Australian toy manufacturer Moose Toys has signed an exclusive deal with Jimmy “MrBeast” Donaldson to produce a line of action figures, taking the megastar YouTuber and his brand off the screen and into the home.
On Friday, Moose Toys revealed it has brokered a partnership with the 25-year-old content creator, focused on ‘figural’ merchandise to expand the MrBeast brand.
More specifically, Moose Toys will create a new line of action figures based on MrBeast’s panther logo, promising collectible toys in a variety of scales and configurations.
The toy line will be featured on YouTube, where the core MrBeast channel boasts a cool 235 million subscribers and over 42 billion views.
The MrBeast brand now joins global franchises like Australia’s own Bluey, and the Despicable Me and Minions brands, to have their toys produced by Moose Toys.
Donaldson himself is already characterised in a line of collectible YouTooz figures, while the MrBeast brand has previously partnered with Nerf.
In a statement, Moose Toys CEO Paul Solomon said the partnership has produced a “phenomenal line of products that will be highly sought after”.
The toys are expected to launch worldwide in late 2024.
Although Moose Toys has long produced physical merchandise for television shows and movie franchises, the decision to partner with Donaldson’s brand represents the massive commercial power held by big-name content creators in 2024.
YouTubers like MrBeast have come to supplant traditional forms of media in the entertainment diet of many young people across Australia and the globe.
At the same time, children appear to be spending increasing portions of their free time using screens.
Nearly 25% of children aged 5-14 years spent in excess of 2o hours a week on their screens, up from 16% in 2017-2018, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
In partnering with the MrBeast brand, Moose Toys also appears to have followed a philosophy Solomon himself preached in 2012 — the year Donaldson launched his YouTube channel as a 13-year-old.
“Unless you’re one of the world’s well-established brands, toys only last two or three years until the next thing [comes along] so you’ve got to ensure that you’re always coming out with something new,” he said at the time.
“You have to be ahead in this game; you can’t sit still or you’re going to be left behind.”
