????如果可以用玩具行業的產品來形容這個行業的趨勢的話，那么可以說，彩虹小馬早已把特種部隊踢到了天邊。

????目前，女孩玩具銷售額已經超過了男孩——而且是遠遠超過。在今年第三季度，美國兩大玩具制造商孩之寶（Hasbro）和美泰（Mattel）的銷售額都由女孩玩具扮演主角，而男孩玩具銷售額則大幅下降。

????本月月初，孩之寶（HAS） 報表顯示，公司凈收入為1.725億美元，相對于去年同一時期增加了5%。女孩玩具的收入快速增加了29%，這得歸功于菲比精靈和彩虹小馬的流行，以及大學男生對后者近乎邪教般的喜愛，人們把這些人稱為“小馬迷”（Brony）。與此同時，面向男孩們的產品收入卻下滑了17%。

????美泰（MAT） 的情況也類似。芭比娃娃品牌的銷售額下降了3%。在恐怖時尚娃娃怪物高校（Monster High）系列的帶動下，第三季度該公司其他女孩玩具產品出現28%的增長。價格更高的美國女孩（American Girl）產品的銷售額增加20%。不過，面向男孩的玩具表現疲軟。玩具車（Wheels）系列全球銷售收入總額減少9%，其中包括Hot Wheels、Matchbox和Tyco三個品牌。總體上來看，這家公司的凈收入增加了16%，達到4.22億美元。

????歐睿信息咨詢公司（Euromonitor International）的研究分析師馬修?霍達克說：“女孩產品一段時間以來一直在引領銷售，不過最近才開始快速增長。”

????霍達克指出，隨著玩具公司更加關注業務不斷增長的區域，這個趨勢進一步被放大。例如，美泰公司的美國女孩品牌在上周二宣布將在美國本土之外開設第一家商店。它計劃在2014年在加拿大開設兩家分店。10月底，美泰推出了面向青少年的Ever After High通話人物玩具。

????作為對比，今年年初孩之寶為旗下的小馬產品系列引入了一組新款玩具——My Little Pony Equestria Girls。同時，在傳統上屬于男孩的射擊類玩具之外，它又增加了面向女孩的 Nerf REbelle 玩具，即一款模仿《饑餓游戲》（Hunger Games）中十字弓的產品。

????男孩玩具市場的疲軟除了女孩產品銷量搶眼這個原因之外，還因為男孩玩具與動作和漫畫電影緊密關聯。比如，2012年電影《復仇者聯盟》（the Avengers ）全球票房總收入超過10億美元，這種關聯是一種優勢，可以推動與電影相關的玩具銷售額。但在缺少兒童動作大片的年份，比如2013年，男孩玩具銷售就會滯后。

????這種關聯的好處在于，當電影院上映大片時銷售額就會反彈。10月21日，巴克萊一份資本分析報告指出，隨著《變形金剛4》（Transformers 4）、《美國隊長》（Captain America）和《蜘蛛俠》（Spider-Man）的上映，男孩玩具的銷售預計將增加20%。美泰公司CEO布萊恩?斯托克頓在上周三的分析師電話采訪中說，公司的增長機遇在于他們即將與漫威（Marvel）娛樂公司達成有關蜘蛛俠和綠巨人的授權協議，同時它還計劃在2015年推出星戰主題的 Hotwheels 系列玩具。

????If trends in the toy industry were illustrated with its own merchandise, My Little Pony just mule-kicked G.I. Joe into oblivion.

????Sales of girls' toys are outpacing boys' sales -- by a long shot. In the third quarter of this year, girls' toys carried sales at the country's two main toymakers, Hasbro and Mattel, while boys' sales slumped.

????Earlier this month, Hasbro (HAS) reported net income of $172.5 million, an increase of 5% from the same period a year ago. Hoisted by the popularity of the Furby toys and My Little Pony, with its cult-like following among college-age men -- "Bronies" if you will -- revenue from girls' toys shot up 29%. Meanwhile, boys' products revenue slipped 17%.

????Mattel (MAT) has had a similar experience. Sales of the Barbie brand were up 3%. The rest of the company's girls' portfolio saw a 28% sales uptick in the third quarter, buoyed by the Monster High line of ghoulish fashion dolls. Sales of its pricier American Girl products were up 20%. But its male-oriented toys faltered. Worldwide gross sales for the Wheels category, which includes the Hot Wheels, Matchbox, and Tyco brands, were down 9%. Overall, the company's net income rose 16% to $422 million.

????"The girls segment has been leading sales for a while, but very recently it's starting to really ramp up," says Matthew Hudak, a research analyst at Euromonitor International.

????The trend has become all the more exaggerated as toy companies emphasize the business areas that are growing, Hudak says. For instance, Mattel's American Girl brand announced on Tuesday that it was expanding its stores outside beyond the U.S. for the first time. It plans to open two stores in Canada in 2014. And earlier this week, Mattel launched Ever After High, a line of dolls based on the teenage children of fairytale characters.

????Hasbro, meanwhile, introduced My Little Pony Equestria Girls -- a set of dolls -- to its line of pony products earlier this year. It also added the girl-oriented Nerf Rebelle -- reminiscent of a Hunger Games crossbow -- to what's traditionally been a boys shooting game.

????Apart from being out-shined by girls' sales, slacking boys' sales can be attributed to their close ties to action and comic book movies. That's a good thing in years like 2012, when the Avengers movie franchise grossed more than $1 billion at the box office, boosting the sales of toys connected to the film. But in a year that lacks a blockbuster kids action movie, like 2013, boys' toy sales lag.

????The upside of this correlation is that sales bounce back when a big movie hits theaters. A Barclays analyst report on Hasbro from October 21 said that it estimates 28% revenue growth in the boys segment, with the expected releases of Transformers 4, Captain America, and Spider-Man. During an analyst call on Wednesday, Mattel CEO Bryan Stockton touted the growth opportunities related to the company's upcoming licensing agreements with Marvel and Spider-Man and the Hulk characters, as well as the company's plans to sell Star Wars-themed Hotwheels products in 2015.