Nearly five years since the last episode aired, The Toys That Made Us is coming back for a fourth and fifth season. The lively documentary series from Nacelle is a highly entertaining and nostalgic look at the most popular toys of all time, with an often humorous look at their history. According to a report by Deadline, series creator Brian Volk-Weiss made the announcement during a panel Saturday at the San Diego Comic Con.
According to Volk-Weiss, each season will feature four new episodes each, and are currently in production. He later posted his thanks to everyone who attended on Instagram, stating, “Thank you to everyone who came to our Toys That Made Us panel!!! What an awesome time we had speaking with everyone who asked questions and I’m so relieved everybody liked the brands we’re covering (especially fast food toys, which I was a bit nervous about)!!”
During the panel, Volk-Weiss revealed the toys that will be featured in the episodes:
- Episode 1: Superhero Toys – The episode will feature Mego figures, Kenner’s classic 1980s “Super Powers” line of DC characters, and Kenner/Hasbro’s Batman line, beginning with the 1989 Michael Keaton film.
- Episode 2: Nerf – What started as a foam football for Parker Brothers is now one of the most popular and diverse toy lines ever.
- Episode 3: Pokemon – The Game Boy video game from the 1990s has sparked a billion dollar multimedia franchise, including card games, toys, plushes, animation, and movies.
- Episode 4: American Greetings Toys – The company’s 1980s toy lines are featured, including My Pet Monster, Strawberry Shortcake, and the Care Bears.
- Episode 5: Hot Wheels – The classic line of die-cast cars finally get an episode.
- Episode 6: Ghostbusters – The movie’s long-running toyline is covered, beginning with the Kenner figures from 1984.
- Episode 7: Polly Pocket – The British miniature toy line came to America in the 1990s and became a phenomenon.
- Episode 8: Fast Food Toys – The diverse history of toy premiums from fast food chains, led by Happy Meal toys, will be featured.
Where the episodes will stream will be announced later this year. The first three seasons of The Toys That Made Us are currently streaming on Netflix, with the last season premiering in 2019. In a statement, Volk-Weiss voiced his excitement about bringing the series back. “By far the most consistent comments we’ve received over the last five years have been some sort of inquiry about the future of The Toys That Made Us. We’re honored to be able to bring this series back to the fans that have waited so long to see it return, and we appreciate the support over the last 5 years that helped make this a reality.”
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Nacelle’s Nostalgia-Based Series and Toy Lines
The success of The Toys That Made Us allowed Nacelle to expand to similarly-themed documentary series, including the highly-popular Netflix series The Movies That Made Us in 2019, providing looks behind the scenes of some modern classic films. In 2020, Nacelle premiered A Toy Store Near You on Prime Video, a documentary series highlighting unique toy stores around the world. It recently premiered its sixth season on the streamer. They also produced Disney’s Behind the Attraction for Disney+, a documentary series covering the history of major rides and attractions in the Disney Parks.
Nacelle is also reviving several 1980s toy lines through toys and animated series, including Biker Mice from Mars (which is co-produced by Ryan Reynolds) and RoboForce (co-produced with Dwayne Johnson’s Seven Bucks Productions). They also produced action figures for the sci-fi series The Expanse, and they also acquired the 80s toy brands Sectaurs and Wild West C.O.W.-Boys of Moo Mesa.
A release date for season four of
The Toys That Made Us
has not yet been announced.