Netflix has continued to churn out some great shows over the last few years, but outside of their usual original scripted series they have offered up a ton of docuseries as well. In 2017 they unleashed the series The Toys That Made Us that continued through 2018 with 8 episodes making up the first two seasons.

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The series takes viewers on a journey through the histories and development of important toy lines focusing on Star Wars, Barbie, He-Man, G.I. Joe, LEGO, Transformers, Hello Kitty, and Star Trek. As a hardcore Star Wars fan and collector I was instantly drawn to the series with the first episode focusing on the toys from a galaxy far, far away. With all the properties they have put together some interesting and compelling histories of their development that will no doubt suck you right in whether you care about the property or not.

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The show has a pretty straight forward structure that works perfect to not over complicate the stories and instead just let the people tell their stories. They have gotten so many great people involved that worked and were involved to tell the stories that you get way more information than I thought you would. There are some people that show up multiple times throughout the properties depending on the companies that made the toys and it reminds you of an entire world of the same people that helped bring a lot of our childhoods to plastic life.

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In addition to the general stories these also take fans into the world of the rare and urban legend collectibles in some episodes to find out the truth of them which in itself is interesting. I loved this series and whether you are a fan of any of these properties or not this is still a great series worth checking out.

 

In addition to the series this release offers up bonus content including featurettes, featurette with Show Creator Brian Volk-Weiss, Barbie 80’s Marketing, More Stores That Made Us:  GI Joe the Story of COBRA, More Stores That Made Us:  Us Selling the Show, Jim Swearingen Extended Interview, Peter Cullen Extended Interview, Todd McFarlane on LEGO, Todd McFarlane on Star Trek, Hideki Yoke/Takara Tour and Deleted Scenes. Grab your copy of The Toys That Made Us: Seasons 1 & 2 available now from Netflix, Falco Ink and Screen Media.