Shelfwarmer
| This article is about toys from a long time ago that still haven't been sold. For toys that have lots of kibble, see Shellformer. |
Shelfwarmer is a colloquial term for a toy that either fails to sell well or is over-produced, leaving residual quantities on store shelves for months or even years after its original release, generally far in excess of other toys from the same waves.
The term is doubtless a reference to the theoretical lessening of potential heat rejection from a shelving unit covered with a layer of packaged products, as compared with a bare shelving unit. In other words, Perceptor, it's a joke. Alternately, it could be based on the sports term benchwarmer, referring to an athlete who very rarely enters the field of play, spending most of his time (you guessed it) warming the benches.
A related term is pegwarmer, used to refer to toys packaged on cards (which thereby hang on pegs), rather than in boxes.
