>>9970919Toys used to have to rely a lot more on shelf appeal and reputation than advertisement and trends. Now it's more about having what's currently popular, than making something that's actually an excellent toy.
The creativity of toy brands has also narrowed since small companies are choked out of shelf space and large companies prefer established, popular IPs rather than original themes. So a lot of toy companies are sort of in a creative void where they continue to recycle already established IPs, rather than make something new.
To me, there's a magical "cool toys" age for kids between like 6-12 that has unfortunately declined. You'd think that growing markets and populations, more people making things, etc would cause it to thrive, but electronic goods, video games, etc has also largely stunted it. It's not so-much the initial purchase price of it either, it's the constant digital goods those platforms sell that cut into the sales of actual tangible goods.
So yes, toys used to be better.