isn't everything designed?

Better than art toys.
But not as great as adult toys.
What about collector toys?
Or how about just toys.
Or dollies, let's use dollies.

It doesn't matter what we call them, someone will hate it. Desinger, artist, craftsman, all of the above.... Toy designer doesn't sound to bad though. Toy artist makes it sound like you draw the concept art for Mattel or something, while most of the people we are talking about are more hands on. I'll just call them by name, unless I miss their hottest new toy. Then they are assholes!

Actually I think Monster Maker would be a nice title for the folks making JP vinyl, now that I think about it.

...except some jp vinyl are robots.
also, some of the stuff I've seen on Etsy isn't designed...it is shit out.

Silly label really, I wonder if they use the word in other languages, I'd expect not.

I'm a big fan of terminology. For what we GENERALLY collect here on this board I like "sofubi" since it kind of says "Soft Vinyl" and "Japanese" all in one (generally.) It's not as genre restrictive as "kaiju" or even "neo-kaiju" or "fight figures" etc. Those all live in the "sofubi" kingdom usually anyway (since they're made from Japanese soft vinyl.)

I dislike "designer toy" since, as mentioned, it's kind of saying something twice. A designer has designed everything made into production. So most people don't know WHO sculpted Ghostbusters toys in the 80's, so what, they're not designers? But someone who slaps an Anarchy symbol on something is? So they get a separate title? I also fee like the "designer toy" title get's a little cocky, like "oh I collect 'designer toys'!" like it's a term to say "I'm not a REAL nerd, but kind of, but a COOL one, like it's art maaaaaaan!" As if to say whoever was involved in the creation of mass market, or any for that matter, toys ISN'T a designer or artist and therefor are for "commoners" who don't appreciate art. I just feel like it's a term used by some (not all) to put themselves above others in many cases.

So if your eyes rolled when you hit this link and saw my wall of text, in short, fuck it who cares? It's all bullshit toys anyway.

my eyes didn't roll dude. you summed up my thoughts better than i could. i give your comment a +1

Exactly.
Its like a big look at me circle that tries to justify its existence with big and trend based terms.
You all buy toys.

right on.
but toys are meant to be played with, in my opinion, so i have been riding this line on whether this stuff that we collect here on skullbrain is actually toys or not. has anyone ever bought a zagoran for their kid, to play with? or is every zagoran ever purchased limited to displaying it on a shelf or posed for pictures? because, that then would not be a toy, its a posable knick knack. i guess, photographing a toy could be considered an adult way of playing....i don't know. so i'll also turn to just calling them toys. mattel and secret base are in the same boat.

Lets just call them "used tampons in a detolf". All other terms will sound like bullshit to one of us sooner or later anyway.

My wife already does.

Duchamp would have loved Detolfs

I play with my toys, although not as roughly as I would have as a child. I also buy my son JP vinyl toys to play with but I try and stay on the cheaper, less rare side of things. These "toys" were meant to bring happiness to children, albeit older children so I have no problem thinking of them as toys. Is it so hard to think that people designing toys and box art are artists in their own right? There was a time when being a comic book artist was looked at as a production job, clearly not the case. I had hoped that society had moved past the whole "real art" vs. "graf, comics, toy, etc.". To me an artist is someone who creates things as opposed to copying things. So yes, I consider the best toy creators to be artists but they can still be making toys without applying that label to them. BDBD6969, I know terminology can be fun but these are conceived terms. It's like trying to nail down the origin and original meaning of a turn of phrase. It's not like these are terms with clear definitions or anything.

My wife graduated with a degree in toy design. I win