Why can't you just walk into a store and buy a decent toy anymore?

[Tele-Viper 209]

Why can't a person just walk into a store and buy a decent toy anymore? Am I the only person who feels this way? Is it the economy?
It seems that anything available at mass retail sucks and isn't worth buying, and if it is, it's impossible to find. And it's not just G.I. Joe, its all actionfigure toy lines. I didn't mean for this thread to come across as a rant, I just want a logical conversation and maybe some answers.

[Tele-Viper 209]

I remember times when one could go into Sears, JC Penny or even a freaking grocery store and find a beautiful selection of Joes, Transformers, Star Wars, and even off-brand toys. Now toys can only be found at retail at basically the big three discount stores, TRU and occasionally places like Ross or Dollar General. And the selection almost uniformly sucks.

[pig iron grenadier]

Scalpers.....and a lot more "adult" toy collectors.

i really don't want to get into the case assortment thing...

[Tele-Viper 209]

Is it that the toy industry is in decline like the rest of America? Do the manufacturers think that just because the economy is bad no one wants to buy toys anymore unless is tied to a movie? Even when there is a good movie, the toys based on it suck (Avengers, Dark Night Rises).

Is it because of video games?

[pig iron grenadier]

It's not "one" reason. you can be sure of that. There are new corporate models, new shipping practices, world manufacturing and shipping issues, short term loan changes, on-demand ordering and shipping problems, bad economy, burgeoning economies that are increasing prices, increase in commodity prices, changing social behavior, etc etc etc....

[DaveViper]

I miss the late mid 80's and early 90's :(

My kid years.

As far as what happen well video games took a lot of business away from toys. But this is just one thing of many. Gi Joe doesn't have the support it did, cartoons commercials for the toys and figures. And Hasbro can't convince retailers to give up shelf space like it used to.

[Zarana]

Its like kids today just don't like the things their parents did. I know I loved a nice box car, or a cup and ball, or a howdy dowdy. I'm sure all the people who are on the hoop and stick forums feel the same way as we do. WORST. GENERATION. EVER.

[gyrapados]

Retail has no faith in toylines so they don't bother stocking them much anymore. Plus, Hsbro does not pretty piss poor job on case assortments, which really doesn't help.

[Black Swan]

Buying toys isn't like buying milk or bread.;)

Every time I go into a store I have resonable expectation that the pegs or shelves won't have what I want or what I am currently looking but I check anyways just in case...because you never know.

Yeah it would be nice to go back to glory days of the 80's and 90's of finding toys but even then I never found everything.Too many collectors and "scalpers", poor distribution, no cartoons to "sell toys",the higher cost of plastic ...the only saving grace is buying on online if your lucky. At least there are options.

[Jinx723]

Why can't a person just walk into a store and buy a decent toy anymore? Am I the only person who feels this way? Is it the economy?
It seems that anything available at mass retail sucks and isn't worth buying, and if it is, it's impossible to find. And it's not just G.I. Joe, its all actionfigure toy lines. I didn't mean for this thread to come across as a rant, I just want a logical conversation and maybe some answers.

I blame everything on this situation. Granted I only collect G.I. Joe but I am always on the lookout for fellow 'Tankers'. And I see all the crap that is out there.

I think it's mostly the economy, toy companies cutting corners to squeeze every penny they can get for the product that's released. G.I. Joe was famous for it's articulation over other brands and now they have lowered themselves to Kenner Star Wars articulation.

Toys just aren't what they were when we were growing up. We can't blame video games because sales in that market have been declining for the past 9 months.
I really hate that The Big Three only carry toys if a Movie is attached to the product. Every year since Spiderman (2002) it's the same cycle. "oh look, _____has a movie, order a bazillion." Then when the toys don't sell to their expectations, the retailers lose faith in the brand. It doesn't help that what toy companies release is crap (Green Lantern is a perfect example).

What pisses me off the most is all those damn Ben Over 10, Bukkake, Mighty Morphine Power Flamers and what ever Japanese ripoff gets all the attention and end up on clearance like the rest of $#!+ out there.

Long story short, things in this country will never be the same as it was in the 70s-80s. I fear the future of not only toys but everything in general.

[samantha]

I remember there being a lot of places to buy toys. We had Gold Circle, Hill's, Lionel Kiddy City, Toys R Us, Sears, JC Pennies, Woolsworth, K-Marts, Fisher's Big Wheel, not to mention every grocery store and drug store. Back then stores carried a toy line for a full year or more, there wasn't a selection change every 3 months so you could baby sit and save your money with out worry about not finding what you wanted. Today toy companies and retailers shift through toy lines so fast that you are almost forced to buy it when you see it or risk having to go to an online site like e-bay and paying more.

[Jinx723]

Two of the same thread????

http://www.hisstank.com/forum/toys/254316-why-cant-you-just-walk-into-store-buy-decent-anymore.html

[samantha]

Two of the same thread????

http://www.hisstank.com/forum/toys/254316-why-cant-you-just-walk-into-store-buy-decent-anymore.html

I went ahead and merged them.

[Steelgrave]

It's over, Prime!

[Jacklefttown]

I agree with everything said thus far... EXCEPT for the people who collect Wrestling figures, it always seems there is just TONS of product. One WHOLE side of an aisle at my local Toys R Us. Also, TONS of the latest Japanese kiddie craze crap (that no one seems to buy) like Zhu Zhu Hamsters, Ju-Ji-Mon or whatever the hell they call that crap. There are TONS of that spit on shelves and then Gi Joe has 2 pegs if he's lucky.

Also, you can always find ANY Lego or Mega-Bloks set you want because I see them there in abundance.

My problem is I DON'T COLLECT THAT CRAP. The stuff I want (mostly 1/18th scale with a dip into 1/12) is never readily available. The same peg warmers warm for months. It sucks!

[manicmotive]

Retail has no faith in toylines so they don't bother stocking them much anymore. Plus, Hsbro does not pretty piss poor job on case assortments, which really doesn't help.

It all boils down to case assortments. Honestly.

[vapor]

IDK but i was really surprised to see how poorly done the batman toys were made. I dont collect them but still they are just garbage. Im still scratching my head over the retaliation joes going up to 10.99 as well and they elimated the stand. The plastic feels flimsy to me as well, hopefully hasbro realizes that they cant cheap out that hard, you cant go from giving us poc type figs and then dumbing them down.

also does anyone know if the new battle beast figs that are for preorder on BBTS will be for sale at retail? they look promising if your a fan of BB.

[Saboteur]

One of the problems that exists in the Star Wars lineup lies with their marketing and research team.

It wasn't that long ago that DePriest, working with the Star Wars brand, openly admitted that Hasbro had reached saturation with Clone Troopers. This became a serious issue. In fact, Hasbro eventually sent representatives nation wide out to purchase and remove the CT's from the shelves in order not to cut off the flow of product and to keep things from stopping entirely and losing customers, kids and adult collectors alike.

Yet, DePriest is back with the Joe brand, and those left calling the shots are not adhering to his admittance and warnings. Clone Troopers aren't neccessarily sitting on the pegs on a Vintage card, but they are available in multitudes on the Movie Heroes card in every single Walmart, Target, K-Mart and TRU in America. This slows things and prevents the retail chain from odering more (and newer) product.

Obi-Wan Kenobi and Qui Gon Jinn have also reached saturation. Both have stalled the pegs since the first of the year with the release of the Phantom Menace wave in Jan-Feb. To make matters worse, both are also equally available in abundance as part of the Movie Heroes line.

They are characters (and repacks) that are no longer desirable to kids or collectors. And as a result, Hasbro now has both of it's Star Wars lineup's stalled at retail.

It doesn't appear that Hasbro has taken notice, because next year's lineup consists of more Anakin's, Obi-Wan's and Clone Troopers.

Next Year will be the celebration of Episode 2: Attack of the Clones showing in theaters nationwide in 3-D and celebrated in plastic. No doubt there will be some goodies in the lineup. An awesome new sculpt Dooku, or Jango Fett, or even someone who hasn't seen a toy yet.

But the case assortment will be all screwed up. That's another issue. For every 1 new or universally desired figure, there will be of the usual Anakin, Kenobi or Clone Trooper.

And the line will stall once again.

Sooner or later, someone with brains will sit up and take note. It's just a matter of patience in the meantime.

[samantha]

I guess this is why I just buy from online. I get tired of hunting and i save a lot of money in gas by just dealing with retail online stores.

[manicmotive]

also does anyone know if the new battle beast figs that are for preorder on BBTS will be for sale at retail? they look promising if your a fan of BB.

I believe (don't quote me) that these battle beasts minimates are going to continue into retail. TRU is the only place that actually stocks minimates, so that would be where to find them.

I loved battle beasts as a kid, and I really like minimates as an adult. But I'm not feeling these as much as I thought I would when they were announced.

[percehonson]

Because of the restraining orders.

[Jmacq1]

As others have said, there's a huge list of reasons why the toy industry (actually, not so much the toy industry as a whole as the action figure segment specifically) has suffered.

Action figures get more focus from us because obviously they're part of what brings us here in the first place, and are far more focused on by the collector market.

But you have to remember: Back in the 80's TV shows like Transformers, G.I. Joe, and Masters of the Universe had a captive audience. There wasn't remotely the variety of channels and programming for kids to choose from (Sure, you might get a different selection of syndicated 'toons depending on where you were at, but "the mainstays" on weekday afternoons and Saturday Mornings were pretty much watched by ALL Kids). That degree of marketing simply doesn't exist anymore, and the model has shifted (though not entirely) from "toon-based" to "movie-based" (starting with Star Wars: Episode I).

Also, as someone else noted: Kids today don't like the same stuff we do. It's perfectly possible to go into a store and find "decent" (for varying definitions of "decent") toys for things like Ben 10, whatever Pokemon knockoff is hot right now, etc... Even Power Rangers continues trudging right along.

In other words the stuff that's genuinely popular with kids continues to be successful...but older brands heavily frequented by adult collectors...not as much.

[Steelgrave]

I guess this is why I just buy from online. I get tired of hunting and i save a lot of money in gas by just dealing with retail online stores.

Unfortunately we're all being forced into this whether we like it or not. It used to be a choice, but now if you want a figure online is the only option.


But if you listen to what the economists are predicting, by next year or the year after the dollar will collapse & none of this will matter. They say it's inevitable.

[Raw Dog]

UI think it's because we're all grown up now. When we were kids we didn't have every toy we wanted so when we went into a store that had toys chances were they had one we wanted. Now that we're all grown up, we have the money to buy all the toys we could ever want so it's tough to walk into a store and just stumble upon one we don't already have.

[samantha]

Unfortunately we're all being forced into this whether we like it or not. It used to be a choice, but now if you want a figure online is the only option.


But if you listen to what the economists are predicting, by next year or the year after the dollar will collapse & none of this will matter. They say it's inevitable.

Well that is just sad. Bye bye dollar, hello barter and trade.

[Trigue]

Call me crazy but I don't think the toy companys or the owners of the the brand (like Lucas Film with star wars) don't understand how to market thier brands in the world today. What worked 10 or 20 years ago or even just 5 years ago doesn't work today. They release a movie and expect that movie to still be driving toy sales a year or more afterwards. It doesn't work with out more media tie-in's. As well that toys haven't really evolved with the interests of kids today. An a decent examplemight be the old Captain Power line, it was way ahead of it's time, crude by todays standard but how many other toys could "interact" with the tv ? I think if toys in general are to really stay around they're going to have to expand being more closely tied into electronic devices. Iphones, playstation/xbox/wii, computers and the like. Kids are crazy for these things now more so than those of us from the 70s and 80s ever were for nintendos and segas. How many kids and adults too do you know that can't live with out thier cell phone or computer ? This generation today has been raised with electronics more or less since they were born. Toys need to reflect that if they're going to be more than throw backs or collectables for adults that never quite out grew the awesomeness that was the 1980's.

And one other thing I've noticed is that it seems like most toy lines don't have a story, or atleast not much of one. Kids (adults too) are more likely to get into a toy line if it has a good story that pulls them into that universe and keeps expanding on it. Take the comic packs, those were a great idea (star wars and gijoe) but kind of poorly executed. Some bad figure choices, bland repaints and for the most part just reissues of old comics. If they all had new stories that tied into each one and bridged all the comic packs together sales could of been better I think instead of the very random and out of place stories we got from both lines. Althougth the Resolute comic packs with new comics were great, if only they had done more with that.

They're going to have to change and adapt.



And hopefully the dollar doesn't go kaput and we're not a third world country this time next year.

[Zarana]

After the accident I cant walk at all.

[sharky]

Also, you can always find ANY Lego or Mega-Bloks set you want because I see them there in abundance.

My problem is I DON'T COLLECT THAT CRAP. The stuff I want (mostly 1/18th scale with a dip into 1/12) is never readily available. The same peg warmers warm for months. It sucks!
That is one reason why I enjoy collecting Lego. I never have a problem finding the set I want. There may be a little bit of scarcity in the beginning, but eventually, you can always find it. With the exception of the Collectible Minifigures you can easily find anything at the Lego store itself or online.

I've pretty much stopped collecting GI Joe when Retaliation toys hit the shelves. It's kind of refreshing not having to worry about it. There are some vintage carded Star Wars figures I'd like to get, but since all I ever see are TPM figures clogging all the pegs at Target, Walmart, and TRU, I pretty much stopped hunting for them too. Maybe someday I'll get lucky and see the last handfull of Star Wars figures I want, but I'm not going to worry about it. I've got enough toys to enjoy for a long time to come.

I'll keep my eye out for certain things here and there, but for the most part I've shifted my collecting goals now that Hasbro isn't really offering things that I want anymore.

[Raw Dog]

As others have said, there's a huge list of reasons why the toy industry (actually, not so much the toy industry as a whole as the action figure segment specifically) has suffered.

Action figures get more focus from us because obviously they're part of what brings us here in the first place, and are far more focused on by the collector market.

But you have to remember: Back in the 80's TV shows like Transformers, G.I. Joe, and Masters of the Universe had a captive audience. There wasn't remotely the variety of channels and programming for kids to choose from (Sure, you might get a different selection of syndicated 'toons depending on where you were at, but "the mainstays" on weekday afternoons and Saturday Mornings were pretty much watched by ALL Kids). That degree of marketing simply doesn't exist anymore, and the model has shifted (though not entirely) from "toon-based" to "movie-based" (starting with Star Wars: Episode I).

Also, as someone else noted: Kids today don't like the same stuff we do. It's perfectly possible to go into a store and find "decent" (for varying definitions of "decent") toys for things like Ben 10, whatever Pokemon knockoff is hot right now, etc... Even Power Rangers continues trudging right along.

In other words the stuff that's genuinely popular with kids continues to be successful...but older brands heavily frequented by adult collectors...not as much.

Yeah bro. You bring up a lot of good points. I mean, there's plenty of awesome shit out there, adults just aren't interested in it. If they are, they already have it by the time they walk into the toy store.

If you're an adult collector dead set on finding a toy at retail, pick a line less targeted toward adults and hit up a toy store around the time the line starts getting sighted. Last time I did this with the new Turtles figures I had no problem finding everything I wanted first time out.

Good luck, and may the force be with you.

[Saboteur]

I guess this is why I just buy from online. I get tired of hunting and i save a lot of money in gas by just dealing with retail online stores.

While that works for some, it doesn't work for all. I know it doesn't work for me. I'm not a completionist in anything I collect, so buying online means I'm stuck buying an entire case of a wave of something and leaving me with a bunch of figures I don't want.

Selling them or trading them off isn't a sure thing. Some places like Amazon offer individual figures and for a fair price at $12.99. But that's only a small window of opportunity and gone in minutes.

[Jinx723]

None of this will matter after 21st Dec.

Are you ready to be Judged by the Toy gods? :D

[alcinde4]

None of this will matter after 21st Dec.

Are you ready to be Judged by the Toy gods? :D

Will there be cookies?

[vapor]

yea and juice box's too.

[alcinde4]

yea and juice box's too.

Then I'm so there for toymageddon.

[vapor]

be there or be quare.

[DaveViper]

After the accident I cant walk at all.

Did anyone even ask if your ok? Dam collectors all they care about is toys.



Now where the hell are all my toys!