Toy Historian Answers Toy Questions From Twitter | Tech Support | WIRED

Toy analyst and historian Chris Byrne answers the internet's burning questions about toys. Do kids still play with action figures or are adult collectors fueling the industry? How did the pet rock become such a hot trend? What's his favorite toy fad? This toy expert answers all these questions and more.
Director: Justin Wolfson
Director of Photography: Ben Dewey
Editor: Louville Moore
Expert: Chris Byrne
Line Producer: Joseph Buscemi
Associate Producer: Paul Gulyas
Production Manager: D. Eric Martinez
Production Coordinator: Fernando Davila
Casting Producer: Nicholas Sawyer
Camera Operator: Mar Alfonso
Sound Mixer: Rebecca O’Neil
Production Assistant: Sonia Butt
Post Production Supervisor: Alexa Deutsch
Post Production Coordinator: Ian Bryant
Supervising Editor: Doug Larsen
Additional Editor: Paul Tael
Assistant Editor: Billy Ward
00:00 Toy Support
00:13 Teddy Bears
00:52 Poop Toys
01:50 Prototypes
02:21 All Ages?
02:58 It's All Math
03:23 Action Figures
04:21 Rubik's Cube
04:59 Pet Rock
05:30 Beanie Babies
06:28 Transformers
07:26 Future Toys
08:10 Sustainable Toys
08:54 Lego QC
09:26 Recalled
10:13 Mr. Potato Head
10:53 Cabbage Patch Kids
11:40 Funko Pop
12:24 Mr. Machine
12:57 Collectors
13:26 Happy Meal Toys
13:58 Toy Design
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[@morganazoric]

I mean this with all due respect and even admiration: Chris looks exactly like what I thought a toy expert would look like.

[@AvengerPoke]

Thought the same

[@dacueba-games]

わろた

[@jopo7996]

I don't want to brag, but I bought a 50 piece puzzle that said 4 years and up. 4 years? It only took me 10 days

[@trickster206636]

It probably means for 4 years old and above

[@Sanzeey]

@@trickster206636 you must be fun at parties

[@imreallybadatnamingthings]

​@@trickster206636No, it's the time it took on average to solve the puzzle

[@androiduberalles]

​@@trickster206636dats da joke

[@angryb0325]

It takes me more than 10 days to put together 1,000 or 500 pieces

[@gostovahs8121]

He was very on point with the comment of toys probably not changing that much in 50 years (at least for little kids). I remember when a niece turned 2 or 3 (can't quite remember), but everyone got her these big elaborate toys -- and at the time I was very poor and just got her a bouncy ball... that 5 dollar bouncy ball won her attention COMPLETELY.

[@VIRACYTV]

He sounds and looks exactly like a person I would envision if they told me that they were a toy expert.

[@GuyWithAnAmazingHat]

Personally Lego is the ultimate toy, it is unlimited fun that encourages creativity and engineering, it teaches art and science as far as your imagination can take you.

[@ectoerror8527]

Ong ong🗣🗣🗣🗣🗣

[@kellylyons1038]

Except when you step on it...

[@Pyovali]

Bionicle

[@Mackinstyle]

Chris is the kind of person I want to show up to games night and just share trivia all night. We'll groan and give him a hard time but we all quietly love it, and he knows that.

[@SchgurmTewehr]

How would he know that? This is your little fantasy, lol do you think he read your comment?

[@littlecake453]

​@@SchgurmTewehrdamn chill. It probably is, but they have the right to do so lol.

[@SchgurmTewehr]

@@littlecake453 really? Do they have the right to claim he know something that they can’t know whether he knows. The commenter doesn’t know Chris. They should simply have written “would know that”. Not a lot to add in 2 sentences.

[@SchgurmTewehr]

@@littlecake453 I am chill. I disagreed with a comment, asked two questions and added “lol”. You disagreed with a comment, expressed that and added “lol”.

[@littlecake453]

@@SchgurmTewehr *it probably is a little fantasy. Sorry if it wasn't clear enough for some reason. And uh... It's not that deep?

[@rykerward9147]

My job is running injection molding machines and I love that Lego and their quality control came into the conversation because they truly are miraculous in their execution of perfect plastic bricks

[@MysterySteve]

Tech is great, but I truly don't ever think action figures will be replaced. There's just something so satisfying and fulfilling about acting out storylines and generally messing around with something tangible that looks and feels like something or someone you see as super badass

[@CUMBICA1970]

Rubik's cube is really a masterpiece of a toy. Simple but ingenious. I remember around early 1980s when I was like 12 somebody brought one to the school and everybody tried to solve randomly haha. Eventually most of us learned after somebody found one tutorial on a magazine (the easiest layer by layer algorithm.)

[@TheOutlawGeneralBacon]

Alien technology

[@BenjaminIMeszaros]

Hungarian genius!

[@Sarappreciates]

I remember my Rubix Cube fell apart one day, and seeing how it went back together, that I could solve the puzzle faster by breaking it... I'm almost kinda embarrassed to say this toy was a breakthrough for me in my personal development as a human being.

[@DOC_951]

As an ER doctor, I can also say that anatomically and physically there are many changes that happen to a pediatric child after the age of 8. 8 is a very important number clinically.

[@EazyDuz18]

untrue

[@collegetoycollector]

I appreciate the comment about math in toy design, as I became a toy designer on Hot Wheels with an engineering degree. Physics and math play key roles in mechanism and play set design, and I love every part of the process.

[@quietstar09silver50]

That is a really cool engineering job.

[@EnfieldsMikeP]

6:50 if you want to see some truly stunning examples of injection molding and mechanical design, build a gundam model. They're absolutely astounding little engineering projects.

[@defurious]

just dont get addicted or you can kiss your money goodbye 😂

[@eitzman]

I could listen to this guy for hours and not get bored. This is so good.

[@Dexy83]

I gave my Dad a homemade "pet rock" in the 80s. To this day, he still keeps it on his desk. ❤ My Mom went NUTS about Beanie Babies. She kept telling us that she was investing in our inheritance. 🤦🏼‍♀️ I currently have almost 500 BB collecting dust... 😂

[@kellybraun7048]

One of my favorite creative writing assignments in college was to go outside, get a rock, and write about your conversation with the rock. That rock is my pet and he’s still on my shelf. 😂

[@klayman2]

even if you dusted those off i'd bet you'd make alot back selling them online, collectors buy anything if they happen to be missing it

[@justanotherfaceinthecrowd8573]

He said Lego's are sustainable because they get passed down most. Classic answer, love this guy. 😂

[@leolegendario1]

My toy fad was the Beyblades. Everyone in my neighborhood played with them and battled using big bowls.

[@richskater]

In the 90s we had "Spin Fighters", basically a less customizable Beyblade but with no TV show (that I remember).

[@blank_line]

We were were hooked on bakugan in my elementary school. Everyone had the toys and all the cards. It was so fun

[@XxThatGuyOverTherex1]

Bakugan was our big toy craze

[@leolegendario1]

@@XxThatGuyOverTherex1 I had a magnetic one and watched the anime too.

[@nak3dxsnake]

I forget what they called them long before beyblade. Zip tops before that I'm sure. They just convinced people to smack them into each other for no reason.

[@Tingman]

4:45 The association between Rubik’s Cubes and intelligence is thankfully changing though! It’s now more a super fun hobby than a sign of IQ. Anyone can solve the cube if they have the motivation, I’ve seen it first hand.

[@saketsinghgurjar6196]

That's true

[@MyLifesDreamis2WorkWithWolves]

It’s just memory… all u need to do is memorise algorithms even I can and anyone who sits down to remember

[@petarpan840]

i never understood it and never had desire to solve it which is the bigger problem.

[@Jaymationstudios]

This is facts! I taught my brother and sister how to solve a Rubik’s cube, and trust me when I say they don’t have very high IQ.

[@richskater]

I tell people all the time that they come with 7 step instructions on how to solve. If you spend like an hour a day for a week, you'll have the algorithms memorized.

[@meow_caTS13]

This guy is my role model. I wanna be a toy expert and still sound smart at the same time

[@iggykidd]

I mean an expert at anything is gonna sound smart af when talking about it, that's the main benefit of expertise

[@Epicawesomeness64]

Pro tip: Don't cite or reference Freud like this guy did

[@torinkyifh5085]

yeah 10/10 guy. we gotta have him back!

[@thelittledetailscr7231]

​@Epicawesomeness64 lol I know right

[@DanWeecks]

At first I thought being a toy expert was a hobby but this guy clearly knows his stuff. I have seen the light and definitely respect the profession after this video

[@hoofhearted4]

This was fascinating. I love the people Wired gets and the topics they think to cover.

[@ZeacorZeppelin]

Speaking of collectible McDonald's toys. When I was a child, there were the 101 Dalmatian toys. There truly were 101 to collect, and trying to get them all was hard as the McDonald's would only have a few, and you'd like to end up with doubles instead of getting the one you needed. Now, supposedly, if you wanted all of them, you could supposedly pay 101 and dollars, and you'd get them all. My parents were not going to spend 202 dollars for me and my sister to have a collection each.

[@frankydman]

One thing about toys I find fascinating is how our attitude towards toys has evolved over the decades. Today, we get amazed by toys that light up, or interact with you in some way, I.e. usually some electronic feature. But back in the 50s or 60s, if you had a toy robot and its arms were moveable, that was considered amazing in its time, even if today it’s pretty standard for most dolls and action figures

[@diegotovar1179]

just wait for the AI dolls who talk back and grow a relationship, remembers dates, and can literally grow up with them for their whole lives, understanding them perfectly. 😵‍💫

[@seanswader7425]

I think one of the major changes in toys in 50 years will be the 3D printing. It’s getting more common to find people that have one and good ones are becoming less expensive and the product coming out looks better and better every year. Only a couple years ago they had super thick ridges and now they’re looking far smoother. They’re also doing multiple colors and different types of materials. I saw a thing on Dam Savage’s Tested channel that had a company that is doing 3D printed life portraits that print in color and look amazing. It’s still in early stages, but in a few years that kind of tech could become something really great. There’s a lot of designers that didn’t have luck setting up a toy company that create and sell files so you can print their toys like Tecco toys. I think eventually these printers will be cheaper and easier to use and even a kid could learn to use them.

[@timb6558]

How do I become a toy expert? Asking for a friend. My friend also happens to be me.

[@Optimusprime809]

I like this guy! Gave a special shout-out to Transformers 🙌🏼 As a collector, it's easy to just look for the next thing to buy without really appreciating what goes into making them or the engineering, so it's good to slow down and appreciate them for the engineering marvels they are, particularly Transformers.

[@AnymMusic]

6:10 fun fact, the tulip craze was the event that initiated our modern day stock market

[@brainblessed5814]

It's also a classic example of financial bubble

[@heyyyitskat]

I would LOVE to see another one with him.

[@justayoutuber1906]

There is an AMAZING series called "The Toys That Built America" that is very well done - I highly recommend.

[@ErikKieckhafer]

Chris is on that show!

[@mike9512]

This is the expert I didn't need, but the one I deserve...I'm joking of course. I just never knew this was a thing but it is interesting.

[@Aceries_]

13:27 Whoa, that Woody doll itched the cobwebs somewhere within my brain's childhood memory. I could have sworn I nabbed the same toy years ago because I loved Toy Story so much. I clicked on this video just out of boredom, but it really reminded me how influential and iconic toys are, especially tied with fast food. Remember when McDonalds first did their monopoly series? The dinosaur toy craze? Man...

[@HonkLoser]

This was somehow satisfying to watch. I love his energy.

[@gracejinjin]

One of the most fun Tech Support videos I've seen. This is so good!

[@CTGrell]

Rubik was the teacher of my history teacher. and he made the cube for her class. she liked bragging about it in class to us 🤣🤣

[@AndrewDarlow]

Wonderful presentation, Chris! Thanks so much.

[@Kiku91]

13:45 I have that Woody on the left! One of the few times I went to BK as a kid…However he was played with so much his right boot is currently held together with a rubber band. Also that comment about pristine toys implying that a child didn’t get to play with it does resonate with me. Sure it’s cool to see a retro toy in perfect or restored vision, but it is the intention that they are played with too.

[@michaelcinelli4120]

Toys of the future? Action figures with camera eyes and robot skeletons that you can control and see through with a VR headset, overlaid effects to make it feel like you're in the show/movie/game/etc. And with A.I. we could have real life Medabots (for example)

[@ashley9534]

Need more of these!!!!

[@user-rh6ru5oz2o]

The original Rubik's cube definitely did not turn fluidly

[@MaximilianBerkmann]

Yeah, and the articles I've read about mention it was for architecture classes, not (just) maths. And it started as a block of rocks forming a 2x2x2 like cube.

[@user-rh6ru5oz2o]

​@@MaximilianBerkmann Someone before Rubik did a 2x2x2. That was a different thing altogether.

[@michaelvino8679]

I actually had a lot of questions about Toys. Thank you!

[@ozthekeymaster]

That was brilliant. More please!

[@futuristic.handgun]

This really has nothing to do with the video itself; although it was pretty cool and fun!, I absolutely love that the frames of his glasses match his outfit, and with my favorite colour too!! Amazing. 💜

[@nak3dxsnake]

They make me think he is wearing lipstick. 👄

[@WittyDroog]

To expand on the Beanie Baby craze, Ty's obsession with perfection created a series of rolling "revisions" among the various Beanie Baby sku's and helped further explode the idea of the speculative market. Almost unwittingly he had created a scene where you had "first edition" or "misprint" or what kind of ear tag and how it was applied would shift and alter the rarity and valuation of a Beanie Baby and that variability made the collecting of Beanie Babies so feverish. Now you'll see products push limited edition and special colorways but with Beanie Babies it was more pervasive which meant there was a separation of the casual consumer who just thought they were cute toys and a knowledge class of "experts" or much more avid collectors who knew the differences that most didn't, Beanie Babies very organically created its own culture and economy and while it didn't last forever is certainly something other toy makers have tried to recreate artificially.

[@Zerbey]

Well, his friend Optimus Prime was my fad. Had an original one back in the 1980s when the cartoon was first popular. Of course, if I'd not unboxed it and played with it, it would be worth some money by now, but the memories are so much more valuable to me.

[@JurassicTrek]

More videos with this guy PLEASE ❤️❤️❤️

[@TheRafaelRamos]

My grandpa had it rough back in the day with all the "Make your own nuclear reactor" toys lol

[@plaztik767]

What a cool idea for a channel Instantly subscribed 👍🏻

[@TealScarab]

I remember seeing this fella quite a few years ago on TimeToPlayMag’s KZbin channel many, many years ago.

[@TheMoises1213]

Loved this!!

[@meganh1603]

I want more of this guy! 😁

[@AvauntVanguard]

My mother and I were casual beanie babie collectors.... But we didn't preserve them for later selling. We hugged and smooched them. We got them because they were super cute.

[@jainamssj]

-action figures are dolls made for boys" ..Suddenly my whole childhood feels like falling apart

[@Optimusprime809]

McDonald's toys were so good back in the early 2000s! Hot Wheels, the lightsabers, the musical instruments, Transformers, amongst other things. That was where it was at! Don't even get me started on cereal box toys!

[@kevinfrushour]

I remember going into my attic in the early 1980's as a kid living in the house my mother and Aunt grew up in. I was shocked there were toys up there, and the one I was most impressed by was the Mr. Machine.

[@techdeth]

Best video ever made by someone on the RSO list.

[@glj202]

This is awesome, Chris!

[@arseniyarsenicum7518]

"I'm going to bring my friend Optimus back in here"... What a sweet man with an impressive knowledge base...

[@pampoovey6722]

As usual amazing.

[@TheSlipperyNUwUdle]

The pet rock really isn’t hard to understand when you realize people now still love ironic humor. No one bought it because it was fun. It was basically a meme, right?

[@HeidiThompson7]

I love looking at it as a meme, you're so right!

[@CLB30ROX]

Super interesting. Please have him back 😁

[@XenobiaDarkstar]

If you get lego sets enough the QC slips up some times. I've had sets missing pieces and I've even had a warped piece as well.

[@KristenRowenPliske]

I have one of the original Cabbage Patch dolls with the cloth face. I played with her and then her adopted siblings for a long time. I have them packed away, though I no longer have their boxes. Lol

[@rileymcphee9429]

I'm glad he brought up the tulip craze. It's a really fantastic story about pre-industrial capitalism and market bubbles.

[@WithFrankie]

This kinda made me want to re-watch 'Big'. So fun.

[@resolvegaming2263]

Why does this feel tactically released right after Hasbro announce some massive layoffs?

[@SithLord17]

part 2, please 🙏

[@duffthepsych]

I bet the person that asked about beanie babies has an NFT collecting dust.

[@FizzyK-45]

This was a great video, didn't know toys have so much history to them. Now, I wanna see this guy explain Japanese toys, especially the Gundam/Gunpla model kits and how they came to be, that seems like an interesting video idea. 😁

[@herojenni]

i’m an 00 kid and i loved beanie babies, i used to have a beanie baby magazine every month where people would show off their collections filling garages lol

[@TheJamaaJournalists]

I LOVE THIS GUY

[@FlorianMaeder]

More Chris! 😃

[@impatienstheshmuck5348]

That Mr. Machine to the left seems to be the older version, so given those were produced towards the middle of the 20th century (50s or 60s), that's almost three-quarters of a century old.

[@cs4887]

We had some little cardboard or plastic circles that came with crisps or wtv. You could play games with them, kind of like marbles. VERY popular!!!!

[@Oddballkane]

I remember pogs. Those things where crazy popular for at least a few years. Then tbe year yo-yos became huge.

[@donnamacneil5037]

Love this!

[@pavlic-enemy]

- Bro, has a perfect toy company ever existed? - It Hasbro!

[@curtiss5982]

If DC should ever want to cast DR. Amazo, they should hire the guy

[@snowpuppies1]

My GMA had a Mr machine! I used to play with him as a kid and I know my dad did as well. 🙂

[@happiaxxident]

Good questions. Great responses. I’ve been playing and collecting since 1978. That said, I prefer the term “big kid” over “kidult.” And I’m not alone. Happi Holidays!

[@aznsketcher]

4:02 I can't believe I'm called a Ki-Dult.... 🤣

[@scottbatley1983]

In the Colorado Hotel in Glenwood Springs, CO, where Teddy Roosevelt stayed on all his hunting trips in that area, the story goes that he was bummed he didn’t see a bear to shoot on a hunt, so his daughter made a rudimentary Teddy Bear to try to cheat him up; thus, the Teddy Bear was born.

[@mariaberinguel25]

Just thinking that while Theodore Roosevelt refused to shoot the BABY bear, that means that time, even baby bears were hunted. That's so sad

[@kellybraun7048]

I loved beanie babies as a 90s kid. What I liked was getting so many different animals, learning about the specific animals I wanted. If beanie babies hadn’t existed, I probably would’ve collected plastic animal models. But beanie babies could be left on the bed when taking a nap. 😂

[@tati_oak]

Very very interesting!!

[@thattinawoman5119]

This guy and the mortician are my absolute favorite!

[@quickaswink]

How can a huge toy company like Hasbro lose so much money on their toys? Their financial statements are horrible in the toy department. (Dungeons and Dragons and Magic the Gathering are making them loads of money though)

[@Ac.117]

Well for starters Toys R Us was a huge investor in selling Hasbro toys

[@bkbff]

My cousin had the rollerblading Barbie and it was so fun!

[@Dwagginz]

I really enjoyed this video, thank you Chris! I'm a collector of toys myself, albeit on a low scale and only things I find interesting, but I do often go down toy aisles in shops and so I get to see a lot of interesting things.

[@dangarcia5755]

fun! thank you😊

[@amandajoslin-kk5zc]

I’m sorry, what? A tulip bulb costing a year’s earnings? I NEED to know the story behind this weird phenomenon. I have a gazillion tulip bulbs in my garden and it’s not like they are hard to grow. Fascinating!

[@vurpo7080]

This happened hundreds of years ago in the Netherlands. The really rare and "valuable" tulip bulbs were the ones with unusual patterns and colorations that were hard to grow naturally. But it was also a speculation bubble (people paying high prices only because they thought they would be valuable in the future) that soon fizzled out into nothing, much like Beanie Babies or NFTs or whatever.

[@alexhardeman6370]

You have no idea how glad I didn’t turn this video off when I accidentally clicked on it 😂

[@zedover9000]

I wish he could have explained Furbes and why they were made.

[@seatbelttruck]

I have that puppet Woody! He's well-loved, though.

[@johnhillescobar]

I remembered the 1983 Cabbage Patch doll crisis.

[@milkshakebananaz]

Ha the pride when he whipped out that OP

[@milkshakebananaz]

LOL HE PULLED IT OUT AGAIN

[@pedrocruz5947]

The problem with toys and AI is security. Even big companies get hacked into and I don't think parents want to expose their children to a machine that's gonna be collecting all kinds of data about the child and using it not just to "play", but also to store and sell and potentially get it to the hands of hackers or worse, salespeople or the government. Ideally, I'd say we'd just have to wait to a point where you could run an AI in a small device and 50 years seems very feasible to me. However, I suspect parents would just cave in and accept the lack of security. Just like a few years ago parents wouldn't just hand a smartphone to a child and now every kid has one.

[@darkfent]

I wish the next episode would discuss on Bandai or Takara Tomy

[@JHX1]

Histoyeon...

[@venomenace]

But does anybody remember Pogs? They were a HUGE fad.

[@tyrijoyner749]

@7:36 Toy Master: As a species, really don’t change that often, that quickly - IA3.0: ….Alright, we all heard the man. Hold on to your VR goggles. *cracks knuckles

[@samanthaabel1079]

i had the barbie skates that lit up .. never caught fire though