PROVIDENCE — It’s either a half-baked idea or the best thing to happen to potatoes since French fries.
Hasbro announced Thursday it is dropping the “Mr.” from Mr. Potato Head as it seeks to give a modern makeover to the iconic toy line.
The toy launched in the 1940s as a set of accessories, like glasses and ears, for children to stick into real potatoes.
Times have changed, and the Rhode Island-based company now plans to launch a “create your own Potato Head family” line this fall that will include 42 accessories, because you just never know which glasses to wear outside.
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But what about the tots, you ask?
The new Potato Head line will include two large potatoes (presumably for the parents) and a small potato that could be the baby.
Hasbro maintains the new Potato Head characters are gender-neutral, although the company provided pictures that show the potatoes with stereotypically male or female characteristics and accessories — mustaches for the Mr., winged eyeliner for the Mrs. — as well as toys arranged in non-traditional families.
The company also said they still recognize the male and female characters, even if the toy’s name has been changed.
“While we’re renaming the MR. POTATO HEAD brand to POTATO HEAD to better reflect the full line, the iconic MR. and MRS. POTATO HEAD characters aren’t going anywhere and will remain MR. AND MRS. POTATO HEAD,” Hasbro said in a statement.
If Potato Heads could tweet, they’d be asking to critics to not @ them.
English broadcaster Piers Morgan mashed Hasbro for the changes, accusing “woke imbeciles” of “destroying the world.”
Others had more practical concerns, like what will happen to the movie, “Toy Story?”
Not everyone was outraged by Hasbro’s decision. Some rushed to the company’s defense, questioning why on earth anyone would upset by a gender-neutral toy.
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My thoughts about the whole #PotatoHead debacle.
Anyone who gets upset over a SIMPLE TOY is nothing more than an immature man child who needs to grow up.
— Danged Spell (@DaChangeling) February 25, 2021
Dan McGowan can be reached at dan.mcgowan@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter at @danmcgowan.
February 25, 2021 at 11:06PM
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Hasbro welcomes the new Potato Head, minus the ‘Mr.’ or ‘Mrs.’ - The Boston Globe
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