LOT of ground to cover today folks, so let’s get right to it.

–ODD–

Phil Reed of Battlegrip recently posted “Five Reasons Why Action Figures Cost More Today.” Phil knows what he’s talking about and you should check out the whole thing, which focuses largely on economic factors such as rising labor and materials costs. But one thing that interested me was the first comment on the post, which mentioned the declining birthrate in Western countries. That reminded me of this post by Richard Gottlieb that I read recently, “U.S. Birthrate Plummets; Look for Fewer Children in Four Years.” Richard begins the article with, “If there was ever a case to be made for marketing toys to adult end users…” Hasbro has clearly embraced this idea, but if I had to guess I’m willing to bet there’s still a struggle going on at Mattel between the generations over how to approach the collectors’ market. (more…)