re: Why did kids stop getting action figures?

I'd say video games are the culprit.

My generation had the 12" GI Joes, we spent a lot of time in the yard setting them up in cool locations- and then shooting them with BB guns, hitting them with dust clods (would simulate smoke and then the explosion), etc.

Seems easier to just play a first person shooter now. You get the same basic entertainment, although I doubt you get the same exercise and cognitive stimulation (we had to build bases from bricks and branches, etc). Now you're in a chair moving a mouse and typing.

Same thing with swordplay imagination= I look at things like Dark Souls etc, they look fantastic. We'd get some bamboo sticks and garbage can lids, and duel on top of the cinderblock firewall at the back of the yard, stuff like that.

Madden on the playstation seemed to replace the afterschool backyard games we'd have at the kid's house down the street with the long, treeless back yard.

Video games have, by and large, replaced a lot of the outdoor play we had. You do it in pairs or by yourself, eliminating the larger neighborhood groups we had. Everyone had Schwinn Stingray bikes, which were necessary to get together and travel in a relatively quick manner.

We've bred kids with less physical stamina and less socialization.