“Deck the Halls with Squads of Robots”

” . . . the real war is being fought not by moms and dads, or by some schizophrenic robots that can turn themselves into sports cars, jet fighters, dump trucks, tape recorders or jaguars. It is between three-piece-suited M.B.A. types in the corporate offices of Tonka Corp. in Spring Park, Minn. and the headquarters of Hasbro Industries in Pawtucket, R.I.”

The People archives include a story that will be of interest to many of you who visit this site. Deck the Halls with Squads of Robots: Hasbro Takes on Tonka in the Toy Wars of 1984 is from December 3, 1984, and reading through the article I can already start to see where public opinion was leaning toward the Transformers winning out over the GoBots.

Fantastic reads, especially for the discussion of TV advertising, mention of Mattel’s Masters of the Universe as the #1 boys toy of the time, and the discovery of a new (old) book that I’m going to order just as soon as I post this. (The Gift of Play: And Why Young Children Cannot Thrive Without It* from 1980.)

The full article is posted here.