Back In The Fight
Economy does little to dampen kids’ fervor for figures
By Dave Gerardi — Playthings, 8/1/2009

When Hasbro’s Kenner division re-launched 3¾ inch Star Wars figures in 1995, it ushered in the age of the action figure collector. It was a time when comic book speculation had been waning and those in the nostalgia market began turning their attention to old ’70s favorites, including original Star Wars toys and Mego superheroes. Many re-launches followed—12-inch G.I. Joe, He-man and the Masters of the Universe, Transformers—in what came to be a fairly predictable pattern; so predictable, in fact, that it got its own name: the “20-year rule.” Its tenet: Twenty years after an original children’s toy phenomenon, the 20- and 30-somethings who first played with those toys as children will need something to spend their new disposable income on. Next thing you know, nostalgia cashes in. [click link for rest]