My Buddy Doll History

My Buddy Doll History, All About An "Almost Success"

In 1985, the Hasbro toy company took a chance and introduced the My Buddy boy’s doll.  The My Buddy doll history is a study in how toy companies try to read the market and anticipate both upcoming demand and underserved niches.  What the My Buddy doll history illustrates is that, just as in any industry, some risks pay off, some fail, and some do so-so.

Put the My Buddy doll history in the ‘so-so’ category.  Hasbro was trying to fill a niche they believed to be largely untapped:  boys who want to play with dolls.  The success of the doll was high in the early days, but this was thanks almost entirely to a very aggressive (and costly) advertising campaign.  Remember the My Buddy theme song?

Those at Hasbro who anticipated a long, successful My Buddy doll history failed to take one crucial aspect into account:  action hero figures.  Perhaps Hasbro did factor them in, but they failed to appreciate the difference between the smaller figures (G.I. Joe, Action Jackson, Big Jim, Superfriends, etc.) and the much larger My Buddy dolls.  Seems boys wanted their ‘dolls’ for rough play centered around make-believe battles.  Hasbro saw a long-term market in which boys played with their dolls like girls played with theirs.  They misjudged, clearly.

Ultimately, the My Buddy doll history shows that demand fizzled out just a few years after it was rolled out.  By 1990, Hasbro had stopped production.  In a bit of irony, the short production run has now resulted in a pretty serious demand for My Buddy dolls by collectors.  Mint condition 1985 dolls fetch hundreds of dollars now!