People of Play! I am posting some anecdotal Toy Stories about a number of my favorite toys I've worked on in my career.
Toy Stories Chapter 2: Farting Ren & Stimpy
The challenge with a property like Ren & Stimpy is how do you capture its essence while maintaining traditional decorum in toys. The answer is to say “screw it” and make toys that fart and say “you fat bloated eediot!” There were also executional challenges in our farting line, however. Stimpy wasn’t a problem. He farted in nice round tones. Ren’s early prototypes, on the other hand, sounded more like a duck’s quacking, because the only place for the bladder flap (the fart-sounding whoopee rubber device) was in his head. After several attempts, our engineer (now Mattel Bigwig) Scott Goodman suggested we insert the bladder in the tail, provided Marketing was OK with the variance from the style guide, as it would results in a flat tail. I was.
With that, Scott then pointed out afterwards that there would be an added effect in that Ren’s tail would flap as he broke wind. A wind-win! (see what I did there?)
Stylistically, we sculpted Ren’s face to look like he was pinching one off, and designed the package to look like a toilet. Ren’s package was supposed to be a litter box, but the Ren approach was much more clear. Interestingly, we got more pushback from Ren’s chosen sayings in the talking toys than we did from these farting toys, because, you know, the price-point was more attractive.
McHALE DESIGN CASE STUDY: MONSTERVERSE- THE LEGEND CONTINUES…
Build-A-Bear Celebrates National Teddy Bear Day with Donation to The Toy Foundation™
Toy Foundation Auction is Now Open for Your Bids
Bracelets, Stickers, and Viral Fame: The Story Behind Sky Castle Toys’ Sticki Rolls
Chrissy Fagerholt: Luck is when Preparation Meets Opportunity!
Book Review: Storm: Dawn of a Goddess by Tiffany D. Jackson
Book Review: Erno Rubik and his Magic Cube by Kerry Aradhya
Game Review: Trip Chaser
Learning Express Toys Hosts 25th Annual Convention & Toy Expo at JW Marriott Tucson
Submit Your LA Showroom Details for 2025 Toy Previews
Randy Klimpert Shares his Ukulele Collection
Steve Casino Peanut Art
Everyone's Talking about POP!
Princess Etch - a Multi-Talented Etch A Sketch Artist
Joseph Herscher of Joseph' s Machines.
Connie Vogelmann designed Apiary & Wyrmspan!
Bob Fuhrer... Is THE Crocodile Dentist!
Tom Dusenberry... Bought Atari, Wizards of the Coast, and Avalon Hill!
Matt Leacock created Pandemic... the game!
Scott Brown and Tim Swindle... are Launching a New Sport!
POPDuo: Richard Dickson, Mattel’s President & COO, and Kedar Narayan, Young Inventor Challenge AMB
POPDuo: Will Shortz and Josh Wardle
POP Duo: Elan Lee, Co-Founder, Exploding Kittens.and Jeff Probst, Host and Exec Producer, Survivor
POP Duo: David Fuhrer, MNG Director, Blue Sq Innovations & Shawn Green, past Dodgers & Mets MLB Star
POP Duo: Bob Fuhrer, Founder, Nextoy and Tom Fazio, Golf Course Designer