I feel alienated.

[lancelot]

I looked around several stores in the corner of my state. No Joes. The movie comes out in less than a month, and only 2 Walmarts have made space for the toys, and of the two, only one has bothered to stock any, and they're already sold out. I know they won't put anymore up. All of the Walgreen's have only put up one or two figures, all undesirable ones. Dollar Generals also fail to restock, and only have peg warmers if they have any at all.

Between the decrease in quality, rise of prices, and increased paucity of figures, both Hasbro and every possible major retailer has done everything in their power to alienate both collector and parent alike! Getting these things is impossible, and even if you do, you've been ripped off for an inferior product. They have done a thorough job of ruining the hobby for me, and crashing the brand name straight into the ground in a big bright, fiery ball of failure!

Here's the bottom line, I'm finished! I'm done! I have no more patience for this hobby anymore! After Retaliation is done, I'm going to do my damnedest to quit having my money, and more importantly my time, leeched by undeserving retailers and an incompetent toy company that obviously does not respect us as paying customers! I might get some of the ultimate figures, but IF AND ONLY IF they even arrive at my local retailers. I should be focusing on my life anyway, seeing as to how I'm going to graduate school soon, and also need to get a job, rather than chasing crappy plastic ghosts.

 

[PROVOST]

Even worse here in Australia where the movie is coming out also in just under a mth and nothing on shelves.

Nothing will be either.

 

[Fled74]

Even worse here in Australia where the movie is coming out also in just under a mth and nothing on shelves.

Nothing will be either.

My thoughts exactly.

 

[Monkeywrench]

I live in a major populated area with hundreds of Targets and Walmarts. They are everywhere here. Shoot me a list and I can get you whatever figs you need for cost+shipping.

 

[lancelot]

I live in a major populated area with hundreds of Targets and Walmarts. They are everywhere here. Shoot me a list and I can get you whatever figs you need for cost+shipping.

I'll keep that in mind when all the wave 3 and 4 stuff comes out.

 

[Keenan]

I live in a major populated area with hundreds of Targets and Walmarts. They are everywhere here. Shoot me a list and I can get you whatever figs you need for cost+shipping.

Funny, I live in the NYC area and haven't seen very much at all.

 

[captinbaer1]

Funny, I live in the NYC area and haven't seen very much at all.

Me too, same issue. sometimes the local comic book will have something, but mostly i rely on web/going in to Bergen county (NJ) for "toy runs"!

 

[Videoviper]

I've seen more stuff in Central NJ But we also have an insane amount of collectors in the area too. (Not just the ones who post.)

 

[MMorelock66]

I live in Southwest Virginia, AKA Bum Fuck Egypt. And yet anything that's been confirmed as being out, I've seen.

Maybe this is repayment for barely any POC, 30th, Renegades, basically anything that was releases the past few years.

 

[lancelot]

It sounds like distribution is all kinds of messed up.

 

[Meddatron]

it is. Or managers at stores are idiots. My Target made the same mistake as ROC. They obviously bought every wave 1 case available. Guarantee not a single other wave will show up at that Target. The last time I was there, there was litterally a dozen wave 1 Roadblocks, SS, and SE's each. 8 pegs filled to the max with those 3 figures. They all will never sell. My other stores only have the 3-packs so far. I am used to being about 6 weeks behind the rest of the world for when figures hit. I live in some sort of time warp bubble.

 

[NSA]

In the end you need to remember that they're toys, when they stop being fun for you, it's probably a good sign to start doing something else.

 

[nacho]

Or that you need to accept that you must pay more and just pre-order online. Most cost, less stress.

 

[NSA]

Yeah that too.

I generally don't go anywhere looking for toys, I'll check the toy isle while I'm there but that's about it. If it's something I can absolutely not live without.. pre-order online.

Even I'll likely order a couple of cases of the Wave 3/4 whatever wave if I can find the cash and the timing is good. I did that with some of the PoC waves and was happy since I never saw them at retail.

The $10 price point is just terrible any way you look at it.. $117 or whatever for a 12-figure case is just insane. If you add in the gas and frustration values.. it's more like a $15 figure.. IF you find it.

 

[lancelot]

I buy action figures because they only costed five to eight dollars in the past, and could pick them up while doing stuff I needed to do by necessity at retailers anyway. Dropping 80 to 100+ in one go on a pre order, just to get the few figures I want, seems a little extreme. The rest of the world needs to unfuck itself, not force me to adapt to the unacceptable. I'll either stop collecting figures, or get through grad school and get a higher paying job, before I start doing that. From the sounds of it though, if I get desperate enough, I guess I'll just call on some of you guys to help me out if need be, but I'm still holding out on a restock at the one walmart that acknowledges GI Joes existence (although they probably won't).

I think the big problem is that GI Joe is not a super hero, and so both Hasbro and retailers mismanage the brand name.

 

[NSA]

I buy action figures because they only costed five to eight dollars in the past, and could pick them up while doing stuff I needed to do by necessity at retailers anyway. Dropping 80 to 100+ in one go on a pre order, just to get the few figures I want, seems a little extreme. The rest of the world needs to unfuck itself, not force me to adapt to the unacceptable.

.. the odds of that happening are zero.

I order a case when I know I want at least 50% of the figures. They usually do x2 of each figure so you know what you're getting ahead of time. You can usually pawn off the figures you don't want on here or HT or wherever for a little under retail to make some of your money back.

Even in the 25th days I rarely found all the figured I needed to get the whole wave, so I started just preordering at BBTS.. it was a little more expensive but I saved a hell of a lot of gas, not to mention my own time and mental wellbeing.

 

[Bravestarr]

I looked around several stores in the corner of my state. No Joes. The movie comes out in less than a month, and only 2 Walmarts have made space for the toys, and of the two, only one has bothered to stock any, and they're already sold out. I know they won't put anymore up. All of the Walgreen's have only put up one or two figures, all undesirable ones. Dollar Generals also fail to restock, and only have peg warmers if they have any at all.

Between the decrease in quality, rise of prices, and increased paucity of figures, both Hasbro and every possible major retailer has done everything in their power to alienate both collector and parent alike! Getting these things is impossible, and even if you do, you've been ripped off for an inferior product. They have done a thorough job of ruining the hobby for me, and crashing the brand name straight into the ground in a big bright, fiery ball of failure!

Here's the bottom line, I'm finished! I'm done! I have no more patience for this hobby anymore! After Retaliation is done, I'm going to do my damnedest to quit having my money, and more importantly my time, leeched by undeserving retailers and an incompetent toy company that obviously does not respect us as paying customers! I might get some of the ultimate figures, but IF AND ONLY IF they even arrive at my local retailers. I should be focusing on my life anyway, seeing as to how I'm going to graduate school soon, and also need to get a job, rather than chasing crappy plastic ghosts.

I agree, and find it bizarre as well.

One would think that since the movie comes out in 3 weeks, that the GI Joe stuff would be everywhere in an effort to promote the film.

I read that the Hasbro folks were pissed at Paramount about the delay of the film because it cost them quite a bit to pull and warehouse all the Retaliation stuff.

Would be nice to see the multiple displays and pegs full of GI Joe stuff a la the ROC line.

While out and about yesterday, I went into Target and found two lonely Bruce Willis and Lady J figures. Was happy to get them, but was hoping to see more of the Black and Red Ninja figures, as well as everything else. 3 Pack Firefly is superb, whereas single "green" Firefly has a rotten lack of articulation.

:shoot:

 

[K-Tiger]

Maybe I'm just lucky, but there aren't many stores in the area not carrying Joes. Sure, Wally is down to a single Firefly, but better nothing than peg upon peg of Wave 2.5.

 

[Videoviper]

I buy action figures because they only costed five to eight dollars in the past,

& I but them because they last longer than five to eight dollars drink at the bar.

 

[PROVOST]

& I but them because they last longer than five to eight dollars drink at the bar.

:word:

 

[lancelot]

.. the odds of that happening are zero.

But my point is that it shouldn't be.

& I but them because they last longer than five to eight dollars drink at the bar.

You have no idea how true that is. I've been browsing Ebay the past few weeks and most of the figures that I have could be resold for almost double the price, if not triple, even though they are not MIB. The past three lines were particularly valuable.

 

[NSA]

Really? What's going for high money these days,...

 

[lancelot]

Just about anything POC, or 30th anniversary. Hell, even the old ROC stuff will sell for at least ten bucks a figures. The drought followed by the drop in quality and rise of prices in the Retaliation line has really inflated demand and prices for older stuff.