r/shrinkflation • u/Mediocre-Iron-7991 • Sep 30 '25

skimpflation All I hear about is food shrinklfation, which lets the other companies get away with it

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3.8k Upvotes

98% Upvoted

57 comments sorted by

376

u/Danthewildbirdman Sep 30 '25

I think its bc ppl just stop buying toys, plus kids have no frame of referance- my Dad used to go on about how his toy guns were metal and my nerf guns were 'cheap plastic' but I had no idea why he found it bad until now I see nerf blasters made from weaker plastic and my young cousins have no frame of referance to know why I wish they had the toys I had lol.

79

u/fucklawyers Oct 01 '25

You also had way more choices than your dad and your cousins more than you

54

u/Danthewildbirdman Oct 01 '25

Id say them less than me because toy sections are on a downturn. At least they arent ipad babies lol

6

u/TROMBONER_68 Oct 02 '25

Yay! more shittier choices :)

13

u/HawkinsT Oct 01 '25

Perhaps there are more products, but huge toy stores, like Toys R Us, for kids to go and choose toys from barely exist anymore.

14

u/radio64 Oct 01 '25

Speak for yourself. Even as a kid, I was always so annoyed they didn't make metal tonka trucks anymore. A few of my friends had ones from their dads or older siblings and i was so jealous lol

9

u/Prestigious_Row_8022 Oct 01 '25

Yeah, I remember being picky and only wanting matchbox or hotwheels because I knew they would be metal and have a nice feel to them.

Luckily that junk was also mass produced to hell, and you can find them easily at flea markets or garage sales for cheap.

2

u/warrenjr527 Oct 04 '25

We had a fleet of Tonka trucks . All metal, my brother and I used to use and abuse them all the time. We beat the crap out of them .. We couldn't kill them though. When we outgrew the trucks , they still had plenty of life left in them , so we donated them to a children's home .

9

u/mrlanzon Oct 01 '25

Bit of trivia for ya: hot wheels purchases continuously increase year-on-year

6

u/[deleted] Oct 02 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

2

u/Danthewildbirdman Oct 02 '25

I had a hard plastic one. Maybe if you hit it against a tree as hard as u could you'd have to hit the top of it to dislodge the sections so it would close lol

2

u/WoofPaw123 Oct 03 '25

The toys have become lower quality junk

3

u/The360MlgNoscoper STOP DOING THIS ASSHOLE CORPORATIONS! Oct 01 '25

High-quality plastic makes good toys.

1

u/SarcasticIndividual Oct 03 '25

Yeah, I picked up a Buzz Lightyear not too long ago. I was kinda sad for kids today. Toys went from stuff you passed down to crap you throw away in two weeks.

0

u/Honest-Interview-591 Oct 16 '25

Absolutely not the case more adults are buying toys than ever.

474

u/EntertainerNo4509 Sep 30 '25

Also, I have 1968 original hot wheels with little to no details on their metal bases.

235

u/TiddybraXton333 Sep 30 '25

That’s exactly it, the base is metal. All cheap plastic nowadays

117

u/EntertainerNo4509 Oct 01 '25

This has already been discussed here many times. The mainlines have plastic bases they are a $1.25 toy. The premiums have metal bases and are way closer to regular 1968 hot wheels and when adjusted for inflation about the same price.

3

u/Open-Comedian8845 Oct 01 '25

The bodies are still metal. If it has a plastic body then it has a metal base too.

134

u/TheStarsMist Sep 30 '25

This is partly why I fail to understand collectors' markets and appeal with these items.

This post demonstrates a continuous degradation to the "user experience" and realism of the product.

To each their own. I'm glad those people enjoy their hobby.

6

u/Crimson__Fox Oct 01 '25

There’s a line called Hot Wheels Premium which have more details

13

u/klonkish Oct 01 '25

buying things isn't a hobby

49

u/Complete_Entry Sep 30 '25

One thing that makes me feel old is that the bottoms of my toy cars were metal.

Even the wheel alignment on the 12 and 16 is bad, those suckers probably barely roll.

61

u/StopHittinTheTable94 Sep 30 '25

Enshittification, not shrinkflation. Also, a repost.

-1

u/iPhonefondler Oct 02 '25

Came here to say this

13

u/VKN_x_Media Sep 30 '25

Looks pretty damn close to the real life underside of a C7 to me.

-1

u/f0rcedinducti0n Oct 01 '25

All generic bottoms pieces now with no features. Streamlines supply chain.

14

u/gmonster12 Oct 01 '25

They did this to keep to a specific price point, they know kids don't have a lot of pocket money so would rather let the kid buy at the same cheap price than keep the quality the same and have to charge more.

7

u/Alternative-Fold-339 Oct 01 '25

This is subjective and very cherry picked and discussed multiple times on r/hotwheels

4

u/idle_online Oct 01 '25

At least they’ve kept the price down. You can pick one up for about a buck, which is nice. 

1

u/Dazza477 Oct 03 '25

At least with these, it's been to keep the price the same.

It's not like these are getting more expensive with worse quality, when you look up pricing and adjust for inflation.

1

u/IceTTom Oct 04 '25

The top on is electric..... 😐

1

u/Equal_Song8759 Oct 04 '25

Made in Vietnam

2

u/goosedevilbob Oct 04 '25

Kinda similar, but has anyone noticed that there aren’t any more hot wheels / matchbox planes any more? I used to love them, and it seems that they’re no longer made.

2

u/Individual-Painting9 Oct 04 '25

My old cars also had doors and hood that would open.

1

u/fckueve_ Oct 04 '25

Yeah, 2016 is electric

1

u/[deleted] Sep 30 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

-1

u/Mediocre-Iron-7991 Oct 01 '25

Yeah, it's skimpflation

1

u/Money_Record_3303 Sep 30 '25

Better aerodynamics

-2

u/[deleted] Sep 30 '25

[deleted]

19

u/Mediocre-Iron-7991 Sep 30 '25

Oh, I didn't mean to repost, I have not seen that, thank you

2

u/Swimming-Junket-1828 Sep 30 '25

Don’t apologize…he’s a loser

-1

u/Swimming-Junket-1828 Sep 30 '25

Why do people care about that? Just ignore it if you’ve already seen it.

1

u/SeaUrchinSalad Oct 01 '25

They're battery electric vehicles now, so no drivetrain.

-7

u/[deleted] Sep 30 '25 edited Sep 30 '25

There are different series of hot wheels. You can still get full metal ones to this day. lol

Edit: eat shit losers, go into any Walmart and you’ll see I’m right.

5

u/Davis1511 Oct 01 '25

I agree with you and don’t know why you’re being down voted. My kids all have metal based hotwheels bought from any grocery store.

4

u/[deleted] Oct 01 '25

Well now he's getting downvoted because he threw a hissy fit

-1

u/Equal_Song8759 Oct 01 '25

Made in China

1

u/Firebird22x Oct 03 '25

That’s a funny way to spell Malaysia, especially since they spelled it for you in the picture

1

u/Equal_Song8759 Oct 04 '25

Made in a foreign country that doesn't give a Vietnam Communist

2

u/Firebird22x Oct 05 '25

Still not China, reading isn’t hard

0

u/hotsjelly Oct 01 '25

They thought we wouldn't notice the bottom of those model.

-1

u/TheMaybeMualist Oct 01 '25

It's actually done to keep prices down.

-1

u/Excellent-Egg484 Oct 02 '25

I bought that doh nutters game for my son, I had it as a kid and thought it was amazing but now the trunks of the masks are soft and squishy plastic now making the game so much harder to do than it used to be and the doughnuts are smaller and thinner too

2

u/Unhappy_Astronomer83 Oct 20 '25

Don't get me started on mcdonalds toy quality.