I am posting some anecdotal Toy Stories about a number of my favorite toys I've worked on in my career.

Toy Stories Chapter 1: Tony the Tattooed Man!

No entertainment license, but an inventor item with a funky look and play-pattern, and it remains a cult classic among the old guard at Mattel. Our TV Commercial Tony actor was our presenter for our He Man showroom, but with heavy facial prosthetics. Also had a brief career in wrestling! Classic lines: “He loves tattoos and so will youse.” “Tattoo him, tattoo you” and “Stick’em on his head, stick’em on his gut, you can even stick one on his – But not on TV!”. 1 in 50 Tonys has a tattoo on its butt. If you’re so lucky, you win 500 free tattoos! Sourcing was a challenge. We settled for a pre-approved ocelot print fabric on the shorts, but most of the effort went into creating a tattoo that could stick on skin and not migrate into the plasticizer of the PVC body. The beginning of my real world chemistry education. It was also my first project as the Marketing lead.