there's also the concept of the cadult.
04:04 These are adults who are still collecting action figures.
04:08 They're the ones who are driving toy lines like McFarlane.
04:11 They're the ones who are insisting on much more detail
04:14 in the Marvel or DC action figures.
04:16 So yes, action figures are still a big part
04:18 of the toy industry and a big part of people's lives.
04:21 @lizziebobbizzie says, "Who is Rubik
04:23 and why do we have his cube?"
04:25 In the 1970s, Erno Rubik designed Rubik's Cube
04:28 as a way of helping to teach math.
04:31 What was unique about it is the mechanism inside
04:34 that allows the cube to turn in different directions
04:37 on different planes very easily and fluidly.
04:40 Rubik's Cube also became kind of synonymous
04:43 with intelligence.
04:44 A kid who could solve Rubik's Cube
04:46 and could solve it fast or could solve it with their feet
04:48 was really considered a genius.
04:50 It's become a phenomenon within the context
04:53 of brain puzzles throughout the years.
04:54 And there've been many other Rubik's puzzles
04:57 that have come through the years.
04:58 @barstoolz says, "How is the pet rock ever a fad?"
05:02 The thing about a fad is nobody sees it coming.
05:04 Nobody can predict a fad.
05:07 The thing about a pet rock was that it came
05:10 at a specific time, at a specific point in our culture.
05:13 It was the whimsical nature of the manual that came with it,
05:18 which is you could teach your rock to do tricks.
05:20 So it just touched a nerve.
05:22 I think Johnny Carson had it on "The Tonight Show,"
05:25 and it just became this running gag in the country,
05:28 and that's how a fad is born.
05:30 @hhole31 says, "Why were beanie babies popular?
05:33 "I don't get it."
05:34 I don't get it either, but they were.
05:37 Beanie babies were introduced in the '90s,
05:39 but it was really when they came into the later '90s
05:42 and the 2000s that it became collectible.
05:44 And people really thought, as Ty Warner decided
05:47 to discontinue some of the beanie babies,
05:50 that they would grow in value,
05:52 so that Peanut the Blue Elephant would be worth $2,000.
05:56 A $5.99 toy worth $2,000.
05:59 That doesn't really happen very often,
06:01 but that didn't stop people from believing it,
06:03 and beanie babies created an entire industry
06:06 around collecting them.
06:07 We've seen those kind of phenomenon in history.
06:09 Probably the biggest one was the tulip craze
06:11 in the 17th century, when one tulip bulb
06:14 would be worth what a family could make in a year.
06:17 So we really do see this as happening
06:20 within human civilization from time to time.
06:22 You get a craze, we don't know why it happens,
06:25 it takes off, and then it dies.
06:27 @WitheredBBFilm says, "I will never understand
06:29 "how Transformer toys are designed,
06:31 "especially in such high numbers."
06:33 The really amazing thing about Transformers,
06:36 I'm gonna bring my friend Optimus back in here for this.
06:38 These were originally made by Takara,
06:40 and it was all about robots transforming.
06:43 It was a very Japanese concept.
06:45 It's really an engineering tour de force
06:47 when they do all of these.
06:49 The different plastic pieces that fit together and fold up.
06:52 This one particularly is done with a process
06:54 called injection molding.
06:55 So you have two halves of a mold,
06:57 and literally what happens is when it's in the machine,
07:00 liquid plastic is shot into the mold,
07:02 and it takes on the shapes you see here.
07:05 That's why precise molding is really important,
07:08 and molds are very expensive.
07:10 Molds also have a life cycle,
07:11 so they have to keep redoing them.
07:13 So it really is a way of getting the plastic into a shape,
07:17 but with Transformers, it's doubly hard
07:18 because not only do you get it into the shape,
07:20 but it has to move in a specific way,
07:22 and there's not a lot of room for mistakes in this.
07:25 @chloesullivanpr says, "Imagine what kids' toys
07:28 "will be like in 50 years time."
07:31 I don't think it's too difficult to imagine that
07:33 because children don't change that much.
07:36 As a species, we don't evolve quite that fast.
07:38 The toys will reflect things
07:40 that are going on in the culture,
07:42 but we'll still need the basics
07:43 for developing eye-hand coordination,
07:46 developing gross motor skills, interacting socially.
07:49 What's changed toys really in the last 40 years
07:53 has been the evolution of chips.
07:55 So for example, the original Furby had the same chip in it
07:58 that powered the Apple II computer.
08:00 As chips get more and more sophisticated,
08:02 you're going to see the toys able to do more,
08:04 and the big question in 2023 is,
08:07 how is AI gonna impact toy design?
08:10 @suebank64 says, "Whenever I watch Disney
08:12 "and see commercials for toys,
08:13 "I think all of these toys are plastic.
08:16 "How are toy companies creating more sustainable toys,
08:19 "or at least recyclable toys?"
08:21 The most sustainable toy
08:22 is the one that never gets thrown out.
08:23 Something like Lego is completely sustainable
08:25 because it gets passed down from kid to kid.
08:28 However, there are a lot of experiments going on
08:32 with toys made from sustainable materials.
08:35 There's a lot of wood coming in toys.
08:37 And then because plastic is endemic to toys,
08:41 you're also seeing things like less packaging,
08:43 companies reducing the lights in their factories.
08:46 So it's highly, highly considered in toy companies right now
08:51 and they're looking to see what the next best practice is.
08:53 @lenartnout says, "Also, how does Lego do quality control?
08:57 "How is every single piece perfect
08:59 "and how do you never miss a piece from the set?
09:01 "It's amazing."
09:02 The thing about Lego is that they have an entire company
09:06 dedicated to just that, to quality control,
09:08 to the kind of ABS plastic that they use,
09:11 to the way in which the pieces fit together
09:14 and stay together, to the way in which things are designed.
09:17 They have an entire model shop that tries these things out
09:21 and it really is their brand identity.
09:24 @pawscore says, "I'm so interested in recalled toys.
09:28 "It's so interesting.
09:29 "Like, I honestly kind of want that one Rollerblade Barbie
09:32 "from 1993 where her skates
09:34 "literally have lighters in them."
09:36 So they spark when she moves.
09:38 You might want that and you might be able to find it,
09:40 but it probably wasn't safe.
09:42 Toy recalls are actually rare
09:44 because toys go through such comprehensive testing
09:47 before they ever go to market.
09:49 But every once in a while, something comes through.
09:51 There's a part that's not right
09:52 or there's different things that happened to it.
09:54 When I was working with CBS Toys,
09:56 we had a Creative Playthings wooden gym.
09:59 The steps on the ladder were too close together.
10:02 So if a child stuck their head in it,
10:04 we never thought they would.
10:05 It could actually get stuck.
10:07 So you recall that so you can fix that part
10:10 and then reissue the toy.
10:12 @chillcanda says, "The real question is
10:14 "how did Hasbro make so much money off a Potato Head?
10:17 "That's crazy.
10:18 "Who would have thought a potato would be a classic toy, lol."
10:22 It was one of the first toys to be advertised on television.
10:25 Probably nobody in 1952 when it first came out,
10:29 the original Mr. Potato Head just had the body.
10:31 And on top of the body was a spike.
10:33 And that spike you used to impale a real potato on
10:37 and then you decorated it with eyes, nose, mouth, pipe.
10:40 It was something that if Captain Kangaroo had it on,
10:43 it was gonna be a phenomenon
10:45 because at the time almost every kid in America
10:47 was watching Captain Kangaroo.
10:49 But it was really something
10:50 that caught the imagination of kids.
10:52 @bluedragon211 says, "I remember,
10:55 "but how many remember the Cabbage Patch Doll chaos of 1983?"
10:59 Cabbage Patch Dolls in 1983 became so popular
11:03 because they really made that amazing transition
11:06 that happens every once in a while
11:07 when you go from a toy designed for kids
11:10 to a cultural phenomenon.
11:12 By Xavier Roberts, they were original Appalachian artworks.
11:15 They were kind of inspired by Apple dolls.
11:17 And then when Coleco got them,
11:19 they made them with plastic faces.
11:20 One of the things that made Cabbage Patch Dolls unique
11:23 was that you didn't own it, you adopted it.
11:25 And each doll came with adoption papers
11:28 that you had to fill out and send back into the toy company.
11:31 It was the scarcity and the fact that trying to find them
11:34 that really drove the phenomenon.
11:36 So having it became as important as playing with it.
11:39 @jhamlet wants to know,
11:40 "Has any business ever taken advantage of rights licensing
11:43 "across every genre more effectively than Funko Pop?
11:47 "It's startling just how deep they go."
11:49 That's absolutely true.
11:51 For somebody who might not be familiar with Funko Pop,
11:54 they really came out of the whole urban vinyl movement,
11:57 which started in Japan.
11:58 And it was all about collectibles based on
12:01 either anime figures or entertainment figures.
12:04 Funko Pop has a very unique look.
12:06 It's got the larger head, the smaller body.
12:08 And when you look at it, you know that's a Funko Pop.
12:11 That made it perfect for licensing.
12:14 So you can interpret Mickey Mouse,
12:15 you can interpret Harry Potter,
12:17 you can interpret pretty much anything,
12:19 Cher if you want to.
12:20 And the one thing it has in common
12:22 is everybody knows it's Funko.
12:23 @lilybaileyuk says, "Tell me how old you are
12:27 "by telling me your favorite toy fad."
12:29 Well, it's right here.
12:30 It's Mr. Machine.
12:32 In 1960, this transformed the toy industry.
12:35 You could ostensibly take apart and put back together.
12:37 You wound him up.
12:38 He was so popular, every kid had to have him.
12:41 The whole appeal of taking apart Mr. Machine
12:43 was that robots were very popular during the '50s
12:47 in popular entertainment.
12:48 The problem was kids would get it apart,
12:51 they couldn't get it back together.
12:53 And guess what?
12:54 It didn't come with instructions to put it back together.
12:56 @dgnemsfree says, "I wonder how toy collectors
13:00 "decide what to keep in box and what to unbox."
13:03 If you are hoping that your toy
13:05 is going to appreciate in value,
13:06 you're gonna leave it in the box.
13:08 And you're gonna have to take care of that box too
13:09 because the state of the box does contribute
13:11 to the value of the toy.
13:12 Every once in a while, you'll come across
13:14 a mint in box 1959 Barbie.
13:18 And that's worth about $6,000
13:20 depending on where you get it.
13:22 But then I always ask, "What happened to the child?"
13:25 @terrybradshaw says, "Is there anyone here
13:27 "that collects McDonald's toys from the Happy Meal?
13:29 "I'm sure it's worth something."
13:31 Collecting Happy Meal toys or any fast food toys
13:34 is a huge subset of the toy industry.
13:37 You will find conventions, you will find collectors,
13:40 you will find websites.
13:41 They really do have a value within that community.
13:44 I have two versions here of Woody
13:46 that came with the Burger King meals in 1995
13:49 when it came out and it was a phenomenon.
13:52 These are still very rare and highly collectible
13:55 and I'm not gonna open them
13:56 because that would diminish their value.
13:58 @jrnmerchant wants to know,
14:00 "How does one get into the toy industry,
14:01 "specifically toy design?"
14:03 Asking for a friend.
14:04 I love this question because one of the things
14:07 the toy industry needs desperately is more designers.
14:10 So there are two great programs,
14:13 one at Fashion Institute of Technology in New York
14:16 and then one at Otis College of Design in Los Angeles.
14:19 Now you don't necessarily need to go to college
14:21 to be able to do this.
14:22 A lot of people have industrial design backgrounds,
14:26 a lot of people have animation backgrounds
14:28 and really it's about team
14:30 and bringing your unique skills to the table.
14:32 That's all the questions.
14:33 Hope you learned something fun about toys.
14:36 Until next time.
14:37 (dramatic music)
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