Do kids of today play with action figures?

[acroyear]

I go to a Toys R Us and the only people buying figures seem to be people in their 30's that grew up in the 1970's and 80's. I mean these collectors/scalpers are either buying Star Wars or Spawn-related toys...

[10incher]

I would say Transformers are still pretty big with kids, but that might be about it.

[lostmafia]

well i have an 11 yr old son who buys all the DC justice and KC figs but never opens them lol guess i kinda rubbed off on him

[davidstoybox]

My boys are 7 and 9 and they still play with action figures as well as Lego. I limit them on video games and the TV because too many parents use them as babysitters.

[drbo]

My nephew really started liking figure around 6 - 7. Now they are 8 and 10 and play more with figure than ever.
They like Batman, TMNT and other superheroes stuff, usually mixed with Lego / Megabloks Knights, Dragons, Narnia, other Pirates figure and some batteries operated robots for good measure.

When they come to my place it's always a riot, starting with "can we have the big green castle (meaning Castle Grayskull)?"; Action figure then take over the living room!

[TheWatcher]

I agree on some points and disagree with others made in this post. I have two boys ages 3 and 5. They play with action figures, especially star wars but action figures will usually hold their attention for a short time. The star wars toys especially are I feel more geared towards the adult collectors anyways. Ever open one of those new star wars figures? By the first 10 minutes they have pulled the figures apart and atleast lost a head or hand. Sure collectors love the joints and removable body parts but for kids they don't stand up to abuse at all. .

I also have a PS2 and my son age 5 can't get enough of it. He loves the lego star wars games because they are fun and creative. There is so much you can do. I feel the toys nowadays are crap because they lack creativity, aside from the figure lines we collectors buy, what is there for the kiddies? Power rangers, movie toy lines, wrestling figures, 100 cheesy spider man toys? Any of the lines that we loved as kids don't have the same appeal to kids nowadays because there is no real imaginitive cartoon to support it or we collectors love it so much we forget that what appeals to kids and to collectors can be different.

Plus the big toy companies are so into turning a buck they forget about being innovative and creative. My wife complains how the 80's My Little pony line was so neat because they did so much with it. Hasbro did Earth ponies, Pegasus, Unicorn and they they did so-softs and glow in the dark and etc etc. Now Hasbro just changes the, hair and body color on a few poses. How creative is that? I think with better product really geared towards kids, kids would play with toys much more. Not just us collectors reliving our heyday and the kids along for the ride.

[bec9681]

All good posts guys. I have to say, we limit our twin daughters (now almost 3 years old) tv watching. I have given them some JLU, Batman: The Animated Series, and Super Powers figures to play with and they love them. They know Joker, Penguin, Green Lantern and Green Arrow, Mad Hatter, Flash, Nightwing, Batman and Superman. My wife also gave them a lot of her old My Little Ponies to play with. They love them! I think a lot of it is how you influence your kids - now, mind you, I am not saying you force them to play with action figures, but I think if you provide them the kids will want to play with them. My son is only 6 months old, but I have a feeling he will enjoy playing with action figures just as much as his sisters. If I have my way my kids will play video games very little - I want them to be outside running around and if they happen to take some action figures with them - so be it!

[clambo]

Agreed. Playing outside and toys promote imagination. Video games and T.V. promote laziness and lack of creativity. I feel this also plays into all the obese kids we have today in the states. I do agree some, if not most of the action figures are definitely not geared towards kids, that's what I was talking about above with all the collector sets and variations of the same figures. There are good kid action figures out there though. It would be nice if Fisher Price would revamp the Adventure People line, I loved those as a kid.

[WishItWas1984]

clambo said:

Agreed. Playing outside and toys promote imagination. Video games and T.V. promote laziness and lack of creativity. I feel this also plays into all the obese kids we have today in the states.

I don't agree. When I was a kid, watching the Superfriends and live-action Batman made me build forts and run around like an idiot with a towel tied around my neck as a cape. G.I. Joe and Transformers (mainly) sparked loads of creative playing w/ me and my friends. Hell, in my friend's basement we used scrap wood and some tools to make our own G.I. Joe ID badges (I'm codename Barracuda btw ) Kids' imaginations just need to be sparked. Anything good, interesting and cool will do that. Regardless of what it is. G.I. Joe and Transformers toylines would've been nothing without their cartoons.

That's the problem with toy buying today with kids I think. It seems like the majority of their TV is dumbed down crap. Back in the 80's the shows were intimately tied with toy lines. Each one fed the other.

As for TV and video games feeding into obese kids. That's really not true. TV and games might be better quality than they used to be, but I played my Intellivision, NES...hell my bowling watch until my thumbs hurt. I watched a TON of TV. So did a lot of kids back then and it was rare to see fat kids.

The problem with fat kids today are stupid parents and the news media that supports them. Complaining about what's in food and advertising towards kids. Do they have any idea what they pushed at us in the 80's? I would spend my allowance on candy and junk food most times. I ate nothing but sugary cereal.

However, my mom told me to go outside and play. She limited exactly how much crap I could buy and what she bought for me. I think in the U.S. a lot of parents are just lazy and overprotective. A lot of our parents could've used the video games and TV of back then as a crutch, but they didn't.

[dom]

I agree its mostly the parents fault, they just bung their kids infront of the computer and thats it. The trouble is once kids get to school if every other kid is all about video they soon fall into the crowd. Also over here there the shows just arent on as much as they used to be in the 80`s and its a lot harder to pick up the toys. The uk has such a problem with peg warmers and the onlty major outlet is TRU.

[spankweasel]

I don't know if this kind of question was covered before, and If it was I will remove this version. But, I've been talking with collectors I know and noticing that toy stores are selling less & less action figures every year and now that I'm nearing my mid-thirties, are any of the children today going to be collecting when there in the 30's. or is video games, cell phones & internet taking up more time for kids than toys. are we the last of the dying breed of collectors or will there be a resurgance, any thoughts?

[speedracer]

My friend and I have talked about this before and we both feel like the last group of action figure collectors that will probably be the Power Rangers generation. This was probably the last toy line that was really popular with kids before the "collector mentality" hit full force which means that most of the figures were played with and not left MOC.

[WishItWas1984]

There might be some kids that grew up in the 90's that will collect, but I think it's quickly dying and the 80's generation is the last, big collecting group. The only reason why I think it's a bad thing is because kids today don't seem to have the same opportunity that we had in the 80's.

The mindset of political correctness has gone off the deep end of common sense. Young parents today are scared to death of the same crap they grew up with. I have no idea how many times I hear "well I limit my kids computer/gaming/tv time". When we all grew up generally in homes where while parents thought "TV rots your brain", it was basically, "Did you do your homework? Yeah, Ok, go play until dinner/bedtime."

On top of kids seemingly more micro-managed and over-protected these days. The "creative" minds in TV land are pumping out crap. Remember, our awesome toys only existed because of awesome cartoons and a lifestyle of after-school toon-time and the awe-inspiring Saturday Mornings.

Back in the day, Atari, Intellivision, NES, bike-riding, sports, comics, arcade games in pizzerias....to us this was the HDTV, Xbox 360, Internet, MySpace of the day.

I feel like kids were left in the lurch by the toy/TV craze we had. I can't point to children's TV and go "MAN, I wish I had THAT to watch as a kid!"

Honestly I could be jealous of the current video game crop and quality of movie special effects...but that's about it. Killing kick-ass toons, toys, cool candy/cereal/junk ads, playing outside, bike-riding, arcades....I am EXTREMELY thankful I was born in 1974.

[aeutlutian]

Apr 26, 2008 22:18:47 GMT -6 WishItWas1984 said:

There might be some kids that grew up in the 90's that will collect, but I think it's quickly dying and the 80's generation is the last, big collecting group. The only reason why I think it's a bad thing is because kids today don't seem to have the same opportunity that we had in the 80's.

The mindset of political correctness has gone off the deep end of common sense. Young parents today are scared to death of the same crap they grew up with. I have no idea how many times I hear "well I limit my kids computer/gaming/tv time". When we all grew up generally in homes where while parents thought "TV rots your brain", it was basically, "Did you do your homework? Yeah, Ok, go play until dinner/bedtime."

On top of kids seemingly more micro-managed and over-protected these days. The "creative" minds in TV land are pumping out crap. Remember, our awesome toys only existed because of awesome cartoons and a lifestyle of after-school toon-time and the awe-inspiring Saturday Mornings.

Back in the day, Atari, Intellivision, NES, bike-riding, sports, comics, arcade games in pizzerias....to us this was the HDTV, Xbox 360, Internet, MySpace of the day.

I feel like kids were left in the lurch by the toy/TV craze we had. I can't point to children's TV and go "MAN, I wish I had THAT to watch as a kid!"

Honestly I could be jealous of the current video game crop and quality of movie special effects...but that's about it. Killing kick-ass toons, toys, cool candy/cereal/junk ads, playing outside, bike-riding, arcades....I am EXTREMELY thankful I was born in 1974.

I couldn't have said it better, I too was born in 1974 I have a brother who was born in 1994 and he wishes he lived in the 80's and his friends are always asking me questions about the 80's , My little brother lives on his Xbox360 his whole social world evolves around that little white box,

I have gotten him interested in painting lead figures, but as far as action figures , he thinks they are cool, he loves G.I joe vehicles, he was looking at my AWE striker and was amazed the wheels turned, and it had suspension but I never see him or his friends as collectors of them, , I also collect video game consoles, and last night I pulled out the Old top loader NES and we played Gauntlet 2 for 2 hours, which was a first for him, the older games take patience and he has none of that, I really dunno, about his GEN , I notice that his Jr high looks like it stepped out of the 80's fashion wise, though

[madmartigan37]

I think so too, I really dont want my kids watching the crap that is on TV right now, no gundam-ugi-poke-thing for my kids. I have begun saving 80's cartoons on DVD for my kids to enjoy. Though my kid is probably going to be the only kid who knows what Visionaries is.

[secretwars1984]

I think that our generation (born in 1972 here) will not be the last to collect figures...but we certainly are the last to be pure hunters. I remember toy shows, comic shows, flea markets, conventions...you name it and me and my brother were there. It was an adventure...you could drive for 2 hours and not find anything, or you could hit a small show and hit a goldmine. But one thing you couldnt do was sit at a pc and browse eBay for all your collecting needs.

I think this and future generations will still collect, but not with the same energy and hunters instinct...and certainly like many of my peers above have stated...the new generation of collectors wont have the emotional attatchment to these toys because they wont have really played with and loved these toys the way ours and past generations have.

[spankweasel]

In the end, if you sadly think we are the last of our kind... think twice and smile! [/quote]

Good point bowheadwhale, but now the question is are these younger kids or "collectors" trying to recapture their childhood or are they getting toys in hope that they become as valuable as some of the toys from our childhood, think of the comic book boom of the mid to late 90's, sure the collecting boom started and was fueld by toys from the sixties, seventies & 80's lines, but there was almost no mentality of collecting when I was 10 years old. I played with my toys and then got rid of them when I was to old to play with them anymore. Now that parents and children of today know that they can possibly make some money off their childhood is that why they're collecting or is it because like most of us we love toys, period. Like I've said it's a hobby not a lifestyle.

[spankweasel]

I think we have to take a look at history of action figure marketing from the 70's to today. The "action figure" started in 1964 with the original joes, and they were made because of the success of Barbie. There wasn't a TV show tied into them and that's how it was. creative toys with lots of play value. that all changed with star wars, marketed for the movie and then toy companies found the secret to success. instant branding. Most TV shows of the late mid to late 70's had figures. but then companies created a figure line and made a half hour infomercial to promote those toys. The he-man DVD set has a great documentary that talks about this. once those toys sold well, KO lines quickly followed. Then in the mid - to late 90's parents complained about violence in cartoons and Saturday mornings dropped all programs to make educational shows like beakman's world, which was awesome and is still on today, and channel 10 (U.S.) created E/I, a section of morning program that was educational in nature, the "Weird Al show" DVD set talks about this on episode commentaries, ABC was bought by Disney and became "one tree house" or something. only former UHF stations like fox and WB have the action cartoons anymore. I preferred USA's Cartoon Express on Sunday from 7-10 A.M.
If all of this sound like crap to you, then you have the right to kick me where it counts. Thanks

[joshtx]

I can agree with what you said about the cartoons for the most part. Saturday morning lineups really are basically non-existent these days. I have a young cousin who's grown up these last few years on all those Raven and Hannah montana Disney live-actor childrens shows, which I detested as a child. Even back when I was a kid, they had saved by the bell and a few of those kind of shows but if thundercats or he-man were on, we would never even consider watching the live actor garbage. But it seems to me like alot of kids watch those kid-sitcom shows now. Maybe that has affected toys a bit.

All I can say now is thank god for Boomerang. Even though Boomerang doesnt show all the toons I wish it did, at least they show worthwhile cartoons. I can rarely find any toons worth watching on the other channels.

[spankweasel]

I can rarely find any toons worth watching on the other channels. [/quote]

joshtx,
Saved By the bell came in the late 80's if i recall. I didn't watch those shows. Those new kids shows like "raven" and "Montana" are primarily about school, dating and peer pressure right? which kids are more are more worried about than sword fights and playing war like we did as kids, running around the woods with plastic guns and using pine cones for gernades. Parents don't let kids do that anymore, do they?

Boomerang was great at the start, nothing but vintage 70's & 80's shows all day, thundar, smurfs, snorks & such. And late night they would play the oringial Johnny Quest, awesome animation.

Thanks

[spockoda]

I think kids' imaginations are not quite as developed as years past. I don't know why that is. I am in the toy aisles of stores alot and I have heard children reject a figure if it doesn't "do something",as in have some gimmick with it. If you grew up in the 70s and 80s most of the figures didn't "do something",imagination let you entertain yourself with the toy,not the toy entertaining you.

[10incher]

I was at my buddy's sons birthday party yesterday and I was pretty impressed. His boy turned 7 and out of all the toys and gifts he got (including a 12" Indiana Jones doll), it was the small figure of Indy I gave him that he ripped open right away and played with for hours. He's also really big into Transformers and takes care of his stuff trying not to loose the weapons and little parts (if he can). There is still hope out there yet!

[spockoda]

I've seen it written on more than one occassion that collecting as we know it had alot to do with two seminal lines of the 80s,Super Powers and Secret Wars bringing adults as well as kids to the toy aisle. Perhaps my generation(born 1971)saw these just as toys at the time while adults saw them as we do now,more as a collectible. I think some people have collecting in their blood,whether it's action figures or antiques. I still see little boys getting excited over Star Wars figures and lately Indiana Jones figures. I saw a boy that must have been 6-8 years old clutching a 12" Indiana doll in a Target store. The face of collecting may change but I'm not quite sure if it will ever totally die out or not. Only time will tell. Look at comic book collecting. That hobby has definitely changed. The comic book Crystar was cancelled because the average number of copies sold per month fell below 4 million in the mid 80s. Sales of even slightly less than 4 million copies sold in a month now would be considered an run away smash hit of phenomenal porportions,so the action figure market might shrink like the comic book market but not totally fade.

[spankweasel]

I feel as though anything collected won't just fade out. once that item is no longer a hot commodity, like comic books were, It will just weed out those that are collecting sheerly for monetary value, but not for the love of the object. Hopefully when the bubble bursts on the market. Those that collect because we love toys will have better opportunities to get what we want without having to mortgage a house for it. Well have to wait and see. hopefully kids still collect, then that way companies will continue to make toys we all can appreciate.

[drbo]

Jun 23, 2008 17:42:49 GMT -6 spankweasel said:

hopefully kids still collect, then that way companies will continue to make toys we all can appreciate.

Indeed I'm pretty sure about that.
Maybe the action figure "regular" 3 3/4" to 6" will take the back seat, just like the G.I. Joe / Johnny West type 12" did for a while, but they're still a tons of toys coming out today's kids will want to collect back.

Properties and medium that means nothing to us will bring much nostalgia just like the action figure of our youth to the future collector.
Think of all the Pokemons, Yu-Gi-Oh, Wrestler dudes, Harry Potter Pirates of the Caribeans, TMNT or the blocks figure like Lego and Megabloks Dragons and all out there right now? They're no reason kids of today won't be nostalgic of these!

Just think that toy collecting existed before the 1960's anyway, with all the tin toys, batterie-operated robots, dolls, army men playset, toy soldier, cars and all. Toys of any type will always become collectible to a degree. The type or medium may change over the years, but toy collecting will sure remains, I have no doubt about it.

[spankweasel]

I never thought that collecting would all together stop. and maybe I should have phrased the original question more defined. I know there were toys before the 60's but, I'm unsure how many of us collect them pre-war toys. yeah, some of will dabbling in pre-war toys, but as for action figures, which is mainly what this forum and site is dedicated to, action figures didn't officially start with 12 inch G.I.Joe. yeah there were plastic soldiers, but the term "action figure" applies directly for joes. I'm sure kids today will be collecting the figures they buy now. I'd be happy to see figures being made, I just hope that kids will collect because of nostalgia and appreciate why we appreciate toys & figures. As long as parents, like the ones on this forum, teach their children about the value of collecting cause you like the toys, we should encourage that.

[drbo]

Jun 25, 2008 14:21:25 GMT -6 spankweasel said:

I know there were toys before the 60's but, I'm unsure how many of us collect them pre-war toys. yeah, some of will dabbling in pre-war toys, but as for action figures, which is mainly what this forum and site is dedicated to, action figures didn't officially start with 12 inch G.I.Joe.

Indeed we mostly collect what from our youth, or at least in some case stuff we would have wanted as a kid. So nostalgia is the key, and it'll sure keep being so I think.

Generally speaking a toy collector is more likely to be interested in the ones he played with as a kid. So surely the specific toys we do collect won't appeal much to the future collector because they're not from their youth but will continue to sparkle some interest along more recent line.

[spankweasel]

So surely the specific toys we do collect won't appeal much to the future collector because they're not from their youth but will continue to sparkle some interest along more recent line.[/quote]

We also have to notice that most of the popular action figs made today are reissues of figs from our childhood. star wars, MOTU, G.I. Joes, TFs, indiana Jones, TMNT, strawberry shortcake, care bears, my little pony, etc. since we are of the age where we can get our children interested in the toys that we loved it makes sense that companies would re-issue the old classic lines of the 80's. Hell, they even re-isuued Mego figs in the last couple of years. I recently walked down the action fig isle at my local wal-mart and almost half out were re-issues. Even the wrestling figures have the old wrestlers who don't wrestle today. I don't know if newer non-reissue lines like pirates of carribean, eon kid, kung fu panda and such will be as collectables in future as the toys of the 70's & 80's. yeah, pokemon & power ranger may, but we'll have to watch. It should be interesting.

[ludevig]

I think today's kids are spoiled for choice. So many franchises, so many revolving Series of figures, figures from tv shows, figures from movies. It's almost like overkill. Don't know about the others here but i remember as a kid they had walls of figures and when more came out they made more space for them.
If you go to Wal-Mart or Toys r us you see new figures almost every week but usually at the expense of another toyline. It's almost like "Grab it while you can" mentality of stores.
I don't think it is the kids fault but the sheer volume of figures being churned out makes it harder for them to get more from the same franchise (Unless it is Star Wars or Marvel related)

Another factor is the pricing. Some of the figures range in the $5-$12 range. When i was a kids in Scotland i got 2 pounds and fifty pence a week, at the time that was around $4. Try buying figures on that now, you'd spend a couple of weeks saving for just one or going to the Dollar store for the bargain bins special clearance.

Higher pricing, high turnover of figures and older collectors (ie us adults) probably turned the kids away. I see it at the stores, with my 4 year old as we walk the toy aisle there are hardly any kids there. Back in my day it was a scramble as loads of kids filled the aisle for the latest Transformer, He-Man or Ninja Turtle, now it is a barren area void of life and excitement of the younger generation.
It's sad really.

[10incher]

Last weekend I picked up a MOTU collection from a guy locally, and as we were boxing it up, I asked his son why he wasn't interested in playing with the toys (the guy decided to sell them because his son had no interest). Basically he said that all he likes to play with is his X-Box, PS3 and other video games. Makes you wonder how many kids out there today really do think the same way?