#toy history

[decadesfinds]

Contrary to popular belief, stuffed toys were not invented by or for Teddy Roosevelt in the 1900s. They existed before this, in different forms, for almost all of human history. However, well, toys get loved to death and are often buried with their people if they died young, or even in old age - or are so well-worn that the only surviving bits are the wooden or bone framing.

The above dolls have stuffed and padded elements to their bodies, and survive from the middle ages, apparently. There's no dates attached, but they are absolutely beautiful examples.

We cannot forget ragdolls, which were obviously popular, and definitely betray my example a bit too well, into the "this is a bit scary" realm. But these were toys, and they were loved dearly by their owners. We have to remain respectful of that.

The first commercial stuffed toy was apparently a stuffed elephant in 1880 intended as a pincushion, but often purchased as a toy for children. They also made others, such as the lion below:

The next was a cat that is still a popular pattern today for toys - the Ithaca Kitty. Here are some replicas:

I've definitely seen a ton of these used as pillows to this day.

So, if you are writing or depicting history, don't be afraid of giving your kids a stuffed friend to love. They did exist before you think, and were much more popular than you would believe. They just often were not commercial, and were handmade by loved ones, or sold in small quantities, individually crafted by one talented artist.

[shilohsylvanian]

Did you know that Sylvanian Families had a comic series? here is the cover of the first issue, 1988

[vintagegeekculture]

Beloved by toy collectors and perverts alike, the Takara Cy Girls line were GI Joe-like 1/6 scale action girl figures, the high point of which was the highly detailed Aurora Space Cop. 

Intriguingly, the Cy Girls line is mainly remembered because they were able to make figures of licensed characters, including the only action figure (for the time) of superspy Joanna Dark from the beloved Nintendo 64 first party title, Perfect Dark, as well as Beka Valentine from Gene Roddenberry’s Andromeda (which dates this line to a very specific year). 

[nickysfacts]

Thanks R.O.B.! You weren’t the hero we deserved, but you were hero we needed!

🤖🎮

[alanaartdream]

Hello Alana from Alanaartdream here (from YouTube tumblr TikTok instagram and whatever twitter calls itself now)

Sure a TikTok I ended up across that has some soft toy animal history to it

Mostly about the German toys by Steiff

And we being as my mum is from Germany 🇩🇪 and manged to keep her old soft toys from there in pretty good condition dispite my sisters and I playing with some of them when we were kids

And being as we know 3 of them are Steiff toys though had to add them to this TikTok video

[basementofthebizarre]

Exploring the Creepy Charm of Boglins: A Detailed Look at the Iconic Toy Line

Boglins, those delightful creatures that once lurked in the hands of kids during the late 1980s and early 1990s, have left an indelible mark on toy enthusiasts and collectors alike. Created by Tim Clarke and Maureen Trotto, Boglins are a fascinating blend of puppetry and action figures that captured the imaginations of a generation. Let’s delve into the history, design, and legacy of these unique…

[therobotmonster]

Did you immediately recognize those old obscure DC villains from the old toy set, or did you somehow look them up really quickly?

I recognized the Key and Johnny Thunder immediately, the others I did not.

J. Thunder is a D-lister, so that's no big feat, and the Key got some event BS in the past 2 decades as I recall, and the comic shop I used to work at had a copy of JLA 41 on the wall, I saw it every day.

I found Mouse-Man with a search for "DC Mouse villain" early in.

I found Key Master's intro issue in a cover gallery online, and that lead me to Brainstorm and Johnny Thunder's covers. Realizing everything was in an early-to-mid '65 range, I started checking cover galleries for the involved characters until I found the Aquaman creature.

If the robot was from the same time period, it was either on a Flash cover (I couldn't find a complete 1960s the Flash cover gallery) or was inside one of the books.

The identical sculpt style and the very "tail-end-golden-age" DC look of the other characters made me immediately suspect they weren't re-uses from generic lines. Generic superhero stuff in that format tended to follow a more knock-offy look, like with these Tim-Mee "honest, that's not Thor and Doctor Doom" figs.

The Aquaman critter would fit in with generic monster figurines of the time, but as odd as it sounds, "Mouse Man with a Syringe" was a little too period-comics-accurate to read as generic.

[packratshiloh]

This weird cutie just went to her new home but I wanted to talk about her a bit 🤣

Shes "Collie Parton" from the Very Outrageous Pets (VOP) line by American Bear in the mid/late 80s. The line included her, Donkey Hotey, Mick Jaguar, & Cleocatra.

Each have outfits fitting their character, sadly mine was missing her outrageous pink dress with big breasts 🤣. (Screenshot from chelsea-collies.com)

I found very little info online about this line, but im so curious about why they were made and if they were popular? Mine had a fashion lane tag for like $44 in 1985. I've only seen the Donkey Hotey one aside from this one too.

[schibborasso]

atomic energy lab

[taliquest]

So, I was doing that thing I do in which I look up vintage Ronin Warriors toys on eBay and despair at the thought of ever owning a complete 1995 Cye and Kento, and came across a listing for Lightning Rider Ryo.

For those who have never followed my chronicling of Playmates, Re:Play, and the US Ronin Warriors toyline, there's a long and interesting story there, the gist of which is: Re:Play was a subsidiary/ offshoot of Playmates Toys, who were responsible for the manufacture and distribution of the 1995 and 1999 runs of Ronin Warriors action figures (there is also a very long and interesting story behind those spanning three continents, but that's for another day). Re-Play's entire schtick was reproducing basically whatever Playmates happened to have lying around circa 2001, from Exo-Squad and Earthworm Jim to, you guessed it, Ronin Warriors.

The problem is that a lot of these figures usually suffered from completely inaccurate color schemes and kitbashed accessories, particularly in the case of RW. Case in point, "Rowen", who was really just Ryo with a combination of Sage of Halo and Ryo of Wildfire armor.

(image source: Figurerealm)

(I remember reading a fic about this guy way back when wherein he was Ryo's cousing playing impostor...)

And of course the Way-Off-Base recolors:

(I grabbed these off of my old twitter thread and I can't remember the image sources)

And of course, the aforementioned Lightning Rider Ryo, who was Ryo's head and Wildfire helmet with Cye's Torrent armor and weapons, and its brother "deluxe figure", Dark Rider Talpa, which was Talpa but in his second boss phase because he turned red. Also they both came with a horse, hence the "Rider" part.

(image source: ebay)

(Image source: Figurerealm)

The horse has, for the longest time, been the biggest piece of the puzzle for me, because where the hell did it come from. Nothing from Re-Play was original, after all.

Which brings me back to my previously alluded-to self-flagellation. I stumbled across a listing for LRR that, in a bit of a rarity, included the horse.

Fantastic, I thought as I clicked on the listing just to window-shop.

And then I found they were gracious enough to include a pic of the copyright stamp.

(image source: ebay)

And friends, with that I am happy to say that the mystery that has plagued me for the last 20 years of my life is solved.

The horses included with Lightning Rider Ryo and Dark Rider Talpa was previously from none other than the 1997 Zorro line, which is a thing I'd completely forgotten existed if I ever knew that it did. I was preoccupied by Power Rangers and Beetleborgs at the time...

(Image source: Carousell)

And that, friends, is your toy history lesson for the evening.

[that-theaven]

Watch "How Mattel rewrote toy history to put Barbie on top." on YouTube

[adotonawalk]

I got wild news for you, friend- googles existed WELL before google did. Check it out:

These were originally released in the late eighties! There were variations of the toy, but the webkinz googles— the one that looks like a weird platypus— is the one they chose to remake.

the fact that webkinz named a species "googles" and never backed down from it is really funny to me because like. nintendo changed the dialogue of a throwaway npc in a zelda game once because she said "yahoo!" and they were scared they'd get sued by yahoo but ganz is just like. yeah no we don't care if google is the biggest search engine and owns an obscene amount of sites and properties. thats our funny platypus so.

[yeoldenews]

Absolutely magnificent creature.

(source: Sears catalog, Fall/Winter 1918.)

[nickysfacts]

The Mii are a unique interpretation of the “toys to life” concept!😄

[dollulus]

Mail & History! Featuring Skipper, Barbie's little sister doll

This video! I’m so happy to finally release it. I’ve been working on this video for 3 weeks (along with my regular vids!) Unfortunately I didn’t post last Friday. This video was planned for then but it just wasn’t ready! I’d rather delay a video by a few days than put out something I’m not satisficed with.

I really hope you give it a watch!