I love Lego. I grew up building the likes of impossibly cool cars and sleek, but rather bare, spaceships. All of my creations would be piloted by a plucky astronaut, whom I still keep to this day. The concept of building your own toy still amuses me to this day–Lego’s tagline being “A new toy every day”—and my current interest in building model kits reflects that.
More than having an interest in toys requiring construction (the bane of most fathers begged by their children to assemble), I, just as much, love to collect other toys too. I am proud to say that I have an extensive collection of Hot Wheels, Matchbox and Tomica cars, many of them American muscle staples like Mustangs, Hemis and Chargers.
Being a huge fan of the Gundam series and its related spin-offs, I have tons of toys, model kits and other related paraphernalia—enough to fill a display cabinet to its limits (I am considering getting a second one).
I am a toy aficionado. Not that I am childish in spirit, but I would like to see my interest in toys being the result of my deeper appreciation of them as time passed. Call it nostalgia, if you like.
Given my interest in everything toy-related, I enjoy browsing through toy stores for anything new but I am deeply disappointed at how the quality of toys has sunk so low nowadays. Take, for instance, the Speed Stacks craze that is wildly popular with kids today.
I do not see the bloody point in telling kids how “cool” quickly stacking cups is. One has to wonder what kind of future a Speed Stacks kid would have; definitely not as a mixologist (that means bartender), because real-world glasses are too heavy for speed and break when dropped.
That was not the only stupid toy I have run into lately. What of that Japanese toy/game line, Bakugan? The objective of the game is to roll spring-loaded balls that pop into creatures when rolled over metal cards; think gimmicky marbles. If you think about it, they are just… balls; transforming balls.
While my generation had the likes of Tamiya’s 4WD cars and the first Beyblades (more on the weird new versions later), it would seem Japanese toys too have watered down in terms of quirky playability.
On the subject of Beyblades, I was fortunate to own a couple of them during their popularity back around 2001. Beyblades are tops designed to “attack” each other. The new ones, however, toned down on the unique customization features and focused on being “competition-level” metal tops.
By taking themselves too seriously through downplaying the bells and whistles, the new Beyblades have killed what made them popular in the first place: the crazy tricks your top could pull off.
Even Hot Wheels and Matchbox cars—already simple enough toys—were not spared from this creative slump. Hoping to cash on kids’ preference for outrageous designs, Mattel one day casted real cars in unrealistic proportions; imagine a Dodge Charger squished and its wheels enlarged. Naturally this unholy appearance disgusted many collectors (I included), and the “morphed” cars were quickly pulled out of the market.
I cannot stress enough how toys have changed for the worse nowadays. Capitalizing on making money over giving children something that stokes their imaginations, toy companies are taking the easy way out.
They say making a child focus on academics cultivates their intelligence. But playing with toys gives a child a sense of spatial and cognitive awareness—toys serve as an outlet for what a child normally conceives and will conceive within his own head.
Anyone who raises a baby will tell you that it is necessary to surround the infant with colorful and safe playthings. The more interesting and intriguing a toy is, the more a child will think—good exercise. Their natural curiosity will draw them towards the toys, and their discoveries will stir their thinking; most of early learning comes from play.
In fact, try typing “learning through playing” on an online search, and no doubt you will find a lot of educational systems espousing this mantra. Given this case, what do you think uninspired toys would do to kids? I hope not rubbish.
Perhaps I am being a little too harsh on a market that is supposed to be catering specifically to kids, not overgrown ones; or maybe kids these days have wholly different tastes in toys than I do; or the toy industry in general took a big hit, economically speaking. It will not be much of a surprise if it was a combination of all of the above.
Condescending aside, I can say that this Christmas, many parents will be pulling their hairs out of frustration looking for that one toy for their kids.
No doubt, as trends, media and peers change to reflect new toy lines for companies to exploit, children will readily snap them up, without thought for a toy’s aesthetics, originality and value.
“A new toy every day” turns into “Get me a new toy every day.” Such is the market of toys today. So while kids would be stacking cups and chucking monster balls, I will be stacking bricks and taking Astronaut Bob on another mission in his cockpit-less space skiff.
