New Wave vs. Old School: How Toy Collecting Changed

Tell a collector from 2015 what the hobby looks like now and they probably won't believe you. Back then, collecting meant hunting for a specific Marvel Legends Wolverine at Target, posing it on a shelf, and maybe posting a photo to r/ActionFigures. Today, the fastest-growing corner of the hobby is a 22-year-old ripping open a $15 mystery box on TikTok, not knowing what's inside, and that's the whole point. New wave collecting looks nothing like the old school, and both sides have the numbers to prove it.

The hobby didn't shrink. It split into two camps that barely speak the same language. Here's what changed, what's driving it, and where both sides actually overlap.

The old guard: action figures and the display shelf

If you started collecting before 2020, you probably came in through action figures. Marvel Legends at $25-35 a pop. Star Wars Black Series. Maybe Hot Toys if your wallet could handle $300+ sixth-scale figures. The hobby was built around specific characters you loved, displayed on a shelf or inside a Detolf, and the goal was a collection you could step back and admire.

That world is still here, but it's smaller than it used to be. Hasbro's overall revenue dropped 17% in 2024 to $4.1 billion, and their Partner Brands division (that's Marvel and Star Wars) took the worst of it. The Jedi Temple Archives put it bluntly in their 2025 state-of-the-hobby piece: Hasbro is "trying to get away with the barest of bare minimums while asking for ever more money." Vintage Collection figures jumped from $16.99 to $19.99. Four-packs went up $10. The figures themselves are technically the best they've ever made, but you're paying more for fewer accessories and less paint.

The old school collector tends to be nostalgia-driven. You watched the original Star Wars trilogy, grew up on X-Men: The Animated Series, and now you're buying the figures you couldn't afford as a kid. The connection is personal and specific. You don't want just any figure. You want that figure.

The new wave: blind boxes, cards, and anime

Then there's what's been eating the other side of the shelf. Pop Mart's revenue tripled to $5.1 billion in 2025. I'll say that again because the number is absurd. Tripled. The Monsters IP alone (that's Labubu) pulled in roughly $670 million in the first half of the year. Their plush category exploded by 560%, becoming their biggest product line almost overnight.

Sonny Angels and Smiskis are right behind them. Dreams Inc. opened the first joint Sonny Angel and Smiski flagship store in Shibuya in September 2025, and their 441 authorized retailers can barely keep stock on shelves. Both brands raised prices in 2025 due to tariff pressure, and people kept buying. I find it wild that a tiny nude cherub figure with a vegetable hat became a cultural moment, but here we are.

On the trading card side, One Piece TCG is the story right now. It outsold Yu-Gi-Oh in late 2025, and sealed product demand outpaced supply so badly that OP13 cases hit $6,000 on the Japanese secondary market. Bandai now ranks third globally in TCG market share, climbing fast. Pokemon still leads in long-term stability with roughly $2 billion in annual TCG revenue, but One Piece is the one moving the needle.

Anime figures are having their own moment. The market hit $2.5 billion in 2024 and is on track for $4.8 billion by 2033. Banpresto prize figures give you solid quality at $20-30, and I didn't see them coming as the gateway drug for new collectors, but that's exactly what happened. They launched Banpresto Evolve in early 2025 for people who want a step above prize figure quality without paying scale figure prices. Good Smile keeps pumping out Nendoroids for every anime season. S.H. Figuarts is dropping 12 new One Piece figures between May and October 2026 alone.

And then there's Blokees, which is doing something I find genuinely interesting. They make licensed model kits across 17 IPs, over 300 products, including Transformers, Marvel, DC, Evangelion, Naruto, and they just added Minions, Jurassic World dinosaurs, and a new WHEELS vehicle category. The kits run $20-35, the articulation rivals Marvel Legends and even some Figuarts poses, and you build them yourself. A thread on Articulated Thoughts called them "stealing the show" at that price point. They're one of the few products that appeals to both camps equally.

What's driving the new wave collecting shift

Price is a big part of it. A blind box runs $12-17. A Marvel Legends figure is $25-35. A Hot Toys figure is $300+. Buying a blind box doesn't feel like making a purchase. It feels like grabbing a coffee. Pop Mart built a $5 billion company on that psychology.

But the real engine is social media. Over 60% of blind box purchases are influenced by social media content, and TikTok is where the money moves. The #Labubu hashtag has over 1.6 million posts. Pop Mart's TikTok Shop revenue jumped from 2.9% of their total in 2023 to 18% in 2024. When Blackpink's Lisa was spotted with a Labubu bag charm in April 2024, Pop Mart's US website traffic spiked 54% on drop days. Then Rihanna, Dua Lipa, Kim Kardashian, Madonna, and even Lady Gaga showed up with them. Bella Hadid posted an entire wall of Sonny Angels on Instagram.

A TikTok haul video moves more units than a posed shelf photo on Reddit ever could. The 30 seconds between picking up a blind box and tearing the foil is a peak emotional moment, and it's built for short-form video.

Retail couldn't keep up with the shift either. Toys R Us is gone. Target and Walmart toy aisles are still designed for parents buying birthday presents, not adult collectors on either side. The old school camp moved to Hasbro Pulse and BigBadToyStore for preorders years ago. The new wave buys through Pop Mart app drops and TikTok Shop. The physical shelf became the place neither camp shops anymore.

Age plays into it too. The kidult market hit $43.4 billion in 2026, with adults driving 28% of all toy sales. If you're new to collecting and want to start without going broke, I wrote a guide for that. But the adults buying Labubus and cracking Pokemon packs skew younger than the ones hunting vintage Kenner Star Wars. Gen Z grew up with anime on Crunchyroll and gacha mechanics in mobile games. The blind box format feels native to them. If you grew up digging through pegs at Toys R Us, the appeal might not click the same way.

The communities look different too. Old school collectors organize around franchises: r/MarvelLegends, r/transformers, r/hottoys. New wave collectors organize around the format. Blind box Discord servers, Pokemon TCG subreddits, r/AnimeFigures with its 182,000 members covering every brand. The identity shifts from "I'm a Star Wars collector" to "I'm a blind box collector" or "I collect anime figures."

Where the two camps meet

Here's what I find interesting: the camps aren't as separate as they look from the outside. I have a shelf of Marvel Legends and a drawer full of Pop Mart boxes. The person cracking Pokemon packs at their desk probably has a Banpresto Goku sitting right next to the stack.

The shared problems tell you a lot. Fakes are everywhere in both worlds. Bootleg Nendoroids flood eBay the same way counterfeit Labubus hit the market in 2025. Storage matters whether you're protecting a sealed figure or a holographic card. And overspending doesn't care what format you collect.

There's a darker overlap too. The environmental criticism aimed at blind boxes, about 0.2 kilograms of packaging waste per box and PVC plastic that doesn't biodegrade, applies to action figure blister packs just as much. And the "gambling with cuter packaging" critique? Hasbro tried their own mystery packaging with Furby and other lines. The format is spreading, not shrinking.

If there's a real divide, it's about surprise. Old school collectors want to know exactly what's showing up at their door. They've researched the figure, read three reviews, and preordered it months ago. New wave collectors want the opposite. They want to rip open a box and find out. Psychologists call it variable reinforcement. I call it the most effective dopamine delivery system the toy industry has ever built.

Where this is all heading

I don't think traditional action figures are going anywhere. The Mandalorian & Grogu movie drops in 2026, and that'll move plastic. Hasbro's revenue actually recovered to $4.7 billion in 2025 after that rough 2024. Marvel Legends has decades of IP to pull from. But the growth is on the new wave side right now. The blind box market is projected to hit $25 billion by the early 2030s. The TCG market is headed toward $24 billion by 2031. That's where the money is going.

What I think we'll see more of is crossover products, and honestly, this is the part that excites me most. Blokees is already doing it, taking legacy IPs like Transformers and DC and putting them in a format that appeals to both camps, with the building experience of a model kit and the display quality of an action figure. Bandai figured out the same trick from the other direction, pushing S.H. Figuarts deeper into anime while growing One Piece TCG globally. And Pop Mart is licensing bigger IPs beyond their original designer toys. The lines between the camps get blurrier every year, and I think that's a good thing.

My honest take: don't lock yourself into one format. If you've been a strictly-action-figures person your whole collecting life, try cracking a One Piece booster pack. If blind boxes are your thing, pick up a Banpresto figure of your favorite character and see how it feels to choose exactly what you're getting. The hobby got bigger, not smaller. Staying in one lane means missing out.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why are blind boxes so popular with younger collectors?

A blind box costs $12-17, which is low enough that it doesn't feel like a commitment. Add the dopamine hit of not knowing what's inside and TikTok unboxing culture, and the format just fits how Gen Z shops. Over 60% of blind box purchases are influenced by social media content, and when Blackpink's Lisa posted her Labubu bag charm, Pop Mart's US traffic spiked 54%. The viral loop between buying, filming, and posting is the product at this point.

Are traditional action figures losing popularity?

They're not disappearing, but growth has stalled compared to blind boxes and trading cards. Hasbro's revenue dropped 17% in 2024, and their Partner Brands division (Marvel, Star Wars) took the hardest hit. Vintage Collection figures went from $16.99 to $19.99, and collectors on forums describe it as paying more for less. Hasbro recovered to $4.7 billion in 2025, but the momentum is with newer formats.

What's behind the anime figure boom?

Anime streaming went mainstream through Crunchyroll and Netflix, which built a global audience. The figure market covers every price point: Banpresto prize figures at $20-30, Good Smile Nendoroids at $40-60, S.H. Figuarts at $70-100+. Banpresto launched their Evolve line in early 2025 to bridge the gap between prize figures and higher-end collectibles. The market hit $2.5 billion in 2024 and is projected to nearly double to $4.8 billion by 2033.

Can you collect both blind boxes and traditional figures?

A lot of people do. Blind boxes give you the surprise element and a low barrier to entry. Traditional figures let you pick exactly the character you want. I do both, and most collectors I know have at least dabbled in the other camp.

What is Blokees and why do collectors like them?

Blokees makes licensed model kits that sit somewhere between building toys and collectible figures. They work with 17 IPs including Transformers, Marvel, DC, Evangelion, and Naruto, with over 300 products. At $20-35, the articulation rivals figures twice the price, and reviewers describe them as comparable to Marvel Legends and even some Figuarts poses. In 2025-2026 they expanded into Minions, Jurassic World dinosaurs, and a new WHEELS vehicle category.