So, to follow up on my last post….

I was once again wandering the toy aisle at the Target store. As I was walking through, a Green Lantern DC Multiverse action figure caught my eye. I believe it’s the one that is also made by McFarlane toys and is an action figure of the John Stewart Green Lantern. The first thought that shot through my head was: would a child even know who this character is? And if not, would they even play with it or want it? My immediate answer is No!

This leads me to several conclusions:

for this toy to sell to kids, the child would need to be:

1. Reading a plethora of comic books. Because, I don’t even think this character is predominately in Justice League books or titles all the time. I admit I’m not really reading any current comics today because of a multitude of issues I have with current editorial decisions. Even if the action figure was of Hal Jordan, I would still have the same questions for the child.
2. Coached heavily by his mother or father on the identity of said character because he/her parents were such a great fan of comic heroes and maybe watched Justice League in the early 2000s. This is a stretch. Or perhaps the child has somehow caught a streaming service with that 20 year old program.
3. Possibly there’s a video game with John Stewart he played on a console or computer? I’m no expert on the video game appearances but I believe he was in InJustice and there was a Justice League game out 10-15 years ago. Again, this is merely speculative, as I question how would the child play the video game in the first place unless there was another driving force for the kid to play said game. I find those games are usually played by Comic Book Fans and not just the regular gamer. But what do I know….

So, with that, I looked to other toys and I come to the same big conclusion every time. These are only supported by adult collectors that know the history or have their own childhood memories of the properties.

It was on this trip, I found 3 new Hot Wheels deluxe Batmobiles (Super Friends version, Armored version from Batman and Batman Returns and the Penguinmobile-from the 1966 TV show when the Penguin stole and converted the Batmobile). I doubt any child know the back story to these vehicles. Perhaps I’m being cynical and children are much more aware of pop culture and know exactly what these things are. But to those that don’t, would a random child see said Batmobile and say “that’s cool, mom buy me this?”

Is the Toy Aisle just for adults or are kids still excited to visit it?

More to come for sure….