Mattel Interactive

Background : In 1996, Mattel founded Mattel Media as a way to expand to software and video games. In fall 1998, The Learning Company agreed to have Mattel acquire them in a stock-for-stock merger costing almost $4.1 billion. The next year, the company was renamed Mattel Interactive and shifted their focus from educational titles to licensed games, though they still distributed The Learning Company's own titles. Unfortunately for them, this merger--which many business blogs and writers have cited as one of the worst of all time--wound up severely hurting them, as it wasn't nearly profitable enough for them and they were bleeding millions of dollars a day. In 2000, Mattel sold the company to the Gores Group, who used the Mattel Interactive name (or alternately Mattel Media) until 2001, when the interactive assets were divided between Ubisoft and Riverdeep.

1st Logo (November 1996-1999)
Logo : On a black background, we see a jack-in-the-box in the center of the screen. It has a stylized pictoman with his arms in the air in a red box on the front, with the pictoman's bottom half looking like a lightning bolt and the entire box having a yellow outline, and the right side having the Mattel logo (a red spiky circle) without the company's name on a white background, outlined by a cyan box. The lever on the box moves around, and as it zooms out a little, the top opens and a CD emerges from it, and flies away. The pictoman and circle take to the air and merge, and the finished design zooms in a bit. The background changes to a white rectangle in the center, as "MATTEL" and "MEDIA", in spaced out letters, slide in at the top and bottom.

Variants :
 * On Barbie Nail Designer, Barbie Fashion Designer, Barbie Riding Club and Detective Barbie: The Mystery of the Carnival Caper, the logo is still.
 * On Clueless: The CD-ROM, the logo is animated differently in front of the game's opening credits.

FX/SFX : The jack-in-the-box and shapes moving.

Music/Sounds : A music-box rendition of "Pop Goes the Weasel", then an opening sound and a whoosh, and a dance-pop version of the rest of "Pop Goes the Weasel" with orchestral hits. The variants use the opening theme of the game or silence.

Availability : The animated version can be seen on Barbie Storymaker and Magic Fairy Tales: Barbie as Rapunzel.

Editor's Note : TBA

2nd Logo (1999-September 2001)
Nickname : "The Jumping Man"

Logo : On a black background, a red button is seen at the bottom-left of the screen, blinking. The pictoman from the last logo jumps twice into the picture, and then lands right on the red button. The screen flashes white and as we die down, we briefly see the finished product as the blank Mattel circle from before appears glowing in the center of the screen. The pictoman flips around and jumps right into the red circle. A white rectangle flashes behind the man, revealing the text "MATTEL" at the top and "M E D I A" at the bottom in spaced out letters. The logo then flickers out.

Variants :
 * After the name change, the same logo was used, but the pictoman turns yellow after jumping into the red circle and "INTERACTIVE" replaces "MEDIA". The text is also in a different font, and the animation is less smooth.
 * Sometimes, the logo is still.
 * On Reader Rabbit: Sing-A-Song Adventures, the logo is still on a purple gradient background, and the red word "ENTERTAINMENT" is under "INTERACTIVE".

FX/SFX : The jumping pictoman and light splashes. Very cool animation.

Music/Sounds : 2 "bump" sounds, followed by a loud synthesized crash of thunder. We then hear a brief whirr and more synthesized electricity sounds.

Music/Sounds Variant : On some titles after the name-change, there are two electric-light sounds, followed by a zapping sound and a rock tune when the pictoman goes inside the circle.

Availability : The "MEDIA" version appears on various Barbie and Hot Wheels titles and some non-Mattel programs like Nickelodeon BrainBender. The "INTERACTIVE" version appears on various video games like Barbie Beauty Styler, Prince of Persia: Arabian Nights on the Dreamcast, Championship Surfer, and The Wild Thornberrys Rambler, as well as some educational titles like ones based on Sesame Street.

Editor's Note : A very cool logo for the time that uses a minimalistic design to great effect. Shame it wasn't used much due to the disastrous Learning Company buyout.