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4[[quoteright:350:[[Film/{{Spaceballs}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Spaceballs_TP_6129.jpg]]]]
5[[caption-width-right:350:Yes, even this.]]
6
7->''"Merchandising, merchandising! Where the '''real''' money from the movie is made! Spaceballs: the T-shirt, Spaceballs: the Coloring Book, Spaceballs: the Lunchbox, Spaceballs: the Breakfast Cereal! Spaceballs: the Flame Thrower!!" [[note]]"[[MyLittlePanzer The kids love this one.]]"[[/note]]''
8-->-- '''Yogurt''', ''Film/{{Spaceballs}}''
9%%
10%% One quote is sufficient. Please place additional entries on the quotes tab.
11
12Doing something creative costs money. If you're in a band, you're paying for gas to get to and from practice and gigs, studio time, and all the bits and pieces of tech you need to sound good. If you're an artist, you're paying for your materials and maybe studio space. Even if you're doing a simple webcomic, blog, or fansite you're paying for bandwidth.
13
14And, unfortunately, creative work doesn't pay very well until you're famous. And sometimes it doesn't pay very well even then. So what ''do'' you do to help support your habit/creative endeavors?
15
16It turns out just about everybody loves owning cute little tchotchkes. Ones that are branded with some obscure, indie-cred logo, image or phrase they like is even better.
17
18So, you start to sell stuff. T-shirts, pins, prints, posters, [=CDs=], and cards are the obvious choices, but mouse pads, coffee mugs, baseball caps, plushies, babies' onesies, messenger bags, and refrigerator magnets all have their fans. Furniture, jewelry, costumes, food, hygiene products, and sporting gear are for those wanting to go overboard. In fact, anything that you can figure out how to stick a logo, character or catchphrase onto will do. That's "The Merch". The merchandise. The moneymaker. The stuff that pays the bills.
19
20And if this is for girls, the PinkProductPloy increasingly is used.
21
22Sometimes The Merch becomes more important than the work it was intended to support. A big sign of a CashCowFranchise. See also {{Prop}}.
23
24A SuperTrope to:
25[[index]]
26* BlindBagCollectables\
27Blind bags are a common type of merchandise.
28* TheBoardGame\
29An original tabletop game based on the work.
30* TheCharacterIceCreamBar\
31A sweet ice cream treat based off something.
32* CollectibleCardGame\
33A Trading card series based on the work.
34* DetailHoggingCover\
35Merchandise of animated works often use still pictures that have more detail than the work.
36* DelayedReleaseTieIn\
37Merchandise for a work whose release has been delayed still gets released on schedule.
38* FunTShirt\
39One of the most common types of merch is a shirt of something from the work.
40* TheKiddieRide\
41These are often based on popular kids' franchises.
42* KidsMealToy\
43Licensed toys at fast-food chains.
44* LicensedGame\
45The merch is a video game based on the work.
46* MerchandiseDriven\
47When creative decisions are based on what can be sold on the work.
48* MisaimedMerchandising\
49The work may not be appropriate for certain groups, but sell the toys to them anyway.
50* NowBuyTheMerchandise\
51When a work's real life merch is plugged InUniverse.
52* OfficialCosplayGear\
53So you can play dress up of your favorite characters.
54* TheRedStapler\
55The merch doesn't exist until fans of the work demand it.
56* TheRolePlayingGame\
57An original TabletopRolePlayingGame based on the work.
58* ThemedStockBoardGame\
59A crossover with the work and a classic board game.
60* TieInCereal\
61Merch in the form of a breakfast cereal.
62* ToylineExclusiveCharacter\
63Characters that only appear in the merch but not the work the merch is based on.
64* UnisexSeriesGenderedMerchandise\
65The work is aimed at both male and female audiences, but the merchandise tend to cater to one gender.
66[[/index]]
67
68Compare TieInNovel, TheFilmOfTheBook, TheAnimeOfTheGame, {{Defictionalization}} (when something from the work, merch or otherwise, debuted in the work and was then made real).
69
70See also CrackIsCheaper, when characters can't stop buying merchandise.
71
72Not to be confused with [[VideoGame/Splatoon2 Murch]]. Or with [[WesternAnimation/SitDownShutUp Miracle Grohe's baby]].
73----
74!!Examples:
75
76[[foldercontrol]]
77
78[[folder:Advertising]]
79* Advertising/UFOKamenYakisoban was so popular among kids in Japan that tons of merchandise and tie-in products were made, including toys, tents, keychains, costumes, sleeping bags, stickers, a video game, a direct-to-VHS movie, a single on CD, a tie-in manga, and a themed attraction at Japan's Yomiuriland.
80* Advertising/WheresTheBeef underwent MemeticMutation and had an astronomical amount of products made in its short lifespan, including bumper stickers, frisbees, clothing patches, t-shirts, a Milton Bradley game, jewelry, and a record.
81[[/folder]]
82
83[[folder:Anime And Manga]]
84* ''Franchise/{{Gundam}}'' certainly qualifies, and may even outdo Evangelion in this regard. It was once estimated in the early 90's that Bandai had sold so many Gundam toys and models that on average, every single man, woman, and child in Japan owned at least one. And that doesn't count other merchandise like keychains, posters, shirts, and so on.
85* ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'' has a very strange and bipolar relationship with its marketing, even aside from the tone of the story. Allegedly, a fan once proudly told Creator/HideakiAnno that he had sold all his university textbooks to buy more Eva merchandise. Anno called him an idiot and told him to study harder. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0Qr9rztRw4 It is not an exaggeration to say that, should you have the money, you could live entirely off of Eva merch.]]
86* ''Anime/FairyMusketeers'' gets a special mention as it literally started its life as a bonus OVA [[MerchandiseDriven for a collectible figure]]. Following the unexpected success, the resultant TV show is chock full of blatant plot changes to accommodate merchandising.
87* ''Franchise/BlackRockShooter'' was a similarly backwards merch-ifiying incident. At first, it was just a [[Music/BlackRockShooter music video]] and vague character design with no further plans, but that quickly spawned an out-of-control merchandising and promoting spree, which eventually led to a [[VideoGame/BlackRockShooter game]], [[Anime/BlackRockShooter OVA, and anime]] being created to keep the figures, plushies, shirts, posters, and who-knows-what-else selling. The merch still charges ahead of everything else; a figurine bundle with the anime DVD was announced before the anime was even halfway through airing.
88* ''Franchise/SailorMoon'' became such a franchise that branded merchandise still sells quite well with ''now-adult'' childhood viewers of both sexes, from ''Hot Topic'' man-sized ''Sailor Moon'' t-shirts to expensive 20th anniversary revival [[http://www.sailormooncollectibles.com/2014/06/05/sailor-moon-miracle-romance-sailor-uranus-sailor-neptune-twin-lip-balm-rod/ makeup sets]], bras and panties. This MultipleDemographicAppeal continues to be exploited with ''Anime/SailorMoonCrystal,'' with Bandai selling Swarovski crystal "tiara rings" at over ''[[http://www.crunchyroll.com/anime-news/2014/07/04/sailor-soldier-tiara-ring-first-accessory-from-sailor-moon-crystal a hundred dollars]]'' a pop.
89* Because ''Franchise/{{Naruto}}'' is one of the most popular anime and manga series out there, it has tons of merchandise for fans of all ages, including action figures, plush toys, trading cards, clothing, etc. Heck, the series even had collabs with big name companies like Nike and Adidas, and it even has it's own themed smartphone.
90* Generally speaking, {{Anime}} are made to promote their Merch - BD sales won't cover their production costs, except for excessively popular anime which are few and far between. This phenomenon is lampshaded in ''Manga/SayonaraZetsubouSensei'', which pokes fun at its own DVD bonuses. Special mention must be made for character-driven BishoujoSeries, doubly so if {{Moe}}: one of the more popular Merch is ''dakimakura'', or pillows with character image on it, which is usually rather risque. And it's not even limited to bishoujo; there exists ''dakimakura'' of ''Manga/BakiTheGrappler'' and ''Manga/{{Golgo13}}''.
91* A lot of ''Anime/{{Nyanpire|TheAnimation}}'' merchandise can be found [[https://38.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lpl56pgOFP1qaclyoo1_500.jpg all over Japan]], [[http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_7P2Wla4J_dw/TLET5-pZZGI/AAAAAAAAAjw/bs4BmgVxNvg/s1600/Halloween+2010+005.JPG especially during the Halloween season.]] Helps that the manga is ongoing. [[http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SrX456ZkrU8/UMoLA4FJ3qI/AAAAAAAAAVU/qbAcR7uo5Cg/s1600/Nyanpire.600.917986.jpg There is even Nyanpire Christmas merchandise that can be sold]] [[https://31.media.tumblr.com/4dc1320a6b4f570db9af9f73a383994d/tumblr_n28xr9eCii1rmmjf9o1_1280.jpg around the Christmas season.]]
92* Being a manga about mangakas, ''Manga/{{Bakuman}}'' occasionaly discuss it in-universe. For example, a figurine of the main character of Hiramaru's manga [[ShowWithinAShow Rakko 11]] is made. Of course, the manga and anime have received a lot of merchandising in real life. [[BreadEggsBreadedEggs And finally]], there are [[{{Defictionalization}} real life figures]] of the characters of the fictional mangas written by the characters: [[https://www.nautiljon.com/images/goodies/00/13/bakuman_-_rakko_11_-_diorama_box_collection_megahouse_1431.jpg?0 Rakko]]. [[https://www.nautiljon.com/images/goodies/00/72/bakuman_-_gitantei_trap_-_diorama_box_collection_megahouse_1427.jpg?0 Detective Trap]]. [[https://www.nautiljon.com/images/goodies/00/92/bakuman_-_daihatsu_tanto_-_diorama_box_collection_megahouse_1429.jpg?0 Tanto-kun]]. and [[https://www.nautiljon.com/images/goodies/00/62/bakuman_-_crow_-_diorama_box_collection_megahouse_1426.jpg?0 Black Crow]].
93* Many MagicalGirl series have merchandise made of the characters and the items they use in-show to transform and cast magic.
94* InUniverse in ''Manga/GreatTeacherOnizuka''. Onizuka gives Tomoko her start in show business by entering her in a beauty pageant, and when her popularity exploded because TheRunnerUpTakesItAll, he was waiting right outside with pre-made Tomoko merch to make a quick buck.
95* ''Anime/PrettyCure'' sells a variety of dolls, plushies, and toys based on the weapons/trinkets seen in the show. The dolls have been made since the original series, while the plushes started production in around 2008 (meaning only the ''Anime/FutariWaPrettyCureSplashStar'' girls don't have them).
96[[/folder]]
97
98[[folder:Asian Animation]]
99* ''Animation/BoonieBears'' has gotten a pretty large amount of merchandise, with the products ranging from toys to furniture to food.
100* ''Animation/BreadBarbershop'' has plastic figurines of the characters as well as a playset of Bread Barbershop itself.
101* ''Animation/HappyHeroes'' has had all sorts of action figures and plushes, among other toys, made for it. One of the non-action figure/plush toy series is very much like the Franchise/{{LEGO}} sets where the Supermen's [[TransformingMecha Car Knights]] are built with similar parts and the Supermen themselves come as minifigures.
102* ''Animation/PleasantGoatAndBigBigWolf'' has over 1,000 different products aimed at different demographics, including fashion products, home goods, skin products, school items, and different toys and electronic items.
103[[/folder]]
104
105[[folder:Comic Books]]
106* '''ComicBook/{{Wolverine}}'''. The man named the trope describing [[WolverinePublicity somebody shoved in everywhere for the sales]].
107* In-universe for ''ComicBook/{{Empowered}}''. In-story, there are official Superhomey ringtones and themed T-shirts (and panties), plus action figures of their Rogues' Gallery.
108* Franchise/{{Superman}} was the first comic book character to have a steady flow of merchandise through the 40s and 50s ever since he debuted on the four-color page.
109* Franchise/{{Batman}} is another consistent merchandising juggernaut, with two of the most recent cartoons (''WesternAnimation/TheBatman'' and ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheBraveAndTheBold'') produced [[MerchandiseDriven for the express purpose of selling toys]]. [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools This isn't necessarily a bad thing, of course]], as the latter is very well-regarded by fans. Parodied in the last episode of ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheBraveAndTheBold'' with Batmite making the show explicitly MerchandiseDriven to annoy the fans.
110* During the 1990s and into the early 2000s, Hasbro made figures based on several DC Comics, including the ''Legends of Batman'' line, which was a toyline based on ''ComicBook/{{Knightfall}}'' or {{Elseworlds}} ideas; ''Superman: The Man of Steel'', which dealt with ''ComicBook/TheDeathOfSuperman'' and [[ComicBook/SupermanDoomsdayHunterPrey its aftermath]], ''ComicBook/TheDeathOfClarkKent'', and in Lex Luthor's case, his post-DealWithTheDevil incarnation after ''ComicBook/UnderworldUnleashed''; ''Total Justice'', which while not based on any particular storyline, reflected the then-status quo and gave characters like Kyle Rayner, Wally West, Connor Hawke, Huntress, ComicBook/BlackLightning, Dr. Polaris, Despero, and Parallax their first figures; and ''JLA'', a toyline based on ''ComicBook/JLA1997'' and later ''ComicBook/YoungJustice''.
111* In 2019, NECA made convention exclusive figures based on the various ''Franchise/{{Alien}}'' and ''Franchise/{{Predator}}'' crossovers Creator/DarkHorseComics did with DC including Franchise/{{Superman}} vs. a Xenomorph, Franchise/{{Batman}} vs. the Predator in his armored suit from the first ''Batman Vs. Predator'' series and his normal costume with the Joker-Xenomorph hybrid from the second ''Batman/Aliens'', and -- in this case, a bit of ''ComicBook/SinestroCorpsWar'' with a two pack featuring Franchise/GreenLantern (with swapable heads to change it from Hal Jordan to John Stewart) with a Predator who's a member of the Sinestro Corps[[note]]The story featured both a Yautja and a Xenomorph as members in a ShoutOut[[/note]].
112* While ''ComicBook/HeroesReborn'' is generally hated, some figures were released based on it:
113** ComicBook/IronMan's armor from ''ComicBook/HeroesRebornIronMan'' was popular enough that both Toy Biz and Hasbro made figures of it.
114** A re-release of a Fantastic Four box set for the Toy Biz iteration of ''Marvel Legends'' features Mr. Fantastic and the Invisible Woman in their ''ComicBook/HeroesRebornFantasticFour'' costumes.
115[[/folder]]
116
117[[folder:Eastern Animation]]
118* Being a icon of Georgian's children media, ''Animation/IllReturnAsTheRain'' has numerous kinds of merchandise. Among other things, there are plush toys of Guda-Guda, several picture books based on the short, and brand crayons.
119[[/folder]]
120
121[[folder:Fan Works]]
122
123* ''Fanfic/HeroChat'': In-universe. The fic goes into some of the legal issues of making merch of heroes with secret identities, as well as villains who are innocent victims subject to BrainwashedAndCrazy. The heroes chastise the city for the fact that only a couple people asked permission before making merch of them, and Chloe (in her civilian identity) starts to handle merchandising rights. The heroes of course donate all their royalties to charity, but akumatized victims get royalties from their merch too. The heroes joke that technically Hawkmoth has shared creator rights to the villains, and they might be able to trick him into revealing his identity by offering him royalties.
124
125[[/folder]]
126
127
128[[folder:Films -- Animated]]
129* ''Franchise/{{Cars}}'' has generated this for Disney and Pixar. Within a few years of existence, it became the sixth best-selling toy brand on the market, making ''$2 billion'' per year in merchandise.
130* Much of the ''Franchise/DisneyAnimatedCanon'' films saw a fair amount of tie in products since the very beginning, with varying degrees of success.
131** While the first half of the Renaissance era films saw plenty of sales for their merchandise, the latter half was more hit and miss, with ''WesternAnimation/{{The Hunchback of Notre Dame|Disney}}'' merch quickly filling clearance racks after the film became a box office disappointment.
132** ''WesternAnimation/ThePrincessAndTheFrog'' and ''WesternAnimation/{{Tangled}}'' sold merch moderately well, and Disney had similar expectations for ''WesternAnimation/{{Frozen|2013}}''. When that film became a surprise smash, the toys were selling out, and Disney took months to catch up with the demand. Elsa was the BreakoutCharacter, so her toys and costumes were the most sought out (getting massive markups on secondary markets).
133** After the success of the ''Frozen'' and ''WesternAnimation/{{Encanto}}'' merchandise in particular, Disney went all out with merch for their company centennial MilestoneCelebration canon film ''WesternAnimation/{{Wish}}'', most of it featuring the Anna/Mirabel-esque heroine Asha and the tailor-made-for-plushies CuteMute Star.
134* In the late 1990s, Disney's new head of marketing saw a ''Theatre/DisneyOnIce'' and noticed so many girls were {{cosplay}}ing as the princesses, but not through any official clothing. This got him the idea to make the ''Franchise/DisneyPrincess'' line, which has been a multi-billion per-year idea since.
135* InUniverse with the Peter Parker of Miles Morales' universe in ''WesternAnimation/SpiderManIntoTheSpiderVerse'', who amassed plenty of money via licensing his Spiderman image for merchandise such as costumes and a Christmas album, all of which are regarded as safe low-risk investments. Peter ''B''. Parker however was much less successful in attempting this such as losing money on a failed "TGI Spideys" restaurant and other risky investments.
136* In ''WesternAnimation/TurningRed'', Mei and her friends sell merch InUniverse in order to raise money for concert tickets.
137[[/folder]]
138
139[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
140* ''Franchise/StarWars'' is a CashCowFranchise, and it comes with a ''lot'' of associated merchandise. But the way it got there was kind of interesting. Ordinarily, the film studio would be the one to profit from it, but in the case of ''Star Wars'', Creator/GeorgeLucas negotated with 20th Century Fox to keep all the rights, including merchandise sales, in exchange for dropping his director's fee. Lucas wanted to maintain creative control and was only interested in the merchandising so that he could promote the film himself if the studio [[InvisibleAdvertising decided not to]]. The studio thought they were getting the better end of the deal; they were badly burned by the notorious flop ''Film/DoctorDolittle'' a decade earlier and figured Lucas's SpaceOpera was [[ItWillNeverCatchOn not going to be successful]]. They chose[[Film/IndianaJonesAndTheLastCrusade ... poorly]]. Adjusted for inflation, ''Film/ANewHope'' is the third-highest-grossing movie of all time in the US, with $2.8 billion in total ticket sales. ''Star Wars'' merchandise makes that much money ''every year''. What's more, the movie's success was completely unexpected, and the demand for merchandise in the wake of ''Film/ANewHope'' was unprecedented[[note]]Toy manufacturer Kenner had such a hard time keeping up with demand that for the 1977 holiday season, they had to come up with the "Empty Box Campaign" -- they had to give customers coupons that would allow them to buy the toys when they became available[[/note]] -- before then, merchandising was posters, tie-in books, maybe T-shirts. ''Star Wars'' is the reason you can get promotional ''everything'', from shoes to toothbrushes.
141-->'''Gary Kurtz''', producer''':''' [[http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/herocomplex/2010/08/star-wars-was-born-a-long-time-ago-but-not-all-that-far-far-away-in-1972-filmmakers-george-lucas-and-gary-kurtz-wer.html The toy business began to drive the [Lucasfilm] empire. It’s a shame. They make three times as much on toys as they do on films. It’s natural to make decisions that protect the toy business, but that’s not the best thing for making quality films.]]
142* ''Film/{{Spaceballs}}'', being [[MayTheFarceBeWithYou a spoof of the film that started the super-merchandising trend]], spoofed the phenomenon as much as it could. Apparently, when Creator/MelBrooks asked Creator/GeorgeLucas for permission to make a ''Star Wars'' parody, Lucas would only say yes if there was no merchandising associated with the movie. Brooks thought it was an odd thing to insist on and decided to tweak Lucas about it by having the film shill a series of nonexistent and increasingly bizarre tie-in products ("Spaceballs: the toilet paper! Spaceballs: the flamethrower!"). It also started shilling for the home video release of the movie before it was finished (the villains [[RecursiveReality use it to find the heroes by watching ahead in the movie]]) and made a point to show Dark Helmet playing with his action figures.
143* The 1989 ''Film/{{Batman|1989}}'' movie is remembered for its deluge of merchandise, which arguably set the stage for the way subsequent superhero movies were marketed. It was estimated in 1992 that the movie had brought in around $500 million in merchandise sales.
144* ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings'' movies expanded their merch into replica weapons, shields, helmets, costumes, flags, pipes, and jewelry worn by the characters, along with the more prosaic buttons, pins, books, posters, mousepads, and t-shirts.
145* ''Film/{{Tremors}}'' franchise offers In-Universe example. Let's say your hometown was attacked by giant subterranean monsters, who kill half of its inhabitants before being defeated by the other half. What do you do? Make money on it, of course! Over the course of subsequent movies and the TV series the main characters have become famous science and pop-culture personas, being featured in magazines and TV shows, starring in commercials and documentaries, opening theme parks, having the exclusive license and producing video games, comics, action figures and other merchandise based on the monsters. All while continuing to fight said monsters first occasionally (Tremors 2-3) and then on a weekly basis.
146* At one point, ''Franchise/JurassicPark'' uses the film's actual merchandise to portray the in-universe merchandise for the fictional theme park (which is also sort of an example of OffTheShelfFX).
147* ''Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse'':
148** The films always have tie-in toylines, though how large they are usually depends on how "toyetic" the film itself is.[[note]]For instance, the ''Film/IronMan1'', ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy2014'', ''[[Film/SpiderManHomecoming Spider-Man]]'' and ''Film/{{Black Panther|2018}}'' movies all had larger toylines than ''Film/DoctorStrange2016'' or ''Film/AntMan1''. The various TV series (''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD'', ''Series/AgentCarter'' and the Netflix shows (''Series/{{Daredevil|2015}}'', ''Series/{{Jessica Jones|2015}}'', ''Series/{{Luke Cage|2016}}'' and ''Series/{{Iron Fist|2017}}'') also tended to have less merchandise, since they are aimed at a more adult audience.[[/note]]
149** In-universe, the Avengers have had action figures since the Battle of New York. In ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar'', Stark mentions another cash-in.
150--->'''Stark:''' Yeah and I swore off dairy, then Ben & Jerry's named a flavor after me.\
151'''Strange:''' Stark-Raving Hazelnuts.\
152'''Stark:''' ''[defensively]'' It's not bad.\
153'''Strange:''' Bit ''chalky.''\
154'''Wong:''' I prefer Hulk-a Hulk-a Burnin' Fudge.\
155'''Bruce:''' That's a thing?
156* There was a ''flood'' of ''Franchise/PlanetOfTheApes'' Merch released in the mid-Seventies, intended to promote the [[Series/PlanetOfTheApes TV series]] and theatrical re-release of the films. The show didn't last, but the merchandise proved vastly more profitable.
157* In ''Film/DateWithAnAngel'', Jim's buddies try to merchandise a real angel. Their ideas an embarassingly lame.
158* Creator/{{Kenner}}, [[Creator/ToddMcFarlane McFarlane Toys]], and NECA all did figures based on ''Franchise/{{Alien}}'', ''Franchise/{{Predator}}'', and ''Franchise/AlienVsPredator''. In Kenner's case, there was MisaimedMerchandising going on as their figures are aimed at kids, including a figure shortly after the release of the original ''Film/{{Alien}}''; a series based ''Film/{{Aliens}}'', ''Predator'', and ''AVP'' around the time of ''Film/Alien3'' (as part of a cartoon series that never got off the ground); and a tie-in for ''Film/AlienResurrection''.
159* ''Film/SaveYourselves'': Various merchandise produced for the movie includes T-shirts, masks, plush pouffes, postcards, go-bags, and even Hawaiian shirts and dresses that contain pouffes and cell phones on them.
160* ''Film/{{Privilege}}'' has an in-universe example, with pop star Steve drinking from a mug shaped like his head.
161* ''Film/ExitThroughTheGiftShop'' is not merch-heavy, but the title references the way that museums and galleries promote their own merchandise.
162[[/folder]]
163
164[[folder:Foodstuff]]
165* Even food has had merchandise made out of it. A major example of this is Cup Noodle, which has spin-off products ranging from blankets to makeup made in its' image. Most of it comes from [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff North America]], where the brand is popular.
166[[/folder]]
167
168[[folder:Jokes]]
169* There's an old joke reused for every famous badass, from Creator/JohnWayne to Creator/ChuckNorris:
170--> Did you hear they removed [Action Star]'s new toilet paper brand from the market? There were complaints that it was rough and tough and didn't take shit off anybody.
171[[/folder]]
172
173[[folder:Literature]]
174* InUniverse in ''Literature/BewareOfChicken'', the master of ceremonies for the Dueling Peaks Tournament has a flourishing side business selling dolls of the top competitors and dramaticised accounts of the events. Since there's no intellectual property laws, including model rights, it's easy money for him. He runs into a spot of bother, however, when [[spoiler:he tries to sell dolls of Tigu, and the powerful Azure Jade Trading Company warns him to put that on hold until they have Jin's permission, since Jin is believed to be Tigu's father and is a ''very'' valued client of their company.]]
175[[/folder]]
176
177[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
178!!!'''By Genre:'''
179* {{Toku}}satsu series, especially the ''Franchise/SuperSentai'' and ''Franchise/KamenRider'' franchises, exist to sell merchandise. From the transformation devices and trinkets, to expensive and highly articulated figures, to just about everything else you can imagine, the success of the series is less about the ratings it pulls in, and more about the profit its toys make. Naturally, its derivations ''Franchise/PowerRangers'' and ''Series/KamenRiderDragonKnight'' are exactly the same.
180!!!'''By Network:'''
181* Notably the TropeCodifier for the format of all the following Creator/DisneyChannel shows post-1999 (Series/HannahMontana, etc.), ''Series/LizzieMcGuire'' also started the merchandising craze those shows had. Fortune magazine estimated in 2003 that ''Lizzie [=McGuire=]'' merchandise had earned the Walt Disney Co. nearly ''$100 million!'' That's from Radio Disney's big CD promotion, books based on the episodes being sold, mystery books starring Lizzie (much in the same vein as the Mary Kate And Ashley Olson mystery books), Tokyo POP manga adaptations, bed sheets, Barbie dolls, board games, and The Movie.
182!!!'''By Series:'''
183* The UrExample on British TV would be the 1955 adventure series ''Series/TheAdventuresOfRobinHood'', which saw probably the first tie-in toy merch: the Airfix model company created figure sets both of Robin Hood and his men, with the Sheriff of Nottingham's forces produced as oppostion. Airfix also marketed the Sheriff's Castle as a setting for battles to be fought using the soldiers. Airfix went on to produce tie-in merch figures for ''Series/{{Daktari}}'', the ''Series/{{Tarzan}}'' TV shows, for ''Series/TheHighChaparall'' and other American imports, and, in more recent times, had a lucrative, though not exclusive, agreement to market tie-in models to ''Series/DoctorWho''.
184* ''{{Series/The Chosen|TVSeries}}'': To spread the Word and defray the costs of production, the series generated merchandise such as books and clothing lines. One had the interesting title of "Binge Jesus", a logo appearing on clothing sold as a tie-in, meant as a sort of visual pun, that if you've binge-watched ''The Chosen'', then come and binge on Jesus, as you can never have too much of Him. Another clothing logo is the Biblical quote "Come And See", a possible reference to John 1:39 - ''Jesus said, "Come and See"''.
185* ''Series/DoctorWho'' has had some fairly serious ExecutiveMeddling over the years to [[MerchandiseDriven peddle more merch]], as due to the ways Creator/TheBBC is funded the best way to make huge amounts of money is through selling toys, both to the technical target audience of children and the more lucrative target audience of [[CrackIsCheaper adult collectors]]. More transparent examples of this have occasionally caused controversy and dips in the show's quality:
186** From 1964 to about 1966 or so, "Dalekmania" (a Dalek craze created by how iconic and menacing the Daleks were) hit, and British stores were filled with toys, games, kids' clothing, cakes, Easter eggs, plates, OfficialCosplayGear, ice lollies, anything you can think of, all bearing the image of the Daleks. This unfortunately led to a period of the show's writers being forced by executive mandate to create monsters and worlds designed to be "[[{{Toyetic}} memorable]]". This resulted in a slew of forgettable monsters such as the Voord and the Mechanoids and spectacularly rubbish-looking monsters such as the [[TinCanRobot Krotons]], [[InsectoidAliens Zarbi]] and [[BeePeople Menoptera-Optera]], most of which would copy the Dalek formula with some combination of 1) a rather garish design, 2) a distinctive speech quirk such as AccentUponTheWrongSyllable, RoboSpeak, SssssnakeTalk, etcetera that children were intended to imitate in the playground, and 3) very long serials introducing them and going into a lot of depth about their planet and culture (to create spinoff children's book opportunities). None of these forced attempts to create mascots were ever as effective as the Daleks, or the Cybermen (who were not designed to be anything other than terrifying), although it's worth noting that the Zarbi in particular ''were'' very popular at the time. A particularly obvious example of this kind of forced monster toyeicism is the Dalek [[TheWarRoom War Room]] sequence in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS3E2MissionToTheUnknown "Mission to the Unknown"]], which introduces [[http://drwhotht01.x10.mx/1ta/d01-1ta-005.jpg several somewhat over-designed new species of alien]] as creatures powerful and villanous enough that [[TheWorfEffect the Daleks are forced to negotiate alliances with them rather than just exterminating them outright]], and also introduces the audience to their distinctive speech quirks. The fact that this was a PoorlyDisguisedPilot for a Dalek TV show doesn't help.
187** Part of the reason the show was {{ReTool}}ed into a TuxedoAndMartini-influenced spy series in the early 1970s was so that they could sell model kits and tin toys based on the Doctor's obligatory {{Cool Car}}s.
188** One of the reasons RobotDog K-9 was added to the cast was because, as a KidAppealCharacter, it was easy to sell toys of him. Tom Baker has claimed in interviews that he strongly disliked that about the character, as he felt the Doctor role had something of a {{messianic|Archetype}} feel to it and it served as a constant reminder that he was just making commercial, money-hungry television.
189** Creator/JohnNathanTurner's conviction was that all the Doctors needed {{Iconic Outfit}}s that they could sell as OfficialCosplayGear and that ExecutiveMeddling, extreme {{Camp}}, LimitedWardrobe and ForcedMeme were the ways to go about doing it. This resulted in a lot of WTHCostumingDepartment for a lot of viewers. [[http://dw-cosplay.livejournal.com/397057.html This blog post]] on a ''Who'' cosplay community has some information about the costume designer's attempts to deal with this when designing the Season 18 Fourth Doctor costume (generally considered the least awful of the JNT-era outfits).
190** There is supposedly a mandate in the new series that every episode has to feature a MonsterOfTheWeek which could potentially create toy opportunities. If that's the case, this does some damage to the straightfoward drama [[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E8FathersDay "Father's Day"]], which is just about Rose trying to change her own past; the ClockRoaches are quite obviously forced in and only appear in that one episode despite ''many'' later stories involving paradoxes that the Reapers should be summoned by. It also hurts [[Recap/DoctorWhoS35E6TheWomanWhoLived "The Woman Who Lived"]]; the quiet story of the Doctor and Ashildr/Lady Me crossing paths again centuries after the former immortalized the latter to save her life is plenty compelling and could have been even more so if it hadn't brought in ObviouslyEvil lion man Leandro to provide an alien invasion plot and action climax.
191** The biggest recent controversy over this was the allegation that the very unpopular "New Paradigm" redesign of the Daleks in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E3VictoryOfTheDaleks "Victory of the Daleks"]] was done purely to create a new toy range (collect all the colours!), although the official explanation was that the 2005 Dalek design was created to be at "eye"-level with Creator/BilliePiper, and was too small in comparison to the very tall Doctor-Companion duo of Creator/MattSmith and Creator/KarenGillan. They even got a ProductPromotionParade sequence when they first appeared, showing off their appearances and explaining their special power.
192** Averted with the sonic sunglasses of Series 9, which took the place of the sonic screwdriver that season as the Doctor's IconicItem[=/=]all-purpose gadget but never became OfficialCosplayGear. Both Steven Moffat and Peter Capaldi liked the idea of a gadget any kid could pretend to have with no more than a pair of shades — but a significant portion of the fanbase was cheesed off and demanded the reinstatement of the screwdriver. Turned out that he got a new model screwdriver at the end of the SeasonFinale in a manner that provided BookEnds to him tossing away his previous model to [[spoiler:young Davros]] in the opening scene of the season premiere, suggesting that the glasses were never meant to be a permanent replacement for it (he then used both items).
193* The 2011 series of ''Series/ImACelebrityGetMeOutOfHere'' features hosts Creator/AntAndDec plotting to make a bit of cash on the side by flogging Merch featuring the contestants... like [[{{Pun}} Anthony Cotton buds]] and the Little Willie[[note]]Carson[[/note]] mug ("Oh. That's... that's not the picture we were thinking of." "[[ThinkOfTheCensors We can't show that!]]")
194* In ''Series/TheMandalorian'' the FirstEpisodeSpoiler was that the title bounty hunter would find and protect an infant of [[OldMaster Yoda's]] species, called "The Child" (until his actual name is revealed as Grogu) but with a dominant FanNickname of "Baby Yoda." The production was so desperate to maintain this secrecy they avoided ANY merchandise of the character to be made in advance. The sheer popularity of the character made industry experts suggest they lost tens of millions of dollars from that alone due to not having any t-shirts or plush toys for months afterward.
195* While it's fairly uncommon for Creator/PBSKids shows to have merchandise (apart from big-name programs like ''Series/SesameStreet''), ''Series/OddSquad'' stands out as one of the few outliers that does have official merchandise, being sold by numerous companies as well as by PBS Kids themselves. In addition, Sinking Ship Entertainment, one of the show's production companies, signed licensing deals with numerous companies to produce games, puzzles, and costumes as additional merch, but only one deal (with the online retailer Fun, to sell female Director costumes and Scientist costumes) has gone through to date.
196* ''Series/PeeWeesPlayhouse''. Uniquely, Paul Reubens himself had to approve every merchandise deal, and he held off on most of them until about two or three seasons in. He stipulated that any toy bearing his seal had to be simple enough for any child to play with.
197* ''Series/StreetHawk'', a.k.a. ''Series/KnightRider'' on two wheels, was introduced late in India, and [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff became a huge hit with viewers]]. Cashing in on this fan following, Funskool, who retailed ''Franchise/GIJoe'' toys in India, released a retooled, black painted Rapid Action Motorcycle and Snake Eyes combo as an unlicensed Street Hawk toy.
198[[/folder]]
199
200[[folder:Music]]
201* Music/{{KISS}} is probably the only rock band with their own line of caskets. The late Music/{{Pantera}} guitarist "Dimebag" Darrel Abbot was famously buried in one, at his own request, though this one was provided free of charge by Gene Simmons himself out of respect for the man and his work.
202* Creator/PsychopathicRecords is known for their "Hatchet Gear" line.
203* Parodies by Music/MCFrontalot and Music/MCLars in ''Captains of Industry''.
204--> ''Frontalot is in the tee shirt business.''\
205''MC Lars is in the tee shirt business.''\
206''Both of us, we’re in the tee shirt business.''\
207''I thought we were musicians — what is this?''
208* Music/TheBeatles had two separate waves of The Merch while the band was still active: the first and biggest happened in the "Beatlemania" days; the second, smaller wave happened when ''WesternAnimation/YellowSubmarine'' came out. These days, there's still a lot of merchandise in the form of higher-end collectibles and [=McFarlane=] Toys' ''Yellow Submarine'' and ''Beatles Cartoon Show'' lines.
209* Most bands will have some sort of mecrhandise, but who other than [[http://abneypark.com/market/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=46&products_id=394 Abney Park]] have (official) 28mm gaming minis of themselves?
210* Music/DanielAmos mocked the proliferation of [[TheMoralSubstitute Christian-themed]] trinkets on "Little Crosses" (from ''Music/{{Doppelganger}}'') and "Home Permanent" (from ''Music/VoxHumana'').
211-->These little crosses\
212I see on my T.V.\
213Take my money\
214and give me some of these\
215Little crosses\
216with lots of color and sound\
217I'm in heaven\
218with all these treasures around
219* Music/JimmyBuffett has restaurants called "Margaritaville" and "Cheeseburger in Paradise" that are named after two of his greatest hits. The former has more restaurants than the latter. Also, "Margaritaville" has frozen food, beer, furniture, clothing, casinos, and barware under the name. The song has been considered to be the most valuable song, making more money off of related products rather than sales of the track.
220[[/folder]]
221
222[[folder:Pinball]]
223* There exists [[http://www.ipdb.org/showpic.pl?id=3781&picno=7160 a jacket]] themed after ''Pinball/AttackFromMars''.
224* ''[[Pinball/WhoaNellieBigJuicyMelons Whoa Nellie! Big Juicy Melons]]'': [=WhizBang=] Pinball has mugs, T-shirts, framed backglass art, and standees featuring the healthy-living, big-breasted FarmersDaughter Melony for sale.
225* ''Pinball/FooFighters2023'': InUniverse, the ShowWithinAShow has a line of action figures based on the characters. Collecting a band member in-game displays an animation of a child opening up their corresponding toy, alongside a piece of their [[HumongousMecha Foobot]] included in the package. The front and sides of the Premium and Limited Editions' cabinet are also decorated with a faux-advertisement for the figures, including one for [[BigBad the Overlord]].
226[[/folder]]
227
228[[folder:Professional Wrestling]]
229* Wrestling/{{WWE}} tag-team Wrestling/DGenerationX, during their "reunion" years, was the subject of a RunningGag in which they would find ways to plug their merchandise, whether it be their action figures, T-shirts, [=DVDs=], or even their new book (now available at [[http://www.wweshop.com WWEShop.com]]!) in the most blatant, forced, and incongruous way possible, with [[CheshireCatGrin Cheshire Cat Grins]] on their faces the whole time. Pretty much every wrestler has Merch, mind, and will plug it in more subtle ways (like wearing their latest T-shirt as they come down to the ring), but D-Generation X raised parodying the practice to an art form.
230* The Wrestling/NewWorldOrder would often have short segments that were basically commercials, shot with a grainy black and white effect and almost coming off like an underground propaganda film (which was the intention). Some, like [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zz67v4pdS4g this one]], were just advertisements for nWo merch, while others had Wrestling/KevinNash yelling stuff like "BUY THE SHIRT!" as the segment finished.
231* {{Wrestling/ECW}}'s constant money problems led to this in spades. Rather hilariously most of the merchandise was designed by wrestler Taz[[note]]Who claimed he intentionally spelled the word homicidal on Wrestling/{{Sabu}}'s shirt (which was supposed to say "Suicidal Homicidal Genocidal") as "'''homo'''cidal" because [[ArchEnemy he and Sabu hate each other's guts]][[/note]], with other wrestlers like Dreamer and Richards involved in sales.
232* WWE often doesn't even promote the weirdest of their merchandise. BBQ bibs, ponchos, rings in the shape of title belts, earrings, sippy bottles, onesies, a John Cena chore chart, Kosher, edible images to cook onto your pizza, DX branded menorahs, and even garden gnomes. And there are a whole host of products that you can't by directly from their merchandise website or are no longer sold. WWE branded Kerplunk and Uno, digital cameras, RC vehicles, boom boxes, gigantic lighters with a picture of a [[Wrestling/CMPunk straight edge wrestler]] on them, condoms, thongs. Anything and everything.
233[[/folder]]
234
235[[folder:Theatre]]
236* ''Theatre/{{Cats}}'' was to live theater what ''Star Wars'' was to movies when it came to exploring the potential of merchandising: not just programs and soundtracks, but T-shirts, coffee mugs, etc.
237* ''Theatre/ThePhantomOfTheOpera'' has such licensed merchandise as music boxes, jewelry, figurines, and snowglobes on top of mugs and tees. Available soundtracks include ones for the original London cast, original Canadian cast, and the movie -- and then there are the foreign-language recordings. The sequel ''Love Never Dies'' pushed jewelry, key rings, magnets, etc.
238* Any Disney live show, be it the latest Theatre/DisneyOnIce tour or a legit musical like ''The Lion King'', will have tons of merch.
239* Most Creator/CirqueDuSoleil shows have a soundtrack album, [=DVD=] (either the actual show or a making-of documentary), T-shirts, program, ornaments, keychains, masks, hats, drinkware, etc. ''Then'' there's the merchandise representing the overall company, which includes all of the above items plus stationery, coffee table books, toys, salt and pepper shakers, jewelry, lip balm, etc., etc. (That merchandise is now brought out in new "collections" every few months via the online boutique.) The non-touring "resident" shows all have dedicated gift shops, and the big top tours feature a large entrance tent that includes the souvenir stands.
240* Merchandizing is apparently OlderThanSteam: There's a Yuan Dynasty (14th-century Chinese) wine jar in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (catalog number 37.292a-b) which depicts a scene from ''The Three Visits of Prince Liu Bei to the Hermit-Scholar Zhuge Liang'', a play popular at the time. Art historian Wu Tung described it as "apparently created for commercial purposes -- to capitalize on the popularity of the play."
241[[/folder]]
242
243[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
244* Of late, there have been many attempts by Creator/GamesWorkshop to expand their supplementary material eg. books, computer games etc. to an actual line of merch. Small badges and practically everything you could use for tactical miniature gaming with their label on it, thus doubling the price, not withstanding; there are now mystery pack collectible figures (toylike cheap crap that cannot be used in the game) and POP vinyl figures available.
245* In the [[TabletopGame/{{Rifts}} Phase World]] setting, there is a whole sector of the citadel held by Naruni Enterprises, which is not just occupied by ranges, training courses, hangars, sales offices and many a weapon store; there is a hell of a lot of merch available in-universe. Model tanks and robots, all manner of toy weapons, clothing, non-combat items, adventuring gear, and all manner of media including holographic movies and virtual video games, all so people remember their name, eg. they like the weapons in the video game so they go shopping with Naruni first when they decide to go become a galactic mercenary, they remember having a toy weapon or collection of diecast starfighters as a kid...
246* Similar with Church recruiting drives in ''TabletopGame/Necropolis2350'', where they give away lots of magazines, books, stationery, and sometimes model tanks, in the hope that the kids will grow up aspiring to join up and become a Knight. Similar to real-life military open days.
247[[/folder]]
248
249[[folder:Toys]]
250* All sorts of merchandise based on the ''Toys/{{Tamagotchi}}'' toys has been made, with candies, cards, bath bombs, playsets featuring figurines of the characters, plush toys, and keychains being just some of the pieces of merch they've put out. The [[Anime/{{Tamagotchi}} TV show]] has also had merchandise relating to it.
251[[/folder]]
252
253[[folder:Video Games]]
254* ''VideoGame/LBXLittleBattlersExperience'' has the LBX model kits released by Bandai (of ''Franchise/{{Gundam}}'' fame). They are all in 1:1 scale (thanks to being tiny robots to begin with), complete with fully interchangeable parts for customization, weapon expansion packs and the cardboard arena diorama seen in both the game and the anime. There's also the Riding Saucer, a remote-controlled LBX support unit compatible with the model kits.
255* ''VideoGame/{{Minecraft}}'' has [[http://minecraft.net/store/ whole stacks of merchandise]]. The T-shirts are just the tip of the iceberg made of stuff like stickers, posters, plushies, foam replicas of in-game items, handbooks, novels, figurines and even Franchise/{{LEGO}} construction sets.
256* ''VideoGame/RocoKingdom'' has had multiple toys made for it, among them Franchise/{{LEGO}}-like minifigures, a series of trading cards, and a 3D marble puzzle that's very much a knockoff of the TabletopGame/{{Perplexus}} line.
257* There are tons of ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog'' merchandise, ranging from T-shirts, furniture, plush, and figurines to fast food, hygiene, and even expensive statues. [[http://sonicgear.org/ There's a fansite dedicated to Sonic merch.]]
258* Due to it being the most popular video game series of all time, the ''Franchise/SuperMario'' series has had a huge range of merch that can be found around the world. Of course, there's the usual stuff like action figures, plushies, clothing, household goods, food, bedding and school supplies, to the weird stuff like tote bags, toothpaste, baby walkers and even branded [[https://www.gummyvites.com/en/lil-critters/products/lil-critters-super-mario-power-ups-complete-multivitamin gummy vitamins]].
259* ''Franchise/{{Kirby}}'' has a huge range of merchandise ranging from the expected plushes and T-shirts, to towels, blankets, stationery, bento boxes, garden planters, and even ''make-up kits''. ''Kirby'' has also done collaborations with various companies for things like special plushes, tote bags, sweets and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLw24kQxjqo&t=177s coffee.]] Unfortunately, most of these are [[NoExportForYou only in Japan.]]
260[[/folder]]
261
262[[folder:Web Animation]]
263* ''WebAnimation/HomestarRunner'' sells T-Shirts, posters, action figures, [=DVDs=], an [[Music/StrongBadSingsAndOtherTypeHits album]] and other merchandise. It has become so successful, that the store is basically the creators' jobs.
264* ''WebAnimation/SpaceTree'' had a throwaway line in a parody commercial about a Space Tree action figure. However, later episodes featured links at the end that, when hovered over, displayed this line and led to a place to purchase a ''Space Tree'' shirt:
265-->'''Space Tree action figure:''' Mamma mia, buy a shirt!
266* Most of ''WebAnimation/InanimateInsanity''[='=]s merch constitutes of t-shirts, though a few other things are also sold, such as footwear and mugs.
267* The ''WebAnimation/MysterySkullsAnimated'' crew occasionally makes t-shirts available in the Music/MysterySkulls online [[https://mysteryskulls247.com/#_=_ store]].
268[[/folder]]
269
270[[folder:Webcomics]]
271* Brian Clevenger of ''Webcomic/EightBitTheater'' has a question on his site FAQ that essentially asks "Why did you sell out?", he claims (humorously) that there's no legal way to make money on nothing but his good looks.
272* ''Webcomic/TheAdventuresOfDrMcNinja'' has spawned such a thriving T-shirt business for creator Chris Hastings that, in a recent interview, he mentioned that he sells his merch (at Topatoco) under the name "Raptor Bandit Industries" so he can draw in customers who don't read his comic.
273* ''Webcomic/CtrlAltDel'' offers t-shirts, printed comic collections, refrigerator magnets, posters, maquettes, plushies and more based on the comic.
274* The title bar of ''Webcomic/DieselSweeties'' asserts that its full name is "diesel sweeties: indie rock robot romance webcomic and geeky t-shirt blogporium"
275* Airship Entertainment/Studio Foglio had a lot of stuff for ''Webcomic/GirlGenius'' -- such as insignia appearing InUniverse, or generic GaslampFantasy[=/=]{{Steampunk}} stuff such as pen looking like a mini-wrench.
276* ''Webcomic/MegaTokyo'' is sometimes (jokingly!) accused of being nothing more than a front for the sale of novelty T-shirts and fashion accessories. There's been somewhat more truth to this in recent years, as the comic has suffered severe ScheduleSlip, but new merch continues to come out on a regular basis and the store is, apparently, still decently successful.
277* ''Webcomic/PennyArcade'':
278** The series mercilessly savaged MerchandiseDriven properties in the character of "[[http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2005/01/05 The Merch]]". Of course, they have no small line of merchandise themselves, which ironically includes the character The Merch in its lineup. Given that the Merch has evolved into an unofficial store mascot, they seem to be quite aware of this.
279** When the first few strips involving the character of The Merch were compiled into a book, Tycho lamented that the concept was handled in such an obvious and heavy handed manner. Accordingly, over the last few years The Merch has only appeared in the background on shirts and the like, rather than being an active joke in the comic.
280* ''Wicked Powered'' is a MerchandiseDriven webcomic, created for the purpose of selling "Wicked Lasers" laser pointers.
281* [[http://www.drunkduck.com/Stickman_and_Cube/index.php?p=270124 This comic]] from ''Webcomic/StickmanAndCube'' parodies Merch, by giving the StickFigureComic not only a T-shirt, but also action figures and ''its own breakfast cereal''. Fortunately, the author was joking.
282* ''Webcomic/QuestionableContent'': webcomic or front for a t-shirt business? You decide. One of the few self-sufficient Webcomics, as the author makes his living by selling said t-shirts, many of them {{Defictionalization}}s of shirts worn in-comic (Marten's TEH shirt comes to mind). Luckily, he doesn't throw it in anyone's face, but back in the day, you'd see a new t-shirt pop up on a character, then Jeph would talk about it in a newspost, then he'd have it available- nearly every other month.
283* ''Webcomic/ScaryGoRound'' is also a self-sufficient Webcomic, due to The Merch. The earliest T-shirts were worn by characters in the strip (Shelley's "Eggbert" T-shirt was revived for Christmas 2008). These days the characters still wear quirky T-shirts from time to time, but the shirts available to the public tend to have a tenuous connection to the strip. They're pretty cool, though.
284* ''Webcomic/{{Loserz}}'' (when it was still running) sold pictures with the characters from the comic as computer wallpaper. The erotic ones were more expensive than the others.
285* ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'' sells trade paperbacks of the comic, with additional bonus content available only in print. Two of the paperbacks out so far are prequels, the content of which has never been published on the web. And, of course, T-shirts.
286* Attempted subversion in ''Sam and Fuzzy'' with the in-universe creation of [[http://www.samandfuzzy.com/archive.php?id=322 Skull Panda]], a character that "will appeal to alienated youths and wannabe social outcasts" by being simultaneously edgy and cute. The subversion failed because the character was legitimately appealing; Skull Panda currently has two t-shirts for sale.
287* Aside from various typical merch fare (T-shirts, prints, anthologies, etc.) pop by Mookie's booth at a convention and you can even pick up a ''Webcomic/DominicDeegan'' ''scarf''. Those are typically the first thing to sell out of.
288* ''Webcomic/SluggyFreelance'' was one of the first webcomics and one of the first to become a full-time source of income for its creators. It is currently supported through merchandise, book sales, and subscriptions to exclusive content.
289* An early ''Planet Karen'' strip [[http://planetkaren.girl-wonder.org/index.php?strip_id=40 suggested a possibility]] for ''Franchise/TheDarkTower'' merch.
290* ''Webcomic/MSFHigh'': While not directly merchandise driven, Trading cards check, table top RPG rule books check, commission's and reward points check.
291* Topatoco is a company that makes and distributes the merch for webcomicers, founded and run by a webcomicer. Almost all of their merch is reproduced hipster tee shirts worn by webcomics characters, but almost none of their merch has any webcomic logos, characters, or dialog on it. It's like they're ''ashamed'' of it.
292* ''Webcomic/VGCats'' is getting to the point where Scott Ramsoomair is putting out more t-shirts than new comics a year.
293* ''Webcomic/SparklingGenerationValkyrieYuuki'' only updates once every 2 months at best. But watch every other week to see updates on the author's newest merchandise, and what newest conventions she will be selling said merchandise at!
294* ''Webcomic/{{Shadowgirls}}'' has the Shadowchild figure and most recently the Merv Hat.
295* ''Webcomic/MSPaintAdventures'':
296** ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'' has evolved into something of a small-scale merchandising empire, to the point that it spans ''three'' online stores - Topatoco, [=WeLoveFine=], and its own, [=WhatPumpkin=]. In addition to the standard webcomic shirts and jumpers (of which there are plenty, including a full set of [[WesternZodiac twelve]] troll shirts and twelve God Tier shirts/hoodies, there is a sizable array of jewelry, prints from the art team, plush toys, an art calendar that's been released yearly since 2011, and the series' utterly enormous discography of music albums. And that's just ''Homestuck'' alone - add in ''Webcomic/ProblemSleuth'' and you've got several more shirts and prints, plus two books.
297---> "I seem to have this knack for falling totally ass backwards into highly marketable ideas, like the troll zodiac symbols. [...] I’ve never actually put anything in the story to sell anything. But throughout the entire ride, every time I turn around, I’m saying, “Oh, whoops. Guess I gotta sell that now.”" -- Andrew Hussie, in [[http://comicsalliance.com/homestuck-interview-andrew-hussie-bryan-lee-omalley-ms-paint-adventures/ this interview]]
298** ''Webcomic/SweetBroAndHellaJeff'', [[StylisticSuck an intentionally terrible webcomic filled with grammar errors, JPEG artifacts]] and [[DadaComics general absurdity]] has an impressive array of merchandise. There are the obligatory T-shirts, some of which glow in the dark and all of which are hilariously terrible. Then there's the magnetic "poetry," a set of fridge magnets featuring snippets from the comic that you can assemble at whim to make something remotely approaching coherency. And now there's a ''hardcover $44 book'' that also comes with a coin of one of the characters, a 3-foot long bookmark ribbon, a "pocket edition" that's a glorified poster of every single comic, a garishly oversized "plantsic paperclip," a lenticular bookmark, and a scratch and sniff sticker that ostensibly smells like pizza. This lavish book's bar code scans as a bag of Doritos, and the front cover has a ''coffee ring laminated onto its surface.'' And not only that, but for ''$50'' you can get it signed by the character in ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'' [[ShowWithinAShow who writes the comic.]]
299* In ''Webcomic/TheBirdFeeder'' [[http://thebirdfeeder.com/comic/216 #216]], "Shameful Self-Promotion," Darryl [[FourthWallObserver breaks the fourth wall]] to try to help "his cartoonist" to sell some product.
300* ''Webcomic/CobwebAndStripes'': A weekly {{Fan Webcomic|s}} that has its own merch department in the artist's [=RedBubble=] store, where readers can purchase images from the strip on various items.
301* There is a fair amount of Merch available for ''Webcomic/GreyIs'', including cups and bookmarks with chibi Black and White on them
302* ''Webcomic/{{Heartcore}}'':
303** An in-universe example: ThePaladin Syranon Glaed, famous demon hunter and good-looking [[LittleBitBeastly Beastman]], has merchandise based on him in [[DomedHometown New Ayers]] due to his popularity with the people.
304** In real life, the author offers donation incentives in the form of pins, stickers, fridge magnets, and bookmarks.
305* ''Webcomic/{{PvP}}'' has hardcover and softcover books of collected strips, desktop vinyl figures, a DVD, posters and T-shirts.
306* ''Webcomic/SchlockMercenary'' mostly sells book collections of the strips but also sells other things including T-Shirts, bags, magnets and miniatures. On occasion the comic has a merch-related strip, like for example with challenge coins.
307* ''Webcomic/TigerTiger'': There's a plush of [[https://www.tigertigercomic.com/tiger-tiger/commercialbreak "Sausage".]]
308* ''Webcomic/{{Unsounded}}'': The [[https://www.casualvillain.com/Unsounded/comic_shop.html shop]] usually has a few magnets in addition to the print volumes of the comic.
309* Webcomic/{{Xkcd}} has [[http://store.xkcd.com its own shop]], where t-shirts, posters and a variety of other things, mostly with images from the comics, are sold.
310* Appropriately enough, ''Webcomic/YehudaMoonAndTheKickstandCyclery'' sells Yehuda's [[SignatureHeadgear cycling cap]].
311* ''Webcomic/ZebraGirl'' has "Joe Does Something!" -- for every $500 in donations that Joe racks up, he posts a funny little animation involving his AuthorAvatar... err... doing something.
312[[/folder]]
313
314[[folder:Web Original]]
315* Website/{{Fark}}, despite being already self-sufficient thanks to its traffic generating scads of clickthroughs, has recently started offering T-shirts with the joke headlines and tags for stories featured on the site.
316* ''WebVideo/YuGiOhTheAbridgedSeries'' sells shirts with their more popular memes on them.
317* Until ''Website/TelevisionWithoutPity'' affiliated itself with Yahoo several years ago (before it was sold to Bravo), much of the costs of the site were provided by Merch. Available Merch included Tubey (the site mascot) in close to fifty designs (each evocative of a particular show that was recapped) on virtually anything [=CafePress=] would imprint, as well as open stock and limited edition t-shirts.
318* ''WebVideo/AtopTheFourthWall'', where bad comics burn, also has merch, specifically T-Shirts. LOTS of T-shirts. Some of the other Channel Awesome contributors have it as well, but Linkara's the most notable example, being that, as he noted recently during a video to call attention to people not watching ads, [=AT4W=] is his ''day job'', and given the rise of ad blockers, people watching the videos without watching the ads means he has less money to pay the bills with.
319* LetsPlay/TheRunawayGuys sell T-shirts with cartoonly-designed faces of the trio on them. The artist, Tom Fawkes, got endorsement from the Guys to draw these.
320* Similarly to the [[LetsPlay/TheRunawayGuys TRG]] example, the [[WebVideo/GameGrumps Game Grumps]] have T-shirts with their 'Grump Heads' displayed on them.
321* WebVideo/{{Jacksfilms}} sells various articles of clothing, which show up in his videos a lot.
322* The British beauty [[Website/YouTube YouTuber]] {{Zoella}} attracted a huge backlash in late 2017 through this; although she'd already had numerous lines of merch and other branded products out, for Christmas 2017 she released, in association with the beauty/chemist's chain Boots, an advent calendar[[note]]A calendar with doors for the days of December on it, which you open to count down to Christmas; there is usually chocolate or increasingly another small gift or item behind the doors[[/note]]. An advent calendar which had only 12 doors on it when the entire point of one involves it having at least 24. An advent calendar which contained small, cheap worthless items like a tiny notepad, a pen, a keyring, a scented candle, a tiny bottle of room spray and (most egregiously) a small cookie cutter. For '''£50'''[[note]]Most Brits would consider £10 a bit much for an advent calendar and most will usually buy one for well under £5.[[/note]]. She quickly garnered negative press, and didn't help herself when she claimed to have had no input on the contents of the calendar despite previously claiming to have full oversight and control of her licensed projects; in the process, also burning her bridges with Britain's biggest beauty chain by placing all the blame for it squarely on them. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rA91BaJWYQw Watch JaackMaate's viciously scathing review of the contents of the calendar here]].
323* Selling [=DVDs=], T-shirts, posters, and premium subscriptions was essentially how Creator/RoosterTeeth kept themselves afloat for many years until their acquisition by Fullscreen Media in 2014. Afterwards, while merch sales still accounts for roughly 20-30% of their revenue, their merch has widely diversified to include drinkware, toys, more types of apparel like underwear, scarves, and socks, and even backpacks and coolers.
324* Parodied InUniverse in Literature/TheTimTebowCFLChronicles - all of the merchandise mentioned is for films that either had terrible critical reception or aren’t MerchandiseDriven.
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327[[folder:Western Animation]]
328* Shortly after ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' debuted, Bart Simpson was on virtually every product conceivable, to the extent that [[IconicCharacterForgottenTitle many people assumed the name of the show was "Bart Simpson"]]. The show's mocked this on several occasions, for example when Bart said to Krusty "I'd never put ''my'' face on an inferior product".
329** Krusty is king of this in-universe. A couple of in-universe ads for Krusty-branded items have featured a voiceover that's painfully obviously a stock clip of a bored-sounding Krusty drawling out in monotone "I heartily endorse this event or product.". He endorses so much stuff that by one point he's told that there is nothing left that he doesn't already endorse.
330** One particular CouchGag - designed by avant-garde artist Banksy - showed all the merchandise being made for the show in [[BitingTheHandHumor an underground mine sweat shop]], with malnourished workers, toxic chemicals being used and [[WorthlessYellowRocks a unicorn horn]] used [[MundaneUtility to punch out the center holes in DVD's]]!
331* A tragic [[SubvertedTrope subversion]] occurred with ''WesternAnimation/SymBionicTitan''. The show had all the potential of a successful, marketable toyline, having SuperRobotGenre elements, but ''failed'' to strike a deal with toy companies. Guess what? The high-quality cartoon is royally ScrewedByTheNetwork in response to this.
332* WordOfGod is that this is what killed ''WesternAnimation/StaticShock''. The show had tremendous ratings and was even beating ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'', but ended after four seasons due to a lack of merchandise. Creator/{{Dwayne McDuffie}} says that a fifth season was ordered by Creator/KidsWB, but that there was simply no money left to produce it.
333* More recently, Creator/BruceTimm confirmed that ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice2010'' and ''WesternAnimation/GreenLanternTheAnimatedSeries'' were cancelled due to this as well. ''Young Justice'' had a toy line, but it didn't sell well, while ''Green Lantern'' never even had one due to the surplus of unsold toys from the flopped [[Film/GreenLantern2011 live-action movie]].
334* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' is naturally MerchandiseDriven, as the original ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePony'' franchise was created to sell toys to little girls. That's where Hasbro's involvement in The Merch ends though; everything else with ponies on it, from bicycles to board games to underwear, is made by other companies. Some of these are officially licensed, but many are not. [=WeLoveFine=] is notable for being one of the few businesses that sell My Little Pony clothing sized for adults, so their products are sometimes mistaken as being officially licensed, despite the fact that every page of their website has "for fans, by fans" in the header, and that every product page has a mini-bio of the fan/artist who designed the product.
335* ''WesternAnimation/PeterRabbit'' has a number of plush toy releases, as well as model figures, playsets and a plate/silverware set. Additionally, Peter Rabbit has long been featured on a line of fruit/vegetable snack pouches known as Peter Rabbit Organics. When this series began airing, the packaging on these was changed to feature Peter's look from the television series, as opposed to the original Beatrix Potter book-style illustrations. Due to the show originating from Britain, many of these items, though nowhere near all, are NoExportForYou.
336* Despite online exclusives like ''WesternAnimation/CreativeGalaxy'' still being somewhat niche, it has managed a couple, unsurprisingly sold through Amazon. There are two different t-shirts, one targeted towards boys and the other towards girls. The other is an artist's belt that looks like the won worn by the show's star Arty and includes various art supplies such as a coloring pad, doodle pad, water pads, sticker books, crayons and paintbrushes.
337* Even before its announcement for AnimatedAdaptation on Creator/{{Netflix}}, Anna Dewdney's ''Literature/LlamaLlama'' series had plush toys of the title character as well as his best friend, Nelly Gnu. With the animated release, plush toys for all the major characters on the show have been announced, as well as other merchandise.
338* ''WesternAnimation/StarVsTheForcesOfEvil'': In-universe. After Marco convinces the princesses at the BoardingSchoolOfHorrors to rise up, merchandise of his princess persona starts being sold. He gets a rather hefty weekly royalty check.
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342[[folder:Other]]
343* Creator/{{PBS}} has been doing this for decades, during their fund-raisers - even back when they were NET rather than PBS. Coffee cups and tote-bags go all the way back, but now they've branched out to include special-edition [=DVDs=] and [=CDs=] of "the program you just watched", companion books, and sometimes t-shirts.
344* CNN lets you buy t-shirts with a tasteful (and sometimes [[http://francescoexplainsitall.blogspot.com/2009/09/seriously-cnn-what-is-wrong-with-you.html not-so-tasteful]]) selection of their headlines on them.
345* Museums also went The Merch route long ago, with gift shops in the museum itself, and mail-order catalogs containing reproductions of paintings, statues, and jewelry, as well as stationery, scarves, and toys "inspired by" works they hold. Tote bags, coffee cups, t-shirts, and magnets with the museum logo are also old standards.
346** This is exploited in a strip of ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes'', where they visit the museum and Calvin wants his mother to buy him things from the museum's gift shop.
347---> '''Mom''': I don't think you need any more dinosaur stuff, Calvin.
348---> '''Calvin''': But Mom, it's all ''educational!'' You want me to ''learn'', don't you??
349---> (next panel) '''Hobbes''': Boy, she fell for ''that'' one.
350---> '''Calvin''' (arms full of stuff and wearing a triceratops hat): I'll say! I wonder if we could get any Franchise/{{Batman}} junk this way.
351** Also exploited in the film ''Film/NationalTreasure'', where the protagonist Gates smuggles the '''Declaration of Independence''' out of the U.S. National Archives by disguising it as a replica from the gift shop, which costs him $35.
352** Same deal for zoos, with the addition of ''lots'' of soft toy or model animals, coffee-table books of wildlife photos, and those penny-press souvenir-makers operated with a crank.
353* [[Creator/TheBBC BBC Worldwide]] exists to sell merchandise for BBC programming. It has been rumored that the new Dalek designs in Season 5 were done to provide new merchandise to sell for ''Series/DoctorWho''.[[note]] Apparently, it's really because the old ones were scaled for Creator/BilliePiper, and the new ones are scaled for Creator/MattSmith and Creator/KarenGillan.[[/note]] There is definitely a new [[http://www.bbcamericashop.com/house-and-home/doctor-who-eleventh-doctors-sonic-screwdriver-15773.html sonic screwdriver]] available for sale in the US and UK.
354* [[Website/TVTropes This very wiki]] has joined in peddling The Merch, with its new [[http://www.zazzle.com/tvtropes* merchandise store]].
355* Website/TFWikiDotNet for ''Franchise/TheTransformers'' has a page entitled ''To Sell Toys.'' Because everything in Transformers revolves around it, including the cartoon series. Transformers fans usually expect this, and some even cry foul when a toy from a particular line is not incorporated into that line's promotional media. ''WesternAnimation/BeastWars'' may be the biggest example as, due to the then new CGI budget, it was far easier to make toys then to make TV characters, so a core cast was developed because a large cast was just not feasible. Years later, the rest of the toyline got a comic series.
356* A group of fans [[http://operationrequiem.storenvy.com/ got together]] to sell an unofficial Manga/AttackOnTitan artbook and give the proceeds to charity.
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