How Pokémon 20th anniversary toys were priced at Australian retailers
In 2016, TOMY partnered with The Pokémon Company International to release a sweeping series of officially licensed toys celebrating twenty years of Pocket Monsters. The campaign unfolded across twelve months, dropping a new product wave each month rather than dumping the entire range on shelves at once. That staggered schedule shaped everything from hype cycles to how individual stores positioned themselves against competitors.
For Australian fans, the monthly cadence created a year of anticipation. Plush figures of mythical creatures like Mew, Celebi and Manaphy alternated with Clip 'n' Carry Poké Balls, while specialty items such as a Detective Pikachu plush with a removable hat generated their own micro-moments. Each release attracted a slightly different buyer, and each retailer responded with a slightly different price tag.
Pricing, however, was never uniform. The same mythical plush could list for one figure at a Kmart in Brisbane and a noticeably different figure at a specialty hobby shop in Melbourne. The gap came from wholesale arrangements, shipping logistics, store positioning and the extent to which each chain treated Pokémon merchandise as a traffic-driver versus a premium collectible.
Understanding those variations helps collectors in Sydney, Perth and Adelaide make sense of receipts still tucked into drawers years later. It also explains why some shoppers paid more, yet felt they had secured the rarer experience.
The 2016 monthly release structure
TOMY divided its anniversary year into roughly twelve windows, each anchored by a headline item. January launched with the Mew plush, a piece collectors chased immediately because mythical Pokémon tend to draw the deepest nostalgia. February shifted toward Clip 'n' Carry Poké Balls, which sat at a lower price point and targeted a younger audience.
March and April highlighted Celebi and the Detective Pikachu plush, the latter featuring a removable hat that doubled as a small accessory piece. The middle of the year introduced items such as the Manaphy figure and additional Poké Ball colours, while the back end of the schedule featured regional exclusives and bundled sets that certain chains only carried.
This rolling structure mattered for pricing because retailers had to forecast demand months ahead. A chain like Big W ordering large volumes of Clip 'n' Carry Poké Balls could negotiate harder than a smaller store ordering a single Mew plush. Those wholesale spreads filtered straight to the shelf.
The big-box chain pricing approach
The major Australian chains treated the Pokémon 20th Anniversary Collection differently depending on their customer base. Big W and Kmart leaned into value positioning, often pricing Clip 'n' Carry Poké Balls and smaller plush at the lower end of the range. Their stores in suburban Melbourne and western Sydney became default stops for parents buying birthday presents.
Target Australia took a middle path, occasionally offering slightly higher prices on premium plush like the Mythical variants while discounting bundles during school holiday windows. EB Games, with a foot in both gaming and collector culture, priced closer to the specialty market, particularly for items such as the Detective Pikachu plush with its hat accessory.
JB Hi-Fi, whose toy aisles are smaller but well-curated, occasionally undercut competitors on Pokémon hardware yet priced plush higher because shelf space was limited. Myer and David Jones stocked fewer items but treated them as gift-aisle purchases, sometimes marking up 15 to 20 percent over discount chains.
| Retailer type | Mew plush (AUD) | Clip 'n' Carry Poké Ball (AUD) | Detective Pikachu plush (AUD) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Big-box chains (Big W, Kmart, Target) | $24.95 – $27.99 | $9.95 – $12.99 | $27.99 – $32.99 |
| Specialty hobby shops | $32.95 – $39.99 | $14.99 – $17.99 | $39.95 – $44.99 |
| Online domestic (Mighty Ape, eBay AU) | $26.95 – $29.95 | $11.99 – $13.99 | $29.95 – $34.95 |
| International sellers (post-GST/shipping) | $34.95 – $44.99 | $16.99 – $21.99 | $39.95 – $49.99 |
Specialty stores and hobby shops
Independent hobby shops in suburbs like Parramatta, Geelong and Fortitude Valley carried a narrower slice of the collection, usually the mythical plush and the premium Poké Ball variants. Pricing here reflected overhead, expertise and a customer base willing to pay for personal service and guaranteed authenticity.
Shops often charged $5 to $12 more per plush than the big-box chains. In exchange, buyers received staff who could explain the difference between a standard release and a regional variant, and they could pre-order the harder-to-find Manaphy figure without competing against thousands of online shoppers.
Some specialty retailers also bundled items into themed gift packs for Christmas, adding modest markups while reducing the cognitive load for gift buyers. The pricing reflected curation rather than simple supply and demand.
Online retailers and direct shipping
Online pricing introduced another layer entirely. Australian storefronts such as Mighty Ape and eBay Australia sellers listed items at MSRP or slightly above, with shipping added on top. International sellers on eBay global and Amazon sometimes undercut domestic prices once shipping was calculated.
Orders from overseas triggered GST handling at the Australian border, and parcels above the low-value threshold attracted duties. Collectors in Adelaide and Hobart, further from the eastern seaboard, often faced longer shipping times and higher freight costs, narrowing the price advantage of overseas sellers.
A Manaphy plush, for instance, might list for less on a US eBay seller, yet after AUD conversion, tracked shipping and the GST treatment applied by Australia Post, the total frequently exceeded what a Brisbane Toymate charged across the counter. This made domestic online purchases competitive for anyone not chasing a factory misprint.
Currency, customs and the Australian dollar
The Australian dollar's value against the yen and the US dollar during 2016 influenced how imported collectibles were priced. When the AUD weakened mid-year, wholesale costs for TOMY products rose slightly, and those with thin margins absorbed less of the change. Larger chains could hedge; smaller shops passed costs along.
Customs treatment of toys varied depending on declared value and origin. Items shipped from Japan under private labels often cleared faster than mixed parcels from US distributors. Australian collectors ordering through personal shoppers in Akihabara understood these rhythms well, planning around quarterly cycles.
GST applied to imports above the threshold in 2016 sat at 10 percent. For a premium plush crossing the border, this added a meaningful layer to the final price. Retailers selling locally did not face this surcharge, which gave them a structural advantage for buyers ordering individual pieces rather than bulk sets.
Collector behaviour and secondary market prices
Within months of release, popular items found their way to the Australian secondary market. Gumtree listings in Melbourne, Facebook collector groups in Perth and weekend markets in Brisbane carried overstock at markups ranging from 20 to 60 percent above retail, depending on condition and whether the original packaging remained sealed.
The Detective Pikachu plush saw particularly active resale activity because of the franchise's growing film presence. Collectors who missed the initial drop paid premiums for sealed copies, while opened plush traded closer to retail. Pricing here reflected scarcity and narrative momentum rather than store-level economics.
Collectors who tracked the monthly release schedule closely generally paid the lowest prices. Those who entered late, chasing mythical plush after shelves emptied, paid the highest. Understanding the original pricing landscape helps decode why some Australian collections assembled in 2016 cost their owners wildly different totals for what was, on paper, the same officially Nintendo-licensed merchandise.