According to figures released by the British Retail Consortium annual like-for-like sales fell in five of the last six months, the first time that this has happened since 2005.  In the boys toys market, however, the Year-To-Date figures are up 6%, even though sales for July and August were not able to match the sales of Transformers in the same months last year.

Overall this year Transformers sales have remained fairly strong due to the continued success of the Movie Legends figures. Sales of Transformers did drop heavily at the start of the year, though July and the start of August did see the line return to strength, with increased sales and actually regain the joint number 2 slot of movie tie-in toys along side Batman. Since the start of August however, sales have slowly declined though the Movie Legends are still looking like they may hold on to a top 10 spot for the second year running.

Below you will find the NPD charts for August 2008 as well as the Year-To-Date figures
UK August 2008 - £ Sales - Value
1 BEN 10 FIGURES 10CM - BANDAI
2 BEN 10 15CM ACTION FIGURES - BANDAI
3 CARS VEHICLE ASSORTMENT - MATTEL
4 CLONE WARS BASIC FIGURE 3.75" - HASBRO
5 ALL SURFACE SWINGBALL - MOOKIE TOYS
6 FIRST STEPS BABYWALKER - VTECH
7 WALL-E DELUXE ACTION FIGURE - VIVID IMAGINATIONS
8 HOT WHEELS BASIC CAR ASSORTMENT - MATTEL
9 DOCTOR WHO 5" FIGURES - CHARACTER OPTIONS
10 ITNG 12" TALKING PLUSH - HASBRO


UK August 2008 - Unit Sales (Volume)
1 HOT WHEELS BASIC CAR ASSORTMENT - MATTEL
2 BEN 10 FIGURES 10CM - BANDAI
3 CARS VEHICLE ASSORTMENT - MATTEL
4 SUPER TIPS BRIGHT 12 - VIVID
5 12 COLOURED PENCILS - VIVID
6 TRANSFORMERS MOVIE LEGENDS - HASBRO
7 CLONE WARS BASIC FIGURES 3.75" - HASBRO
8 BEN 10 15CM ACTION FIGURES - BANDAI
9 ZEEBEEZ - RE:CREATION
10 ITNG MINI PLUSH - HASBRO


UK YEar To Date - £ Sales (Value)
1 BEN 10 FIGURES 10CM - BANDAI
2 CARS VEHICLE ASSORTMENT - MATTEL
3 BEN 10 OMNITRIX FX WATCH - BANDAI
4 ITNG MINI PLUSH - HASBRO
5 ITNG 12" TALKING PLUSH - HASBRO
6 TRANSFORMERS MOVIE LEGENDS - HASBRO
7 POWER RANGERS OOD 12.5CM FIGURES - BANDAI
8 BEN 10 15CM ACTION FIGURES - BANDAI
9 HOT WHEELS BASIC CAR ASSORTMENT - MATTEL
10 HSM COUNTRY CLUB FRIENDS - MATTEL


UK Year To Date - Unit Sales (Volume)
1 HOT WHEELS BASIC CAR ASSORTMENT - MATTEL
2 CARS VEHICLE ASSORTMENT - MATTEL
3 BEN 10 FIGURES 10CM - BANDAI
4 TRANSFORMERS MOVIE LEGENDS - HASBRO
5 POWER RANGERS OOD 12.5CM FIGURES - BANDAI
6 ITNG MINI PLUSH - HASBRO
7 WWE RUTHLESS AGGRESSION - VIVID
8 BEN 10 15CM ACTION FIGURES - BANDAI
9 DOCTOR WHO 5" FIGURES - CHARACTER OPTIONS
10 SUPER TIPS BRIGHT 12 - VIVID


As an additional feature this month, we're going to take a quick look at the relationship between film-licensed toy sales for this year as well as the potential for some of next years big releases.

The main toy tie-in movies this year, according to retailers, were going to be The Dark Night and Clone Wars. Due to the success of The Dark Night at the box office, it was expected that toy sales for this line would be extremely high. Clone Wars, on the other hand, had a terrible time at the Box Office and so sales of the tie-in toys were expected to be poor. Neither of these predictions came true. According to figures in the October issue of Toy News Magazine, store managers rated Star Wars as the number one product with Transformers and The Dark Knight both in second position. Sales of Batman toys rose sharply when the Movie was released but they declined equally as quickly. Star Wars and Transformers, however, both continued to perform strongly even after their respective movies had finished. Looking at the charts which the magazine produce, Transformers was the top selling toy from late May 2007 until early October 2007, at which point Spiderman 3 toys re-took the number one spot. As 2007 ended, Transformrs dropped out of the chart which compares sales of Spiderman 3, Transformers, Star Wars, Iron Man, Hulk, Indiana Jones and Batman from April 2007 until August 2008. Transformers re-entered the chart in early June, peaking in July as the joint 2nd best line with Batman behine Starwars which out sold both lines by 3 times. Since then Batman sales have dropped back by two thirds, sales of Transformers have halved, whilst sales of Star Wars toys have almost quadrupled.

Looking towards 2009, both Transformers 2 and G.I-Joe are expected to shift some seriou figures within the UK with G.I Joe expected to be the suprise package. "G I Joe could be a surprise. It is a brand with a lot of staying power, similar to the Transformers leading up to the movie. I ran the Blog metrics against Bakugan of Spin Master – an action figure which, similar to G I Joe, has never had a movie and which nevertheless is selling at the rate of $100 million at retail" writes Lutz Muller. Lutz gones on to say "This graph (Edtitor: which shows G.I-Joe blog posts as between 3 and 7 times that of Bakugan) demonstrates very clearly the strong underlying consumer interest in the GI Joe brand – which I expect will result in above-expectation box office and toy sales results.". Looking further ahead, 2010 looks like another strong year for Hasbro with both Ironman 2 and Spider-man 4 due for release, though the close timing of the release of both films is expected to cause problems with conflicting toy sales. Here is a short list of some of the upcoming movie tie-in lines that have the most potential to be big sellers (according to Lutz Muller). All potential figures are marked out of 10.

Star Trek - 8 - Released May 2009
Terminator: Salvation - 8 - May 2009
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen - 9 - June 2009
Ice Age 3 - 8 - July 2009
Harry Potter: Half BLood Prince - 10 - July 2009
He-man - 8 - August 2009
G.I-Joe - 9 - August 2009
Toy Story 3 - 9 - Jan 2010
Teengage Mutant Ninja Turtles - 8 - March 2010
Iron Man 2 - 8 - April 2010
Spiderman 4 - 10 - May 2010
Harry Potter: Deathly Hallows - 10 - November 2010

About Lutz Muller is a Swiss who has lived on five continents. In the US, he was the CEO for four manufacturing companies, including two in the toy industry. Since 2002, he has provided competitive intelligence on the toy and video games market to manufacturers and financial institutions coast-to-coast

BigBadToyStore have updated their store with some stock images of various upcoming Transformers Animated and Transformers Universe figures.  The new images are of: 

Atomic Lugnut

WreckGar

Leo Prime

Overload

Waspinator and Samurai Prowl

Dinobot and Smokescreen

Hasbro have issued the following press release regarding upcoming exclusives.

New Exclusives
SAMS Club
Recreate the epic battles of the TRANSFORMERS UNIVERSE with this Autobot vs. Decepticon battle pack. OPTIMUS PRIME, with exclusive blue and red deco, joins with LONGRACK and BLURR to face off against RUNAMCK and BUZZSAW. Each figure converts from robot mode to vehicle mode - and back again - and comes with a key accessory that activates features. Use your imagination to stage exciting battles – AUTOBOTS vs. DECEPTICONS – in a fight for the finish! Get this battle pack only at Sam’s Club for $40.88 SRP

COSTCO
Just in time for the holidays, get this exclusive battle pack with large-scale TRANSFORMERS action figures—only at CostCo. This pack features Leader Class Optimus Prime and Ultra Class CRUMPLEZONE, ready for a battle. Available in November for PRICE $36.99.

yizhi521 of TF08.net has posted some more images of the Transformers Universe Special Edition Overkill figure.  You can view the mirrored images below as well as a copy of the profile from the box. Its only a matter of time until one of these toys turn up on eBay.

"Formerly bound to Soundwave as a partner and slave, Overkill was often overlooked by enemy and ally alike. Recently, however, he has overcome his diminutive size, reinstalling his cerebro-circuitry in a larger, more dangerous body. Now, he is free to indulge his destructive whims, stomping cars flat, snapping tractors trailers in half with his jaws, and being generally terrifying."

Kapow toys have sent out the following release to let everyone know that they are now taking payments on their site via SSL (Secure Sockets Layer)

"Hi Guys just dropping by to let everyone know we are now accepting payment via Secure SSL and Paypal so there are now 2 options :)

We have many items instock at the moment including

1) BT Convoy

2) BT Arcee

3) Classic Ultra Magnus and Optimus Prime 2 Pack

4) Encore Omega Supreme

5) Henkei Silverbolt

6) Henkei Onslaught

7) Henkei Sunstreaker

8) Henkei Prowl

9) Encore Metroplex

10) Vintage G1 Restock and parts update

There are many more items in store and many special offers so drop by and give us a look!

All the best

Andy@kapow

Thanks to Madplanet for posting on our message board regarding the current sale that Woolworths are running.  The sale is upto 50% off but is only on selected lines and not very many at that.  However Madplanet does point out that "they are selling Transformer Animated Megs and Optimus battle back for £13.99 and Transformer Animated Roll out command Optimus Prime £24.99".

We have updated out archive of UK Transformers Comic covers to include the 17 covers from the Titan Magazine Transformers UK comic (or Transformers Movie comic).

In addition to uploading the cover of all the comics so far released, in what is the second longest running UK Transformers comic series, we have also created a new gallery for Issue 17.  This gallery contains images from all three stories in the comic.  If you've not picked up the latest Titan Magazine Transformers comic then we certainly recomend it.  The UK exclusive strip is pretty good, includes some new characters and some suprises.  It will be interesting to see where the Transformers Movie alternative universe is taken with the new developments seen in this issue.

This is the 473 non Transformers toy gallery featured on the website.

TFW2005 members have spotted the 25th Anniversary Optimus Prime for sale in Utah Texas in Walmart.  The 25th Anniversarry of Transformers is in 2009 (1984-2009), so it is quiet funny that the figure is released early.

Roberto Orci has posted a few comments on TFW2005's "Ask Orci" section with some comments backing up those made on Transformers At The Moon regarding both The Fallen and the "insider information" which has been coming out to US Transformers Fan Sites.

Mr Orci has stated that "Leaked information from the TFW Insider may be mis-information", which as we have stated in the past would be the perfect forum for such information.  That "Soundwave is not a pickup truck", which was reported by the same insider.  Mr Orci then goes on to mention that "false information generally does not work, and the Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen misinformatin hasn't worked that well"

Roberto Orci also comments that "The Fallen, in the title Revenge of the Fallen, may be a robot or may just stand for the a defeated side".  At Transformers At The Moon we have stood by our belief that this Fallen will be the Decepticons rather than the comic strip character, though it would be interesting to see that character on screen.

Regarding action sequences, Roberto Orci commented "We can also look forward to fights like the Freeway Brawl in the first movie between Optimus Prime and Bonecrusher, only longer this time around. There's also a good chance we might see a Decepticon who is ridiculously loyal to Megatron and the Decepticon cause. Just don't expect it to be Tidal Wave."

Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman and the other writers just could not fund a way to make him work in the sequel's story ... or so they say.

You will now find an additional 158 images of Transformers Animated figures in the toy section of Transformers Animated .com.  The images make up four new galleries consisting of some of the Decepticons from Waves 1 and 2.

• Transformers Animated - Deluxe - Lockdown
• Transformers Animated - Voyager - Blitzwing
• Transformers Animated - Voyager - Lugnut
• Transformers Animated - Voyager - Starscream

Many thanks go to Barry Shaw and Shawn Tony (TF2) for supplying us with images of Transformers Animated Voyager Bulkhead and the Unreleased Transformers Generation Two Motormaster figures.

Both toys can be found in the respective Transformer Toy Galleries of Transformers Animated.com and Transformers At The Moon.

TFClub have posted the first images of the upcoming Transformers Universe Combaticon toys, a set of recoloured Energon Bruticus figures.

Thanks to I-Primus for posting information of Woolworths latest 3-for-2 offer on our Transformers Forum.

Woolworths have a Toy promotion on for this weekend. It's a 3 4 2 offer across a wide range of Toys. It does seem to cover Transformers as a quick search on the website shows the Mini-con 12 pack with the 342 tag on it. Haven't been to a store yet to confirm.

The website have only four TFs listed but I have seen Animated in store previously.

Argos promos, Tesco 1/2 prices & now woolies. Tis the season it seems already.

The US HasbroToyShop has been updated with several Transformers Animated and Transformers Universe features, profiles and images.

Bumper Battlers Night Watch Optimus Prime

If he has to fight OPTIMUS PRIME prefers to do it out in the open, and to keep it fair. He's wise enough to know that the DECEPTICONS don't feel the same way, so he uses his special night mode that lets him sneak up on the bad guys without being seen.

Gear up for on-the-go fun with this stealth truck vehicle! Press the robot down for vehicle mode or press the bumper and watch the robot pop right up! With fun electronic battle and speech sounds, this quick-conversion AUTOBOT leader is ready to roll out

Bumper Battlers Sting Racer Bumblebee

Racing into danger at top speed, BUMBLEBEE blasts electric stingers at every bad guy he sees. He may be the smallest member of the AUTOBOT crew, but he's also the fastest, and his stingers pack enough punch to put down almost any bad guy!

Gear up for on-the-go fun with this streetcar racer vehicle! Press the robot down for vehicle mode or press the bumper and watch the robot pop right up! With fun electronic battle and speech sounds, this quick-conversion AUTOBOT character is ready to roll out!

Swindle

SWINDLE is a one-robot black market. He's only a DECEPTICON by default, since they're the ones who most often take advantage of his unbeatable deals on armor, weapons and combat systems. If it shoots, explodes, or focuses light into a beam intense enough to melt high-grade armor, SWINDLE will sell it to anyone. Anyone who can pay his price, that is. Most of his inventory, he scavenges from those who fall in battle, but he doesn't mind helping a crippled AUTOBOT all the way to the scrap heap before stripping him of his weapons.

Universe Legends Beachcomber

Team up with the AUTOBOT alliance and take on DECEPTICON forces! This quick conversion figure is ready for action and prepared for whatever adventure is in store! Battle even the mightiest opponents in robot mode and then convert the figure to dune buggy vehicle mode and roll out!

Meanwhile TFW2005 have received some stock images and informatin of two other Transformers Animated toys.

Skywarp