>>8601615People in their 50s are Gen Xers... crazy ain't it?
But yeah... Boomers and (early) Xers created some good shit. It goes far beyond toys too.
Character design as a whole peaked in the 80s IMO. The 70s/1980s gave us so many iconic character and creature designs who have been imitated countless times since. The Predator, T800, Snake Plisken, Jason, Freddys Glove, TMNT, MOTU, countless Joe designs.
There are a few factors effecting character design and hindering creativity today.
>The Internet This seems counterintuitive but I feel the best designs were definitley those before internet or at least before widespread internet. There's something to be said taking inspiration from the world around you.... and by proxy, taking more time with your inspiration.
>Design by committee Stan Winston and ither sfx artists have talked about this before. How creating creatures quickly became less and less fun in the late 90s. His best designs were created with a loose outline of a creature and studios entrusted the designers to create something in their own vision. He stated working on Men in Black was the beginning of the end and MIB2 was a completley miserable experience. By that time studios wanted near total control of of every creature. All sketches and models were beta tested in focus groups and by executives and designers were held on a very short leash. He went on to say his favorite newer creations were just random background ghouls and monsters because studios didn't give a fuck about small background characters with little screen time so he could design those however he pleased lol.
