Do you like toys? You’re here, you probably like toys. If you’ve ever bought a toy. If you’ve ever even admired a toy, you need to watch The Toys That Made Us, and you need the Blu-ray set.
To date, there have been two seasons of The Toys That Made Us on Netflix with a third on the way. With the series originating on a streaming service it can be easy to ask yourself why you need to purchase a Blu-ray set of the series, but we’re just going to tell you now: Buy it.
If you are unfamiliar with the series, The Toys That Made Us is an eight-part series (soon to be 12) that deep dives into one toyline per episode. They talk about the origins of the toy lines, the key people in each line, and the ups and downs it may have faced over the years. This series is a must-watch for anyone with even a passing interest in the toy industry.
The Blu-ray set, however, adds about 90 minutes of additional material including featurettes and deleted scenes. Some of them are quite general such as the story of how the show was sold to Netflix, which is still interesting, but then we get to the real meat. We get a few more stories about a few of the toy lines, but there is even a segment that delves into one of the greatest mysteries in toy collecting history: The Wonder Bread He-Man.
The Mystery of Wonder Bread He-Man
For those not in the know, Wonder Bread He-Man – sometimes referred to as Savage He-Man – was a variation of He-Man with brown hair and a black belt. No one was quite sure where he came from, but some people suggested he was a mail-away offer from Wonder Bread. He was not.
What we finally get in these extras are actual people involved in the original Masters of the Universe line saying on camera… they have no idea what he is. They have no memory of approving this, and they do not know where he came from or how he even came to be.
We kind of love that figure even more now.
Should you buy the Toys That Made Us Blu-ray set?
In addition to the bonuses, the set comes with a mini TV that looks somewhat like the one seen in the show and it displays the series logo. It’s a nice little addition to your dioramas. It’s not a make or break piece, but it’s fun.
Overall, and I do not exaggerate here, I think this series is an important piece of toy history. So much of what we know about the creation of these toy lines is rumor and legend, and what we get here are the actual people behind the lines setting the record straight.
I am thrilled to have this Blu-ray set in my collection, and I’m sure to watch it all again.
The Nerdy was provided with a copy of this Blu-ray set for the purposes of this review. We watched all content including the bonus features before beginning this review.
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