And yet wal-mart too gets the shaft as well, that is the part that doesn't fit.



I haven't a TRU locally, but on trips I have taken again there has been little to no pressence at TRU's I have vistied.



So the question is that if these were never ordered and instead filling year old orders that had been cancelled why? Basicly you are saying that orders from a year ago are just now getting filled?

Also who said screw over wal mart, Just stating that these items were ordered a year ago and that they were cancelled at that time, suddenly filled a month ago, just odd.



You know, when did someone say conspiracy theory. Poor business practice, but never conspiracy. Need an example, TF movie figs did the exact same thing, miraculously there was a sudden influx and demand was met, but when they first showed up, it was like pulling teeth to find what you wanted. The difference there is the responce time was much faster.

TF movie figures weren't intentionally underproduced. They grossly underestimated the demand, and severe flooding hit China, that afffected Hasbro's factories.

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Was this from the movie Frogs?


bearcatcc

Nope, it was indeed Creepshow...



Hey, it took him a while, but at least he did get his cake...

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No, they're not. Wal Mart gets what it wants. If Wal Mart wanted walls of Joe figures, their stores would all have walls of Joe figures. You have to remember that Wal Mart has its own, internal pecking order, too. Stores with high volumes will always get pick of the litter over smaller stores. And, those in major urban centers are going to see better distribution of new product than those in less populous areas...especially now that transportation costs are higher.

Hasbro is filling their orders for these figures. If you look when the stuff comes out, you can find it. Joe has burned retailers MANY times before and none of them are looking to break the bank on this line until it has proven that it has legs and can sustain its popularity. If you look at Ebay and pictures of people's collections, this stuff is out there and in abundance. Local areas might have some availability issues, but that could be overzealous collectors who get there first. I can understand that some people can't get what they want when they want it, but I still can't believe there is this huge problem in finding figures when there are thousands of them unsold on Ebay and most collectors on the various boards are able to get their figures in the numbers they desire.

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I collectors like myself and Pete the Greek can get these, and we live in CANADA (where we very rarely see Joe stuff at all), I find it hard to believe people in the US can't get them.

Sure, you might not find them at the Walmart/Target/Kmart/TRU that's CLOSEST to where you live/work, but either

1) Going on a "toy run"
2) asking others on boards (such as JC)
3) buying online (smalljoes/BBTS/HTS)

Should allow you to get them.

It seems to me that if people can't find them at their LOCAL store, then they claim poor distribution. The USA is a big place, with a lot of Walmarts/TRU/Target stores. You can't really expect every store across the country to have stock at all times, can you?

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Wave 9, people are finding them in various places. Some are saying they got a couple BATs and even went back to get more. I have 1 case of Wave 9 on order with BigBadToyStore, but they haven't shipped it. According to their site, they don't have an expected ship date even. 3rd quarter 08 is all it says.

I've actually found 1 Hawk figure from this wave at 1 Target. Yesterday I found another Hawk, Bazooka, and Barbeque at Toys R Us (of all places). Obviously (and I was told) it was just 1 case put out. I just got there too late to get more.

SmallJoes hasn't stocked Wave 9 yet and I don't know any others aside from Ebay. Wave 8 I had to pretty well bend over backwards to get and finally completed the set. Now it's looking like that with Wave 9 even having a case on order.

Maybe it's certain locations are just getting a decent supply or something? I don't know really, but it's still coming back to there being something going on beyond just regular stocks of supply making it to the store. I asked a toy department manager yesterday at a Wal-Mart that hasn't had a stock in what I knew was 3 weeks. She actually knew there hasn't been a restock of the figures in 5 weeks and didn't know of any coming soon. She knew more 12" figures were coming and thought the vehicle stock that came in last week may be the only stock of those she's getting.

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A minor update from the ranter himself-

Today, I was startled when I found two DVD Battles sets as well as the Breaker/Tele-Viper pack. After I crapped my pants (out of disbelief, no bowel problems thank you very much), I purchased these items.

Here's the problem, though. I was bored and went on a toy run to four stores. The items I bought were most likely put out earlier today and all three were the last of each. Whichever collector wanders in after me will be SOL- because Hasbro's not making enough!

And the lower priced single figures and comic packs? Nowhere to be found.

As for the "artificial interest" theory, I didn't dismiss it initially, but I didn't embrace it either... The argument against it, that Hasbro simple won't sell as many toys by not getting them into stores makes sense- providing that Hasbro's not willing to roll the dice just a bit.

I'm starting to think that withholding the figures in order to generate interest makes sense and was a "risk" they were willing to take. If they underproduced the figures and they didn't sell, Hasbro's not sitting on merchandise. However, if they underproduced figures generated more interest leading to more demand, withholding them was putting out salted peanuts in a bar. It's really a win/win scenario for Hasbro.

It is possible to get your joes, but its frustrating if you're price constrained. Buying online (NOT AT EBAY) is a viable alternative. But I, and I'm sure many others, only find it economical when buying cases, otherwise online retailers will take advantage of you with single figs, especially popular/army builder types. It will not be cheaper than Walmart, but it can be cheaper per fig than Target (and factoring in gas it gets better). So you have to be patient and wait for a case assortment that has everything you want. That's how I got Wave 5, and Wave 9. I've never seen them at retail either.

I've been seeing a bunch of reports that retail employees are cherry-picking hot toys to sell on ebay. So that could also account for some scarcity of product.

I got my wave 9 from Entertainment Earth. I like 'em better than BBTS.

Bingo. My local Wally World has nothing so once or twice a month I drive 80 miles to Denver and hit all the stores i can. Doing that I have found everything at retail except a yellow Stalker including all the figure and packaging variation. And I've picked up enough to hook up the guys in chat on alot of things.

You can't rely on just the closest store or you'll never come close to keeping up. It's a sad fact that buying (and selling) toys isn't like it was in the 80's. i miss those days too but retailers wanna move product fast and asa result you gotta be quick and flexible.

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Wave 9 has only been at WM in my area. Got me a complete set, plus an extra 4 BAT's, 4 Snow Serpents, 2 Black SS's and a Hawk. The other new fig's from the wave sat at a few other WM's for day's, before finally being bought. My local Target's have not restocked anyting but Batman movie figures, althouhg people have found dvd packs, wave 9, and new vehicles at Target. Same with TRU, sightings of wave 9 and new vehicles, but not at mine. A few Joe exclusives has been only thing restocked.

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[quote="ogre_h"]I've been seeing a bunch of reports that retail employees are cherry-picking hot toys to sell on ebay. So that could also account for some scarcity of product. quote]


If you see it and there's any proof that corporate can offer, turn them in. That's highly against the store's policy. An employee can buy whatever they want, sure, but they can not go and resale the items at a profit. Technically an employee isn't even suppose to resell at all even for the price they paid, but corporate will not really say much about that. But yeah if there's an employee with items they got and even used their employee discount, they can get fired.

But even still all of that aside, there should be enough being shipped to stores so that there would be enough going out on the shelf. Unless it was a poor seller, there's no real reason that only 1 case is sent to a store. Unless of course the supplier (I.E. Hasbro) isn't shipping enough to go around.

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You would think so, but nope. I live in one of the biggest cities in the country (LA), which you would think would be a distribution priority. We have plenty of Toys R Uss, Targets, Kay Bees all around. Wal-Mart not as much, but we have some.

I am having a very difficult time finding anything except the original 5 packs, the Toys R Us 3 packs, the older comic packs, and Buzzer. When we do get anything, it seems to be months later than other places, and they disappear FAST (I'm talking in a day), never to be seen again.

There are figures I have never even seen. Target vehicles? Ditto. I used to hit stores almost every other day for a while, but I decided it was just absurd to be doing that.

If you can't figure out production numbers more than a year after the product launches, you are about as smart as a bag full of hammers. Hasbro = tHe suXXorz!1!111!1!

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And I think that is the crux of the problem. Around here, what stock comes in, flies out fast. Walmart put out their first case in almost two months on Friday afternoon or evening (I was in Friday morning) and everything but Duke sold by Saturday morning. I'm in this Walmart daily and I know they haven't been putting stuff out regularly. This is a super-center - a well-traveled super-center. (I can't vouch for the other Walmarts in town as they're not within daily driving distance.)

Target is the same way. Little-to-no stock for weeks on end, a case comes in, and sells out almost instantly. The exclusives never showed.

TRU has stocked twice in the past three weeks - again, stuff sells out immediately.

The only things in abundance around here are comic sets.

If we're still at the point where a number of people have to drive out of their way to get figures, there's a problem.

On the bright side, with fall resets coming up, we may see more stock.


~Marduk

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You've hit the nail on the head.

It's not poor distribution, as much as it is lack of product. The product flies off the pegs usually the day it is put out.

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