Creator Driven Toons? Or Toy Driven?

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Struzee

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So, it seems in the great debate over cartoons for different generations, particularly when it comes to cartoons from the 1980s vs cartoons from the 90s and beyond, there is much debate over which ones are better, which ones are more fun, or which ones you prefer.

Toy driven cartoons, you have "Transformers," "GI Joe," and other cartoons like that. No creator or creators guiding things and interacting with fans.

Creator driven shows, you have your DC Animated Universe, "Gargoyles", "Avatar", "The Spectacular Spider-Man", and, even in a way, "Beast Wars"... sure that was done to push a toy, but Bob Forward and Larry DiTillio worked very hard to make it something else, that it fell into the creator driven shows category.

So, which is your preference?
 
You do realize that all your creator driven shows still had massive toylines, right?

Wouldn't a creator driven show be something like Ren & Stimpy, the Mighty B and Chowder? Or maybe not, since even those were picked up to hock merchandise, regardless of their creators intention.

Really, the line is a lot more blurred than you think.
 
I'm not sure whether Might Max was a merchandise driven one or a creator-driven one. Because it was merchandise inspired, while still a great show.
 
But the merchandise does not direct where the show goes in creator driven stuff. Where as in Toy Driven shows it says what characters are used in episodes, who gets a recurring role and who gets dropped and never seen again because their toy didn't sell so well. Also who gets a new weapon that is powerful enough to defeat the bad guys every single time, but it's dropped after one episode because it was just there for the toy and the writers know they can never use it again because it would destroy tension.
 
It's a bit of conundrum. One strange venture where the line was crossed was Batman Beyond.

Batman Beyond was initially spurred on by Hasbro, who wanted Warner Bros. to create a futuristic Batman series, Batman Tomorrow, so they could make a new toyline that was the same-old, same-old. But it evolved into something better than anticipated. Plus, the toyline bombed badly and not really remembered these days.

Somebody pointed out Mighty Max, another great show that was more creative than it should have been for a series inspired by a tiny toyline. I can point out Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors, which was also based on a little-known Mattel toyline and still has a sizable fanbase to this day.

But as for me, I'm fond of the creator-guided projects.

Heck, I'm all for any new original project that comes out or a more nuanced twist on a familiar brand. Loved Spectacular Spider-Man. It's the best adaptation of the Spider-Man mythos ever produced (yeah, it's better than the live-action movies too). Just a shame it got mistreated in the two seasons it was on the air because it deserved a lot better.

But nowadays, most creator-driven productions are also toy-driven productions, especially if they're connected to a familiar brand.
 
I don't think either one is inherently, in terms of entertainment value, better than the other. There's been merchandise-driven shows that I like better than creator-driven, and vice-versa.
 
I enjoy both, though i will admit that the toy-based cartoons do have some level of creativity in building personalities (dinobot from beast wars for example) since the characters are essentially a blank slate and its up to the writers to give them an engaging personality.
 
It's possible for a product-pushing show to be great, provided that the people involved care enough to pull it off. I agree about Beast Wars being good, and others would point to Transformers Animated. On the anime side of things Gundam is a big franchise that both tells strong stories (usually) and sells legions of model kits to Japanese people, and the marvelous OVA Freedom started out as a freaking advertisment for cup noodles. Cup noodles! I'm still marveling at that bit of trivia.

Are the staff more likely to care in a creator-driven show? Well...probably. But I'm still not inclined to pick one over the other.
 
I'd also like to add Digimon to the good toyetic series, it made its own worlds and characters and rarely ever pitched the card game and toys. Heck, the cards only took part in the beginning arc of Tamers and that wasn't bad because it fit with the narrative and was eventually dropped once they went into the Digital World.

So in the end, both can be good and both can be bad, depends if the crew wants a fun and well done product.
 
That's a hard one. I'm more inclined to creator driven series, but there are some exceptions to the 'toyetic' ones -such as Transformers Animated, He-Man 200x and Beast Wars- that take the toy-driven concept and actually try to make it a decent-to-good series, even if there are mandates to push the toys (this is especially true in the case of He-Man's second season and the last season and a half of Beast Wars. They tried to work within the mandates) first. It does make the work suffer and it can be clearly obvious that it is a merch ploy, but again... there are exceptions.

But creator-driven series have a little more integrity for my liking. The only problem is when they lose their 'soul' and become cash chows for networks... just look at Powerpuff Girls, Spongebob and Fairly Oddparents in their later seasons.
 
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