Re: Monthly chat May 2015
@Dark, regarding She-Ra there is no big mystery as to why the dolls were marketed as part of their Barbie line. In the mid 80's He-Man was extremely popular with boys and Mattel wanted to launch a line of similar action figures for girls. Therefore they collaborated with Filmations to create a story about He-Man's twin sister, She-Ra, which was suppose to appeal to girls. It sort of backfired because a lot of boys fell in love with the TV show, but all the toys were embarrassingly marketed for girls and located in the Barbie isle in the toy stores. So not many boys bought them, and many girls simply weren't interested in She-Ra per se.
In any case regarding the dolls I was one of the few boys who actually collected them, and what you say about them is only partly correct. Yes, in many respects they were more like Barbie dolls than action figures. She-Ra, Princess Glimmer, Catra, Queen Angella, etc all came with realistic hair like you would find on a Barbie. T hey also came with pink combs and directions etc on how to style their hair. They also had removable clothing such as removable skirts, caps, crowns, etc. So in that respect yes they were pretty much like Barbie dolls, but they still retained similarities to the TV show.
I don't know which She-Ra doll you are talking about that has a wand instead of a power sword but the one I had came with a golden power sword, a golden shield, a golden crown, as well as more girly stuff such as the afore mentioned pink comb and directions on how to style her hair. As I recall Glimmer, Frosta, Catra, Angella, etc all came with the weapons they used on the show. That much was true to the TV series as best as I remember although they did alter the look of some of the characters such as Shadow Weaver which wasn't true to the series.
In any case I do feel Mattel's decision to try and market She-Ra exclusively to girls was a horrible mistake. They seemed to overlook the fact t hat boys who were interested in He-Man would also be interested in the spin-off series about She-Ra, watched the show, but because the dolls were marketed in hot pink packaging, were marketed as a sort of Barbie doll, most boys refused to collect them. Girls weren't the prime target group for an action TV series like that, many of them weren't as interested in the series as their brothers, so didn't collect the dolls either. An all around flop for Mattel.
In hindsight I think Mattel should have carried on with the Masters of the Universe line and simply added She-Ra to that toy line. Rather than making them like Barbie dolls they could have sold them as female action figures without the realistic hair, changeable outfits, pink combs, and the God awful hot pink packaging and boys would have bought them. After all my friends and I never had a problem buying female characters like Tela, the Sorceress, and Evil-Lynn so I feel certain if She-Ra had been marketed simp ly as a female character for their existing He-Man line it would have been much more appealing to boys. If girls wanted one they could have gotten one as well, but would have not been the specific target group.
As far as Transformers goes I was a huge Transformers fan as a kid. I pretty much watched each and every episode immediately after coming home from school and had a decent collection of Transformer action figures at the time. I know I had Prime, Megatron, Iron Hide, Ratchet, Soundwave, Thundercracker, Mirage, Bumble Bee, Astrotrain, Hound, and Devastator. I also recall having a few dinobots like Grimlock, Swoop, and Snarl. I probably had a few other miscellaneous figures, but don't really recall that clearly these days. It has been almost 30 years after all.
In any case I use to watch that show fairly faithfully for the four seasons it ran. Although, I was pretty upset when they killed off Prime in the movie, and he was absent throughout the third seaso n. I think that is why they decided to bring him back for the final season because they knew they had made a big mistake, were losing fans, and wanted to rectify the situation. In any case I am glad the original series had a decent ending and they could have ended it right there if they wanted to. However, instead of letting the series end they have continued to bring Transformers back over and over again to the point they have pretty much killed it.
It is ironic they named the last movie Age of Extinction, because it was so awful in my opinion I am considering not watching the next one when it comes out. As a life long Transformers fan I feel very disappointed where they have taken the series, what they have done to it, and it is all because of over marketing and letting too many fingers into the pie. So unless I hear some good things about the next movie I'm considering not going to the theater to see it, and at most I'll rent it if I hear anything redeemable about it. Otherwise I consider Transformers extinct as a series for me.
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