toyetic

American  

[taw-yet-ik] / tɔˈyɛt ɪk /

adjective

1. (of a character or object from a movie, TV show, etc.) potentially marketable as a toy.

   a toyetic superhero.

2. (of movies or other forms of mass entertainment) having merchandising potential.

   toyetic comic books.

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toyetic British  

/ ˌtɔɪˈɛtɪk /

adjective

1. (of a film or television programme) having the potential to generate consumer interest in associated merchandise, such as toys, computer games, etc

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Etymology

Origin of toyetic

toy ( def. ) + -etic ( def. ); supposedly coined by Bernard Loomis (1923–2006), U.S. toy developer and marketer, in a conversation with U.S. film director Steven Spielberg about making figures based on Spielberg’s movie “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” (1977)

Example Sentences

But the game’s light, toyetic presentation, its gorgeously lit, doll-like figures goofing around in hypercolor towns, beaches and casinos, undermines its core narratives about pain and sacrifice, about people tortured by their fates.

From New York Times • Feb. 22, 2024

Here he is, dismissing most Saturday morning cartoons: “Characters crouched in stiff action poses and shouted thick clots of toyetic exposition.”

From New York Times • Mar. 23, 2016

Much depends on how "toyetic" a movie is, in industry parlance, and the degree to which merchandise is sympatico with the film.

From Time Magazine Archive

Hasbro, a licensee for The Lost World, a Jurassic Park sequel, even persuaded the filmmakers to incorporate what promises to be an extremely toyetic dino-chasing truck into the film's plot--a nifty cart indeed.

From Time Magazine Archive