Once again, yes I’m watching this backwards. Which means that it’s the first time I’m seeing the uber weird re-enactments for the episodes! I didn’t realize that the series started as a docudrama, and I’m thankful they dropped the comedic, poorly acted, and downright strange re-enactments. The show was definitely stronger without it. But of course, I watched this for Transformers. And Power Rangers. And Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. And… oh, but I get ahead of myself.
Synopsis
The Toys That Made Us Season 2 is a documentary series that explores the heritage of famous and beloved toys. The second season focuses on Star Trek, Hello Kitty, Lego, and or course, Transformers.
Director: Brian Volk-Weiss, Tom Stern
Running time: 43-51 minutes
Episodes: 4
Fine balance between fun and seriousness
So The Toys That Made Us has been a documentary that I thoroughly enjoyed watching, mainly because of the light-hearted style, the geek aspect to it, and the research that has gone into it. I think the series strikes the fine balance between taking the subject matter seriously, but not going overboard with that seriousness and going all super gritty and serious with it. I mean, I watched another toy documentary and it was so difficult to sit through because it depicted the creation of a brand like it was covering some war atrocities (and it didn’t use narration). The balance for The Toys That Made Us is probably its greatest strength.
Intertwined Transformers history with real world history
Anyway the whole point of writing this is to talk about Transformers, right? So I went back to hit the Transformers episode twice and I was geeking out over seeing two people I’ve actually met in person before – Hideaki Yoke-san and Ryan Yzquierdo! Omg omg omg. It wasn’t anything that most fans didn’t already know, but it was amazing to see a legit docu on my favourite transforming robots. But to see a story being covered on the origin of the Transformers, all those vintage toys, the stories of the fortunes of companies rising and falling based on this brand… it was quite fun to see how the history of Transformers was intertwined with real world history.
Hello Kitty episode was sprawling
The Hello Kitty episode was… I think it was not the strongest episode in this season. I guess it’s because Hello Kitty encompasses so many things and doesn’t have a strong idea that anchors it, so it’s difficult to know where to start. Nevertheless, I was quite impressed by how they put everything together and managed to weave a coherent narrative out of it. The Hello Kitty designer was… not what I expected, at least in the interview segments.
Lego episode was compelling
Lego was interesting! The story has been told many times though. But I guess with visuals, it makes the story all the more compelling. Also, I never quite realised that the Star Wars license kind of made Lego go back on its “no war themes” philosophy. Then again, I’ve always been impressed by how Lego managed to acquire the licenses for BOTH DC & Marvel – something that I’ve seen other brands do only recently. But I think Lego was first.
Showed how Star Trek went overboard
Star Trek was… I’m not very sure how to describe it. It was funny to see how they committed to too many types of merchandise, many of which was unrelated to the series itself. I mean, we can all relate to seeing our favourite brands on weird items. But to see a brand that went overboard on that was quite hilarious imho, and I wondered why they even let the the documentary reveal that. Who are the custodians of Star Trek, anyway?
Conclusion
Overall, The Toys That Made Us Season 2 was quite a fun watch, even without a Transformers episode. The Lego episode definitely propped it up. I’d prefer Season 3 to Season 2 sans Transformers. But the current form of Season 2 makes it my favourite season yet. If you’re not big on Star Trek or Hello Kitty, then just check our the Lego or Transformers episode. It is totally worth watching it to find out how your favourite toys came to be.
Score: 8.2/10 (with Transformers)
Score: 6.2/10 (without Transformers)
The Toys That Made Us Season 2 is available on Netflix.
This is an original article on marcusgohmarcusgoh.com.
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