I'm glad I stopped by because I have a unique perspective to answer the question. The 1/6th hobby is not dead but it's likely on life support.
I got my original action figures for Christmas in 1965, I had just turned eight. My Dad was a Marine Corps Officer, so I only got Action Marines, but I got seven. A four-man fireteam, a two-man gun team and a communicator. All had a complete issue of 782 gear, including tents and ponchos, so I got a bunch of accessory packs. Dad went back to Vietnam in late '66 for his second of three tours. While he was gone, since I liked my GI Joes so much, the aunts, uncles and grandparents got me the other services and their stuff. My grandfather was a WWII vet as well as three uncles, two more were Korean War vets, so yes, we were more familiar with the era, plus Combat and Rat Patrol were a popular TV shows and many of the movies were WWII themed. By the time my brother got old enough, GI Joe had become the Adventure Team guy, and they eventually went away.
Fast forward to the mid-80's, and I have two boys, the older one is into 3 3/4 inch GI Joe's. My wife begs me to get him some, I refuse. I come back from a deployment and am looking for a gift for the boy, I see the GI Joe Skystriker (F-14 Tomcat) I buy it, he becomes addicted and over time we buy just about everything else they produced. While playing I would tell him "I wish you could have had the old 12" Joes" then I'd regale him with stories of Joe Wars past. Then Hasbro released the 12" versions of some of the 3 3/4" figures but they weren't very playable. Then 21st Century came along The Ultimate Soldier, with WWII to modern figures that were detailed, playable and affordable. Both the boys were in heaven, and we had many a "Big Joe War". We had a Vietnam hill fight that lasted 3 days once, we only went in for headcalls and meals.
Fast forward to the early 2000's, the War on Terror starts, one son drops out of college to enlist and go fight in Iraq, the other can't wait to graduate high school so he can enlist. (He'd eventually serve in the big Sangin Afghanistan fights in 2010). While in Iraq the older son says he thinks a lot about how much fun our Joe Wars were, and he'd like to do one for old time's sake once he gets back. He was in Iraq during one of highest casualty periods. We'd get calls from the Family Readiness Coordinator at night saying the unit had suffered a casualty, but it was not our Marine. They'd also say that status and name(s) were being held pending notification of next of kin. Doesn't do much for your peace of mind if you see 8 or 10 or 12 Marines were killed in Al Anbar that day, and the phone doesn't ring. Is it your unit wasn't involved or you're the one waiting on the next of kin notification.
In order to stay busy, I started collecting WWII Marines. I kitbashed most. It was Dragons heyday and loose bodies and parts were plentiful and reasonably priced, full boxed figures were $30-$40. dollars. Cheap enough you could buy them to be played with. We ended up with a full-strength infantry company (+), with attached engineers, special weapons, tanks and artillery. I got two Dragon Pack Howitzers, two 37mm AT guns, a Hasbro M3 GMC, a Hasbro and 21st Century Jeep (before Dragon released theirs), a couple of 21st Century Stuarts, a WC52 and a bunch of things I likely don't remember. We had three or four "Big Joe Wars" with the Marines, some multiple days, when we had the boys home. I only got good pictures of one. Here:
http://www.sixtharmygroup.com/forums/index.php?threads/pacific-assault.12332/
I scratchbuilt two LVT-2's but never managed to figure out the front sprocket and tracks. Now, my sons both have sons, the older one has a boy just getting to the age he could play a "Big Joe War" soooo...he texted me today about a multiple day's battle in March 2024 when his son is on Spring Break. He's trying to assemble the grandson a good-sized Marine unit, but the costs and scarcity of the parts is almost prohibitive. The boxed figures are nice but at $170. to $299. and up it makes them collectables not kid toys. The next generation that had the Ultimate Soldier and then Dragon figures as kids now have boys coming of age. If someone hits the market with a reasonably priced option, we'll have another era of plenty. If not, this generation won't have the memories to pass on to their sons. Collectors are not a big enough market to support a major manufacturer, you have to have the sales to kids to make it profitable.
BTW, I'm currently building a Dragon M4A3 for the next battle, and I'm going to need help. I'm going to start a thread about it, please stop by and give me pointers. The older son is building an LCM-5 and he's bought a couple jeeps, a Stuart, and an M3 GMC for his son (he has a second son coming up as well, about 2 years out).
I bought the grandson a ROC Hobby MB Scaler for Christmas two years ago (2021). It was so cool, his Dad (my son) got me one and a jeep trailer (2021), I got that son the Jeep and Trailer last Christmas (2022). The MB Scaler is excellently detailed, as good as the Dragon, is RC, and very durable. It's a bad little jeep with plenty of torque, a metal frame and a realistic suspension. The trailer is the same, an excellent scale model. If anyone is in need of a reasonably priced WWII Jeep this is a good option; the old 21st Century or Hasbro jeep is $225.-$300. on E-Bay, the Dragon kit is going for $190. plus on backorder (cheapest I saw) but commonly is $250.-$300. when you can find them, so at $330. new, the RocHobby jeep is competitively priced, plus it's RC .
https://www.amazon.com/Rochobby-Bru...mzn1.fos.ac2169a1-b668-44b9-8bd0-5ec63b24bcb5