So I was out with Amanda and one of her friends shopping at the Glendale Galleria yesterday. The girls went clothes shopping and I hit Target (yes Target is part of the mall). I discovered their toy department was pretty ransacked with only a few Joes on the pegs, some DVD packs (set 2 I believe) and a few vehicles and comic packs. Nothing to get excited about. But I saw 1 of the new Cobra 5 packs and picked it up for giggles. I was about to put it back down when I noticed something odd in the "lift here" notch - a wierd color that shouldn't have been there that looked an awful lot like a filecard. So, my curiosity piqued I lifted the lid and this is what I saw...



Storm Shadow swapped for the single card version.
Baroness swapped for the first 5 pack version.
Cobra Commander swapped for the hooded single card version (with ninja sword for some damn reason).
Zartan swapped for Barbeque of all figures.
Viper swapped for the red FANG Viper.

What made this more blatant was that the swapper laid out the original filecards on top of the the figures along the bottom IN ORDER of how the correct figures should appear.

I almost bought it just for the sheer fun of it and the decent fodder it had but I left it. Barbeque, Storm Shadow and the Viper would have been worth it but I didn't feel like spending $25 for fodder.

Anyway, I wanted to share this figure swapper story because I always read about it happening but never see it in person. Now I have and my collecting experience is complete

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That is Zartan. He's in disguise




I, for one, am tired of reading about this stuff. Imagine all the ones that are not reported or even the swaps that go completely unnoticed

hmmm.....I could use more of those chromed vipers.........

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I saw a Joe 5 pack at TRU with everyone gone but Lady Jaye. Which had me scratching my head, 'cause I thought she was the best fig of the set.
Anyway, took the pack up to the cashier, because I figured maybe I could pick up an extra Lady Jaye and cut out the ebayer. But no. They thanked me for pointing it out, but wouldn't sell me the fig.

You're just now seeing this? I'm not poking fun at you but I'm surprised. I see it here all the time. I'm wondering if it's the same asshat that does it so frequently here. I sometimes wish I could work at the returns counter just to deny the person a refund when they bring the tainted item back. I gave up on showing the workers at the stores since they give me the deer-in-headlights look.

Reminds me of when Starting Lineups were big and the UPC was a peel-away sticker. Guys would buy the new ones, stick the UPC on some old peg warmer and return them. The effect on the store's auto ordering system was the worst part: the peg warmers would sit there for MONTHS with no new stock arriving.

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...and you couldn't be more right about that.

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...and Mysterious Stranger has run across the handiwork of yet another person involved in our hobby (yet doesn’t deserve to be) who has reserved a place for themselves in the Special Hell. I’m surprised I haven’t seen more of this in recent months, frankly...or just outright theft, what with the economy being bad.

People who do this strike me as the kind of people who are already on the financial edge... still buying toys when they should instead be buying soap to bathe themselves, feeding their children, and meeting other, similarly important obligations.

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