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Re: Is it time to stop glorifying the brand and focus on the designer?
I think the original analogy is a little off. If a toy were to be equated to a film, the actor/star of the film would be the character. Because if you're familiar with an actor's previous work, you know what to expect from them in other films. If it's Sylvester Stallone, you know he's going to play some tough badass. Just like if you know the character is Optimus Prime, you know he'll be a tall, red and blue robot who turns into a truck. The designer is more like the writer/director. If a movie is made by someone like Quentin Tarantino, Ridley Scott, or Joss Whedon you know how good the movie will be, what the shots will be like, what the sets and costumes will look like, etc.
As for the question at hand, yes. Yes, they should definitely start putting the designers(') name(s) on the packaging. Probably not big, bold font front and center. But maybe on the back, at the bottom of the picture of the figure. Almost like a feature like "launching missile" or "kung fu grip".
As evident by the very landscape of the toy industry at the moment, and as heralded by those in the business such as Aaron Archer, we all know the toy industry is moving toward being collector-centric as opposed to kid-centric. Kids don't care about toys anymore. They're engaged in digital media, whether it be video games, apps, or on-demand video(YouTube, Netflix, etc). It's the adults buying toys based on things they grew up with, either for themselves or trying to get their kids into it.
Although it is evident that the toy world isn't read for such a paradigm shift from brand recognition to designer recognition. Play With This Too's Kickstarter failing twice is proof of that. There was more wrong with that Kickstarter than just the fact that people didn't care who designed the toys, but it's still credent.
I know I would be more likely to buy a figure if I knew it was from a designer who made another figure I liked.
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