>>6461400>they're going to skip it for a cheaper toy that looks more like the movie Iron ManI question if you saw the toy market in the 90's
there was a variant xman/spiderman figure released every day, and they were -awesome- and sold like hotcakes
as a kid, I wanted various spiderman action figures BECAUSE they looked different.
pic related
I got sea hunter, brother got shark trap. I was always jealous cause his was fuckin cool translusent blue, and that gd shark is an 11/10 on the cool scale, easy.
As for your other theories, I'm confident to say you're underestimating what kind of marketing research million dollar companies do. I'd be more inclined to believe they do shortages of high demand figures on purpose, probably due to a mindset of "If they have to keep coming back looking for the one popular figure that keeps our brand in their mind and keeps them returning to the product. Eventually some will decide to buy less popular figures just to fill the void between visits"
Just a theory, but i'm 100% sure they're doing a LOT more market research than "ehh what worked 30+ years ago works the same today, no need to look into it any more". Everything a company does is calculated. You're just not looking from the right mentality- they want your money, and if they give you exactly what you want immediately, you'll never buy there less popular products.
