The Energon Pub

News Credits: 6188 · Tue Jun 03, 2014 11:12 am

According to a number of reports from financial specialists and consultants, Hasbro's sales of action figures tied to blockbuster film releases (the big Marvel names) has not done as well as expected so far. In a more thorough article than other news outlets, The Globe and Mail looks at the decrease in both sales and productions, which might be affecting Transformers: Age of Extinction merchandise due to 'action figure fatigue' (though, it should be noted, the robots have yet to arrive in cinemas, so this is not entirely reflective of the franchise's success yet - and it has dinosaur robots who breathe fire). We've copied relevant parts of the article below, and yo ucan read the whole thing here.

Hasbro dominates what the industry calls the boy’s toy category, and is highly dependent on movies to generate sales.

But the company’s products linked to Marvel Worldwide Inc. comics – Transformers: Age of Extinction, The Amazing Spider-Man 2, and Captain America: The Winter Soldier – have generated less customer excitement than investors were expecting, according to Gerrick Johnson, retail analyst at BMO Nesbitt Burns. It could be because none of these movies are the first of their kind.

[...]

The fourth Transformers film, which is set to be released in late June, got half the shelf space at Toys R’ Us, Target and Wal-Mart as the movie’s third instalment, Mr. Johnson said – this may have disappointed investors who were expecting the big-name movie to drive demand. He attributes the reduced space to increased caution on the part of retailers, and a certain amount of customer weariness.

[...]

Driving profit from the boys products category has been a challenge for Hasbro in the last couple of years. In 2011 net revenues were $1.8-billion (U.S.) for boys, but that fell to $1.2-billion by the end of fiscal 2013 – the figures are heavily influenced by theatrical releases.

This year, there are so many action movies coming out that there’s likely to be a cannibalization of toy sales, said Lutz Muller, head of toy industry consultants Klosters Trading Corp. “There’s only so many superhero movies that one kid can see,” he said.

Mr. Muller’s research shows that toy sales usually decline with each new movie in a series, even if the box office does well, or very well, because the characters tend to be similar and many children have toys from the prior films.

News Credits: 16 · Tue Jun 03, 2014 12:47 pm

This is a trend that will continue for years to come. Kids are more interested in video games than action figures. It's disappointing, but hopefully TF4 does well in stores this year. All the new characters could help drive sales.

News Credits: 656 · Tue Jun 03, 2014 1:12 pm

I hope this line does well, and I think they've done enough to help it do so. Just have to hope the fatigue of Optimus and Bumblebee being everywhere in every form for the past 7 years doesn't doom it.

News Credits: 104 · Tue Jun 03, 2014 1:23 pm

They mention the comic movies, well no **** they do poorly, I mean when you have complete lopsided crappy figure assortments, stupid unnecessary gimmicks with figure weapons, lumped with outrageous prices (ML 6" figs go from $19 - $22 a pop vs their old price of $9), you most surely will see a lack of them selling. Notice they did not mention Star Wars and the TF generation figs, now those puppies sell like hotcakes at a homeless shelter.

What companies need is actual fans in their marketing, not some guy in a suit with little to no knowledge about the fan base projecting the sales demographic.

And of course the bullshit argument can be made (and most likely will) that "oh they are toys for kids". Ok whatever and I have rental space on the surface of the moon. I see more adults perusing the toy isles looking for things then kids, it's a cold hard fact.

News Credits: 12 · Tue Jun 03, 2014 2:27 pm

It's almost as if markets fluctuate or something.

>:oP

News Credits: 7 · Tue Jun 03, 2014 4:13 pm

I blame the lack of Decepticons.

Besides video games, already have the characters, lots of (new) competition...
I wonder how much the sheer number of alternate sub-lines has to do with it. Options are good, but does having a dozen for each and every character negate that?

Perhaps also Beast Hunters lessened the interest for dinosaurs? I know they aren't the exact same thing, but after a whole wave of dragons, dinos don't seem as fresh.

News Credits: 251 · Tue Jun 03, 2014 7:46 pm

Noideaforaname wrote:Perhaps also Beast Hunters lessened the interest for dinosaurs? I know they aren't the exact same thing, but after a whole wave of dragons, dinos don't seem as fresh.

Not to mention if the dinos look similar to dragons *cough*Grimlock*cough*

News Credits: 60 · Wed Jun 04, 2014 2:44 am

Cyber Bishop wrote:They mention the comic movies, well no **** they do poorly, I mean when you have complete lopsided crappy figure assortments, stupid unnecessary gimmicks with figure weapons, lumped with outrageous prices (ML 6" figs go from $19 - $22 a pop vs their old price of $9), you most surely will see a lack of them selling. Notice they did not mention Star Wars and the TF generation figs, now those puppies sell like hotcakes at a homeless shelter.

What companies need is actual fans in their marketing, not some guy in a suit with little to no knowledge about the fan base projecting the sales demographic.

And of course the bullshit argument can be made (and most likely will) that "oh they are toys for kids". Ok whatever and I have rental space on the surface of the moon. I see more adults perusing the toy isles looking for things then kids, it's a cold hard fact.

Hit it right on the head CB.

Seeing all these movie spin off, most of which are cr@p! Look at the Japanese action figure market..........expensive but are of high quality/caliber...........they get sold out online.

Sell cr@p then expect to see crappy sales figures. Take the Tomy MP series of the Autobot cars.........they're getting the K.O. treatment because there's high demand. Expensive yet high demand.

Wed Jun 04, 2014 11:24 pm

I'm not interested in the AOE figures mostly because they suck. I've never collected movie figures in general however the Takara movie advanced line has my interest. Give me more generations voyager figures I buy all those I can get my hands on, same deal with Hasbro Masterpiece

News Credits: 1 · Thu Jun 05, 2014 12:21 am

Those last few lines kinda say :'Let's cut back on those Bumblebees, shall we?'

News Credits: 241 · Thu Jun 05, 2014 8:37 am

RhA wrote:Those last few lines kinda say :'Let's cut back on those Bumblebees, shall we?'

Well, they are doing that. Grimlock's their new milking cow now :lol:

Thu Jun 05, 2014 7:08 pm

when you consider the bigger picture with shelves full of Spiderman 2, iron man3, avengers, Thor 2,man of steel, TMNT, all competing for space its inevitable that you see a smaller in store footprint. especially considering the movie isn't out yet. this isn't just affecting Hasbro its many of the franchises that kids may be getting tired of.
little Billy is kind of over yet another Spiderman/bumblebee/hulk/iron man rehash. and as others have mentioned with kids getting smartphones and tablets they are slowly becoming more and more tech savvy and not as interested in action figures but I don't think its all doom and gloom.