>>6603517You're thinking of the 1991 sales.
G2 was a mediocre seller from 1992 to 1995, and would have continued being a middling hit if it had continued
Beast Wars revived the franchise sales in 1996 thru 1998
Beast Machines was a colossal Charlie foxtrot on TV and in toy aisles. So much so that they imported Car Robots instead of doing a third Beast series.
Car Robots, called Robots in Disguise (2001) in the US, sold so well that Hasbro had to hire a second factory to make the toys. Then a third. Optimus Prime was the top selling boys toy that year for any brand. It was such a monster hit that they dumped every mold they had available into the line and tried to get more. They even tried to bring Brave Exkaiser toys to the US as part of RID.
Then Armada came along and sold even better. Mini-cons were like crack for kids.
Energon and Cybertron were back to being modest sellers.
The movie hit at the same time as Animated. Movie toys had the best sales since 1985 (it did not outsell 1985 as some repeat. Hasbro made a billion that year. That's 1985 dollars and without a movie. No year has ever touched that.)
Generations have since become the largest selling part of the franchise. Wildly outselling movie toys and the mainline for kids. That is largely why they are pushing G1 so hard. They have literally hundreds of characters who haven't seen toyshelves since the 80s. Plus the ever-present 84-85 cast. They always sell well.
