KC inventor, toy maker put classic TV shows, movies at your fingertips

Makers and inventors only have an instant to capture the public’s imagination and pull them into a product, John Boucard said. 

“I gravitate toward working on things that haven’t been done before,” the founder and CEO of Tesseract Ventures shared. “There’s the ‘moment of astonishment’ for children and consumers who are delighted by our tech. I am all about creating that moment — and I think we can do just that with our Tiny TV Classics.”  

John Boucard, Tesseract Ventures

Tiny TV Classics from Basic Fun! are miniature recreations of televisions — representing eras dating back to the 1950s — that show clips of a popular movie or TV show from the correlating decade. The first release of these miniatures feature clips from “Batman,” “Back to the Future,” “Friends” and “South Park.”

Tiny TV Classics are available online now and are expected to arrive in Walmart stores in early August.

The 1.5 inch-by-3 inch TV set also includes a matching remote control that allows the user to press pause and play; power the TV on and off; increase and decrease the volume; and switch “channels” — which switches the screen between various clips of a title, versus the traditional changing of the channel.

“We didn’t want to put the whole shows on the tiny TV’s because the complete show is already on television,” Boucard explained. “What consumers want to collect are the best clips of each show, so that’s what we’re doing. And so far, it’s shaping up to be a huge hit.” 

Watch the video below to learn more about Tiny TV Classics then keep reading. 

Tiny TV Classics were invented within Tesseract Ventures’ Experiential Entertainment Studio, which specializes in building compelling and holistic products that ignite deeper experiences, Boucard noted. 

Click here to learn about Tesseract Ventures, a versatile, multi-industry robotics startup, and its four various studios. 

Tesseract then partnered with the toy company, Basic Fun!, to license out the intellectual property and have Basic Fun! curate the collectibles’ watch-list and commercialize the product globally. 

“I specifically targeted Basic Fun! Because of their mastery of licensing — they’re really, really great at it,” Boucard raved. “This was a great change to have them utilize their best powers in mass manufacturing and licensing. … They made the decisions on what specific content to include, and they have an internal group dedicated to obtaining that licensing from entertainment and content companies.” 

Tiny TV Classics has a multi-generational charm to it, Boucard said, noting that many adults might feel nostalgia from watching clips of “Batman” from a miniature TV that resembles the one their parents used to own. 

 Click here to shop the current selection of Tiny TV Classics.

The miniature TVs also have a collectible value to them, Boucard continued. 

Tiny TV Classics by Basic Fun

“I foresee with Tiny TV Classics that people won’t just buy one,” Boucard said. “They will want to collect the whole set and then collect new waves of sets. Many people love miniatures, and these are insatiably sharable. We’ve already seen them on social media, getting hundreds of thousands of views.”

The next wave of Tiny TV Classics is expected to feature clips from “Star Trek,” “Family Guy,” “Big Bang Theory” and “Bob’s Burgers.” They are set to go on sale in October. 

“When you think about the toy industry, innovation needs to be firing on all cylinders to create something that’s unique, affordable and mass manufacturable — there are not too many industries or companies that can pull that off,” Boucard said. “It has been very gratifying to work with Basic Fun! and to see everything come together to produce a timely and wonderful collectible.”

Click here to read why Tesseract Ventures was listed as one of Startland News’ 10 Kansas City Startups to Watch in 2020 or here to check out Tesseract’s wearable robot tech T-shirts.