Could the Sith be our problem?
 

Ok I know this is a long shot but........ Since all the Star Wars Revenge of the Sith figures have been released and there are so many of them (40 and soon to be more and that's not counting deluxe figures) could it be that Hasbro has taken over all the toy making plants in China and are having them produce gobs and gobs or Star Wars figures? That and the stores don't have the shelf space for new turtle figures becasue of all the Star Wars figure? Don't get me wrong, I love the Star Wars Revenge of the Sith figures, I have almost all of them and I even showed up at Target at 8:00am April 2nd in an ice storm so I could buy them first released.

Yes and no. Everyone needs to keep in mind that we are in the slowest time of the year for new toy releases. Very few lines, especially ones targeted at kids release more than one series of figures from the end of Christmas until summer. So it is not just the TMNT line. But the summer movie season, especially this year, has undoubtedly taken a bite out of retailer orders for other toy lines. Star Wars is probably the most visible example, but you can't forget Batman Begins either. And there is still the Fantastic Four movie merchandise coming.

I would expect that we will probably not see new basic figures for a bout a month yet. That would give them time to sell for three or four months before releasing another wave in late October/early November just as the Christmas season really kicks in.

A few things to take note of:

April-May-June are they slowest months in terms of action figure sales generally. There will be exceptions, such as Star Wars.

Since most toys now are based off of cartoons or some other type of media, that means they are released three times a year: Fall, Winter and Summer. Fall will include all new shows kicking off in September along with back to school stuff. It then moves into early Christmas shopping. Most toy companies avoid releasing a large number of brand new figures during the holiday season for two reasons.

1. There is the risk of the toys not getting out to the stores in time.
2. Parents will often buy what they recognize. A parent would rather buy a Shredder toy than a Razorfist (Or was it Draco? Both are red, close enough).

The winter season is considered January to March. This takes into account kids with holiday money. This allows kids to buy what they want, resulting in more secondary figures in the market. At the end of this season, a recent event has begun happening. Parents buying toys for Easter.

Then there is the Summer which is June to August. Kids are no longer in school and have more time to each their own money through yard work and what not. All those $5 add up. This is similar to Winter in that the kids are the ones buying, not the parents. Another item to note is that summer block busters have a huge impact. Not only are TMNT competing with Star Wars but also Batman and the Fantastic Four.

An interesting note is this selling method was slightly messed up because TMNT was a Feb release.

Now TMNT have started to reach an equilibrium. The seasons now line up with traditional tv scheduels. This will result in a figure release similar to what I talked about. Before TMNT was having to release every few months because of how the show was started. Before TMNT was having to be sold Winter as a Fall release then Spring as a winter, spring became a summer and fall was a fall once again. This worked in our favor as new toys every few months but Playmates is trying to put TMNT back in sync with other toy companies.

/end rant

Now, about Hasbro releasing 40 some odd figures in one go. This will prevent some companies from releasing large amounts of figures so they will stick to filler cases for the most part.

As for Hasbro taking over plants, no way. The more plants they have manufacturing figures the higher risk of something being leaked. With Star Wars, the chance of being leaked is something that would happen. Hasbro would most likely use as few plants as possible with the highest security and quality control.