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TRU is just not having a good month. Now, Charles Lazarus, the company founder, has died at age 94.
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Mar 22, 2018 21:35
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| # ? May 29, 2024 15:42 |
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Doggles posted:Billionaire starts a GoFundMe page to ask for donations to save Toys R Us. #NotTheOnion Doesn't that mean that they just gave gofundme 30% of 200M?
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Mar 22, 2018 21:47
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Choco1980 posted:TRU is just not having a good month. Now, Charles Lazarus, the company founder, has died at age 94. Something tells me he'll be back.
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Mar 22, 2018 21:58
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Sir Lemming posted:stuff that working adults mostly don't enjoy buying. I think this right here may encapsulate the whole problem with TRU. Toys are expensive, and faddish, and break easily, and your kids will only play with them for a while before they get bored. When you had money, okay, sure, but no one has any money anymore because the middle-class is dying. Here's mommy's cellphone and a $2 app, we have to pay for food, clothing, and shelter first and there's not much left for toys.
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Mar 23, 2018 00:12
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Krispy Wafer posted:I think people kind of over react a little. No, my kids don't have a portable .45 and Steve Martin's King Tut single that they play constantly - but they have Spotify and can listen to an infinite variety of music that doesn't stop working when their needle breaks or the record scratches. In fact when I think about it, all my favorite memories of recording stupid poo poo to a portable tape recorder, listening to records, or taking Polaroids were all relatively brief periods of my life because every one of those items broke or cost so much to maintain that I could only enjoy them for short periods of time. Kids don't play enough anymore, they spend too much time watching TV/reading comic books/listening to that "radio" contraption/using these newfangled mass-market toys instead of running around in the yard playing with sticks in the dirt!  
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Mar 23, 2018 02:23
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Haifisch posted:I get the feeling this is one of those things people say every generation and exaggerate how it's going to ruin the Kids These Days. I'm not gonna lie, what I've seen of toys today is way cooler than what I had as a kid. Even outside of the obvious tablets, the Nerf guns, super soakers and Legos my youngest cousins have blows the equivalents I owned out of the water. My cousin has a full auto belt-fed Nerf gun which he uses to recreate the D-Day landing every time I visit. Meanwhile, back in the early 90s my gun shot a dart at a time and you had to recock it every shot, and that's how we (read:my parents) liked it !Part of this might be because I was flat broke growing up so I never got any of the cool toys you saw in commercials on Nickelodeon, but I remember that like half the toys back then barely worked.
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Mar 23, 2018 02:44
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Super soakers were very reliable, probably sill are.
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Mar 23, 2018 02:56
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Subjunctive posted:Doesn't that mean that they just gave gofundme 30% of 200M? It seems like they have carefully worded it so that the one guy's promised investment of 200 million dollars, which is completely separate from the gofundme scam, is counted as part of the gofundme scam. If you subtract that from the scam total so far, victims have contributed about 20 grand.
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Mar 23, 2018 03:28
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There actually is an emerging side effect from children using tablets and not playing with actual toys. They're not developing proper motor skills, which is impeding on their ability to hold a pencil when they get to elementary school. https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/feb/25/children-struggle-to-hold-pencils-due-to-too-much-tech-doctors-say
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Mar 23, 2018 04:27
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The Australia Toys R Us stores are apparently walled off from the financing issues with the US stores and are still operating as normal. I've been to few recently and they seem to do alright, especially the Babies R Us sections. Not to be a judgmental bastard, but it wasn't exactly very upmarket clientele running around in there. Maybe that segment of the market is less likely to be using online shopping.
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Mar 23, 2018 05:07
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Detective No. 27 posted:There actually is an emerging side effect from children using tablets and not playing with actual toys. They're not developing proper motor skills, which is impeding on their ability to hold a pencil when they get to elementary school. I read somewhere that posting too much on internet forums lowers your attention span. Anyway, I will remain wary of giving kids tablets just because the effects aren't (and can't be) well-documented yet, and there are simply better options. (And the effects of looking at any screen too much are already pretty well-documented.) More importantly there's the fact that 99% of game-type apps have some intentionally deeply addictive element to them which has potential to be harmful at any age. I do plan to let my kids play Minecraft and Portal when they're old enough, though.
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Mar 23, 2018 13:11
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Don Gato posted:I'm not gonna lie, what I've seen of toys today is way cooler than what I had as a kid. Even outside of the obvious tablets, the Nerf guns, super soakers and Legos my youngest cousins have blows the equivalents I owned out of the water. My cousin has a full auto belt-fed Nerf gun which he uses to recreate the D-Day landing every time I visit. Meanwhile, back in the early 90s my gun shot a dart at a time and you had to recock it every shot, and that's how we (read:my parents) liked it This is true, have you ever seen what the original Star Wars toys looked like, and then compared them to even the 90's run? I also recently noticed that Nerf has a line of guns that you can mix and match the parts and make "custom" Nerf guns (I kinda want these)
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Mar 23, 2018 13:28
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Sir Lemming posted:I read somewhere that posting too much on internet forums lowers your attention span. https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2017/09/has-the-smartphone-destroyed-a-generation/534198/ There are some weird characteristics being seen in children around the time smartphones hit a critical mass (2010/2011). Some aren't necessarily 'bad', like teens waiting longer to have sex. But they're also waiting longer to date or get a driver's license and depression is up. It's not uniform of course. I'm noticing my rapidly aging teenage daughters using their phones less as they get older and find it's more fun to go roller skating or drink at parties. And it's possible these kids would otherwise be obsessing over anime or something equally unhealthy had they not had iPhones. Buuuuuut, it's looking odd.
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Mar 23, 2018 13:31
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Keep in mind there might be other factors at hand, like 'not having any money' and 'living in isolated suburbia where you effectively can't go anywhere or do anything your parents won't take you to'. Though social media is horrible for the psyche in general.
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Mar 23, 2018 13:35
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Inescapable Duck posted:Though social media is horrible for the psyche in general. Yeah, this is exactly why I dropped Facebook about 3 or so years ago, and thankfully Twitter never stuck for me.
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Mar 23, 2018 13:44
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I stopped using Facebook in 2016 once Trump started gaining traction in the election thinking I'll start using it again once he loses the election and everything returns back to sanity.
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Mar 23, 2018 13:47
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Krispy Wafer posted:https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2017/09/has-the-smartphone-destroyed-a-generation/534198/ I noticed this with my niece and nephew. Yeah they love video games and they each got a cell phone, but they rarely text and never use social media. Another niece has Instagram and she uses it only to follow a boy band. I remember last year I hit a motherload and found Lego Dimensions at the dollar store. I bought a ton of them and set them aside for all the kids' birthdays, and when I sent to another nephew, I was told after the fact he 'doesn't really do toys anymore.' Well I know Dimensions is a video game, but the look on the kid's face when he saw 7 sets was amazing. He does play with them and the game but usually just as Legos.
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Mar 23, 2018 14:54
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Krispy Wafer posted:It's not uniform of course. I'm noticing my rapidly aging teenage daughters using their phones less as they get older and find it's more fun to go roller skating or drink at parties. And it's possible these kids would otherwise be obsessing over anime or something equally unhealthy had they not had iPhones. Buuuuuut, it's looking odd. Are your daughters not allowed on your Crunchyroll account? 
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Mar 23, 2018 15:03
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Scholtz posted:Are your daughters not allowed on your Crunchyroll account? "No honey, that's daddy's waifu pillow." I didn't even know what Crunchyroll was before you made me Google it.
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Mar 23, 2018 15:08
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"Aiden accidentally signed into my netflix profile and now he won't stop saying he's the devilman."
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Mar 23, 2018 16:11
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Yeah that article is pretty BS, the rise of smartphones was accompanied by a lot of other things including a major economic crisis. But I do think it's fairly self-evident that digital gaming shouldn't be a substitute for other activities, just a supplement at most.
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Mar 23, 2018 18:07
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Inescapable Duck posted:Keep in mind there might be other factors at hand, like 'not having any money' and 'living in isolated suburbia where you effectively can't go anywhere or do anything your parents won't take you to'. Even if they wanted to go outside and walk somewhere to hang out with friends, subdivisions full of spaghetti roads, business/recreation areas strictly separated from residential areas, a lack of activities targeted towards people who aren't adults or small children, and inconsistent/no sidewalks often mean they can't.
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Mar 23, 2018 18:35
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Sir Lemming posted:Yeah that article is pretty BS, the rise of smartphones was accompanied by a lot of other things including a major economic crisis. But I do think it's fairly self-evident that digital gaming shouldn't be a substitute for other activities, just a supplement at most. I think you're giving an economic recession too much credit. It certainly does impact children, but not so much in the ways the article states. Those were more social disruptions rather than economic. Haifisch posted:The latter's been a well-known problem for a long time if you pay attention to urban planning stuff at all. The isolation sucks for kids, teens who can't drive yet, and elderly people who can't drive anymore. It also sucks for parents who have to cart their kids everywhere instead of being able to let them walk to stuff. Back in 1979 Matt Dillion's first role was in a movie 'Over the Edge' about bored kids acting out in suburbia. So that's been a thing for at least the last 40 years, maybe longer.
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Mar 23, 2018 20:41
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Krispy Wafer posted:Back in 1979 Matt Dillion's first role was in a movie 'Over the Edge' about bored kids acting out in suburbia. So that's been a thing for at least the last 40 years, maybe longer. And ten years before that was Wild in the Streets. About the drat youth lowering the drat voting age and allowing more drat youth in to government.
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Mar 23, 2018 23:30
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Inescapable Duck posted:Keep in mind there might be other factors at hand, like 'not having any money' and 'living in isolated suburbia where you effectively can't go anywhere or do anything your parents won't take you to'. Though social media is horrible for the psyche in general. Yeah it's actually a pretty complex subject overall; thanks to social media and America becoming unhinged people here are just plain more depressed and anxious overall. It isn't just teens. The rise of helicopter parents and strictly regimenting your children's lives also affects that which also drives up the age to start having sex because, well, can't gently caress if you don't have time. School pressure is also part of the problem. There are horror stories floating around about kids staying up until 2 a.m. every night just because they have that drat much homework. That sort of situation also makes parents wait to get the kids their licenses to keep the leash shorter. As wages stagnate and everything gets more expensive while the debt piles up and college becomes more expensive parents just plain have less money to give to their kids as well. Kind of puts a damper on doing anything if you're totally broke. The labor market also doesn't help; why hire a teenager when you can hire an older worker who has experience and will probably be more reliable?
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Mar 24, 2018 01:38
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Davros1 posted:This is purely anecdotal, but I think so. I've a nephew, and I've friends who have children, and they don't want things like action figures or even LEGO, they just want video games. After the 80's did regulation tighten up again about having programing that marketed products directly to children? It doesn't seem like cartoons hocking toys to the 5-10 crowd is a thing anymore and certainly not to the extent that it was done in the Regan years. Edit: I did bitch about how the toy line for the Netflix Voltron series came out in March and not in time for Christmas. 
side_burned has a new favorite as of 05:13 on Mar 24, 2018 |
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Mar 24, 2018 05:11
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If anything, popular cartoons these days make finding toys for them as hard as possible. Young Justice outright got cancelled because it was too popular with young women who the producers assume never buy toys, and they didn't want to market to them, despite it being pretty much impossible to actually find any merchandise of the show while it was running at all. Steven Universe has had extremely little merchandise, and most of it cheap and crappy, despite the fans being exactly the demographic to buy expensive figurines and such. (because there's huge crossover with anime fans) Video games seem to fill that niche now, with as mentioned, games stores becoming increasingly stores that sell video game merchandise, and often the only place that sells it.
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Mar 24, 2018 06:07
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side_burned posted:After the 80's did regulation tighten up again about having programing that marketed products directly to children? It doesn't seem like cartoons hocking toys to the 5-10 crowd is a thing anymore and certainly not to the extent that it was done in the Regan years. I'm guessing the rise of cable TV and networks like Nickelodeon and Cartoon Networks desperate for content gave cartoonists more creative freedom to do cartoons that aspired to be more than toy commercials.
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Mar 24, 2018 06:49
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I'm 24 this year, and of my friends, only myself and a very small number of others can drive (and I mean "can count on one hand" small). Keep in mind I'm speaking from an Australian perspective, but in my state the earliest you can sit your learners test is 16, then you can get your provisional license (i.e. can drive unsupervised) at 18 provided you did 120 hours supervised on your Ls (and yes, there's a logbook where you have to fill out a bunch of stuff including your starting/finishing odometer). Once you hit 21 you don't have to do the 120 hours, just the test. Most people don't have parents who can do 120 hours of supervised driving with them, so they don't get off their Ls, which means they're way more familiar with and used to public transport (and where I am we actually have decent public transport, by and large), further disencentivising them from learning to drive, because they feel like they don't need to because they're so used to going without. As for the other stuff like sex later, fewer people trying drugs etc., that I put down to people not moving out, which is often a by-product of low wages/difficulty getting an entry-level job, and living at home affects your ability to experiment with all kinds of fun stuff. I think we're looking at a generational arrested development which happens to coincide with, not be caused by, the rise of smartphones etc.
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Mar 24, 2018 07:08
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It seems to me that all stages of life are getting delayed. There's a reason the Affordable Care Act recognized 26 year olds as dependants for health care. It wasn't political. It was pragmatic. Adolescence lasts longer. People start families later. They buy houses later. They retire later. Everything expected of an 18 year old happens after the college years. You used to babysit for neighbor's at 15, now nobody trusts you with kids until you're 20.
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Mar 24, 2018 13:34
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Inescapable Duck posted:Young Justice outright got cancelled because it was too popular with young women who the producers assume never buy toys, and they didn't want to market to them Do television producers also set merchandising strategy? I’ve never worked in that field, but I would have expected the responsibility to lie elsewhere.
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Mar 24, 2018 14:56
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Subjunctive posted:Do television producers also set merchandising strategy? I’ve never worked in that field, but I would have expected the responsibility to lie elsewhere. I just say producers meaning whoever the hell was in charge, really. Doesn't help that Cartoon Network's been aggressively loving over every show that isn't theirs and some that are.
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Mar 24, 2018 15:12
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MovieBob/Bob Chipman has some...issues but his video about Toys R Us is really good https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUT-SzGIQWE
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Mar 24, 2018 19:42
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anonumos posted:It seems to me that all stages of life are getting delayed. There's a reason the Affordable Care Act recognized 26 year olds as dependants for health care. It wasn't political. It was pragmatic. Adolescence lasts longer. People start families later. They buy houses later. They retire later. Everything expected of an 18 year old happens after the college years. You used to babysit for neighbor's at 15, now nobody trusts you with kids until you're 20. Or maybe it's always really been like that, but from 1945-80 or whatever the US was just in the position of more people being able to achieve financial Independence at a younger age, and now we're just reverting back.
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Mar 24, 2018 19:51
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Cowslips Warren posted:I noticed this with my niece and nephew. Yeah they love video games and they each got a cell phone, but they rarely text and never use social media. Another niece has Instagram and she uses it only to follow a boy band. I don't really have kids of my own but I teach and I've always wondered this -- how many parents are buying really classic toys like blocks and trucks, and how many are buying really fad-dish toys? There's a reason preschools are stuffed with basic dolls and pretend clothes and legos, because kids go for it and it works to help them develop. Light Up Action Man With 76 Sounds And 45 LEDs That Links To An App And Emails Your Grandmother seems like he does more, but he doesn't really fit in with the way kids develop the way plastic food does. I bought my friends' kids plastic dinosaurs for Christmas last year, you would have thought I bought them a crack rock. Try simple stuff. If you're worried your kid won't be able to hold a pencil, go to the dollar store, get a coloring book and some crayons, don't freak out when they color outside the lines. Those sorts of toys were easier to find at Toys R Us, if you dug under all the light up sound making garbage. Oh well. Amazon and eBay also have blocks I guess.
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Mar 24, 2018 20:11
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AvesPKS posted:Or maybe it's always really been like that, but from 1945-80 or whatever the US was just in the position of more people being able to achieve financial Independence at a younger age, and now we're just reverting back. It is odd. The concept of adolescence or childhood hasn’t always been a thing, but in an traditional multi-generational family, children didn’t necessarily leave when they turned 18. So we’re both ahead and behind our ancestors. It’s probably too complex to really put a black and white age on. Although the age 26 thing for insurance isn’t really because of adolescence. Jobs that include insurance aren’t as plentiful for younger people, but since young people are generally healthier, the cost of bundling them longer on their parent’s coverage is minimal. Most 25 year olds still on their parent’s insurance probably don’t live at home.
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Mar 24, 2018 20:21
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AvesPKS posted:Or maybe it's always really been like that, but from 1945-80 or whatever the US was just in the position of more people being able to achieve financial Independence at a younger age, and now we're just reverting back. Pretty much. Young people being able to move out and hack it on their own in their teens is a fairly unique historical development. There's a reason there are so many cultures where couples traditionally go live in their parents' household after marriage.
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Mar 25, 2018 00:48
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Remington filed for bankruptcy: https://www.reuters.com/article/remington-bankruptcy/u-s-gunmaker-remington-files-for-bankruptcy-idUSL3N1R81CH Eat poo poo, gun industry.
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Mar 26, 2018 11:05
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GrandpaPants posted:Remington filed for bankruptcy: https://www.reuters.com/article/remington-bankruptcy/u-s-gunmaker-remington-files-for-bankruptcy-idUSL3N1R81CH How? Gun nuts own most of the firearms and that's like their thing: buying more guns.
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Mar 26, 2018 11:24
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Gun sales tend to go down hugely during Republican presidencies, since the gun propaganda lobby has a harder time pushing people into paranoid, hateful hysteria to hoard more guns and ammo in fear of the Other.
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Mar 26, 2018 11:28
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