Mr. Potato Head

Isn't it great how adults give you mixed messages?

They tell you not to take candy from strangers, then they take you trick or treating, or they tell you not to play with your food, then they give you a fucking Mr. Potato Head. A toy whose been forever immortalized solely by his inclusion in the Toy Story franchise, Mr. Potato Head is one of those toys I had, enjoyed and then can't believe I almost forgot to feature here. As a kid with artistic sensibilities, I liked toys that I could make things with. Puzzles, for one, but more so like the Lite Brite, or the Spirograph, or, in some cases, make something new out of it, like Mr. Potato Head. I don't really remember where I got mine from, or how I obtained him at all, but I remember I had one. He may have even been missing some parts, I don't know, but he had enough still for me to have a good time playing with him. But he really is one of the stranger mainstream toys, if you break it down.

Originally released in 1952, he was created by a man named George Lerner in 1949 after, supposedly, seeing his wifes nephew placing sticks inside potatos in the family garden, and at first was sold to a cereal company for $5000, because he couldn't find any other interest buyers. It didn't really catch on at first because post World War 2 consumers didn't like the idea of wasting food - a rather limited resource at the time - for playing with.But eventually, when Hasbro showed interest, Lerner got the rights back for $7000 and then resold it to Hasbro, where it was manufactured and distributed in 1952 and ever since. Mr. Potato Head actually has the amazing history of being the first toy ever advertised on television, which is certainly a nice legacy. The campaign was the first to be directly aimed at children, and revolutionized marketing thus causing an industrial boom. Over one million kits were sold within the first year, which is no small feat in 1952.

Originally produced as separate plastic parts with pushpins that could be stuck into a real potato (or other vegetables, I guess), he was eventually hit by complaints regarding rotting vegetables and new government safety regulations about kids toys that forced Hasbro to eventually produce a plastic potato body with everything else in 1964. See, in the 1960s, government regulations forced the potato head parts that were to be pushed into the potato ala their pins, to be less sharp. This left them unable to prick the vegetable anywhere near as efficiently. This was followed up by a somewhat similar issue in 1975 when the potato body doubled in size and the dimensions of its accessories were also increased, because of a new toy child safety regulation introduced by the US government wherein they argued it was easy for child to simply eat the pieces.

Frankly, any kid who tries to eat a plastic potato and not a real one probably gets what they deserve. Natural selection at its best, frankly. I kid, I kid!

Fun fact! In 1985, Mr. Potato Head received four postal votes in the run for Mayor of Boise, Idaho (makes sense, given what Idahos main export is), which was verified by the Guinness World Records, and in 2000 was inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame in Rochester, NY. They even tried to introduce various other toys in the "Potato Head" line; these included Oscar the Orange, Pete the Pepper, Katie the Carrot, Cooky the Cucumber and even a line called Mr. Potato Head's Picnic Pals with such characters as Mr. Soda Pop Head (real clever guys, really tried hard there) and Frankie Frank. All of these were eventually discontinued, and the only other character who stuck around was Mrs. Potato Head, who was introduced a mere year after to the bachelor himself to settle down with. Mrs. Potato Head falls in the same category that many other female characters fell into for a very long time. Mrs. Pacman is another example. They're simply the original, but a girl now, solely to appeal to the female market and bring in their dollars.

In 2020, Hasbro even created a sustainable version of Mr. Potato Head, which is sold exclusively at Amazon and Whole Foods Market, and is made entirely of oil coming from a sugar cane plant. This is a pretty neat thing to do, honestly. It's nice to see a toy company recognizing what their toy is and then finding new, alternative ways to make that toy. I approve.

As many toys did, he also had a cartoon show, his own movie, various commercial spots and cameos in other things, but nothing ever really compared to being in the Toy Story franchise, and that's really where he's shined ever since.

Honestly, Mr. Potato Head is one of the best toys ever made, really. He's a really creative way for kids to play with a toy or make a whole new toy to play with, and that's genius, honestly. Anytime you can extend the lifespan of your toy simply via the way it was created is a win in my book. Kids get bored of stuff fast, so if your toy can be changed simply by placing the pieces it comes with in a different arrangement, then you've already nipped its inevitable obsolescence in the butt solely by the way it was manufactured. Each Mr. Potato Head can be a different character solely because of the multitude of arrangements you can create on him via the pieces he comes with, and that's fantastic if you have a bunch of kids each playing with one, because no Mr. Potato Head will ever be the same, and thusly, it keeps it fresh (food pun not intended).

Mr. Potato Head is a classic, there's no doubt. He'll be around forever, if for no other reason than having been blasted into pop culture icon status via Pixar, but even had that not happened he likely would've still been fine. He's a solid concept, and that's something that's rather hard to come by honestly. So the next time your parents tell you not to play with your food, ignore them.

You might just stumble onto a billion dollar idea.