![]() His big goal was to get into the commercial toy business using the concept of animatronics and one of his first ideas was to make a monkey in honor of NASA and their early experiments with them in the early days of the space race. He started out working for Disney and then shortly worked for Sid & Marty Kroft who gave us a lot of LSD inspired entertainment…įorsee was big into animatronics and one of his first big projects was providing the animatronic characters on Welcome to Pooh Corner which would end up influencing the design of Teddy Ruxpin. Teddy Ruxpin was first created by a guy named Ken Forsee. The Creation of Teddy Ruxpin An original prototype- Sally Neiman/CNET O.K let’s take a deeper look at Teddy Ruxpin: ![]() So you can either read with your ears by listening to the podcast or continue with the blog! It tried to advance as the technology changed and is still connected with some pretty bizarre stories and history. Teddy Ruxpin has gone through a bunch of changes and has been owned by multiple companies. It’s still a real symbol of the ‘80s and surprisingly was the best selling thing for 85-86 which is really impressive when you think of this time as the golden age of toys. It was impossible to ignore from all the commercials but I think I still thought of it like a teddy bear and I was more concerned with G.I Joe or transformers at that point. I never had a Teddy Ruxpin growing up but remember it being a huge deal. Cheese, came out in 1985 and became the best selling toy of the mid-‘80s also leading to a cartoon show. It was a combination of many unique influences from Disney to Chuck E. Teddy Ruxpin was an animatronic children’s toy that could talk, and move its eyes and mouth while telling stories. Let’s just make it 75 because My Buddy deserves at least that.Talking toys are a dime a dozen now and we take the technology for granted but which toy in the mid ’80s was the orginator? Prior to the upcoming Child’s Play series coming in October from SyFy, Chucky’s kill count sits at 74. But, it didn’t have the effect the toymakers’ thought it would and My Buddy went completely off line in the 90s’ due to poor sales. Hasbro subsidiary Playskool continued manufacturing the doll into the 1990s, while changing up his look a bit to distance the toy’s legacy away from the Child’s Play series. Whether it was the kids themselves, or parents making that association, the My Buddy toy line suffered. He did NOT want that thing in his room anymore and unfortunately, that same scenario rang true for many other kids as well. However, shortly after seeing the movie, we got rid of those fuckin’ nightmare inducing wads of stuffing on the fact it resembled it TOO much and it did give my brother several nightmares. My younger brother had a My Buddy doll prior to the movie coming out, as I did as well with his sister companion. ![]() Just like with Freddy, every kid in the late 80s’ early 90s’ knew all about Chucky and we closely associated the plastic terror with the My Buddy doll. Chucky was directly inspired by My Buddy- who in turn, had a hand in the down-fall of the doll. I’m eternally grateful to have such a marvelous, witty, pint-sized horror maniac in the horror movie legends roster. I’m certainly not giving the guy (Mancini) any shit. ![]() It truly was the perfect combination for creating a memorable identity for a toy while cleverly referencing the doll’s name throughout the “earworm” so much so, all kids’ would remember the name My Buddy or Kid Sister when asking for an oversized bundle of plastic and stuffing with sewn-on clothing. In which case, was most certainly the biggest selling point of this doll. And neither did his off-shoot Kid Sister either- which I TOTALLY HAD.Īnd intro the theme song that will probably be stuck in your head the rest of the day. The My Buddy doll was officially stocked on store shelves in 1985 and actually sold fairly well – ranking in eighth place officially as the top-ten selling toys for that year. Up until Hasbro launched a market campaign with a doll, directly marketed to boys as, “ A little boy’s special friend! Rough and tough, yet soft and cuddly.” The boys had their GI JOES and HE-MAN, and that seemed to be the way it just was. Although considered non-gender specific, the dolls were mostly marketed towards little girls. In the earlier part of the decade, Cabbage Patch Dolls rules the ugly doll market with a mighty fist crushing any and all competitors that stood in their creepy, cabbage-dwelling way. Also, looking at this pair side-by-side, it’s beyond obvious we know where he got his look from. But My Buddy was in itself, was inspired by the Xavier Roberts’ line. Sure, the Cabbage Patch Kids as originally stated, served as some inspiration for good ol’ Chuck. Without skipping a beat, 80s’ kids know that My Buddy jingle- and we also know without a doubt, THIS, without a doubt, is the true inspiration behind the Child’s Play franchise.
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