Why Are Star Wars Toy Sales Dropping?

I regularly review geek news sites from around the 'net to stay up-to-date on the latest trends within my community of interest. In recent weeks, I've noticed a story that's been popping up frequently: the sale of Star Wars toys have been dropping. As someone who is a life-long Star Wars addict, I never thought that I would live to see the day when Star Wars toys don't sell well. However, after thinking about how Disney has been handling the franchise since it purchased it from George Lucas back in 2012, I can see how the popularity of Star Wars toys would begin to falter during the new movie releases.

Oversaturation of toys: I occasionally look at what kind of Star Wars toys are being sold both online and in stores, and the selection is staggering. Action figures are available in a wide range in sizes (from 3.75 inches to 6 inches to 12 inches and higher) and they cover the recent movies, the original trilogy, the prequel trilogy, and the two animated series. This array also includes the "Star Wars: Galactic Heroes" line for preschoolers and the vast inventory of Lego Star Wars sets. Mind you, this is just the selection of toys in the U.S.--there's also a wide selection of Star Wars toys from Japan.

When I was growing up during the original trilogy, Kenner made a fortune by producing toys based on the Star Wars license. Yet for as profitable as it was, only the 3.75 action figure line (and its associated vehicle toys and playsets) remained the consistent seller throughout Kenner's run. It also produced a 12 inch figure line and a Micro Collection line, but neither of those lasted long. Star Wars may have been at its most popular during the original trilogy but if that's true, then even that level of popularity could only ensure the ongoing success of one action figure line.

Kenner's die-cast Star Wars vehicle series, which ended

shortly after the release of Empire Strikes Back.

Of course, there's a certain marketing logic to focusing on a single line of action figures. It's easier to build fan anticipation and excitement about product releases when there's only one line available. Furthermore, with only one line on the market, kids didn't have to worry if the new Star Wars action figures that their relatives bought them would fit into the vehicle toys and playsets they already have in their collections.

Oversaturation of movies: Since the release of The Force Awakens back in 2015, it's become clear that Disney wants to release one Star Wars movie per year for the foreseeable future. Disney hopes that it can keep Star Wars box office revenue going steady by alternating the release of episodes of the new trilogy (episodes 7, 8 and 9) with stand-alone movies. This would match Marvel's movie schedule, which involves the yearly release of stand-alone superhero movies that are linked through occasional crossover movies.

Unfortunately, Disney doesn't understand that Marvel's movie schedule reflects how it has been publishing its comic books for decades--a selection of stand-alone titles, a handful of team-based titles, and an occasional crossover event that ties them all together. In contrast, Star Wars has always focused on the creation of movie trilogies. There have been tie-in stories to go along with these trilogies (novels, comic books, video games, and animated series), but the trilogies were usually the focus of fan interest. During the original trilogy, Lucasfilm used Kenner to help build hype for the movies while Kenner used the popularity of the Star Wars movies to sell toys; it was a simple but effective relationship. If current toy sales are any indication, alternating between a movie trilogy and stand-alone movies appears to be diffusing the attention and excitement of the toys' target audience: kids.

Kenner's first "mail away" action figure promotion, something that Kenner would do

frequently to build excitement over new Star Wars movies and toys.

Toys that are too expensive: Kenner's 3.75 action figure line was profitable for a key reason: it had a great selection of vehicle toys and playsets to go with it. If kids got the action figures, then they wanted to get the vehicles and the playsets; if they got the vehicles and the playsets, then they'd want to get more action figures, and so on. With this in mind, Kenner kept the price tags for the vehicles and playsets at a reasonable level so that kids could afford them--and continue to afford them as they built their collections. For example, Kenner's original X-Wing Fighter and TIE Fighter toys cost around $10 each, while the Death Star playset cost almost $20.

Unlike Kenner, I've seen some action figure-related toys for the new Star Wars movies that have outrageous price tags. The AT-ACT walker toy for Rogue One originally cost around $250, while the BB-8 Mega Playset for The Last Jedi originally cost around $230. Even with sizable discounts, such expensive vehicle and playset toys can dampen the enthusiasm for building a Star Wars action figure collection.

The BB-8 Mega Playset, which sells at a mega price point.

Lackluster designs and overreliance on the familiar: I've said this in my previous reviews of the new Star Wars movies and I'll say it again: they lack the visual panache that George Lucas brought to his Star Wars movies. He would select unique vehicle, droid and location designs, and then use special effect-heavy set pieces to show them off in a exciting and memorable ways. Even Lego Star Wars: The Freemaker Adventures understands this, and it makes sure that both the heroes and the villains of that series have their own distinct spaceships that fans can specifically associate with them.

In contrast, the new movies seem content to either reuse designs from the original trilogy or just make slight modifications to them. (Yes, BB-8 is pretty cool, but he remains the single, significant exception to the new films' uninspired visual landscapes.) If the movies aren't enthusiastic about their new vehicles, droids and locations, the toy-buying fans won't be either.