Here today with five toys that lost me money (anywhere from a few hundred bucks to $5,000!), and why they lost me money.

The most important thing to remember is that what we are doing is a lot of speculation and educated guesses with the information we have available to us. Because of that, things don’t always pan out, even if you made the best decision possible with the data available.

Don’t let that get you down, every loss is a learning experience and over time will accumulate in your own personal data set of what to avoid and pay attention to.

I hope you find this video useful and pick up some tips to help with your own analysis.

Enjoy!

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Here today to ramble for 15 minutes about the #1 most important metric to be paying attention to when it comes to toy investing.

Good looking action figure? Doesn’t matter.

Most fun LEGO set ever created? Doesn’t matter.

Sells 20,000 times a month? Doesn’t matter.

Well, these things do matter, but not until you have an idea of this very important metric.

In this video I discuss said metric, as well as discuss a couple different sourcing strategies I’ve been using, and I reveal a lead that has <500 units available that I think is going to crush this year. No, it’s not some filler lead, I already have over $7500 invested into it myself.

If you aren’t a paid subscriber, now is the time to hop in and start learning the game.

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Enjoy!

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Here today with some LEGO leads I’ve been buying as well as some that are worth monitoring very closely over the coming months. I share the specific items as well as how many I’ve been purchasing and why, as well as my analysis for the ones I’m very close to purchasing.

As always, do your own research as you may come to your own conclusions and we may have different hold times we are comfortable with.

Quick shameless plug…

If you are not a paid subscriber, now is the perfect time to join. In this video alone, there is a single LEGO SKU that is capable of covering the entire year subscription fee. You will receive access to the last 1.5 years of content I’ve posted, and by the time you’re done watching/reading it, you’ll be in a very strong position for this coming Q4. Yes, Q4 prep started months ago, if you aren’t thinking about it, you’re already late.

Click the subscribe button so you can view this video and start buying!

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Here today with another business-oriented video to expand on something I touched on last week - my next phase of growth.

After a lot of personal assessment, I’ve decided to increase the stretch goal for my business to 1m / yr profit in the next few years.

In this 20-minute video, I do a recap of my current setup and why it’s time to take the next step outside of it. I talk about how I analyzed my business to determine if it was time and what the next step looks like.

Right now, I’m in the negotiation phase for a warehouse and I talk a bit about how I started my hunt, some tips I picked up on, and a bit about my specific strategy for how I’m going to scale.

This video is available for paid subscribers only, but if you would like a free trial to the newsletter where you can watch this video and all other content I’ve posted, shoot me a message on Twitter (@thetoyinvestor) with your email and I can set you up for a free 7-day trial.

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I’ve been getting a lot of questions over the last few weeks that all seem to share the same essence, questions like:

• What were the most important changes you made to your business to grow?

• What mindset shifts did you have to adopt to improve your sourcing?

• How do you know when it’s time to ‘take the leap’ into Amazon full time?

Stuff like that.

So today’s video is less about toy investing, and more of a podcast-esque 40-minute rambling of what I think were the most important mindset changes and decisions I’ve made in my business since starting almost 7 years ago.

I understand this type of content isn’t for everyone, so if you’d rather just read the cliff notes, there’s a summary below the video.

Lastly, before diving in, please understand that my journey and your journey are two completely different things. We don’t share the same goals. We don’t share the same responsibilities or life experience. Use this as a springboard for your own decision making, but don’t take it as gospel.

Enjoy!

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Here today with an April LEGO update. Primarily looking at some of the sets from 2025 to see how they’re performing and seeing if we can pick up any clues for what to lean towards this year.

Definitely some intriguing stuff from 2025 I hope we can replicate this year.

Enjoy the video below:

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Was going to do some personal research on Marvel Legends and their corresponding movies to prepare for the upcoming Spider-Man and Avengers movies and decided to bring you guys along.

Nothing mind-blowing, just wanted to double check and make sure I wasn’t missing anything.

I anticipate Brand New Day pre-orders opening at some point soon and…

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Last night I was invited to have a conversation with my good friend Steve French for his private ‘Toys R Gold’ group. Toys R Gold is a quarterly membership-based group focused on toys, with daily leads, ongoing community discussion, and other educational topics similar to this newsletter.

We talked for about 1.5 hours, touching on all sorts of topics ranging from upcoming movie catalysts, how to prepare for these catalysts along with specific leads, frequently asked questions, the changing collectible space, Q4 prep, July LEGO retirees, and more.

Oh, and if you’re interested in Steve’s Toys R Gold group, it’s currently waitlisted, but you can request a spot on the waitlist by emailing him at steve@toysrgold.com.

You can check out the conversation below, enjoy!

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There is a lot of chatter right now about the July LEGO retirement list that is fast approaching (found here).

I’m seeing people in various groups talk about how they’re going to stock up on a ton of sets before July, but before you join them on a spending spree: hear me out for a few minutes.

Here is the general approach I will be taking to…

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Here today to chat a bit about the pros and cons of the various methods of sourcing toys as well as some differences in the types of toy investments we can be making. I receive questions about this all the time, so I hope I can cover a wide range of questions here.

There are more types of toys than those listed below, such as die cast vehicles, model kits, roleplay items, etc., but I am only going to speak on the niches I am knowledgeable on.

Lastly, an important thing to understand is that these sourcing models are not mutually exclusive. Most experienced sellers operate a hybrid model. For example, someone might primarily source wholesale, but still deploy capital into LEGO retirements, Pokemon sealed product, or occasional retail arbitrage opportunities.

Think of these as different tools in the toolbox, each with their own risk profiles, capital requirements, and learning curves. Ultimately, pick the ones you enjoy the most, and you will find success.

Retail Arbitrage

Retail arbitrage is arguably the ‘best’ sourcing method when it comes to separating yourself from the herd of competitors. Your local stores that you have access to are going to be a completely different ecosystem than the ones across the country.

Pros:

• Localized inventory and deals that can give you competitive advantages via supply and price others don’t have access to. Because of this, this model often has higher margins than other models.

• Can network with store managers in person and build personal relationships that enable even more unique deals

• Takes more ‘real’ work than any other model, which scares off a lot of competitors

• Often able to stack online deals with in-store deals so you can ‘double dip’ on savings. For example, price matching an online price on the retailer’s website while taking advantage of another deal.

• Access to inventory that is not available online via discount stores like Ross, TJ Maxx, Ollie’s, etc.

• ‘Cook groups’ typically don’t focus on this model, also resulting in less competition

Cons:

• Have to physically drive around and shop. If you want to optimize, involves leaving your local area to find ‘honey holes’ but results in really strong margins.

• Bit of a ramp up period to ‘learn’ your region and how to optimize your sourcing routes, but no different than other models that also have a learning curve.

• Vehicle/fuel costs

• Depending on where you source, prep can take longer if you need to remove stickers

• Harder to track receipts/invoices than just searching your email

Ultimately, this is the model I recommend for anyone just getting started. It’s a great way to get ‘in the field’ and in front of thousands of different products right away. When you hit a home run, the margins are typically a great way to grow your bank roll quick, especially if you’re new and operating with limited capital.

At a higher level, you can begin to outsource retail arbitrage to shoppers or outsource your prep so you can shop more.

For me personally, these days I’m typically just doing RA during clearance season and when there is a killer deal at Target where the product isn’t available online (like LEGO clearance or Black Friday deals which are limited).

Most of my retail arbitrage for the last few years has been LEGO from Target and LEGO from the LEGO store (to stack more GWPs), but plenty of people are absolutely crushing at discount stores like Ollie’s and Dollar General, I just don’t have those in my region.

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Here today with a quick video on some important things I’m noticing about Funko lately.

If you’ve been following me, you know I pretty much swore the brand off for the last year. Not that there weren’t solid Funko to invest in or flip, it just became a chore to research the product line and stay up to date on every release when only one in like every fifty was actually good.

Well, Funko seems to be changing some things behind the scenes that make the brand more appealing again, making me want to pay more attention to it.

Check out the latest here:

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Today we’re diving into ten common toy investing mistakes that I’ve made myself and/or see others making as well. A lot of these can be applied to reselling in general, so make sure to take a birds eye view and see if you can apply these to niches outside of toys as well.

Let’s go!

1. Not Paying Attention To Your Competition On Listings

If you’ve been at this awhile, you will start to become familiar with the storefronts that frequently sell the same things that you do. You’ve probably stalked their storefront, Googled their LLC, and maybe even looked up their address to see how nice their house is. In short, you start to develop some ‘enemies’ who don’t even know you exist.

It’s important to understand their models and how they operate.

For example, one of my mortal “enemies” is Toy Planet. Why? Because I sell a lot of Hasbro. They also sell a lot of Hasbro. The difference? I’m pretty sure they have a direct account with Hasbro and are able to obtain a lot of closeout deals. I cannot compete with their sale prices. And even when I think I’m being smart and monitoring their stock count, they often set their maximum limit to random numbers so you can’t really tell how much supply they have.

I have been burned numerous times by buying a lead I thought was solid and not paying attention to Toy Planet being on it.

Why does this matter? Because as soon as I take any buy box share, they can immediately undercut me to a point that I can’t sell the item profitably.

Not only that, but it’s also an indicator of SKU performance. A lot of what they sell they’re obviously getting hundreds or thousands of at severely discounted below wholesale rates as leftover stock from Hasbro. If Toy Planet is sitting on an item at a price that “doesn’t make sense”, that’s an indicator the item was liquidated by Hasbro in a closeout deal and could appear at places like Ross, or have other sellers that have obtained it at a buy cost that I can’t beat.

Learn your competitors, learn how they price, and you will become better about not just what to buy, but when to send stuff in. I rarely send stuff in if Toy Planet is on it now, I just wait.

On top of all that, it’s important to monitor stock counts. Seller count is not as relevant as it may seem, but the quantity that sellers have is. 100 sellers with 1 unit each? No big deal. 5 sellers with 300 units each? That can be scary.

Pay attention to who is on the listings and how much they have before you go deep on a product!

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For quite awhile now, people have been requesting a Toy Investing lead list. I’ve always been more of the mindset of “how to fish” rather than “what to fish”, but today I am making an exception.

Here are the details:

• This is NOT a recurring lead list. This is a one time offer of leads (may do more in the future, depending on feedback)

• Approxi…

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Something has been on my mind a lot lately when it comes to the reselling space. It seems a lot of people are sourcing with only one thing in mind - profit. Which, of course is important, but if that’s the only thing you’re concerned about when sourcing, you’re setting yourself up for failure.

All over social media, all you ever hear is “Pr…

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Been a couple weeks since my last public update. Back today with a review of the last couple weeks as well as some exciting toy news.

First off, a quick recap of some articles I’ve posted in the last couple weeks:

Three videos, all essential if you want to master toy investing in 2026. First up is the importance of understanding the intent of each toy from the manufacturer perspective. Next up is ten toys that I recommend keeping an eye on (and more importantly why), and lastly is a one hour video of some raw product research on Amazon exclusive toys.

If you are currently a free subscriber and interested in viewing these in full with a 7-day trial, just message me on Substack or Twitter with your email.

Okay, onto the toy news:

Hasbro Marvel Legends Fan Stream

Two days ago we had some new Marvel Legends reveals from the Hasbro team. While nothing has me jumping out of my seat, especially with the recent price increases, my personal standouts are Maximum Thor (Fan Channel + Amazon), Secret Wars Daredevil (Daredevil figures always appreciate well), and Archangel (Fan Channel).

As I’ve been mentioning lately, Hasbro has been tricky when investing on the front end, so I may be trying to snag these at end of life rather than early on.

Netflix Street Sharks Revival?

Rumors are circulating, but the clues add up. Netflix may be attempting a 90’s classic Street Sharks revival with a modern twist. I typically wait for official confirmation before sharing any rumors like this, but we have two clues that point to this being possible.

1. Street Sharks were supposed to have a third wave of toys produced by Mattel last year, revealed at a convention, that was suddenly canceled.

2. Funko just recently vaulted some Street Sharks Funko as of a few days ago

It’s not much, but something tells me this could be them deciding to pivot to Netflix-oriented designs in the near future instead of releasing merchandise for a non-relevant (for now) franchise.

Keep your eyes open! There’s a shot we hear more about this at Toy Fair this weekend.

Mattel Confirms TMNT License

As of 2027, Mattel will have a multi-year deal to produce TMNT toys. It seems they’re on a roll picking up some major licenses, doesn’t it? I’m excited to see where they take the line, especially because historically Mattel has had a collector line for their most popular franchises. There could be a world where Mattel launches a collector line, but at the same time I believe NECA and McFarlane also have the TMNT license, so they may be in charge of the more collector-oriented pieces. Either way, nice to have even further confirmation that Playmates is OUT, as of Jan 1.

NECA Producing Batman Returns 8-Inch Figures

This one is out of left-field! NECA appears to be slowly announcing some Batman Returns 8-inch figures. Not long off the heels of McFarlane’s 7-inch figures. While I always welcome more theatrical collectibles, I do feel this could hinder the trajectory of where McFarlane’s figures are headed for this movie. Right now, McFarlane’s Catwoman and Penguin are some of my favorite 401(k) holds, as up until now, customers had no other viable alternatives. We’ll see though, scale matters and perhaps people will prefer McFarlane’s work.

Have a lovely Valentine’s Day, and catch you in the next one!

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I do not provide personal investment advice and I am not a qualified licensed investment advisor.

All information found here, including any ideas, opinions, views, predictions, forecasts, commentaries, or suggestions, expressed or implied herein, are for informational, entertainment or educational purposes only and should not be construed as personal investment advice. While the information provided is believed to be accurate, it may include errors or inaccuracies.

I will not and cannot be held liable for any actions you take as a result of anything you read here.

Conduct your own due diligence, or consult a licensed financial advisor or broker before making any and all investment decisions. Any investments, speculations, or decisions made on the basis of any information found on this site, expressed or implied herein, are committed at your own risk, financial or otherwise.

Got a bit carried away and ended up with over an hour of raw product research on Amazon exclusives.

I was inspired by the Marvel Legends Lizard figure I spoke about last week, and wanted to deep dive and see if I could find any brands that have consistently strong performing Amazon exclusives, or any other data or leads.

I think the main takeaway is track everything Amazon exclusive that is from a collectible line for a big discount, because several of the figures have significant discounts at end of life.

In this game of reselling, I am a firm believer that the more opportunities you give yourself to succeed, the luckier you get. So while spending an hour of product research like this may not immediately generate profit, I’ve added at least a dozen new products to my tracking, found a couple new leads I am considering purchasing, and have gained some product knowledge for the future.

Hope you find it helpful, let me know if you have any questions.

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Here today with a 20-minute video analyzing ten toys I think are worth keeping an eye on this year.

Key phrase: keeping an eye on.

This is not a BOLO list. This is a list of toys to watch and see if they go on sale, or perhaps an adjacent toy goes on toy that you’re aware of because of this analysis.

The goal here is to share my insight into why I think these items are worth watching, so you can adopt the mindset for your own analysis.

Enjoy!

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Here today with an important video that should help with your buying decisions.

Understanding ‘intention and capabilities of the manufacturer’ behind each toy line is extremely important, just as important as the items we pick.

You can have the most popular character in the world but if the manufacturer has shown they are more than willing to meet demand with their production - it doesn’t appeal to us.

On the flip side, you could have a middle of the pack popularity type character, but if the manufacturer does not intend to produce enough to meet demand, then it does appeal to us.

This all comes down to manufacturer intention and capabilities and how they strategize each of their toy lines. This is why I always encourage you to take the time to research each individual toy line and pick up on how the manufacturers produce them.

Rainbow High? Usually discontinues after 2-3 years.

Disney Store plush? Always in production.

Marvel Legends? Usually 2-3 production runs and then done, with occasional risk of a reprint way down the line.

McFarlane Toys? One print and done (but production can often be very frontloaded).

It’s a complex conversation with a lot of nuance, so I made a video with more examples to help share what I mean. Check it out below:

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It’s been a few weeks since my last complimentary newsletter, and there’s a few updates from the toy world.

Let’s kick things off with some stuff I’ve been up to…

Recent Articles

My last three paid posts have been very well-received, which include my thoughts on the state of toy investing in 2026 (spoiler alert, I’m bullish), my first impressions of the 2026 LEGO retirement list (spoiler alert, it may be the best year ever) and a peek into some specific SKUs that I have in my 401(k) stash (spoiler alert, I’m heavy on bricks, cardboard, and action figures).

Click any of the links above to view the corresponding article. If you are not a paid subscriber, feel free to message me with your email and I can set you up with a free 7-day trial.

LEGO Pokemon

I’m sure most people have heard by now, but the two titans of the toy and collectible industry are having their first ever collaboration.

While the sets themselves are cool, that’s the least of our concern right now as toy investors. These sets will be widely available for years to come, and they really only should be of interest to us as their retirement dates near.

What is interesting to us however, is the recent gift with purchase and the upcoming Insider Rewards sets.

The GWP is entering into uncharted territory for LEGO - have we ever seen a complimentary gift sell for THIS much before it has even been released?

What does that mean for the upcoming mini-Pokemon Center reward that releases at the end of February?

Definitely keep an eye on these moreso than the mainline sets for now - could be some serious opportunity.

Masters of the Universe Live-Action Trailer

As someone who knows absolutely nothing about He-Man and MOTU, this looks… great?

On first watch, it has nailed what is the most important part of any “cartoon/toy to live-action movie” should - the visuals.

Fan sentiment seems relatively positive, even though it’s trendy to hate on Jared Leto (Skeletor), it seems most are reserving judgement.

If they can stick the landing with this and produce a sleeper hit, we may have another “nerd culture” franchise that is actually impactful in pop culture (like the recent video game movies that have been having success).

This mostly comes as a surprise because of the flop of the MOTU Netflix series, but something tells me this one is going to correct for that.

There is no confirmation on the budget for the film, right now rumors are swirling that it’s 170-200m which is a HUGE gamble from the studio. If the budget is truly in that range, I don’t think they realistically are expecting to have this movie hit the numbers it’d need to to be considered a box office success (425m+), which tells me they are going to lean heavy into merch to increase profitability. Which does make sense, considering MGM is owned by Amazon.

We’ll see though, all theories at this point, but always exciting when a toy-driven franchise takes a shot at mainstream pop culture.

Target 70% Clearance Coming to an End

What a week it was! I road tripped to over 20 Targets in the span of 2 days, cleaning up on some insane deals. There are still remnants remaining on the shelves, but this twice a year sale seems to be finally petering out.

If you typically drink Starbucks for your morning coffee, I encourage you to get your Starbucks from Target for the next few days and just walk the aisles and see if any 70% off clearance is remaining.

Star Wars: Maul - Shadow Lord Trailer

Star Wars merch has been written off by me due to the endless amounts of over-production (Black Series, Vintage Collection). Despite that, it’d be silly to not pay attention to the media being produced. This will undoubtedly be a hit on Disney+, with tons of merch to be made. Expect Maul overload, similar to Mando and Grogu once this releases in April.

I’ll be curious to see if any exclusive figures get released or if they’ll all be mainline.

Have a great weekend folks!

Enjoying the complimentary content? Become a paid subscriber and get access to ALL of my previous and future content. There is no better time to learn about toy investing for Amazon/Walmart than now, with plenty of time to learn before our “peak season” (Q4). You can also message me on Twitter (@thetoyinvestor) or on Substack with your email and I can upgrade you to a free 7-day trial.

I do not provide personal investment advice and I am not a qualified licensed investment advisor.

All information found here, including any ideas, opinions, views, predictions, forecasts, commentaries, or suggestions, expressed or implied herein, are for informational, entertainment or educational purposes only and should not be construed as personal investment advice. While the information provided is believed to be accurate, it may include errors or inaccuracies.

I will not and cannot be held liable for any actions you take as a result of anything you read here.

Conduct your own due diligence, or consult a licensed financial advisor or broker before making any and all investment decisions. Any investments, speculations, or decisions made on the basis of any information found on this site, expressed or implied herein, are committed at your own risk, financial or otherwise.

Back today with a peek into some of my “401(k)” toy stash. These are toys that I deem to have relatively high price ceilings / exponential potential that I don’t mind holding for longer than my usual goal of under 12 months.

401(k)-type holds are important to me to ‘diversify’. Even though it’s still within the physical goods/toy category, 401(k)-type toys are usually able to be sold with relative ease on eBay or locally. It’s a way to protect myself in case of something unexpected on Amazon/Walmart - at least I’ll have a stash of toys that are steadily increasing in value I can use to get funds. The 401(k) stash makes up maybe around 8-10% of my total toy portfolio.

I sold a lot of my stash this past Q4, so wanted to update you with some of the stuff I’ve added recently along with some analysis for why.

I break it down into action figures, dolls, LEGO, and Pokemon.

Check it out below, enjoy!

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