Introduction

The Toys That Made Us is an American documentary web television series created by Brian Volk-Weiss.

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Outline

In 1984, MCA Inc. subsidiary LJN outbid Galoob and Remco to become the first toy company to manufacture figures for the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). LJN took the 1985 Toy Fair by storm with their WWF Wrestling Superstars line. Remco counterattacked with their AWA All Star Wrestlers, but failed to outsell LJN’s figures. LJN’s success in the 1980s, however, was marred by the controversy surrounding their Entertech water gun line, resulting in the company’s sale to Acclaim Entertainment in 1990 and the Wrestling Superstars line going to Canadian toy company Grand Toys in 1989. With LJN gone, WWF signed with Hasbro for a new line of wrestling figures that peaked at US$100 million in sales. Meanwhile, Galoob signed on to produce figures for WCW, but when David Galoob was ousted from his own company, he took the WCW license and made figures under his new company The Original San Francisco Toymakers. During the Monday Night Wars, WWF signed with Jakks Pacific after Hasbro decided not to renew their contract. In 1998, WCW dropped SF Toymakers in favor of Toy Biz for their figures; in turn, SF Toymakers signed with ECW in 1999. The war between wrestling figure companies ended when WWF purchased WCW and ECW in 2001.

Special Guests: Justin Roberts, Cody Rhodes, Taboo, Sean Waltman, and Danielle Moinet.

The Toys That Made Us Series

You can find a full index and overview of The Toys That Made Us here.

Production & Filming Details

• Creator(s): Brian Volk-Weiss.
• Narrator(s): Donald Ian Black.
• Director(s): Brian Volk-Weiss and Tom Stern.
• Producer(s): Brian Vol-Weiss, Tom Stern, Cisco Henson, Anne Carkeet, and Edwin Zane.
• Writer(s): Nicholas Ferrell and Benjamin J. Frost.
  Music:
• Cinematography: Samuel Brownfield.
• Editor(s): Benjamin J. Frost, James Anderson, Dan Cerny, Nick Ferrell, Dan Cotter, and Doug Nolan
• Production: The Nacelle Company.
• Distributor(s): Netflix.
• Release Date: 15 November 2019.
• Running Time: 43-51 minutes.
• Country: US.
• Language: English.

Video Link