Originally Posted by
BigTransformerTrev
I know I have certainly noticed this trend in recent years. Back when living in Melbourne and I would visit a, for example, TRU, there would be so many of a particular grouping of TF toys that would sit there for a year, precluding others from getting some shelf space.
As well as the overabundance of Wave 1 figures, I believe that the sales drop could also be contributed to:
Overstocking of variations of the same character -
Predominately Bumblebee & Optimus Prime.
Unless some is a VERY avid collector, most folk are happy with one version of a character from that particular line. There were SO many different versions of BBee released for DOTM! For your average parent buying their child a present, if they have gotten their child a DOTM BBee toy, they are not likely to go and buy the exact same toy that just has some colour variations or an extra cannon. The parents would be more likely to buy a different character, or a bot on the opposite side to fight, hence adding to the play value. But with so many BBee's clogging the shelves and not being sold because everyone already has a BBee, there was no room for Soundwave.
This can even be seen in the TF Prime toys. So far there has been deluxe BBee, BBee packaged with Starscream, Weaponizer BBee, tiny (commander class I think it is) BBee etc. As a collector with limited funds, I usually just wait and try to buy the biggest, most detailed version of a character. I had bought deluxe BBee and so I could get Starscream I had to end up with a second version of the same toy. Then after getting a Maccas Happy Meal BBee the Weaponizer BBee came out. Since I already had 3 versions of this character, I was unwilling to outlay cash for a 4th, even if it was the biggest and most detailed. And thus we are unlikely to see an Arachnid or Knock Out on the shelves because parents, kids and collectors have bought all the BBee's they need, and the other 50 versions are still sitting on the shelf collecting dust.
I believe is Hasbro wishes to increase sales, they really need to look at the variety of the toys and not try and overcapitalize on the popularity of one or two characters. I know it would mean I was spending more in my local Target, and I believe it would work that way accross the board.