“Film-inspired playthings can be risky child’s play for makers” in 1982
In a December 1982 issue of the Lakeland Ledger newspaper we find this article by Gail Shister of the Knight News Service. Every year during the holidays newspapers, television shows, and other broadcasters feature stories about toys and the toy industry, capitalizing on the one time of year that it’s okay for adults to talk about toys in public.
This article is especially fun for me and touches on some of what I covered in Each Sold Separately* and Action Figures Not Included* and how licensing has changed the industry. Coming from 1982 this article is much closer to the time in which the toy industry fully embraced licensing and reading this over today leaves me wanting to dive back into the toy industry of the eighties. Later, brain, after other projects are completed.
Mego gets a lot of attention in the article, and not surprisingly the Kenner Star Wars action figures are held up as the example all other toymakers try to emulate with their licensed lines.
Related articles
- “Top toys of the holiday season” in 1995 (battlegrip.com)
- 1979 Star Wars Action Figures Newspaper Ad (battlegrip.com)
- Star Wars Expanded Universe in the February, 1998 ToyFare (battlegrip.com)