Shortpacking

A toy is said to be shortpacked when it is shipped in lower numbers than the rest of its release wave - such as a toy that shipped at one per case while others had multiples in the same case.

There can be several reasons behind shortpacking, with certain characters, colors, or genders being produced in smaller numbers due to sales predictions. Sometimes shortpacking is only noticeable when an item first hits, as further shipments or repacking into later assortments may help to meet the demand. Similarly, toys that are shortpacked in some markets (such as the United States) may be far more abundant in others.

And sometimes they're just plain hard to ever find, and stay that way, with a degree of rarity that makes them more attractive to scalpers.

While inspiring similar feelings for many fans, shortpacking should not be confused with chase figures: the latter are often aimed exclusively at collectors and are intentionally very rare, though to date that phenomenon has mostly been reserved for TakaraTomy product.

Examples

• Generation 1 Skids shipped one figure per every two cases.
• Generation 1 Targetmaster Scourge was packed one in a case of twelve. His casemate Cyclonus was two, the others three per case.
• Universe (2008) Acid Storm shipped one per case of eight in Wave 2, while the other new toy in the assortment, Galvatron, was shipped two per case. Wave 2 revision 1 (which shipped at the same time) had one each of Galvatron and Acid Storm, as did waves 3 and 3 revision 1 which shipped later that year.
• Dark of the Moon Human Alliance Skids was shipped one per case of four in Wave 1, with Bumblebee filling out the remaining three figures. At the very same time, however, a case shipped with two of each of the two characters, meaning it may not have been a problem at stores in some markets.
• Infamously, Prime: First Edition Starscream and Arcee were shortpacked at two per case each. Again, this normally wouldn't be considered rare if it weren't for the fact that there were four Bumblebees per case, meaning the little yellow guy took up half of the goddamn case.
• Generations Wheelie, himself an Asian market and Toys"R"Us exclusive, was packed at one per case of eight in the original Asian retail release. Springer and Swerve were evenly packed at two figures each, while Cliffjumper was packed at three. This was remedied when they were re-released in Asia and released in the US at an even ratio of two each per case.
• Generations: Fall of Cybertron Kickback and Air Raid were packed at one each per case in wave 3, whereas the others (Starscream, Sideswipe, and Ultra Magnus) were packed at two each per case.
• Prime: Beast Hunters Starscream and Ripclaw were packed at one each per case in wave 2, whereas the Autobot toys (Bumblebee, Bulkhead, and Smokescreen) were packed at two each per case.
• Legacy Velocitron Speedia 500 Collection Cosmos and Clampdown were packed at one per case each, where as Road Rocket, Burn Out, and Blurr were packed at two per case. It also didn't help that this entire subline was Walmart exclusive, making it even harder to get a Cosmos.
• The fourth wave of Age Of The Primes Deluxes had Beast Wars show cast member Quickstrike and first-new-toy-in-39-years Sureshot shortpacked at one per case, while Blast Off, Quintus Prime, and original redeco character Jalopy were packed at two per case.