Merchandise-Driven: Difference between revisions

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[[File:MerchandiseInDisguise_resized_1073.jpg|link=Transformers|frame|Megatron must be stopped, no matter the [[Crack Is Cheaper|cost!]]]]

[[File:MerchandiseInDisguise_resized_1073.jpg|link=Transformers|frame|Megatron must be stopped, no matter the [[Crack is Cheaper|cost!]]]]

{{quote|"How can ''[[Transformers]]'' possibly 'sell out'? It ''started'' as a 20-minute toy commercial."|'''Ethan''', ''[http://shortpacked.com/comic/book-9/06-revenge-of-the-fallen/soldout/ Shortpacked!]''}}

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It's also notable that, when the series is particularly well-done, it may [[Breakaway Advertisement|outlive the product that inspired it.]] This seems to be particularly true of comic books, such as ''[[ROM Spaceknight]]'' and ''[[Micronauts]].'' It's also common for merchandise driven shows to develop a cult following that long outlasts the original merchandise; such a fanbase may result in its eventually being [[Un Canceled]] (usually with accompanying ''new'' merchandise), as the current incarnations of ''[[Transformers]],'' ''[[G.I. Joe]],'' and others can attest.

Compare [[Misaimed Marketing]], where this sort of thinking is applied where it shouldn't be. See also [[Defictionalization]], where the licensed merchandise is also merchandise ''inside'' the show; and [[Breakaway Advertisement]]. Contrast with [[The Merch]], where the merchandise sales came ''after'' the work, in order to support it. For derivative works that are (usually) not metatextual focus of the original work, see [[Tie in Novel]] and [[Licensed Game]].

Compare [[Misaimed Marketing]], where this sort of thinking is applied where it shouldn't be. See also [[Defictionalization]], where the licensed merchandise is also merchandise ''inside'' the show; and [[Breakaway Advertisement]]. Contrast with [[The Merch]], where the merchandise sales came ''after'' the work, in order to support it. For derivative works that are (usually) not metatextual focus of the original work, see [[Tie-in Novel]] and [[Licensed Game]].

Per [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1297440561017200200&page=1#11 Trope Repair Shop], this trope and [[The Merch]] are under repair to better distinguish the tropes, so watch for some major edits to this page coming soon. Basically, if you can find no evidence that either the program was created to market a toy line, or the people involved with the toy line have creative control, then your example belongs under [[The Merch]] and not here at Merchandise Driven.

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See also [[Product Promotion Parade]], a common occurrence in Merchandise Driven works, and [[Cash Cow Franchise]]. [[The Sixth Ranger]] is a common trope in these works, due to the addition of toyetic new characters.

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* Mini 4WD related manga and anime ''[[Dash Yonkuro]]'' and ''[[Bakusou Kyoudai Let's and Go (Manga)|Bakusou Kyoudai Let's and Go]]'' are created sorely to sell toy models from Tamiya. They even add tips on how to race the toy cars. The premise is similar to ''[[Crush Gear Turbo]]'', except these are even older.

* The ''[[Black Rock Shooter]]'' franchise exists to promote new BRS figurines. It would have been less egregious if other Other-world characters have their figurines released, but they just keep releasing BRS variations (regular, 2035, BRSB, IBRS...), and the variations aren't even all that different.

** [[Wild Mass Guessing]]: the character redesigns for [[Black Rock Shooter (Anime)|the TV series]] ([[They Changed It Now It Sucks|which many find objectionable]]) were created because they need to sell new versions of Mato and Yomi.

** [[Wild Mass Guessing]]: the character redesigns for [[Black Rock Shooter (Anime)|the TV series]] ([[They Changed It, Now It Sucks|which many find objectionable]]) were created because they need to sell new versions of Mato and Yomi.

* In ''[[Queens Blade (Anime)|Queens Blade]]'' the Visual Battle Books are what really ignites any other related product for the franchise, from figurines to [[Anime]]/[[Manga]] and [[Video Games]]; ''Hobby Japan'' itself are endorsed by other companies to make merchandise of their products, so making some for their in-house creation comes off as expected.

* ''[[Medabots (Video Game)|Medabots]]'' was a vehicle to sell a series of video games and customizable action figures; justified in-universe by having battlers being able to take one part from their opponent on victory and add it to their robot. Fits this trope to a T; and was also pretty memorable in its own right.

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** Bug still appears without the rest of the team, since he bears so little resemblance to the "Galatic Warrior" figure on which he was very loosely based, that Marvel can claim him as their own original creation.

* [[Marvel Comics]] had ''several'' toy-based series in the late 70s/early 80s: in addition to ''Micronauts,'' there was also ''[[Super Robot|Shogun Warriors]], [[ROM Spaceknight]], [[Transformers]], [[G.I. Joe]]'' and others. Somewhat unexpectedly, nearly all of them, especially G.I. Joe, are usually regarded as quite good. All of these (except ''Transformers'' and ''Joe'') were considered part of the main Marvel Universe, meaning they could interact with Marvel characters. In fact, even after losing the rights to the main characters, Marvel still owns the ones they created (such as the Dire Wraiths from ''Rom'') and they still show up in the comics occasionally. Marvel also created a few series that were ''intended'' to be adapted as toy lines, such as ''[[Crystar Crystal Warrior]]'' with Remco.

** More recently, after merging with a toy company, Marvel produced a comic based on its own "MegaMorphs'' [[Transforming Mecha]] toys. Fans seem to regard the resultant comic as [[So Bad ~~Its~~ Good]].

** More recently, after merging with a toy company, Marvel produced a comic based on its own "MegaMorphs'' [[Transforming Mecha]] toys. Fans seem to regard the resultant comic as [[So Bad It's Good]].

* Marvel's ''[[Secret Wars]]'' miniseries was created to promote sales of Mattel's Marvel toys.

* The Superfriends cartoon had a tie-in comic, and was later renamed The Super Powers show to help promote the toyline.

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== [[Film]] ==

* ''[[Willy Wonka and The Chocolate Factory]],'' a feature length movie widely regarded as a classic. Quaker Oats Company agreed to underwrite the production in order to help the launch of a new line of candy. While Quaker failed, Nestle, the eventual owners of the Wonka license, did succeed with the re-releases of the film, as well as the remake...

* Possibly the most blatant was the movie ''[[The Wizard (Film)|The Wizard]]'' which was basically a 90 minute infomercial for the Nintendo Entertainment System. They not only include showing characters playing popular video games at the time, they also showed the Nintendo hint line, and most (in)famously the Mattel Power Glove (which never worked as well as advertised, making one character's [[Totally Radical]] statement "it's so bad" [[Hilarious in Hindsight|more true in the literal sense]]). The climax of the movie has them going to a video game championship where it's revealed that they will be playing a secret game. The not-released-at-the-time [[What Do You Mean ~~Its~~ Not Awesome|SUPER! MARIO! BROTHERS! 3!]] The climax of the movie is the new ''[[Super Mario Brothers]]'' game!

* Possibly the most blatant was the movie ''[[The Wizard (Film)|The Wizard]]'' which was basically a 90 minute infomercial for the Nintendo Entertainment System. They not only include showing characters playing popular video games at the time, they also showed the Nintendo hint line, and most (in)famously the Mattel Power Glove (which never worked as well as advertised, making one character's [[Totally Radical]] statement "it's so bad" [[Hilarious in Hindsight|more true in the literal sense]]). The climax of the movie has them going to a video game championship where it's revealed that they will be playing a secret game. The not-released-at-the-time [[What Do You Mean It's Not Awesome?|SUPER! MARIO! BROTHERS! 3!]] The climax of the movie is the new ''[[Super Mario Brothers]]'' game!

* ''[[Singin in The Rain (Film)|Singin in The Rain]]'' is a rare example of a merchandise driven product that turned out beautifully. The studio had the rights to a catalog of songs, and asked some filmmakers to make a movie with those songs in it for promotional value. A more crass motive you could not imagine, and yet ''Singin' in the Rain'' is considered one of the best movie musicals of all time.

* Surprisingly, ''[[Toy Story]]'' was not made for this, although it happens to be perfect for selling toys anyway. But the [[Show Within a Show|Shows Within The Movie]], ''Woody's Roundup'' and ''[[Buzz Lightyear of Star Command]]'' (the latter was [[De Fictionalisation|Defictionalised]]) both are, and the two main characters are part of the merchandise.

* Apparently, one of the main reasons ''[[Batman and Robin (Film)|Batman and Robin]]'' sucked so bad was because [[Executive Meddling|the studio]] forced [[Joel Schumacher]] to make the film "more toyetic" (a word the director had never heard before then).

* The ''[[Pirates of the Caribbean]]'' movies were created to promote the already popular Pirates of the Caribbean ride, then the subsequent merchandise. [[Vicious Cycle|Which led to]] the original Pirates of the Caribbean ride being refurbished to feature umpteen Jack Sparrows, to hype the movies' DVD sales and box-office receipts. Predictably, this [[They Changed It Now It Sucks|disgusted fans of the attraction's classic layout]] [[Love It or Hate It|but]] [[And the Fandom Rejoiced|was a blessing for fans of the movies who always wanted to see]] [[Rule of Cool|Jack and the crew as part of the original ride]].

* The ''[[Pirates of the Caribbean]]'' movies were created to promote the already popular Pirates of the Caribbean ride, then the subsequent merchandise. [[Vicious Cycle|Which led to]] the original Pirates of the Caribbean ride being refurbished to feature umpteen Jack Sparrows, to hype the movies' DVD sales and box-office receipts. Predictably, this [[They Changed It, Now It Sucks|disgusted fans of the attraction's classic layout]] [[Love It or Hate It|but]] [[And the Fandom Rejoiced|was a blessing for fans of the movies who always wanted to see]] [[Rule of Cool|Jack and the crew as part of the original ride]].

* Mattel execs hoped ''[[Masters of the Universe (Film)|Masters of the Universe]]'' would save the then-dying ''He-Man'' franchise by reigniting interest in the brand. Unfortunately, the film flopped and the toy sales continued to plummet.

* Similarly, Hasbro started the [[Transformers Film Series]] out of a need to revitalize the brand after the [[Dork Age]] of the Unicron Trilogy. It worked. The films were all box office hits, and the toylines were big sellers. The toys for the first Transformers film surpassed Power Rangers in sales for the top boys' toy series. The second film proved to be a big example of [[Critical Dissonance]] (it made several worst of 2009 lists, but made over $836 million worldwide), and had steady toy sales. The third film made over $1 billion worldwide, and the toys make that much every year.

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* ''[[Super Sentai]]'' and ''[[Kamen Rider]]'' have devoted whole episodes to new merchandise, and ''[[Power Rangers]]'' takes it further. A particularly bad example is when, in ''[[Power Rangers Mystic Force]]'', the debut of the Red Ranger's motorcycle overshadowed the debut of one of the show's staples -- the team's [[Humongous Mecha]].

** Worse, there was a monster that ''turned into a car'' not too many episodes later. Perfect for debuting the bike ''and'' working with the plot rather than against it.

** ''[[Power Rangers Samurai]]'' has a nasty case of it. The toys don't really look like the show versions due to [[The Powers That Be]] not expecting a new season. So the Rangers' [[Transformation Sequence]] involves transforming first into the suits minus helmets but with face-concealing masks (as that is how the toy makers did the usual head-flipping figures without actors to base heads on) and then the helmets form. During mecha fights, the toy versions of the Rangers' gear is used while in the cockpits, and only there. This means there are enough all-new suits and weapons that you could make a whole new series out of them if you wanted... and all this stuff only exists while piloting the Megazord and serves no purpose whatsoever within the show. (You'd think morphing from the show version to the toy version would make a good [[Mid Season Upgrade]], but that'd mean making expensive new fight scenes instead of being able to use [[Stock Footage]] from ''[[Samurai Sentai Shinkenger]].'')

** ''[[Power Rangers Samurai]]'' has a nasty case of it. The toys don't really look like the show versions due to [[The Powers That Be]] not expecting a new season. So the Rangers' [[Transformation Sequence]] involves transforming first into the suits minus helmets but with face-concealing masks (as that is how the toy makers did the usual head-flipping figures without actors to base heads on) and then the helmets form. During mecha fights, the toy versions of the Rangers' gear is used while in the cockpits, and only there. This means there are enough all-new suits and weapons that you could make a whole new series out of them if you wanted... and all this stuff only exists while piloting the Megazord and serves no purpose whatsoever within the show. (You'd think morphing from the show version to the toy version would make a good [[Mid-Season Upgrade]], but that'd mean making expensive new fight scenes instead of being able to use [[Stock Footage]] from ''[[Samurai Sentai Shinkenger]].'')

** Notable examples of [[New Powers As the Plot Demands|awkwardly introduced]] pieces of merchandise: the Accel Watch in ''[[Kamen Rider Faiz]]'' and the Zect Mizer in ''[[Kamen Rider Kabuto]].''

* Every single episode of ''[[Madan Senki Ryukendo]]'' is devoted to the introduction of some new toy. The main character has four different forms (with four different action figures) each with its own robot sidekick -- that's eight episodes to introduce everything. Then towards the end of the series he gets a [[Super Mode]] that upgrades ''everything'' he has, meaning another eight episodes to introduce all of his new powers. And then at the end of that, he gets an Ultimate Form. With equally Ultimate robot sidekicks. This isn't counting the episodes where he gains a new piece of barely-useful equipment (Madan Dagger, anyone?) or one of the two other main heroes gets a new upgrade/robot sidekick/finisher. God forbid he use the powers he already has in a new and interesting way.

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* ''[[Warhammer 40000|Warhammer 40k]]''

** What once started as a joke among the fanbase became less of a joke in light of the more obnoxious army rules sets that come out. In the memorable case of the 5th edition [[The Scrappy|Codex Tyranids]], the iconic Carnifex, which was once a staple of any Tyranid list worth using for decades on end, was [[Nerf|nerfed]] into near oblivion. But fear not, for Games Workshop's new Tyranid model range is full of winning units, such as the Trygon / Mawloc kit, and the [[Metagame|now-ubiquitous]] Hive Guard. Have fun buying new models, kiddies!

** Some players think that Games Workshop is steering away from this due to the increasing number of units with complete rules developed [[Development Hell|long before the models come out]]. Former examples include the [[And the Fandom Rejoiced|Space Marine Drop Pod, Ork Battlewagon, Tyranid Gargoyles and Tervigon, Chaos Daemons' Seekers of Slaaneesh and Dark Eldar Razorwing]], while current examples (as of March 2012) include Necron Tomb Blades, various special characters like Old Zogwort, Justicar Thawn, Baron Sathonyx or Illuminor Szeras and a vast number of Tyranid units including the Harpy, Shrike Brood, Doom of Malan'tai, and Parasite of Mortrex. Forge World, a separate modeling company specializing in resin kits, will sometimes sell kits for these units, but [[Crack Is Cheaper|crack is not only cheaper, but has an infinitely simpler assembly]].

** Some players think that Games Workshop is steering away from this due to the increasing number of units with complete rules developed [[Development Hell|long before the models come out]]. Former examples include the [[And the Fandom Rejoiced|Space Marine Drop Pod, Ork Battlewagon, Tyranid Gargoyles and Tervigon, Chaos Daemons' Seekers of Slaaneesh and Dark Eldar Razorwing]], while current examples (as of March 2012) include Necron Tomb Blades, various special characters like Old Zogwort, Justicar Thawn, Baron Sathonyx or Illuminor Szeras and a vast number of Tyranid units including the Harpy, Shrike Brood, Doom of Malan'tai, and Parasite of Mortrex. Forge World, a separate modeling company specializing in resin kits, will sometimes sell kits for these units, but [[Crack is Cheaper|crack is not only cheaper, but has an infinitely simpler assembly]].

** Oddly enough, the company has almost no merch beyond the models and books themselves. Given the rabid fanbase, including many who love the setting but don't play the main tabletop game, this seems an odd choice in an age where even every webcomic sells T-shirts.

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== [[Video Games]] ==

* There is a whole genre of [[Video Games]] that only exist to promote a product. They are called Advergames.

** Both ''[[Mc Kids]]'' and ''[[Cool Spot]]'', [[No Problem With Licensed Games (Sugar Wiki)|which are remembered for their great gameplay]]. The problem is that [[What Were They Selling Again|neither of them have a lot of relationship with what they are trying to sell]].

** Both ''[[Mc Kids]]'' and ''[[Cool Spot]]'', [[No Problem With Licensed Games (Sugar Wiki)|which are remembered for their great gameplay]]. The problem is that [[What Were They Selling Again?|neither of them have a lot of relationship with what they are trying to sell]].

** ''[[Zool (Video Game)|Zool]]'' (Chupa Chups).

** Pepsiman. One big difference from other advergames is that while the rest [[What Were They Selling Again|have little in common with what they are advertising]], pepsiman succeeds to make you remember which product you are supposed to buy. How? It [[Ear Worm|brainwashes you with a song]] [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdqW9PAv5_M\] that repeats the product's name, '[[Expository Theme Tune|'PEPSI-MAN'']].

** Pepsiman. One big difference from other advergames is that while the rest [[What Were They Selling Again?|have little in common with what they are advertising]], pepsiman succeeds to make you remember which product you are supposed to buy. How? It [[Ear Worm|brainwashes you with a song]] [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdqW9PAv5_M\] that repeats the product's name, '[[Expository Theme Tune|'PEPSI-MAN'']].

** [[Darkened Skye]] is probably the weirdest case. When you look at it, it could have probably be an RPG on its very own (even the title doesn't look any Advergame-ish), but it's a game to promote the Skittles candies. Since the makers had freedom (no [[Executive Meddling]]), they decided to do it in a parodied way.

* ''[[Brutal Legend]]'' does this in-universe, by using Merchandise to power the [[Command and Conquer Economy]].