What the hell has happened to the toy industry?
Why are they making crap?
The new toys have just hit the shelves to help support the new Wolverine movie, and they are a complete disgrace. They look like they should be dollar store fodder. Or in a discount bin. Not hanging on the peg at a store like Toys R Us.
They have very limited articulation. The paint job is horrible. If you look at the face of the figure, it looks like Logan was kicked in the head by a donkey (he’s cross-eyed folks!).
All I can do is ask, why?
The figures are being sold at a budget price, but I can’t even justify spending anything on this kind of garbage. And it’s not just the Wolverine movie. They pulled this same trick with the Iron Man 3 and Ultimate Spider-Man toys. Inferior paint jobs. Limited articulation. They look like a complete waste of money when you compare the figures to the toys that came out for the previous movies. Oh… and don’t get me going about DC. DC hasn’t come out with a decent movie action figure since Batman came out in 1989.
These inferior, cheap ass toys are just going to stay on those toy store racks forever. Collector’s like myself are not going to cough up the cash to pay for them. And I am pretty sure that kids aren’t going to spend their paper route money to buy them either, because I’m not convinced that kids buy toys any more (but that’s a column for another day).
The decline in quality has to be because of money. That’s the only reason that makes sense to me. Articulation is possible through the addition of new pieces. Extra pieces cost money. Collector’s love articulation, but we also hate paying too much for a toy. So that is where we have our impasse. The manufacturing company wants to make more money, but we don’t want to pay too much for the premiere quality items. So in the end, the toy companies come out with crappy toys, and we keep our money.
There is only one resolution. Toy companies… please make the toys we want to buy. Marvel Universe, Iron Man 2 and Wolverine Origins figures were great. Yes we didn’t buy every toy that came out, but how many different Iron Man suits can you buy? We gladly paid $9.99 to $11.99 (CAD) for those toys, but they were awesome. I’m sorry… they may be $6.99 but there isn’t a chance in the world that I’m going to pay for the crap that you are coming out with. Because there are a lot of other toy companies that are coming out with great stuff, that I don’t mind paying more money for (NECA toys comes to mind).
I’ve found in recent years that this has less to do with toys in general more to do with Hasbro jacking up prices. They have had a few hits here and there (GI Joe POC was fantastic. I’m still surprised it didn’t take off) but for the most part they’re mediocre at best.
Marvel Legends really took a dive when Hasbro took over but what annoys me is how much the price has gone up. Almost doubled from 10 years ago! Sorry man, but inflation hasn’t gone up nearly that much and oil was already hovering at $100 a barrel. Speaking of Hasbro, I remember being on a Star Wars forum and people were just spouting off about the quality of the figures and their cost versus McFarlane and Toybiz figures. A lot of people complained that the figures rarely fit in the vehicles so these complaints about Hasbro aren’t new. The only thing I can think of is that they must far and away pay more for licensing fees than any other company then try and make that up by cutting corners during production. The only thing I can suggest is, don’t but them.
I’ve avoided the Marvel movie toys. Even the new G.I. Joe figures didn’t excite me. There is a future wave of Joes coming out that looks amazing, but what retailer is going to bring them in with these peg-warming steaming piles laying around.
The direct market (like LCBS and action figure specialty stores) are really the only logical place to buy toys. You pay more but you get the good stuff.
A part of me doesn’t like buying figures online or from e-bay. I really enjoy going to a random store and seeing what they have. It’s a treasure hunt for me. Don’t get me wrong, I’ll pick up hard to find figures online, but it’s not the same. With that being said, I have gaps in my collections because of this philosophy, but I don’t mind. It makes going to cons more fun.
With that being said it’s the main reason why I’ve noticed such a substantial increase in prices over the years. It really wasn’t that long ago when you could get a highly detailed Marvel Legends/Toy Biz figure for $10-$14, today, I don’t think you could get a Marvel Universe figure for that little. It’s an unfortunate shift but it’s one that I think will implode sooner or later. I have noticed an increase in fans vocalizing their displeasure with figures and prices. I’m actually surprised that the quality has taken such a drop with these lines, but in all fairness to Hasbro, I first noticed some really terrible figures for the Dark Knight Rises line. Wow! They were terrible.
I haven’t seen any updates for GI Joe? What’s coming down the line?
There is going to be an Ultimate Roadblock and an Ultimate Flint. I’ve only seen pictures online (can’t remember where now). It’s pretty sad for G.I. Joe right now because there are 2.5 more waves of toys to come out, but no release date mentioned yet.
Someone is maaaaaaad!
Seriously though, figures with more articulation are made for adults who pose ’em and leave ’em. Kids with those toys break them and parents freak that they paid $30 for a toy that broke coming out of the box.
So they make cheaper and frankly lower quality toys with less articulation to satisfy the little kids. Parents get them for cheap and the kids get more life out of them and when they do break who cares, it was $10 and the kid played with it for months before they broke it (if they do at all).
Not all toys are meant for the collector’s shelf, just as not all toys are meant for kids.
My son was hugely disappointed with the Iron Man 3 toys. He’s building an armoury, but will not be getting any of these. So I’m hunting down figs from the first two movies. Dear Toy companies, he’s 9, he is your audience.
Iron Man 2 figures were awesome. I bought every War Machine figure that was released in that line. I also picked up the Mickey Rourke Ivan Vanko figure to make a custom Tool figure for my Expendables action figure customs.
Why couldn’t they do that with IM3? I guess they didn’t want to release the same figures that just came out for the Avengers movie last year.
I just wish more toys were geared towards collectors like myself.
But in actuality… how many kids are even getting toys these days? I buy my kids all the toys they want. We buy them WWE figures, Transformers, Ponies, Barbies, Monster Highs… and the toys just sit on the shelf and the kids are obsessed with Pokemon and the rest of the collectible cards. I’ve dropped a whack of cash on toys and the kids don’t play with them.
Even when I go into Toys R Us to check out new toys, I rarely see kids in the toy aisles. It’s usually guys in their mid 30’s (like me) looking for toys for themselves.
Are toys even marketed to kids anymore?
Hmm…Dr. Doom, Juggernaut, Hulk all figures that Hasbro did way better. Toybiz never made a good Dr. Doom, which is not in any way excusable.
I respect being a collector, that’s cool. I come from the school that plays with the toys. As a new Dad, it has become clear to me that playing with your kids is really important, and I think creative play is really important.
Kids who get their parents to buy them toys, will only do so as long as the toys are cool. They don’t necessarily need more articulation, but a kid has to be able to play with them. These figures have bad sculpting, and bad articulation. That adds up to that the kid sees it as something like Spiderman, but not the real deal. Spiderman looks cool, and he can move into many different poses. We can use Wolverine in this case, who isn’t cross-eyed. That little flaw tells the kid that the adults who make these don’t take them seriously. You can take that to mean kids and action figures.
I bet if you spent time playing with the toys with your kids, they would play with them. Who wants to know whether or not Destro could defeat Baron Zemo in a fight? Well…probably only me. But a kid would be open to the idea of a fight between Savage Opress and a passable Kora figure, if a parent pitches that the world you create in action figures has no limits.
Kids will buy figures, if they can play with them, and parents take an interest in play. Seriously play with your kids. Creative play is really important.