On the topic of paulbot/bowspearer's discussion- I find it is highly interesting, but on the whole it does go back to the root of the problem, and that is the attitude/direction of the retailers.

The current retailers are whinging because they failed to anticipate and change in the face of online buying and for the longest time, took advantage of the lack of options and information and ignorance that the public had with regards to retail goods. Now that internet and online buying has had time to develop and be adopted by more of the general population, the retailers have to change their overall retail model, attitude and structure- to adapt to the current climate. This is certainly not an easy task and will probably cost a lot of time, planning, research and over all expenditure, but needs to be done. I'm not entirely sure that the fault lies solely on retailers, but they are the ones that need to initiate the change. If they don't, they will die out and be replaced with more adequate players- assuming the current trend continues.

Once that change comes, then we will probably see a major change in how retail operates, and it would follow that the way toys are sold/marketed will also change (hopefully to the benefit for us, the collectors).