Quote Originally Posted by griffin View Post
The absent waves/figures may still appear here, but recent history shows that if they do, it will be in limited numbers or random stores. Because while Wave 1 still clogs the shelves (like it did for the TF3 movie), retailers won't restock if Hasbro* doesn't give them an incentive to (discounting the wholesale price for the Retailers to sell more competitively against other toylines, and most importantly against much cheaper foreign sources).

After 2 successive years of "dead" (failed) Transformers product lines in Australia (TF3, Kreo, TFPrime - all failed to sell enough of their launch wave to prompt most retailers to restock in any significant manner, or at all, leading to clearing out at a loss)... the brand has become so "toxic" to retailers, we might see Hasbro Australia take a step back from the brand next year in this country, so that they can make sure the 2014 movie toyline gains more interest as a "return to the brand".

At least with the "break" we had after Gen1 and Beast Machines in this country, it was more because the toys themselves were uninspiring to retailers and consumers... this time, the toys are fine... it's the price and over-supply of launch waves that has done the damage in this country.
But over-supply is something that will keep happening, as toy companies want to convince retailers to buy more than they need, in case the line flops early. Because if the retailers weren't going to re-order anyway, at least the toy company sold extra units of one wave before the series was axed.

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.