The He-Man effect : how American toymakers sold you your childhood / Brian "Box" Brown.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 253-258).

Chapter 1. When tempted, reach for a sucker -- Chapter 2. Audiences were stunned -- Chapter 3. Cast a wider net -- Chapter 4. We'll be right back -- Chapter 5. A new hope -- Chapter 6. March into danger fearlessly -- Chapter 7. Frank Frazetta cum Prince Valiant -- Chapter 8. A toaster with pictures -- Chapter 9. Don't stop thinking about tomorrow -- Chapter 10. They don't make them like they used to -- Afterword.

"Powered by the advent of television and super-charged by the deregulation era of the 1980s, media companies and toy manufacturers joined forces to dominate the psyches of American children. But what are the consequences when a developing brain is saturated with the same kind of marketing bombardment found in Red Scare propaganda? Brian "Box" Brown's The He-Man Effect shows how corporate manipulation brought muscular, accessory-stuffed action figures to dizzying heights in the 1980s and beyond. Bringing beloved brands like He-Man, Transformers, My Little Pony, and even Mickey Mouse himself into the spotlight, this graphic history exposes a world with no rules and no concern for results beyond profit."--