Written by Look out preschoolers!
For the first time ever, the toy market geared for adults has accounted for more toy sales than any other age group.
With the latest data compiled by Circana, “the leading advisor on the complexity of consumer behavior“, as of April 30th this year… toy purchases for consumers ages 18 and older surpassed the previous top ranking 3 to 5 year-old demographic as the most lucrative age group in the toy industry.
Building momentum since the pandemic, the adult toy market finally broke through in 2024, contributing over $1.5 billion in sales in the first quarter alone, pushing the 18+ demographic to the top spot. The data indicates the main reasons adults are buying these toys for themselves is for socialization, enjoyment, and collecting.
While there have been adults who have always bought toys for themselves, this niche market has amazingly gone mainstream over the past few years. And now the adults have finally overtaken the throne as the most important toy market in the industry. Will this trend continue? We will have to wait and see.
The adults are in the toy room! We’ll see you next time.
Does this mean retailers will stop cramming the toy aisles with stuff for kids and give adult collectibles more space? Probably not for a year or two but we can hope.
If it stays that way I think they’ll have to!
Does this prove Nostalgia is the most powerful drug of them all?
@asterstar The new crack epidemic comes with mini comics.
We are the first generation that refuses to grow up.
@mighty-thanos
Looks like we all took that jingle seriously.
It’s crazy that when I was collecting in my 20’s I thought we were a very small group. You all know what I’m talking about. If someone found out our hobby we were looked at with 2 heads, now look haha
The shift in societal acceptance is quite astonishing. What was the catalyst? I want to know because it is all so curious.
Here in italy the situation for collectors is still not so bright though…
What do you mean bro? How come?
There aren’t many sites selling Mattel stuff, I only know mycomics and millenniumshop, and they are’s that much rich in the MOTU universe line ups. The physical shops very rarely sell MOTU lines, except the CGI show ones (but I’m not that much interested in those). I live in Bologna, and it’s really hard to find MOTU resellers. The only real options I know for certain are ebay, amazon and Vinted (a french app that allows people to resell their used toys and other stuff).
For this reason it is often very hard to find figures, and it’s even harder to find them at fair prices.
I give you an example: on 5th of March I preordered Masters of the Universe x Stranger Things Origins Action Figure 2-Pack Skeletor & Demogorgon 14 cm Motu by Mattel
and the item has never arrived. I contacted the sellers many times to get some information, but they have always been quite vague in their answers. From what I know, that item should be available since last April, so, I don’t know what to do.
The Skeletor Demogorgon 2pack wasn’t out two months ago. Some YT toy reviewers got some early but that wasn’t from real distribution. They get there figures early from the darkweb and suspect looking bros wearing trenchcoats lined with toys. It did start showing up at Target stores a month ago so if that link you posted is a legit Mattel retailer I think they should be in Italy by August. Don’t you guys get your figures a few months after America?