History ExecutiveMeddling / Toys

** And, on that note, this is why Celestia's a [[EverythingsBetterWithPrincesses princess]] and not a [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen queen]]. Creator/LaurenFaust originally wanted Celestia to be a queen but Hasbro felt that a princess would be more appealing to the young girl audience. That said, if it's a country where two people share leadership duties equally [[TropesAreNotBad they're not queens anyway.]] (Some have said that it was actually because they thought Disney had "tainted" the term "Queen" to represent someone evil.)

* ''Toys/MonsterHigh'' was rebooted in 2016 to highly polarized opinions. The motivation was to expand the target audience to younger kids, which caused fans of the (slightly) edgier tone to be upset, and many complained that the edge was gone due to the softer faces, despite the increased detail on older characters. While the tone shift can easily be explained, the cost-cutting measures such as the absence of doll stands and cheaper boxes seem to have been tacked on to the reboot to excuse the changes. (Interestingly, sister franchise ''Toys/EverAfterHigh'' had similar cost-cuts and updated faces, but not a reboot.}

** In [[Franchise/{{Bionicle2015}} the 2015 reboot]], Lewa was originally supposed to possess the element of Air, like in the original line; but due to LEGO having received many questions as to why [[WindIsGreen green toys represented air]], they changed his element to Jungle.

* The {{Bratz}} line of dolls was eventually reduced to either Cloe & Yasmin (Or [[FanNickname Closmin]]) 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.

* ''Franchise/MonsterHigh'' was rebooted in 2016 to highly polarized opinions. The motivation was to expand the target audience to younger kids, which caused fans of the (slightly) edgier tone to be upset, and many complained that the edge was gone due to the softer faces, despite the increased detail on older characters. While the tone shift can easily be explained, the cost-cutting measures such as the absence of doll stands and cheaper boxes seem to have been tacked on to the reboot to excuse the changes. (Interestingly, sister franchise ''Toys/EverAfterHigh'' had similar cost-cuts and updated faces, but not a reboot.}

** Applejack is the least feminine-looking member of the main characters of ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' [[note]]being orange with yellow hair, instead of pink, purple or rainbow like the others[[/note]] and so she tends to get much more sporadic releases than the others. She was blatantly ''left out'' of a large set from the Ponymania line which contained every other member of the Mane 6, plus Celestia to take Applejack's place.

** And, on that note, this is why Celestia's a [[EverythingsBetterWithPrincesses princess]] and not a [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen queen]]. LaurenFaust originally wanted Celestia to be a queen but Hasbro felt that a princess would be more appealing to the young girl audience. That said, if it's a country where two people share leadership duties equally [[TropesAreNotBad they're not queens anyway.]] (Some have said that it was actually because they thought Disney had "tainted" the term "Queen" to represent someone evil.)

** The reason why the toys for Princess Celestia were initially pink while the character on [[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic the cartoon series]] is white is because [[PinkMeansFeminine a pink toy would appeal more to young girls]]; apparently a ''white'' WingedUnicorn princess with rainbow hair wasn't girly enough. This is presumably why the season 2 finale introduced a new pink WingedUnicorn character in Princess Cadence, since from that point on the Celestia toys were accurately white (with some hints of pink on the wings of some releases).

** The reason why the toys for Princess Celestia were initially pink while the character on [[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic the cartoon series]] is white is because [[PinkMeanFeminine a pink toy would appeal more to young girls]]; apparently a ''white'' WingedUnicorn princess with rainbow hair wasn't girly enough. This is presumably why the season 2 finale introduced a new pink WingedUnicorn character in Princess Cadence, since from that point on the Celestia toys were accurately white (with some hints of pink on the wings of some releases).

* ''Franchise/MyLittlePony'':
** The reason why the toys for Princess Celestia are pink while the character on [[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic the cartoon series]] is white is because a pink toy would appeal more to young girls. This is presumably why the season 2 finale introduced a new pink WingedUnicorn character in Princess Cadence, since from that point on the Celestia toys were accurately white.
** And, on that note, this is why she's a [[EverythingsBetterWithPrincesses princess]] and not a [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen queen]]. LaurenFaust originally wanted Celestia to be a queen but Hasbro felt that a princess would be more appealing to the young girl audience. That said, if it's a country where two people share leadership duties equally [[TropesAreNotBad they're not queens anyway.]] (Some have said that it was actually because they thought Disney had "tainted" the term "Queen" to represent someone evil.)

* ''Franchise/{{BIONICLE}}'':

** In the ''Mistika'' figure line, the three sets out of the six that represented three of the initial ''{{BIONICLE}}'' line's main characters were vastly different from their original forms: the muscle-bound 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... fared relatively well, though his lost his classic fire sword in exchange for a spinning shield, and had something of a samurai theme going on with his mask. In-story explanations made it clear that these were just temporary forms.

** The 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, as 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 ultimately released in the main BT line, as Optimus like planned, as the final figure.

** In the ''Mistika'' figure line, the three sets out of the six that represented three of the initial ''{{BIONICLE}}'' line's main characters were vastly different from their original forms: the muscle-bound 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... fared relatively well, though his lost his classic fire sword 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.

* ''{{Transformers}}''
** The 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 ultimately released in the main BT line, as Optimus like planned, as the final figure.
** The ''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/index.php?id=564 This]] ''Webcomic/{{Shortpacked}}!'' strip (and [[http://www.shortpacked.com/index.php?id=671 this one]] too) comments on the delay.

* 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 ultimately released in the main BT line, as Optimus like planned, as the final figure.

*** The process repeated itself with ''WesternAnimation/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 didn't have as much of an impact on them. The canceling of the more popular ''First Edition'' toys in most markets, however, did.

* The original 1960s metal ''Series/{{Thunderbirds}}'' toys had a ''blue'' Thunderbird 2 -- to Gerry Anderson's dismay -- because the marketing drones said that "children don't buy green toys". [[Franchise/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles Wait, what?]]
** 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.
* A similar meddling struck ''Franchise/{{BIONICLE}}'' during the 2006 line. It was concluded that the "Stone element" sets didn't sell as well because they were ''brown'', and so every series afterward had a Yellow/Orange set instead, sometimes mixed with black or gray. One wave of sets actually managed to release two brown-ish sets (tan, to be more precise), but it didn't last. [[LampshadeHanging The characters in-story didn't seem to mind the change after their initial surprise.]]

** 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-bound 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... fared relatively well, though his lost his classic fire sword 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.]]

** 2005 was this in its entirety. Originally, the Metru Nui WholeEpisodeFlashback saga would have lasted for only one year, but designing the setting cost so much that LEGO pushed it further, even though the story had already been wrapped up in '04. This is one of the reasons why fans often call SeasonalRot on the year.

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

** [[NetworkToTheRescue Company To The Rescue]]: for Spring 2012 one of the new toys from Hasbro in this series was the accurately white version of Princess Celestia. However, this was only because the show introduced an ''actual'' pink princess, Cadence.

It's not all fun and games when [[ExecutiveMeddling the powers that be]] play in the toy box.
----

** 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/index.php?id=564 This]] ''Webcomic/{{Shortpacked}}!'' strip (and [[http://www.shortpacked.com/index.php?id=671 this one]] too) comments on the delay.
*** The process has repeated itself with ''WesternAnimation/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 didn't have as much of an impact on them. The canceling of the more popular ''First Edition'' toys in most markets, however, did.

* A similar meddling struck ''Franchise/{{BIONICLE}}'' during the 2006 line. It was concluded that the "Stone element" sets didn't sell as well because they were ''brown'', and so every series afterward had a Yellow set instead.
** Yellow and orange, sometimes mixed with black or gray. One wave of sets actually managed to release two brown-ish sets (tan, to be more precise), but it didn't last. [[LampshadeHanging The characters in-story didn't seem to mind the change after their initial surprise.]] The shift from gear-based mechanisms to gimmick-free but highly poseable toys and the abundance of launching weapons can also be seen as examples, but they had solid reasons behind them: kids like toys that you can quickly slap together and shoot stuff with, instead of messing around with complex gear mechanisms and other features -- some of which only detracted from the toys' better aspects anyway. Still, fans found reasons to complain.
** 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.]]

** And, on that note, why she's a [[EverythingsBetterWithPrincesses princess]] and not a [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen queen]]?
*** That was the result of Hasbro's ExecutiveMeddling. LaurenFaust originally wanted Celestia to be a queen but Hasbro felt that a princess would be more appealing to the young girl audience.
**** That said, if it's a country where two people share leadership duties equally [[TropesAreNotBad they're not queens anyway.]]
*** Some have said that it was actually because they thought Disney had "tainted" the term "Queen" to represent someone evil.
*** [[NetworkToTheRescue Company To The Rescue]], for Spring 2012 one of the new toys from Hasbro in this series is the accurately white version of Princess Celestia!
**** Though that was only because the show introduced an ''actual'' pink princess, Cadence.
* 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.
* 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. ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'', a SequelSeries with a female lead, doesn't have a toyline at all.

** Ironic enough, the ''Endless Waltz" kits sold in Japan did the opposite way for the said Gundam: It's named "D-Hell" in packaging.

** 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/index.php?id=564 This]] ''Webcomic/{{Shortpacked}}!'' strip (and [[http://www.shortpacked.com/d/20080606.html this one]] too) comments on the delay.

** 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]] ''Webcomic/{{Shortpacked}}!'' strip (and [[http://www.shortpacked.com/d/20080606.html this one]] too) comments on the delay.

** [[Toys/BionicleGeneration2 Lewa 2015]] was originally supposed to possess the element of Air, like in the original line, but due to LEGO having received many questions as to why [[WindIsGreen green toys represented air]], they changed his element to Jungle.

*** The process is now repeating itself with ''WesternAnimation/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.

Toys are subject to ExecutiveMeddling sometimes.

* 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 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". [[Franchise/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles Wait, what?]]

----

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