He-Man poised to be next retro name to join UK toy ‘newstalgia’ trend

A wave of “newstalgia” has fuelled a step up in growth of UK toy sales, with the muscle-bound 80s hero He-Man the latest retro name tipped for a revival thanks to the big screen.

After falling almost 4% in 2024, UK toy sales are up 8% so far this year, buoyed up by the Minecraft and Lilo & Stitch films as well as parents rebuying toys they once owned as children such as Care Bears and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, according to new data.

“UK consumers are finding the money to treat themselves to toys that provide an emotional return and help with stress relief,” said Rory Partis, the director of UK toys at the data company Circana.

“The ‘newstalgia’ trend enables adults to return to their childhood. They’re also enjoying sharing their toys and memories with their own children, giving rise to a new generation of fans.”

In the UK consumers spent more than £100m more on toys between January and July of this year, with overall sales hitting £1.8bn compared with £1.7bn a year ago, Circana said. Sales of licensed toys, which are typically linked to films and TV shows, grew almost twice as fast, climbing 14% to account for about 35% of the market.

The toy industry is no longer just about children, with companies increasingly focused on “kidults” (buyers aged 12 and over) who spend their spare cash on expensive Lego sets and collectible figurines. The sales data showed a growing interest in manga and anime merchandise. Lego recently entered this space with One Piece, its first manga sets.

After Greta Gerwig’s feminist fantasy spurred a reappraisal of Barbie and supercharged sales of dolls and dreamhouses, Britons should ready for He-Man mania.

Hopes are high that 2026’s live action Masters of the Universe film, directed by Travis Knight, will “have the power” to reinvigorate the superhero’s popularity and doubtless shift truckloads of 5in muscly figures, duvet covers and water bottles.

In a sign of what is to come, at the Brand Licensing Europe conference in London this week, one of the main events is a Mattel and Amazon MGM Studios talk billed “A Legend Reborn: Reimagining Masters of the Universe”. At the event, companies will jostle to strike deals to make the products that appear on shop shelves next year.

Mattel’s Ruth Henriquez said the toymaker was experiencing “strong consumer demand for storytelling, nostalgia and innovation brought to life through licensing partnerships. These franchises are driven by nostalgia but also powered by reinvention.”

Although He-Man’s heyday was the 80s, Henriquez said Masters of the Universe had become part of pop culture with fans of all ages. Adults regularly turn up to comic conventions dressed as the hero or the archenemy, Skeletor, while for gen Z it provides a popular meme.

“Adults really want to connect with brands of their childhood,” Henriquez said. “They want to have that feeling that they had when they played when they were kids and we see a rise in the sales driven by that.”