Case
From Transformers Wiki
| This article is about the term for a shipment of toys to a store. For the Transformers accessory, see Jumbo collector's case. |
The term case refers to the boxes in which waves of Transformers toys are shipped to retailers.
Case assortments
Since Beast Wars, case assortments have consisted of toys of the same size class. During Generation 1 and Generation 2, when the concept of size classes had yet to be formalized, case assortments were typically made up of toys that shared a common gimmick.
Shortpacking
Solid cases
A solid case consists entirely of multiple units of a single toy. Solid cases are typically used to ship "big ticket" toys that effectively occupy size classes all to themselves, such as 20th Anniversary Optimus Prime or Ultimate Bumblebee.
A notable drawback of solid cases is that they can lead to supply outpacing demand to the point where the toy becomes a shelfwarmer. This typically happens when normally sized and priced toys (such as Beast Wars Inferno) are shipped in solid cases.
In European markets, it has long been a practice to not include figures from previous waves in a new case, but only the figures new to this particular wave. If there was only one new figure in a case, this resulted in this particular figure shipping in solid cases despite a larger variety within the case in non-European markets. Prominent examples are Armada Scavenger and Movie Fast Action Battlers Frenzy. Shelfwarming guaranteed.
In recent years, this problem was largely resolved by adopting the worldwide model with cases containing both new figures and older figures that originally debuted in previous waves. However, even more recently, solid cases have been intentionally marketed to online retailers containing toys of more "popular" characters that were additionally also available at retail as part of assortments with other toys of the same size class. However, some of those solid cases (such as Robots in Disguise Warrior Class Autobot Drift and Optimus Prime) also made it to brick and mortar retailers, resulting once again in shelfwarmers.
