3 out of 5

Created by: Brian Volk-Weiss

covers season 1 and 2

The opening credits for ‘The Toys That Made Us’ sing to you about how it’s an eight part documentary series about toys we grew up with – truth in titling, that – while kitsch animation winks at us, showing kids running to the store to pick up the newest action figure, and then eventually business-suited business-ites clutching similar action figures.  This pretty much tells you everything you need to know about the tone of the show and each episode’s structure – a specific toy or brand a focus per ep – and if any of the hinted-at toys in the credits (Star Wars; Transformers; etc.) make you tinkle a bit in your nostalgia-pants, then you will more than likely enjoy the show.

Which is a very offhanded description, but it is interesting, because the stories are damned interesting, and the presentation – with lively, snarky (but kind-hearted) narration from Donald Ian Black and frequent Monty Python-esque transition animations to break up the talking heads – makes the most out of what could always have been dry, historical re-tellings or uninteresting speakers.  That is: yes, the series trades very heavily in nostalgia and quirk, but even when the you might have zero connection with the featured toy (for me, Hello Kitty), that creator Brian Volk-Weiss makes sure to cover the highs and lows of each focus – the hour runtime doesn’t allow for the deepest dives, but we don’t gloss over financial problems or some illegalities that plagued companies – gives the documentary a necessary past / present / future structure that provides constant viewerly momentum.

Some of the nitty gritty can be pretty surprising, though for anyone around for some of these toys’ prime runtime, I feel like we were aware of / knew some of this history intuitively.  But the show wields its “Remember this jingle?  Remember this one-off character?” sword wisely, plying us with familiarity while doubling down on factoids and interviews, making us happy to have light shed on our youth while equally interesting us in those other toys that maybe didn’t make us, but we can see, now, how they made others.

I do think it odd that they dubbed some interviews in the Transformers / Hello Kitty episodes, while allowing for subtitles in other spots.  Neither here nor there, just a strange decision.