What happened to new, out of the box thinking and wacky ideas. When you think back on the famous Mattel IP, Masters of the Universe, She-Ra, Hot Wheels, Barbie, Rainbow Brite, Monster High, there was such great imaginative stuff. Now, nothing! What happened to this once great company? Why doesn't the current CEO nurture these ideas?
14 replies (most recent on top)
bring back radica!! or the nintendo power gloves!
Yes, it was.
WAS.
What's your point? It's a clown parade now.
To keep relying on old properties that haven’t been sold away or s—ed dry by corporate greed and mismanagement is a pipe dream.
Mattel still refuses to break its habit of bringing in high paid failures from other companies to run the downhill slide of the business. Maybe because the board is full of the same people.
To the anonymous poster who wrote: "All the IP you mention are absolute trash". Nothing to be proud of. Why are you working for Mattel if you are not proud of its legacy or history? Why don't you work for some other place or god forbid, contribute something of value that would be worthy of your participation. Is it because you have nothing to offer? A hollow shell of an employee. It's mind boggling...
Sadly the Rainbow Brite IP is was developed and is owned by Hallmark Cards. 😔
All the IP you mention are absolute trash. Nothing to be proud of
He-Man might have the legs to squat 800 lbs., but he’ll never have the “legs” to keep up with the likes of a Harry Potter franchise, or even TMNT’s. No matter how much Ynot hopes so. You can pretty much kiss the chance of any sequels to a new MOTU film goodbye.
I don't think I totally buy your assessment of Mattel's old toy lines, the continued success Marvel, transformers and TMNT brands would suggest a tired old kids properties can have legs if managed correctly.
If Ynon is away in 6 months this will be the best toy company...
As for the OP’s notion that some of our early product lines were “such great imaginative stuff”, I tend to differ. If you were to take a close look at the Masters of the Universe line, for example, it was really pretty cheesy product. Simple, silly names for the characters that would only appeal to a five year old, for example. That’s fine, but my seven year old could have come up with 90% of that line’s toy concepts that were produced back then. That’s why the movies generated from that line s—ed as well. The mind that created Harry Potter, as an example, is/was far more imaginative. That is why the Harry Potter related series of films were so hugely successful and why tons of Harry Potter products still sell well today.
When Mattel’s then “kick a–” lines were successful, times were simpler and kids were more desperate for anything that seemed novel to them. Those then somewhat novel product lines are just plain tired and worn today, as would be anything new that mimicked them...
IMHO
The current CEO doesn’t give a sh– about making toys. He spends every waking minute thinking about movies that Mattel will pretend to make that will never materialize. At least he got a few meetings with Margot Robbie.
Also, HyperScan
Hot Wheels ID will save us. You gotta believe, man.
Have you forgotten Bug Racer already OP? How predictably myopic.