{
 "title": "Blind box toys: 12 of 23 popular kids' toys sell some items in blind boxes",
 "description": "Blind box toys in data: of 23 popular toys parents often look up, 12 sell some items in blind boxes and 5 have reported resale prices above retail. CSV.",
 "url": "https://raisingstoics.com/research/data/blind-box-toys",
 "question": null,
 "measure": "Number of toys with the flag, out of 23",
 "unit": "number of toys (of 23)",
 "source": {
  "short": "Kids' Media Risk Index, 2026-10",
  "name": "Martiushin, A. (2026). Raising Stoics Kids' Media Risk Index, 2026-10 edition [Data set]. Zenodo. DOI 10.5281/zenodo.23619163",
  "url": "https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.23619163",
  "license": "CC BY 4.0, Raising Stoics",
  "licenseUrl": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"
 },
 "license": "CC BY 4.0, Raising Stoics",
 "method": "Data: Raising Stoics Kids' Media Risk Index, 2026-10 edition, data frozen October 18, 2026, published on Zenodo under CC BY 4.0 (DOI 10.5281/zenodo.23619163). We used the 23 titles with the toy flag set. Each toy has six yes-or-no flags, each with a short evidence note. A flag is set only when we found evidence: maker product pages, retail listings when the maker's page didn't show the information, CPSC recall and warning notices, and news reports for resale prices. \"No\" means we found no evidence as of October 2026, not that the toy lacks the feature. The blind box flag counts a toy if at least one of its product lines is sold so the buyer can't choose or see the item; for several brands that is one line among many. The resale flag needs a reported resale price above retail; asking prices alone were not counted (Jellycat, Sonny Angel). The age flag uses the maker's own label; labels seen only on retail listings and not confirmed (Smiski, Sonny Angel) were not counted. Hoverboards and Water beads are product categories, not single products, and their flags cover the category. Toniebox's recall flag, as published, comes from the 2022 recall of tonies Blocks, another product from the same maker. Toy guides added to our directory after the data were frozen are not in this edition. The 23 toys are popular toys that parents often look up, chosen by us; they are not a random or complete sample, and counts describe this list only. Search interest: Google Trends, United States, web search, “blind box,” past five years, weekly, retrieved October 26, 2026. Values are relative, not counts: 100 marks the week with the highest relative search interest (June 21, 2026). They come from a sample and may vary between downloads. Yearly figures are averages of weekly values; 2026 runs through October 25.",
 "takeaways": [
  "12 of the 23 toys (52%) sell at least some items in blind boxes or random packs, where the buyer can't choose or see the item until it's opened: Barbie, Beyblade, Funko Pop!, Hatchimals, Hot Wheels, L.O.L. Surprise!, Labubu, LEGO, Magna-Tiles, Smiski, Sonny Angel, and Squishmallows.",
  "5 of the 23 (22%) have documented resale prices above retail: Hatchimals, Hot Wheels, Labubu, LEGO, and Nee Doh. Four of these five also sell blind boxes. Nee Doh packs come in a random color but aren't sold as blind boxes.",
  "The most common flag was a choking or small-parts warning, found for 14 of the 23 toys, including 8 of the 12 blind-box toys. Seven toys had a recall of an official product: Barbie, Hoverboards, LEGO, Nerf, Toniebox (the recall was tonies Blocks, a 2022 product from the same maker), Water beads, and Yoto Player. Four had a maker age label above 7, and four had a government lawsuit, fine, or safety warning.",
  "Two of the 12 blind-box toys carry a maker age label above 7: Labubu (POP MART: not for under 15) and Beyblade (Hasbro: 8+). Six are labeled 3+ (Barbie, Funko Pop!, Hot Wheels, L.O.L. Surprise!, Magna-Tiles, and Squishmallows), Hatchimals 5+, and LEGO 1½+ for its youngest sets; for Smiski and Sonny Angel, labels vary and we couldn't confirm them on the maker's pages.",
  "US Google search interest in “blind box” averaged 3.3 in 2022, 22.4 in 2025, and 31.6 in 2026 through October 25, on a relative scale where 100 marks the week with the highest interest (June 21, 2026)."
 ],
 "items": [
  {
   "label": "Choking or small-parts warning",
   "value": 14,
   "range_low": null,
   "range_high": null
  },
  {
   "label": "Blind boxes (paid random items)",
   "value": 12,
   "range_low": null,
   "range_high": null
  },
  {
   "label": "Recall of the official product",
   "value": 7,
   "range_low": null,
   "range_high": null
  },
  {
   "label": "Resale prices above retail",
   "value": 5,
   "range_low": null,
   "range_high": null
  },
  {
   "label": "Maker age label above 7",
   "value": 4,
   "range_low": null,
   "range_high": null
  },
  {
   "label": "Government lawsuits, fines, or safety warnings",
   "value": 4,
   "range_low": null,
   "range_high": null
  }
 ],
 "csv": "https://raisingstoics.com/research/data/blind-box-toys.csv",
 "chart_embed": "https://raisingstoics.com/research/embed/blind-box-toys",
 "image": "https://raisingstoics.com/research/og/blind-box-toys.png",
 "credit": "Raising Stoics (raisingstoics.com)"
}