Directional Paper by Christian Braun, CEO hobbyDB | July 2, 2026   AI changes everything and, as I have been working for the last 25 years in the 500 billion FanMerch and collectibles market, it’s literally my business to have an informed opinion on how the market will be affected by it. I see 5 use cases for AI for fans and collectors:      Identify items  Find Grails and other items  Drop Alerts (for example, if they follow Lego and want to know when new exclusives come to market anywhere around the world)  Buy and Sell Advice  ‘Check this out”, similar to Amazon’s invention of “people that buy this also like that” recommendations    Each of these use cases already have simple, individualized solutions, but AI does it better, sometimes 100x faster.    At hobbyDB we’re working on incorporating all of these into what we do.    1. Identify items  There are three types of AI item-identification services available;    Generic Apps. There are many new apps which claim they can recognize items, some of which also offer valuation. We actively monitor for new apps and whenever one comes out, we test it.   So far we’ve tried out:  Antique Identifier & Appraisal  Antique Identifier by Picture  Antiqo  Collectibles AI (an older but still valid review here)  Collectibles.com  Collectibles Item Scanner  Kept  Underpriced AI  Toyzie (review here)  WhatsitAI    Our findings are that all of these only work in very limited instances and are no better than Google Lens. Their worst aspect is that they very often give wildly inaccurate results as they all show their respective algo’s “best” result and have no option to give a “no results” display - without explaining these limitations to users.    Specific Item Catalog Apps. These apps provide similar functionality to the first ones, but offer identification and/or valuation for a specific type of item, e.g. coins or trading cards. Generally, they work well as they usually utilize their own type-specific collectible databases. We anticipate there will be more of these appearing on the market.    This is, of course, also the model we use at hobbyDB, i.e. we compare your photos against all items in our database so that you either find your item or know that the database does not have your item. As the algorithm is trained, it may initially rank correct items lower than they should be, but with constant training, we expect this to be rectified rapidly.    A modern item with a UPC or ISBN is easily identifiable. Text recognition makes items with text on the item or packaging relatively easy. More colors and their distribution helps image recognition a lot (a Hard Rock Cafe pin with 3.2% magenta and 3.6% teal does not have many results.   Collectible-Data-as-a-Service. The final trend we’re seeing are services like Vardera or Ximilar, which offer structured data or algorithms to identify collectibles. This currently works for the same type of data as Specific Item Type Apps, i.e. for two-dimensional objects like coins and trading cards that they can get their hands on.   Overall Problem. Currently, the biggest issue for this approach is that while many sites have lots of collectible data like eBay or Worthpoint, very few have structured data. At present, this only really exists for easily-catalogable verticals like coins, Lego, Sneakers, Stamps and Trading Cards. That makes training an algorithm accurately for anything outside of these categories extremely hard to do accurately. Both Collectible-Data-as-a-Service companies (and probably others that are either in stealth mode or coming) are trying to license or buy more data from other sources. eBay Ventures is part of a consortium that has invested in Vardera.      hobbyDB’s Approach. We already have a barcode scanner and just released an image matching feature in beta. We only use data from our own structured database and show very similar results such as variants and subvariants (small differences that can make huge differences in value and are explained so that novices can understand these variations and make the right decision). We will continue on refining the matching algorithm and add more data.    2. Find Grails  Marketplaces and auction houses have always offered item alerts as a service, but only for items sold through their own channels. In addition, there are services like Invaluable, LOT-art or The Saleroom which serve as aggregators for items sold through hundreds of auctioneers and offer alerts for all of them. Also, there are Specific Item Type services, whereby specialists like AuctionSearcher (Art) and WatchBid (Wristwatches) will let you know when items you’re seeking that are of their specific type come up for sale.    It is early days for equivalent AI services, but we are now seeing the emergence of both general services like Grailsnap and type-specific services like Luxfi.ai for watches.    The problem for all of these is that it is impossible to describe with 100% accuracy what you want to find for any service that is not database powered.    For example if I want a copy of the book Modellauto Katalog Siku 1st Edition by Matthias Braun, I can easily tell Alibris to let me know when it is listed. If I want a Lego Slope component, Inverted 33 3 x 2 with Flat Bottom Pin, without Connections between Studs, Item Number 3747a in dark turquoise I can have Bricklink look out for me for that.    But this won’t work in any case where the data isn’t structured and the above info is fed to an AI as descriptive text. That’s not the case for new items with UPCs or reference numbers, of course, but these can already be found easily on any number of sites like eBay, Mercari, StockX etc, and a large proportion of users do not need or want to use services like this for new items like these. Most want to use them to find unusual, rare vintage items or even spare parts which have no identifying codes.    If users do have to rely on descriptions, they need to make them explicit, not too extensive or exclusive and have to hope that sellers have described the items in the same language they are using.    hobbyDB has 10.5 million items in its Member’s Wish Lists that are highly specific   hobbyDB’s Approach. Our members already have 10.5 million well defined items on their Wish Lists and we can use our own passive inventory (the 58 million items our members own) and agents that can use our image matching solution to find these Wish List items on other sites.    3. Drop Alerts  These services find new item drops in time for a user to be able to buy one before they sell out. This could be for anything from a new Funko POP exclusive sold only at BAIT to a collab between a particular magazine and Lego, which has an exclusive Lego product coming with a particular issue. In all these cases and more, collectors want to know as early as possible that the drop is happening.    All services in this area are specialized. Some, like Lootping, MerchVault and RegExr cover multiple types of collectibles. Others, such as TCG Restock, cover only one type of collectible.      The problem that is hard to overcome is that this is all about hard-coding. For the Funko example, the tool would have to check Chalice Collectibles, Game Stop and maybe 50 other websites constantly to see if an announcement is made about a new Funko exclusive (but not other Funko products that they start offering for sale). For the Lego product as a give-away in a magazine, it would have to check every possible Lego promotion partner, an impossible task. As AI matures, this might become more feasible over time. hobbyDB’s Approach. We know what our members collect, which brands they follow and what kind of drops they have bought in the past and can use bots similar to what we plan for grails-finding. Our new Shopify App will also help as it imports new drops instantly into hobbyDB (we have plans for other popular ecommerce apps, like WooCommerce and BigCommerce.    4. Buying or Selling Advice  This is a newly emergent category. So far, we are only aware of Apprayz, a new app, currently on iOS, which claims to be able to tell you when to sell or hold your item but at the moment fails miserably at this (review here).    Value. To do this successfully, an app needs access to structured data, lots of transactions and a good algorithm. For example, it would need to be able to see how Hot Wheels Red Line Club models of American muscle cars or JDMs or other categories performed over the last few years over time so that it could say “Buy this Custom Barracuda at $30 for an expected resale value of $70 in the first 10 days, then expect a drop value with a rebound after 180 days to around $100”. For now only StockX and possibly some of the trading card and Lego websites can do that with any acceptable reliability.    hobbyDB mockup of planned features   It’s also important to note that the emergence of such an app would reduce these swings and make it harder to earn money this way (currently only dealers with long memories and an analytical mind do this, but the app would allow everybody to dabble in this kind of day-trading).   Liquidity. How many items exist, how many have been recently sold, how many are on hobbyDB”s Wish List, how widely or narrowly distributed are Price Points? This helps to know if an item can be sold quickly when a collector wants to or has to.   Trust. What do I know about the specific item, is it genuine? What do I know about this seller (and sometimes also buyer as there is also buyer fraud like item swaps or part theft).   hobbyDB’s Approach. Using actual transactions from 128 ecommerce marketplace and auction houses, collection management statistics, wish list movements, ratings, vouches, detailed crowd-source fake information and rich and connected information about hobbyDB’s members help to correctly identify value and liquidity and establish if a counterparty can be trusted. We will be using AI to make our volunteers more efficient (for example we are testing currently using a bot to assign transactions where the UPC and keywords are a match and the price achieved is within narrow bands of hobbyDB’s current Estimated Value. We will test and expand on this.    5. Check this out  Many collectors like to constantly broaden their horizons and love to be shown brands or items they might be interested in. In our opinion, this is something AI will be extremely good at - if it has access to the right data. hobbyDB’s 820,000 members own 58 million items in their hobbyDB-managed collections. We have access to 900,000 ratings and database items have up to 54 attributes.      Somebody who owns 46 Aquaman figures from 12 brands in different scales will most likely want to see and potentially buy one produced by a new brand in 1:24 Scale. However, if all their other figures are in 1:6 Scale, then they probably wouldn’t go for the new 1:24 one.    Similarly, for someone who owns 27 Elvis Presley Hard Rock Cafe pins and some Elvis LPs, Elvis items are probably of interest. But if these are the only Elvis items they have - and they also own 2,000 other Hard Rock Cafe pins related to other subjects, then items exclusively related to Elvis aren’t likely to appeal - but any type of Hard Rock Cafe pin might. Best of all, this matching can be constantly tested and improved as more data is gleaned.    hobbyDB’s Approach. We have already started doing this. For example, we told members who had Garbage Pail Kids items in their collections, that artist Joe Simko is now working on a new brand, the Craniacs. We had a much higher click-through rate for collectors with 7 or more of those items and are now productizing that (create a “look-a-like-audience” and then email them starting with members that have say 20 qualifying items, then go to 19, 18 etc until the click-through rate declines and use an agent that will get trained with this data.    Conclusions?  This is bound to happen and sooner than we think. There is already lots of activity and we very much predict more will keep coming and soon. Our money is on;    Good point solutions like the ones for trading cards, which already do an excellent job, probably in comics, Lego, sneakers, trading cards and some easier-to-catalog brands such as Funko and Hot Wheels. These might do all of the five use cases (obviously only within their niche).  As an overall service for any collectible type, I think only hobbyDB (I am biased) will be able to provide all of these services best-of-breed.  The Collectible-Data- as-a-Service might be able to do some of this for a number of niches but not all (as they are dependent on doing data licensing deals and there are very few data sources available). 

  Sometimes the best partnerships start not in a boardroom, but in the comments section of a Facebook post. That is exactly how Baby Paper founder Sari Wiaz and Paper Cow creator Cassie Stine found each other, and how their two small businesses are now joining forces to bring customers something new.   A Chance Connection Wiaz was scrolling through a Facebook group for small business owners when a comment caught her eye. Curious, she clicked over to check out the profile behind it. What she found was Paper Cow, Stine's line of children's apparel featuring whimsical, hand-drawn barnyard characters bursting with personality and charm.   Wiaz was hooked immediately. The playful designs reminded her exactly why she started Baby Paper in the first place: creating simple, joyful products that spark a child's imagination.   So she did what small business owners do best. She took a chance. Wiaz reached out to Stine directly, introduced herself, and asked if she might be able to bring Paper Cow's beloved characters into a Baby Paper product.   Trust, Not Paperwork There was no elaborate pitch deck. No legal team drafting licensing agreements. No months of back and forth between attorneys. Just one founder reaching out to another, and Stine deciding to say yes.   "I was overjoyed when Cassie trusted me with her designs," Wiaz said. "These characters are her creativity, her heart, her business. For her to hand that over to me on the strength of a conversation says everything about what small business really is."   That trust became the foundation of Zoo, a new Baby Paper pattern that brings Paper Cow's charming barnyard animals to life in the crinkly, sensory format that has made Baby Paper a nursery staple for over a decade.   "I was so excited when Sari reached out," Stine said. "She understood our brand and put together such a fun pattern featuring our best selling characters on her crinkle paper. Seeing it come to life was pretty special. Every customer I showed samples to had to hold it, play with it, and had such a fun response."   More Than a Product For Wiaz, the new pattern is about far more than adding another item to the Baby Paper lineup. It is a statement about how small businesses can grow, not by competing with one another, but by lifting each other up.   "There were no big contracts, no lawyers, none of that," Wiaz said. "Just two small business owners who shared a vision and decided to trust each other. That is the whole story."   It is a story Wiaz has told before, and one she intends to keep telling. Collaboration has become something of a signature move for Baby Paper. The brand's Woodlands pattern donates a portion of proceeds to Cranio Care Bears, an organization supporting families of children with craniosynostosis, following a similar partnership Wiaz previously ran with Artists with Autism. Baby Paper also produces a Rally Paper line featuring artwork from Michaelson Entertainment.   Wiaz has also partnered with Female Strong, an organization supporting girls from underserved communities, on a pattern born from a juried art competition. A panel selected the winning artwork from submissions by the young artists themselves, and that artwork became a Baby Paper pattern of its own, giving the girls a platform and a byline on a national product.   In a similar spirit, Baby Paper's line featuring artwork from renowned digital artist Lawrence Gartel shows how Wiaz continues to use Baby Paper as a canvas for other people's creativity, not just her own.   Each collaboration follows the same simple formula: find people with heart and talent, and figure out how to build something together.   Why It Matters In an industry increasingly shaped by big-box retailers and mass production, partnerships like this one are a reminder of what makes small business special. Two founders, two visions, and a shared belief that generosity and collaboration can be just as powerful as competition.   "This is what small business is all about," Wiaz said. "You show up, you take a chance on someone, and sometimes that chance turns into something amazing."   The new Zoo pattern, featuring Paper Cow's barnyard characters, will be available soon, through Baby Paper and Paper Cow's usual retail channels, both wholesale and direct to consumer.   About Baby Paper Baby Paper is a mom-invented sensory crinkle toy brand born from watching babies delight in the simple sound and texture of restaurant napkins. For more than a decade, Baby Paper has grown into a beloved line of sensory toys sold through wholesale, specialty retailers, and direct to consumers, all while staying true to its founder-led, small business roots.   About Paper Cow Paper Cow is a children's apparel line created by Cassie Stine, known for its whimsical, hand-illustrated barnyard characters that bring warmth and personality to everyday kids' clothing.   Media Contact: Name Sari Wiaz Phone: 847-272-5588 Email address: marketing@babypaper.com  

After 18 years on the LEGO innovation team, Dan Winger walked away from a dream job to build a dream of his own.   As a former LEGO Master Designer and Concept Lead on LEGO Pokémon, Winger spent his career pushing the boundaries of creative play. He helped launch several new product lines powered by cutting-edge tech, from companion apps and mixed reality to LEGO Smart Play.   This year, he stepped away from tech to get unplugged and started building handcrafted games that feel like they've existed for a hundred years.   His new venture, Unplugged Arcade, isn’t your typical board game publisher. It is a studio focused on “tabletop sports for social spaces.” Bridging the gap between modern board games and classic barroom pastimes like billiards or shuffleboard, Unplugged Arcade creates social play tailored for taprooms, country clubs, stadiums, and other public venues.     The First Pitch The studio’s debut game, Baseball Shuffle, is a fast, all-ages, dice-flicking mashup of baseball and shuffleboard for 2 to 16 players. This patent-pending design is built into an heirloom-quality cocktail table, and players can strategically position their drinks as bumpers that alter the field of play.   Each game is locally crafted by a small workshop in North Carolina. The format addresses the limitations of classic bar games, offering a smaller footprint, easy installation, built-in drink placement, connection to sports fandom, flexible player counts, balanced play across skill levels, and generally more exciting gameplay.     From Pet Project to Smash Hit What began as a personal passion project quickly turned into something much bigger.   On May 13, Winger hand-delivered the very first order to E.O.’s Athletic Club in Durham. The very next day, the original tutorial video went viral, quickly climbing past 2 million views on Instagram. A couple of weeks later, an updated tutorial exploded across all platforms, hitting 7 million total views and driving a staggering $70,000 in first-month sales.   The cost of launching a viral social gaming phenomenon? About $50 and a round of pints.     What’s On Deck for Unplugged Arcade? "A whole lot of coffee and very little sleep," Winger laughs. "Unplugged Arcade is still a solo venture that took off far quicker than I ever imagined. Right now, everything is about scaling. Fast!"   The immediate focus is building a core team to catch up with the sudden surge in demand. From there, Winger plans to expand the Baseball Shuffle ecosystem, starting with lower-priced, consumer-friendly versions designed to bring the same social tabletop sports experience into homes, game rooms, and family gatherings.   He is also planning collaborations with local creators to pilot a premium, hand-painted “Artist Series” of game tables. Beyond that, the studio is exploring licensing opportunities, developing add-ons such as glassware and jerseys, and building a framework for regional tournaments and league play.   The long-term vision is establishing Unplugged Arcade as a premier publisher of tabletop sports, with new releases hitting the market every year. The ultimate dream is to launch dedicated brick-and-mortar venues designed to serve as social gaming hangouts, interactive showrooms, and community gathering places for all ages.     Like a Pastime from a Past Time After years working on the cutting edge of the toy industry, Winger now finds himself in a very different world, one of sawdust-covered workshops, local breweries, ballparks, street fairs, and wherever local communities gather.   With Unplugged Arcade, he is betting that the future of social networking isn't on a screen. It belongs to an entirely new category of physical play where communities can gather, laugh, and cheer together face-to-face. Sometimes, the next big thing in play looks a lot like the handcrafted amusements of yesteryear.          

  Hi Ronnen, thank you for making time for us today. I'm about halfway through your book and absolutely loving it. It's remarkable how quickly you and your co-founders made decisions, embraced change, and pivoted as opportunities presented themselves. It's a wonderful reminder that great companies are built not just on great ideas, but on the willingness to learn, pivot, and keep moving forward… and being in your twenties is a significant advantage!   For those who may not know your story... What is your role in our industry? I am one of three co-founders of Spin Master, a children’s entertainment company known for creating iconic brands like PAW Patrol, Bakugan and Hatchimals as well as being a trusted steward for brands like Rubik’s Cube, Tech Deck and many more. My role as Chair of the Board is to continue to build and sustain a culture around innovation and design and diversity of thought, remaining open to ideas wherever they come from, driving innovation and a desire to bring the magic of pixie dust to kids. Spin Master is really focused on redefining play and storytelling.   I am one of three co-founders of Spin Master, a children’s entertainment company known for creating iconic brands like PAW Patrol, Bakugan and Hatchimals as well as being a trusted steward for brands like Rubik’s Cube, Tech Deck and many more. My role as Chair of the Board is to continue to build and sustain a culture around innovation and design and diversity of thought, remaining open to ideas wherever they come from, driving innovation and a desire to bring the magic of pixie dust to kids. Spin Master is really focused on redefining play and storytelling.   What is it about the toy and game industry that you love?  That you never run out of good ideas. I thought we would run out of ideas, but the industry constantly surprises you with what stories can be told, which characters can be created and what toys can be developed to capture the hearts and minds of children - of every birth year and of every generation.    Claim to fame? I’ve never done a power point presentation in your life.    Do you have a mantra that you live by? If you don’t go you don’t get or the magic happens outside the office.   Dream dinner party guests? John F. Kennedy, Ben Gurion and Jerry Garcia    Favorite project to date? It has to be Bakugan. It was an idea that turned into a global phenomenon and became part of the cultural zeitgeist creating fans for life.     What advice would you give a young adult graduation from high school or college today? Lead with your curiosity & passion. Ask for advice, but at the end of the day it’s your decision to make, it's your life. Don’t live the life other people want you to live - stay true to yourself.    What advice for people starting in your industry? Travel to all the toy shows around the world, walk every hall, develop relationships with companies in Japan – I think it’s the epicentre of toy creativity. Stay current with trends, mix with people that are involved with all aspects of toys - from inventors to marketing people to sales. Walk retail constantly, talk to the customer, and when you’re at retail always ask, “What’s selling and what’s not?”.   Why do you think starting a business in your 20s is the best time? For so many reasons. Because everyone is rooting for you—there is a power in not knowing. It’s the easiest time to find partners. You’re closest to the zeitgeist—you’re so close to the zeitgeist you practically are the zeitgeist, and when you’re close to the zeitgeist you’re able to identify white space opportunities and turn them into great businesses. And when you start building equity in yourself when you are young it will compound over a longer period of time and be worth a lot. If you start young, when you hit middle age you can do something different and kind of have two lives in one.      What is the worst job you’ve ever had and what did you learn from it? It’s a tossup between selling cable subscriptions over the phone or going door to door selling lawn fertilizer, take your pick. I learned that selling things you’re not passionate about drains your energy and your life force. It’s like watching paint dry. Better to do something that matches your skill set and curiosity to unlock your potential.    What and/or who inspires you? Reading books based on wisdom and philosophy from incredible authors like Eric Fromm, Martin Buber, Carl Jung, Rabbi Steinsaltz and many, many more.   How do you recharge or take a break? Go for a run, play tennis, do yoga, swim in the Mediterranean, stand on my head, and go on a great road trip.    What words describe how you think or how your brain works? I am a lateral thinker, connecting the dots, reading the visual cues, observing body language, reading the room, gathering multiple inputs that build a story. I’m less analytical and more observational and intuitive.    What is one mistake you've made, and what did you learn from it? When Universal Studios offers to do a live action film for Bakugan that they will spend millions of dollars making, say yes. Don’t say no.   Do you have any special talents or superpowers? I don’t know if it’s a superpower, I believe I can convene a talented group of individuals to bring out their best and through conversation generate ideas that were never thought of before. I can convene creative people to take a germ of an idea and bring it to reality and birth it to the world. Take an initial seed of an idea and develop it and shepherd it along the way to turn it into reality.    Or to create an environment where people feel comfortable sharing their best ideas    Actually, let’s come at it like this: the belief that anything is possible and things will work out and the patience to stick with things for long periods of time.    What do you hope your legacy will be? That the Spin Master culture will be able to live on beyond the founders.    Everything would have been different if... I cut my hair …. And if I never went to Western University.   I’m lucky that … I grew up in Canada and I got identified with my learning disability at 10 years old that gave me extra help; or else I might have ended up in jail.    Be sure to check out and preorder Ronnen's book No Experience Necessary: Why Betting on Yourself in Your Twenties Is the Best Decision You'll Ever Make