Usually, toys are for kids. But some toys become collector’s items, and adults buy them, too. Toys based on movies, especially classic movies like the Star Wars films, can end up being worth a lot of money. But you can’t play with them if you plan to collect them. You can’t even take them out of the box!

These days pretty much every kids’ movie that comes out has toys attached to it. Sometimes it even seems like the toy is more important than the movie. It’s just another way for big companies to make money. But Marni and Beren remember a simpler time, when movie toys were just…toys.

Dialogue

Marni:  So, Beren, do you collect toys from movies? Like if you see a movie you love, do you go out and get the toys from that movie?

Beren:  Yeah, I mean I went through…I guess it’s been off and on, collecting toys from movies. Like action figures. It started with Pee Wee Herman, Pee Wee’s Big Adventure, I got a Pee Wee doll.

Marni:  Nice.

Beren:  But he’s not in mint condition. I took him out of the original box. And he was a toy, like for me when I was a little kid. And then I moved on to like collecting action figures and keeping them in the package, you know.

Marni:  Right, because that’s what actually lets them hold their value. But I think there is a distinction between being a kid and wanting to play with those, and being someone who collects them.

Beren:  Mm-hmm. I am not a collector. I haven’t purchased an action figure from a movie in about 10 years.

Marni:  I used to, and even when I was a younger adult. And now I just don’t seem to spend my money that way. But I definitely collected Star Wars action figures. I think that set the bar for movies and action figures and toys, and then it’s like every single movie that comes out instantly has toys.

Discussion 

Both Beren and Marni used to collect movie toys. Marni got into collecting movie toys when Star Wars came out, and Beren’s first toy based on a movie was a Pee Wee Herman doll. But neither of them kept their movie toys in mint condition. They played with them and treated them like regular toys.

Marni says that these days, she has more important things to spend her money on than movie toys. She also feels like movie toys just aren’t as special as they used to be. It seems like nearly every movie that comes out now has toys or other products attached to it.

Do you like to buy movie toys? What was your favorite movie toy when you were growing up?

更多内容学习：英语口语话题