this post was submitted on 14 Dec 2024
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So, you're not wrong, but... these shows were literally designed to sell the toys. They were basically half-hour commercials.
G.I. Joe, TMNT, Transformers, X-Men, He-Man, Power Rangers, My Little Pony... they were all built on the same model (hey kids! whine at your parents until they buy our plastic ~~dolls~~ action figures!).
Quit making capitalism sound cool.
There is an excellent documentary series on Netflix called The Toys That Made Us which covers a lot of these. The Star Wars episode was very interesting, it gives you a look at the wheeler-dealer moneymaking side of the franchise (and some of the early toys are hilariously bad).
Some of it is kind of cool, and produced some genuinely enjoyable cultural icons... but also a lot of it was very manipulative, and you end up realizing how much of this cultural period was manufactured, packaged and sold to us through TV.
The van shot pizzas, dude.
Very good show!