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Kids don’t buy toys, with expensive electronics like tablets and smartphones being commonplace in very young age groups but ticket toys are less popular than they used to be. Parents and children both see them as increasingly disposable, notice how many of the most popular toys for kids are mystery boxes, the experience here is being sold, not the product itself. Disposable product designed to provide a quick hit rather than lasting value is the new normal. Most growth in the toy industry has been in the area of adult targeted collectibles, that’s where the engineering is going these days. See the arms race between a half a dozen brands to make the most screen/comic accurate super hero toys or the slavishly cartoon accurate TMNT and transformers that come out. Collectors will pay wayyy more for toys than parents, parents don’t care what they’re buying as long as it’s cheap because they expect it to end up in the trash in less than a year.
