Great Piece About the State of Modern Action Figures

[palitoy]

Mego mention and the single greatest term ever spoken: "Nerd Hummels"

Back In The Fight - 8/1/2009 - Playthings

[samurainoir]

Very informative article! Macfarlane's point about the disappearance of the niche markets and the 3 3/4 rising once again due to the economics are great points.

I wouldn't be surprised if more companies don't start following the Mattycollector model.

[Werewolf]

The coolest thing I got out of it is collectors are out of the keep everthing MIB hoarding phase. It was nuts in 90s with people hoarding POTF, Toybiz heroes and Spawn figures by the case loads. Good luck getting rid of that stuff now.

They're toys open them and play!

[rche]

nrrrrrrd

yeah


nrrrrd hummel - put 'em on the shelf

[BlackKnight]

The coolest thing I got out of it is collectors are out of the keep everthing MIB hoarding phase. It was nuts in 90s with people hoarding POTF, Toybiz heroes and Spawn figures by the case loads. Good luck getting rid of that stuff now.

They're toys open them and play!

But I think one can Agure that pretty Much anything outta the 90's was Horrible,.. to a certain Extent,.. with the Exception of BTAS & STAS Figures... I mean come on,.. we are Talking about Spawn figures and Toybiz here ...., Power of the Force were somewhat cool,... but the sculpts today, and the Poseability of Star Wars figures Today, blow anything from the 90's away.

I like some Spawn Stuff,.. and Have some ..., But I really think the Longevity Collector and value of some of the stuff today, Like DC Universe, Hot Toys, MOTU , and Some Marvel legends as well as DC Direct, will have more so Staying power,.. and in the long run be more saught after than 90's stuff. The character selection and Sculpting is Huge with collectors as well.

[Werewolf]

But I think one can Agure that pretty Much anything outta the 90's was Horrible,.. to a certain Extent,..

I'm not even really saying a lot of stuff was even all that bad for the time. The POTF Slave Leia was actually pretty nice, for example. But people didn't just buy one because they liked it. They hoarded cases and cases of them because they thought they were sitting on gold.

My point is, the stuff was so heavily mass produced and hoarded like the end of days were coming. The toys were collected and stored by the storage shed fulls because people thought it was "hot" and not because they really were interested in the toys or had any kind of emotional attachment to it. So what we have is a mountainous glut of perfect MOC/MIB toys nobody wants.

[rche]

The 90s were a crazy period driven by that most evil of terms - speculation.
The quick flip was good for some with 'must have' figures and variations. Also, the internet had not yet played it's card and most of the scavenging and hunting was done live and not behind a keyboard.

There still seems to be a 'one to open and one boxed' mentality to collectors. And it does make some sense. If (and that is a big little word).... If an item does garner enough attention to make the supply and demand curve give it some monetary value, having a boxed version will make a collector happy. Manufacturers have responded to this by crafting creative displays that show the toy in action poses and let you 'see' all of the features without opening it up. So there is a lot of leeway for both the boxed and open collectors to enjoy the same item and may encourage some middle of the fence collectors leave things packaged.

The major hoarding is probably still going on in the 'hot' commodities and may pay off a little for some folks, tho I would guess that if you figure in the cost of storage for these things for the 20 year cycle to come up, the hoarder may just be breaking even.

But I think the Nerd Hummel collectors are not the hoarders and for that group; in the box or out, it is still a statue and a thing of beauty.

[BlackKnight]

I think collecting Hoarding is very much going on Today , like it was in the 90's ... The only difference is,.. The Hoarding is very Selective,.. rather than Everything ..., But Action figures in General are a Ton better today, as far as Sculpts , Bodies, playability and Posing , But ofcourse, There is still a ton of Crap worthless Toy's today..., Look at Dark Knight Mattel figures, Star Trek and pretty much any Movie line,..., Those are not being Hoarded,.. where in the 90's I believe they would have been. The figures and Lines that Command Respect as well as Deserve to be Saught After, Valued and Hoarded, will be,.. and will IMO Be worth something more in 10yr's , than 90's figures.

I also think with the Idea of Build a Figures,.. more Action figures are being Opened..., so People can build that figure, see what it looks like, part it out in Sales, Trade, and "Collect them All" to Build them. Because of the Build a Figure ,.. it creates different possibilites in the future Market.

[rche]

The build a figure thing is somewhat of a boon for loose collectors as bulk buyers will open up a batch of figures to make the chase item and then sell the loose set at cost or discount. Of course, then there is the chase figure in the batch that makes up the chase figures.

One of the points of the article was about getting the case numbers right. A good balance of popular figures and collector wants is a pretty tricky thing.

[BlackKnight]

One of the points of the article was about getting the case numbers right. A good balance of popular figures and collector wants is a pretty tricky thing.

Well the "Chase" figure or Exclusive figure is just a Plain Arse out stupid idea in General ... All it does it put Money in a Toy Scalper's pocket,.. and Toy Companies should quit Aiding this Act.

[rche]

...
You know what's probably going to be the big money makers thirty years hence? ...

The dang Temple of Doom figures Hasbro stopped in mid production last year.


BK,

By chase figure, I was referring to the build a figure things. You have to get the whole shebang to make the BAF and there is usually (at least) one figure in the case that is shortpacked.

I wasn't referring to intentional repaints and slight modifications that are randomly inserted into cases. That is irritating, but works wonders in keeping product interest alive for the toy companies.

[TrueDave]

I don't know about Brave and the Bold stuff being so valuable. Years ago people said if you really wanted to invest in toys that would be valuable to up and coming collectors get Power Rangers , as far as I know that didnt really happen.

As for emotinal attachment , the thing toy companies have been fighting for years is Video games. Which like Songs and soon movies don't really exist as "artifacts" just stored data. Still making the tie in goods like Halo is a nice touch. Brilliant but obvious.

I think the phenomena of original toy collecting might be exclusive to our generation . Newer collectors wont care about "original" vs AUTHENTIC REPRODUCTION. Its a money conscious disposable society with not a lot of storage space.

This hobby got screwy ( just like comics) when the manufacturers strated trying to manipulate things on purpose.

Great article!

[BlackKnight]

Stop buying them.

I don't, personally .
The "Chase " Variant figure, has never Done anything real Special for me to begin with. Take for Instance the New Wave of DC Universe Classics..., Well I want to Build and Have DarkSeid,.. so I bought the Set of 6 to do so ..., and then I wanted Desaad who just comes with a Stand,.. so I picked him up too. The "Chase" Variants of Spectre, and Mary Marvel in White,.. I left ,.. I had no Interest in them, or what they are being Marketed As..., Now Granted if it were not for that Build a Figure,.. of a character I want,.. I would have also perhaps only picked up 3 of the 7 figures I did.

What emotional attachments do kids have today with Hot Toys/ Sideshow figures?

Well, they Obviously Will not, unless ofcourse they have parents that share the figures with them behind Glass.

Seriously though,.. I have been following the Market on the New Style of Hot Toys Figures,.. and they Do seem to retain Value, and are actually gaining Value the Longer certain pieces are out on the Secondary Market as well. I think some of their stuff will have some long Term Value/ Collector's Angle on them. SideShow for the Most part ,.. doesn't really seem to get that same price Back on their initial Price point,.. unless ofcourse it's a figure here or there, and then unless it's one of them Premium 250+ figure.

How are they ever going to be worth anything?

As far as the "Big Interest" in the Allure of the "Chase" Variant figure.., I am trying to really think of a Handful of them that are...., And even when the Idea was new,.. I really don't think any of them are being Hunted so Terribley Bad,.. to where there are worth More than a Few Bucks over what they Origionally Were,.. Unless you gotta Marvel Girl, Packaged Backwords, with Her Powers showing, or some Nonsense like that ..., But for the Most part, I think people and collectors, have kinda Stopped giving these the Extreme attention they Once Had...

Now them Exclusives, will always have attention for the Most Part..., because in a Ton of Cases they Seem to be characters, or Sets that people actually want,.. thus the Secondary Market Seems to Dictate so.

Some Brave and the Bold stuff will command a certain Flow,.. as do all Characters in BTAS, STAS, JLU and The Batman ...., But all them Damn Variant Batmen's clogging up the Toy Isle are not going to be worth their exchange in Bird Dropping News Paper,.. just like all the other Ones before them.

[samurainoir]

As we can see in the popular culture around us and at Toy Shows and the Mass Market Toy Shelves, right now the "Sweet Spot" in terms of generations of collectors is GI Joe and Transformers. Eighties kids.

This demographic is around their late twenties, established in their careers, with plenty of disposable income and likely without a huge overhead in terms of mortgage and kids. If they do have kids, their preference is to buy them GI Joe and Transformers, which they had as kids. My first hand experience with this is my youngest brother, who has stuffed his place and office cubicle full of 25th Anniversary Joes.

By my estimation, the Sweet Spot for Power Rangers is still a few years away. I know current college-aged, kids of the nineties, that would tear my arm off for a Zord, but the part-time job between classes at the coffee shop and a preference for spending money on DS video games and iphones puts their priorities in a different place.

Did anyone hoard Power Rangers?

I'm certain I'll see Spawn figures become a collectible commodity eventually, but by the time the kids of the past decade are ready to spend the $$$ I'll be a senior citizen. Like him or not, I suspect Toy-history will prove MacFarlane to be the visionary of the Collector's market that he has always claimed to be. Like it or not, he revolutionized the Toy industry in the nineties just like Mego redefined the seventies (up until Star Wars).

Is Family Guy a good barometer for the pop culture pulse? Anyone else getting that sense of a Star Trek Next Generation nostalgia vibe brewing?

[rche]

As we can see in the popular culture around us and at Toy Shows and the Mass Market Toy Shelves, right now the "Sweet Spot" in terms of generations of collectors is GI Joe and Transformers. Eighties kids. ....

yeah, I think the 20 year rule isn't so much of a rule as a guideline. Folks are going to have nostalgia of some sort for whatever they were entertained with as youths. This may translate later on to folks who recreate the OS they grew up with on their iphone, or maybe have a video game museum in their basement.

The nostalgia/disposable income curve may not have anything to do with little plastic men for these next generations.

As for the Hot Toys/Sideshow type things. Those kind of dollies may just bump the curve down a few years. There seem to be a whole lot of college age folks and people just into their first cubicle decorating with these sort of figures. So, perhaps, instead of getting the urge to revisit their youth when they are 30 somethings they will want to revisit that college time when they are just past the midlife crash and cruising the over the hill area. Maybe. Then again, maybe not. There are only so many places you can put a 2 foot long Jabba the Hutt.