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Christmas

From present ideas to party food, find all your Christmas inspiration here.

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Original poster

'Must Have Toys', selling out etc. Did it all start with Buzz Lightyear?

43 replies

ProfessorBranestawm · 03/12/2016 19:19

It's the first time I remember it making the news, people fighting over the last BL in the shops, not enough stock etc.

But maybe that's because I wasn't old enough to remember before that?

I know there was Mr Frosty (before my time though :o) but that was more children really wanting one and parents not giving it, rather than parents not being able to get hold of one I think?

I'm just pondering really! I feel like this sort of thing gets bigger every year (out of stock, scouring ebay etc) but maybe it's just I'm more aware of it?

OP posts:

CockneyViv · 03/12/2016 19:56

What is a hatchimal?

(I bought myself a Mr Frosty for my 30th )

GruffaloPants · 03/12/2016 19:57

Millenium Falcon 35ya was definitely a thing! My Mum got one for DB, but my poor MIL didn't for DP.

BertieBotts · 03/12/2016 19:58

Surely it must be much easier to get things now due to the Internet and also much more choice?

Makingalist · 03/12/2016 20:03

I get the whole marketing thing, I really do...but surely to make optimum profit they need to then release more(even at the last minute) so they can fulfil demand?

This year I am struggling to find a Nintendo classic (the mini one) and I can get one..as long as I pay nearly three times the price on Ebay erm Nope

Original poster

ProfessorBranestawm · 03/12/2016 20:07

Wow, thanks for all the replies everyone! It seems I was totally wrong with my Buzz Lightyear theory. It must just be that it's the first time I was actually aware of it. I am 30 BTW so don't remember Cabbage Patch etc.

Yes you'd think Bertie re: internet but I guess it's also made things harder, as people buy lots to flog on ebay, and also perhaps because people can find out quicker if things are in stock and therefore buy them quicker so they sell out instantly? I'm sure I read one year about people paying on ebay just for reservation slots at Argos for a particular must have thing

OP posts:

Original poster

ProfessorBranestawm · 03/12/2016 20:10

*i.e. not including paying for the item itself which they'd still have to do when they picked it up

OP posts:

BikeRunSki · 03/12/2016 20:12

Around 1980 the "Petite" toy sewing machine I really wanted sold out. When I got a few weeks later, it promptly broke.

Original poster

ProfessorBranestawm · 03/12/2016 20:43

Oh no Bike! Wonder if that was anything like that Sew Cool thing that's in at the moment (or was a few months ago anyway)

OP posts:

Lucked · 03/12/2016 20:49

Yes the millennium falcon traumatised my parents and a woman confronted my dad over the last cabbage patch doll he had in his trolley.

I find it more surprising in this age, I would have thought trends and demand would be easier to predict now.

lalaloopyhead · 03/12/2016 21:08

A 'friend' posted on FB that they had managed to pick up a number of hatchimals from local Argos..lots of comments pleading to be able to buy one from her..'putting them on ebay' was the response. So much for Christmas spirit!! Thankfully no one in our house wants one. I do recall trawling the internet for a Fifi flowertots toy which turned out to be a load of rubbish though.

LilQueenie · 03/12/2016 21:15

elmo tmx. There were actual fights over that one. Same with teletubbies.

LilQueenie · 03/12/2016 21:17

if she is putting them on ebay she needs to be quick. ebay have limited it to 2 per seller.

MrsJayy · 03/12/2016 21:28

I hate the eBay sellers it's just greed imo. Was it an original Nintendo Gameboy you were after Making ?

leccybill · 03/12/2016 21:31

I'm after a mini NES too, but refuse to buy into the hype. I'll get one after Christmas if need be, it's for DH and he doesn't care.

Original poster

ProfessorBranestawm · 03/12/2016 21:41

That's horrible lala - not even selling to friends for a set amount, presumably because they know they can get more with an ebay bidding war :(

I would have thought trends and demand would be easier to predict now. I guess the problem is that the internet creates and grows the demand instead. Like with the Buzz Lightyear thing, it was obvious because of the film, maybe similar with Millennium Falcon and stuff like TMNT and Thunderbirds were really in for a fairly long time. Whereas now the must have toys seem so random! There are loads of toy adverts and yet some are the chosen few that go completely off the charts.

I don't know really I'm talking rubbish. I find it interesting though

OP posts:

ChickenLicken22 · 03/12/2016 22:13

I genuinely don't get it if it's a marketing ploy. Are many parents going to spend £60 in January if they release more and won't there be another "must have" next Christmas?

Is it so all the existing ones on sale are snapped up which must make a decent profit.

eBay is not going to make any profit for the manufacturer.

Can someone explain?

BestZebbie · 03/12/2016 22:18

If Hatchimals don't do much, then they aren't going to sell many once everyone realises that - what they need, hypothetically, is for the entire world stock of Hatchimals to be bought and opened simultaneously, so that nobody can dissuade anyone else from buying one....

Equimum · 04/12/2016 10:00

My parents spent week looking for Screwball Scramble in the mid 80s. I was the only only child in school who got one, thanks to a relative in a different part of the country queuing up for it.

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