You may have seen stories all over the internet over the last two weeks about 'kidults' or anyone over 12 buying toys for themselves nowadays. This Forbes article sums it up-

https://www.forbes.com/sites/joanverdon/2022/12/24/will-kidults-save-the-toy-industry-this-christmas/?sh=474dcd3e3e53

Basically toy sales are down this year from 2020-2021 levels and the media is trying to use that as an angle to talk about 'kidults' like it's some new phenomena. Hasbro's president Eric Nyman was interviewed on Fox & Friends and the discussion centered on how Millennials and Gen Z are driving the kidult trend-

https://video.foxbusiness.com/v/6317594899112#sp=show-clips

Of course Nyman gets out a ton of talking points, name dropping the upcoming Dungeons and Dragons line and Transformers Rise of the Beasts as product targeting the kidult demographic.

I was feeling left out with all this focus on Millennials but there was plenty of snarky commentary about ALL adults who buy toys for themselves in this clip from another Fox show called The Ingraham Angle-

https://www.foxnews.com/video/6317660761112

It's kinda weird how they're expecting adult toy fans to save the industry from decreasing profits. Hell is freezing over faster than I thought!

On Sunday, December 25, 2022 at 12:09:38 AM UTC-5, evil.king.m...@gmail.com wrote:
> You may have seen stories all over the internet over the last two weeks about 'kidults' or anyone over 12 buying toys for themselves nowadays. This Forbes article sums it up-
>
> https://www.forbes.com/sites/joanverdon/2022/12/24/will-kidults-save-the-toy-industry-this-christmas/?sh=474dcd3e3e53
>
> Basically toy sales are down this year from 2020-2021 levels and the media is trying to use that as an angle to talk about 'kidults' like it's some new phenomena. Hasbro's president Eric Nyman was interviewed on Fox & Friends and the discussion centered on how Millennials and Gen Z are driving the kidult trend-
>
> https://video.foxbusiness.com/v/6317594899112#sp=show-clips
>
> Of course Nyman gets out a ton of talking points, name dropping the upcoming Dungeons and Dragons line and Transformers Rise of the Beasts as product targeting the kidult demographic.
>
> I was feeling left out with all this focus on Millennials but there was plenty of snarky commentary about ALL adults who buy toys for themselves in this clip from another Fox show called The Ingraham Angle-
>
> https://www.foxnews.com/video/6317660761112
>
> It's kinda weird how they're expecting adult toy fans to save the industry from decreasing profits. Hell is freezing over faster than I thought!

The discussion on TFW2005 has been entertaining, to say the least - a surprisingly large and vocal portion of the fandom objects strongly to being called a "kidult." It seems like an epithet verging on hate speech for many.

The stigma around comics, toys, and generally enjoying pop culture ephemera into your golden years seems to be eroding rapidly. Gen X and the Millennials have the deeply rooted parasocial attachments and the savings/salaries to indulge in nostalgia. It's the perfect target audience. We had a $700+ Robosen Prime, after all. The future is bright!

On Saturday, December 24, 2022 at 10:09:38 PM UTC-7, evil.king.m...@gmail.com wrote:

> It's kinda weird how they're expecting adult toy fans to save the industry from decreasing profits. Hell is freezing over faster than I thought!

Well, we're all obsessed man-children who live in our parents' basements, so we a) don't have house payments to worry about and b) unlike normal consumers, we NEED our toys so we'll never go without them, no matter how much they jack the prices up.

I never much cared for the "kidult" label when it was coined some years ago and I'm still not super fond of it. It seems to imply that we're all just oversized kids trapped in an adult's body. But I suppose referring to us as "fans" or "collectors" or "hobbyists" doesn't allow them to coin a trendy buzzword.

So, a different article than the one you cited described adult collectors as making up 25% of the toy-buying consumers, which is substantially higher than is typically reported. I always knew we represented a very large percentage of the market, but this is the first time I've seen a statistic that seems to closely match my views and personal experiences about the matter. Historically, the reported percentage of collectors has always seemed to skew far too low. So, either we're growing as a group, or they're finally reporting on this stuff correctly for once.

I mean, when I'm not only buying every single Earthrise toy but also getting multiple Quintesson Judge toys, multiple Allicon toys, multiple Studio Series Gnaw toys, etc. I *know* I'm making more of a dent than your average seven-year-old named Brixton or Jaxton or whatever made-up name he's saddled with, who likes Transformers and might get one or two for his birthday. I have the buying power of, like, twenty kids like him. And Braxton or whatever his name is probably doesn't order Masterpiece toys from Japan, either..

Zob (no offense, Brixton, but you have a stupid name)

> So, either we're growing as a group, or they're finally reporting on this
> stuff correctly for once

I think what is happening is that we adult collectors are remaining
relatively the same or slightly declining (inflation/economy/nagging wives)
while the toy buying kid population is falling off a cliff. Thus we are
growing as percentage.

-Banzaitron

I'm surprised it isn't 33% yet.

There's at least one toy YouTuber that keeps trotting out the old 10%
number. I'm kind of hot and cold on the guy. He used to work for Mattel
like a decade ago, so his insight is appreciated. But I feel his views
are sometimes biased towards the corporations and perhaps outdated.

Many other toy YouTubers seem to be the opposite... like very moody,
entitled manchildren that constantly squabble with each other.

I'd really like someone in the middle that's still entertaining and
informative. It's a tall order.

On Tuesday, December 27, 2022 at 6:08:50 PM UTC-7, Travoltron wrote:
> There's at least one toy YouTuber that keeps trotting out the old 10%
> number. I'm kind of hot and cold on the guy. He used to work for Mattel
> like a decade ago, so his insight is appreciated. But I feel his views
> are sometimes biased towards the corporations and perhaps outdated.

Are you talking about Spector Creative? I spent some time watching a number of his Masters of the Universe videos. He rambles a lot, but he does have an interesting perspective on the industry as one who was once heavily involved in it.

> I'd really like someone in the middle that's still entertaining and
> informative. It's a tall order.

But being angry and controversial gets you more views!

Zob (hates everything and is very loud about it)

On 12/30/2022 7:38 PM, Zobovor wrote:
> Are you talking about Spector Creative?

Yeah, that's the guy. I think he's informative, but his presentation
isn't always the best.

The YouTube algorithm is stupid and seems to punish tight, concise
videos. So I understand why people might blather on just to make 15
minutes or whatever the ideal length is this week. But I don't have to
like it.

This is something that's affecting almost all the channels.
Retroblasting was a channel I once loved, but he's just gotten lazy by
recording long, unedited rants or boring livestreams of him unboxing
toys that people mail to him. He's also started petty feuds with guys
like Spector.

On Tuesday, December 27, 2022 at 9:05:28 AM UTC-8, Anonymous wrote:
> I think what is happening is that we adult collectors are remaining
> relatively the same or slightly declining (inflation/economy/nagging wives)
> while the toy buying kid population is falling off a cliff. Thus we are
> growing as percentage.

I think it's interesting that these articles focus more on Millenials as toy buying adults and Gen X and older aren't mentioned. It's like they're acknowledging Millenial buying power as the new hotness in kidultery and putting the forty somethings out to pasture.