1. difficult it would be to build the Nintendo Switch in the U.S., given it has zero U.S.-made components. It was explained that it would take at least 5 years and billions of dollars in startup to build just the first one.

Given that Asian labor is cheaper than American labor (what with our unions, minimum wage laws, and health care, taxes, etc.), has there ever been a study to determine how much it would cost to build just basic action (Star Wars) figures here in the States? Raw plastic, paints, card stock, and the dies seem easy enough to gather to begin figure production here.

A new basic figure is about $17. Could you ballpark the price of a figure assuming Hasbro decides to start making them here?
--Chris

I can only speculate based on anecdotes I have had, because no serious manufacturer has designs to make collector-level super-articulated (read: more than 5 joint) action figures in North America.

Looking at other products, your retail price would likely increase at least 3x-4x what it would cost in China or Vietnam for a real basic figure. And by that I mean simple a Kenner-style, or 2024 Epic-style figure. I've heard some companies say a North American 5-jointed figure (without packaging, and pre-tariffs on materials and machinery) would probably cost at least $25. Much of the plastic used to make figures (and filament for 3D printers) comes from China, so there's likely no clean way to do this "soon" without using Chinese materials. Or Chinese labor. I would not be shocked if Hasbro would have to charge $55-$80 to make a mass-produced The Vintage Collection here in the USA given the level of complexity in decoration and assembly.

That's the short answer. The long answer is you need to lower your expectations. A $17 Hasbro The Vintage Collection figure is anything but basic - it's deluxe. It's premium, it's incredibly special compared to the first four decades of toys. It's over 30 parts, many of which are assembled by hand, with special paint masks for the body and a unique digital printing for the faces that, I admit, I don't know much about. They may also feature cloth elements which are most likely also put on the figure by hand.

If you want to make a simple unpainted toy, America is not out of the question. MGA (Little Tikes) makes some outdoor toys in Ohio. Artisanal soft vinyl figures are produced through the likes of Mile High Sofubi, but it's one guy doing it and it's a special thing. It's for small batches (dozens or hundreds, not tens or hundreds of thousands.) Tim Mee Toys makes army men from old molds here in the USA too, and while high-quality the prices aren't exactly cheap. Sized a little taller than a 3 3/4-inch figure, their Galaxy Laser Team Big Space Figures are very nice and are sized similarly to our action figures. You get six for $20, with no paint and no articulation. There is no assembly, and no paint. I don't know if bagging them is automated or not. I assume most people would see a bag of army men as a purchase that would be under five bucks, even if they're super-cool big ones for collectors.

The big Galaxy Laser Team army man figures, made in the USA

If you want to make a fully realized action figure you'll need PVC (plastic for most figures), PET (plastic for packaging bubble), cardboard (cardbacks and shipping cartons), tape (to hold the weapons down or seal the cartons), adhesives (various), steel for the molds, paint, dye, whatever they use to paint the faces these days (I assume a bespoke printer), cloth for robes, possibly sewing machines, wood for skids, plastic pallet wrap, a factory, a labor force, and so on and so forth. Also laborers and the regulations that come with them. (If you outsource manufacturing, you also outsource pollution.) When you make a figure here you'll need compliance officers and all sorts of hires. It's cheap and efficient to cut a check to a factory to do it overseas. This results in jobs in American warehouses, logistics jobs, accounting jobs, proprietary software jobs, sales jobs, marketing jobs, jobs writing about toys in the media, and of course my job. It involves a lot of complaining on your behalf.

Paint is labor, and American labor is probably $15+ an hour. You can't automate decorating and assembling an entire action figure with robots yet. You can do a lot of automation with Play-Doh and LEGO toys, though. Hasbro does use an American factory for board games, but some elements (movers) are still frequently stamped out overseas. Supposedly Vietnam labor is about 90 cents an hour. Chinese labor is supposedly up to $3 or $4 an hour now. Americans won't want to do the job for much less than $15 an hour, and I doubt any Anaheim-adjacent American company would want to consider something like American prison labor for toy manufacturing. Also, I checked and Crumbl Cookies pays $21 an hour, and I sure as heck would rather make cookies than huff paint. (No offense to those of you who may huff paint, you're good people and I love you all.)

Companies like Mattel have invested heavily in manufacturing in Asia but outside of China, which is why Hot Wheels are still only $1.25 after being about $1 60 years ago. They're simple, and modern cars have less metal than old ones. But still, it's a fantastic product for $1.25 - and it's pretty simple. I don't doubt Hasbro could find a way to make 5-jointed figures in America, but what would you pay?

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2. Could Hasbro lease Star Wars figure production to an American based company to avoid the worst of the tariffs?

How long would it take?
--Derek

Short answer: no, it would probably not be worth it. The price of an American-made action figure would likely exceed the customer's willingness to pay for it. The question you should be asking is "how much will it cost me?" It's far cheaper to put something on a boat across an ocean than it is to pay people to make goods in America, even if you slap a tax on it. The best you as a consumer can hope for is that the tariffs get rescinded quickly, because the other option is likely to see your favorite toys getting dumped overseas, going on clearance, and your never having a fair shot at them outside of eBay UK/France/whatever. I've had to buy some figures from overseas because Hasbro US never made them here - several Star Wars figures, in fact, never made it to these shores and most fans don't know and don't even realize this.

This question was sent to me on April 12, 2025. Things move fast so I want to make sure people know where our heads were at.

From the numbers people have been willing to share, I would be very surprised if you could get a The Vintage Collection-level figure made in the United states at an affordable price. If you're willing to pay a lot more money for a figure? And I mean, a lot more? Sure, you can have it made across town. But it would likely still be cheaper to pay the 145% tariffs on Chinese goods, or more depending on what they are at the time you read this.

Through money, all things are possible. Hasbro could move production to Buckeye or Peoria or Detroit. Before you go "I told you so!" to somebody, you can do absolutely anything if you're willing to pay the price. Chinese labor is allegedly $3-$4 an hour in a factory. You are unlikely to get an American to work in a factory for $15 an hour. They could just as easily work at a Panda Express or Dirty Dough for $21 an hour, and food is likely also free.

I have been told that much of the work on action figures is still done by hand. A lot of paint is applied by hand and the level of detail is not currently something that it seems financially sensible to automate (you have to build a robot for a specific task, or you can hire a couple of guys.) Assembly (joints) is often done by hand. Someone has to put the toys in a plastic tray. Someone has to put the plastic tray in a bummble. Someone has to put those bubbles on a cardback. Someone has to put those carded figures in a case. Someone has to put those cases on a pallet, wrap them, and load them in skids. Someone else has to load those wrapped pallets on a truck. There are supply chain issues that may be invisible to anyone who has never had to source materials for a product. China built infrastructure to ensure everything they needed is easily sourced and greased the wheels to get it from factory A to factory B. You need tiny screws? China has a factory making them.. Plastic? Dyes? Cardboard? Tape? Stickers? It is easily done. Here, we haven't set up that kind of thing for action figures. Setting up a new building - scouting a location, getting a permit, getting bids, all of that stuff - might take you several years before you just have a big building.

You need a factory. It took about five years for a new grocery store to go up near me after a mall was demolished and work began on putting in new pipes and laying the actual groundwork. And one factory won't be enough - you'll need warehouses, and additional factories to refine the raw materials into the less-raw materials needed to make the figure, its packaging, and the exterior cartons you the consumer may never even see. And each piece is going to cost a lot more money if it is manufactured in America.

I do not believe any important action figure line's painted, articulated action figures have been made here in the USA in my lifetime. Fisher-Price made its Adventure People 3 3/4-inch scale vehicles here - but the figures are from Hong Kong.

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FIN

Jumping on that first question, "how much would you pay?" has been a central question of my hobby (and job) for a while. $20 was a lot for a 6-inch figure... then $23, then $25 in short order. Now we're looking at $27-$28, with Target putting one of its exclusive reruns up at $35.99 (which is low for a 145% tariff.) My "this is a price too far" was around $27.50 - but I assume for some people, $16.99 was too much for Vintage (even though it's in line with inflation compared to the 2004 Vintage Original Trilogy Collection) and maybe $9.99-ish is too much for Retro (despite being in line with inflation for most of the kid lines of the 20th century.) I don't know that a price line will make adults stop buying toys - but you're going to find out what our favorites are real quick, and waiting for clearance will undoubtedly be the new normal for anything that doesn't knock our socks off.

Obviously, there hasn't been much good news in tariff land. But what else was new this week?

Light & Magic season 2, a doc on Disney+, is a must-watch. It focuses mostly on the prequel era of special effects with the transition from practical and optical compositing of models to an increasingly digital frontier - but you get to see personalities burst through (including George Lucas) that we don't typically get to see on full display. Also Rob Coleman (the guy Coleman Trebor was named for) is omnipresent and delightful. I consider it required viewing if you love or don't love the prequels, because the craftsmanship behind those films is amazing.

Andor season 2 deployed its first CassianBomb, with three episodes comprising one year of stuff. And you know what? This might be how streaming should deal with story arcs. My biggest complaint tends to be either "way too much at once" (20 episodes of Star Trek Prodigy in a day) or "way too slow" (almost every non-The Mandalorian Star Wars live-action show drags when a single story is split over 1-2 months with flashbacks.) Broadcast television typically gave viewers one complete narrative per week (and per episode)... and Andor pulled it off nicely here. I found the first season to be a slog on the first watch, but on a rewatch last week? It worked better. Other streamers should break series up like this if it makes sense for the story. I was fine visiting with one Mandalorian adventure per week, because we got pretty much a whole adventure.

Without spoiling much - which I am sure the blogosphere has - I'll say it's much more adult. It's also much goofier, and scarier, and more relatable, and just plain weird in spots. It leaves you with a lot to talk about, which is what I want from my viewing experiences. I loved the costuming and sets of The Book of Boba Fett, but little had me reaching out to friends with any sort of "dude, did you see that?" moments.

Tales of the Underworld should be releasing in about a week, so we have that too. I'm a little perplexed as to the purpose of the Tales shows - a one-day drop during another big series is unlikely to retain or recruit subscribers to Disney+ and as far as I can tell the shows have next to no merchandising - but hey, cartoons. I like cartoons.

But most importantly, Target's Star Wars Retro Collection Star Wars: A New Hope Figure Multipack did not show up in stores on the release date (Sunday) and pre-orders are "backordered" for now. You can also grab Mon Mothma and Yak Face if you missed them with the Star Wars The Retro Collection Return of the Jedi 3 3/4-Inch Action Figures Set rerun. I'm hoping Target's set is just a day or two late, but I wouldn't be surprised to hear it missed the boat. If it makes the May 4 release date, all the better.

I have a hard time imagining that 2025 is going to be any better for Star Wars fans (of a certain age) than April and May of this year. It's been good! In theory we're still getting a Cantina in a few months, and we've got a batch of Visions on the way, but it's really a ridiculous feast for fans right now - and the 20th anniversary of Revenge of the Sith is mere weeks away from being ignored by the general populace.

--Adam Pawlus

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