How Do We Decide What A Collection Includes?

We had so much fun coming up with themes for our collections. Some of them are topical pop culture references, celebrating content that we love today, and some of them are from the past, and are years in the making. The “Not A Kids Show” collection idea is the first of many of the “past” variety of ideas we have.

So you may be wondering how we go from the idea of a kids show not being kid friendly to an actual list of products referencing specific shades, shows, characters and colors. We thought it might be fun to share how we go from idea to fruition!

First off, we come up with rules – yes really. For every collection, we determine a category : Apocalypse, Post-Apocalyptic, Dystopia, Not Apocalypse Related. Anything we sell is assigned to one of these categories based on the core theme we are referencing. We actively discuss whether something counts as a specific category, and how. From there, we assign it a subcategory. For example, Fallout, we it the category “Post-Apocalyptic”, and the subcategory of “Nuclear Event”. In fact, you can see this on every product listing in the tabs at the bottom of the product description, labelled “Apocalypse Type”

Once we have established the justification for the category, we pick favorite quotes, come up with puns and decide on a color story. This was easy for fallout because Andy is a long-time fan of the games, and we watched and rewatched the tv show together.

For NAKS, we had many more discussions. We started with roughly 50 cartoons that would fit the theme. The shows had to be on tv during the given time period, featuring adult themes, and believe it or not, apocalyptic. This collection is actually under the category of “Apocalypse”. The shows that made the list have end of the world themes. In fact, many, many cartoons feature a “the world is ending” type of storyline! We slowly narrowed a short list down based on personal preferences, color ideas and deciding which shows might require a full collection of their own. Some shows were set aside for Halloween, and ultimately, we were forced to cut things to fit a short list of ideas to fill out a reasonably sized collection. A LOT of fan favorites could not make the list, and we will be revising. Some things that made the final collection will be revisited regardless. The funniest part of this is seeing all the comments demanding to know why certain shows would count. Especially since we made the rules and came up with the idea. So here is where our rationale came from for each:

Call Me, Beep Me – references Kim Possible. In this show, we follow a teenager who has to try and stop a supervillain and his sidekick who are hell bent on world domination.

Courage – references Courage the Cowardly Dog. This nightmare-fuelled show is straight out of adult horror. It shows an onslaught of monsters ready to destroy everything, and only our title scaredy dog can do anything to help.

Fairly Odd – references fairly odd parents. This one counts so many times over. For starters, the world is constantly in peril in the show. For timmy turner specifically, this is not a kids show because the show prominently features neglect, and predatory adults. A recurring bit in the show features an adult male obsessed with him and coming to his home when his parents are perpetually out.

Omelette Du Fromage – references Dexter’s Laboratory. A child genius has to save the world constantly using his experiments in a secret lab in his family’s basement.

Time To Take Over The World – references Pinky and the Brain. This one is explained it its own name. The brain character literally tries to take over the world, evil billionaire style.

Jinkies! – references Scooby Doo. this one is the funniest community response. The show is about a small town where all the adults are evil, and a group of children have to save the day by continually “unmasking” adults in their community as villains.

Up, Up, And Away! – references Superman. This is a show features a longstanding superhero where he has no choice but to save the day by fighting back against a megalomaniac billionaire bent on destroying the world. Also, did you know that Superman comes from a universe where there is a planet literally named Apokolips (pronounced apocalypse, spelled ridiculously)?

Not A Kid's Show – titular shade, references the collection itself.

Mom & Dad Cuticle Oil – references Cow and Chicken. This one is meant to represent all shows where the parents were absent. But specifically inspired by Cow and Chicken, where the parents were literally just a pair of legs on screen. It really evokes the sheer amount of shows where the parents were absent, and children had no choice but the save the day.

Bottom Of The Cereal Bowl – references cereal. No background, just delicious.

Aye Aye Captain—references Spongebob. Spongebob is definitely getting revisited. This is another one where a megalomaniac is hell-bent on world domination.