Let's talk about Toys in Cereal
This is a part of several posts of mine that have gotten big, but I figure it's best to address the phenomenon itself in a new post.
If you want to just browse a ton of cool old cereal toys once we're done, go to: www.cratercritters.com. It's a neat site.
Cereal toys are a long-standing American tradition. Some tag-questions asked if they went away because of greed or because of regulations, and that's complicated.
There are food regulations that complicate things. You may have heard that Kinder Eggs are not legal in the US.
This is usually framed as a "fear the stupid American Kids will eat the toy" kind of thing. This is not the case.
The actual regulation that blocks the Kinder Egg is about food safety from bacterial and undisclosed allergen contamination. Inserting a baggie with a toy into that exposes everything in the cereal bag to the outside of the toy package, and that's a no-no in the US market. The rare thing we're more strict about than the EU.
But that doesn't affect cereal toys, because they can get around it by having it in a separate package outside the food bag, between the inner back and the cardboard box. Much easier on the parents to find when you open the box, too.
Kinder has, themselves, addressed the US Kinder Egg problem the same way, with the Kinder Joy.
Splitting the package. into two sections that are individually sealed.
But a big blow to the practice was the end of the Australian R&L Toy Company.
R&L made tons of simple pack-in Premium toys from the 60s through the 80s. They were the primary supplier to Kelloggs, and made everything from simple one-piece figurines to little build-yourself-action-toys.
For instance, these "Wacky Walkers" worked by tying a string to the figure and the weight, then dropping the weight off a table. The figures would hobble forward on their feet, pulled by the weight. Neat-o!
Then there's stuff like these Toolybirds. I'd sell any one of you to the goblin king for a set of these, because I sure can't afford them at $25 apiece or more. I'll probably just make some dinosaur-knockoff version or somesuch to 3d print, eventually.
R&L went out of business in the 80s and its molds were sold to a toy manufacturing company in Mexico that produced their stuff as bag toys for awhile, before everything just faded away.
Meanwhile, the cereal market was forced to contract elsewhere without a devoted company doing essentially just that.
Liscenses came to the rescue. Fun fact, if you wanted toys from most of the Disney Afternoon, your only hope was Kellogg's.
As time went on, you started even getting software in cereal.
Chex gave out a free, PG-version of DOOM for free. Not a couple of demo levels, a whole game, run on the doom engine, with aliens you zap with a spoon.
But as time went on, companies got less and less into the idea of enticing with freebies, and parents started objecting to the marketing of sugar cereals with toy surprises, because given the opportunity, most parents will blame the company for making something the kid wants for their unwillingness to say "No."
The eternal conflict:
Cool thing the kid would enjoy that you might have to put your foot down over because enforcing moderation is a parent's job, verses unobjectionable conformist mush designed to increase your kids' "goodness levels."
I think the banning of cartoon mascots for snacks in certain countries is also ridiculous.
Thing is, any company could bring them back at any time.
The Monster cereals did figurines of their mascots in cosplay in 2021. Of course, they did it as a limited edition bullshit thing where the actual monster cereal mascots were chase figures, but they made them, they could do them at any time if they wanted to.
They could bring the magic back. Nothing is stopping them.
'cept there's no room for joy on the spreadsheet.
Gotta hit you with a little ennui. It's that ambergris stink that makes the perfume truly sweet.
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i love the idea of the batfam wearing each other's merch cause like. i know they'd be petty about it. usually they'd wear their siblings merch in (kinda) equal rotations, but they'd change it up depending on sibling squabbles or sibling favours.
Tim, walking into the kitchen in a Red Hood shirt:
Dick: TIM!?
Tim: what
Dick: it's Tuesday. you always wear Nightwing merch on Tuesdays.
Tim: oh.
Tim: you stole my last granola bar, last week.
Steph, looking for something in Jason's room: JASON WHY DO YOU HAVE EVERYONE'S MERCH BUT MINE?!
Jason, peeking into the room: i have your merch. in the trash.
Steph: WHY
Jason: you hit me with a blue shell in mario kart last game night. i'm never forgiving you.
Damian, sporting a full-on Red Robin hoodie:
Tim: woah. what brought this on? you usually only exclusively wear Batman or Nightwing merch
Damian: you helped me take that splinter out of Alfred's paw yesterday. Richard on the other hand has recently messed up my painting palette.
Dick, from the other room: IT WAS AN ACCIDENT!
Damian: he'll get over it.
Cass, wearing Nightwing merch for the 5th day in a row:
Jason: goddamn. what did Dickie do to get in your good graces like this?
Cass, smiling: he made me a flower crown
Jason: ... that's it?
Cass: it was a very nice flower crown.
Dick, buying seven Signal shirts: One for everyone.
Duke, behind him: Dick, you really don't--
Dick: shhhh, sunshine. everyone will love your new merch.
(they all wore exclusively Signal merch for a week straight)
Bruce isn't allowed to change up his rotation or not wear someone's merch because he immediately gets accused of playing favourites. He'd rather keep some of his sanity, thank you.
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Tweet link. (Beware: this video of the book has flashing lights and glitching graphics.)
Link to tweet.
Link to Books.disney.com
Did you miss him? Admit it, you missed him.
The demon that terrorized Gravity Falls is back from the great beyond to finally tell his side of the story in The Book of Bill, written by none other than Bill Cipher himself.
Inside, Bill sheds light on his bizarre origins, his sinister effects on human history, the Pines family’s most embarrassing secrets, and the key to overthrowing the world (laid out in a handy step-by-step guide). This chaotic and beautifully illustrated tome contains baffling riddles, uncrackable ciphers, lost Journal 3 pages, ways to cheat death, the meaning of life, and a whole chapter on Silly Straws. But most importantly, The Book of Bill is deeply, deeply cursed.
Beware: This book travels to dimensions meant for older readers.
Alex Hirsch, #1 New York Times bestselling author, resuscitates this infamous villain and invites fans to a Bill’s eye view of the Gravity Falls universe. There are many who believe this book is too dangerous for human hands. But if you can’t resist, beware: Once you make a deal with Bill, it’s not so easily undone . . .
Released: July 23rd, 2024
Pages: 208
ISBN1368092209
9781368092203
Age Range: Adult
Barnes & Noble exclusive edition!
This Barnes & Noble Exclusive Edition features a gold foil jacket and includes 16 extra pages of Bill's twisted life advice!
This also displays a link for a "Signed Book", for the same price as the B&N Exclusive. It is a signed copy of the B&N Exclusive edition.
And just to round things off:
Link to tweet.
THIS IS NOT A DRILL. It’s a dremel. Learn the difference at Ranger Henson’s woodworking workshop every other Wednesday at 11 at our Administration Building
That's it for now! I'm sure there will be more later, but time to post this.
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