yeah, whoever above mentioned the hot wheels thing, the only people i see perusing the hot wheels toys are adults, buying them for themselves. Die Cast collectors are a strange breed.

I think the biggest hinderance on kids staying out of the toy isle is the prices. building up a small colelction for playtime is expensive as hell and a nine dollar star wars figure seems to valuable to play with. i have to say though the 90s kenner toys were cheap and durable from experience :). Sure they lacked articulation, but seeing the character is kinda important when forming some rediculous story during playtime.

But the green lantern toys probably would have done well in the 90s, where crap articulation belonged. they have the same articulation as the first run of SW toys. WTF.

But yeah, gimmicks do help sell a toy to a kid. Its something that interacts with the character to help form a story.

My TRU still has Star Trek figs that are not moving for $3. They have a full end cap of them. man this s*it aint gonna sell. It came out in 2009 get that crap off of the shelf and put up something new. Even the dollar stores cant' sell them.

To clarify my thoughts on gimmicks in general:

In its broadest (and original) definition, a gimmick is:

(taken from Free Online Dictionary)

In the toy industry, I would say gimmicks refer to features or abilities of an item that are used as a selling point for said item. Not necessarily in a shady or underhanded way, but simply to spark buyer interest. Like power doors or remote-starters for cars.

There are some toys I think have crappy gimmicks and others have some that I really like. Then there are others where all I can say is "WTF? Who's bright idea was this?"