I am posting some anecdotes about a number of my favorite toys I've worked on in my career.
Toy Stories Chapter 7: Rugrats!
When I started as Director of the Nickelodeon business, Mattel had had a good run with the Activity business, particularly with compounds like Gak. However, it was at that time cycling to a close and losing money. Still, Nick was by far the #1 network for kids. So, why weren’t we doing anything with these great characters that kids loved? Great question! We renegotiated the contract to include the Nickelodeon characters, added dolls and figures, etc. to our rights, and started with Rugrats! The product was fairly straightforward, such as a Talking Tommy, though I quite liked the popsicle dolls that had a fruit-stain color-change feature around their mouths. Nickelodeon complained that they were too generous on our deal, and they were right. We paid out the guarantee by end of our first quarter! However, it was a great business that quickly broke the $100m/year barrier, and their complaints soon stopped as we continued to kick ass. More importantly, it carried on to future great Mattel Brands such as Angry Beavers, Sponge Bob, Dora the Explorer and onward!
TOY INDUSTRY MOVERS AND SHAKERS ANNOUNCED AS KEYNOTES AT PEOPLE OF PLAY’S INVENTOR & INNOVATION CONFERENCES
Maxine Clark & the Young Inventor Challenge: Empowering My Daughter’s Innovation
Joyce Hemphill
Greg Aheran: Advocacy Update: Working to Deepen The Toy Association’s Partnerships with Policymakers
CARVE COMMUNICATIONS ACQUIRES FREEMAN PUBLIC RELATIONS
Book Review: Storm: Dawn of a Goddess by Tiffany D. Jackson
Book Review: Erno Rubik and his Magic Cube by Kerry Aradhya
Game Review: Trip Chaser
Learning Express Toys Hosts 25th Annual Convention & Toy Expo at JW Marriott Tucson
Submit Your LA Showroom Details for 2025 Toy Previews
Randy Klimpert Shares his Ukulele Collection
Steve Casino Peanut Art
Everyone's Talking about POP!
Princess Etch - a Multi-Talented Etch A Sketch Artist
Joseph Herscher of Joseph' s Machines.
Connie Vogelmann designed Apiary & Wyrmspan!
Bob Fuhrer... Is THE Crocodile Dentist!
Tom Dusenberry... Bought Atari, Wizards of the Coast, and Avalon Hill!
Matt Leacock created Pandemic... the game!
Scott Brown and Tim Swindle... are Launching a New Sport!
POPDuo: Richard Dickson, Mattel’s President & COO, and Kedar Narayan, Young Inventor Challenge AMB
POPDuo: Will Shortz and Josh Wardle
POP Duo: Elan Lee, Co-Founder, Exploding Kittens.and Jeff Probst, Host and Exec Producer, Survivor
POP Duo: David Fuhrer, MNG Director, Blue Sq Innovations & Shawn Green, past Dodgers & Mets MLB Star
POP Duo: Bob Fuhrer, Founder, Nextoy and Tom Fazio, Golf Course Designer