How big is the online toy community?

[Pascal]

Kids don't only get Transformers for Christmas, throughout the year there are birthdays , special occasions, etc. The list of reasons to buy a toy for a kid is longer than you think.

[MilanX3]

42...hehe...that was quite funny.

Anyone here have kids, or relatives with kids?...what do they ask for these days when they want a toy that isnt a video game?

I see alot of them going for Pokemon and other card games and whatever is trending that year, often Spin Master products like Hatchtimals and TMNT. Cars also seem to be very popular, always..now we see some from the movie are just diecast model cars..pretty impressive models for the price actually. Fidget spinners and such things, now starting their decline. Lego of course, but alot of that has to do with Lego buying licensing to produce known characters in Lego for tonnes, really tonnes of money. Often I see parents or other relatives checking out Voyager class Titans and CW figures, so someone is getting those year round, those designs are impressive for a kid 12 or under. I know a few people who work in design, and even though many did not grow up with many brands as kids, if a toy is well designed they will purchase it. Wide market..and with Toy Cons and other event, its really part of a culture beyond just the product market. Championed by toy sales and merch, but now with other revenue streams beyond just the hasbro brands. TMNT have done well expanding into anything they can put a Turtle on it seems.

[79transam]

Interesting points being made.
One step aside, I think it might be good to seperate the adolecent toys from the more collectible toys for the purpose of this thread.
Duplo, little tykes... all that stuff for little kids needs to be in it's own bracket or the conversation is just conveluted with a moot demographic

[justprime]

Dont forvet thst the kids today become the collectors of tomorrow and that keeps building ranks as well.....just saying numbers dont seem to give accuracy also if its the kid buying this amount third paryys wouldnt exist as the marked wouldnt justify the costs....imho

[Robimus]

I think the impact of the more serious, 'adultish', collectors is often underestimated. Overall Hasbro's 30%\70% breakdown could be accurate, maybe.

I just don't know how Hasbro could even come up with a number. When they sell to Walmart, or Loblaw, or TRU - how do they tell who they are selling the product to?

I think certain lines are aimed at and driven by kids, while other lines are more supported by adults.

It is just so hard to narrow down to a number. I think I see roughly 20 adults looking at the Transformers section in stores for every kid I see.

It would be interesting to stake out TRU for a weekend and do a count for scientific purposes.

[79transam]

In the market of higher detailed toys, like MP/3P, Neca, 6" BS and ML, SHF, Mezco ect, I would have a hard time saying that young people make up much more than 2 or 3% of sales.

So when I posed the question of how big the online toy comminity is, this is what I was asking. Most toddlers aren't posting in forums and showing traits of collectors who partake in the community.

[chaingunsofdoom]

I realize you asked about online member numbers, and that number is dependent on where you look. How many different TF forums are there? Newgroups (are they still around?) or whatever else? Then, do you count only actual posters? Or count the lurkers too? For an example from Reddit, there are almost 13K subscribers. But not nearly that many daily posters.

But also in regards to the percentage of buyers that people were discussing, this was in Hasbro's August Investor report:

- "20% of Hasbro products are consumed by people 14 years of age or older"
- "Growing demographic"

http://files.shareholder.com/downloa...esentation.pdf

[Shockwave 75]

Originally Posted by Matrix_Holder

You all know that the the provided numbers are outdated and flat out wrong now.

Yeah, that "30%" number has been floating around for a long time now. I think the first time I heard it was pre-movie years, so before 2007. At the time it seemed accurate but now it just seems low. I think we're still probably in the minority, but I'd bet it's probably closer to 40%/60% now. Every time I go to my local Walmart it's the current "collector oriented" lines that are barely there, not the kid targeted ones.

Originally Posted by Robimus

It is just so hard to narrow down to a number. I think I see roughly 20 adults looking at the Transformers section in stores for every kid I see.

Yeah, but are those adults buying for themselves, or for a kid or kids? That "70%" number doesn't actually mean kids, it's more representative of adults buying for kids.
I'm still inclined to believe that number is higher since we seem to be living in a era where parents over all seem more permissive and just give their kids whatever they want, whenever they want it.

It would be interesting to stake out TRU for a weekend and do a count for scientific purposes.

Pardon me sir, but you've been sitting here in the toy aisle for days now, and the smell is starting to make people uncomfortable. Please pack up your lawn chair and cooler and leave!

Originally Posted by chaingunsofdoom

But also in regards to the percentage of buyers that people were discussing, this was in Hasbro's August Investor report:

- "20% of Hasbro products are consumed by people 14 years of age or older"
- "Growing demographic"

http://files.shareholder.com/downloa...esentation.pdf

20%?! That seems REALLY low to me. My guessed number of 40%/60% seems more real.

[79transam]

So I actually got some real data for a star wars demographic of the biggest IG page.

[Nocturn]

Originally Posted by Robimus

It is just so hard to narrow down to a number. I think I see roughly 20 adults looking at the Transformers section in stores for every kid I see.

Not sure if this was meant as hyperbole but I typically see 50/50 parents and kids/people like me who obvs don't have a family, which is absolutely as increase from when I started collecting.

10 years ago I'd get dirty looks and the third degree at checkout, why are you buying this (for myself), who is it for (myself), no who is it for really (myself). That never happens anymore, and people see me visibly as a collector passing through their till as a normal thing. When asked if they're for myself, instead of judgement, I get a discussion on how incredibly popular these things are

I do not believe hasbro's numbers are at all accurate, no one gets carded for a fkn tf so how do they have any idea how old any of their customers are? Aside from people filling out surveys, which guess what, kids have more time and desire to do. It could be 90% kids, it could be 90% adult fans, there's no actual way to tell. That's like if you were trying to get the demographics of people who buy bread, and short of photographing and interviewing every single customer, you'll never know for certain.

I would honestly believe collectors comprise 50% or more of sales of "adult" lines. Collectors have deeper pockets than a kid and more urge than a parent

Good points all around but to the OP's question, we'll never really know