Adults are the world’s fastest-growing group of toy buyers. In the US alone, they’re spending over $7 billion a year on toys for themselves, like Lego, plush toys, Hot Wheels, Barbie dolls, and Sonny Angel figurines. The world’s biggest toy producers, like Mattel, are taking notice, and have released entire product lines for adult fans. We went to Mattel’s design center in California to see how it makes prototypes for Barbies and Hot Wheels. We also met adult toy collectors around America, from the Maryland man with the world’s most valuable Hot Wheels collection to a New York entrepreneur who buys and sells Sonny Angel figurines.
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00:00Every Barbie doll starts as a handmade prototype at Mattel's Design Center.
00:10And styling hair is one of the most important steps.
00:13I was working in a salon as a hairstylist before I worked here.
00:18But adults aren't just making toys these days, they've become a target audience.
00:27Like 63-year-old Bruce Paschal, who owns the world's most valuable Hot Wheels collection,
00:32worth about $2 million.
00:34It's going to cost you $50,000 to buy a lowrider that's painted beautifully.
00:41But for a Hot Wheel, you can have it on your desk for $35.
00:45U.S. adults spent $7.6 billion on toys for themselves in 2024, up over 10% from the previous
00:52year.
00:54They're lining up around the block to get rare figurines, and turning plush toys from
00:59claw machines into side hustles.
01:00I'm guessing I could probably sell this one for $150 or $200.
01:05So how did adult collectors take over the toy industry?
01:08And how are the world's biggest toy companies cashing in?
01:15Bruce started collecting Hot Wheels over 25 years ago.
01:19Welcome to my Hot Wheels museum.
01:22Today he owns 10,000 cars and another 3,000 pieces of rare memorabilia.
01:28This is the actual store display.
01:30This is the original artwork.
01:32It was a special bingo set they did in the 1971 era.
01:37And one of the reasons I have this warehouse is my wife didn't really enjoy having so many
01:42visitors come by to see my collection at the house.
01:46I have about 200 different prototypes.
01:49It's amazing what employees just kept in their garage.
01:55So the first one I'll pull out.
01:58There was a car that came out in 1969 called the Torero.
02:02This is what the car looked like, but if you look at it, it's not a Hot Wheel.
02:07It's actually a hand carved piece of resin and then hand painted.
02:13Apparently there was a dinner in 1969 at Mattel and everybody that showed up got this
02:21chromed car.
02:22There's less than 10 of these known in the world.
02:25It makes this car worth at least $5,000.
02:29One of my favorite cars is this Mustang.
02:33Only the first cars of production actually had what we called open hood scoop.
02:39Then they realized that extra step of process to punching out the metal slowed down production.
02:44So almost every other Mustang sold is covered.
02:47But what's different about this car is if you turn it over, you'll see it has one of
02:53the most shiny bases you can get.
02:55One of the rarest cars I have.
02:57This car is probably worth $30,000.
03:03This customized hot rod inspired one of the first Hot Wheels.
03:06I think I got it at a bargain, $75,000, and I wouldn't sell it for even double that today
03:12because to me it's the centerpiece of my Hot Wheels collection.
03:17These are original mockups of a car released in 1980.
03:21And one of the things they had to do as a designer is they would draw up a concept for
03:26a future car.
03:27Here's an example of one of those cars they created.
03:32There's the actual product and it all started with a drawing.
03:35Is that amazing?
03:39But his most prized possession?
03:41This is the car.
03:45It's the king of the hobby.
03:47It's the rear load beach bomb.
03:51It's the rarest Hot Wheel in the world.
03:53Only two of these were ever created.
03:55Every car Mattel made had to go through the tracks and the curves.
04:00The problem is when this car went around the track too fast, it turned to its side.
04:06No good for production.
04:07So this is the prototype of the transition between the model they didn't want to make
04:14and the future model they were going to make.
04:16I paid over $50,000, less than $100,000.
04:19That's my range I'll just say.
04:21I always keep it kind of secret.
04:22It will take a million dollars to pry this car off my collection.
04:27It is by far my favorite Hot Wheel.
04:32When Hot Wheels came out in 1968, Mattel handmade its prototypes out of wood or by customizing
04:38model kits.
04:40A single one could take two months to build.
04:43Somebody had to hand carve the car to exact specifications.
04:50Mattel doesn't make wood prototypes anymore, but designing new models can take over a year.
04:56It all starts with an idea from designers like Charlie Angelo.
04:59My family didn't have much money and so for me to dream to own a certain car was my biggest
05:05dream.
05:06But a lot of the times too I would look at a car and be like, you know, I think I can
05:09do maybe a better job than that.
05:12Maybe I would modify it this way and I think it would look better.
05:15One thing I really like here is this reflection right here.
05:18See that?
05:19And it actually helps accent this fender right there and it makes it a little bit more aggressive,
05:25a little bit more speed to it.
05:27One of his most popular creations is this donut drifter.
05:31My mom used to have a catering business and I thought would it be cool if I made her a
05:35little character and we called it Sweetie's Donuts after her.
05:39We had a box of donuts and I was really hungry and I thought, hey, would it be funny if we
05:44made it into a donut car?
05:47Maybe this little guy is trying to escape whatever environment he's in.
05:51Maybe he's stuck in the donut and maybe the donut box becomes all the aero effects.
05:57The designs eventually go to Mattel's 3D printing lab, where they'll become physical prototypes.
06:03With this machine we're able to print good resolution, good surface finish parts in over
06:09a half million different colors all at once.
06:13Toys like dollhouses can take up to a week to print, while Hot Wheels can be done in
06:17a few hours.
06:19We're working with play, right?
06:21It's definitely important to know how a kid or a doll is going to interact with a toy.
06:29After that, they get a pressure wash to remove the support gel from the 3D printer.
06:33And it is, for the most part, water soluble.
06:36So we have these pressure washer stations, just warm tap water with high pressure to
06:40remove that support.
06:42Chrome engines, red stripe racing slicks, new Hot Wheels.
06:48Mattel launched Hot Wheels in 1968 with the idea of designing realistic cars that were
06:54faster and flashier than its competitors.
06:57In its first year, Hot Wheels outsold the number one toy company at the time, Matchbox.
07:04I have an old Matchbox vehicle here.
07:07It's just enamel paint, has these rubber tires, there's nothing special about it.
07:12Brendan Vitusky has been working as a lead designer at Hot Wheels for over 20 years.
07:18We hired real car designers.
07:20They came from Detroit and worked here.
07:22Most of them had moving parts or a feature.
07:25So this had an opening engine hood so you could see the engine detail.
07:29In the 1980s, as the first waves of fans were getting older, Mattel started to launch limited
07:34edition designs, targeting adults.
07:38This is the first product that Hot Wheels offered with a collector in mind.
07:42They made this 15th anniversary product.
07:47Today, Mattel has a whole line of collectible cars called the Redline.
07:52These have up to 30 parts and sell for as much as $37 each.
07:57Compare that to Mattel's cheapest cars, which typically have four parts and sell for just
08:01a couple dollars.
08:03All the parts just almost literally fall into place.
08:06The body, the window, the interior, the chassis.
08:09Redline cars are only sold online and to people who paid $10 a year to be in the Redline club.
08:15So you won't find this at your major retailers or anything like that.
08:19Brendan leads the team that designs these cars, like this Mercedes they've been working
08:23on for over a year.
08:25Our manufacturing team told us no at first.
08:28And it took a few rounds of debugging just because of complexities of manufacturing it,
08:33making sure that all four doors open.
08:36Redline cars like this Lowrider are produced in limited quantities.
08:40All of our Redline club cars have that kind of intricate detail.
08:44That Lowrider is one of Bruce's favorites.
08:48And the paint job is beyond spectacular.
08:52And the wheels, just like a real Lowrider, they pop out.
08:58Is that amazing?
08:59So look at this car.
09:02I mean, this is awesome.
09:05A Hot Wheel for $35.
09:08And it's a piece of art.
09:10Redline cars can sell for double on eBay right after they're released.
09:14The general rule is the less production volume, the more collectors who want it.
09:21But Bruce mostly buys cars for his personal collection, with a few exceptions.
09:26So I do hoard some cars that I think in the future will go up in value.
09:30I look for all the Ferraris I can buy, and then I kind of stick them away as investments.
09:36This is sort of like my bank vault.
09:39So for example, here's some Ferraris.
09:41I have some Porsches that I'm sticking away.
09:44But the Japanese cars are very hot right now.
09:47Everybody likes the Nissans, the Toyotas, the Datsuns.
09:53Adult collectors like Bruce are part of the reason Hot Wheel sales are booming today.
09:58They reached $1.4 billion in gross sales in 2023, up 14% from the previous year.
10:08The most common question I get as a Hot Wheels collector is, do you play with your Hot Wheels?
10:14I open up my museum four times a year.
10:16And yes, I get on the ground with the kids, and I reenact my childhood when I was eight
10:22or nine or ten years old playing with Hot Wheels back then.
10:32Always happens.
10:47Bruce buys discontinued cars at conventions like the York Toy Extravaganza in Pennsylvania.
10:54One of his favorite trading partners is Randy Blake, who's had a booth here for 25 years.
11:00He has over 300,000 cars in his collection.
11:03What's up, Randy?
11:04Hey, Bruce.
11:05How's it going, man?
11:06Nice to see you.
11:07I got some carded red lines.
11:08I got some nice higher-end convention cars.
11:11Do you have the Fairlady Z, the new NFT?
11:15I do.
11:17I have one of those.
11:18That's my last one left right there.
11:19Yeah.
11:20I just got these.
11:21These are the newest ones that just came out from the club.
11:23Oh, most definitely.
11:24Both nice cars.
11:25Of course.
11:26Yeah, both of those are the two hottest ones.
11:27Both nice cars.
11:28Yep.
11:29What do you think of an even trade?
11:33I could do that for you, Bruce.
11:34We could work that out.
11:35Another deal?
11:36Absolutely.
11:37Hey, Jerry.
11:38What's up, Bruce?
11:39You tell me.
11:40What's going on?
11:41How's it going?
11:43I know you're the man that has everything except this.
11:44Okay.
11:45Something I don't have.
11:46Wow.
11:47How long has it been since you've seen one of those?
11:48I saw one on eBay in my life.
11:49That's it.
11:50Two cars.
11:51Made only one year.
11:52Yeah.
11:53Great condition, too.
11:54What are you asking for it?
11:55$1,800.
11:56That's high.
11:57How about $1,200?
11:58$1,200.
11:59That's high.
12:00How about $1,200?
12:01That's high.
12:02How about $1,200?
12:03That's high.
12:04How about $1,200?
12:05That's high.
12:06How about $1,200?
12:07That's high.
12:08How about $1,200?
12:09That's high.
12:10How about $1,200?
12:11That's high.
12:12Life's not always about making money.
12:14Give you $1,500 for it and I'll give you cash.
12:18You got it.
12:19Sold.
12:20Okay.
12:21$1,300.
12:22$1,400.
12:23$1,500.
12:24Thank you, sir.
12:25You got a deal?
12:26Thank you very much.
12:27Appreciate you saving that for me.
12:28I'll give you my money.
12:29So this may be the only one existing in the world today, this type of package.
12:33And when you're a collector, you want to try to find stuff that nobody else has, this falls
12:39in the category.
12:40I paid a little bit more than I wanted to pay, but I guarantee if I came back here for
12:45the next 10 years, I wouldn't find it.
12:48While Bruce snatches up anything rare or historic, some have a niche, like building complete
12:53color sets of one type of car, what collectors call a rainbow.
12:57Hey, Bruce.
12:58What's up, guys?
12:59How are you, Bruce?
13:00I'm doing okay.
13:01My man.
13:02Cosmo Kogan is trying to build a complete set of the 1968 Mustang.
13:07I've always been a big Mustang guy.
13:09I actually had a Mustang when I met my wife, and for me personally, I just love that.
13:13I call it like a lavender, just beautiful color, and this is a $1,000 car in this condition.
13:22When Hot Wheels first came out, they painted cars for the first time, a toy car, the same
13:27way a real automobile was painted, electrostatic paint, which nobody had ever done that before.
13:34The gem-like, sparkly quality really appealed.
13:38Men like shiny.
13:40Women like shiny.
13:41Men like shiny.
13:42This is our shiny, right?
13:43I mean, my wife's shiny's a little different than mine.
13:48Many credit Elliot Handler, Mattel's co-founder, as the mastermind behind Hot Wheels.
13:53Elliot Handler told me one day that his greatest inventions were taking something already invented,
13:58but just making it better.
14:02That's what his wife, Ruth Handler, did in 1959, when she helped create the Barbie doll.
14:06To think about this, a husband and wife invented the number one boys' and girls' toy in the
14:13history of the world.
14:15Back then, most dolls were babies.
14:18Ruth wanted to create something that kids could see as a role model.
14:23Girls could fantasize about being bigger.
14:25They could fantasize about being teenagers or young adults.
14:29They did not have to fantasize about being moms or wives.
14:34Mattel was also one of the first toy companies to market straight to kids on TV, which helped
14:39it sell over 300,000 Barbies in 1959.
14:45For decades, Barbie dominated the fashion doll industry without major rivals.
14:51In 1991, Mattel reported that 95% of American girls between ages 3 and 11 owned multiple
14:59Barbies.
15:00But Barbie's reign was threatened in the early 2000s.
15:03When Bratz dolls first hit shelves, designed as a direct challenge to the blonde, slim
15:08Barbie doll, Bratz featured a diverse cast with more skin tones, different hairstyles,
15:13and edgier fashion that resonated with tweens.
15:17By the mid-2000s, the Bratz doll had hit an estimated $1 billion in annual sales and gobbled
15:23up about 40% of the fashion doll market.
15:26In 2015, Barbie sales reached a 25-year low of $900 million, down over 50% from their
15:33peak in 1997.
15:36That same year, Mattel launched dozens of new Barbies with different body shapes, hairstyles,
15:40and skin tones.
15:42But it would take a few more years for the iconic doll to regain its former glory.
15:47Today, Barbie dolls come in over 30 skin tones, and Brian Maldonado creates them from scratch.
15:54The biggest challenge I have, every Barbie character, monster high character, everybody
15:59has their own different kind of skin tone.
16:02Actually just finished cooking one, and we're going to go ahead and pull one out.
16:05You just get your trusty wrench, unlatch everything here, grab it, twist it, pop it right there.
16:15You got yourself a fresh Barbie head.
16:22That doll head is the canvas for Barbie's hairstylists like Shirley Fujisaki.
16:27She used to work in a salon, and has been the key lead hair designer at Mattel for 19
16:32years.
16:33Part of the interview process was actually getting on this machine that I've never touched
16:37before and rooting doll hair.
16:38If somebody's told me that, that I was going to be doing Barbie's hair when I'm older,
16:43I'd be like, oh, you're crazy.
16:46Our favorite and best tool that we use every day is this pep brush, which is amazing.
16:51You would think a pep brush wouldn't smooth out the hair, but it does an amazing job.
17:00Mattel's hair team has developed over 100 hairstyles in the last decade.
17:03This one was kind of popular with adults, just because of the tampoing that we did on
17:08the hair, the style that we did on it, and just how creative it was to do the kitty ears
17:14with hair.
17:16One of the ones that took, I would say, probably up to about 8 or 10 iterations was this one.
17:23It's one of our Fashionista Extra dolls.
17:25It took us a few different trials to figure out the exact color placement to get the combination
17:31coming to down here, so that it can show that ombre color from the front of it.
17:38Adults have played a critical role in Barbie's comeback.
17:41During the pandemic, millennial parents started buying dolls for their kids to try to cut
17:45down their screen time.
17:47Nostalgic Millennials also showed up en masse for the Barbie movie in 2023, a blockbuster
17:52hit that grossed roughly $1.4 billion.
17:56The movie helped reignite the collector's market, too.
18:01Mark Lear, a longtime collector, has taken advantage of this comeback, selling his own
18:06line of custom outfits online.
18:08So I bought these two fabrics in Japan, and I got this online.
18:13And shipping's not cheap.
18:16You know, I have to buy more.
18:17He says he could sell this kimono for about $85, but he treats his business as a compliment
18:22to his hobby.
18:23Today, he has hundreds of vintage dolls worth tens of thousands of dollars in his home in
18:28Queens, New York.
18:32One of his most valuable items is this European doll, which helped inspire the first Barbie.
18:37So this is called Lily, and this is from Germany.
18:41This was from 1955.
18:44She was about maybe $3,000 to $4,000.
18:46Ruth went to Switzerland with her family, and she saw this doll on the window display.
18:56Each Barbie costs $3 in the early days, and accessories cost extra.
19:02Today Mark buys most of his new items on Etsy or eBay, like these $20 shoes.
19:08Mark isn't alone.
19:10Mattel says about 13% of its U.S. sales come from adults.
19:13And when you get older, you want to have something to feel like your childhood feels.
19:26That's one of the reasons Dave Coletta has been collecting Lego for over 40 years.
19:32It's probably somewhere between 100,000 and 500,000 just individual Lego elements in this
19:39room.
19:40Even in college, my friends were like going out to the bars, and I was like, well, but
19:44I could buy some more Lego with that money.
19:48Lego's adult community is so big that it has a nickname, AFOLs, or Adult Fans of Lego.
19:54It's a term that we use somewhat endearingly, but you know, it's also a little cheeky.
20:01He buys and customizes sets without using instructions.
20:05I am like at a point where I kind of like build in my mind all the time.
20:10Like when I see something, I'm like, oh, I would use that piece to build that.
20:14Dave's work got him featured on the TV show Lego Masters, where mostly adults compete
20:18in brick building challenges.
20:21This is a version of one of the things that I built when I was on Lego Masters.
20:25It was one of our winning builds, and I was building a miniature version of it because
20:30I just wanted to keep that memory.
20:33He's currently constructing a model of his bathroom.
20:35I'm using these pieces, which originally were lightsaber rods, but I'm putting them on their
20:44ends and putting them all so close together that they make that hexagonal tile.
20:50I had to use tweezers to like get each one in where it went.
20:55I probably ordered like 2,000 lightsaber rods just to make this floor.
21:04I don't ever really think about how many pieces go into it because it's like you're a painter.
21:09Do you like count how many brush strokes that you put into your painting?
21:13I don't think so.
21:15What Dave does think about is the cost.
21:18He guesses his collection has set him back about $50,000.
21:23I try to set a budget of like $200 a month per Lego, and you know, sometimes I'll need
21:28more if I'm like working on a commission.
21:31Or like that helps supplement, you know, what I'm spending on Lego.
21:34A minifigure like this could go for $200 because it's a very rare minifigure that only appeared
21:41in one set ever.
21:43I'm trying to be budget conscious, but it's fun.
21:49To save money, he buys pieces off resale sites like BrickLink, which Lego acquired in 2019.
21:55The site has over a million adult members.
21:58If I'm working on a project and I need 1,000 three-length white rods, I can source them
22:05from anywhere in the world and find the cheapest price.
22:08One downside to his passion?
22:10He's often modeling alone.
22:13The internet was pivotal in my journey in Lego.
22:17So I was like, you know, younger, building by myself in my apartment.
22:23And I discovered that there was a whole like online community of other people like me.
22:28And we started coming together in person.
22:31Lego conventions like Brick Fair in Virginia took off among grown-ups in the 2000s.
22:37Over 22,000 visitors stop by every year to see fans display their creations.
22:44This is the biggest crane I've made up to date.
22:46Aiden Hurst spent roughly $1,500 to build this 15-foot crane.
22:50I work construction, so my inspiration was actually at my last project, we worked around
22:55one of them, and I was like, oh, I want to build that one day.
23:00John Peter Zapp spent over a decade and thousands of dollars building this miniature of Middle
23:05Earth from Lord of the Rings.
23:07A lot of stuff broke on the way down, so all day yesterday, me and my two helpers were
23:12just fixing, so it was a long day yesterday.
23:15I think I'll take it to one or two more shows, and then it's meant to break apart and build
23:19something new out of it.
23:21It's Lego.
23:22It's not like it's meant to last forever.
23:25But Lego didn't always prioritize the buying power of these adult collectors.
23:30Lego started out really designed to be educational and to have a rich and fulfilling play experience
23:36for children.
23:40Lego was founded in Denmark in the 1930s and only made wooden toys at first.
23:45The first plastic bricks came out in 1949 and were called automatic binding bricks.
23:52In 1958, Lego patented the stud and tube design, which allowed for large and stable builds.
24:00By the 60s, Lego's plastic brick sets were taking off in Western Europe, so the company
24:05decided to focus exclusively on bricks.
24:09Lego debuted the iconic minifigure in 1978.
24:13By 1987, Lego sets were sold in nearly 120 countries, and U.S. sales soared to an estimated
24:20$115 million.
24:22In 1999, Lego released its first successful set tied to a movie franchise, Star Wars.
24:29And adults loved it, too.
24:31They were actually building a model and being engaged in the Star Wars narrative, so that
24:36really had a much older appeal than just stacking blocks.
24:42But in the 90s and early 2000s, Lego took its eye off the ball, spending hundreds of
24:47millions of dollars on theme parks, digital projects, and merchandise.
24:51Meanwhile, video game sales were growing, cutting into the toy market.
24:56There was much more emphasis on TV and less emphasis on sort of construction play.
25:03In 2003, sales tanked 35% in the U.S.
25:08Lego named a new CEO in 2004, who cut costs, sold the theme parks, and refocused the company
25:16on its core product, the plastic brick.
25:21It also started focusing more on its adult fan base.
25:25In 2007, Lego launched a revamped Star Wars Millennium Falcon, which retailed for more
25:30than $500 and was recommended for ages 16 and up.
25:35In 2014, it launched Lego Ideas.
25:39Fans could submit their own plans for sets, and if they got enough votes, watch their
25:42ideas go into production.
25:44They'd even get a 1% cut of the royalties.
25:48They're saying, hey, if you make that, I will buy it.
25:52People don't want to just passively consume brands, they really want to interact with
25:56them.
25:57Then in 2020, Lego released its first set aimed at ages 18 and up.
26:03Lego kept its momentum over the next few years, setting a revenue record in 2024.
26:10Today, Lego's adult line, called Icons, is among its top-selling themes.
26:15If I go to Target, I'll see a boyfriend and girlfriend going to buy sets for each other.
26:21They're like, oh, we should get this set.
26:23And in the same spot next to me, there'll be a kid, and they'll be like, I really want
26:26that set.
26:27I feel like that's a success for the company, but also a success in lots of ways for our
26:33culture.
26:35Plush toys are a $10 billion industry, and some of the main people scooping these up
26:40are adults.
26:41Mike Ney has figured out how to make a little money from his hobby.
26:46He's sold over $40,000 worth of plush toys online, and he wins all of them himself, out
26:52of an arcade claw machine near his home in Utah.
26:55I'm guessing I could probably sell this one for $150 or $200, and there was only 25 of
27:00My girlfriend's not entirely convinced that we need an entire room of the house dedicated
27:05just to plushies, but I enjoy it, so, you know, she supports me.
27:10In 2020, he bought a hobby machine from Alibaba and started studying how claws behave.
27:16There's a lot of strategy that goes into it, more so than the average person might realize,
27:20you know, looking for the geometry of the plush and the specific way that the claw moves
27:24around it.
27:26He gets most of his plush toys from Round One, an arcade with over 100 claw machines.
27:32Today, he's given himself a budget of $160.
27:35His goal is to fill up two laundry bags.
27:39Mike starts by inspecting every machine to look for easy wins.
27:43I love coming to Round One in the morning after fresh restocks, because they buy all
27:48this stuff, and it's a lot of fun.
27:51I love coming to Round One in the morning after fresh restocks, because they buy all
27:55the toys high up above the chute here, so it makes it a lot easier to win, just being
28:00able to pick them up and kind of tumble the plush into the prize chute.
28:07Each play costs roughly $1 to $3.
28:12It took him 12 plays and $15 to win all four colors of these Pac-Man toys.
28:17I'm guessing as a set, I could probably sell all of them for about $20.
28:21Machines full of rare toys, like this Pachita character from a Japanese anime, cost more
28:26to play.
28:27So I'm really trying to aim right around, grab where at least one claw gets under the
28:32actual chainsaw part.
28:37Use that double tap, and hopefully the chainsaw will actually hold it in the claw.
28:41It's kind of hooked on there, you can see it.
28:43Perfect one-shot win.
28:45So that's less than $2 that we spend on it.
28:48We should be able to sell this one for $15 to $20, so it's a really solid 10x on that.
28:54But most of the time, it takes him at least a few tries.
28:58This Hello Kitty, they're really popular.
29:00I do have a couple already, so I'm not going to invest a lot into this one, but I'm going
29:05to give it a couple plays and see how we can do.
29:16These failed attempts are what make claw machines so profitable for arcades.
29:21Claw machines are just another form of gambling.
29:24It's just a cuddly, fluffy, colorful form of gambling.
29:29Very similar to a slot machine in Las Vegas, where you can program the payouts.
29:35But instead, arcades can program the claw to have a stronger grip after a certain amount
29:39of plays.
29:40It's a really delicate balance between making a profit and rewarding your player so that
29:45they keep coming back.
29:54Mike is aware of this, and has a couple of tricks and personal rules for himself.
29:59First, knowing when to stop.
30:03We're just going to skip it and move on.
30:04You can tell it doesn't even really lift up the play.
30:06We're just going to skip it and move on.
30:07You can tell it doesn't even really lift up the play.
30:10Second, picking the right toy to go for.
30:13So one thing I'm looking for with plush that I'm trying to win is plush that have long
30:17arms and legs that the claw can grab onto.
30:20And third, double tapping the button lets him instantly stop the claw, giving him more
30:24precision.
30:31And we got a nice good grab there actually, perfect by the head.
30:35So that was just a couple plays to win that one.
30:39This is one of the most popular machines here, filled with Japanese Hololive plush toys,
30:44which are exclusive to round one.
30:46So right now my general technique is just go for things that are close to the chute
30:51and just try and get one or two arms of the claw around it just to be able to lift it
30:55up and over.
30:56Not really trying to pick anything up necessarily.
31:01Just tumble it in like that.
31:04We ended up spending about $15 and each one will sell for about $15 on its own.
31:10And they're all different.
31:13After a full day, Mike has filled both of his laundry bags with plush toys and still
31:18had $10 left.
31:20So this was our haul for today.
31:24Got two nice full bags.
31:27Overall it's a pretty successful day.
31:30Everything together I could sell for about $400.
31:35Mike's most valuable prize was this Kiromi plush from Japan, created by the same company
31:40as Hello Kitty.
31:42He can resell this for about $30 because it's exclusive to round one.
31:47I think that a lot of the popularity of Japanese toys came from they were really one of the
31:53pioneers in discontinuing toys and in creating different hierarchies of toys.
32:00So that they really created the idea of what we call the chase toy.
32:08One of these chase toys is Sunny Angel, minifigurines released by the company Dreams, Inc. in 2005.
32:14They were created with the goal of easing the stress of working women in Japan.
32:18It's the Japanese concept of kawaii, super cute.
32:22They're supposed to embody innocence and cuteness and sweetness and they're designed to be comforting.
32:28Part of the appeal is that you don't know which ones you're going to get when you buy it,
32:32similar to Pokemon cards.
32:34These blind boxes typically sell for $10 to $15.
32:41Unboxing videos on social media helped Sunny Angel spread.
32:44And by 2024 there was a worldwide shortage.
32:51It's all about the thrill of discovering what you're going to get.
32:54So it's kind of magical, you never know.
32:57Buyers have tiny odds, less than 1%, of finding one of the rarest types of Sunny Angel, known as Secrets.
33:06That's why they can fetch hundreds of dollars on eBay.
33:11Annie Chung has been collecting them since they came out and has over 50 Secret Angels.
33:26That you can take to your office with you.
33:30Annie co-founded the toy store Anmei in New York City in 2014
33:34and keeps some of her rarest items on display.
33:37Everything behind the register here, this whole wall, is all limited edition.
33:42It's like a one-hit wonder, they don't reproduce it again.
33:46I'm just looking at my 401k right now.
33:53I refuse to count.
33:56So I can keep going.
33:58I love my babies so much.
34:01I mean, in the span of 20 years, I think I'm being a good girl.
34:11Back in December 2024, people lined up around the block for a holiday promotion at Anmei.
34:20Jesse Angel waited for three hours to score some Sunny Angel characters for his wife.
34:25She's staying at home right now and taking care of our son for, you know, non-stop.
34:30You know, that's like a 24-hour job, can't really take any breaks.
34:35Some collectors traded to pass the time.
34:41I kind of feel crazy that I'm standing here, but it's for the vibe, I guess.
34:45So I think it just brings a sense of community, especially in New York where it's kind of hard to make friends too.
34:51Like, you can interact with people and be like, oh hey, you have this, we can trade.
35:01Yeah, I'm only telling my girl I got like three, maybe five, and then I'll be like, I couldn't get any more.
35:06The rest is going to be a surprise.
35:08How many did you end up getting?
35:10It didn't count.
35:11I just kept grabbing them.
35:13I just kept grabbing them.
35:16Despite spiking demand for Sunny Angel blind boxes, Annie refuses to raise prices.
35:23If the community cannot afford it, there is no future for the certain product.
35:28To us, it's not just a blind box.
35:32It's to be able to create community.
35:41And that's a feeling many collectors share.
35:44No matter the toy they're playing with.
35:46Collecting touches something very elemental inside each of us.
35:51And it's a form of self-expression, really, to align yourself with a certain figure, with a certain character,
35:58and to express yourself and your affinity for that.
36:03My advice is, buy what you like.
36:07This is not stock picking.
36:09To buy cars to think you could just buy and sell them to make money.
36:13Buy what you have a passion for.
36:15Because if you buy what you love, you'll always love it.
36:20God forbid I pass away tomorrow, I don't know what my wife would do.
36:23So I am working on a list with instructions myself of what to do in case I pass.
36:28And I have some friends that would help her.
36:30But it's a Herculean task for a lot of collectors that collected for 25 years and have thousands of items.
36:37Remember, each item was bought one or two at a time and enjoyed.
36:41And to get rid of 15,000 items at one time, it's difficult.