This year marks the 40th anniversary of a lot of landmarks in pop culture, especially sci-fi and fantasy. So many franchises were born in 1984. Some came to define the genre or invent new genres. The great podcast Imaginary Worlds noticed this and produced a three-part series about 1984's Cambrian explosion of creativity that landed on the big screen, the small screen, bookstore shelves and, of course, the toy store.
In this episode we learn about at two iconic franchises that launched in 1984: Transformers and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. They came from opposite ends of the business spectrum. Transformers was a top-down marketing synergy between American and Japanese toy companies along with Marvel Comics to compete against He-Man -- another TV toy behemoth. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle would eventually rival them in cultural dominance, but it began with two indie comic book creators making a black and white comic as a lark. But Turtles and Transformers both ended up wrestling with similar questions around what happens when you put the cart before the horse in creating content to sell products.
Toyetic
Suits: Articles of Interest #10
Perfume: Articles of Interest #9
Knockoffs: Articles of Interest #8
A Fantasy of Fashion: Articles of Interest #7
401- The Natural Experiment
400- The Smell of Concrete After Rain
399- Masking for a Friend
398- Unsheltered in Place
397- Wipe Out
396- This Day in Esoteric Political History
395- This is Chance! Redux
394- Roman Mars Describes Things As They Are
393- Map Quests: Political, Physical and Digital
392- The Weather Machine
391- Over the Road
390- Fraktur
389- Whomst Among Us Has Let The Dogs Out
388- Missing the Bus
387- The Worst Video Game Ever
386- Their Dark Materials
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