The following report is by The New York Post:
Jay Glatfelter spends about $4,800 a year on toys – $2,400 for himself and $2,400 combined on his six- and 10-year-old sons’ birthday and Christmas presents.
The 39-year-old tech sales rep, who moonlights as a toy influencer under the moniker Geek.Dad.Life, is among a booming group of grown-ups who are shelling out big bucks to collect action figures, trading cards and Lego sets that harken back to their youth in the 1980s and 1990s.
Their love of all things Star Wars, Marvel, Ghostbusters and Teenage Ninja Mutant Turtles is a bright patch in an otherwise bleak outlook for the toy industry.
For the first time ever, toy demand from preschoolers was surpassed by demand from toy enthusiasts over the age of 18, with the latter accounting for $1.5 billion in sales from January to April, according to data from Circana.
“The reality is that most kids today are not connecting with physical toys the way previous generations did,” toy influencer Dan Larson told The Post, explaining that he’s “a big fan of G.I. Joe.”
Circana, which tracks consumer trends, described 18 and over “as the most important age group for the toy industry,” pointing to a recent survey showing that 43% of adults purchased a toy for themselves during the past year.
The toy industry has been struggling to recover from a bust that followed a wild boom during the pandemic, when families were holed up at home stocking up on Barbies, Hot Wheels and board games.
US toy sales tumbled 8% to $28 billion last year after rising 1% from a year earlier, according to Circana data.
That’s after historic surges in 2020 and 2021, when industrywide revenue surged 17% and 16%, respectively.
This year’s numbers still look weak: Toy sales dropped 1% through April compared to a year ago while the number of units sold dipped by 2%, according to Circana.
It’s no wonder that toy makers including Mattel, Hasbro and Lego are wooing drinking-age consumers.
“Lego has someone on staff whose job is outreach to ‘AFOLs’ [or adult fans of Lego], who are buying $200 sets,” explained James Zahn, editor of Toy Insider.
Ineeed, Lego sells sets for adults that are far pricier, including a Titanic set that sells for $679.99 and a Star Wars Millennium Falcon priced at $849.99.
In another key trend, grown-ups are buying collectible plush toys reminiscent of the Beanie Babies and Cabbage Patch Dolls that sparked frenzies in the 1980s and 1990s.
Eight-inch Squishmallows, collectibles that look like Humpty Dumpty with various faces including cats, pandas, clowns and bananas, were the top-selling toy in the first quarter, thanks in large part to adult collectors, according to Zahn.
But the majority of grown-up toy buyers are so-called “kidults” like Larson and Glatfelter – who tend to be men who are into action figures, trading cards and model sets, say experts.
“The fandom skews more male and more millennial and Gen X,” said Glatfelter, who sees the trend as an evolution from previous generations who collected knickknacks. “It’s the modern day version of when our grandparents collected Hummel figures,” he explained.
Some collectors are sensitive about being described as “kidults.” The issue inspired Larson to devote an entire segment on his YouTube channel SecretGalaxy to discuss whether “Action Figure Collecting is an Embarassing Hobby.”
The answer, he concluded, is yes and no.
A “societal perception” that all toys are made for children feeds into the embarrassment, he said. On the other hand, collecting toys has “become more acceptable because companies are making lot of things for adults,” according to Larson.
“If tiny plastic people brighten your world a little,” Larson said in the segment, “then don’t let anyone take that away from you.”
It can be a pricey hobby, with the average collector spending between $300 to $400 a month, according to Larson, who keeps some of his collection on display on a wall in the house he shares with his wife. Other items are stored in closets, the basement and in various bins, he said.
Toy industry honchos welcome the kidults to their toy chests, but insist that kids will always rule in the toy aisle.
For one thing, the first quarter is typically the slowest time of year for the industry, suggesting that adults’ buying power stood out because there were fewer purchases for kids after families binged on the holidays, Greg Ahearn, president of the Toy Association told the Post.
The primary consumer is always going to be children. But we are finding that the adult market is flexing its muscle and has reached that tipping point.
Ahearn insisted.
AUTHOR COMMENTARY
In 2022, days before Christmas, I reported on a similar trend with toy sales seeing a significant boost because “kidults” were buying them.
There was a comment on the NYP article that I thought I was interesting:
“The infantilization of our culture. Earlier today, I read about how almost every book on The NY Times bestseller list is either self help or children’s books. Everything at the movies is children’s fare…cartoons, superheroes, Star Wars, reboots of children’s shows or toys from the 90s. Everyone I see at the supermarket is wearing t-shirts with superheroes or cartoon babies on them. Adult coloring books. YA novels for adults.”
Indeed, that is very true; and this report definitely provides a snapshot of the current culture we have, and can be described in two verses:
1 Corinthians 13:11 When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.
Acts 17:16 Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was stirred in him, when he saw the city wholly given to idolatry.
This country has be made weak and soft, and it is completely polluted with idols and idolatry; and the only reason why toy sales are stagnating with the current children is because they have something called smartphones and tablets, computers and videogames. Their idols are all digital and the last four generations are still living like children now.
It reminds of the story in Genesis when Jacob was told by God to return to the land of his fathers Abraham and Isaac, and it says that one of his wives “Rachel had stolen the images that were her father’s” (Genesis 31:19), and then when Laban finally caught up to them Laban said “yet wherefore hast thou stolen my gods?” (30). Similar to now, people’s images, trinkets, knick-knacks, action figures and toys are their “gods” they refuse to let go. Without getting into exactly what the toy or image is, taken at face value, there is nothing wrong with owning a toy or keepsake; but if it becomes an idol then there lies the issue. I have old toys from when I was a kid like Hot Wheels and Thomas the Train that I stored away, but I don’t sit around and play with them and array the house with them either.
In short, America has been “wholly given to idolatry” and it shows in so many ways.
[7] Who goeth a warfare any time at his own charges? who planteth a vineyard, and eateth not of the fruit thereof? or who feedeth a flock, and eateth not of the milk of the flock? [8] Say I these things as a man? or saith not the law the same also? [9] For it is written in the law of Moses, Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn. Doth God take care for oxen? [10] Or saith he it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt, this is written: that he that ploweth should plow in hope; and that he that thresheth in hope should be partaker of his hope. (1 Corinthians 9:7-10).
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This is one of the telltale signs of a collapsing empire: adults regressing back to childhood.
Men back in the 60s, just over 50-60 something years ago, grown men were hunting, fishing, learning how to use tools, they were skilled craftsmen, lifting weights, working, building, getting married, and having children. Now: grown men are playing with Power Rangers, Tonka Trucks, Creepy Crawlers, Nerf guns, toy dinosaurs, action figures of all sorts, Legos, Lincoln Logs, and G.I. Joe. And for the women: dollhouses, Barbie, easy bake ovens, and all kinds of dolls.
Grown men and women too, playing with toys like they’re still in preschool, how embarrassing!
I just turned 35 and I wouldn’t be caught dead with toys, I’m still growing and I have A LOT to learn but I’m an adult now!
It reminds me also how colleges and universities (stay away from those places) have Safe Spaces for these fragile babies who get “offended by trigger words” and they run to this nursery to be coddled and play with a giant teddy bear.
When World War III hits, they’re done for!
Escapism. That’s what this is. These are not people who kept a toy from their childhood that holds sentimental value for them. These are people who refuse to face reality. Comic Con is a prime example. These people are so disconnected from life, they can’t even ‘see’ the embarrassment of it all.
It’s one thing if an adult buys board games to play with their children. Much can be gleaned and taught through those.
Recently, I saw a wedding registry where lego toys were on the registry. Clearly, they didn’t stop to think how that would be viewed. Interestingly enough, someone got them for them! First thing I thought of was . . . these two aren’t mature enough for marriage. What you ultimately have in a case like this is . . . when they get disillusioned by a major life event, they are likely to respond as a child. They didn’t even have the sense to realize if they want to play with toys, to keep that to themselves rather than announce it to the world (so to speak).
Like Jacob, I kept a few sentimental items – original Barbie ($$$$$) and some beloved stuffed animals that admittedly look rough and should be tossed, but they gave me fond memories, were given by beloved family members I no longer have, and I just don’t have the heart to pitch them.
Comparing what is going on should not be compared to people who collect Hummel figurines, for instance. That’s an apple an orange comparison.
Well said.
I’ve seen my parents who are given to idolatry with movies and entertainment. My mom cut her hand very deeply one day and ran around the house screaming “I don’t know what to do, call someone”. The disconnect from reality that comes from digital connection is ASTOUNDING. It baffled and confounded me to see an adult run around not knowing how to take care of themselves.
My family didn’t even have the understanding of where the medical aid was in the house nor did I so it was an excellent learning experience. Please do not get caught up in the idolatry of video games and movies. 1 Corinthians 10:14 Wherefore, my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry.
Sounds all too familiar to me as well…
So I guess it’s now okay for grown men like me to buy toys for ourselves in the name of nostalgia. I”ll pass, except for sports equipment like a baseball or something. My big cousins have kids and step kids and they would think that I’m nuts if I do what the kidults are doing.
With a baseball, you can get a mitt and a bat and play baseball, that’s loved by young and old alike, that’s different; but toys? No way!
I’m a nostalgic guy, but at the same time, I’m a man now.