The State of Collecting Action Figures

[Keith Mayo]

https://youtu.be/kxrlUv0i5E8

[John Mack]

Thanks for posting Keith.
I agree with 90% of his statements. I do not agree people are continuing to buy action figures because of ONLY better sculpts. The people I know that still collect are doing it for the dollars. They have no interest in 99% of the items they sell on (to use your term) evilbay. But other than that, yep he pretty much nailed it.

[Keith Mayo]

I've had many discussions on this topic with long time friends acquired from my vintage (12") GIjOE collecting days that started about the same time as the "internets". A couple of them are big shots in the toy industry and others are collectors known world wide. These discussions usually come down to arguments about who's driving the toy industry - Kids or Collectors.

Viewing toys as collectables swings the answer towards we adults, especially since a large part of that is the secondary market. Toys bought today for kids usually end up destroyed or thrown away and never make it to evilbay and other aftermarket selling sites. I imagine it must upset the toy makers that a lot of the profit made on their wares eludes their grasp. It might also be why we've seen prices skyrocket on many items. My daughter owns an antique store (that I work at occasionally), and when a new (to her) item comes in for resale I often wonder if the guy that made it in the 19th century could have imagined how many times his creation would be resold over and over and the amount of money it would generate.

A good friend of mine writes a blog all about pop culture so there's often talk about toys. Right now he's pontificating on the reason for the demise of Toys R Us. Personally, I see that there's a ton of change happening in retail these days and it's almost like watching a movie. FAO, Toys R Us, KB and others came along and crushed all those Mom & Pop stores where my toys were bought when I was a kid. They held supreme for a while and then BOOM! - here comes Wally World. Next thing you know Amazon appears and now those who supplanted Mom & Pop are now being killed off by Bezo's drones. A close friend of mine had a HUGE Christian book store in town for years but he had to close it a few years ago. When asked why he said that he couldn't compete with Amazon.

The mall that was the main hub for us when I was a teenager has more empty slots every month and down the road in Birmingham, AL there are several malls (some of which were quite nice) that stand empty. The way I see it, online sales will remain supreme for the near future but as sure as there's gravity, something else will come along and rearrange the retail landscape in our lifetime. I have no idea what that might be but it will happen. With the cost of 3D printing coming down (remember paying $200 for a VCR in the 80's?), I'd bet that smaller companies will fill the needs of collectors and the big boys will fade away. Just as an example, last week the last of the Official GIjOE Conventions was held in Chattanooga, TN - never to happen again. 20 yrs ago Hasbro was a HUGE player in the toy bidnezz (as we say down here) and now GIjOE is a dying breed.

Folks like FTC, Funko and NJ Croce (which I learned the other day is pronounced "Crow-See". Heard the man say it himself on YouTube) seem to be attuned to the desires of collectors and don't sell toys for kids. As generations age out of collecting ("Do I buy the latest Hot Toys figure or get my meds this month?) it will be interesting what becomes collectable in the future. About all I see kids "playing with" these days are video games.