When you look at toys of the ‘80s they are pretty violent. Not only that, the idea of teaching boys about caring for their friends was also seen as a controversial idea. This seems crazy but there was the thought that making a doll for a boy was not a smart move by Hasbro.
The sale of dolls in 1985 reached $3.36 billion which was up 111% from 1983. The toy companies were now taking this approach with simple things like dolls and bears that had never been done before. Atari was really good at this because due to the limited graphics they would create amazing packaging art and little comic books that told the story of what you were playing. The one thing the toy companies learned from video games was the importance of a concept, history, and backstory. They knew to give these new toys specific names and not just that, a concept and a backstory. They weren’t releasing a “teddy bear” they were releasing My Pet Monster or Teddy Ruxpin.
#CHUCKY BUDDI PATCH#
The big difference now is that these companies were not just releasing a “doll” they were releasing a Cabbage Patch Kid. So a return to more simple vintage things such as dolls, teddy bears, trucks etc was underway. It really was the Cabbage Patch Kids that created all this as Coleco would have gone bankrupt if it wasn’t for their huge success. I think people wanted to return to more tried and true toys after being overwhelmed by electronics for years. With video games not having a stranglehold on the toy market there became more of an interest in traditional toys such as dolls and stuffed animals. It would still be a few years before Nintendo swooped in and saved the industry and this meant filling the market with non video game related new toys. Toy companies such as Mattel, Hasbro, Milton Bradley, and Irwin wanted nothing to do with video games after being crushed financially by them. This may have paved the way for My Buddy. An industry that was making $2 billion a year dropped down to just $100 million seemingly overnight. It was so bad that it was seen as the final nail in the coffin for video games. It all seemed to come to a front with the release of the E.T Atari video game in 1983. Atari had been ruling the roost for years but with a wide range of crappy games flooding the market quality was dropping and consumers were starting to take notice. If you’re not familiar with the video game crash of 1983 it’s when the whole industry came to pretty much a screeching halt.
Was My Buddy Due To The Video Game Crash Of 1983? My Buddy was supposed to go everywhere you did and that would mean he might take some abuse along the way such as climbing a tree.Īn interesting feature was the added smile on the dolls to give it a pleasant demeanor as opposed to just a blank expression which is usually on my face. The whole thing was stuffed with fabric so it would be pretty resilient to rougher play as it was meant to be an active use toy and not to just sit on a shelf. He also had freckles, a button nose and a corn cob pipe. My Buddy also had blue shoes with white stripes (not the band) and they would vary between blue and brown eyes on him. He was dressed in a long sleeve shirt that had multi colored stripes of red, yellow, blue, and white.Īnother distinguishing feature were his trademark red overalls that had the “My Buddy” logo right on the front, in case you forgot what you were playing with… He had a few distinguishing features including a red hat and brown hair. My Buddy was a fairly large 21 inch doll that had the look of being around the age of a toddler. This article is all about My Buddy and if it is, or isn’t the inspiration behind Chucky from Child’s Play. It was a memorable toy form the ‘80s with a pretty memorable commercial and song to go with it. It was a doll and it’s intent was to teach boys about being caring for their friends.
My Buddy was a straight up attempt at marketing a doll towards boys but there was nothing that was being over enhanced like giving him scars or a punching action.
#CHUCKY BUDDI CRACK#
My Pet Monster was the attempt to crack back into that market by taking a stuffed animal and trying to “toughen” it by giving it fangs and handcuffs. Every kid has a stuffed animal at some point but boys tend to outgrow them. I wrote an article about My Pet Monster and how it was seen as a plush doll marketed towards boys. My Buddy was a success and wa considered as the inspiration behind Chucky from the Child’s Play movies. This was controversial as marketing a doll specifically to boys was seen as a big risk. My Buddy was a doll line made by Hasbro in 1985. If you grew up in the ‘80s you know it was a time when manufacturers of dolls were trying to crossover and have them appeal to boys and vice versa.
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