>>8598175Hard to say, it's certainly happened in the past (notably when they were prominently featured in the first Toy Story) but I think there's been significant cultural and societal shifts that make it unlikely to ever get as big again. Up until what we'll call the Saving Private Ryan era there was still plenty of glamour and glory to warfare, which filtered down to kids in the form of GI Joes and plastic soldiers. After SPR there was a strong push in the direction of emphasizing the gritty, gory horrors of war, complemented with the massive shock that was 9/11. One could argue the seeds were planted by the loss of the Vietnam War (inb4 muh kdr, South Vietnam no longer exists), though "victories" in the Balkans and Iraq somewhat mitigated it. I'm speaking from a North American perspective in this regard, haven't lived in Europe for a long time and can't say whether army men are as prevalent there now as they were in my childhood.
Another major factor is the fact that army men are the thinking child's toy in many ways. Action figures and army men are to toys what shooters and RTS are to gaming. I don't have research studies to back it up, only my personal observations but I'd argue that the latest generations of kids are dumbed down in some ways, relative to previous generations. A big part of this is dumbed-down parents, products of the war on the nuclear family and an overall loosening of accepted societal conventions.
This is getting deeper than I had intended when I started writing, with more points that could be touched on. I have to get to work soon so I'll cut this off with the hope that army men will get a new lease on life someday, though the odds are stacked against it right now.
