Toy Galaxy: The Action Figure Industry Is Still Broken & 2020 Ain't Helping

[Werewolf]

Toy Galaxy Dan is on a rant and I am here for it.

No, it's not the same kind of huffy, whiny, cringy rants of the "angry video game nerd" wannabes of the hobby. You know who they are. This is more of the venting of frustrations of how bad 2020 has been and what should be fun escape from it is only adding to it.

[Earth 2 Chris]

^I haven't had a chance to watch that one yet. I was confident Dan would keep things sardonically light.

Chris

[palitoy]

The ending redeems it, during it I was like "aw come on, not you too?"

[Werewolf]

^I haven't had a chance to watch that one yet. I was confident Dan would keep things sardonically light.

Chris

The ending redeems it, during it I was like "aw come on, not you too?"

Yep, this is not the same kind of toxic BS others have been spewing.

[Earth 2 Chris]

Having now watched it, I get the feeling some of it was a sincere cathartic primal scream, and the rest was a bit of a "take a chill pill guys. They're just toys."

Chris

[melstapler]

Even two years after closing their stores, the absence of TRU is still felt by action figure buyers in many ways and yet all we can do is move forward. More recently, I visited one of the new TRU store locations and this store was drastically different with a greater emphasis on the overall shopping experience. It resembled a combination of luxury toy store and interactive playground for kids, perhaps more in line with an FAO Schwarz meets Go! Puzzles/Calendars stores. The well-stocked shelves of classic TRU stores have been replaced with lower kid-friendly shelves and substantially more elbow room throughout the store. Based on my experience, adult action figure buyers may find their needs are better suited at independent comic shops and the toy aisles of Target and Walmart.

2020 hasn't been a great year for many reasons, but the toy industry hasn't been hit nearly as hard as the music industry, which has literally been decimated by the pandemic. It will probably take a while for everything to bounce back, but the toy industry is already moving in the right direction as demonstrated at the end of this video. In major retail stores, we've seen several well-received action figure lines such as G.I. Joe Classified, NECA's TMNT, the new Marvel Legends and the newly issued Star Wars and McFarlane's DC figures. Those are only a handful of examples.

[B-Lister]

Power Rangers is a hit and a line I'm really surprised with. QC issues aside, Hasbro is firing on all cylinders with that property.