Are "action figures" on their way out?

Just started thinking about this and wanted to get some thoughts.

I was thinking about how kids now are alot more into games and game related toys, such as bakugan and beyblade, as well as videogames, vs action based figures.

And compound that with how, even at walmart and target, there are alot of action figures out that clearly are not aimed towards kids, from the DCU line which has characters most kids have never seen or heard of, same goes for Marvel Universe.

That in mind, does anyone else see action figures as a product being phased out one day and just becoming adult collectibles, not something you find in normal toy aisles?

The people in charge at these companies now are people of the age who played with figures and loved them, but 10-20 years out, i think those people in charge wont be of the generation that realy had action figures, it will be battle and video games.

 

I often thought about this and honestly, when I found out a few years ago, that there are still action figures of Masters of the Universe and Transformers, I was astonished. To me it seems that nowadays only little children play with toys and once they are 5 to 6 years old, they are playing more video games. When I was a kid, we too often played at the playground. But in the last 10 or 15 years I mostly saw empty playgrounds and seldomly parents with their little children and baby buggies, sitting on a bench or helping them to slide. The most frequent visitors to playgrounds are bums or teens that go there for drinking and smoking.

Even my own brother did not really play much with toys. When he was little he liked to play with my Transformers and even had some himself, but I mostly forbid him to play with my most beloved Transformers, because I was afraid he could break them. But a few years later, starting when I had my first gameboy, he moved on to play exclusively video games.

The kids that came 4 to 5 years after me are very different from my generation.

 

exactly, i mean look at the lines that are in the aisles, Starwars, Transformers, Marvel, DC, GIJoe, they are all nostalgia based...

 

I mean, video games are great. But I think the children are missing something, when they don't play much with physical toys and their imagination. I have the feeling that most of them are motor limited because they used their own hands not so often like former generations did.

OK, not everyone is like that. But I guess it is the vast majority that does not play like that.

I have the feeling that toys like we knew them from our childhood might be just an interesting story to future generations because they might not witness anything alike anymore.

I can only imagine that probably toys and videogames might somehow merge to some new crossbreed in the future for younger children and so at least for some of them toys still might be attractive.

 

*cough*Webdiver*cough*

 

5-12 yearold Kids would know more Marvel/DC characters than I would have at the same age because the shows from those companies aimed at them are all about the whole universes. IE Superhero squad and Batman: the Brave and the bold. Which has some very obscure DC and Marvel characters in them all the time. Point of fact many of the obscure character DCUC figures (like Kamandi, Omac, and the Metal men) came after they were featured in "Brave and the bold" episodes.

Hardly. While there are nostalgia components in all those lines, it's not all of it.

Star Wars: The vintage collection and Saga legends is Nostalgia based, but the Clone Wars line is the tie in toy line for a new animated series.

Marvel: Superhero squad has evolved into a tie-in toy line for an animated show. MU/ML is more nostalgia based.

DC: Batman: BATB is a tie-in toy line. DCUC is the nostalgia based line.

So they have toylines aimed at younger kids and others aimed at anyone who wants a figure of a characters but is too old for the kid-targeted products.

 

That's exactly what I was thinking.Everything that is popular now,is the same stuff that was popular when I was a kid 25 years ago.

My son has no interest in anything action figure related.He's gotten plenty of different lines over the years(Transformers,Star Wars,Ben 10),but he just doesn't care for any of them.All he cares about is his Nintendo DS.

 

As long as media exists, there will probably be merchandising of it. I have a decent amount of video game action figures, and they've got a certain charm that their on-screen characters couldn't bring out. However, there's no doubt in my mind that collecting action figures has become something of an art. Look at the advent of lines such as SH Figuarts and Revoltech.

 

I get the impression that a higher percentage of toys are now targeted towards adults/collectors, and that kids put away their action figures/dolls in favor of other stuff much more quickly than they did when I was growing up. The decline/change in business practice of TRU seems to show that. That said, I still think there will be a decent market for kid-oriented action figures for quite some time.

 

In addition to Clone Wars, kids nowadays have seen Star Wars Ep. 1,2,3. Dad's still show these to there kids. The Transformers movies and cartoons have totally become entrenched in kids today. DC, Marvel are everywhere. Batman, Superman Spiderman, X-men, etc. Kids are getting MORe of this stuff than we did.

I think the point the OP was trying to make is that kids nowadays are not playing with action figures from these lines as long, or as much. Because of video games, amongst other reasons.

And I tend to agree, to a certain extent. My little cousins don't play with action figures. I honestly don't know many little ones currently who do. The toy companies must be doing fine with the sales because they sure are churning them out. But it just seems like all the kids I know are into video games more/instead. And other things, obviously, like sports, etc.

 

True enough,kids these days are getting more gizmo crazy & savvy than we are yearsss back. If toy store those days did well in terms of sale, now it's games store who are having their lion's share in the market.

It wouldn't surprise me if for the next 20 years,kids will only reminisce on games & related stuffs.No joy to figure lovers then  

 

i think that as long as there are new cartoons then there will always be new toys to accompany them....well, for a while at least.

 

i think kids toys trends go up and down as far as action figures themselves are concern. but within action figures itself, its not so much interest in them has dwindled as much as a bigger percentage of it is targeted more at adults/collectors.

so while years ago makers would say, eh, collectors are prolly less than 10% of our sales, these days its prolly towards 25-30%. not enough to say, hey this toyline is collectors item! but enough to say, this kids toys has value as a collectible.

 

yeah thats more the point i think i was making, that i think 10-20-30 years from now, action figures as we know them will be a mainly adult-oriented medium, not as intended for children as it has been and is now.