is this the end of exclusives?

in my holiday shopping this season, i noticed a interesting note. no more exclusives.?!
sure, u have the glow in dark series from target, and the new piece in the steam series from trs. but no longer the " exclusives " logo on the packaging?
is this the end of major retailer exclusives???

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in addition... if this is the case...
did the fisher price aquisition ( spelling )
mark an end to an era?

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let us connect some dots here.
wal-mart ( a year ago ) releases its exclusives ... they are rapidly pulled from their shelves. toy r us launches its steam a long series , but now , the additions to tht line are advertised on generic packaging, kolhs-!---: which always offers its alternate has nothing. target and kmart only offer a few.... but do not say "exclusive" on the packaging .
is this the beginning of the end?

[ripley802]

Wasn't the green Thomas and Glynn exclusive to walmart and the real steam exclusive to toys r us?

yes they were. but.?! wal-mart has nothing more, and toy r us only has 1 addition ( which by the way ) tht is now listed generally on cross referenced packaging.
so therefore, only 2 theories can come to mind.
1) the exclusive line is ending .. or
2) companies are trying to save money .
either way... it doesn't bode well

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of course... on an optimistic note, it could be a contract issue. in which case... we could see a flurry of exclusives nxt yr

[Super]

What immediately comes to my mind is that the Trackmaster 2's are not doing that well and maybe the big box stores don't see the point or the profit to partner in exclusives anymore. This is all complete conjecture on my part with now information or proof this is what is happening. I am glad that Plarail and Toys R Us in Japan have released an exclusive recently.

basically what im saying is: the glow in the dark series , offered by target , could be the last series offered by target.
or be the only " exclusive " offered by target without the exclusive logo on the box

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hard to say super. risky rails was a smash hit! fisher price just took over....
time can only tell.
btw...those japan exclusives are definitely sweet!

I would agree with Super, we all know that the real collectors (like many on here) do not rate the Trackmaster 2 series of models as they are simplified, cheap and basically do not live up to the Tomy PlaRail equivalents.

This means the Trackmaster 2 models are almost certainly mainly selling to kids/parents who just want toys to play with and won't go out of their way to get exclusives and/or pay a premium for them. On this basis the major retailers won't go to the effort, expense and risk of getting one off 'exclusives' manufactured only for them to sit on the shelves growing dusty and more importantly not bringing new customers across the threshold.

On the other hand there have been plenty of exclusive Thomas Mini's this year, probably because these sort of things DO appeal to the collectors who will buy entire sets or multiple sets and go to the effort of making a special trip to a store to get them and no doubt other things while there

interesting take nigels.
i would still point out tht many collectors / fans etc.
prolly went through a similar experience when thomas products crossed over from blue tracks ( tomy) to hit toys.
it was from tomy to hit toys...tht the sets became more elaborate. the special moment series became 3 car sets instead of 2.
im not saying ur wrong in any way shape or form....
but doesn't history repeat itself?

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if we look over the scope of an era .... now for me personally, i look at train sets.
i look at the giant thomas by tomy, the true name escapes me , then the ultimate set, with destinations and interacting components.
then came hit... fix and spin knapford (which was an exclusive)
then fp avalanche risky rails .

wht makes any new line from the other?

just discussion mind you

Target recently sold their exclusive Trackmaster Revolution "Search & Rescue" series of Thomas, Diesel, and Harold's "high flying rescue set" w/ surprised face Percy mid 2015, all of which have bullseye logos on them...and still sit on some store shelves.

yes muddy thts true. but don't you find it odd or certainly puzzling that there are no new logos this year? anywhere any store?

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it's obvious tht the new glow in dark series can only b found at target stores.
and the new gen steam engines at toys r us.
however, the refill station for the steam engines can b found on other merchandise not exclusive to toys r us
thts odd

yes muddy thts true. but don't you find it odd or certainly puzzling that there are no new logos this year? anywhere any store?

If there is a reason, it seems it is a Fisher Price decision, and not the chains, as the ToysRus Japan exclusive release of Tomy's Original Thomas/Inky James set does bear the ToysRus logo...personally nothing lame that Fisher Prices decides to do suprises me anymore though.:/