Blake Wright is fascinated with the toys he never had. In fact, no one had them. Blake is a collector and historian of “toys that time forgot,” consisting of prototypes and designs that never went into production. “I would guess only about 20 to 30 percent of what toy companies work on ever hits store shelves.” he said. “There are so many projects that die prior to flipping the switch on production… for many different reasons. Sometimes the toys are related to a license that underperforms... a movie bombs, a cartoon is canceled, a comic is retired to the dollar bin.”
Nonetheless, sometimes those prototypes are made, and if found, they can be quite valuable. Unlike the preproduction models of your favorite diecast cars, these samples might be the only ones ever made. “In 2014 I had a quarterly online toy magazine called 'LittlePlasticMen,'” said Blake. “One of the recurring columns in the e-mag was called Prototypically Unproductive, which was all about unproduced toys. We covered the canceled second series of Coleco’s Sectaurs and the Palisades Sesame Street line among others. It was the most popular column in the magazine.”
Subject ID: 90712
MoreBlake Wright is fascinated with the toys he never had. In fact, no one had them. Blake is a collector and historian of “toys that time forgot,” consisting of prototypes and designs that never went into production. “I would guess only about 20 to 30 percent of what toy companies work on ever hits store shelves.” he said. “There are so many projects that die prior to flipping the switch on production… for many different reasons. Sometimes the toys are related to a license that underperforms... a movie bombs, a cartoon is canceled, a comic is retired to the dollar bin.”
Nonetheless, sometimes those prototypes are made, and if found, they can be quite valuable. Unlike the preproduction models of your favorite diecast cars, these samples might be the only ones ever made. “In 2014 I had a quarterly online toy magazine called 'LittlePlasticMen,'” said Blake. “One of the recurring columns in the e-mag was called Prototypically Unproductive, which was all about unproduced toys. We covered the canceled second series of Coleco’s Sectaurs and the Palisades Sesame Street line among others. It was the most popular column in the magazine.”
As he wound down production of the magazine a few years ago, he received emails from readers who were sad to see it go. “So, as a sort of tribute I decided I would do one more issue consisting of all unproduced toys. As a started my research I uncovered a ton of material.” The quality and volume of what he’d found pushed him to ditch that bonus issue and produce a book. Actually, more than one book.
Subject ID: 90712
Subject ID: 90712