Prompt Cast
A Brief History of Action Figures and Their Impact on the Toy Industry
TLDR This episode explores the history of action figures, from the success of G.I. Joe to the rise of collectible items and partnerships with cartoons. It also discusses the manufacturing process and the value of rare action figures.
Timestamped Summary
00:00
This episode is a partial history of action figures, including the inspiration behind them and the success of Barbie in the toy industry.
06:09
G.I. Joe was the first action figure and was a huge success for Hasbro, accounting for almost 66% of their profits in 1964.
12:19
G.I. Joe was rebranded as an "adventurer" rather than a soldier and faced a decline in sales due to the Vietnam War, leading to a temporary discontinuation of the action figure.
18:49
Miko released a line of action figures based on superheroes in 1972, including characters from both DC and Marvel, and they were a big hit.
25:26
Mego broke the mold in the action figure world by creating play sets based on popular franchises like Star Trek, but they also made a huge mistake by declining the opportunity to produce Star Wars action figures.
31:20
GI Joe became a cartoon series in the early 80s, which led to the creation of a commando team with various characters and a common enemy, Cobra, and this was made possible by the lack of regulation on advertising to children during the Reagan era.
37:57
Reagan vetoed a bill that would have limited advertising to children and required educational programming, which led to toy companies and cartoons forming partnerships to sell toys and resulted in a decline in creativity in children's cartoons.
43:53
Kenner made a lot of money from the Star Wars action figures, and the hosts discuss their personal collections and how they played with them as kids.
50:09
Companies intentionally release limited edition action figures with defects or mislabeling to make them more valuable for collectors, which goes against the idea of creating toys for play rather than profit.
55:58
The process of manufacturing action figures involves making molds, deciding on the type of molding process, assembling the figures, adding finishing details, and packaging and shipping them.
01:01:46
The packaging of action figures, such as GI Joe and Star Wars, was carefully designed to help sell the figures and often included additional collectible items like trading cards.
01:07:38
The hosts discuss various rare and valuable Star Wars action figures, including a Boba Fett figure that was never released in stores and a double telescoping lightsaber for Obi-Wan, Darth Vader, and Luke.
01:14:01
The hosts wrap up the episode by mentioning a few more things related to action figures, including a website for GI Joe fans and a gallery of knockoff toys, and then they discuss a microlending website called Kiva that they have been promoting for several years.
01:19:53
The hosts provide information on how to donate to causes through microlending and encourage listeners to check out their previous episode on the topic.
Categories:
Society & Culture
