MGA Entertainment is extending its Miniverse collectible range into miniature home entertainment with the Miniverse Real TV Player and Video Tapes, a line built around a small but genuinely functional television set and the tiny tapes that play in it.
The Real TV Player is available now through shop.mgae.com, with additional retail availability scheduled to begin later this month. The player package pairs a miniature retro-style red television with an exclusive videotape and a display case for storing the tape.
Operation is deliberately physical. Collectors slide a videotape into the television, press play and watch a 30-second clip taken from a film or television series. The clips run about half a minute each, so a session with the player is closer to a snippet than a screening. MGA says more than 30 Real TV Video Tapes are available to discover so far.
Licensed clips behind the capsules
The tape library draws on NBCUniversal properties, among them Shrek, Kung Fu Panda, Back to the Future, Casper, The Good Place, The Office and Saved by the Bell, with others still to be revealed.
Fans can extend the system with mystery capsules sold separately. Each capsule contains three mini videotapes sized to fit the player, plus a mini keychain and a case so that a favourite tape can be carried elsewhere. As with other Miniverse collections, the range grows through sealed capsules rather than a fixed set list.
The miniature scale runs through the whole system. The player comes with a display case for the exclusive tape, and each capsule supplies a further case and keychain, so tapes can be stored, arranged or carried rather than left in the box.
Nostalgia built into the hardware
Josh Hackbarth, chief marketing officer at MGA Entertainment, said the screen may be tiny but the idea behind it is not. In his description, the line takes films and shows that fans already love and turns them into a collection they can actually press play on. He argued that at a moment when fans are rediscovering the joy of physical media, there is something particularly satisfying about choosing a tape, inserting it and watching an iconic scene come to life, a mix of nostalgia and real function that he characterises as playful, inventive and unexpected, and consistent with what Miniverse sets out to do.
MGA did not disclose pricing for the player or the capsules in the announcement, and the full tape line-up has not been published. The line is designed for children ages 8 and up, and MGA directs consumers to shop.mgae.com for further details.