Clownfish TV: Audio Edition
Toys are for ADULTS Now, Not Kids.
It’s official -- more adults are buying toys for themselves than they are for children. In fact, kids today don’t seem to be as into toys as previous generations. So, let’s talk about toy collecting and the return of 80s brands like Transformers, GI Joe, Strawberry Shortcake, and more. ➡️ Tip Jar and Fan Support: http://ClownfishSupport.com ➡️ Official Merch Store: http://ShopClownfish.com ➡️ Official Website: http://ClownfishTV.com ➡️ Audio Edition: https://open.spotify.com/show/6qJc5C6OkQkaZnGCeuVOD1 Adults are now the largest group of toy buyers, spending billions on nostalgic retro toys for themselves, driving up prices for vintage toys and leading to a resurgence in the toy industry. 00:00 Adults are now buying more toys than kids, leading to changes in the toy market and driving up prices for vintage toys. 02:55 Adults now make up the largest group of toy buyers, spending over $1.53 billion on toys, with 43% buying for themselves last year. 04:54 Adults are buying nostalgic retro toys for themselves, not just for kids, leading to a resurgence in the toy industry and a market for reissues and retro items. 08:24 Adults are now interested in retro toys from their childhood, like Care Bears and Rainbow Bright, and are buying expensive limited edition items. 10:55 Adults are now collecting vintage toys like Plum Pudding and Strawberry Shortcake, seeking help to find them. 12:50 Adult collectors are driving the toy market, with companies bringing back popular lines and targeting adults as the main consumers. 15:10 Old toy companies are creating adult-focused content and reviving old brands, focusing on storytelling and multimedia, rather than targeting younger audiences. 18:59 Adults are now the target market for toy collectors, with the speaker expressing excitement for upcoming toy releases and encouraging adults to buy more toys. About Us: Clownfish TV is an independent, opinionated news and commentary channel that covers Entertainment and Tech from a consumer’s point of view. We talk about Gaming, Comics, Anime, TV, Movies, Animation and more. Hosted by Kneon and Geeky Sparkles. Disclaimer: This series is produced by Clownfish Studios and WebReef Media, and is part of ClownfishTV.com. Opinions expressed by our contributors do not necessarily reflect the views of our guests, affiliates, sponsors, or advertisers. ClownfishTV.com is an unofficial news source and has no connection to any company that we may cover. This channel and website and the content made available through this site are for educational, entertainment and informational purposes only. These so-called “fair uses” are permitted even if the use of the work would otherwise be infringing. #Toys #Hasbro #Transformers #News #Commentary #Reaction #Podcast #Comedy #Entertainment #Hollywood #PopCulture #Tech
Hey guys, this is the audio edition of clownfish TV. If you guys are unfamiliar with clownfish TV, please check out the video versions of these episodes on the clownfish TV YouTube channel and also on the clownfish gaming YouTube channel. Please subscribe for more podcast. Check out D-Res, that's our other podcast. The episode will begin in a couple of seconds. Thanks for listening. (upbeat music) - Hey guys, welcome back to clownfish TV. This is Neon, I am here with Geeky Sparkles. - Hello. - And we're gonna talk about one of our favorite subjects. We're gonna talk about toys. - Yes. - And we're gonna talk about how adults are now buying more toys than preschoolers. - I'm not surprised. - So let's talk about this, 'cause this probably does explain some of the recent decisions with Hasbro and how they're basically outsourcing their toys. And I think they're looking at this, like yeah, kids aren't playing with toys like they used to. - They're mostly on their, probably games and their phones and stuff like that. And this is probably why we have a lot of nutters 'cause they're usually going nuts over toys. - Yeah, that is the dark side of adults collecting toys that does tend to, sometimes attract people that are not quite adults mentally. - Yeah, it's really weird. But we'll talk about, we're actually pretty huge collectors ourselves. We have bunches and bunches of toys. We're gonna talk about this. And yeah, we're gonna talk about the market. We're gonna talk about speaking of Hasbro, we're gonna talk about a former Hasbro executive going out on his own and trying to scoop up some of these licenses, snatching them from the fire, as it were. So before we get into it any further, please subscribe for more pop culture news, reviews, and rant sketch. You get woo-hoo if you do. So this is kind of a follow up to, that's obviously, is that AI that has to work out? - Fast, yeah. - This is a follow up to a story a couple of weeks ago. New York Post said that adults were outpacing preschoolers, but now it's official. Yeah, adults are gobbling up toys. They're talking-- - A guilty is charged. I am. - This guy, Tom Schaller, he began selling antiques and collectibles on eBay in 2005, and now he makes more than $100,000 a year selling vintage toys on eBay. And there are lots of people that do, actually. It's a big industry right now. - What's finding them is the problem. I'm trying to find things. - Yeah, well, because of adult collectors scooping things up for eBay. Weirdly enough, it's cheaper in some cases to buy them at retail that is to go through like entertainment, earth or something. - Oh my gosh, yeah, tea is shipping and everything. Even though the business account don't, yeah, don't do that. - Oh God, yeah, that was a whole nother. People, other people were complaining about that too. Like it's just, it's very cost prohibitive. So yeah, so what they do is they go around and they buy stuff up from Walmart's and targets and mark them up, and that's why everything's a lot more expensive. - Scalpers. - Scalpers. - Scalpers. - Those little bit calls them. - Wait, we're not allowed to say that anymore, right? 'Cause it's expensive. - Toy reseller. - Yes. - Hey, true story, we actually, yeah, we actually did this years ago after I got laid off. - It's true. - We were doing the scalping thing. - We did, we didn't usually clear shelves very often. - No, I would leave, I would leave a couple. Usually what it was was like we would go maybe pick up three or four of something, keep one, and then sell the rest of them. - But what we type of clearance is like we found like million fucking Lego sets that were going for way more than they were looking down to. - Oh my God, yeah, they were like, are they 25 or 50 bucks and-- - Yeah, they were selling like a couple hundred bucks or whatever. Yeah, we used to do that. I know we did that with the Masters of the Universe line in the early 2000s. - The 2000s line, yeah. - And we did it with, like the charles, keg come on some more-- - Transformers or models. - Yeah, you would find some ones that no one had pictures of and they ended up on the blogs and stuff. - Yeah, back 15, 20 years ago, it wasn't like it is now where people have it down to a science like, okay, this shipment's coming in to target on this day or whatever, it was like whenever the stuff just magically appeared on the shelves and whoever got the pictures first, like you were a hero on the forum. So like, oh my God, I remember with robots and disguise, they had the mini figures of like scourge and the Autobot brothers and people were like, I didn't know these existed. - Yeah. - But we got 'em. - So we've been doing this for a long time. - Yeah, so this is, again, they're talking about this. It said that, in fact, this year for the first time, consumers 18 plus surpassed toddlers to become the biggest demographic for toy purchases by more than $1.53 billion in toys. - Wow. - That top the $1.5 billion. - I do my share, no worry. - That top the $1.5 billion in toys purchase for three to five year olds, additionally, according to Circana, 43% of adults purchased a toy for themselves in last year, which we talked about that before. - And I mean toy toys, guys. - Toy toys, we're not talking about toys. - Not the toys, but ones make a teeth chatter. We're talking about toy toys. - We tried finding this article and I looked up adult toys. - No, no. You realized after you did it, like, no bad idea. - Yeah, that was a mistake. - Bad idea. - They said retro was a consistent trend within the toy industry. Like most trends, it was something that cycled. It came and went, came back a few years later, eventually it stuck around. It turned a corner when toy manufacturers started creating products specifically for the nostalgia market. And that was, so when we were doing the toy resale thing online, then this was like the first wave of nostalgia 'cause everything was coming back at once. He-Man was coming back. Transformers were coming back. At least there were vehicles again. They never really left, but we had years and years of beast wars and then finally we're getting vehicles again. What else do we have coming back? I think Strawberry Shortcake and stuff are coming back. - Sure, Kate's back. We're not gonna talk about-- - We're not gonna talk about some things like-- - Thundercats. - Thundercats. - Thundercats are back. Yeah, but that was like, so that was like 20 years after the stuff was big in the '80s. And what I'm seeing is all of that '80s stuff just keeps cycling. And what it tells me is that our generation is the most consumer-focused-- - Yeah, I would say this is like the early '90s 'cause the Ninja Turtles and stuff like that. - Ninja Turtles are huge, they still sell. - But yeah, and it's definitely, there's definitely a market for it. Everybody's trying to scoop up the licenses to do re-issues or retro things which drives the prices down sometimes on the old stuff. But it also makes it that you can afford things for other people who wanna get into it. - Yeah, so they said it's a nostalgia thing. They said it reminds them of simpler times. Even though the past is often romanticized, nostalgia allows us to temporarily escape from the constant stress that surrounds us. A lot of people got into collecting toys or collecting comics or getting in the tabletop games during the pandemic. So it's probably take their mind. Well, I mean, you're stuck in your house, right? - They probably start collections and now they're continuing them afterwards 'cause it makes them happy and that's probably why a lot of stuff got boosted. But whatever the answer is, now adults are buying more toys than kids. Four of them, for themselves. I don't think they're buying it for the kids too, I'm sure, which plays into it. But yeah. - Yeah, so let's talk about some of the stuff that's coming back and then we're gonna talk about this guy from Hasbro. I just found out the other day you told me about it. - I thought about it 'cause this company's gonna, I think, use the, they're not making the floppy dogs but they're taking some different companies that are making toys. I think they're taking some stuff from other companies and they're distributing it. So we're gonna look at that too. But yeah. - All right, let's look at, let's see here. We'll go out first to, this is the loyal subjects. - Yep, they're bringing back shortcakes. Shortcake, they're over at Walmart and you can get them there. They also have Rainbow Bright. You're gonna go through the pictures. You're gonna make a shortcake. - Lots of shortcake. - Yeah, there's, I don't have that. I love the little sprites. Those are adorable. I might need to get those. So there's those and then we have some more here. Hold on. Yeah, a lot of them are going to places like five below. - Yeah. - Now that looks like, I'm sorry. The purple pie man looks like a kid dressing up by Halloween as a petal purple pie man. - He always was creepy, always was it? - I mean, like sour grapes is kind of cute but they look like little, they look like little kids dressing up like in caricatures of them. - Sour grapes looks like a drag queen. - But purple pie man looks like a petal. - Let's say no, don't give it a petal man. - Yeah, that's lovely. - Oh my gosh. Anyway, oh yeah, I remember bright. I love the murky and lurky. They're really cute. - So what I never understood about the 80s shows is that the girl cartoons, they always had like an element of action to them but the bad guys were always like creepy middle-aged men. - Creep it on girls. - Creep it on girls, like. - You know what, oh, this changed a set of a second but you don't want to set people off now and you tell them that the sprites names twink. - Oh yeah. - I'm a backpack and I bought it and I'm so excited but I love it, I'm actually carrying it today and it looks like twink from Rainbow Bright and people are like, "Wait, what?" My daughter was like, "Wait, what?" And I was like, "No, that was the name." - So I think if I had these licenses, I'd get the license for Rainbow Bright and I'd get the license for Care Bears and I would make Twink in the Bear. - I don't think that would be a good idea. - I don't think that would be a good idea. - It'd be like tugs or love a lot Bear or somebody, you know what I'm saying? And they were just like going to adventures together. - Oh, and then you, Dibble, you have to put Dibble in there. - And Dibble, the testicle, yeah, Dibble's, I've never seen, they have like Dibble. - I have no idea. - Dibble was, for those of you who don't know, the new Care Bears cartoon, before it came out, they had Dibble, which looks like a fricking, it looks like a testicles, like a peach colored ball and Dibble kind of became the patron saint of clownfish TV until the cartoon came out and Dibble was not nearly as cool as we imagined Dibble. - Yeah, Dibble was not fun, sorry. - No. - You have more short cakes. - More short cakes, even more short cakes. Rainbow Bright. - I've seen them in a bright doll, I didn't buy her but I don't know, I might choose one. I like, I love toys, it's a problem. - So here's the thing with Rainbow Bright, which I learned not too long ago, actually. I always wonder why they look like they're in spacesuits 'cause originally they were in spacesuits. They actually had helmets and everything and then they took the helmets away 'cause they're like, that's overkill too much but they still had the moon boots and everything. - I like it, that's so funny when we saw like the designs for the one character in the Princess of Power show. I first went, it was ahead and we're like, no, it was just sheer wasn't it? - Cheer, yeah. - So I was like, I can't moon boots. - Yeah. - These are cute but they're really expensive. You know, it's like 15 bucks for two little figures. - But now that they're going back to the retro stuff, they're going back to what works because they tried that Rainbow Bright comic reboot which was nothing like Rainbow Bright. I think that's the only comic book we ever actually reviewed on the channel because it was retro and we're like, God, this is like what not to do. It was like-- - You can go back and watch this videos. We even tried to be fair about it. We're like, okay, here's the first one. - We tried, and then we're like, what is this? And then it's just, you didn't even get Rainbow Bright to the end of the second issue. - Oh man, limited edition, 20, 20, 20, 20, 20. - Oh, one on one, I really watched one. I'm not gonna be in San Diego. - No. - Yeah, people were upset. - Oh, they're gonna pre-order online at retail partners. - Okay. - 'Cause I very much, I very much want one of those. (gasps) Wait, what? - What? Plum Puns back. - What? Okay, they're actually supposed to be, I see Plum Pudding as a boy. Okay, true story. They're actually, Plum Pudding, one was a boy in the art and then a girl, and it was like, in the show, Plum Pudding was, was it the show was a boy in the place where a girl? - Okay, no, originally Plum Puden, when Plum Puden came out, how do I know the frickin' lore? I don't, it was one of those weird things. - Plum Puden was trans back, guys. Plum Puden was supposed to be a boy. Plum Puden even had a girlfriend on the cards and then at some point in time they decided Plum Puden was a girl later on in the line and they just never addressed it. And I think, I think it's really as simple as girl dolls sell boy dolls don't. - Well. - That was it. - Another interesting thing, they did a release and they released different dolls. I think it was overseas. And they even did ones that were like characters that we had never had toys of over here. And they did a male version, a boy version of Plum Pudding. And I know this because I got one for our daughter who collects strawberry shark cake. She dressed up like a strawberry shark cake characters to go to PowerCon and she wanted, she wanted the boy version really bad. But now I see this, I need to get the girl version for her. Go down here on the right. It says, "Well, these be available online." Sorry, we're taking a detour. Click and see what they said. I wanna, I need to know. Conocup, pre-order, yes, okay. I need more details because the little subjects, if you ever listen to this, love what you're doing. If you ever wanna send me some stuff, please do. But I really wanna find out about getting this plum pudding for my daughter because she absolutely adores strawberry shark cake. It's like she has a massive collection. I like that short cake a lot too. She looks like the vintage one. - She has a purse. - I like her. - Yeah, they go. - I love you, I love you. I love you when you see NDA go, pins. - Sprites. - Dang it, and make one to see NDA go, it can help grow out. So here's your site. They're doing a bunch of, they're doing Conocon exclusives in general. They're doing Ninja Turtles, they have Avatar. They have a bunch of different things. They're doing dolls. There's a bunch of things that they're working on. - Yeah, they're pretty popular with collectors right now. So that's, I mean, again, they're mostly a collector line, which is really the market, the adult market. But then you go out to like basic fun. And this is where we're gonna talk a little bit about like Hasbro and stuff later. But a lot of the Hasbro licenses, they just outsourced basic fun. - Yeah, Care Bears, Tonka. - Yeah, this is all stuff that-- - Pound puppies, my little pony. - Yeah, those pet shops are huge now. - Oh yeah, my daughter is so excited they brought back little pet shops. She's very thrilled because it's another thing she collects as little as pet shops. Loves them. And then the bobblehead versions too. 'Cause she hates the ones that don't, I buy their little ponies. I've bought a lot of their reissue ponies. I have them. - But yeah, like even light brighten and ponies and stuff. And then we know that Hasbro outsourced power rangers to, what was it, planates? That makes an internal and stuff too? So everybody's like, yeah, they're trying to chase after, it's one of two markets. It's either the kids market, the collector market, or yes. It seems like, I mean, they show kids in the pictures, but like, I'm telling you, adults are buying the pound puppies. - They're gonna talk for that one. Well, like tomorrow, we're going shopping. I'm not gonna say where, but we're going out. We never get to go out. We're going shopping. And when we go shopping, we're on a mission to find things. We're on a mission. I'm looking, you're looking for transformers. I'm always, I'll look for them new monster hide-offs. I'm also looking for the Calico craters, because it's my date. It has nothing to do with anything else. It's just so cute I had to share. They're my latest thing. I absolutely adore them. Pinkie Boo has a bunch when she was a kid. I cleaned them up, packed them up. And then I was like, I love them. So I now buy them. - It's like goat family. You had like, you had like little cats that had little cupcake hats on. - I do those the blind bags. So we're on a quest to find the blind bags. - I'm not kidding kidding. - They're so cute. - Look at this. This is like-- - I don't have those ones yet. - I don't have these ones. - No. - This is what a fox with an apple for a hat. - It looks like a deer. - This is a shroomy bunny. - I don't know, it might be cat, but they're really cute. I love them. And they're flocked, and they're fluffy, and they're, but adorable. But anyway, you can go back to other things. I just took a side tangent, because I really love them, and they're very cute. - Let's talk about extensive enterprises, which I thought was fantastic. You're like, oh, there's this company out there. There's gobbling up licenses. It's called extensive enterprise. - I don't think they're, I think what they're doing is they're working with companies that are making their own things or have licenses. 'Cause I know, for example, they're working with the guy who's doing the, the guy you got talked to before. - Oh, Bobby Valley. - Yeah, yeah. - And they're working with developers, yeah. - And they're working with developers, yeah. - You work for Asper, too, yeah. - I know they're working with the people that are doing the new release of the Fluffy Dogs, 'cause they're bringing Fluffy Dogs back, and they have new ones coming, and I know on Walmart.com, you can buy a couple of ones they have out. But go ahead, continue. - Yeah, no, this is interesting. This is Michael Kelly, the former VP of Global Publishing at Hasbro. He was actually behind the new Transformers GI Joe reboot at Skybound, which I picked up the first two collections I need to read them. I got the Duke book and the Transformers book. But it looks really good. It looks like it's actually on brand compared to the IDW stuff. The IDW stuff was like gender identity and Transformers comics. And when you went to the convention, and they were a bunch of GI Joe fans at the one convention, the Hasbro marketing gal was asking them to give their pronouns. I mean, we're talking about guys in their 40s, some of them in their 50s, many of them military, former military, and they're being asked to give their pronouns at a freakin' toy show. - But they did, I mean, they did. - They're just kind of like wearing it out, but they're like, you know what, that's what it takes to ask questions, okay? - That's what it takes to ask questions. - 'Cause most people do it if they have to, but they just like, you know, it's just weird to put them in that position. Go ahead. - Yeah, no, I think this is actually pretty cool. 'Cause a lot of the people that, and we're seeing a lot of this happen, a lot of people that made the things go, made these companies go, whether it's Hasbro or Disney or, you know, some different game publishers or whatever it is, they're going out in their own because it seems like the corporations that actually own the IP don't really care that much about anymore, you know, they just wanna kind of get juiced them, but this is what he says. They're developing a strong IP and executing the right brand strategy is vital to breaking through the noise in today's marketplace. Storytelling is particularly important as a component in a brand strategy. What we're seeing is a lot of multimedia, kind of like they used to do, like, you know, with transformers and GIJOs. Like, yeah, we're doing transformers and GIJO collectibles, but let's also do comics. Let's also do retro-style video games. Let's do, you know what I'm saying? But again, it's all geared more toward adults. I don't think a lot of these companies with these legacy brands are trying to capture the younger audience, and I don't know if I want them to because if they're gonna try and make it for current, you're gonna ruin it. - Probably, you know. Well, this is what they're saying. At launch, extensive enterprises, both to client roster, including Valiverse, the company behind the Action Force brand, which you've had him on. - But also a pretty cool guy, yeah. - And we've reviewed the toys before on the blog. King features that manages Popeye Cuphead Flashgore. And a more punky playhouse. They own Fluffy Docs. They're relaunching Fluffy. Are they relaunching Fluffy series? Are you kidding me? - Oh my God. - I have one series with my gosh, yeah. I have one of the series. - Oh my God, you just heard that. - They're Fluffy Docs on the series. I have to go look that up after the Snorks and Eat Sleep brands. Sorry, guys, I love these things. And Anime Village and the forthcoming anime feature here, The Pigeon Hawk. So there you go. - Yeah, well, it's interesting, 'cause as soon as she says extensive enterprises, for those of you who don't know, that's a Tomax and Zygmott. - Yeah, he's so excited. - That's the corporate front for Cobra, Crimson Guard. I was like, I get that reference. I get that extensive enterprises. So yeah, they're bringing some old brands back, but I guarantee you it's mostly geared toward collectors, but that's okay, right? I'm man enough to admit that I play with toys, right? Oh, I don't play with them as much by collect. Well, I collect them. - This is me with that. - And that looks about seaweeze. - Yeah, just we currently own and license the toy brands Fluffy Dog Seaweeze Snorks and Eat Sleep. - I already have coupled with Fluffy Dogs. They have other ones on order that were coming when they did orders for them. - Yeah, you've already got this. - But now they have seaweeze coming, and I'm interested in the seaweeze, man. Where are the seaweeze? - Seaweeze. Look at this. This is beautiful. This is kind of like our house. - Yes, it is kind of. - Right here. - Oh, look at all that. Did I say there's the boy version? Right there. - Oh, that's the boy. Yeah, that's the international one. That's the one that, yeah, over here on the right, there's some more of them. These are in the boxes. - Yeah. - Yeah, I bought one for, they have very hints and stuff. - Yeah. Yeah, they got all kinds of cool stuff. So there we go, guys. Seaweeze are coming back. - So I am very excited. - I should just call that. What is up with the blueberry muffin? - I don't know, but I'm very, very excited right now. - Yeah. - Okay, so we're gonna wrap this up. - Yep. - There we go. - It's always this video, rant long. We do like toys too. - I'm sorry, but I love toys. - All right, please subscribe for more pop culture news, views, rants. We'll talk later. - Bye. (upbeat music) - Thanks again for listening. More news and videos are available on our website at www.clownfishtv.com and on our YouTube channel, clownfishtv. You can buy official merchandise, clownfish comic books and more at shopclownfish.com. If you like this show, please consider subscribing and leaving us a positive review on iTunes and other podcast platforms. If you're looking to help support this show financially, go to clownfishsupport.com. If you'd like to sponsor an episode of this show, send us an email at business@webrief.io. This podcast is a production of clownfish studios, LLC and web reef media proudly made in Pittsburgh, USA. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music)