Do girls ever really buy, so called, "girls toys" like Barbies or My Little Pony?I mean, I'm 16 and I still collect figures like Transformers, but, I never heard of anyone, male or female, who collected dolls and things like that as an adult.

When I pass the girls isle at my local walmart, I never see anyone so much as looking at them.And the shelves are filled with unbroken rows of Barbies, Bratz and those creepy animatronic dolls that watch you as you walk by.

Another thing I've noticed is that, while you can spend $400+ on a highly detailed, collectors edition Iron Man or Batman figure, you'd be hard pressed to find an ultra detailed, collectors edition My Little Pony figure.

If such a thing exists, I'd like you to let me know if you've heard of it, because I sure haven't.And there's anyone out there who has a whole (wo)man cave full of overpriced dolls and memorabilia, (not that there's anything wrong with that) I will literally eat my virtual hat.

Barbies? Never played them as a kid; never collected them as an adult. They creep me out, seriously. I've never found them fun to play with. However, there are adults who collect barbies specially because of the outfits, probably because they are fashion enthusiasts in real life. The outfits are usually the ones that are ultra detailed and are collectors edition.

Here's a sample of... uh... someone who collects barbies, they might be rare but they do exist: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/picturegalleries/pictures-of-the-year/10527819/Barcroft-Medias-Year-in-Pictures-2013.html?frame=2770616

When my daughters were little a few years back, then played with things like dolls, littlest petshop, and that sort of thing all the time. I think girls still do. Hence how things like Frozen merchandise can keep flying off the shelves even awhile after the release of the movie.

Since they still have stores like Toys r us and large toy sections in WalMart and Target that leads me to believe that there is still big money to be made here, and you most certainly see little girls looking at and buying that stuff. Especially around the holidays. You just might not notice it because you aren't interested in such things. It may not be as big of a market as it was in previous decades, but it's still a huge market. A quick google search brings me to annual sales data gathered by the Toy Industry association sites it as a 2.32 BILLION dollar industry in the US alone. http://www.toyassociation.org/tia/industry_facts/salesdata/industryfacts/sales_data/sales_data.aspx?hkey=6381a73a-ce46-4caf-8bc1-72b99567df1e#.VhwCCXpVhBc

I also see a lot of traffic at those higher profiled "American Girl" toy shops. Every time I go by the ones near me there are always a ton of girls in there browsing and buying things with their parents, and those things can sometimes cost hundreds of dollars.

Also, I would like to point out that there is a HUGE collectors market for retro Barbie figuers. There's also limited edition figures that go anywhere from 150$-500$.

I think I read that an original barbie sold for 30,000$ and that there was a barbie created with a diamond necklace that sold for over 300,000$

Juliet : Now I'm too scared to eat anything, virtual or otherwise.Those things are gonna kill him in his sleep someday aren't they?
But, in all seriousness, I suppose that there is a certain amount of collectibility to them, but, while hardcore collectors, these days, are nothing special, people who collect barbies and other dolls are in a huge minority.
Probably because dolls in general are more of a niche market, and you have to be interested in certain things for them to appeal to you, because, mostly, they're pretty much the same, no matter which ones you pick up.

Jordanv78:  Well, I guess it is still a high popular and profitable market, but, maybe people just don't buy down here in the small(ish) town where I live.
Also, $30,000 for a vintage Barbie figure?
I've seen people selling the G.I Joe USS Flag on Ebay cheaper than that!

P.S, sorry I couldn't summon you.Somehow the editor went wonky and I posted two of the same reply to a previous post, so I used the second reply to reply to your post.For some reason, it didn't summon you.

I was personally never into Bratz, Barbie or any of that stuff as a child; but as Jordan said, Frozen stuff still sells. I was in a Sears a few weeks back, and there was some Frozen merchandise they were selling, and I saw this little girl who must have been like 6 or 7 begging for her mom to buy her something Elsa related (I believe it was a wallet, but I can't remember off the top of my head).

I was personally always into video games myself, as a child my favorite game franchises were Zelda and Sonic. I can't say for sure, but it wouldn't surprise me if I had begged my mom for something Zelda related. Also, Juliet's link reminded me of this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5KNWWUX38W0

Juliaisme123 : IIIIIIII'm going to pretend I didn't see that.I would expect that kids would buy toys based on the hit new movie that pretty much every kid saw, only time will tell how the kids who grew up on frozen remember the toys of their childhood.But, it seems that, well based on my experiences at least, people don't buy them like they used to.

One reason, which may be painfully obvious is, they don't even really make the quintessential doll-houses anymore.Again, maybe it's just in my town, but, I noticed back, even in my childhood you could still find some interesting things that inspired imagination on the girls aisle.But now, you'd be hard-pressed to find anything but the dolls, which, by the way, have also taken a huge step down in variety, and mayebe a few accesoreis or companion pieces.Why do people want to kill imagination?

Also, to anyone who wasn't already into it, their method of advertising leaves something to be desired.They have a setup to advertise Televisions at Walmart, and, let me just say that if every show based on dolls plays like a bad Disney Channel show, with characters who all look the same and jerky animations that make them look like puppets, which is true to the source material though, it's no wonder it wouldn't exactly be everyone's first purchase choice.

But, eh, that's just me.What do I know?But it won't stop me from pretending I know!

My sister did play with Barbies (and me and my brother, by extension). However, just like freshly minted coins outside regular circulation, I can see the interest of collecting them. Depending on how many are produced, they can get pretty valuable. I do not say I would - I have no interest in dolls - but it is just like collecting anything else... like Batman figures

janus : I see your point.I guess anything can be valuable to someone.One man's creepy miniature mannequin is another man's treasure I guess.

I actually used to collect Barbies around the time I was 12. When I say that, I mean that I got collector-grade Barbies that never left the box. I ended up donating them to a charity auction a while back and they all sold. But the lady who started me on them was my babysitter and mother of my best friend at the time. She was a hard-core collector and had probably around  400 dolls or more the last time I saw her collection (I was about 9 then and now I'm 23). As for MLP, many of my college dorm-mates would buy blank pony figures and paint them themselves or would collect different figures of their favorite pony from the show. I think there were about 4 people on my floor who would do this and they could often be seen or heard talking and swapping tips on how to fix the hair of a particular model (usually Pinkie Pie), so yes, adult women do collect Barbies and MLP figures, you just have to know where to find them!

Shatatomyo : You know what?You're right.I guess I shouldn't just assume there aren't people like that just because I don't know any.I guess I have a lot to learn about making assumptions.There are all kinds of people, with all kinds of interests I've probably never heard of, so I can't just assume they don't exist.

Spidey243 : Not just to someone; to a lot of people. When I was cleaning up my room I wanted to get rid of old baseball cards. But I was told that such cards made after 1990 are not worth much, probably because they were mass-produced.

janus : True, but, they don't have to be made in limited numbers to be valuable.They just have to be rare or old.Try looking up some older transformers or lego sets on Amazon, the prices on them are INSANE.

My mom has a few limited Barbie dolls on display, but she doesn't really collect them. She only has 2 or 3 and they're just decorations really.

Obviously someone buys them otherwise they would be out of business. I think it's mostly younger girls though, I don't know any adult women that collect dolls (but I don't know any adult men that collect superhero figures either.)

Spidey243 : Au contraire. ALL prices are determined by supply and demand. The old Legos you are talking about, while they may have been mass-produced, are NOT anymore, therefore are in limited supply. As for age: it depends what you are talking about (matter and condition). I have an old copper coin from the UK that is so worn out that I can not read the year (186?). However it is copper and therefore not as valuable as a similar silver or gold coin.

Spidey243 : Yeah, I just happen to be around those types of people XD I think most of them are theater people, because most of the people on my floor were theater majors and I've met many others after that have done theater in some way. I even do theater myself and have often met people my age who still collect Pokémon cards and games 

janus : Now that I think about it, that dose make a lot of sense.If it's not being made anymore all of them either belong to someone or were dumped with the rest of the unsold inventory.
And here I was thinking that they were that expensive online because you can't get them at their original price so online sellers could just charge whatever they wanted!I never thought about it that way.

I think it's all about the way the toys are marketed. "Boy" toys are often based on big franchises, making it a good idea to make products of higher quality to get the interest of older fans who might also buy the product.
"Girl" toys are only trying to market their toys to little girls, which mean they all follow the "cute" template. There's not a lot good of franchises fitting into this template, as it's quite limiting. When girls grow away from the age of obsessing over cute stuff, and wanting toys because they're toys, there's not really a lot keeping them interested to "girl" toys.

Kids buy toys because they want something to play with, and girls choose the "girly" toys because it's in the human nature (maybe?) for most girls to like the things that's used to market the toys with. But when you grow older, there's no need for you to play anymore, as you've matured into the adult life which the playing prepared you for back in the more primitive times. When there's no need to play, there's no need to buy the "girly" toys, unless you got a big interest in those.

But if we gain interest (or keep interest) in a franchise, there's often an interest to buy toys based on it, simply because you want to own it. But there's not a lot of quality franchises for toys marketed for girls, since the template is very limiting.

In other words, once you turn mature, it's the franchises that matter, and there's more franchises that's considered "boyish", as they're not that limited to anything (except not following the "girly" template).
The liking of a franchise is mostly stronger than the branding of "girl" and "boy" toys. An example of this is the bronies who collect My little pony toys, and my 8 year old little sister who's obsessed over Marvel  (It's her birthday today, and she got an hulk toy).

Also, the ones who's really limited is the boys, who get judged when liking "girly" things (once again with the bronies as an example).

I'm far from a girl, but hey, I collect tons of my little pony merchandise! From blankets to plushies to lamps to DVDS to posters to...well you get the drift. I am possibly the sole reason Hasbro has a company? If I said I had 500 bucks worth of pony merchandise I ain't kidding. It juyst goes to show you some like it, some love it...and some, gotta love them, may be OBSESSED.

catamandoo : I think you hit the nail right on the head.I couldn't have said it any better myself.I think people are so judgemental when boys buy "girls" toys but not vice-versa is because toys intended for girls are, more often than not, pink, passive and more sugary than a candy store.
So, any male who shows any interest in them is seen as passive and therefore weak.

While it's considered acceptable for a girl to appear assertive and, by extension, show an interest in"boy things" (for the most part), it's not widely acceptable for a guy to be interested in "girl things".Ergo, negativity ensues.At least that's how I see it.