I am on my 4th lay off in 5 years with no return to work in sight. That alone will hurt sales of most soft plastic figure companies! My hobby purchases are way down, maybe a 10th of normal.

In the last month I have communicated to three plastic figure makers who said they are slowing down new product development because sales are slow. I spoke to one who said sales are good for him.

We are in a downward trend that started a couple years ago and will continue until the world economy gets better, if it does. Remember, there is a four or five year lag time in the hobby from the inception of a set of figures until they hit market. Companies now are starting sets for sale in 2017.

New figure releases are still at historic highs, but it takes years for figures to clear the pipeline. I think we are going to see fewer sets for at least the next three years, maybe longer.

The good news is that I don't think any of the plastic figure companies are going out of business, so keep spending enough to keep them going.



Mike "Bunkermeister" Creek
http://bunkermeister.blogspot.com/

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