What has happened to Star Wars toys?

[NakedMoleRat]

It seems like the only way to order figures (of any type) if you're a mint on card collector is to purchase from a retailer like Big Bad Toy Store or the like. The few times I've ordered with them they packed their items very well with the mind set that people are purchasing these items as collectibles and condition, even that of the packaging, is just as important as the item it houses.

You might pay a couple extra dollars over Amazon, but it will come safe.

 

[Psab keel]

For the Masters of the Universe Origins figures at least they even offer you a collector grade figure for just a few dollars more.

 

[Master Boda]

I feel for those of you who don’t open your figures.Might try Entertainment Earth,I haven’t ordered from them in years but I think they packed good.
Psab keel I was lucky enough to have most of my vintage SW figures.Its sad one has to pay a little extra to make sure you get a mint card when you should be getting one in the first place.

 

[publiusr]

Star Trek has the worst problem with getting toys out. The 1990s was the best decade for toys…if only the 3D printing had been around back then.

The future may be a toy kiosk with a screen that shapes a toy right there…a soda stream deal.

After I’m dead of course

 

[CT1138]

Star Trek has the worst problem with getting toys out. The 1990s was the best decade for toys…if only the 3D printing had been around back then.

The future may be a toy kiosk with a screen that shapes a toy right there…a soda stream deal.

After I’m dead of course

As cool as it sounds, I find that 3D printed toys have a level of brittleness to the plastic that mold injected plastics don't. For instance, the Kenner Jurassic Park toys were mold injected, and the vinyl is soft, and the latex "real-feel" skin is some of the strongest I've ever seen. By comparison, the plastic Mattel uses seems much stiffer, with less give.

 

[Egon Spengler]

“What has happened to Star Wars toys?”​

They’ve gone away because a soulless and evil corporation called Disney bought the rights, and the franchise was murdered and milked to death by hacks named JJ Abrams and Rian Johnson. In a bitter twist of irony, the ultimate story of rebels fighting against the establishment, made by the most successful and visionary independent filmmaker in history, has now been absorbed into the establishment and been deconstructed beyond recognition within the span of only a few years. This cultural vandalism has also spread to virtually every other beloved nerd franchise, and none will survive.

As a result, people are growing up and moving on, and STAR WARS will slowly and painfully suffer the same fate as its initial inspiration, FLASH GORDON—faded into the mists of history, followed by a loyal niche group of fans, and occasionally trotted out for fair-to-middling reboots over the next few decades.

 

[jedi5150]

I made an interesting observation a couple years ago on a trip to visit my brother-in-law and his family.
He has 4 kids. At the time, they ranged in age from 16 to 5. 2 boys, 2 girls. We were at their house for 3 or 4 days. I realized on day 3 or so that I hadn't seen the younger 2 kids playing with any toys. They were on their electronic devices constantly, playing games etc... But no toys. I realized that kids no longer play with toys. It's probably why Toys R Us went broke.

As for Hasbro, they lost sight years ago as to what Toys are supposed to be. If you watch the documentary "Plastic Galaxy: The Story of Star Wars Toys" the Kenner employees were always talking about "play value" of their ideas. They wanted to be sure there were sufficient ways for kids to play with the toy to make it worth producing (not to mention worth the hard-earned money spent to purchase said toys). My kids grew up in the 90s-2000s, and many of the SW Toys they had just didn't have repeat playability. They were boring. I believe Hasbro stopped caring about how (or if) kids would play with their sub-par Star Wars Toys because adult collectors would shell out more $ to buy the same figure again on a different card.

 

[JPH]

screen time is an issue for kids AND adults.

If you don't limit screen time, adults and kids will spend/waste their lives on a screen.

The PARENTS have to turn off the screens, pull out the crayons and paper, instruments...WHATEVER, and get their kids interacting. It's the difference between consumers and producers. Just think of it like the zombie apocalypse; are you the one with the brains or are you looking for the people with brains?

Some people have "watching stuff" as a primary hobby. If kids aren't given alternatives, they won't know. Next thing you know, they go to a friend's house and "drums are the coolest thing EVAH!" or "can we put together a model?"

A few years ago, there was a news story about a woman who took her kids to Israel and her kids ran up a $10,000 phone bill! She was angry at Apple. The first thing she said to the reporter was, "I don't want everybody to think my kids spent their trip with their faces buried in their phones!"

I remember being told, "whenever your kids want to go outside, ask you to read to them, or *help* you with something, if you can do it, DO IT!"

 

[Psab keel]

We really do live in a time where the toys that appeal to kids are the ones that entertain them, not the kind that requires interaction. Even in the late 90's the toys became more about gimmicks and less about a kid having to use their imagination. Play becomes passive rather than active and we've bred a generation of tiny consumers rather than thinkers. Play used to be the realm where children worked out larger ideas in their own minds, working with concepts like loyalty and friendship and the ability to work cooperatively with others. Ideas that get lost because it's easier to put a screen in their face than have to interact with them or force them to play with other kids or toys without batteries. It always made my heart sink to see 2 year olds glued to their parents phones while they shopped in our store.

 

[JPH]

ZACTLY! Remember Captain Power? Watch the show, but when Lord Dread's minions showed up, you better have your trigger finger ready!

I remember Tim Dunigan talking about how very close to the show's release, they found out the toys didnt work!

I designed a role-playing game around it! One day I am gonna hammer out a suit!

but now...


Now people watch videos of other people playing computer games!

Hold on, I have to tell a bunch of kids to get off my lawn!

 

[joberg]

Ah, toys! Here's the perspective of an old guy (63); when I was young (Belgium) the toy market was like this: Dinky Toys/Corgi Toys/Lego/GI Joe/Airfix/Captain Matt Masson, tin toys (cars, trucks, planes, spaceship, rockets) cow-boy holsters, cap guns, Indian costumes, the cheap made in Hong Kong plastic bag full of WWII soldiers from various armies, Indians and cow boys in yellow or green plastic, etc.
The series on T.V. were: all of Gerry and Sylvia Anderson's series, Batman, The Man from UNCLE, etc.

The Dinky/Corgi Toys were expensive at the time and were considered "high-end" toys. Most of the tin toys lines were made either in the U.S. or Hong Kong as well as those cheap plastic figurines that weren't lasting a year. Airfix started to make plastic toy soldier in the late '70s. Good quality in general, compared to the Hong Kong ones. GI Joe were also expensive and harder to get in the big toy stores.

All of that to say that the toy market was transformed by the Web, the video game culture and that, from the beginning, there was always expensive toys and very cheap ones also. I had to wait 45 years to get a good model of the Moon Interceptor All of those vehicules/models were produced for the adults who were young or teenagers that consumed those programs on T.V. at the time.

Ebay and various web sites have also permitted some buyers to buy 2 ,or more, popular figurines/high-end toys/models/props and making a killing in the re-sale market; especially when confronted by the Toy companies low output (500 figurines for the whole planet).

We cannot forget that the production of a "thing", and its price, is determined by a simple fact: how many steps/hands have touched that product?
The more "hands-on" the more expensive (in almost every production of anything on this planet).
That's why most production are still being farmed-out in Asia!

But comparing the variety of toys I had when growing-up, vs now...Man!! I was born 50 years too early

 

[JPH]

Ah, toys! Here's the perspective of an old guy (63); when I was young (Belgium) the toy market was like this: Dinky Toys/Corgi Toys/Lego/GI Joe/Airfix/Captain Matt Masson, tin toys (cars, trucks, planes, spaceship, rockets) cow-boy holsters, cap guns, Indian costumes, the cheap made in Hong Kong plastic bag full of WWII soldiers from various armies, Indians and cow boys in yellow or green plastic, etc.
The series on T.V. were: all of Gerry and Sylvia Anderson's series, Batman, The Man from UNCLE, etc.

The Dinky/Corgi Toys were expensive at the time and were considered "high-end" toys. Most of the tin toys lines were made either in the U.S. or Hong Kong as well as those cheap plastic figurines that weren't lasting a year. Airfix started to make plastic toy soldier in the late '70s. Good quality in general, compared to the Hong Kong ones. GI Joe were also expensive and harder to get in the big toy stores.

Dont forget the show UFO. The interceptors with one BIG missile on the nose! Made of Metal except for the skids.

I think that was my first toy crush. My " you *will* be mine" (a la Wayne's world) moment.

The GI Joe bullet head guy you could ram into stuff, because he had loops on his back that you could run a string ththrough. Action Jackson!!!

Ho boy!Now you got me started!!

 

[NakedMoleRat]

I remember my injection molded Batmobile with the one piece injection molded Batman in blue plastic and Robin in red. No detail painting, just solid colors.

I have no idea how many times Robin died and Batman went on a rampage running over army men, or drop kicking them in the chest in his zero points of articulation sitting position.

 

[Axlotl]

I remember my injection molded Batmobile with the one piece injection molded Batman in blue plastic and Robin in red. No detail painting, just solid colors.

I have no idea how many times Robin died and Batman went on a rampage running over army men, or drop kicking them in the chest in his zero points of articulation sitting position.

I had that too!

 

[NakedMoleRat]

I had that too!

You do realize that some young whipper snapper just took a 3 minute break from his PS5, logged in, read this post and exclaimed….”Lame!”

 

[JPH]

Yes, but that very same milksop gets to break out his gently used Rose toy and say, " I *saved* you...dummy.!"

...then promptly continue modellingout their Cyberpunk character's underneath-their-swimsuit area. Sorry GI Joe.

 

[Wyldstaar]

Star Trek has the worst problem with getting toys out. The 1990s was the best decade for toys…if only the 3D printing had been around back then.

The future may be a toy kiosk with a screen that shapes a toy right there…a soda stream deal.

After I’m dead of course

I look at 3D printers of today in much the same way as personal computers of the 1980's. They could do the job for people who truly understood how the machines worked, but were too difficult for the average person to do much of anything with. In another ten or fifteen years, 3D printers have the potential to revolutionize the way the toy industry works for the masses.

I've got a 3D printed Viper Mark II from Battlestar Galactica that's to scale with the original 1978 action figures, and it's great.

As for what's happened to Star Wars toys, it's mostly Hasbro that's to blame, but retailers participate as well with their obnoxious exclusives that they don't order enough of. Hasbro's people who are in charge of distribution just want to be able to tell their bosses that the entire production run is sold out. If that means not making anywhere near enough supply to meet demand, so be it. They've become terrified of having peg warmer toys, but that's just part of the industry, and why discount stores are a thing. I live in the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex, and we have TWO stores that sell nothing but Star Wars merchandise here. Since they're the only place one can readily find Star Wars toys, they do a booming business. If Target and Walmart actually kept any merchandise in stock, these stores would be in big trouble, but that doesn't seem likely to ever happen again.

 

[OCDChad]

Yes, I believe they returned to 5poa figures as a means of cost-cutting.


That's something else, too. I once recall somebody pointing out how Kenner built the OT toylines around the ships and playsets. They would release the figures, and then a few exclusive figures in a Cantina playset, and suddenly you wanted ALL the figures to complete your Cantina playset. Hasbro did similar with the figures/ships for the PT toy lines. Sure, you got your Jedi starfighter, but now you need R2 and Anakin to stick into the pilot's seat and droid slot. It was a clever marketing ploy, and yes it worked. Hasbro thought they could get away with selling Han Solos, Reys, and Kylo Rens, but not make figure scale Millennium Falcons and TIE Silencers to put them in. Turns out kids DO want the sleek, cool star fighters that make pew-pew noises.

Not to mention the low quality of the lightsabers and blasters. Hasbro tried selling them on gimmicks like Nerf, but kids don't want neon orange blasters, they want what was in the movie! I can, and have, made full write-ups on just the spiraling quality of Hasbro blasters/sabers.

I'm not a collector. The only reason I buy Star Wars toys is for my son and I think you're on to something here. There is a lack of vehicles and too much "collector" labeled stuff. He's wanted an AT-AT since he saw the movies. The last one I remember outside of Lego was a Toys R Us exclusive from 2015. We got the Black Series AT-ST and some 3.5 inch ROTJ figures to sort of make a play set but the damn thing can barely stand up. Looking at the hasbropulse site right now, the things he likes aren't available: OT X-Wing, Y-Wing A-Wing, TIE, Vader's TIE, AT-AT, Falcon. The Vintage Slave I is the only thing available he would want.

 

[XweAponX]

I remember when they dominated the stores. There would be entire isles dedicated just to Star Wars toys.

Now I walk in and all I find is one role-play light saber, and half a dozen black series Jar Jar Binks.

If I want anything these days I have to order it through Amazon.

When there were movies in the theatres, Walmart had a whole aisle dedicated to toys based upon force-awakens, last Jedi, and rise of skywalker, not to mention Solo and Rogue One. But the place where I saw the most Star Wars Merch was at the 99¢ only stores. I don’t know how they ended up with it. I bought about 5 gigantic millennium Falcon play sets, a huge Rey Speeder, dozens of Hot Wheels die cast starships, including speeders, walkers, tie fighters, X-wings, AT-ACTs, I have a stormstrooper in a personal walker, Poe in a rebel branded speeder (like from the Endor forest battle). I bought Star Wars magic sets, little RDD2s that open up to reveal an ice planet scenario, not to mention a gizmo I attach to my wrist so that when I play with a little Hans Solo action figure, it spouts his best coined phrases and it makes blaster sounds when I push forward. In fact this was the last toy I bought at the 99 cent store roughly 4 months ago: whenever I would go shopping I would buy whatever Star Wars toy that they were hocking that week. The huge millennium falcons were a great deal, those sold for a lot on the Walmart website but they were very inexpensive at the 99 Cents store. But you are right, there have not been very many Star Wars branded toys out in the markets lately. Usually when there is a movie in the theaters or coming up, they flood all of the stores with Hasbro merchandise, everybody starts going Star Wars mad what intrigued me was the hot wheels “starships“ collections. I could usually buy two or three of those per visit. As you can see I play with them. One of the most interesting things is my Star Wars Jedi Holocron, which is a little device that tries to guess what you are thinking of, it’s amazing how often it beats me. but it doesn’t know who Grogu is.

in fact, when the Mandalorian was being shown just this last season, it was Grogu Madness everywhere. They were selling those Grogus that moved and sat in the little Grogu-carrier. They had a few action figures too, even ones of Gina. These things sad around in the stores until they were all sold out, but they have not stocked any new ones since. last Christmas I did see some star wars Polar Lights model kits, but they also had a bunch of Star Trek model kits, they only stock the model kids during Christmas time. They were like $50, I waited until they were in the clearance section and got them for a fifth of the price. Heh.

I have always wondered why overflow Star Wars stuff ends up at the $.99 only store, while at the same time being sold in Walmart, which is pretty much the biggest outlet, well not to mention Toys “R” Us but I haven’t been in there lately. You see I always pick up my toys at places where they don’t normally sell toys, places like drug stores, 7-Eleven’s, and of course the $.99 only store. because usually at some point if nobody buys the item, they will reduce the price to a special price and then everybody comes in enmass and gobbles up the product, what’s left of it.

I suppose when the Mandalorian gets close to its third season, and then of course there is going to be that Boba Fett show as well, there will be appropriate merch for both of those probably available within a month of those shows being shown, and they may use the opportunity to flood the market with force awakens stuff once again. I actually love this stuff but I always wait until it’s on sale...

note that the millennium falcon is practically identical to the ones sold back in the 70s-ish, except for the square antenna. somebody has been 3D-printing copies of the original round antennas and selling them on eBay. But this “Poe on a Speeder” thing is quite odd, at no time in any scenario has he ever sat on one of those things, unless it was in a cartoon, but I guess I missed that one.

 

[XweAponX]

I loved the prequels growing up, and even *I* disliked Jar Jar. A friend of mine is a big Palpatine fan, and is livid with Hasbro that they produced Jar Jar in the 6in scale, but not ROS Palpatine. Like I said, I think Hasbro is purposely trying to sabotage the license. Whoever thought it was a good idea to produce a 6in Jar Jar obviously has no knowledge of the Star Wars fandom, or the collectors.

lol, A friend of mine gave me these, ROTS toys, I have them high up on my wall, I will try to take a couple of snapshots... The interesting thing is the exploding body grievous, but I really like the little R2-D2 except he doesn’t have a rocket boosters on the bottom of his feet like he did in that trilogy.

it just occurs to me that some of the things that I have purchased in the last year came from either Amazon or eBay they were offering this little package with the three robots from the rise of Skywalker let me see if I can find it, oh my I can’t find the package I usually save the packages even if I open them. Oh yes it was in a package called “galaxy of adventures“ and it had R2-D2, BB eight, and that little droid that looks like a lamp on a wheel, they are pretty cool kind of. But when my friend brought over these revenge of the Sith toys, I was highly pleased. They were sure packaged very oddly...