All Figures Sold Separately: The Library of Disposable Art, #7

By David Macpherson

Can action figures give you happiness? 

 

There are many toy manufacturers who certainly hope they do. They made commercials to explain how you can play with them and what joy you should find in these Barbies and G.I Joe. 

 

This brief book primarily looks at the commercials for the toy playsets and the extra characters. 

 

This is a joyful look at the way the commercials tried to inform our desire and the way we play.  

• Language: English
• Publisher: David Macpherson
• Release date: Sep 18, 2022
• ISBN: 9798215249390

Book preview

Planet of the Apes

The Fortress (1975)

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The first thing we see is the mighty fortress of rock, made of sturdy plastic, with the giant circular mirror on top blinding all those around.

Dolls of ape men are placed on the sides of the fortress. Some are resting on the wooden ladders made of plastic.

The fortress is shot from below. It has been placed on top of a rocky hill. It is a fake rock formation resting upon a real rock formation. No one is sure what is real.

Is this a place of apes walking like men, or dolls of apes that walk like men? It is so difficult to tell the difference.

The announcer tells us it is, The Planet of the Apes Fortress. The announcer lowers his voice, so that he is now speaking as a gorilla soldier. We all know this. The gorilla infantry are known for their deep sonorous voice.

Astronauts Burke and Burdon have escaped. We must recapture them. The camera passes by the two human dolls placed in the sand. Then we go back to the gorillas on the fortress. They are the ones speaking. They are the ones with agency.

Horns blare like a sunrise and the camera pulls back and we see two boys rushing toward the playset. This is a relief. They will take control of the two wayward astronauts and steer them to safety.

But that is not what happens. The two smiling boys take orders from the gorilla voiced announcer. Raise the ladders. A boy raises up the ladder. Raise the sun reflector. The boy moves the mirror about and flares in our eyes. We are blinded by what we see and what we don’t.

The boys are now told that the human dolls must be recaptured and the only way to do that is to break out the weapons. The boys drape a plastic gun across the chest of one gorilla doll.

Another is given a fierce club too big for the gorilla’s hand. It is a club that looks like it was manufactured for another doll: another martial doll who needs simple though effective weaponry.

We got you both. Into the jail. The two of you.  The gorilla voice might be talking about the two boys playing in the sand, but in fact the two boys helped capture the two astronaut dolls. They are now in a jail that has Made in Taiwan stamped on it.

The commercial ends. The story has been told. The two boys have manipulated the dolls and been manipulated by them.

It would be too much to