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{{trope}}
[[File:
{{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!]''}}
The [[Merchandise
There is a full symbiotic relationship between the show's production and the toy company (or other manufacturer licensed, show-themed products), which is usually the primary (or even only) sponsor of the show. But the key difference between this and normal licensed merchandising is that here, it is the toy manufacturer who dictates the show's [[Canon]]. They may be able to [[Executive Meddling|demand the addition or removal of characters from the series based on the actual toys in their production line]], or that new characters must be something that they can quickly and easily design a toy version for (Military- or paramilitary-themed shows and [[Humongous Mecha]] anime are particularly prone to this). Another sign of a toy manufacturer exerting influence is the blatant structuring of episode plots solely around the newest merchandisable toy ''accessories'', often where the characters [[Gotta Catch Em All]] or be declared a failure ''as a human being'' ... [[Broken Aesop|yeah, something like that]].
Merchandise Driven shows are not limited to a young audience either. Many anime are adapted from manga or video games only if there's an existing lucrative market, and older anime fans are known for their loyalty and willingness to part with cash. That so many late-night anime can maintain a decent budget is due to this small but vocal group of fans.
Can be halfheartedly avoided with the use of a [[Segregated Commercial]]. Still, this sometimes produces a [[Franchise Zombie]]. However, [[Tropes Are Not Bad]]
Many musicals ensured that potential hit tunes were reprised a few times. This was as much for the sake of the song publishers as for dramatic opportunities like the [[Dark Reprise]]. The revues, which were formed around [[Sketch Comedy]] and had little to no plot, could get quite shameless: some of them explicitly introduced song reprises as a ploy to sell sheet music.
'''Note that a show can have a line of licensed merchandise without being Merchandise
Also note while this can often be the main reason for a show's existence, it is '''never''' the only reason, that's what actual commercials are for. Shows of this nature always do their best to tell a story and to keep the viewers hooked with said story. Keep that in mind whenever viewing a show that falls under this trope.
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 [[
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
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.
{{examples
== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==▼
* ''[[Pokémon (
* Contrary to what some may believe, the original ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!]]'' manga/anime did not fit this trope. Its sequel series, ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh! GX]]'', ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!
▲== [[Anime]] ==
▲* ''[[Pokémon (Anime)|Pokémon]]'', which started a trend of Merchandise Driven [[Mons]] shows that later included ''[[Digimon]]'', later ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh]]'' seasons, ''[[Beyblade]]'', ''[[Bakugan]]'' and others.
▲* Contrary to what some may believe, the original ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh]]'' manga/anime did not fit this trope. Its sequel series, ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh GX]]'', ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh 5 Ds]]'', and ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh Ze Xal]]'', however, were very much this, causing some fans of the original to complain. Ironically, there's a rumor going around stating that the cards were wiped of text not to eliminate the Japanese language from the dub, but because a rule in children's television prevented "in-show advertising" to be shown (which [[Executive Meddling|the executives]] felt the show would skirt if the cards were left untouched or translated). Evidence for this is seen in ''Yu-Gi-Oh: [[The Movie]]'', in which the cards look like the real cards, and are even translated into English.
* ''[[Digimon]]'', in all of its anime forms. Notable as the marketers didn't care about anything except the merchandise and gave the anime writers a free hand, with '''diverse''' results. ''[[Digimon Tamers]]'' even features merchandising from the franchise in the show!
** It should be noted that, nevertheless, it still shows in most series, only not as blatantly as other examples in this page; the exact degree varies considerably. ''[[Digimon Adventure 02|Adventure 02]]'' is a good
** ''[[
** On the other hand, ''[[Digimon Frontier|Frontier]]'' provided a rather blatant example, as Takuya, Kouji and Kouichi's combined forms, as well as their Ancient Digimon, were quite clearly designed as simple amalgamations of their earlier Hybrid forms and thus easily able to be made into toys. Susanoomon, the final hero, was also a visible amalgamation of KaiserGreymon and MagnaGarurumon.
* Probably the most ludicrous example would be ''[[Beyblade]],'' which focused on [[Serious Business|a wildly popular world dominating sport]] where competitors play with little spinning top toys and try to tip each others' toys over.
* Though ''[[B-Daman]]'' had a similar premise, based on increasingly ludicrous games involving marble-shooting chibi robots.
* In the same gamut, ''[[Bakugan]]''. At least it has a better justification (parallel universe and all).
* ''[[Ojamajo Doremi]]'' showcased magical accessories that were not only gaudy and colorful, but even in the anime looked like cheap plastic, and featured sounds, lights, and actions that were easy to replicate via the magic of mass production. This [[media:415PW38R1JL.
* Savagely attacked (both literally and figuratively) in the final episodes of the [[Humongous Mecha]] series ''[[The Brave Express Might Gaine]]'', which up until that point had been a fairly straightforward merchandise-driven show. The titular Brave Express team and their boy genius creator discover that their entire world is the creation of a malevolent alien... toy company and their entire lives up to this point have been one long commercial for the company's line of toy trains that turn into robots. Our heroes are understandably upset about this and go on to fight against their creators for control of their own destinies. This is said to be a case of [[Writer Revolt]] due to a breakdown in relations between Sunrise, the studio that produced the anime and the Takara toy company.
** The entire [[Brave Series]] was heavily Merchandise Driven; the franchise was essentially a knock-off of [[Transformers]] when Takara was having difficulty with its other contractors about that franchise and so turned to Sunrise, then already famous for ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam]]'', and asked them to animate several toy-driven kid's shows. The brand never did as well as Takara had hoped it would and they eventually stopped caring, which led to both the above example and [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|pretty much everything that ever happened]] in ''[[
* The "success" of a ''[[Gundam]]'' anime series is often considered to be measured by the number of Gunpla models it sells. The fact that many of these series are either good, great, or mind-blowing, seems completely unimportant to its production company.
** Ironically, Tomino made the original Gundam series in an attempt to make the Giant Robot genre something other than a toy commercial. It [[Executive Meddling|hasn't always worked.]] For example, the color scheme of the titular mech was drastically altered to be more visually appealing (even though it was much, much less realistic). And all of the other modifications to the original story.
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*** Despite the expense of new kits, this has recently been phased out as newer kits are often priced depending on their weight and complexity. Kits like the 00 Qant and the Unicorn Gundam are hot sellers but they are priced according to how much plastic is in those kits. On the other hand, large kits like the Sinanju err to the more expensive side.
** Often times, Bandai will find ways to release old kits as a new model with various ways to make them seem like legitimate standalone kits. One such method is to market recolors (0 Gundam and the celestial being colors) or spin-off variations of a kit (Astraea, Astraea type F) without having to create an entire set of runners. This can be both subtle and completely in your face like the GN condenser 00 where the frame is the exact same except for an extra clip that gives you the condenser pieces.
* ''[[Zoids]]'' is unusual in this respect, as the original model line from the 80s had no supporting media, aside from two short promotional videos, a few video games and a comic series produced by Marvel. The second model line, however, had numerous anime and manga adaptations, though only the first three (''[[Zoids: Chaotic Century]], [[Zoids: New Century Zero]],'' and ''[[Zoids Fuzors]]'') saw distribution outside of Japan.
* ''[[Crush Gear Turbo]]'' was advertising for a rather strange game where battery-powered toy cars rolled around and collided in a small tray until one of them had the wheels fall off, or something. [[Short Run in Peru|The merchandise is almost as hard to find as]] [[Keep Circulating the Tapes|the show itself]].
* Hello Kitty and all her Sanrio friends. They have various adaptations including TV shows and comic books, but they are at heart saleable products.
* In the live-action ''[[Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon]],'' the weapons and accessories used by the characters in the show were the actual toys on sale concurrently in the shops.
* ''[[Hime Chen! Otogi Chikku Idol Lilpri]]'' is an [[The Anime of the Game|adaptation]] of a Sega arcade game called ''Lilpri - Yubi Puru Hime Chen'', which allows players to scan cards to customize their own [[Magic Idol Singer]]. The cards are even used in the show by the three main characters and are advertised at the end of each episode.
* ''[[Pretty Cure]]'': Becoming a long running [[Cash Cow Franchise]] for Toei Animation. The franchise grew so popular over the years that toys, dolls, accessories, and coloring books are released long before the new season even airs or even proves ratings worthy.
* Mini 4WD related manga and anime ''[[Dash Yonkuro]]'' and ''[[Bakusou Kyoudai Let's
* The ''[[
** [[Wild Mass Guessing]]: the character redesigns for [[
* In ''[[
* ''[[
* ''[[
* ''[[Redakai]]'' was made in an attempt to support a card game of the same name, with the characters "Unlocking new X-drives" (basically opening a booster pack of cards and [[Product Promotion Parade|listing them off]]) at the end of each episode.
** A glaring example of this is a comment made when Ky unveils his "[[Golden Super Mode|Gold Metanoid]]"
{{quote|
* ''[[Mon Suno]]'', which is being backed by Jakks-Pacific and Topps. It is gaining a steady fandom for the show, card game, and action figure line.
* ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion]]'', surprisingly enough, rakes in a ton of money thanks to all the merchandising the fanboys buy. Much like with the original ''Gundam'', ''Eva'' started out as a [[Cult Classic]] that boomed thanks to [[The Movie]] being a smash success. Most other media in the franchise revolves around fanservice for the die hard fanbase which'll buy every Asuka or Rei figure out there.
== [[Comic Books]] ==
* In ''[[
* Marvel's ''[[Micronauts]]'' comic book series was created specifically to sell the action figure toy line, but writer [[Bill Mantlo]] successfully turned it into a well-written and sometimes deeply philosophical science fiction epic, while doing all they could to avoid some amazing similarities between the toy line and the recently-released ''[[Star Wars]]''. The comics outlasted the toy line, but since Marvel doesn't own the trademark, the Micronauts have rarely reappeared in the [[Marvel Universe]], and their more familiar aspects, and name, have been suspiciously absent when they did appear.
** 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
* 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
* The original ''[[Atari Force]]'' started off as promotional giveaways included with [[Atari 2600]] game cartridges. The second series kept the backstory and the characters, but was otherwise an original sci-fi romp.
* ''[[Bionicle]]'' was, for [[LEGO]], something of an experiment in this trope in response to increasing financial trouble and realising that reliance on their ''[[Star Wars]]'' licence wasn't a good permanent solution - the company theorised that promoting a line with a story would bolster sales compared to lines without a story. It's hard to tell whether the story was much of a factor, but they were proved right for a
** LEGO also tried this with an [[Animesque]] [[Humongous Mecha]] set clearly inspired by stuff like ''[[Voltron]]''. ''[[LEGO Exo-Force]]'' lasted three years; while short compared to City or ''BIONICLE'', it was very popular during its run, second only to ''BIONICLE'' and ''LEGO [[Star Wars]]'' sales. It died in its third year due to the loss of the studio producing the related comics and because the bigger sets of the second year stayed behind in stores like solid rocks.
* This is becoming more and more common in "regular" comic books, from Events to other stories. Many, many stories now heavily feature rapid-fire costume switches and variants on old costume designs, as heroes gain temoprary power-ups. DC's ''Blackest Night'' and Marvel's ''Fear Itself'' show this most strongly. In the former, a dozen heroes get possessed by Power Rings that alter their costumes more than once. In the latter, heroes and villains get new costumes and weapons. All have the side-effect of allowing whole new sets of toys to be created in their likeness.
* Larry Hama's legendary run of ''[[G.I. Joe]]'' was full of this, in spite of his writing. Many, ''many'' issues featured an entirely new cast of characters on their "first mission" or a "training run" or somesuch thing, as they were based off of new toys that were coming out. Hama seemed to take it in good cheer, and enjoyed coming up with creative new concepts and character names. Aside from a near-constant recurring main cast, the comic featured an endless supply of new background characters.
== [[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 (
** Which admittedly was a pretty big deal [[Seinfeld Is Unfunny|if you were a kid at the time, but not so much now that there are roughly ten thousand Mario Brothers games]].
* ''[[Singin' in
* Surprisingly, ''[[Toy Story (franchise)|Toy Story]]'' was not made for this, although it happens to be perfect for selling toys
* 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).▼
** Movie reviewers loved the early [[Pixar]] movies, but gave ''[[Cars]]'' mixed reviews which only got worse for the cash-in sequels. As a vehicle for selling toy model cars, on the other hand, the ''Cars'' franchise made a mint as pretty much every car-acter (except for "Bessie", the inanimate paver-compactor) was made into a Mattel toy.
* 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]].▼
▲* Apparently, one of the main reasons ''[[Batman and Robin (
* 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. ▼
▲* 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 (
* 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.
== Literature ==
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== [[Live Action TV]] ==
* ''[[Winky Dink]]'', one of the earlier examples.
* The degree to which ''[[Captain Power and
* ''[[
* ''[[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
** 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
** Notable examples of [[New Powers
* 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
** The show's [[Spiritual Successor
* The ''[[Metal Heroes]]'' franchise of the early 80s to mid 90s featured the same kind of toys most sentai do, however a lot more emphasis was placed on firearms such as [[Blue Swat]]'s famous Dictator, which fired frighteningly similar to a real gun.
** Also, they had ''crazy'' arsenals even when it was just one hero, as much gear as the average ''[[Super Sentai]]'' series (right down to the giant robot in some cases.) Bikes, tanks, drill-tanks, fighter jets, and [[Space Sheriff Gavan|at least one giant mecha-dragon]] all launched from a huge flying base. There are whole sentai teams who don't have as deep a bag of tricks as a Space Sheriff may on his lonesome.
* For a time in [[The Sixties]], it was ''de rigeur'' for eccentric characters in high-concept [[
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== Newspaper Comics ==
* ''[[Garfield (Comic Strip)|Garfield]]'', as its creator Jim Davis would eventually reveal, was created specifically with this kind of marketability in mind. Maybe not as a toy ''per se'' (the character was ''dramatically'' less toyetic in appearance in the beginning), but definitely as a line of merchandise.
* ''Robotman'', created by United Feature Syndicate in the '80s to be a marketing
* Parodied quite a bit in ''[[FoxTrot]]'', where Jason's ''Slug Man'' comics were clearly done as part of his [[Get Rich Quick Scheme]]s with marketing potential in mind. Jason was never even able to find a publsher who would market the comic, though, [[Stylistic Suck|as it was pretty bad.]]
== [[Tabletop Games]] ==
* Homaged with the ''[[Cartoon Action Hour]]'' role-playing game. The first version even suggested players think of gimmicks for a corresponding action figure when creating characters.
* ''[[Warhammer
** 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 [[
** 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
** 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]].
** ''[[
** 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]].
* ''[[Urban Rivals]]'' manages to do this without a tangible product. The [[Web Comics]] promote characters on the cards, often with gang team-ups, sometimes with what appears to be a [[Crack Pairing]] that actually hints as to how the cards could work together in a hand. The showcased character cards enjoy a boost in popularity and price, and purchasable booster packs tout the inclusion of the characters.
* ''[[Skylanders:
* In the early 90s, a bunch of Amiga games were released that advertised certain product (mostly fromn Germany). Examples are
** "[[Bi Fi]] - The Snack Zone" (promoting a popular sausage-like snack food)
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== Web Original ==
* Parodied in the ''[[Show Within a Show|Cheat Commandos]]'' in ''[[
* For a concise description of the ultimate Merchandise Driven show, see [http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2005/1/5/ this strip] of ''[[Penny Arcade]]''.
* Mattel recently created ''[[Monster High]]'' just for this reason. They also planned a book series and a movie from the get-go.
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== [[Western Animation]] ==
* To show that this Trope is [[Older Than They Think]], many early ''[[Looney Tunes]]'' shorts were intended as advertisements for albums in the Warner Bros music library. (Of course, this was before television was invented, and these cartoons were shown in movie theaters. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-RxoBs6UAc Here's an example], but be warned, there are [[Unfortunate Implications|other reasons]] these cartoons are rarely shown in modern times.
* ''[[Captain Simian
* ''[[G.I. Joe]]''. This is most blatant with scenes where the plot stops to have the team's bridge layer tank, piloted by Toll-Booth, appear out of nowhere to lay a hinged two-piece bridge on a gap that is ''always'' just the right size for it.
* ''[[Transformers]]''. An odd instance of the fandom ''embracing'' this. Toy reviews abound, fanfic tends to feature toy characters who weren't on the show, etc. Most notably, if a character ''doesn't'' have a toy made, you'll often hear fans clamoring for it... the [[Rule of Cool]] applies here, and the [[Rule of Fun]] even more so, but they're double-edged swords: a sub-standard ''figure'' tends to garner far more backlash than a sub-par episode. The Transformers Wiki has [http://tfwiki.net/wiki/To_sell_toys a whole page] about this.
* ''[[He-Man and
* The ''[[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 1987
* ''[[Jem and The Holograms]]'' existed solely to sell "Jem And The Holograms" dolls and playsets.
* ''[[Jayce and
* '' [[
* ''[[Winky Dink]]'': You are ''incapable'' of watching the show to its full interactive potential without the kit. Literally.
* The producers of ''[[
* The same thing occurred with ''[[Spider
* Already the cause of some complaints leveled against ''[[Ultimate Spider-Man (
* ''[[
** The new series ''Friendship is Magic'' is a little better about this. Obviously it's there to sell toys, but there isn't constant shilling for whatever new accessory or playset has come out. Of course, when such things ''do'' get mandated, they can tend to dominate entire episodes... though at least the writers try to make it as painless as possible.
* Anything having to do with ''[[
* Two words: ''[[
* An excellent example would be the ''[[Dino Riders]]'' cartoon, designed specifically to sell a line of Tyco dinosaur toys. The Home Video VHS tapes even had commercials during the show.
* The ''[[Bratz]]'' doll line has managed to launch several straight-to-DVD disasters and a major motion picture, and a short-lived animated TV series that was actually [[Guilty Pleasure|pretty entertaining]].
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** Parodied in ''[[Peanuts]]'', with a short-lived character named Tapioca Pudding. Her father is a merchandiser who's determined to license her image on an infinite number of knickknacks, including lunch boxes.
* A more recent example, the Canadian cartoon ''[[Ruby Gloom]]'', despite its charm, was created to promote a line of clothing and stationery; given which, you'd think said clothing and stationery would be a lot easier to ''find''.
* ''[[Care Bears]]'': Originally created to appear on greeting cards, according to [[The Other Wiki]], it was spun off into a toyline, with the main reason of existence of the cartoons and movies being a shill to market the toys.
* The ''Merrie Melodies'' cartoons were originally designed to promote music owned by [[Warner Bros]] Eventually, however, that distinction was dropped, with the names ''Merrie Melodies'' and ''[[
* There was to be an ''[[The Incredible Crash Dummies|Incredible Crash Dummies]]'' CGI animated series. The pilot was free with several action figures for sale. Sadly it never quite took off. Which is a pity, the show was fairly humorous, [[Product Placement]] aside. And as they were crash dummies, dismemberment was not unheard of, and in fact was quite frequent, showing just how bad a crash could in fact be.
* ''[[Visionaries:
* ''[[
* Parodied in an episode of ''[[Garfield and Friends]]'' in which Garfield wakes up in the [[No Fourth Wall|wrong cartoon]], one with giant robots. At one point, when Garfield is wreaking havoc with the giant robots, one of the robots says "The toy company will not like this."
* Parodied in ''[[The Simpsons (
** Doubly ironically, Mattel was the first company to make ''[[Simpsons]]'' toys, making these jokes examples of [[Biting the Hand Humor]].
* The creators of ''[[Batman:
** Lampshaded in-story when [[Booster Gold]] sarcastically remarks that "The toy company" won't like the idea of him fighting crime without a costume.
** It also gets parodied in "Mitefall!": [[Reality Warper]] Bat-Mite tries to ruin the show itself, one of the things he does is insert obvious toy product placements, such as the "Neon-talking Super-Street Bat Luge".
* Hot Wheels has had three series (''World Race, AcceleRacers, and [[Hot Wheels Battle Force 5]]'') under this trope, all in the same overall storyline.
* Very evident in ''[[The Avengers: United They Stand]]'', where the heroes wore brightly colored, anime-inspired battle armor for no apparent reason other than to shill toys.
* ''[[Freakazoid
** However, as toyetic as it was, ''[[Freakazoid
* Although it never was made, in the early 90s Mattel planned to make a [[Wonder Woman]] toyline and cartoon. The popularity of ''[[
** While promoting ''[[
* ''[[
* The [[Nicktoons]] series ''[[
* ''[[Robotix]]''. Strangely, the animated series entry on Wikipedia is many times bigger than the toyline entry, while in other countries (such as France) the animated series is totally unknown (while the toyline is merely "obscure").
* ''Candyland''
* ''[[Pound Puppies]]''
* ''[[Littlest Pet Shop (
* ''[[The Wuzzles]]''
* ''[[Sky Dancers]]''.
* When you get down to it ''[[Captain N]]'' was more or less a vehicle for advertising Nintendo games, even though the show rarely portrayed the games accurately. Frequently they would actually name the game world after the game it came from, even when that was very wrong, (e.g., apparently [[Metroid]] is a place instead of a energy sucking jellyfish creature,) possibly just for the sake of this trope.
* ''[[Street Sharks]]'', plus being a (good-hearted) ripoff of a few then-popular cartoons.
* In an inversion, the series ''[[
* According to Ted Turner, a lack of this is what killed ''[[
* This was also the reason ''[[
* ''[[Mighty Max]]'' (which you could say was the boy's version of ''[[Polly Pocket]]'') was of course made for this reason.
* [[Popples]]. Heck, there's a website [http://www.80stoysale.com/popples.html listing every piece of Popples merchandise ever!]
* ''[[
* In the early 1960s, many tv cartoon shows were tied in with a cereal company sponsor (Jay Ward with General Mills, Hanna-Barbera with Kellogg's, Looney Tunes with Post), often with said characters in cereal ads and on boxes. Post then had new mascots created for their cereals, and they all became characters on the ''Linus the Lion-Hearted'' show. This proved too much of a blur between programming and commercials to regulators, and the show was canned. The only current remnant of the series is Sugar Bear for Sugar/Super/Golden Crisps.
* ''[[Codename: Kids Next Door]]'' is not this trope, though [[Take That]]s aimed at shows that were happened now and then. The Rainbow Monkeys were a toy company run by a [[Corrupt Corporate Executive]] named [[Meaningful Name|Mr. Mogul]], and while he was a one-shot character, his merchandising empire of toys, cartoons, movies, books, and theme parks made the anti-capitalism Aesop very clear.
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