Sloppy Indiana Jones merchandise release

I'd sure like to know what is going on with the release of the licensed merchandise.

The toys were hard to find/didn't get released in many places on the street date. The original Indiana Jones toys from the early 1980's were much easier to find than this latest release. Stores that had toys had few. TRU had a very small section (about 1 1/2 feet devoted to Indiana Jones - a entire wall for speed racer which is always stocked full) - took a while to even find the indiana Jones figures at TRU because they weren't even in the action figure aisle (rather in a small space about 20 feet away from customer service - someplace where many people/kids wouldn't see it if they were going through the normal check out aisles (don't have them near the SW figures so the Indy figures might sell). I've also seen reports of people complaining about the poor paint jobs on the figures.

The blockbuster exclusive merchandise was also late in arriving.

I first contacted 4 different blockbusters about the official Pix exclusive photos. Not one of them had them or knew about them (including store managers).

Then a day later I went to 4 different blockbusters again and not one of them knew about the suitcase dvd case exclusive. They looked at me like I asked for alien dna. At one blockbuster I finally had them let me bring it up on their PC so they could actually see it on their website. Their response "I don't know maybe in a day or two we'll get it." Flash forward to last night - called. Nothing. Called this morning - Yes one store has them out of the 4. Went to the store and none were out. Asked at the counter and they only had 4 behind the counter. Why put them out where they might actually sell...


Went to Best Buy to pick up the dvd set of 3 films - They had room for only about 8-10 copies of the boxed set. Had none. Didn't know when they would get anymore in. Went to TRU and they had 4 copies of the boxed set.

It's like the stores don't want to sell Indiana Jones merchandise.

At this point, I'll be surprised if all the theaters get the 35mm film reels on time for the movie release.

Has to be one of the sloppiest merchandise releases I've ever seen for a major film - especially a Lucasfilm production.

As far as Hasbro is concerned, I think every action figure line they produce (Star Wars, GI Joe and Indy), is sold through an exclusive distribution contract with Ebay.

I am really not notcing enough Indy merchandise at stores. The Legos are fairly widely available, but the deluxe figures are really hard to find.

Every store where I live is stocked full of everything. In fact, you could say that Indy merchandising has been a flop. Nobody is buying anything. The pegs are full including Cemetary Warriors and Ugha Warriors. Even the Jungle Cutter is now showing up en masse. I have a bad feeling this line won't last. Jurassic Park Redux.

Agent Spalko said:

Every store where I live is stocked full of everything. In fact, you could say that Indy merchandising has been a flop. Nobody is buying anything. The pegs are full including Cemetary Warriors and Ugha Warriors. Even the Jungle Cutter is now showing up en masse.

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Where do you live...heaven?

Agent Spalko said:

Every store where I live is stocked full of everything. In fact, you could say that Indy merchandising has been a flop. Nobody is buying anything. The pegs are full including Cemetary Warriors and Ugha Warriors. Even the Jungle Cutter is now showing up en masse. I have a bad feeling this line won't last. Jurassic Park Redux.

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I hope your wrong about the line not lasting. A good deal of Indy merchandise seems to get sold where I go.

I hope I'm wrong too but judging from the shelves at every Walmart, Target and TRU in my city, things don't look too good. Perhaps next week after the movie it will ignite an Indy feeding frenzy but I'm really surprised that so far it's been pretty subdued compared to Star Wars.

Hm. Most stores I've seen are selling the line down pretty well.

I went into a TRU today that had nothing but two Mutts and an RPG Indy left. (and a couple of 12" ers)

Compared to the huge amount of Speed Racer proodcut that seems to be not going anywhere, it looks like it should do okay at least for the intial four waves, and that makes me happy, still.

(not saying anything bad about speed racer, mind you)

My Wal-Mart has been sold out of most of the Indy figures since the week they went up, and Target is now closing in on the same status. They seem to be selling really well around here. I agree, the movie will spark a huge feeding frenzy.

Ok, I know I'm like the crazy old Indy collector here at the site...and Yes, Maybe I am the Steve sansweet of the Indy collectibles as too many d@mn people say..However, I have to wonder when I see a thread started by relativly new members and that thread is about complaints if you folks have looked at the well established "New aquisitions" thread?

If you have not, PLEASE check it out. You can see the STEADY progression of the Indy toy release and let me and MANY others assure ALL of you, the HASBRO INDIANA JONES line is a FULL Success!!!

MANY stores in MANY areas on on their 3rd re-stock and are still selling out.

the reason your store might not have had any Indy items on day one was probably due to one or two collectors buying them by the case. However, they ARE selling and they ARE shipping.

In fact, Indy is selling at an ALARMING rate, MUCH like the very UNDER-ORDERED Transformers movie line. So, as we can EXPECT the demand to increase, you HAVE to be patient, or willing to pay more for items until the supply catches up.

To put it honestly, The retailers have for the most part, already turned ther profit on these items. Now, they are rushing to re-stock.

The problems of the PAST Indy lines has been WELL DOCCUMENTED in the NA thread by myself and others...The stores now find themselves simply OUT of Indy figures...this is a HUGE difference from how things were in 81-86 you could find Indy toys VERY easy...Just not the figures of INDY who was one per-case in some instances.

So, the reasoning behind this thread is WRONG!! it does NOT make the frustration go away though

BlackSleep said:

Where do you live...heaven?

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More like Bizzaro World.

tnswman said:

If you have not, PLEASE check it out. You can see the STEADY progression of the Indy toy release and let me and MANY others assure ALL of you, the HASBRO INDIANA JONES line is a FULL Success!!!

MANY stores in MANY areas on on their 3rd re-stock and are still selling out.

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I'm going to have to disagree with you. Out of the six stores in my area, which is the DC area, only one has restocked and that's the TRU. The Wal-Mart has not put anything out except for some Lego and the playing cards. The two Targets have not restocked unless they are filling up the exact same figures with the same numbers every day. The Kmart has only gotten one shipment in it seems as they only have a few figures.

There's really nothing going on in my area. I've been to a ton of different grocery stores looking for cereal, as of yet I have not found it. The Kellogg stuff is starting to be replaced with the older box styles or other promos. Just tonight I went and bought a box of the Heritage cards at Hollywood Video, they gave me a discount to get rid of them.

I'm hoping things pick up after the movie, but I've gotten most everything I need except for the board games which I also haven't seen. You would think for a major metro area the Indy stuff would be huge, but it's not. All the other movies have huge displays, the Indy stuff has 2-3 columns at most in each store except TRU.

Interesting thread - I have to agree that Indy stuff seems to be selling well around where I am, with certain figures hard to find now (Monkey Man, Cemetary Warrior, Russian Soldier). As others have mentioned, the 5/01stock went VERY fast, and only now do figures seem to be staying on the shelves for any length of time. I also anticipate more figures will sell after the movie comes out next week.

I do have to disagree that Indy figures were easy to find in the '80's, though. I was around then, and remember that they were actually hard to find - the # of IJ figures produced now far exceeds the product that I was seeing on shelves 20+ years ago.

Edward The Head said:

I'm going to have to disagree with you. Out of the six stores in my area, which is the DC area, only one has restocked and that's the TRU. The Wal-Mart has not put anything out except for some Lego and the playing cards. The two Targets have not restocked unless they are filling up the exact same figures with the same numbers every day. The Kmart has only gotten one shipment in it seems as they only have a few figures.

There's really nothing going on in my area. I've been to a ton of different grocery stores looking for cereal, as of yet I have not found it. The Kellogg stuff is starting to be replaced with the older box styles or other promos. Just tonight I went and bought a box of the Heritage cards at Hollywood Video, they gave me a discount to get rid of them.

I'm hoping things pick up after the movie, but I've gotten most everything I need except for the board games which I also haven't seen. You would think for a major metro area the Indy stuff would be huge, but it's not. All the other movies have huge displays, the Indy stuff has 2-3 columns at most in each store except TRU.

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In your area you may be right...Im MANY other areas, including the 3 cities in 3 states I jsut visited, Indy is selling fine and as widly shelved as anything but Speed racer...You have to remember that the bigger figures take up more space in lines like the hulk..so appearances are NOTHING in this game of shelf space.

tnswman said:

Yes, Maybe I am the Steve sansweet of the Indy collectibles

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They've been selling quickly here in the Twin Cities. Almost all of the Legos were gone one day that I checked.

Maybe there's a lot of Speed Racer things because SR isn't selling very well? My kids are obsessed with SR though.

The ones that were a b1tch to find for me were Spalko, Dovchenko, Ugha Warrior and the Jungle Cutter...

WalMarts near me have yet to restock, but I'm hoping they did recently because I'm making another run in the morning.

I still need to pick up the 2 Mutts, Cemetry Warrior, Russian Soldier, the Troop Transport and the Jungle Cutter...

Although I'd like to get another Spalko because as my friend who went toy hunting with me pointed out, the ones we got (which were the only 2 Spalko's we could find in a 40 mile radius of 7 Targets, 5 WalMarts and 3 ToysRUs') look really manly... not very Cate Blanchett'ish at all...

And since I still have receipts, I'd like to pick them all up at WalMart if I can and return the Target ones since Target charges about 60 cents more than WalMart for the main figures.

At my local Toys R Us, they only had an endcap for Indiana Jones stuff. All the action figures were sold out. Except for a deluxe set of Nazi Officers. And I asked where there Star Wars section was. Overfilled with them! Pissed me off that they were carrying more Star Wars compared to Indiana Jones. Looks like I'm going to have to order some online. A deluxe Indiana Jones and a random baddie.
Looks like there'll be tons of Indiana Jones variants, well different figures due to him changing costumes throughout the films. Where's Short Round, Lao Che, Willie Scott in Club Obi Wan outfit? Indy in Nazi disguise for both RotLA and LC?
Elsa wearing her different clothes, same for Marion. Rene Belloq should have more figures being released due to the costume changes. Where's Toht and and the others?

Montana_Jones said:

At my local Toys R Us, they only had an endcap for Indiana Jones stuff. All the action figures were sold out. Except for a deluxe set of Nazi Officers. And I asked where there Star Wars section was. Overfilled with them! Pissed me off that they were carrying more Star Wars compared to Indiana Jones. Looks like I'm going to have to order some online. A deluxe Indiana Jones and a random baddie.
Looks like there'll be tons of Indiana Jones variants, well different figures due to him changing costumes throughout the films. Where's Short Round, Lao Che, Willie Scott in Club Obi Wan outfit? Indy in Nazi disguise for both RotLA and LC?
Elsa wearing her different clothes, same for Marion. Rene Belloq should have more figures being released due to the costume changes. Where's Toht and and the others?

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Temple of Doom characters will be coming out in September, and Last Crusade ones will be coming out in July. I can't wait for the Temple of Doom figures, if I had it my way, they would have been released first. I don't understand why there isn't a Toht figure. Toht would be a way cooler figure than some random Nazis.

selling well in eatern NC. I am just now found a Spalko and Ugha warrior last night. Been looking almost every day for them. When I did find them there was only one of each left at a Jeoffreys.