Toy Hall of Fame welcomes new inductees in 2024

Finally, two of America’s most popular toys from the 1980s have been voted into the National Toy Hall of Fame in 2024. They are Transformers action figures and My Little Pony, both brands of Hasbro.

They “survived the test of time,” according to Christopher Bensch of The Strong National Museum of Play in Rochester, N.Y., home of the toy hall of fame.

“These very deserving toys showcase the range of how people play,” Bensch said. “Established in 1998, the hall of fame is dedicated to enshrining toys and games that have inspired creative play and experienced sustained popularity over a long period.”

For Transformers, its sixth nomination to join the toy hall of fame finally proved to be the charm. Its induction in 2024 coincides with the 40th year anniversary since the product was rolled out in the United States in 1984.

 

Transformers originated at the Japanese toy company Takara, based in Tokyo. Essentially, two alien robot factions at war could transform into other forms, such as vehicles and animals. (The Autobots were the heroes and the Decepticons were the villains.)

Henry Orenstein, a Holocaust survivor, is credited with brokering the deal that brought together Takara and Hasbro in the 1980s to introduce the Transformers brand to U.S. markets.

“Orenstein’s real life was more amazing than Transformers,” wrote The Times of Israel.

Orenstein was born in Poland to a Jewish family in 1923. While imprisoned at Budzyń, a German labor camp in Poland, in 1944, he got word that the Nazis wanted “all scientists and mathematicians to register with the camp administration.”

“Despite not knowing if the scientists and mathematicians would be given better conditions or killed immediately, and despite the fact that Orenstein himself was neither a scientist nor a mathematician, he gambled and signed up.

Those who registered were assigned to a special squad that was tasked with developing a gas for the Germans that could paralyze enemy tanks. That never happened, and later, Orenstein suggested it was a ploy “thought up by the German scientists in charge at Budzyń to avoid military service on the Eastern Front.”

After having been rescued by Soviet troops, Orenstein emigrated to the United States in 1947 and made inroads in the toy industry. He ran several toy manufacturing companies and held more than 100 toy-related patents.

 

Ever the gambler, Orenstein became a professional poker player in his “senior years” and invented the “hole card camera” to make televised poker championships more interesting for viewers, as they could see players’ face-down cards. Orenstein died from COVID-19 in Livingston, N.J., in 2021, at age 98.

 

Loyal fans of My Little Pony also celebrated the toy hall of fame announcement with glee, as the line of pastel-colored ponies had been a toy hall of fame finalist seven times. At long last, My Little Pony trotted into the winner’s circle in 2024.

 

Having made its debut in 1981, the line of mini-horses “encourages children in traditional forms of doll play – fantasy, storytelling, hair grooming and collecting. The small ponies have come in more than a thousand varieties, all with elongated tails and manes made to be brushed,” according to Michelle Parnett-Dwyer, the Strong museum’s curator of dolls and toys.

 

The primary inventor of My Little Pony is Bonnie Zacherle (shown below), who was employed by Hasbro as an illustrator. Early models wiggled their ears, swished their tails, and winked an eye. Today, the ponies are branded with a unique symbol on one or both sides of their flanks, which are referred to as “cutie marks.”