Trendmasters was an American

toy company A toy or plaything is an object that is used primarily to provide entertainment. Simple examples include toy blocks, board games, and dolls. Toys are often designed for use by children, although many are designed specifically for adults and pet ...

based out of

St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

, Missouri and was most notable for its figures based on the ''

Godzilla is a fictional monster, or '' kaiju'', originating from a series of Japanese films. The character first appeared in the 1954 film ''Godzilla'' and became a worldwide pop culture icon, appearing in various media, including 32 films produc ...

'' series, as well as the 1998 film of the same name. It closed its doors in 2002, and its IP assets were acquired by

Jakks Pacific Jakks Pacific, Inc. is an American company that designs and markets toys and consumer products, with a range of products that feature numerous children's toy licenses. The company is named after its founder, Jack Friedman, who had previously fo ...

. After the success of its first wave of ''

'' toys in 1994, Trendmasters began producing toys based on many licenses, including the series '' Voltron: The Third Dimension'', as well as films and television programs such as '' Nova's Ark'', '' Battlefield Earth'', ''

Gamera is a fictional monster, or ''kaiju'', originating from a series of Japanese films. Debuting in the 1965 film ''Gamera, the Giant Monster'', the character and the first film were intended to compete with the success of Toho's ''Godzilla'' film ...

'', ''

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'', '' Independence Day'', ''

Mars Attacks! ''Mars Attacks!'' is a 1996 American science fiction comedy film directed by Tim Burton, who also co-produced it with Larry J. Franco. The screenplay by Jonathan Gems was based on the Topps trading card series of the same name. The film featu ...

'', ''

Extreme Ghostbusters ''Extreme Ghostbusters'' is an American animated television series based on the ''Ghostbusters'' franchise. It is a spin-off to the animated series '' The Real Ghostbusters''. The series originally aired on the syndicated Bohbot Kids Network's ...

'', ''

Lost in Space ''Lost in Space'' is an American science fiction television series, created and produced by Irwin Allen, which originally aired between 1965 and 1968 on CBS. The series was inspired by the 1812 novel ''The Swiss Family Robinson.'' The series fo ...

'', ''

Gumby ''Gumby'' is an American clay animation franchise, centered on the titular green clay humanoid character created and modeled by Art Clokey. Gumby stars in two television series, the feature-length '' Gumby: The Movie'', and other media. He im ...

'', ''

Cardcaptors , abbreviated as ''CCS'', is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by the manga group Clamp. Serialized monthly in the ''shōjo'' manga magazine ''Nakayoshi'' from May 1996 to June 2000, it was also published in 12 ''tankōbon'' ...

'', ''

The Spooktacular New Adventures of Casper ''The Spooktacular New Adventures of Casper'' is an animated television spin-off and a sequel of the feature film ''Casper'', which, in turn, was based on the Harvey Comics cartoon character of Casper the Friendly Ghost. Production At the time ...

'', '' Dexter's Laboratory'' and ''

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.'' In 1999, the company released a line of animated watches called C-watches. These watches allowed the user to set alarms for Mon-Fri, alerted the user to mealtimes, and had many other uses and animations. Special editions of these watches included the *NSYNC edition, ''

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'' Edition, Pro Wrestling Edition, ''

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'' Edition, ''

Star Wars ''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera multimedia franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop-culture Cultural impact of S ...

'' Edition, etc. Trendmasters produced the

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toy line, which spawned a successful television series entitled ''

Shadow Raiders ''Shadow Raiders'' is a Canadian animated television series produced by Mainframe Entertainment and syndicated by The Summit Media Group, that aired from September 16, 1998, to June 23, 1999. The show was loosely based on the Trendmasters toy line ...

'', however, the series is off the air and the figures have ceased production since Trendmasters closed. In addition, the company created the Rumble Robots toy line in 2001, as well as the

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line of fuzzy toys. It also created the KittyCatz and PuppyDogz line for the game Petz, which contains the combined games Dogz and Catz. They were also ingame as advertising for the real toys. Petz 5, the last old-school style Petz version, made in 2002, still had these, and there was no update system to get these out of game. The company also produced the Starcastle line, a series of fantasy castle playsets for girls, each with an interior containing hidden secrets and treasures depending on the theme of the castle. Ironically, although the figures based on the classic ''Godzilla'' series are often attributed for Trendmasters' rise in popularity, the failure of the extravagant toy line from the 1998 film is sometimes blamed for its ultimate demise – retailers refused figures for '' Godzilla: The Series'' due to the failure of the 1998 toy line. However, while the 1998 ''Godzilla'' line proved to be a loss for many retailers, Trendmasters made a profit, and the company continued to do well for several years.

Legacy

Trendmasters remains remembered for its success & innovation, and the 1998 ''Godzilla'' film products produced by the company have become some of the most purchased and expensive vintage toy items in online stores such as

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and

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology c ...

due to their rarity. Many of Trendmasters' employees went on to work at Cepia, which was founded after Trendmasters closed.

Notes

External links

* Manufacturing companies disestablished in 2002 Toy companies of the United States Defunct toy manufacturers Godzilla (franchise) Manufacturing companies established in 1989 {{Toy-company-stub