5 ms·

> I see this as an example of “shrinkflation” - ostensibly it’s the same product at the same price, but it’s clear that inflation has caused it to become shitti

> I see this as an example of “shrinkflation” - ostensibly it’s the same product at the same price, but it’s clear that inflation has caused it to become shittier over time. Came here to say the same thing, and the trend was even noticeable in the 90s. I can't even imagine how flimsy they must be now -- probably even worse than a 90s cereal box prize car.

Fire-Dragon-DoL 4y ago
This is pretty evident across the board. I loved my toys as a child so i kept a lot of them. Plastic was way better. The one they have now is super shitty. I go to toys r us and I am disappointed constantly. I'm ready to pay a decent price, there is just nothing worth (beside lego probably)
- kmlx 4y ago
  if you want great toys i recommend shops that stock old toys. they of course come at a premium, but the quality is generally much better. places like mandarake in tokyo come to mind, but there are many out there.
  - Fire-Dragon-DoL 4y ago
    Anything around Canada (or north america)? Does mandarake ship to Canada?
  - Fire-Dragon-DoL 4y ago
    I used to play a lot with the power ranger mechas and those made from Bandai are incredible quality, unless you are up for the modern metal ones, but those cost SO much.
- hackyhacky 4y ago
  Modern Transformers are amazing. Way better than in the '80s. You have to buy the collector-targeted stuff, though. The current line is called Legacy. If you are willing to pay, the Masterpiece line is also excellent, and there are fantastic third-party transformers as well: these have lots of metal, ratcheting joints, complex transformations, and usually cost over $100, up to $300. I will plug https://tfsource.com/ https://tfsource.com/ Avoid the kiddie-oriented lines (Cyberverse) and the mass-market lines (usually co-marketed with the most recent movie).
  - Fire-Dragon-DoL 4y ago
    Sorry I forgot to mention, independently of my comment, that suggestion is good, I saw a bunch of cool designs. The funny thing is that everything that actually looks good is marketed at collectors. The problem is also that my children are still young, so I need stuff with some resistance, somewhat.
    - hackyhacky 4y ago
      The latest collector-oriented, wide-distribution lines from Hasbro are an outstanding value, with interesting transformations, durable enough for kids, and pay homage to the characters their parents know from the '80s. I'm talking specifically about Siege, Earthrise, Kingdom, Legacy, and Studio Series 86. https://tfsource.com/hasbro/transformers-studio-series-86/ https://tfsource.com/hasbro/transformers-studio-series-86/ https://tfsource.com/transformers/war-for-cybertron-trilogy/siege/ https://tfsource.com/transformers/war-for-cybertron-trilogy/... https://tfsource.com/generations-legacy/ https://tfsource.com/generations-legacy/ Cyclonus in particular is an amazing toy for kids or adults: https://tfsource.com/tfsource/cyclonus-and-nightstick-voyager-class-transformers-generations-selects-legacy/ https://tfsource.com/tfsource/cyclonus-and-nightstick-voyage... You can find these at Target or Walmart in the US for even cheaper.
  - Fire-Dragon-DoL 4y ago
    The problem with collector models is that they break way more easily. Also $300 means I can buy stuff the caliber of Soul of Chokogin ( https://live.staticflickr.com/5553/15149130081_124d4867f0_b.jpg https://live.staticflickr.com/5553/15149130081_124d4867f0_b.... ), which is super high quality. Or I might as well buy some of the power ranger mechas from my days, to inspire some interest in mechanics. My daughter did fall in love with a small Gundam SD she built "oh I have an action figure too now!!!", but she of course want to play with it, she doesn't love the fact that's just in the display case.
    - hackyhacky 4y ago
      I'm not talking about model kits: I'm talking about high-quality toys. In my experience toys from Hasbro's Masterpiece line, as well as toys from third party-companies from like FansToys and Mastermind Creations easily exceed the build quality of Bandai. For example, comparing my FansToys Stomp ( https://tfsource.com/fanstoys/stomp/ https://tfsource.com/fanstoys/stomp/ ) to my DX Chogokin Macross VF-1J, there's no contest: the FansToys is more durable, better articulated, with a more interesting transformation. It's just a better toy. I have Daltanius and other SoC toys as well, and they are fine, but they seem primitive in comparison to, say, Hasbro's MP-44 Optimus Prime. Having said that, they are not children's toys. For kids I would recommend Studio Series ( https://tfsource.com/hasbro/transformers-studio-series-86/ https://tfsource.com/hasbro/transformers-studio-series-86/ ).
- mc32 4y ago
  Tomica is another choice.
  - Fire-Dragon-DoL 4y ago
    WOW, some stuff here looks amazing, thank you!
spicybright 4y ago
Just for some anecdata, I like buying hot wheels for desk toys every so often. They definitely feel light and cheap, but still roll really smoothly and straight. From reading up on their history, I recall that was the main innovation that made it so popular. It's neat they kept that going! That said, I'm not a kid crashing them together every day in a sandbox, I just fiddle with each every few days for maybe 3-6 months or so at a time before switching out to new ones. So your mileage may vary (ha) depending on how taxing you are on them.
Spooky23 4y ago
My parents kept all of my cars from the 80s and my brothers from the 90s, so my kid plays with 50 years worth of them. The shrinkflation was between 1980 and early 2000s. The cars today are cheaper, but not junky. They are raising their margins by other means now. That low price point exists, but with a much smaller number of cars. When I was a kid in the 80s, there was 50-100 cars at the same price. Now there is much less, but the cool cars are often branded and may be 2x-3x the price.
Caldwell-77 4y ago
I actually think the cars are still decent quality. I’ve bought a number of them for my 4-year-old son recently, and we have a lot of fun racing and crashing them. They’re holding up well so far after months of daily use. And even if the quality of Hot Wheels has gone down over the years/decades, I think it’s awesome that each car still only costs about $1. I can easily afford to buy one or two cars every time I go to the grocery store with my son, which makes the shopping experience much more fun for both of us. If the cars were 10x the price, then I couldn’t do that.
- phil21 4y ago
  > I can easily afford to buy one or two cars every time I go to the grocery store with my son, which makes the shopping experience much more fun for both of us. If the cars were 10x the price, then I couldn’t do that. This brought back memories for me. As a very young father still starting out in a professional career this was one of the few bright spots of my life back then. Being able to see my son's excitement to go to the store with me every Saturday to choose his new wheels really was a small part in keeping me going. Very happy to see this "tradition" continuing 20 years later.
bombcar 4y ago
The 90s was a really low point. Somewhere in the 2000s manufacturing or materials got cheap enough and the small toy cars started getting better again. The ones my kids throw at each other are pretty durable again it seems.

Fire-Dragon-DoL 4y ago

This is pretty evident across the board. I loved my toys as a child so i kept a lot of them. Plastic was way better. The one they have now is super shitty. I go to toys r us and I am disappointed constantly. I'm ready to pay a decent price, there is just nothing worth (beside lego probably)

kmlx 4y ago
if you want great toys i recommend shops that stock old toys. they of course come at a premium, but the quality is generally much better. places like mandarake in tokyo come to mind, but there are many out there.
- Fire-Dragon-DoL 4y ago
  Anything around Canada (or north america)? Does mandarake ship to Canada?
- Fire-Dragon-DoL 4y ago
  I used to play a lot with the power ranger mechas and those made from Bandai are incredible quality, unless you are up for the modern metal ones, but those cost SO much.
hackyhacky 4y ago
Modern Transformers are amazing. Way better than in the '80s. You have to buy the collector-targeted stuff, though. The current line is called Legacy. If you are willing to pay, the Masterpiece line is also excellent, and there are fantastic third-party transformers as well: these have lots of metal, ratcheting joints, complex transformations, and usually cost over $100, up to $300. I will plug https://tfsource.com/ https://tfsource.com/ Avoid the kiddie-oriented lines (Cyberverse) and the mass-market lines (usually co-marketed with the most recent movie).
- Fire-Dragon-DoL 4y ago
  Sorry I forgot to mention, independently of my comment, that suggestion is good, I saw a bunch of cool designs. The funny thing is that everything that actually looks good is marketed at collectors. The problem is also that my children are still young, so I need stuff with some resistance, somewhat.
  - hackyhacky 4y ago
    The latest collector-oriented, wide-distribution lines from Hasbro are an outstanding value, with interesting transformations, durable enough for kids, and pay homage to the characters their parents know from the '80s. I'm talking specifically about Siege, Earthrise, Kingdom, Legacy, and Studio Series 86. https://tfsource.com/hasbro/transformers-studio-series-86/ https://tfsource.com/hasbro/transformers-studio-series-86/ https://tfsource.com/transformers/war-for-cybertron-trilogy/siege/ https://tfsource.com/transformers/war-for-cybertron-trilogy/... https://tfsource.com/generations-legacy/ https://tfsource.com/generations-legacy/ Cyclonus in particular is an amazing toy for kids or adults: https://tfsource.com/tfsource/cyclonus-and-nightstick-voyager-class-transformers-generations-selects-legacy/ https://tfsource.com/tfsource/cyclonus-and-nightstick-voyage... You can find these at Target or Walmart in the US for even cheaper.
- Fire-Dragon-DoL 4y ago
  The problem with collector models is that they break way more easily. Also $300 means I can buy stuff the caliber of Soul of Chokogin ( https://live.staticflickr.com/5553/15149130081_124d4867f0_b.jpg https://live.staticflickr.com/5553/15149130081_124d4867f0_b.... ), which is super high quality. Or I might as well buy some of the power ranger mechas from my days, to inspire some interest in mechanics. My daughter did fall in love with a small Gundam SD she built "oh I have an action figure too now!!!", but she of course want to play with it, she doesn't love the fact that's just in the display case.
  - hackyhacky 4y ago
    I'm not talking about model kits: I'm talking about high-quality toys. In my experience toys from Hasbro's Masterpiece line, as well as toys from third party-companies from like FansToys and Mastermind Creations easily exceed the build quality of Bandai. For example, comparing my FansToys Stomp ( https://tfsource.com/fanstoys/stomp/ https://tfsource.com/fanstoys/stomp/ ) to my DX Chogokin Macross VF-1J, there's no contest: the FansToys is more durable, better articulated, with a more interesting transformation. It's just a better toy. I have Daltanius and other SoC toys as well, and they are fine, but they seem primitive in comparison to, say, Hasbro's MP-44 Optimus Prime. Having said that, they are not children's toys. For kids I would recommend Studio Series ( https://tfsource.com/hasbro/transformers-studio-series-86/ https://tfsource.com/hasbro/transformers-studio-series-86/ ).
mc32 4y ago
Tomica is another choice.
- Fire-Dragon-DoL 4y ago
  WOW, some stuff here looks amazing, thank you!

spicybright 4y ago

Just for some anecdata, I like buying hot wheels for desk toys every so often. They definitely feel light and cheap, but still roll really smoothly and straight. From reading up on their history, I recall that was the main innovation that made it so popular. It's neat they kept that going! That said, I'm not a kid crashing them together every day in a sandbox, I just fiddle with each every few days for maybe 3-6 months or so at a time before switching out to new ones. So your mileage may vary (ha) depending on how taxing you are on them.

Spooky23 4y ago

My parents kept all of my cars from the 80s and my brothers from the 90s, so my kid plays with 50 years worth of them. The shrinkflation was between 1980 and early 2000s. The cars today are cheaper, but not junky. They are raising their margins by other means now. That low price point exists, but with a much smaller number of cars. When I was a kid in the 80s, there was 50-100 cars at the same price. Now there is much less, but the cool cars are often branded and may be 2x-3x the price.

Caldwell-77 4y ago

I actually think the cars are still decent quality. I’ve bought a number of them for my 4-year-old son recently, and we have a lot of fun racing and crashing them. They’re holding up well so far after months of daily use. And even if the quality of Hot Wheels has gone down over the years/decades, I think it’s awesome that each car still only costs about $1. I can easily afford to buy one or two cars every time I go to the grocery store with my son, which makes the shopping experience much more fun for both of us. If the cars were 10x the price, then I couldn’t do that.

phil21 4y ago
> I can easily afford to buy one or two cars every time I go to the grocery store with my son, which makes the shopping experience much more fun for both of us. If the cars were 10x the price, then I couldn’t do that. This brought back memories for me. As a very young father still starting out in a professional career this was one of the few bright spots of my life back then. Being able to see my son's excitement to go to the store with me every Saturday to choose his new wheels really was a small part in keeping me going. Very happy to see this "tradition" continuing 20 years later.

bombcar 4y ago

The 90s was a really low point. Somewhere in the 2000s manufacturing or materials got cheap enough and the small toy cars started getting better again. The ones my kids throw at each other are pretty durable again it seems.