Sandbox / Misaimed Marketing Sorting

This sandbox page is to sort all the on-page examples on Misaimed Marketing to see where they should go once the TRS decides how to rename it.

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Anime & Manga

• JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Jojo's had a cross-promotional campaign with Build-a-Bear. Build-a-Bears have a young child demographic, while Jojo's is aimed at older teens and adults and features Body Horror, strong language, and gore that aren't appropriate for young children.
• Neon Genesis Evangelion:
  • There exists a choker version of Rebuild Kaworu's bomb collar, a rather disconcerting piece of merchandise given Kaworu has his head blown off with it in the third movie.
  • Khara made an adorable miniature keychain of the Asuka doll. It seems innocuous, but fans of the show will know this doll is the same doll Asuka's mother neglected her child in favor of and hung alongside her in an attempted murder-suicide.
  • There's a typing game based on the show for the Sega Dreamcast. The series' adult elements were toned down to make it appropriate for young kids learning to type.
• There are unawakened form Falulu Friend Tickets available as part of the merchandise line for PriPara. Anyone who's seen the anime knows why this is a bad idea for a piece of merchandise, as Falulu dies when her Friend Ticket is snapped in this particular form.
• Back in the 90s before the advent of late night anime, every TV anime needed to have a toyline, no exceptions. This was also before the advent of more adult-oriented anime merch, especially those aimed at women, like rubber straps and accessories, so these toys had to be made for kids. That's easy enough if you have a Humongous Mecha or a Magical Girl Warrior series, since wands and robots are very easy to translate into toy form. But what if you need to sell say, a high school romance Shoujo for instance? There's not exactly much you can sell there. Well, what animation companies did back then was make up their own toys to force into the anime adaptation and have the characters play with them... even if it makes no sense for characters of that age, or the target audience, for that matter, to play with such toys. This lead to a rather infamous phenomenon where the anime adaptations of shoujo works starring and aimed at teenagers like Boys over Flowers or Marmalade Boy have the characters shill toys meant for five year olds that were never in the manga. Not only that, but these two shows aired in the same timeslots as Ojamajo Doremi and Pretty Cure and mainly had ads for toys aimed at preschoolers and 1st-3rd grade school kids air during their commercial breaks, sometimes from franchises like Anpanman and Connie-chan.

Comedy

• In the '70s, there was a talking Redd Foxx doll aimed at children. This would be the same Redd Foxx who is famous for his "You Gotta Wash Your Ass" routine. The toy actually includes several of his famous punchlines and catchphrases, which obviously had to be Bowdlerised for its young target demographic.

Film - Animated

• There are officially licensed Finding Nemo fish tanks, which completely goes against the message of the film about how fish belong in the wild, though to be fair most pet fish are captive-bred. Not only that, some of the tanks sold are FAR too small to comfortably house any species of fish at all.
• As noted in the Associated Press' review of Over the Hedge, a film that satirizes commercialism and the ever-accentuating grip of the suburban consumerist lifestyle, the movie had tie-ins with brands such as Walmart and Wendy's.
• A toy set for the Disney Fairies movie Secret of the Wings featured all the characters in bathing suits at a beach. The central conflict of the movie was caused by the fact that "winter fairies" cannot be in warm or sunny places, or they'll die, making a beach-themed playset featuring said fairies... rather morbid.
• Moana had a Maui costume consisting of a bodysuit covered with the character's tattoos and a leaf Loincloth. It was quickly pulled from shelves after people pointed out that since the costume mimics the character's skin color, it could be seen as a form of brownface (well, brown-everything-except-face). More importantly, the Maori themselves complained that this was appropriation of their culture for profit, as their unique style of tattoo are meant to have spiritual if not outright religious significance, especially during their pre-Christian history.
• Encanto: Executives reportedly tried to push a different body type for Luisa as they believed her muscular build made her less relatable to the target audience, and the toy makers similarly assumed that she would be less popular than Isabela because of her canon body type. This led to them making few Luisa toys and many Isabela toys (under the assumption that the princess-like Isabela would be very popular among young girls). Luisa, however, ended up becoming the far more popular of Mirabel's two sisters. This resulted in a high demand for her toys vs low supply. Likewise, the majority of Isabela toys have received no-end of criticism for portraying her prior to her Character Development, thus presenting her as the "perfect, beautiful, golden child" and completely missing the point of her character arc.
• While not a direct example that goes against what happened in the movie in question, Shrek appeared in a public service announcement telling kids to be active and play outside for an hour a day to stay healthy. This seems like a good message, except that Shrek's face ends up being plastered on every piece of junk food whenever a new film in the franchise had come out. In fact, Shrek the Third was released the year the PSA first aired in 2007, and it had a tie in with McDonald's with even a Shrek-themed milkshake briefly on the menu.
• A commercial for The Hunchback of Notre Dame McDonald's Happy Meal toys was about a kid in a bell tower not wanting to leave... despite the whole plot of the movie being Quasimodo wanting to leave the bell tower!
• Official Forky toys were released around Toy Story 4, which has been the subject of mockery. The whole point of Forky is that he is not built like a "real" toy, so it's a bit strange to see well-crafted^note Well, usually well-crafted... plushes and action figures of a toy clumsily designed by a four-year-old. There are Build-Your-Own-Forky kits, however.

Film - Live-action

• Half this, half Villain Decay: You know you're not going to be seeing Freddy Krueger or Jason Voorhees do anything really horrible after they've been deemed okay for child-sized Halloween costumes. Freddy is an especially disturbing example, since he's canonically a child murderer, and in some versions a pedophile as well.
  • This goes all the way back to the '80s—there were Freddy Krueger glove toys for kids (they have fake plastic knife blades attached to the fingers). And they're sized so that any kid over about 10 would probably have trouble fitting their hand into the toy. Yeah.
• Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is a more fitting example than many of the other Batman entries on this page. The movie is probably the darkest and most depressing DC film to date, with the Director's Cut even receiving an R rating. Despite this, it received all of the usual marketing people have come to expect from superhero movies, complete with a children's toy line from Mattel and various candy and cereal tie-ins. Hilariously, Superman actor Henry Cavill would later claim the movie was a niche film that wasn't intended for mass audiences, despite the marketing saying otherwise.
  • Batman v. Superman also got a recorder. A cheap plastic flute that has a plastic circle with the film's logo stuck on it. And it's an actual licensed product. What this has to do with the movie is a complete mystery.
• While mild compared to the examples of the Batman movies, Man of Steel received an "I Can Read" children's book adaptation, which has this; "Clark's new foes have superpowers just like he does. The battle is fierce, but Clark wins. General Zod and his helpers retreat back to outer space.", as well as Zod saying "Ouch". Anyone who has seen the movie will not only know that it is certainly not very kid-friendly, but that Zod and his crew do not make it out of the final battle alive, and Zod's death is quite dark, done via a Neck Snap courtesy of Supes. And it too has a tie-in toyline, containing action figures and costumes meant for children as young as 4.
• It's actually quite understandable that toys would be made for Batman and Superman movies, given that the characters appear in a variety of children's media like cartoons and video games. However, some comic characters don't have that excuse. For instance, Toy Biz released a line of figures for the first Blade movie, despite it having an R rating and being one of the bloodiest comic book films ever made at that point. Plenty of parents take their kids to PG-13 superhero movies, but far fewer are likely to take them to a gory, R-rated vampire flick, even one that happens to star a Marvel Comics character.
• There have been toys and a cartoon series made of RoboCop (1987), an already R-rated feature that almost got slapped with an X rating just for how violent it is, and openly features nudity, heavy swearing and Black Comedy and a lot of satire on such subjects like capitalism, corrupt corporations, and public apathy that would fly right over the heads of any kid. There's also a Korean fried chicken commercial that makes the film look like a family feature.
• Speed Racer had a tie-in toy line, video game, and all sorts of other merchandise. This is despite the fact that the film itself attacks consumerism and the cold greed of capitalism.
• This bit Warner Bros. in the butt something fierce when Batman Returns was released and turned out to be a significantly darker and more violent film than its predecessor. Complaints about kid-oriented tie-ins like McDonald's Happy Meals made it to at least one talk show, and Nickelodeon apparently canceled a contest where the winning kid would attend the London premiere. This outcry is one reason the Joel Schumacher-helmed films that followed wound up significantly Lighter and Softer.
  • What makes this even more bizarre is that Hasbro deliberately misled gullible consumers into thinking Batman Returns was a different kind of movie by releasing some In Name Only "deluxe" Batman figures that have him wearing costumes that aren't even in the movie, such as "Jungle Tracker Batman." (There aren't even any jungles in Batman Returns.) They also included Robin in the line, a character who doesn't appear in the movie at all!^note Robin was intended to appear in Batman Returns, but was cut and wouldn't make his film debut until the comparatively kid-friendly Batman Forever. Hasbro either didn't get the memo, or decided to push forward with the toys anyway.
  • There was also a Batman Returns coloring book that offered kids all the big scenes from the film to color but bowdlerized all the gore and violence. And removed Selina Kyle's glasses. A loose adaptation in a children's book called "The Penguin's Plot"◊ similarly bowdlerized the more violent aspects.
• The Dark Knight had toys being released for a movie that some critics are surprised didn't score an R rating.
  • The kid-sized Batsuit that ties into The Dark Knight comes with a gun. Let's repeat that: A Batman toy comes with a gun. It receives a lot of focus in the commercial too. Whether it's just a case of not knowing anything about what the toy was promoting, or whether they knew Batman's a legendary Gun Hater but just wanted to make more money, is an unsolved question...
    • Long before that, there was a toy called the "Batman Blaster"(?), which is a Nerf gun that straps on like a harness and has wings that pop out of the back.
  • In Argentina, The Dark Knight was promoted with coloring books, Burger King toys, action figures, juice and candy.
  • There are not just one, but two children's books based on it. And, oddly enough, they're kind of adorable...
  • Australian fast food chain Hungry Jack's, the Aus version of Burger King, did run TDK-themed toys in their kids' meals, and in America a cereal brand packaged tiny Batman and Joker figures. They sold out very fast, by the way. Both Hungry Jack's and Burger King also regularly produce variants of their Whopper hamburgers branded as a burger based on/inspired by whatever hot new film is currently doing the rounds (the aforementioned The Dark Knight was one of the first examples). You have to wonder, because really, they barely alter the burgers at all, and most of the films don't even have the slightest connection with the things.
• Somewhere in byzantine tax codes (Toy Biz v. United States), dolls representing humans end up getting taxed heavier than toys not representing people (such as dollhouse tables or kitty cats or whatever). To capitalize on this during the release of the X-Men movie, attorneys for Marvel successfully argued that mutants are not people. They got the favorable tax rate — and the X-Men's main message was completely broken. This sets a worrying legal precedent...
• Back in the early 1990s, there were Alien and Predator toys geared for kids. Yes, you heard right. A toy franchise based on two R-rated movie franchises. This included a facehugger that slips over the human action figure's head and a baby Xenomorph.
  • Earlier than that — an Alien action figure was in toy stores back in the 1970s immediately after the film was released. It was said to be the first ever toy based on an R-rated movie. Apparently this was supposed to be accompanied by a Merchandise-Driven, vaguely G.I. Joe-esque animated spinoff series that got as far as some concept art and script ideas before being recognised for the incredibly silly idea it was.
  • ALIEN! ACTION FIGURE! Apparently they are pretty expensive these days, for collectors who want to get their hands on one.
  • The Micro Machines Aliens Action Fleet sets back in the 90's, which featured a Kane action figure featuring "real chestburster action".
  • There are Alien plush toys. They're adorable, but it's difficult to picture a child playing with a cuddly facehugger.
• Coloring and puzzle books for the David Lynch film Dune (1984), which features graphic violence and murders, lots of folks in latex and tubes up their noses, a pus-faced psychopath who molests and kills his male sex slaves by uncorking their hearts, an explicitly penile giant worm, and of course a gigantic fish mutant with a vagina mouth. The coloring book makes sure to provide lines on Baron Harkonnen's face so children can choose different colors for his facial pustules. The activity books also throw a lot of Duniverse names and terms at little kids such as Padishah, Bene Gesserit, Kwisach Haderach, Shadout Mapes, and all sorts of hard to pronounce names. Even the pain box/Gom-Jabbar scene is depicted. There is absolutely no attempt to hide the quasi-religious or metaphysical aspects and this might be some children's first encounter of the word "Jihad". The action figure of Feyd Rautha contained little extras such as the emaciated cat that Thufir must milk for the antidote. The movie is rated PG-13, but this was just months after the rating was introduced in 1984; it's possible Universal expected a PG when they inked the licensing deals, anticipating a Star Wars-esque hit.
• There was actually an Austin Powers talking doll with two intended releases: one meant for sale at Toys "R" Us that said "Yeah, baby, yeah!" and one meant for Spencer's Gifts and collector shops that said "Do I make you horny, baby?" And yes, some of the Spencer's variants did wind up among the Toys "R" Us versions. And yes, the media made a predictable uproar about it. Someone lost their job over that marketing decision, you better believe. Whether or not it was someone who had even met the actual decision-maker is another story.
• A toyline tied in with the Alec Baldwin version of The Shadow. Yes, that film received a PG-13 (many feel doing so undermined the film), but the film still keeps the Shadow as an outlaw who works without police approval (Commissioner Wainright Barth mentions early in the film that he will order his subordinates to stop the Shadow from interfering in police business). The film also depicts the Shadow as a reformed opium warlord who had a rival slain, even though doing so also slew one of his own loyal men.
• The X-Entertainment blog has an entry of two products based on A Nightmare on Elm Street: A Freddy stress doll and a Freddy yo-yo.
• There's a Who Framed Roger Rabbit game where the goal is to flip toons into Dip, a substance that kills them in the movie. Short video here by Jeepers Media.
• A particularly Egregious case of this is the commemorative pin that is a replica of Katniss' Mockingjay pin from The Hunger Games. While it seems nice, anyone who's read the book would know the importance of the pin and why it probably shouldn't be given as a present lightly.
• This was a major player in Gremlins causing an uproar amongst parents. The movie was promoted with merchandise aimed at children, from sleeping bags to stuffed animals, all of which seemed to put more emphasis on the Mogwai than the titular monsters that were involved in most of the film's more terrifying and gruesome moments.
• A Starship Troopers toyline was released by Galoob in 1997. Yes, a toyline based on an R-rated film that has lots of blood, gore, political satire, and nudity.
• Judge Dredd had a range of action figures. The movie is toned down significantly from the ultra-violent and cynical comic, but is still hardly for kids; Dredd is still a totalitarian beat cop from a crime-ridden Dystopia, after all. More bewildering is the fact that in order to bulk the range out, it included several decidedly kid-unfriendly characters from the comic who don't appear in the film, including Judge Death, an Omnicidal Maniac whose favourite modus operandi consists of ripping people's beating hearts out of their chests, and has even murdered children on-panel.
• There was a lot of child-aimed merchandise for the Ghostbusters remake, including toys aimed at children as young as 3, "I Can Read!" books and a Golden Book adaptation of the film. The movie opens with a joke about queefing, so this is an... interesting marketing choice.
• The TRON franchise is a very odd case. Yes, it's a Disney flick. However, it's a product of the Disney "Dark Age" where the studio was willing to try much Darker and Edgier fare to try and compete in the marketplace. The films and animated series contain some sexual humor, heavy duty religious themes, and a ton of Family-Unfriendly Violence (only the fact it's Bloodless Carnage saves it from being outright R-rated). The one part of the franchise (now discredited) that got a Teen rating was a first-person shooter, that had a comparatively Lighter and Softer tone than the animated series! The merch, like clothing, toys, and coloring books were all aimed for kids.
• There have been tons of toys spun-off from the James Bond franchise. Although, rather counter-intuitively, the Bond films (or, at least, the Sean Connery and Roger Moore ones) have always been considered family-friendly productions, they're still about a spy who kills a lot of people and sleeps with a lot of women. But kids could still buy Bond dolls and toy guns and cars. To tie in with the release of A View to a Kill, a line of read-along storybooks were released - a narrator reads the text on a vinyl record or cassette and the children follow along - adapting the plots of several Bond films. This was also around the same time a cartoon series, James Bond Jr. aired.
• The Terminator 2: Judgment Day line of action figures, released to tie in with a very violent R-rated movie. And now, the Terminator 2 Minimates, finding their way into Toys R Us stores across the nation. Cute, 2 inch tall versions of the T2 characters. While Terminator 2 is quite toned down from the first (for one thing the Terminator is no longer a killer, but a kid-friendly bodyguard that does what you say) it was still an R-rated movie that no kid has any business seeing.
  • T2 also had a plug in the July 1992 issue of Disney Adventures including a villain feature that highlighted the T-1000 (a liquid metal killer that brutally executes multiple people over the course of the film). In a magazine that's marketed to children and teenagers.
• Commando: Diamond Toymakers released a series of action figures based on the movie, despite it being an R rated flick that children shouldn't see.
• Mild compared to many of the other examples, but there was a coloring book of Camelot that skipped over the rather mature themes to depict such things as Guinevere winning a foot race.

Literature

• J. K. Rowling rejected a lot of hypothetical Harry Potter merch. Her least favourite idea was the "Moaning Myrtle toilet seat". This mindset makes the existence of this Quidditch "levitation skill game" even more odd.
  • The defictionalized Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans from Jelly Belly apparently used bad flavor mixes for the "bad" flavors (the vomit-flavored bean was an abandoned attempt at making a pizza-flavored candy).
  • There's also the "slime chamber" playset, released around the time of the second film. What this has to do with Harry Potter is anyone's guess, as there is nothing resembling a slime chamber in any of the books or films — at most it vaguely resembles the Chamber of Secrets. And the action figures you're supposed to pour the slime on, Nickelodeon-style, aren't even included in the set!
  • Cute Scabbers plushies were made in conjunction with the first two movies, when anyone who'd read the third book, released two years before the first film, would already know that Scabbers turns out to be a creepy little man who betrayed Harry's parents to Voldemort. A different set of plush Scabberses, complete with missing toe/finger, are available at the Harry Potter sections of Universal parks.
• They had Twilight toys at Burger King. Toys for a PG-13 movie, specifically Eclipse. No, really. Not only that, but half of the toys were for girls and half were (purportedly) for boys, one was a wallet. Predictably, the toys stayed in bargain bins months after the promotion ended.
  • There were Twilight Barbie dolls. The Edward doll has glitter skin. There's also a Jacob doll which comes wearing only its pants.
• In January 2023, Coleen Hoover announced that her bestselling 2016 novel It Ends With Us would receive a tie-in coloring book. While adult-oriented tie-in coloring books had become popular in recent years, many people - including fans of her work - were taken aback by the announcement given that It Ends With Us is about domestic abuse and includes a lot of scenes most people wouldn't want to spend time coloring in (especially as adult coloring books are usually promoted as tools for relaxation and mindfulness). Some readers went so far as to say the idea of having a coloring book based on a novel with such sobering subject matter is bizarre at best, downright tasteless at worst. Following the backlash, Hoover admitted she now felt the coloring book was "tone deaf" and that her publishers wouldn't be going ahead with it.

Live-action TV

• CSI, despite being adult-oriented, has crime scene kits for kids, even if they're aimed toward older kids. Also there are a series of kids' chapter books based on the series, although with more kid-friendly subject matter than the series.
• One product that was made at the height of Duck Dynasty's popularity was a pair of toddler pajamas. This is a rather odd choice, as the show does not have any kid appeal.
• Little People figures of characters from The Office exist, despite the show not being aimed at kids. There are also several baby onesies with the Dunder-Mifflin paper company logo on them.
• There's already a bunch of Squid Game merchandise, even though the whole message of the show is that capitalism makes us do horrible things to each other. It was also frequently one of the most popular user-made levels on Roblox, which only made it more popular with children.
• Retail stores sell Stranger Things shirts with cute cartoony graphics, including a cartoonish Demagorgon just hanging out with the kids without trying to kill them. This may work as an ironic adults' T-shirt, but they come in elementary school kids' sizes, despite the show's frequent Nightmare Fuel.

Theater

• Wendy's Japan did a movie tie-in for Titus (1999). Yes, Julie Taymor's R-rated adaptation of Shakespeare's bloodiest play, which culminates in two characters being cooked into a pie and fed to their mother. Enjoy your burger.
• Cirque du Soleil makes little collectible figures and/or cuddly plushies of prominent characters from several of their shows. The Green Bird from La Nouba, the Ladybug from OVO, and a Zebra girl from "O" are all natural choices for such treatment. Tarantula, the sinister spider in black from Zarkana... not so much!

Music

• Hasbro's Rocktivity toys may sound reasonable, until you get to the fine print: the microphone plays "Born This Way" by Lady Gaga and the guitar plays "Rock and Roll All Night" by KISS and "What I Like About You" by The Romantics. These toys are meant for toddlers.
  • One toy in the franchise, a piano, plays three arguably adult songs. "Tutti Frutti" by Little Richard is the most kid-friendly of the trio, but "We Didn't Start The Fire" by Billy Joel and "Love Song" by Sara Bareilles?
• Little Big has a separate line of merchandise called Little Big Kids, aimed to children as young as 5 years old. Even completely dismissing the harsh language in a lot of their songs, their music videos are known for their Mind Screw takes on political satire, violence, and sexual imagery. One of the more famous videos depicts lead singer Ilich boasting about his pixelated Gag Penis accompanied by sexually juxtaposed food items and the Erotic Eating of a phallus shaped lollipop. Not exactly kid friendly.

Toys

• Transformers:
  • The first live-action movie is rated PG-13, yet the toyline includes some gimmick-based assortments, including a cutesy "Cyber Slammers" version of the deadly Decepticon tank Brawl (a.k.a. "Devastator"). Parent groups were not happy.
  • Another example of misaimed marketing in Transformers is the IDW comics original character Drift. While more a canonized fan-character, the company played him up, as they believed his Japan-centered drift racer car mode, red and white rising sun deco and dual samurai swords would appeal to the fans, who ended up finding his Creator's Pet Japan-shilling slightly insulting. That said, Drift's toy is agreed to be an awesome figure by most fans, even those who detest the character—though the toy was later retooled as Blurr (with a new set of guns to replace the swords), so Drift-haters can still experience the figure without actually owning a "Drift".
  • The latest case of Transformers-related misaimed marketing: action figures for Transformers: Fall of Cybertron. For those keeping score, Fall Of Cybertron and its predecessor, Transformers: War for Cybertron tell of the utter brutality of the war between the Autobots and Decepticons; and depict the robots actively killing each other, something that's usually glossed over in most Transformers adaptations, but is becoming increasingly common in works following Beast Machines. The real kicker, however, is that people complain about the toys for the live-action movies; but have yet to say anything about Fall of Cybertron Optimus Prime and Jazz figures being sold in conjunction with one of the darkest Transformers adaptations yet. The Combaticons even got kid-friendly brightly colored decos, as Hasbro believed the more subdued colors of the in-game model wasn't eye-catching enough on store shelves.
• In the early 2000s, someone at American Greetings got the wise idea of spinning off Grumpy Bear from the Care Bears into his own line of clothes. While the idea itself isn't wrong given Grumpy's popularity with the Care Bears fandom, the execution was off by several miles- American Greetings was for some reason convinced that Grumpy Bear's fans are goths and all the merchandise released under the line were tacky goth colored dark red and navy blue on black with gothic font peppered everywhere. This went as far as the downloadable wallpapers on the American Greetings website. And to keep the merch from falling into the hands of regular fans and to prevent Moral Guardians from coming after them, the spinoff was never advertised widely- which led to the misconception that the then-holder of the rights to the franchise, Play Along Toys, did not want two blue-colored bears and cancelled Grumpy in favor of Bedtime Bear. Thankfully, this was corrected by the mid-2000s, when the Care Bears: Adventures in Care-a-Lot reboot came around.

Video Games

• At the height of Street Fighter II's popularity in the early '90s, Hasbro produced a line of Street Fighter-themed G.I. Joe action figures. This doesn't seem too bad until you realize that like the rest of the G.I. Joe franchise, the Street Fighter line came with things like guns, rocket launchers and military vehicles (all of which were simply recolored GI Joe accessories and vehicles). For a video game series centered around unarmed hand-to-hand combat. Whoops.
• Halo Wars toy sets by Mega Bloks. It seems reasonable, until you remember that the Halo series in general (until 5) is rated M (though it was, and still is, lighter on graphic violence compared to another contemporaries). Mega Bloks in general does have a tendency toward going for licences that fall under this trope.
  • Ditto for Call of Duty Mega Bloks.

Western Animation

• Young Justice was cancelled because the audience of the show wasn’t who the network wanted it to be, causing the merchandise line to fail. As a more mature and serizalied show, it was watched by teens, young adults, and adult comic fans. The merchandise line was mostly toys aimed at 8-12 year olds. The show didn't attract much attention from children or older toy collectors, so the only people who would be interested in toys weren't watching the show and therefore didn't care, and the only people who did watch the show weren't interested in toys.
• Burger King released The Simpsons toys. Since the show has dealt increasingly bluntly with subjects like animal and child abuse, politics, drug abuse, alcoholism, smoking, anti-establishment jokes, sex, murder, organized crime, torture, and war, and references a lot of things that only people above 13 will get or remember — a lot of its humour will go right above kids' heads, so the promotion doesn't make much sense.
• Family Guy had Knex sets aimed at people as young as eight years old, when the target demographic are teens and adults. The actual show also contains tons of Black Comedy, among other not-so kid-friendly themes.
• One Canadian edition of the Sears Wish Book features a photo of a little girl surrounded by oversized plush toys, most of which are of kid-friendly characters such as Mickey Mouse and Dora the Explorer, but there are also ones of characters from The Simpsons and surprisingly, South Park. Keep in mind that all of these toys, including the South Park ones, are listed as being for ages 3 and up.

Keep but Clean Up Snark

Film - Live-action

• The release of The Hunger Games in theaters brought out bushels of merchandise. Some of the things include a magnetic story book (recommended for ages 5 and up), tribute bracelets, figurines of the tributes, costume replicas, and socks. Nothing says family friendly like children being forced to brutally murder each other for entertainment!

Literature

• Half this, half Misaimed Fandom: People make replicas of the One Ring as wedding rings. Really says something about your marriage. There's also The Lord of the Rings navel piercing rings!
  • Ironically, the actual prop Ring was modeled after one of the crew members' wedding rings. It looks like every other man's wedding ring in existence. This is very true to the spirit of the original, because the point is that Bilbo and Frodo had no idea what it was. If you actually want a happy marriage though, Nenya (Galadriel's Ring) would be a better model!
  • If Tolkien had known just how much of a merchandisable icon The One Ring would have become, he would likely have been outraged. He genuinely despised the Black Speech created for the Ring's inscription, and anyone totemizing a symbol of ultimate evil would have offended his sensibilities. As a concrete example from his life, a fan had sent him a very nice goblet with the One Ring's inscription engraved around the rim. Tolkien couldn't bring himself to drink from it because of the inscription, but didn't want to offend the fan (who legitimately thought he was paying Tolkien a compliment) by returning it to the sender or throwing it away. He ended up using the goblet as an ashtray.

Move to What Do You Mean, It's Not for Kids?

Comic Books

• Back when Hasbro held the license to make DC toys, one of the toylines was "Legends of Batman", which dealt with Elseworlds versions of the characters — when it wasn't doing figures based on Knightfall, the story where Bane breaks Batman's back; Bruce is briefly replaced by violent antihero Azrael while he recovers; and among the inmates Bane lets loose are Serial Killers Victor Zsasz, Abattoir, and Cornelius Stirk. While naturally, the aforementioned trio didn't get action figures, it was still a toyline marketed to kids and included mentioning the events like Bane giving the Riddler Venom and making three figures based on Azrael's time as Batman.

Film - Live-action

Literature

Professional Wrestling

• Pro wrestling figures, a sport not meant for kids in the slightest, though even during the Attitude Era kids still watched! When the entirety of WWE went TV-PG the Periphery Demographic of children was even more aggressively marketed towards, and even though the programming is now Lighter and Softer, it's still a bunch of sweaty musclemen beating each other up, hardly something a young kid ought to be watching. However, this is to be expected when every other adult-oriented movie/show/what have you under the sun gets merchandise like this. WWE infamously threw a bigger fit over Ring of Honor continuing to make money off the sale of Kevin Steen action figures after they signed him than they ever did over anyone selling DVDs (and Kevin "antichrist" Steen action figures are themselves an example).

Toys

• LEGO ages their products by how difficult they are to build, not by who the license is targeted at — the 12+ sets targeted at the Periphery Demographic are generally much more complicated. This can lead to some rather odd dissonance. In 2013, we got a set based on The Dark Knight Rises, aimed at children ages 6-12. Then, in 2014, we got a set based on The Simpsons... for teens/adults in LEGO's Periphery Demographic of ages 12 and up. Never mind that, while both are aimed at adults, TDKR is a very dark and gritty superhero film, while The Simpsons mostly consists of not-too-risqué satirical humor.

Video GamesWestern Animation

Move to What Do You Mean, It's for Kids?

Move to Never Trust a Trailer

Snark and complaints

Anime & Manga

• Neon Genesis Evangelion:
  • Just to give you an idea of the horrors Gainax has unleashed, here's a review of two catgirl figurines of Rei and Asuka which have generic moe faces, off-model bodies and hairstyles, tiny underwear, and lovingly sculpted camel toes. It’s also worth mentioning that they were on display at Epcot, in a major case of Cowboy BeBop at His Computer.
  • Unit-01 got a bullet train designed after it, even featuring an area where riders can put themselves in the shoes of a pilot about to have an Eva battle. That's not the strange part; plenty of series get special collaborations with bullet trains for a quick redecorating. The strange part was its recursive collaboration— it got adapted into a Transforming Mecha for the Shinkalion series of kids toys, the official reason being that Unit-01 represented Father-son bonding with Shinji and Gendo the same way E5 Hayabusa did for Hayato and his father (albeit much more healthy) in the Shinkalion anime.
• Death Note has a really nice Ryuk handpuppet sold in shops. A Death God with a short attention span and worrying lack of morals... in puppet form. How cute.
• The Rirukotto series turns the characters from Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans into chibi, cutesy Rylcot (acrylic mascot) charm. While it's fun to carry your favorite characters around, and some of them, such as Atra and Biscuit, are indeed cheerful, it gets odd when it comes to characters with darker personalities, such as Mikazuki and especially Ein.
• With JoJo's Bizarre Adventure being as popular and long-running as it is, some bizarre merchandise was inevitable.
  • Bandai Premium made a replica of the soul doll Kakyoin was turned into by the Younger D'Arby in Stardust Crusaders. It's just as hideous as it is in the show, but its marketing includes photos of a young woman smiling at it. It's hard to tell whether they're trying to make it look cute or are aiming for Sex Sells, but neither of these things are really appropriate for such a creepy item that would really only appeal to hardcore fans.

Comic Books

• So Mattel saw what Hasbro did and wondered, "Why should Hasbro have all the fun?". So they approached their comic partner: DC. Their answer to Hasbro's Marvel kiddie toys? Little People DC Characters. Let's reiterate this. Chunky Fun Sized Super-Deformed DC Characters toys. For toddlers. They even have a figure of The Joker, and he is genuinely smiling—as in, a happy smile, not the usual Slasher Smile.

Film - Live-action

• There were McDonald's Happy Meals for James Cameron's Avatar. The idea of kids' meal toys for PG-13 movies isn't new, but Avatar has too many adult themes and is too obscure among kids to really deserve a Happy Meal line. They also have a reusable sticker book. Next thing we know, they're going to have coloring and activity books for the sequel. Oh wait, they already have those.
• Jurassic Park
  • Some of the toys let you do "dino-damage" (as per the commercials) in your action figures' dino fights. Yes, you can have your toy get its flesh ripped off, showing muscle and bone beneath. You know, for kids!
  • The Mix-and-Match Critters toys made to promote Jurassic World. Nothing says "making homicidal genetic hybrids is a terrible idea" like toys that allow you to make homicidal genetic hybrids!
• Captain America: The Winter Soldier is a film that eventually revolves around HYDRA being in SHIELD all along and using a horrifying brainwashing technique on Bucky as well as their plans to kill people with a satellite. It's PG-13 for a reason. So imagine the stupidity behind the release of a children's book around Falcon, with the immortal lines: "Bucky had turned mean. He was out hurting other people!" (said over a picture of Bucky with a rocket launcher and flaming cars behind him.) and "Bucky got away on a helicopter." (Suffice to say, this doesn't happen in the movie.)
• Usually when you think of characters to make cute plush toys◊ out of or, yes, perfume, you don't think of Thanos—a character who not only temporarily succeeded in murdering half of the universe's population including most of the Avengers, but also made plans to destroy the entire universe. Yes, kids, cuddle your Omnicidal Knight Templar to sleep! Making regular action figures at least makes sense and granted, Thanos's Evil Is Cool appeal probably downplays the Misaimed Marketing, but it's highly doubtful that the plushies will be used for anything other than a collectible, and the perfume is still baffling.
• A Marvel Studios' Hot Wheels model of Doctor Strange's Lamborghini. You know, the one he crashes in a terrible accident that renders his hands useless. Have fun recreating that scene at home, kids!

Live-action TV

Transformers Wiki: Enjoy the toyline based on a story about the horrors of war and how it corrupts everyone involved, kids! Great, off we start with a snarky quote as the folder topper. I had to check the whole wiki because it felt off-place, but it was referring to the toys for the Animorphs TV show

• Breaking Bad plushies and action figures exist. Now you can buy cute huggable versions of your favorite former chemistry teacher turned vicious drug kingpin! Notably, a petition started by a concerned mother in Florida resulted in Toys 'R Us removing the action figures from the chain's toy stores (although they were present in an "adult" action figure section away from the majority of the toys). Doesn't really fit since the example even admits they're adult collectibles. Maybe the plushies might fall under "weird merch".

Music

• Fisher-Price’s has a line of KISS Little People figures. Because kids nowadays are into aging glam-rock stars in Monster Clown makeup. At this point they might as well stop pretending and admit that they’re catering to the Periphery Demographic.

Keep for the "weird merch" draft proposed in the TRS thread

Anime & Manga

• Neon Genesis Evangelion:
  • Studio Gainax (and later Studio Khara during the Rebuild era) have a reputation for being absolute marketing whores who will sell any merchandise and sex up their characters as much as necessary. There's even a Rei Ayanami soap dish.
  • Moe Anthropomorphisized Angel dolls (including a genderbent Tabris in a short skirt). If that's not your cup of tea, there's always the Sanrio-esque line of Yurushito characters.
  • That's nothing compared to the officially licensed strip mahjong game, which even got two expansion packs.
• Tokyo Mew Mew has a few odd things. The panties are understandable, since it is a kids' show. Plastic beauty set? Nothing to do with the actual show, but some little girls probably liked it. When you get to the large inflatable Ichigo, however, you really do have to wonder.
• If you want proof that Harmony Gold was willing to squeeze as much money from Robo Tech as possible, by any means possible, look no further than The Women of Robotech dolls. Rick really seems to get around...
• There's an official Digimon Adventure earpick designed to look like Angemon's staff. Said earpick is roughly thirty dollars. Again, this is something you use to remove earwax. Apparently, some people just like Digimon that much.

Comic Books

• There is apparently a large market for licensed military toys. We have Batman Tanks, Hulk Humvees, Iron Man fighter jets and, of course, Spidey stealth bombers. They are just cheaply made Hot Wheels or a similar toy painted in the color of the hero with the hero's logo, or in some cases, a decal of the hero, placed on it. Because nothing says stealth as much as having Spider-Man painted on your hull.
• Spider-Man Operation, admittedly, might not be such a strange idea in and of itself. What really makes it fall into this trope is the box art, which depicts Spider-Man lying on a hospital bed with Doctor Octopus looming in the background, wielding surgical implements with his tentacles. Doc Ock is not only a villain but once took over Spidey's body in the comics, so this has... sinister implications.

Film - Live-action

• Rambo has tons of merchandise. One of the most infamous? Bubble gum. Designed to look like shrapnel.
• The first Star Wars prequel was merchandised to hell and back. At the time, big box stores would have aisles where everything had a Star Wars character somewhere on the label;
  • The Queen Amidala Galactic Body Wash.
  • Learn Letter Sounds With Sebulba coloring book; nothing like having a murderous bully who is willing to cheat in a podrace and kill anyone who gets in his way to win, including a child racer, teach your kids how to learn letter sounds, especially when you consider that he doesn't or can't even speak basic!
  • This horrifying◊ Jar Jar Binks Push Pop was certainly the lowest point. Hey kids, want to have a sloppy tongue kiss with a Gungan? Now you can!
  • There is a Jar Jar Binks talking alarm clock doll that tells the time, says phrases from the film, and is able to wake you up...by vibrating! ^note  The vibration is also used for emphasizing certain phrases in one mode of the doll. A Christian spoof site may have noticed this, and wrote an article warning parents of the potential the doll has to be used as a masturbation toy, although they got some of the details of the doll wrong, like how they claim the doll is life-sized, and they leave out the fact that the doll vibrates.

Literature

• To celebrate the release of The Film of the Book of Fifty Shades of Grey, the Vermont Teddy Bear company released a teddy bear based on the novel. It looks like a child's plaything, but it's clearly marketed to adults and is $90.

Live-action TV

• The Mandalorian spawned a version of Bop It modeled after The Child, greatly overestimating how many of the show's fans would want to "bop" a baby, as well as the chance that the eponymous Mandalorian would order someone to "bop" The Child.

Tabletop Games

• From the makers of Warhammer Fantasy and Warhammer 40,000 comes the Nurgling Plush! Now you can snuggle up with your very own daemonic avatar of the Lord of Pestilence!

Western Animation

• A PAW Patrol plush chew toy of Chase exists. It may seem OK at first, but then one realizes that these are made for dogs to chew on...

Don't know

Anime & Manga

• There's Nendoroid Miki Sayaka from Puella Magi Madoka Magica. While the content inside is normal, the problem comes from the tagline on the box, which also happens to be her last words before turning into a witch.
  "I'm such an idiot."
• Digimon:
  • There's a Digimon Edutainment Game called Digimon Park intended for children ages three to six. If that wasn't weird enough, one of the series featured is Digimon Tamers. While Tamers is indeed a kids show, it's definitely not a good idea to show it to kids THAT young.
  • Sindy, the British equivalent of Barbie, had two Digimon-themed dolls released.
• Back in the 2000's, toys based on Naruto were released as McDonald's Happy Meal toys in Japan. Multiple plush toys based on extremely deadly Naruto characters, including the entire Akatsuki, Orochimaru and Madara Uchiha, are sold in stores.
• Chainsaw Man:
  • There's a line of Chainsaw Man merchandise (rubber straps, keychains, etc.) depicting the characters as babies. It isn't even aimed at children as the trope would imply, but rather at the general kawaisa demographic (mostly women), so while at least the products aren't aimed at an inappropriate demographic, there's still the issue of characters from a very gory and violent manga/anime being depicted as cute babies to be worn on your backpack. Gets even weirder when you see that Aki still has piercings, Himeno still has an eyepatch, and the line features Makima in the first place.
  • Makima in general has had a ton of cuddly plush toys based on her, despite the fact that she's a monstrous child groomer and abuser. One of these toys, the ball-shaped Korotto Collection plush of her, underwent Memetic Mutation and became known as "Makima bean" for the sheer audacity of its very existence.

Comic Books

• Hasbro has a line of fun sized Marvel superheroes ("Super Hero Squad") and related lines for other franchises (almost all "____ Heroes", like Star Wars Galactic Heroes and Transformers Robot Heroes). Chibi Indiana Jones is a little strange, but Hulkie Pokey (an Hulk toy who sings and dances in the same manner as Tickle Me Elmo) is just nuts. The cute and cuddly Punisher is straight-up madness.
  • And to complement the Hulkie Pokey, they have a Spider-Man plush that sings "The Itsy-Bitsy Spider" and another with Spider-Man and his security web blanket as well.
  • From the same line of merchandise comes this absolutely absurd Hulk-themed CD of children's music. There's even a song about Hulk calming down when he gets angry. Yup, they took the character whose concept is that he turns into a giant green monster when he's angry, and use him to teach kids anger management.
  • The Hulk has also starred in many light-hearted tie-ins, including such fare as Construction Worker Hulk (ironic for a character as destructive as him) and Lifeguard Hulk (while Hulk is ultimately a heroic but misunderstood character, if someone saw the Hulk coming to save them from drowning, they'd be more likely to die of a heart attack instead).
  • There are also T-shirts featuring chibi versions of the Marvel characters, with quotes like "Bad temper" for Hulk and "Doesn't play well with others" for Punisher.
  • There's a little Wolverine action figure who's naked except for his Weapon X mental reprogramming gear. He's smiling.
  • There are even baby clothes released for most of the live action Spider-Man movies, which are rated PG-13.
  • Quite a bit of the Super Hero Squad line is odd either for violence levels (The Punisher, Ghost Rider, Deadpool, and Blade— complete with Cute Little Fangs) or obscurity (would the 3-to-5-year-olds this line is aimed at have even heard of The Sentry, Ben Reilly, Leater Villain, Spiral or Fin Fang Foom?).
  • Some have argued that they're not really going for kids, but as a nerd Guilty Pleasure that's cheaper and easier to pose than action figures.

Films - Animated

• What Disney did with its Disney Princess line prior to the "Dream Big, Princess" Retool in 2016 — including Mulan. Instead of the female empowerment or ass-kicking Sweet Polly Oliver from an ancient story during that period, she was lumped in with the princesses and put in pretty dresses and makeup. The whole first part of the movie is about how little being "super-girly" suits her. She isn't even a princess to begin with ^note The emperor said she was more valuable than princesses, but still... but she was more popular than Pocahontas (and don't even get us started on her...), so into the line-up she went.
  • "Princess" Belle is never seen in the blue dress she wears throughout the movie — or with a book in hand until 2016, when it finally started showing up as a standard prop, Aurora wears pink (look closely; they also give her purple eyes) when she wore blue for the final third of the film^note This could be explained by the fact that Cinderella's blonde and wears blue, but that's hardly better, and all of the famous heroines spend their days in toy stores posing and staring vaguely into the distance, swishing their sparkly gowns in the same exactly poses over and over again, in recycled clipart slapped onto every pink backpack they can find. Their pre-2016 coloring books and Direct to Video features were filled with stories about spring cleaning, going to the market, setting up parties for their friends, and (via the "Palace Pets" spinoff line) their adorable Canon Foreigner pampered pets.
  • One Mulan doll was not only sculpted with Barbie feet (i.e. can only wear heels) but this is the product description on the back of the box:
  Ready for a night of magic, Mulan sparkles and shines in a gown fit for a princess. Soon she will meet her true love, and all her dreams will come true!^note Just in case you haven't seen the movie, she implicitly (explicitly in the sequel) marries a general... whom she fought alongside.
  • Princess Eilonwy is spared, but that's because The Black Cauldron was such a failure that Disney doesn't want anyone to know that she (or anything associated with the movie) exists. They go so far as to define "Disney Princess" for the purposes of the line in a way that specifically excludes her (as well as Princess Kida from Atlantis: The Lost Empire and Giselle from Enchanted, though the latter was because of how much it would cost to use her actress' image) while still allowing non-princesses like Mulan and Pocahontas.^note While Pocahontas only requires a small stretch to be considered a princess (she is, after all, the daughter of the local leader, though his title is not "king"), it's pretty obvious that regardless of what Disney may say, the actual definition of "Disney Princess" is "young-ish humanoid female non-villain we think can move merch."
  • Merida from Brave falls victim to this as well. Initially her dolls didn't include her iconic bow and arrow, and she was outfitted in the tight, blue "royal" dress that she rips in the movie because it won't let her aim her bow correctly. There was a toy bow and arrow released with the movie, but it was sky blue and lavender, bearing no resemblance to the much more normal-looking one she actually uses. Disney and Mattel had the foresight to realize they might just need to have a "movie accurate" version, and eventually released one. It comes with her bow and regular dress, but also a sparkly cape with Velcro gems.
  • The addition of Moana to the lineup could also qualify as this, as in the movie she's from, there's a scene where she claims she's not a princess, but rather the daughter of a chief.
• Disney Stores have sold stuffed Cruella de Villes, Oogie Boogies, Jafars, and Aslans, the last of which is probably a sin of some sort (at least if you're Orthodox).
  • There's also some stuffed Oogie Boogie dolls that were made before the Disney Store models and manufactured by Applause (a name you don't hear very much of these days). They feature a Velcro front that, when pulled apart, reveal some black fabric with glow-in-the-dark "bugs" silkscreened on.
  • The adaptation of The Hunchback of Notre Dame had Frollo action figures rotting away on store shelves. There were also Barbie-sized dolls of the good guys, including Quasimodo, who also bombed in sales (likely as a result of his gonk design); one K-Mart employee recalled a tale where, a full year after Hunchback debuted in theaters, many Quasimodo figures were still shelfwarming even though they had been marked down to clearance price.
  • Disney parks used to sell plush dolls of Constance Hatchaway, a Black Widow who, in life, killed all five of her husbands for their money.
  • Toy Story 3 has two toy sets based off the climatic incinerator scene, where the toys are very nearly melted into slag. One's a LEGO set. In fairness, both put more emphasis on depicting the conveyor belt leading to the incinerator, which is a fairly action-y sequence before the solemn final part sets in.
• Inside Out:
  • Hot Topic sells an exclusive Funko Pop! figurine of Bing Bong that's translucent. Fans who saw the movie were outraged by this, since he fades away towards the end of the film. Only a few fans, however, see the figure as what it really is: a reference to Bing Bong being an Imaginary Friend.
  • Most children's books based on the film censor Bing Bong's "death". They either skip over it or explain that he "said goodbye" instead.
  • Takara Tomy Arts made a set of Inside Out-themed car toys: one featuring the entire cast, and two based on Sadness and Bing Bong. The first two are fine, but the Bing Bong-inspired one◊ isn't so much, as it's a construction vehicle not unlike the ones that destroyed PreSchool World and pushed his rocket wagon into the memory dump, setting up one of the film's many bittersweet moments. Also the Sadness one kind of looks like an ambulance. Make of that what you will.

Film - Live-action

• One of the biggest inspirations for this trope: the stuffed animals and PEZ dispensers of nearly all the major nonhuman characters in His Dark Materials. And that's not to mention the plastic toy Alethiometers given away at Burger King. These were all meant to promote The Golden Compass movie.
• The first Star Wars prequel was merchandised to hell and back. At the time, big box stores would have aisles where everything had a Star Wars character somewhere on the label;
  • The Queen Amidala Galactic Body Wash.
  • Learn Letter Sounds With Sebulba coloring book; nothing like having a murderous bully who is willing to cheat in a podrace and kill anyone who gets in his way to win, including a child racer, teach your kids how to learn letter sounds, especially when you consider that he doesn't or can't even speak basic!
  • This horrifying◊ Jar Jar Binks Push Pop was certainly the lowest point. Hey kids, want to have a sloppy tongue kiss with a Gungan? Now you can!
  • There's also something both disturbing and hilarious in the fact that there's an official Anakin Skywalker lightsaber toy that changes from blue to red with the push of a button, so kids can switch from good to evil just as easily as Anakin.
  • Two different LEGO minifigures depicting Anakin/Vader horribly burned and scarred after the Mustafar duel are available in two sets, one of which is completely devoted to the scene where he's rebuilt into Darth Vader! At least he has all his extremities... for now.
  • Darth Vader is one of the most successful examples of Misaimed Marketing in pop culture, as a Breakout Villain that became the Series Mascot. Presented as a cruel and terrifying villain in canon, Vader became very popular with viewers of all ages (including young kids), and so his sinister black helmet appears on everything from cereal boxes◊ to coloring books.
  • Much like Vader, Kylo Ren from the Sequel Trilogy is plastered on books, stickers, and kid-friendly merchandise despite killing his father onscreen and supervising the destruction of five planets, among other atrocities.
  • There was a kids' Valentine set that was just Kylo Ren's helmet on a heart-shaped box. While Valentine cards for children have no actual romantic intent, an emotionally unstable space Neo-Nazi is hardly suitable for friendship cards either.
• There was some feminist outrage over the marketing of an action figure based on Quentin Tarantino's character in Planet Terror, who is credited simply as "Rapist". Some of it was possibly-justified disgust at seeing action figures labeled "Rapist" in stores, but some people who weren't aware of the adult geek market for action figures assumed that they must have been being marketed to children.
• And then the same thing happened again with Django Unchained, where action figures were pulled after only a couple of days on sale after protests from African-Americans that the toys were making light of slavery. (Inevitably, those that did get sold are now going for stupid prices on auction sites.)
• Kick-Ass action figures, of Kick-Ass himself and Hit-Girl. The best part is that the word "ass" is obscured on the packaging both times it appears, first by graphics of the characters, and then by a spray-paint smudge effect, so the figure can be sold at more mainstream retailers like Toys 'R' Us. There are also Halloween costumes.
• Barbie dolls of the various Bond Girls. Yes, they had the white bikini.
  • As far as Barbie dolls go, there are two kinds - the kid toy "Pink Box" Barbies, and the "Black Box" ones marketed to collectors, which tend to be more for adults. But to a lot of people, a Barbie is a Barbie, whether it's meant for kids or not.
• You'll find plush dolls of Mysterio of Spider-Man: Far From Home, despite him being one of the most henious Marvel villains to date. Evil Is Cool downplays this, though and it's very likely that such merch of him is only meant for collectors' items rather than actual children's toys.
• LEGO sets based off of Marvel Cinematic Universe films are nothing new, but with the release of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, we get a set called Baby Rocket's Ship. It comes with a cute little Baby Rocket model, which will almost help distract you from the fact that Baby Rocket is flying the ship in the immediate aftermath of his only friends in the whole universe getting mercilessly gunned down by the High Evolutionary and his minions after promising they would all escape together. Even discounting that, Volume 3 has the first proper F-Bomb in the entire MCU, so rating a set based off the film 8+ can be a bit suspect.

Live-action TV

• In the early 2000s, Sababa Toys made two "Fraggle Fun Packs", which consist of a DVD with a single Fraggle Rock episode on it and two small plushies of Fraggles important to said episode's plot. One of them, which featured "The Beast of Blue Rock" with plushes of Gobo and Wembley, was fine. The other? Plushes of Red and Boober... and the episode "Marooned", a notoriously depressing episode with such lines as "I wonder what it's like, to die?" and a plot that mostly consists of Red and Boober in a cave-in as they lose oxygen and question whether or not they will survive. Sleep tight with your plushies tonight, kids!
• Archie Comics promoted the hell out of Riverdale up to and during the premiere of the first season. This aggressive campaign involved stuffing their comic book and digest titles with ads for the show, which even went as far as to attaching banners to the top of their covers. Promoting your new high-budget TV drama series within the very comic books that inspired its creation seems like a perfectly logical thing to do at first, until you realise that Archie Comics titles are aimed at a wide range of different audiences, including younger readers for whom Riverdale is most definitely not made. Perhaps most egregiously of all, Archie even pulled their Sonic the Hedgehog titles into the madness, a series that not only had nothing to do with the Archie brand apart from sharing a publisher, but was marketed exclusively to younger audiences!^note The only two Sonic issues on which the banners were printed, Sonic the Hedgehog #290 and Sonic Universe #94, also just so happened to be the final ever two Archie Sonic publications released before the series was unceremoniously cancelled, coming across as a final "screw you" in hindsight.

Toys

• Transformers:
  • The Star Wars Transformers line. Had both Star Wars and Transformers toys been made by the same company in the '80s, they could have bankrupted their competition through the sheer awesomeness of the combination. Seeing as how both have been around for nearly the same amount of time, it seems a bit forced.

Video Games

• Funko Pop! released the Red Knight figure from Dark Souls III. While it is cool to finally have a knight figure from the box cover, the description on the official blog may lead to a Mood Whiplash if you've actually completed the game. The Red Knight is everything but the only hope of humanity. Specifically, he's the Final Boss and the manifestation of every last unfortunate Lord of Cinder, doomed to live inside Animated Armor for eternity. To their credit, however, the description on the figure was correct for most of development. The red knight armor was originally intended to be this games version of the elite knight set, heavily featured in marketing and something the player could get quite easily. In the alpha and beta builds of the game, that was still true. It wasn't until very late that that was changed, making this a case of outdated marketing more than anything else. This entire example should go under Early Draft Tie-In since it clearly states that the marketing for the figure was based on early marketing for the game when that design was intended to be a cool hero armor
  "Return to the unforgiving terrain of the Dark Souls series as Red Knight and take down a Lord of Cinder! The Age of Fire is upon us and the Red Knight is our only hope!"