Chapter 285: “Stuffed” Toys Phenomenon
Even with that flimsy overlap, Hobbes and Teddy Ruxpin would most probably not cross paths at all. However, with it soon will be.
For now, it’s just optimal to wait for things to go with the flow.
At some point, Hobbes should hopefully benefit from a path that intertwines itself with the Worlds of Wonder animatronic.
-----
In any things did go as usual...
Creed Toys has continued to set out its stuffed tiger and track its progress.
Word of mouth and Creed's sway in the comic book industry is pretty much their main target.
Those who had bought Creed Comics and Creed Toys were pretty much catching the wave that is being made by the stuffed tiger.
Of course, not all of these existing Creed customers would be compelled to buy Stuffed Hobbes but the numbers of would-be buyers are large enough for the cute and fluffy tiger to be a success.
Creed Comics' issue copies per week have reached up to the 350,000-400,000 mark and that would freaking sell out by the time that next week's releases come.
If a quarter of that number of people would buy Stuffed Hobbes... it would be an impressive sales number already!
This was the buying crowd that made Creed a success after all, so how could it not apply for the nth time on a refreshingly new Creed product?
Then, there are the extra avenues of potential markets as well.
Other newsstands were catching wind of the unconventional sales of a tiger toy from other newsstands and were ready to try this stuffed stuff out.
Although Creed Toys hadn't exactly handled the direct distribution of the toys to them... it didn't matter.
The secondary sales of the toys in these roadside stalls were more than enough to do the trick.
Its advertisement would gain traction to the extremely wide 'Calvin and Hobbes' that is not part of the usual comic book and toy industry that Creed is good at.
Then, there are Stuffed Hobbes steadily gaining ground in true toy retail shops or mall-esque retail locations.
It seems that this cute and fluffy tiger had expanded Creed Toys in a way that no other property has.
The Christmas wave of the debuting Creed Toys was amazing but this lone stuffed animal had actually matched that wide market appeal!
Not a lot of stuffed toys could do that and it should be quite indicative of the market appeal of 'Calvin and Hobbes'.
It has been deprived of this glory in the past timeline and it is quite gratifying to finally see it establishing itself with merchandising potential.
For Alexander, who went with this business decision, it was creative defiance that worked great and he could only give a symbolic apology to Bill Watterson.
Everything was out of the stubborn man's hands now.
------
In any case, the Hobbes trend did continue for a couple of days more.
On a certain September day though... Teddy Ruxpin had finally launched!
Plenty of toy industry professionals were keeping a close eye on this one. It was not like any other toy and everyone was looking forward to its potential prospects of it.
If it had an impressive market showing, they could try their hand at it.
If it is abysmal, they'd pretty much just consider it as a novelty idea with disappointing profitability.
If it can't even perform as well as a certain stuffed tiger... wasn't all of its advanced technicalities quite embarrassing?
Fortunately, Teddy Ruxpin did live up to its specifications.
From just the usual toy shops and toy-catering sections, parents and their children wouldn't be able to miss out on it.
It was an unassuming teddy on the display shelves but it became so much more when a single Teddy Ruxpin was being played out as a sample!
A shop representative would just follow the instructions specified and to the shock of toy browsers, the unassuming teddy bear actually talks.
"Hi!" Its eyes and mouth even matched the utterances. "My name is Teddy Ruxpin. Can you and I be friends?"
That soothing voice and that ‘toy coming to life’ feel were enough to send the onlooking kids in excitement!
It was not like any other toy they had because it was actually talking. Toy Story and Ted had probably gotten inspiration from this.
Anyways, without even much thought, their parents were the ones they turned to as they wanted to have that talking teddy bear to themselves.
Of course, these doting parents had to comply but after they were shocked by the talking teddy... they were actually shocked again by the price!
$70 apiece. Then there are batteries to pay for. Then, there are cassette tapes and then a matching storybook to buy as well.
The label clearly says storytelling bear... why were there so many complications to it?
From the looks of it, it just seems like a glorified cassette player that's wrapped in bear fur with add-ons. Who would want to pay for this?
A lot of parents didn't want to… but it was too late.
They had already dragged their kids to the toy shops. They had even crowded over with other families to watch the show.
They didn't want to pay but that didn't mean others wouldn't. Jealousy and envy were much pronounced for kids and one buyer would be enough to send pandemonium for the rejecting parents and the rejected kids.
Long story short... parents wanted to protest but had to fork out their big bucks to appease their little overlords.
Of course, there were the powerful parents that were adamant about not wasting that much money.
Their kids were livid... but their parents actually found an interesting and cheaper alternative- a simple stuffed tiger!
The reluctant Teddy Ruxpin buyers didn't know what's what... but there actually was a cheaper alternative like that.
They looked at their Teddy Ruxpin all-inclusive package with a lot of confusing accessories... and high-tech-y stuff.
Then, they turned to what looked to be a toy named 'Hobbes' and saw that it actually didn't have accessories at all and it even seems that it didn't have storytelling and talking features at all.
Were they blind or were they missing something? Clearly, something was at play here and these Teddy Ruxpin buyers felt like they lost out.
------
Of course, these reluctant Teddy Ruxpin buyers and the Hobbes-alternative buyers in that little toy store were not alone in this feeling.
After all, the Teddy Ruxpin mania would only continue to grow from there.
It even has an impressively televised commercial to help spread the word.
The commercial goes as this...
"Show and tell time." The teacher announced while there is already a boy and his bear in the front.
"Another teddy bear?" A little girl gossiped to her girl friend due to the slew of teddy bears in their show and tell sessions.
Other kids even giggled at that.
Undeterred but still shy, the show-and-tell boy went on. "My teddy's name is Teddy Ruxpin. He talks, he tells stories, he..."
The shy boy can't go on much though because of the disheartening yawns and mocking giggles of his classmates.
The teacher took it to herself to just go on and have Teddy Ruxpin do the show-and-tell for the boy instead.
"Hi! My name is Teddy Ruxpin. Can you and I be friends?" Teddy Ruxpin did his work and the shock of the class could be observed.
The commercial then set off with a narration. "Teddy Ruxpin. The storytelling bear... comes with illustrated book and cassette. From Worlds of Wonder."
With school season appropriateness and that show-and-tell commercial ingenuity... Teddy Ruxpin became known to everyone that was reached by this advertisement.
Children were shocked and awed while parents were exasperated and at a loss.
The toy was amazing but wasn't the price tag and segmentation a bit overkill?
As complaining as the parents were, the animatronic toy went full throttle from there as it spread unto the toy market with its impressive buzz and advertising campaign!
This was a talking and storytelling teddy bear that kids can take home! It was unlike anything that society has seen before! It made sense that the Teddy Ruxpin momentum just grew and grew from there.
It had practically overshadowed every other toy in the market and established toy companies had turned their attention to Worlds of Wonder and Alchemy II.
Creed Toys had turned their attention to the toy as well... but they for other reasons.
Because as it turns out... Stuffed Hobbes was doing just fine. And it seems Teddy Ruxpin was helping it out.
If anything, the more popular and encompassing Teddy Ruxpin was... the more the stuffed tiger seems to benefit.
Even the other toy companies had to turn their eyes to this cute and fluffy tiger too... did Creed Toys put something in their stuffed toy that they didn't know about?
What was with these "stuffed" stuff nowadays? How come it was still doing well alongside the Teddy Ruxpin toy that was taking the toy world by storm?
These toys should have been quite far apart but how come their market performance seems to be in pairing with each?
Something was at play and interested parties can’t help but get to the bottom of this “stuffed” toys phenomenon!