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Part 1: The Big
Picture
“I don’t control the tidal wave
of 'Simpsons’ success, but I try to surf on it as best I
can.”
-- Matt Groening, joking in The Los Angeles Times.
Collecting these yellow characters is red hot
Just how popular are Simpsons collectibles right now? Let's just say these yellow characters are red hot! No exaggeration.
The popularity of Simpsons talking action figures from Playmates Toys seem to grow with each new release. Some of limited-edition versions of the figures are selling for $150 or more on the Ebay auction site, where more than 7,000 Simpsons items are typically for sale at any given time.
Boxing Homer
Boxing Homer action figure distributed by ToyFare magazine in fall 2001 as an exclusive with Playmates Toys. See enlarged photo.
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Other hot sellers include Simpsons ornaments from Carlton Cards, the long-running Simpsons comic books, Simpsons versions of Monopoly and Clue board games, trivia games from Cardinal Industries, and a wide range of Simpsons posters and T-shirts. The release of the first Simpsons DVD box set in fall 2001 was also a huge success, hanging around best-seller lists for weeks.
No surprise then that Twentieth Century Fox has announced plans to keep "The Simpsons" at the center of its licensing and marketing efforts for a long time, both in the U.S. and other countries where "The Simpsons" is also immensely popular.
Of course, it's not just Fox that's obsessed with "The Simpsons. The show's legions of fans don't
just watch "The Simpsons." They memorize dialogue.
They do imitations of characters. They debate the animated comedy's inside
jokes, movie parodies and social satire.
And, especially since Playmates Toys introduced a line of Simpsons action figures in January 2000, there are hundreds -- maybe thousands -- of Simpsons fans who have spent a huge chunk of cash and lots of spare time tracking down, buying, trading and enjoying
merchandise featuring Bart and other characters from this hit Fox TV
series.
Perhaps the No. 1 Simpsons collector is none other than Simpsons creator Matt Groening, who oversees licensing issues and always has merchandise sprinkled throughout his office. Yes, he gets a cut of the licensing revenues, but Groening makes it clear he loves the stuff, too. "I mean I
like that it -- I like the money, but to me, it's fun. I like the toys. I
like doing that stuff, you know. To me, it's part of the whole experience," he told reporters in 1998.
The state of Simpsons
merchandise
Especially in the first two seasons of the series, which launched in January 1990, Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation,
owner of "The Simpsons," capitalized on the show's immense following by issuing
merchandise licenses for thousands of Simpsons items in the United States
and other countries. Without exaggeration, a collector could chew up weekly
paychecks for years trying to obtain all variations of licensed Simpsons
items, everything from toothbrushes to Butterfinger candy tins to a full-size
arcade pinball game from Data East. Many serious Simpsons collectors also
save in-store promotional items, newspaper clippings, bootlegs and anything
else that features characters from the show.
Sponsored link: When you're looking for older Simpsons merchandise, there's no better place than the eBay.com auction site . With more than 7,000 Simpsons items for sale at any given time, you're bound to find some great bargains.
Despite the enormous success of "The Simpsons," the early overabundance of Simpsons merchandise and the low quality for lots of it kept a lot of hobby media and dealers from taking Simpsons collecting all that seriously. That began to change around 1998, when there was a profile of a Simpsons collector on FX cable network, a cover story on Simpsons merchandise in the July issue of Toy Trader magazine, and a two-page story in Hot Toys magazine.
Around the same time, Simpsons collector Robert
W. Getz of Warminster, Penn., authored the photo-laden book,
"The Unauthorized Guide To The Simpsons Collectibles:
A Handbook and Price Guide" ($29.95, Schiffer Books).
Another thing happened in 1998: Prices exploded for some Simpsons merchandise
on the Internet and elsewhere. On the eBay
auction site on the World Wide Web, a hard-to-find Simpsons table-top
Score-O-Matic electronic pinball game, sold for more than $200. (That same
game in 1991 typically sold for about $35.)
In 2000, in time for the 10th anniversary of "The Simpsons" as a TV series,
Fox unveiled a new line of action figures with matching playsets, PEZ dispensers and other Simpsons merchandise for the U.S. market. Unlike the early 1990s, when much of the merchandise was aimed at outfitting children in the latest Bart T- shirt or creating cheap toys to amuse them, Simpsons goods has evolved into mostly appealing to collectors and others adults, many of whom grew up loving the series.
"Our goal is clearly not to make this a kid-focused property, but an adult
property as well," Rosanna McCollough, vice president of marketing for Fox's
licensing and merchandising division, told Variety trade magazine in 1998.
Bart on board
One of several styles of auto
window window hangers. See Pin, stick, hang for
more details.
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In addition to shifting the focus to adults, Fox has promised to be more careful about choosing products it licenses. According to Variety, Fox developed "new controls and standards" on the types of Simpsons products it will license -- not the situation that existed in the early 1990s.
Yet there is still a charm to much of that early Simpsons merchandise, with its fondness for Bart's face and his well-worn catchphrases. Certainly no collection should be without the Simpsons automobile window hangers with the suction cups to hang like those 1980s "Baby on Board" signs.
NEXT: The history.
Copyright 1996-2001, William LaRue.
Updated: 12/21/01
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