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
Weeding is Fundamental
From Bombay with Love
Uptown Squirrel
Play Mountain
The Roman Mars Mazda Virus
Froebel's Gifts
Three Things That Made the Modern Economy
The Many Deaths of a Painting
Palaces for the People
Classic Cartoon Sound Effects!
The Known Unknown
Usonia Redux
Beneath the Ballpark
National Sword
The Secret Lives of Color
The Tunnel
Crude Habitat
Atomic Tattoos
Mini-Stories: Volume 6
Gathering the Magic
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Planet Money
Radiolab
Pride and Prejudice
The War of the Worlds
Today, Explained
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