Hey, turned on Netflix to find there was a new season of “The Toys That Made Us” and to my shock they did an episode on pro wrestling figures. Anybody else into this show? I’d like to hear John and Wai review this episode, sounds like a fun topic.
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I haven’t watched the new season yet but I enjoyed the first two seasons. This season doesn’t have as many toys I had as a kid but I still like learning about the story behind the fads.
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I noticed it. I’ll give it a watch.
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The episode gets bogged down in licensing and other business decisions. Not enough actually talking about the toys for me. I skipped through a lot of it.
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I haven’t watched the episode - but all of the shows deal heavily with this.
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I saw it, it was far too much about rights battles between LJN, Galoob, Hasbro, etc.
I wasn’t a fan of Aubrey Sitterson being involved either, I understand he wrote “The Comic Book Story of Pro Wrestling” but personal bias since he wrecked a few of my favourite comic properties is I don’t really like the guy.
Perhaps it was edits but it felt like some of his information was either flimsy, or half correct.
They could have done a better job involving more wrestling personalities or people in the industry who have more information on the history of the business. I don’t imagine anyone outside the Toy creators themselves knew much about the toys but even then it seemed like they got by a lot on luck.
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I heard it was available and watched it. Cliff Notes talk of the wrestling business when talking about the growth of wrestling toys (including a mention of “Vince McMahon Jr.” by the narrator). The interviews with the toy people had the most meat on them, and for good reason. Wrestling personalities were used sparingly, including an unidentified Cody Rhodes. I too would be interested if John & Wai saw it down the line.
One of the other new episodes dealt with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, which Young Me was much more into. Very interesting stuff.
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I didn’t mind it but this is a fair point.
I feel like they were a little enamored with Jewish lightning and it drove the narrative too much.
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Yeah, I was surprised they actually covered all those WCW figures and even ECW figures. John and Wai talked about it on the last “Ask a Wai”, probably as much as we’ll get. I have no clue why they didn’t use Ryder and Hawkins if they interviewed them. They would add a lot. I’d watch one on starting lineups, bobbleheads, etc.
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I thought they only interviewed Ryder but I could be wrong.
It’s tough to say what happened but sometimes Ryder is not a good interview (I’ve heard him on a few pods that weren’t his own).
They are really great together tho. Their pod is one of my all time favorites already.
Haven’t watched yet, but did it seem like there was any cooperation from WWE? Maybe Ryder’s section was either too corporate for the filmmaker’s liking or not corporate enough for WWE’s approval?
I didn’t see any cooperation. Closest ties to them I saw here was Sean Waltman (very briefly).
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Zack said they ghosted him completely, he got no response after they filmed stuff with him.
Pro Wrestling toys are incredible, especially the giant size 12 inch talking Ultimate Warrior and Hulk Hogan.
