how TOMY's 2016 Pokémon release schedule reshaped secondary prices

When TOMY dropped the 20th anniversary collection one mythical at a time across twelve months, the brand created a rhythm that collectors still talk about today. Each new arrival was a small event, and the scarcity baked into the calendar shaped what people were happy to pay a year, a decade later. Fans in Australia watched the same pattern play out, but with extra local wrinkles: timezone maths, Christmas falling in summer, and a smaller retail footprint that made chasing each drop feel like a treasure hunt.

This piece looks at how that calendar created artificial pressure on supply, why secondary prices spiked after certain months, and what Australian collectors learned about timing their buys. The monthly hype is well documented by fans who tracked every drop, and the plush tags themselves still raise questions. Both topics provide useful context for the price story below.

the monthly drop pattern and why it worked

TOMY did not flood shelves in February 2016 with everything at once. Instead, the company rolled out one or two mythical plush figures most months, paired with the rotating Clip 'n' Carry Poké Ball colours and the occasional specialty piece tied to a specific retailer. The logic was simple: keep the newsfeed busy, keep the kid in the toy aisle asking parents for "the new one", and let word of mouth build between drops.

For Australian collectors, the staggered rollout meant that anything missed could not be picked up the next weekend at the local Big W or Kmart. Stock that sold out on a Tuesday in Tokyo disappeared from Sydney shelves by Friday lunch, and there was no second print run to fall back on. The schedule turned every month into a mini launch window, and scarcity on the shelf fed straight into scarcity online.

how Australian fans tracked each release

The Australian collector scene picked up the calendar and ran with it. Facebook groups spun up threads for every drop, with members in Melbourne and Brisbane posting pictures of empty pegs within an hour of store openings. EB Games sent out back-in-stock notifications, and several fans used PayPal alerts or simply rang their local store on release day to hold a figure aside.

Because Japan released several items at midnight JST, Australian fans had a roughly afternoon AEST preview of what was live. Some collectors took a half-day off work, chucked a sickie arvo, and lined up at suburban Westfields for a Mew or Celebi plush that had already shown up on Japanese auction apps at triple the sticker price. The novelty of chasing a single drop every few weeks kept the community engaged, and the constant ritual of checking stores kept prices firm.

early aftermarket spikes during the anniversary year

Secondary market values reacted fastest during the actual release months. Mew in May, Jirachi in July, Manaphy in September — each plush saw asking prices on local buy-and-sell groups jump 30 to 80 percent within a week of going live. The backstory of these mythical plush releases explains why TOMY chose these characters and why the rollout order was what it was.

The Clip 'n' Carry Poké Balls fared differently. They were easier to find in volume at Toyworld and Big W, so prices for movement did not leap in the same proportion. The Poké Ball Plus items, however, were initially sold only through EB Games pre-order, and any cancelled order that hit the secondary market in the first month carried a healthy markup.

Pikachu products and the specials that held value best

The Pikachu-focused items behaved almost like a separate market. Standard yellow plush dropped in March and stayed affordable across the year because TOMY printed enough. Limited-run Pikachu variants — the anniversary Pikachu with the special 20th logo, the Poké Ball-themed Pikachu clip, and the small Poké Ball clip with a sleeping pose — moved into a different tier.

These Pikachu variants are the items Australian collectors most often cite when they talk about the schedule working as designed. The supply was tight from day one, the demand was guaranteed by Pokémon's mascot effect, and by the time the collection wrapped, prices for the sleeping-pose clip sat at two to three times retail on Australian classifieds. Retailers in Sydney's CBD reported selling out within hours, and regional shoppers in Adelaide and Perth often never saw the figures in store at all.

plush tag symbols, condition and the post-collection market

Once the collection closed at the end of 2016, prices were no longer about hype. They became about condition, completeness, and the small symbols printed on each plush's sewn-in fabric tag. The tag codes have become shorthand for collectors sorting through old stock, and an article on what those tags mean is worth a read before paying secondary prices today.

Condition is where the Australian market differs most from Japan or the US. Our summers run hot, and figures stored in a garage or a car boot during summer can fade, lose stuffing shape, or pick up that particular old-toy smell of a forgotten birthday gift. Quality issues are common in Australian listings, and buyers should look at photos closely before paying premium prices. The plush tags themselves often indicate whether a figure is from the original run or a later restock, which matters a lot when sizing up whether a price is fair.

comparison of release timing, scarcity and price behaviour

The pattern across the year shows that the release schedule, not the character, drove most of the price movement. Items released mid-year with thin retail allocations saw the largest short-term spikes, while end-of-year releases had less aftermarket lift because collectors had already spent their budgets by then.

Month (2016) Release type Retail scarcity in AU Short-term price movement Long-term price trend
February Mew plush + clear Poké Ball Moderate Low Stable
March Anniversary Pikachu + standard plush High Moderate Rising
May Mew Clip 'n' Carry Moderate Moderate Stable
July Jirachi + Clip 'n' Carry High High Rising
September Manaphy + Manaphy clip High High Rising
November Poké Ball-themed Pikachu clip Very high Very high Strongly rising
December Holiday Pikachu small figure Moderate Low Stable

Scarcity drove the short-term spikes. Long-term price movement depended on which characters and which retailer tie-ins aged well. Poké Ball-themed items kept rising, while generic plush kept their retail value.

what Australian buyers should consider when chasing the collection

Collectors looking at the secondary market today can learn a lot from the way prices behaved during 2016. The release schedule was designed to drive scarcity, and the secondary market was driven by scarcity. Anything tied to a specific month, retailer, or character tends to hold value best.

The advice below applies to Australian collectors specifically, since local market conditions shape which figures are worth chasing and which are best left on the shelf.