I am blessed with two wonderful sons who are just getting into superheroes and action figures. After watching the Avengers cartoon and seeing all the hype for the upcoming movie, my youngest started carrying around an Iron Man action figure (which just warmed dear old dad’s heart). The other day he told me that Iron Man wanted a friend. Of course I jumped up, grabbed the keys, and we headed straight to Target.
After looking over the vast array of super hero toys, my son decided he wanted an Iron Man figure, even though he already had one. I was fine with that, so we continued our search to find a figure for his big brother. I saw this awesome Comic Pack with not just one, but TWO action figures–we could get Iron Man and Thor–a perfect solution. I balked a little at the $18.00 price tag, but it was for two figures, and a comic book, so it seemed to be a fair price.
We got home and I opened the packaging and was impressed by how great the figures looked — highly detailed for such a small toy, and great paint — action figures have certainly come a long way since I was a kid. I had barely finished handing Iron Man to my son before the figure’s leg fell off. Seriously, it was less than three seconds before the amputation occurred. I thought it must have been broken in the package, but after looking at the ball and socket joint, it was obvious that this is how the figure was made. I handed him Thor while I put Iron Man’s leg back on and then the same thing happened. Are you kidding me?
My son dropped the figures and went to play with something else. He hasn’t had any interest in them since.
I got to thinking about the action figures I played with as a kid, and how many of them are now sitting on a shelf with their legs intact. Sure, the G.I. Joe figures may have a busted O-ring or two, and those He-Man figures are a little looser than they should be, but at least we got to break our toys, and didn’t have them broken right out of the package.
I thought that maybe I bought a “collector’s set” or something not meant for kids, but nowhere on the package does it state: “Warning, this toy is not intended to be played with — just put it on a shelf and walk away.” After shelling out $18.00 for the pair, I’m actually going to return it to the store. I’ll chalk this one up as a lesson learned by a dad with kids just getting into action figures–“action” is a relative term, and five points of articulation is just fine.
Yeah, with all the toy purchases my parents made when I was a kid this only happened once (when the three-pack of Sgt. Slaughter’s Marauders was opened and all three figures fell to pieces because they were missing o-rings.) I’m consistently astounded with the poor quality of Transformers and G.I Joe figures these days. I have to assume they last about three weeks before they’re destroyed…
We’re just getting into buying figures off the store shelves, so this was a big disappointment. I’ve been buying some of the new G.I. Joe figures, mainly to photograph them, but they certainly don’t seem like they would hold up for long in the hands of 5-10 year old boy.
I felt the same way at Christmas time when my daughters opened up their new Hungry Hungry Hippos game. Remember the old ones? You could beat the hell out of those things trying to chomp down the marbles. These new ones are a cheap and flimsy plastic that is one solid chomp away from being snapped in two.
Yep. We had a Rock ’em Sock ’em set that didn’t take much sockin’.
Low priced (ha!) ones or High priced (Hot Toys) they are all made to break these days. Try that with a Fisher Price Adventure Person.
the FP Imaginext toys seem to be the only “playable’ toys out there today. They use the same articulation as the Adventure People you and I had as kids.
So true! Saturday I got my son the Podracer 5 pack from TRU. As I took the 4 armed guy out, arm popped off. I put it back on, but as my took it, it fell off again. I think the arm (after reattaching it 3 times) fell under the couch. I also notice a real guiltly offender of pieces breaking easy are ANY Bayformer. Just like the movies they stink..
I’ve picked up quite a few Star Wars figures at yard sales, and they just seem like miniature statues. If an action figure can’t even bend at the waist to sit in a vehicle, who needs it?
I’ve been avoiding the transformers so far. My kids don’t have the patience for those yet, but my days are numbered, I’m sure.
That happened to me with a MU universe figure a while back where his arm just fell out of the socket LOL.As far as G.I. Joes go,i find that that the newer stuff is pretty durable as opposed to the older 25th ann. line.In the end all of these contemporary toys are clearly geared towards the adult collector.
I have never been as disappointed in a toy as when I picked up the Hot Rod Cyclonus Transformer two pack. They were Terrible! Worse Quality than usual!
That stinks and it’s so true modern toys are so fragile.
The trade off is that the newer GI JOEs have more going for them at the cost of playability. The figures look nice and the accessories are abundant but the figures “feel” is not the same. The old figures jut have a robust “feel” that the new ones dont seem to capture….
I’d have to agree with all of you in terms of the quality and durability of today’s toys. I have a 5-yr.-old kid who received a Big Wheel repro as a X-Mas gift when he was 3. I was so excited to put it together for him, but could tell right away—during assembly, even—that the plastic and construction was nowhere near the Marx quality I knew (and abused) in the ’70s. The trike even bowed under his weight when he sat on it—WTF! Dood, I was riding my own Big Wheel even standing up (remember that?) all the way up to 9 yrs. old and that thing never caved in.
Luck would have it that not even after taking it out twice, one of the pedals came off. Overall, the plastic was totally flimsy just as I thought. There’s no way that thing would last even a fraction of the time the original Big Wheels lasted.