Way of the dodo said:I went to a Toysrus and asked if they had them, and the schmuck gets annoyed and says "uh, they might be in back but we haven't put them out." I just left. I'm not gonna ask for the privilege. Then I found Indy with Ark at Target, and that was the main thing I wanted until a really good "standard Indy" comes out.
RichardJones said:I hear you man, I am glad now that I pre-order a few, At first I wanted the trill of the hunt , but I worried something like this would happen, so I pre-order, Still got some stuff coming from the SHOP
drwynn said:I guess it does sort of make sense for Target to wait...I mean, if they put stuff out in a few weeks, it'll be even CLOSER to the time the film comes out...and awareness and anticipation will be even higher than it is right now.
phantom train said:First, I wanted to say that anyone who went out yesterday, 5/01 (the "official" release date of the IJ toys) and found all or most of these new IJ toys was very fortunate.
After work yesterday (around 5:00pm), I went to TRU and found an extremely small section of IJ toys - the only things they had were the Cargo Truck, the IJ Deluxe figure Pit trap (with the snakes), and the Deluxe German on motorcyle - I got all three, and am lucky I found even those. They had no regular figures, no 12" figures, no other Deluxe figures, and no other vehicles. The only things left were some Legos and Adventure heroes. I suspect they had gotten more items in earlier, but they probably sold out fast.
I then went to Wal-mart, and they had zilch. I looked all through the toy aisles and not only did I not see any IJ toys, I saw no indication that they were making room for them either.
I asked an employee in the toy section about them - he was polite, but confirmed they had no IJ toys at all and didn't seem to know when (or if) they would get them in.
I didn't bother to go to Target, since from what I've read on this board many of them aren't "offically" putting out these toys until later this weekend.
Anyway, I was very dissapointed. The distribution of these figures is very, very poor, considering that they're promoting a huge big budget summer film. Hopefully they'll be more plentiful later.
I'm also a collector of SW figures, and in thinking back to the release dates of TPM, AOTC, and ROTS figures back in 1999, 2002, and 2005, they had so many figures at that time that they were almost literally spilling off the pegs, even weeks after the films were out. Conversely, the figures for this IJ film are very scarce. Obviously, IJ is not nearly as big as SW, but the stores should still have ordered more of these IJ toys.
I am of the opinion that all of the other movie toys from the blockbuster 2008 summer movies like "Prince Caspian", "Hulk", "The Dark Knight", "Speed Racer" and "Iron Man" are dominating the toy aisles to the detriment of these IJ figures, which definitely had the least amount of shelf space in the stores I've seen so far.
ChromiumBlue37 said:My condolences to everyone ought there who went on the hunt and came up up empty handed. Wal-Mart stores had very little of anything!
The Chicago suburbs were well stocked. This morning I hit 3 Wal-Mart Supercenters - nothing. All I could see were half-empty pegs with INVENTORY/Planogram tags all over the place. Maybe that is what is up with Wal-Mart. Meijer stores had zip. Target on the other hand was an entirely different story.
Upon my arrival at 7:55 AM, there was no crowd or line. I walked right in and turned into the familiar action figure aisle. There were clean pegs and a cart filled with sealed boxes just WAITING for me. The Latin stock lady was so friendly and accomodating. I even helped her stock, as I cherry-picked what I wanted. She was so cute and patient, but she just could not get over the $7.49 pricepoint. Thanks to buddy, Jimmy, I had some $5 off Target toy coupons.
After that, I hit one more Target. Later, I found what I was lacking at TRU when they opened! The first thing I noticed was the four-way shelving fixture right by the returns desk. It was packed and beautiful. So, I took a couple of shots with my digital camera. The manager came over and told me that was not allowed. I filled a shopping cart anyway. Was so elated to see the Arabian Horse and German with motorcycle. The Pitfall Trap is the perfect mini-playset! I also have a problem with German Soldiers - I LOVE them. 2 packs, singled-carded. Doesn't matter. Looks like I went ballistic trying to create a mini German Army. Those little goose-steppers are like a new drug! Well today, I definately got my fix!
To everyone who is worried and frantic - don't be. My opinion is that there will be more than enough for us all. During the course of this one day, I witness a LOT of interest from collectors, a few kids and parents. It was a fine day for me. One I have not enjoyed since I bought my original Kenner IJ toys back in the toy department at Montgomery Ward the day after Christmas 1982. Indiana Jones is BACK!
MISSOURI JONES said:i was lucky, i had a friend that stocks the toys at my walmart so i just told hr would you please go look.
and dhe did. i scored all but the spalco, rusian colonal and ugma warror.
i got an extra indy4 indy with the bazzoka and swapped heads with that stupid raders whip action indy. i had to cut the socket and glue the head but it turned out great.
now i have to finish my vintage indy collection.
Katarn07 said:My Wal-Mart's still don't have them out and refuse to sell them to me because of this dumb May 5th crap. Here's what really gets to me: The first people said that the stock girl would be back later and probably have it out. I came back that night, and the stock girl on duty said that she was going to do it right then and there and they'd be there tomorrow. I got there at 7:00 am. Were they there? No.
Hey, tnswman, you'd be proud of me. I had to speak to the managers, and after getting an hour of sleep, I wasn't the nicest of customers. But did it get me anywhere? No. They called other Wal-Marts in the area and they claim they said the same thing. I'm pissed now. I'll check out TRU later and maybe Sears/K-Mart but I wanted to be there when they were first put out so I didn't miss anything....
tnswman said:LOL! you also forget that Stores are already selling out NOW and Target is missing out on MAJOR sales.....The Post Movie re-stocks will be massive and Target will have EVEN more items to clog the shelves.
It is not good business to allow ALL of your competition to be selling items that you have in stock too....reason will tell you that the CUSTOMERS will go to where the stock is..Most will try their Favorite store 1st but will end up going WHEREVER and paying a higher price if need be. When K-Marts are selling out and Targets are refusing to stock the SAME product that K-mart just sold out of....That's a Bad problem. The last time Target did this with Star Wars, It backfired and the Majority of their stock went to clearance while Wal-Mart and TRU kept fresh stock coming.
snake_surprise said:Got back from three Walmarts.
The two super Walmarts had nothing. The old Walmart had a little display in the middle of the aisles. Nothing really good was left.
I guess the May 5th theory is correct with the newer/super Walmarts.
Arab Swordsman said:I got all mine at a Super Wal Mart and there was no mention about the May 5th date.
drwynn said:Uhh...please bear in mind that I was not attempting to defend Target or their unwillingness to stock the shelvs with Indy merchandise. I was only trying to come up with sort of reasonable theory as to WHY they're not stocking the merch.
Obviously, my first theory was full of holes...but, then again, so is Target's decision not to tock the shelved with Indy merch.
Arab Swordsman said:I got all mine at a Super Wal Mart and there was no mention about the May 5th date. If your Wal Mart is open 24 hours you might want to stop back after 9 at night. That's when they start to bring stock out onto the floor to do the overnight restocking and you normally can talk to someone who specifically deals with the toys.
My theory is that each store is just putting them out when they get to it or remember to. As far as I know their only stipulation is that they can't sell it before the 1st and that it doesn't matter when they put it out after that. I'm not sure Hasbro is enforcing the stores to put out the items as much as they were them just not putting it out early. If you have a crappy Wal Mart who doesn't know what's going on they could just be putting out the stock as they find it in the back. They might be re-doing the toy section on May 5th but I agree with TNSWMAN; if they have the product and it's after May 1st they should be willing to get it out for you to sell.
Customer service has really taken a dump in the last 10 years. I remember working in retail and the customer was ALWAYS right. With the way the economy is and the stimulus checks meant to encourage spending you would think these stores would want to generate sales by putting this stuff out. If you buy 1 of all the basic figures, Adventure Heroes, Deluxe figures, and each vehicle your looking at over 300 bucks. I cannot see how a store would not want to get these sales by holding merchandise in the back after the date listed on the box, espcially when a customer comes in asking for it.