Feature - Action Figures & Collectibles

Have you met little my friend…

Keen to find out what’s happening on the Action Figure front line, Toy World sits down with experts (and collectors) Matt Booker and Dave Middleton to find out what’s selling, which companies are getting the category right, and where it could become even stronger.

“The Action Figure category has evolved - but not necessarily 100% in a positive way,” explains Matt Booker, who has been immersed in it for more than 30 years via The Corsham Toy Shop and Automattic Comics. Dressed that day in a Star Wars shirt covered in pictures of a Rancor action figure, Matt probably wouldn’t object to being called a geek – and on the subject of Action Figures, he certainly has a lot to say.

Let’s start with the good, the companies that are nailing it. Bandai, he tells us, offers a huge variety of Action Figures across all price points and licences, including the McFarlane range. Matt has been stocking McFarlane for some 25 years but says that during that time, the company has remained true to its roots and accessible to fans, with affordable pricing making it the brand of choice among many a collector (including Toy World’s own Rachael Simpson-Jones).

Leading properties in the space, according to both Matt and Dave Middleton, the owner of Midco Toymaster, Midco Toy Planet and Midco Freak Treats, include Paw Patrol, Minecraft, Batman (particularly Spin Master’s Batman range, which performed very well at Corsham Toy Shop even though the latest film was rated 18), Pokémon and WWE, with the latter three appealing to kids and kidults alike. Anime and gaming are coming to the fore too, which Dave says is a reflection of the changing way kids play and consume media.

Matt and Dave are also hugely excited for the new Playmates master toy range of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles action figures, which is available in the UK via Character. Dave says: “Playmates makes really good action figures, and I think the new TMNT ones look great. They also prove that good action figures don’t need to be toys."

The pair, to put it bluntly, have an axe to grind regarding pricing. The way Matt sees it, some companies have been gouging prices to the point of unaffordability for collectors, meaning they are then having to clear down stock at rock bottom prices. This is affecting the marketplace. He says 12” toys remain a popular gifting option, but at around £30 per figure, they’re beyond the realms of collectability for most kids. And seeing as kids make up around 50% of action figures sales (according to Dave) that’s a lot of frustrated potential consumers being priced out of the market. Matt agrees, telling Toy World: “Once kids hit the latter end of primary school there’s nothing for them: prices get too high and that means action figures aren’t progressing into the playground like they used to.”

There is hope though. In Vegas earlier this year, Matt previewed Hasbro’s Epic Hero Series of 4” action figures. He says it’s an ‘awesome’ range, with a decent level of articulation, limited paint decos, amazing sculpts and a really strong £10 RRP which will massively boost collectability. The issue? It’s not coming to the UK. Matt feels this is a shame. He clearly thinks this is one of the most exciting ranges to come out of the action figures market in some time and sees huge potential for it in the UK, particularly the Indiana Jones, Spider-Man and Marvel figures. Hopefully, the efforts of the likes of Matt to bring this fantastic range to the UK will soon pay off for everyone involved.

Another area for improvement relates to licensors. With the vast majority of the most popular ranges being licensed, it’s perhaps no surprise that secrecy around content and characters is stymying the efforts of licensees to get product to market while the licence is most in-demand. Matt highlights Disney as one of the worst culprits for this, saying it’s far too unwilling to share information when it needs to be. He also cites lack of communication as a possible reason why Fortnite sales have slowed at his store: with so many new skins and weapons released each month, licensees simply can’t keep up unless they’re given enough advance notice.

So what do Matt and Dave want to see happen in the Action Figures category? For Matt, it’s reasonably simple: more affordable RRPs, less secrecy and more listening to fans. He tells us about one major supplier that removed the plastic windows from some of its collectible action figure ranges, despite outcry from consumers, not bearing in mind that a) people actually want to see their action figures and b) the packaging is a fundamental, ‘unthrowawayable’ part of the product. Interestingly, the company has since reversed that decision and returned to window boxes…

Dave, meanwhile, wants to see the category return to the 90s, what he calls the heyday for action figures. “If you had a flick through a Kenner catalogue from back then, you’d see they developed figures for absolutely everything – Congo, Waterworld, Aliens, Jurassic Park. It made proper kids toy lines, complete with vehicles, accessories and play sets, and ranges used to come with cards on which you could cross off which ones you had. Barring Playmates, which made arguably one of the greatest action figure ranges of all time - the original TMNT toy line - there aren’t any companies still doing that, and there are definitely players out there that could. Action figures are my life: I want to see them return to the glory days.

Matt Booker

Dave Middleton