Looks like "Spector Creative" will have a rebuttal piece about this tomorrow:

 

So its a basically meaningless word.

 

Hrrm... "kidult*

*thinks about it*

*looks at fandoms in general*

...Yeah, I'm actually okay with this. I mean, it's kind of a lame mishmash, but... especially over the last, I'd say, 10 years, this seems more and more accurate as a general descriptor.

 

Kidult sounds like a really clunky attempt to be in with the 'Hip' Crowd.

It's like... I hear that I get...

Hello my fellow kids, vibes. Just so much cringeworthy trying to become the next meme.

Hate it.

 

    I didn't even notice that part, what the hell.

 

Kidult? Pffft could a kid grow this cool beard hair all over their neck??? I think not!!!

 

Scott is good for some info, but he is notoriously bad for actually interpreting data. Most of what he rattles on about is nonsense that doesn't even hold up to logic.

I do agree that the article is poor journalism. It's barely even written competently, but that doesn't negate the overall messaging.

 

I mean adult Lego fans are just called AFOLs. This is nothing new, which is why Lego now has lines that cater to adults.

 

The actual messaging is that the quarter of the market that is the kidult (or adult collector for you sensitive types) demographic has seen a 60% increase in revenue over the past few years. That is good news overall because it shows growth and when it comes to getting more of the Transformers and toys we want growth is very good.

However, the "well now Hasbro forget the kids and cater only to me" crowd needs to remember that 1) as the article brings up a little, prices have gone up, so sometimes it's not that we're buying more we're just spending more, and 2) just because a quarter of the consumer base is spending 60% more doesn't mean that they're suddenly 60% of that consumer base. We're still the minority here, we're just a strong and loyal minority with deeper pockets.

And I think Hasbro and other companies can take that in multiple ways, but the one we should watch out for is if instead of seeing this as a reason to cater more to adult collectors that they instead see it as a fine opportunity to use those "kidults" out there as a way to make a quick buck by still making the same amount of product that they already were going to but just raise prices and charge more because they know that consumer is willing and sometimes waiting to pay it.

(Course that likely is going to and is happening anyway, so in the end the message is the same as always and for us it's business as usual.)

 

Actually, not quite. It's that 60% of the industry's total growth has come from the kidult segment. I think it was said that the revenue growth was 3% Q1-Q3, so 1.8% of that came from the kidult segment. Which, if it's about 25% of total revenue, means that that segment saw ~7% growth.

 

So it did, my mistake. Unfortunately that's actually less impressive than how I originally read it.

 

Me at my dinosaur age of 20 still buying action figures

And I shall continue doing so with no (maybe a little) shame

 

I'll punch in the face who will ever call me kidult irl. In meantime water is wet.

 

Whatever you say, fuzzface. /s

 

As a gay "kidult" of a certain age, I can confirm pretty much every minority accused of being a pedo is done so in a preciously thinly veiled deflection by actual pedos.

 

Several things as caveats:

"Ages 12 and up"

The toy business has contracted post-COVID after a boom. If it contracted a bit less among adults than kids, the percentage of adults would increase. Childless adults especially have more potential disposable income in an economic belt-tightening period.

Roughly half of millennials buy at least one toy for themselves a year. That doesn't mean they're collectors who buy a lot. The US toy market is around $20 billion a year. 25% of that is $5 billion. Out of 70 million millennials, 35 million spent money on toys for themselves. That's an AVERAGE of $140 per person a year. Less for some, more for others. The actual figure is likely lower when excluding 12-18 year-olds. Let's cut that in half since 12-18 year-olds account for 20 million people and buy more toys most likely. And the average spending also goes down when you include the people over 40. 110 million, roughly? But a smaller percentage probably buy toys than the 50%,of millennials.

So what you have is probably something like this: 12-18 year-olds account for around 12-13% of the market. 18+ buyers account for 12-13% of the market and do so by spending an average of $40-50 a year on toys.

And for every one of us who spends $2000 a year on toys, there's probably dozens of adults who just buy a Spider-Man figure or a Funko Pop for their desk.

 

I guess I could care what what segment industry considers me as part of or I could not waste the mental energy on something so pointless.

Being offended by something that couldn’t be more trivial just seems like work.

 

Bingo. I'm a grown-assed man with a job. What I spend my cash on is nobody's business but mine... and maybe the wife, but she's fine with my hobbies and I'm fine with hers.

 

Bear in mind, that's Q1-Q3 2022. It would be more interesting to see what the growth over the more intense COVID periods was. The fact that it's 7% growth post-COVID is actually still very impressive.