Thanks to some of the online toy stores that allow customers to sort products according to sales rank, we can see which Series 6 figures are selling better than others. KBToys.com has had Series 6 up for sale for a little while now, and here are how the figures rank in sales:

1. Professor Frink (sold out)
2. Snake
3. Dr. Hibbert
4. Carl
5. Mascot Homer
6. Bleeding Gums Murphy

Now for some interpretation of these results:

Since KB's price is on the high end, we can assume collectors make up a larger than average proportion of the buying audience. But since KB is a well-known national store and the holiday shopping season is gearing up, there are probably a higher proportion of casual buyers shopping now than at any time earlier in the year.

As usual we see that costume variants of characters people already own, usually Bart and Homer, are some of the slower selling figures. However Homer usually sells faster than Bart, and this time his variant is already selling better than an original figure, Bleeding Gums Murphy. This could be attributable to more casual buyers picking out the brand name characters and/or to a weaker interest from collectors in Bleeding Gums Murphy.

This leads us to the realization that Playmates is going to face an increasingly difficult job in choosing which characters to produce as this line goes on. As sales of Bleeding Gums Murphy seem to indicate, just being an original character isn't enough to guarantee great sales. Some variants will sell better than some less popular original figures, as we also saw with Casual Homer and Patty in Series 4. Playmates will have to more carefully measure how popular the remaining characters are before deciding which ones to produce first.

The speedy sell-out of Professor Frink confirms how much of a fan-favorite character he is. It's unlikely that potential demand for the characters at the very top like Frink will be met by current production levels. It would be in Playmates' best interest to find a way to bring back this and other past bestselling figures like Ralph Wiggum, Itchy & Scratchy, Barney, Chief Wiggum, etc. so they are perennially available in stores and can attract new fan interest to the line.

Sales of Snake, Dr. Hibbert, and Carl likewise seem to fall into place based on how popular those characters are on the show. This time the characters seem to rank based on how distinctive, colorful, or intrinsically humorous their roles are on the show, starting with the nutty professor and moving down to the street thug to the doctor to the average Joe (or Carl as the case may be) and finally to the jazz musician.

Another big factor seems to be how frequently a character appears on the show. Certainly Bleeding Gums Murphy has appeared in the least amount of episodes. However, it seems Hibbert or even Carl may have appeared more often than Snake, indicating that this factor may not be the most important one. Of course there's no simple formula to determine popularity and the only way to measure it accurately is to poll fans.

Another factor unique to the toys, that of playset compatibility, does not seem to be significant. Frink is compatible with the least amount of playsets, only one current playset and no announced future ones, yet he is still the top seller. Carl is compatible with the most existing playsets (except for the variant Homer) but still ranks only fourth in sales. However, KB does not list compatibility statistics on their web site so buyers may not all be aware of which of these figures work with the most sets.

Finally, another factor, which may be more difficult to judge, is how complementary these figures are to the rest of the collection. Snake may get a boost because he displays well in the Kwik-E-Mart, although the fact that Carl displays well with Lenny and in the Power Plant doesn't seem to be helping his numbers. The rest of the figures are not ideal for any particular existing playset. That doesn't seem to be hurting interest in Frink or Dr. Hibbert, but it could be one reason why Mascot Homer may not do well as the more versatile Casual Homer who displays well in the Living Room inparticular. Bleeding Gums Murphy may be hurting partly because his natural companion figure, Lisa, is one that, due to her lower production numbers, many collectors do not own. Although this might not be a big factor in general because collectors may plan on purchasing both unannounced and previously released figures and playsets in the future.

Look up more information by keyword: kbtoys, Series 6, Wave 6