From a young age, children prefer to play with smartphones rather than toys. The toy market is being affected by this. Now there is a new target group: adults.
Exhibition by artist Oliver Schaffer on the Bremer Cog Photo: Sina Schuldt/dpa/Picture Alliance
6,000 hours of work, 83,000 parts, four years of construction: the largest Fischer technology model of all time is now in the Museum of Transport Technology in Sinsheim. The “shortened” replica of a cable car measures 22 meters. And even if it is a miniature, it needs a team of 20 people to continue working hard, maintaining and improving it.
“When I was five years old, in the 1970s, I received my first box of fishing technology, and all my pocket money and all my Christmas wishes went into this system,” says Tilo Rust, remembering the beginning of a great passion that continues to this day. He is the “father” of the cable car project.
One day, while skiing, he looked up and wondered why the ski lift at the resort was moving so much faster than the rope: “So I started recreating a cable car and noticed that the model was getting bigger and bigger. My wife would have kicked me. leave the house if I continue like this in the stairwell.”
Journey to the first years of life
By chance he found a workshop in the Sinsheim Museum. Meanwhile, Rust had also found colleagues. Now they have invested thousands of euros in expanding the model and exhibiting it not only in Sinsheim, but also in other places, such as last year at the Federal Garden Fair in Mannheim.
Former musical actor Oliver Schaffer did even better. He knew how to turn his hobby into a profession: his enormous Playmobil dioramas with thousands of figures, which show the history of humanity, for example, are exhibited in museums, among other places, a magnet for children, but also for their parents. Of course, Schaffer's connection to toys began in his childhood, when he built his first circus with three-and-a-half-inch men.
After that there was a break. But when the Hamburg native was asked to make his circus available again for an exhibition 20 years ago, he became “infected” again, as Schaffer says, and has since regularly built sets with the plastic creatures. This has been his main job for almost four years, he no longer has time for his previous job as a musical actor.
“Dealing with toys in adulthood is something like a trip to the first years of life,” says the artist. His audience also embarks on this journey. Schaffer repeatedly receives letters like: “In your exhibition I saw again the pirate ship that accompanied me during my childhood.”
Adults have purchasing power.
At the beginning of February, the Playmobil team had a very similar experience at the Nuremberg toy fair. A professional visitor looks respectfully at a police car model from 1977: “When I was a child, I played with it for years. Can I take a look at it in peace? He was allowed. And like him, many have returned to their childhood in the world's largest toy market. There were more products on display than ever for the wealthy and the young at heart.
In technical jargon, these people are jokingly called “kidults,” an acronym for adults who become children again in their consumption needs.
For example, at the fair they attacked the “Flagship Grimlock Collector's Edition”. The high-tech model of the well-known “Autobot” from the Transformer series, which can transform into a metal dinosaur, contains, among other things, 85 microchips, 34 high-precision servomotors and special sound modules. Cost: just 1,800 euros. The target group is not children, who are usually economically weak, but kidults. The robot was out of stock when it went on sale in February.
In the US alone, in the world's largest toy market, Kidults' target group already represents 25 percent of total annual sales, and the trend is increasing considerably. In Germany it is estimated to be 20 percent.
The toy industry also needs the purchasing power of adults and their desire to buy, even beyond gifts for children: Western societies are increasingly older and, from the age of 12 at most, children prefer spend time with their smartphones. than physical objects, and the economic situation of many families is currently characterized by uncertainty.
The game has a high therapeutic value
After years of growth, the German toy market has suffered a major setback: with sales of 4.5 billion euros in 2023, the result fell compared to the previous year by 200 million euros, that is, around 4, 5 percent. In the US, the world's largest market, the drop was even around 8 percent, from just over $30 billion to $28 billion. Virtually all major manufacturers are affected by this development.
In Nuremberg, Bahri Kurter, a member of the board of directors of Playmobil, announced a restructuring of his company. The group wants to introduce plant-based plastics and expand its range of collectible figures for young people and adults. This would allow the company to win back old fans.
After all, the brand, which has already inspired several generations of children, celebrates its 50th birthday this year. For this reason, Deutsche Post even honors her with a stamp. “The artists will design their own Playmobil figures, which will then be auctioned for a good cause,” Kurter announced, noting that the special Martin Luther edition alone sold more than 1.2 million pieces. And he's really not a star for kids.
“Today's adults can afford things they dreamed of as children,” says cable car manufacturer Rust. Not only is he a toy enthusiast, but he also works as a behavioral therapist. “In the '70s, only really rich people could afford a remote-controlled car, for example.” From his point of view, the game has a high therapeutic value that allows you to distance yourself from reality: “Children do it the same, but they are not allowed to do it, they are often considered 'crazy'.”
That's probably fundamentally changed now. And in a world increasingly shaken by wars and crises, the consumption of Kidults is likely to be associated with a return to supposedly happier times.