A few news bits from the aisles at Toy Fair:

Mark Thoma, the Sr. Buyer for Toys and Board Games, and most recently Director of Merchandise Buying – Toys, at Target, who some regard as primarily responsible for Target’s explosive growth in game sales the past few years, has left Target and moved to Buffalo Games, where he will serve as Vice President Business Development.

There was much talk about Star Wars, especially after Hasbro’s announcement right before the show opened that weakness in Star Wars toy sales had hurt the company’s sales at the end of 2017 (see “Hasbro Reports Challenging Q4”).  There was general agreement that sales of most things Star Wars were weakening, with one long-time observer remarking, "They’ve killed the goose that laid the golden egg."  The frequency of the movies was cited as a problem, with concern expressed about sales tied to Solo: A Star Wars Story, which shortens the time between movies to under six months.

Sales of Funko POP! Vinyl figures also appear to have crested, with ubiquity of distribution a contributing factor.  Although aftermarket prices and sales of new figures are holding steady, that may be coming at the expense of remainder figures being routed out of the country for disposal in other markets.  Funko reports Q4 and full year earnings later today, which should provide some visibility on the trends.