Games Workshop is making moves to get to a BIGGER market this year, but what does it all mean? Well the Toy Guy is here to tell you of course!
Buckle up boys and girls, this came anonymously to my inbox yesterday and I was asked nicely mostly not threatened to post it up.
So if you enjoy this one folks, leave a comment and maybe they’ll be more!
Via Spikey Bits’ Inbox:
Like a lot of hobbyists, I woke up this morning, did my exercise, ate my breakfast, and then sat down in front of the computer and scrolled through my facebook news feed, and saw the news on Spikey Bits that leaked photos from the Nuremburg Toy Fair showing GW entering the mainstream toy market later this year.
And like everyone on the internet, I have an opinion about that.
But where I differ from you is that I have a professional background in the toy industry. I was educated in this stuff, I’ve worked on designs and prototypes, I’ve watched a product go from concept to the shelf and I’ve seen how this business works.
And you might not know it, but after fashion and entertainment, toys are the roughest, fastest, most meat-grinder industry in the country.
So if you’re interested to hear what a toy guy has to say about GW going into toys, read on.
If you’re not, then keep walking.
IT’S A REALLY GOOD IDEA…
To be completely objective, I really like a lot of the moves the new command at GW is making. I like the way the game plays lately, I like the way the codex books look, I like that we get fresh injections of new material on a monthly basis. I think 40k is the best it’s ever been, and I’m excited to see the return of the specialist range and more stuff like Betrayal at Calth.
No comment on Age of Sigmar, (disparaging comments about AoS to follow…) or the increasing reliance on high price tag big box kits to make sales. I think GW did a good job of making AoS exactly what they wanted it to be- Pretty to look at.
And getting into a new market to build awareness in a younger audience? Always a good idea. If you can get one kid, you can get his little brother, because younger siblings worship older siblings. Sell 40k to a 15 year old, you get a free 13 and 11 year old as well… Provided mom can afford it.
…BUT I DON’T THINK IT’S GONNA WORK THAT GREAT
Yea okay, it’s a doomsayer article. Like everyone else, I’m tired of reading stuff on Bell of Lost Souls about how GW is going to collapse because the quarterly report says they’re snorting rails off a hooker’s ass in the office at Nottingham instead of doing X,Y, or Z with their money like a reasonable business should.
And let’s remember- Some of GW’s most AWESOME products were in the toy industry. Space Crusade, Hero Quest, Dark Future, Space Hulk… There was basically a period in the late 80s and early 90s where GW could shove some snap-fit models and a bunch of cardboard into a board game box and do no wrong.
But take off your nostalgia goggles- I’m 30, and most GW hobbyists that are hanging around and really putting money into the hobby and sticking with it are 20-30-40 year olds, not 8 year old kids.
Do me a favor- Next time you’re in a walmart, a target, a toys’r’us, or wherever you go to buy toilet paper and socks, go into the toy section and look for SCALE MODEL KITS.
You won’t find them.
Guys, I’ve got news for you- We’re old. Kids don’t build scale model kits anymore. The only place you find model kits now are hobby shops and craft stores.
Now put on your nostalgia goggles again… Remember in the 90s when we had ninja turtle action figures that oozed slime, when we had stuff like Nickelodeon Gak and Creepy Crawlers, and nerf guns that shot spit balls and snot wads, or that weird candy that was basically just sugar congealed into neon colored goop and branded as candy ooze?
Take the nostalgia goggles off.
Look around. IT’S ALL GONE.
I’ll tell you why it’s all gone- We can’t sell it anymore, because mom hates that shit. Mom hates anything that makes a mess, and messy toys don’t sell anymore. Anything with goop or gak or slime in it will never make it off the shelf into her shopping cart, it’s dead on arrival.
Now imagine what mom thinks of a model kit? Junior walks up to her, plops a space marine bike in the cart, and mom looks at it…
It comes with paint, super glue, and you need a hobby knife to cut the parts off the frame. In other words, it’s everything an 8 year old kid needs to make a huge mess of the kitchen and a trip to the emergency room in one little $15 box. Mom is not gonna go for that.
But the worst part is, Junior is not even going to get that far. Junior is probably not going to make it as far as the model kits, because we’re in the big leagues now. Think about everything an 8 year old kid can get for $15 in a toy store. He can buy a Skylanders figure, or a Star Wars Lego, or a Nerf gun, or a pile of pokemon cards.
40k is cool… but is 40k STAR WARS LEGO cool? Lego doesn’t even need super glue or paint. Mom chucks the space marine bike out of the cart, and when junior starts crying, she deflects with a Lego Darth Vader, and junior forgets about 40k.
GW IS LATE TO THEIR OWN PARTY
Here’s the other problem with model kits… Forget for the moment that mom is going to hate them, and focus on what I said earlier about us being old men.
Model kits were our thing. Kids born in the 70s and 80s, we were a model building generation. Your kids, the kids that are out there now? They’re not into it.
What’s the proof? Consider this- Even in the gaming industry, an industry that loves model kits, we’re trying to kill model kits. Look at all the new school table top wargames hitting the market now that use pre-paints. Look at X-Wing. Look at those crappy little DnD minis painted in Chinese sweatshops, and look at the Reaper Bones minis that are made out of that white plastic instead of pewter.
Do most of those cheap plastic pre-paints suck? With the exception of the x-wing models that look pretty freakin great, yes, most of them do. But the truth of the business is that even in a hardcore traditionalist gaming industry, we’re still trying to kill off pewter and switch over to rubbery, 3d printed, no-hobby mass plastic.
The only people that want models are the old guard hobbyists, and even in a niche market, you’re not going to make your bread and butter on old guard hobbyists.
But that’s not even the biggest problem.
Not only are kids not about models anymore, with each passing generation, they’re less and less about toys.
Specifically, the boys toy market shrinks every year. Girls actually play with toys a little longer than boys do, but every generation the age at which boys put down toys and move over to video games creeps lower.
Ask any parent you know what their kid wanted for Christmas last month, and they’ll probably all say ipad. The brats have gone digital. Kids don’t ask for Skeletor or GI JOE for Christmas anymore, they ask for candy crush, clash of clans, and call of duty.
THE LONG, DRAWN-OUT CONCLUSION
The short answer is, I think this was a great idea, 20 years ago.
Moms hate model kits, $15 for a space marine bike is steep, especially for an 8 year old, (and any kid that actually does like model kits can get a snap together MIG jet fighter or an apache gunship for half as much) and you’re competing for a child’s attention against juggernauts like Star Wars and Marvel Comics.
Now as a hobbyist and a toy enthusiast, I would love nothing better than to be proven wrong. If in 6 months from release GW releases a sales report that says toy store model kits are the best thing ever, I want everyone to dig up this article, knock down Rob Baer’s door, and tell him to have me write an open apology letter to the gods of GW corporate for ever doubting their divine will.
And I’ll do it too, hell, that’d be fun, if it gets my little 10 year old cousins into 40k, that’s great!
But my professional opinion is that we are a niche inside of a niche inside of a niche gluing together toys in an age where kids do all their playing on their iphones, not their bedroom floors.
About the Author: Rob Baer
Rob Baer
Job Title: Managing Editor
Founded Spikey Bits in 2009
Socials: Rob Baer on Facebook and @catdaddymbg on X
About Rob Baer: Founder, Publisher, & Managing Editor of Spikey Bits, the leading tabletop gaming news website focused on the hobby side of wargaming and miniatures.
Rob also co-founded and currently hosts the Long War Podcast, which has over 350 episodes and focuses on tabletop miniatures gaming, specializing in Warhammer 40k. and spent six years writing for Bell of Lost Souls.
Every year, along with his co-hosts, he helps host the Long War 40k Doubles Tournament at Adepticon and the Long War 40k Doubles at Las Vegas Open, which attracts over 350 players from around the world.
Rob has won many Warhammer 40k Tournaments over the years, including multiple first-place finishes in Warhammer 40k Grand Tournaments over the years and even winning 1st place at the Adepticon 40k Team Tournament.
With over 30 years of experience in retail and distribution, Rob knows all the products and exactly which ones are the best. As a member of GAMA (Game Manufacturers Association), he advocates for gaming stores and manufacturers in these difficult times, always looking for the next big thing to feature for the miniatures hobby, helping everyone to provide the value consumers want.
While he’s played every edition of Warhammer 40k and Warhammer Fantasy (since 5th Edition) and has been hobbying on miniatures since the 1980s, Titans of all sizes will always be his favorite! It’s even rumored that his hobby vault rivals the Solemnance Galleries, containing rulebooks filled with lore from editions long past, ancient packs of black-bordered Magic Cards, and models made of both pewter and resin.
