For most of my childhood, I played with three things: stuffed animals, action figures, and video games. I’m probably biased, but I would say the late-80s through the 90s was prime for all three. While he wasn’t really interested in my stuffed animals, my older brother and I went back and forth for hours during the summer, exchanging controllers for figurines. When our little brother was old enough, he was invited to join our very exclusive, two-person gaming sessions. My favorite games were classics like Double Dragon, Super Mario Bros., Top Gun, Paper Boy, A Boy and His Blob — I could go on forever!

Video games and playing with action figures had a few things in common. The good games always had fun, creative storylines, many times including some kind of puzzle, which kept our minds running. This affected how we played with our figurines and characters. It constantly…