"Kidults" are keep the toy industry alive

Spaceman292 said:
No one's ever paid any attention to the suggested ages
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Good point. Google Lego's target market and just about every one of them says grade school age to teenager tops. But given the crazy expensive, hard to build, or nostalgic sets like the Seinfeld set above, those are rarely going to kids.

Just like when I saw tons of Halo Lego sets at Walmart way back (not sure if they make them anymore). There's no way those $50+ sets of Master Chief and Warthogs are aimed at 7 year olds. I bet most of the people buying those sets of Lego are adults.
 
StreetsofBeige said:
Good point. Google Lego's target market and just about every one of them says grade school age to teenager tops. But given the crazy expensive, hard to build, or nostalgic sets like the Seinfeld set above, those are rarely going to kids.

Just like when I saw tons of Halo Lego sets at Walmart way back (not sure if they make them anymore). There's no way those $50+ sets of Master Chief and Warthogs are aimed at 7 year olds. I bet most of the people buying those sets of Lego are adults.
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It's still LEGO. There's a limit to how hard it is to build a lego set. It's not like you need access to a soldering iron and degree in physics.
 
anthony2690 said:
Kids are glued to consoles, tablets or YouTube now days.

We as 10 year olds would've lost our bananas sure.

I was more of K'nex guy though, I loved how you could build motorised stuff.



Plus it blows my mind the kind of roller coaster stuff people build now days with it.
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Tactile stuff is stimulating in a way purely digital isn't. After all digital worlds are just an imitation of the tactile world. When you touch things and build things and interact with things physically you literally are exploring a whole other dimension of complexity that your body was designed for. Maybe one day it'll be like the Matrix where it's 1:1 and indistinguishable but right now ipad games are a bad substitute that possibly stunts the mental growth of children. I'm not sure what the consequences will be but I hope near future generations rediscover the joys of of real world.
 
Quasicat said:
I'm convinced that this is what has kept LEGO in business.

I go to my local Walmart and their selection covers two complete aisles! I know I've gone in and picked up a couple over the years. Sets that most kids won't touch, like the Apollo 11 lunar lander and Seinfeld.
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real life story
 
DragoonWalker said:
Tactile stuff is stimulating in a way purely digital isn't. After all digital worlds are just an imitation of the tactile world. When you touch things and build things and interact with things physically you literally are exploring a whole other dimension of complexity that your body was designed for. Maybe one day it'll be like the Matrix where it's 1:1 and indistinguishable but right now ipad games are a bad substitute that possibly stunts the mental growth of children. I'm not sure what the consequences will be but I hope near future generations rediscover the joys of of real world.
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I fully agree.
Children don't seem to have the childhoods we had.

Don't get me wrong I was happily playing megadrive, Saturn and playstation etc as little kid, but I had k'nex, Lego and all the other cool toys at the time like street sharks and transformers etc, but I also played outside with friends and that with real social interactions.

My parents thankfully didn't leave a tablet or the internet bring me up, like many kids have now days. 🤷‍♂️
 
I like an occasional toy for nostalgia now and then, but my friend's offices and basements look like toy stores with all the bullshit toys they buy - thousands of dollars per year. I find it half pathetic and half awesome so I don't know where I stand on this....
 
My brother tries to buy his kids toys we had growing up like transformer but they got no interest. Thankfully they into Sonic and Mario now so at least they easy to buy for.
 
My own anecdotal experience aligns with the what is written in the article. Friends ended it's original run 18 years ago. No 9 year old is going to beg their parents for the 150$+ friends apartment set. I think the loosening of how we define adulthood is a good thing. I cringe when people choose their newfound freedom to openly showcase their love for fandoms from the 80s. It seems like such a waste.

Kids definitely still play with toys. Kids only obsess over tablets if their parents normalized the use of tablets from an early age. Don't be surprised if your child sees a tablet as the most exciting source of stimulation if you shoved a tablet in their face since they were infants.
 
Lego has become so annoyingly bad, it's really not a joke anymore. It starts with stickers on UCS sets and continues with colorful blocks inside the build that can be seen from outside. And don't get me started with the prices! Or the new streets for City. The horror!

On the other hand, Barbie toys are still selling well.
 
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Me: Adults shouldn't buy toys, it's pathetic

Also Me: Plays some of the same video games I played when I was 8... and I mean, some of those Transfomers people are posting are kinda sick....
 
i actually used to get some thomas the tank engine toys back when i was super young and i'd play with them all day long because i loved thomas, he was my first true 'cartoon idol' before Sonic the Hedgehog came along... i think i just like blue stuff. after getting into video games i'd play some toys sometimes but afterwards it was just all about gaming back then
i think i'd be into model trains though, those look sick
 
True - I used to buy a lot of Gunplas myself. Over past couple of decades - Gunplas made a big comeback thanks to adults. The MG/PG lineup and now RG - they are mostly geared toward the older fans of U.C. Gundams. New ones are also there, but their big guns tend to be remakes of their older ones..

The time has changed, that I won't be surprised if game consoles fall in the same category. In a sense, in Japan, it's happening - like some young ones think of Playstation as daddy console thing.
 
I buy a Lego set for when my nephews come for a visit. They help me put it together since my eyes are shitty. Still working on Optimus Prime and Ghostbusters car.
 
lachesis said:
True - I used to buy a lot of Gunplas myself. Over past couple of decades - Gunplas made a big comeback thanks to adults. The MG/PG lineup and now RG - they are mostly geared toward the older fans of U.C. Gundams. New ones are also there, but their big guns tend to be remakes of their older ones..

The time has changed, that I won't be surprised if game consoles fall in the same category. In a sense, in Japan, it's happening - like some young ones think of Playstation as daddy console thing.
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Gunpla also has a strong following among kids in Asia. The chibi models are common door gifts at primary school birthday parties where I live. The kids like the models and toys for being robots and have a passing familiarity with the show though.
 
I have some amiibos of characters I like, but that's about as far I go in terms of "toys." If I ever grab anything, it's usually a game
 
Lasha said:
Gunpla also has a strong following among kids in Asia. The chibi models are common door gifts at primary school birthday parties where I live. The kids like the models and toys for being robots and have a passing familiarity with the show though.
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Yes - that it's evolved enough that now the kids are also familiar with Gunpla and all. Some of their parents already were fan of Gunplas etc - so like Nintendo gets a pass from parents for whatever reason, it seems like Gunpla has reached to that point in some way... but I still think the main gun and attraction of Gunpla is still heavily geared towards those flag-ship tier models. (Profitability is another matter, and which I'm not too sure in this case.)

In late 80s to early 90s though - it was a bit of different story. Gunpla sales were struggling with lack of innovation and people falling out from "real robot"boom and MSV craze that was pretty popular in 80s. Kids were not as into Gunplas as the trend of anime changed etc... and HG models, MG models and later on, PG really made a big marks for Bandai - as many adults who grew up with the 80's MSV gunplas flocked to them... as those were much higher in quality, and generally you didn't need to even paint it to make it look good - albeit quite a bit more expensive.

I think that tactic that worked. I think it's also partially backfired though - that these days some of those models are only specific for Gundam Base or online only etc... which is kinda annoying with all that limited marketing thing. :( I haven't been making Gunpla for quite some time, but I know some of my friends (old) are complaining of not being able to get certain models or whatnot.

Either way, I'm sure it's in Bandai's mind and one of the foremost "ongoing" priority how to carry this old gen over to new gen, as original Gundam generation are literally so old like myself. Anime is one thing, but Gunpla sales tend to go on much longer.
 
I'm 50 years old and this is just "some" of my collection. So yes, us "kidults" are probably keeping the toy industry going. :messenger_sunglasses:
The #80s and #90s rocked. Feel sad for kids today. They don't have nearly the amount of toys nor shows like we did back in the day.
Saturday morning cartoons was nirvana. :messenger_heart:

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I occasionally check out the toy aisles and I had to stop myself from buying the rerun original TMNT figures. I just look at as extra stuff I have to find space for and cart around nowadays.

We did Christmas early this year and my nephews got screens, they barely acknowledged the other toys they got.
 
Billbofet said:
I like an occasional toy for nostalgia now and then, but my friend's offices and basements look like toy stores with all the bullshit toys they buy - thousands of dollars per year. I find it half pathetic and half awesome so I don't know where I stand on this....
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I only see this by way of people I watch on YouTube, but I know what you mean.

I've seen people sitting in front of what appears to be a storage facility full of toys, but it's just their bonus room or whatever.

I guess I'm a "hater" but I see it and cringe. Whatever makes you happy but to me it seems like just tossing item after item into a bunker with little true regard for it.

Personally, I have a handful of figures, which I keep on a little shelf. Just a few Neca TMNT, a Shredder, and a Mafex Batman. Not saying my way is the correct one, just a personal choice. I feel like I can't fully appreciate all my stuff if I'm drowning in it.
 
SafeOrAlone said:
I only see this by way of people I watch on YouTube, but I know what you mean.
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I think that and the internet is what the driver for a lot of this stuff is. Your identity, or being a true fan of something is not valid unless you can live in a cave surrounded by plastic nostalgia bait crap. I have some, but I was self aware enough to not impulse buy everything and go down that rabbit hole.
 
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