McFarlane Toys in the Encyclopedia of Play in Today’s Society
I’ve owned the two volume Encyclopedia of Play in Today’s Society* for about a year now, and as awesome as this collection of essays is it’s tough for me to recommend it to everyone; the price tag is insanely steep. Fortunately, thanks to the Google book search, many of you can enjoy bits and pieces of the book before buying it and then decide for yourself if the content is worth the price tag. If you’re looking for a great bundle of golf simulator, though, you might find that a more affordable way to enjoy some entertainment and hone your skills.
Above, to give you an idea of the sort of material in the book, is a snapshot of the entry on McFarlane Toys as it appears in the Encyclopedia of Play in Today’s Society*. Of the company, researcher Johannes Fehrle states:
“Recently the company has been criticized by fans for moving too strongly into what is perceived as a mainstream direction, focusing on less original and more commercially ‘safe’ figures, such as their ‘McFarlane’s Sports Picks’ line, as well as for creating new lines and then discontinuing them.”
To be fair to the company, the shift in product focus in the late aughts was likely based completely on product sales. As we learned from the McFarlane Toys entry found in Toys and American Culture: An Encyclopedia* — which I shared last month — company revenues were over $8 million, making McFarlane Toys a small company that needs to concentrate on what sells best. It’s tough to fault a company for protecting its sales and employees, even if that means some product lines are dropped from the catalog.
Related articles
- 2003 McFarlane Toys Collector’s Club Ad (battlegrip.com)
- “Bigger. Better. Badder.” McFarlane Toys Ad from November, 1997 (battlegrip.com)