History ExecutiveMeddling / Toys

* Over in ''[[ExecutiveMeddling/{{Anime}} Executive Meddling/Anime]]'', it's mentioned that the DubNameChange of ''Gundam'' units such as the [[Anime/MobileFighterGGundam God Gundam and Devil Gundam]] was mandated by Sunrise/Bandai. The reason for it was because of the ''toys''. You see, when the initial sets of ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamWing'' figurines came out, they had left the names alone. When Walmart stores got shipments of the figures, they were appalled at one of the figures - Gundam Deathscythe ''Hell''. Being a family-friendly store, Walmart ordered every last Deathscythe Hell figure returned to Bandai. Bandai fixed this by renaming it "Deathscythe H".

*** The process is now repeating itself with ''TransformersPrime", which began in earnest in February of 2011 and didn't get a toyline until December... and only in some parts of the globe. But in all fairness, as a lot of countries received the show much later than the English-speaking ones, this great release date slip won't have as much of an impact on them.

*** [[NetworkToTheRescue Company To The Rescue]], for Spring 2012 one of the new toys from Hasbro in this series is white version of Princess Celestia!

* Over in ''[[ExecutiveMeddling/{{Anime}} Executive Meddling/Anime]]'', it's mentioned that the DubNameChange of ''Gundam'' units such as the [[Anime/MobileFighterGGundam God Gundam and Devil Gundam]] was mandated by Bandai. The reason for it was because of the ''toys''. You see, when the initial sets of ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamWing'' figurines came out, they had left the names alone. When Walmart stores got shipments of the figures, they were appalled at one of the figures - Gundam Deathscythe ''Hell''. Being a family-friendly store, Walmart ordered every last Deathscythe Hell figure returned to Bandai. Bandai fixed this by renaming it "Deathscythe H".

* The original 1960s metal ''{{Thunderbirds}}'' toys had a ''blue'' Thunderbird 2 -- to Gerry Anderson's dismay -- because the marketing drones said that "children don't buy green toys". [[TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles Wait, what?]]

* Over in ''[[ExecutiveMeddling/{{Anime}} Executive Meddling/Anime]]'', it's mentioned that the DubNameChange of ''{{Gundam}}'' units such as the [[MobileFighterGGundam God Gundam and Devil Gundam]] was mandated by Bandai. The reason for it was because of the ''toys''. You see, when the initial sets of ''MobileSuitGundamWing'' figurines came out, they had left the names alone. When Walmart stores got shipments of the figures, they were appalled at one of the figures - Gundam Deathscythe ''Hell''. Being a family-friendly store, Walmart ordered every last Deathscythe Hell figure returned to Bandai. Bandai fixed this by renaming it "Deathscythe H".

* The ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' action figure line never feature a single female character, not even the ones on the main cast. Even Jet, a male character who appeared in about five episodes [[spoiler: before dying]] got an action figure. Apparently it was based on the idea that female action figures wouldn't sell. They're not gonna have any excuse for ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'', though.

* The AvatarTheLastAirbender action figure line never feature a single female character, not even the ones on the main cast. Even Jet, a male character who appeared in about five episodes [[spoiler: before dying]] got an action figure. Apparently it was based on the idea that female action figures wouldn't sell. They're not gonna have any excuse for ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'', though.

*** [[NetworkToTheRescue Company To The Rescue]], for Spring 2012 one of the new toys from Hasbro in this series is white version of Princess Celestina!

* The AvatarTheLastAirbender action figure line never feature a single female character, not even the ones on the main cast. Even Jet, a male character who appeared in about five episodes [[spoiler: before dying]] got an action figure. Apparently it was based on the idea that female action figures wouldn't sell. They're not gonna have any excuse for [[TheLegendOfKorra the next series]], though.

*** The process is now repeating itself with ''TransformersPrime", which began in earnest in February of 2011 and won't get a toyline until October... and that may only be a preview wave, not even a full line.

* The {{Bratz}} line of dolls was eventually reduced to either Cloe & Yasmin (Or [[FanNickname Clomsin]]) or clones of Cloe and Yasmin with the occasional different girl after every 7-9 lines because Cloe and Yasmin were the best selling dolls.

** And, on that note, why she's a [[EverythingsBetterWithPrincesses princess]] and not a [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen queen]]?

** And, on that note, why she's a ''[[EverythingsBetterWithPrincesses Princess]]'' and not a ''[[EvilQueen Queen]]''?

* Ever wondered why the toys for [[MyLittlePony Princess Celestia]] are pink while the character on [[MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic the cartoon series]] is white? Yeah, this is the main reason why...

** The new ''TransformersAnimated'' cartoon premiered on December 26th, 2007, with regular episodes starting in January. However, Hasbro executives decided against releasing the related toyline on the same date and instead released them in June, since the toyline of [[Film/{{Transformers}} the 2007 film]] was still selling strong. [[http://www.shortpacked.com/d/20071130.html This]] ''{{Shortpacked}}!'' strip (and [[http://www.shortpacked.com/d/20080606.html this one]] too) comments on the delay.

* Ever wondered why the toys for [[MyLittlePony Princess Celestia]] are pink while the character on [[MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic the cartoon series]] is white? Yeah, this is the main reason why...

* The original 1960s metal ''Thunderbirds'' toys had a ''blue'' Thunderbird 2 -- to Gerry Anderson's dismay -- because the marketing drones said that "children don't buy green toys". [[TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles Wait; what?]]

* The ''{{Transformers}}'' Binaltech and Alternators line were notorious for Executive Meddling in the form of the car companies whose car models they tried acquiring the rights to make figures out of; a good deal of these demanded that the guns that came with the figures were either modified or completely removed, or just flat out refused to hand over the rights period, in order to prevent them from being associated with "war toys". That doesn't mean that there wasn't plenty of in-company Meddling, though; in one memorable instance, Takara demanded that a new Dodge Ram figure Hasbro was making be turned into Optimus Prime, so they could sell it more readily in Japan. Since Takara was needed to front part of the cost, Hasbro agreed... only for Takara to market the figure as ''[[TransformersSuperGodMasterforce Masterforce]]'''s [[CostumeCopycat Ginrai]], not Optimus. Then the figure was delayed for a number of months, prompting rumors that it had been canceled. The rumors turned out to be partially true; the Ginrai figure was canceled, but it got a release as Optimus Prime in the Binaltech line's Kiss Play sub-line, as well as a black repaint release as Black Convoy. The figure was ultimatley released in the main BT line, as Optimus like planned, as the final figure.

* Ever wondered why the toys for [[MyLittlePony]] character Princess Celestia are pink while the character on [[MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic the cartoon series]] is white? Yeah, this is the main reason why...

** An [[TheScrappy even less popular]] case of meddling was the ''Mistika'' figure line, the three sets out of the six that represented three of the initial ''{{BIONICLE}}'' line's main characters: while rumors say the original models resembled their original forms more closely, the final sets ''barely'' looked like the characters they were supposed to be re-imaginings of. The muscle-packed hunchback Onua became a tall and lean fighter whose mask wouldn't look out of place on a villain; Gali, the female of the group received a hunched posture, long bunny-ears and a (as fans call it) "waffle" eye; while the leader of the group, Tahu... faired relatively well, though his lost his classic firesword in exchange for a spinning shield, and had something of a ninja theme going on with his mask. In-story explanations made it clear that these were just temporary forms, but the more argumentative fans could never forgive. [[FanNickname The words Mistake-a and Fail-tika still echo on some of the forums.]]

* A similar meddling struck {{BIONICLE}} during the 2006 line. It was concluded that the Brown sets didn't sell as well because they were ''Brown'', and so every series afterward had a Yellow set instead.

* A similar meddling struck {{Bionicle}} during the 2006 line. It was concluded that the Brown sets didn't sell as well because they were ''Brown'', and so every series afterward had a Yellow set instead.

** An even less popular case of meddling was the ''Mistika'' figure line, the three sets out of the six that represented three of the initial ''Bionicle'' line's main characters: while rumors say the original models resembled their original forms more closely, the final sets ''barely'' looked like the characters they were supposed to be re-imaginings of. The muscle-packed hunchback Onua became a tall and lean fighter whose mask wouldn't look out of place on a villain; Gali, the female of the group received a hunched posture, long bunny-ears and a (as fans call it) "waffle" eye; while the leader of the group, Tahu... faired relatively well, though his lost his classic firesword in exchange for a spinning shield, and had something of a ninja theme going on with his mask. In-story explanations made it clear that these were just temporary forms, but the more argumentative fans could never forgive. [[FanNickname The words Mistake-a and Fail-tika still echo on some of the forums.]]

* A similar meddling struck {{Bionicle}} during the 2006 line. It was concluded that the Brown sets didn't sell as well because they were ''Brown'', and so every series afterward had a Yellow set instead.

*** The process is now repeating itself with ''TransformersPrime", which began in earnest in February of 2011 and won't get a toyline until ''October''... and that may only be a preview wave, not even a full line.

* A similar meddling struck Bionicle during the 2006 line. It was concluded that the Brown sets didn't sell as well because they were ''Brown'', and so every series afterward had a Yellow set instead.

** To be fair, the original production run was green. The blue version was a much later re-issue, complete with "updated" packaging and the like. A small touch of irony comes from Derek Meddings' original concept sketch for "Rescue 2" (as [=TB2=] was then called) specifying that the craft was blue.