Lord of the Toys (2018)

The documentary Lord of the Toys follows the lives of the Pfandangels, a clique centered around German web video producer Max “Adlersson” Herzberg. The clique’s members have only just come of age; some are unemployed, drink a lot of alcohol, and do not know what to do with their lives. Lord of the Toys offers a glimpse into the lives of bored, seemingly helpless and frequently intoxicated young people. Several members of the group are also influencers themselves, sharing their everyday lives with their often underage fans on YouTube and Instagram. On their YouTube channels, Herzberg and his friends post videos and photos in which they heckle people, consume alcohol, make unboxing videos about knives, or find a bottle full of urine in Herzberg’s fan mail. The Herzberg gang is quite successful at what it does. Herzberg himself has over 400,000 subscribers, and some of his friends also have tens of thousands of followers. The film crew shows these scenes without criticism or commentary. The film magazine epd Film describes the film as not a portrait of a generation, but merely a snapshot of a microcosm and a film about social fringe groups and social injustice.