Author Topic: Happy for the "Slow Down"?  (Read 8975 times)

Offline Brian

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Re: Happy for the "Slow Down"?
« Reply #15 on: June 24, 2005, 12:21 PM »
I suppose, depending on your area and what you are looking for, there isn't exactly a "slow down" yet.  I'm just kind of relieved that we are starting to get back to the 3-4 figures a month, maybe a vehicle or something thrown in here and there, type of schedule.  With 44 figures, several ships/beasts, and other miscellaneous stuff (Unleashed, Galactic Heroes, magazines, BK promos, etc.) in these last couple months, it is nice to take a breath now and hopefully get back to a more "regular" release schedule.  I agree though, they can release those Evolution sets any time now...I'm really looking forward to those.

For now, there's enough to be on the lookout for anyways....#45-50 (or maybe more shortly), Wookiee flyer, 500th Vader, and a few other miscellaneous things.

Offline JediMAC

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Re: Happy for the "Slow Down"?
« Reply #16 on: July 20, 2005, 04:11 PM »
Seems we're REALLY in a slowdown mode right now.  Nothing new out since the KFC Anakin wave, and most of the pegs around here have been totally baren for a good month now.  I think the only new things that have (barely) hit lately are the 500th Vader, Anakin Evolutions set, and a couple of those 5-packs - and most of this stuff seems to just be hitting at K-Mart so far, for whatever reason.

I always enjoy a nice cooling down period for a while, but now I'm starting to get rather bored.  I want some new figures to hunt down, dammit!

Offline Brian

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Re: Happy for the "Slow Down"?
« Reply #17 on: July 20, 2005, 04:19 PM »
Yeah, things have been pretty slow lately, but its been ok for me to save a little bit of money here.  All caught up on basic figures until #51 and up start coming out, and our pegs are full of Clone Pilots, Neimodian Warriors, Mas Ameddas, and the other usual culprits.  I did find the Wookiee Flyer and Boba Fett Cup Set last weekend, but that was the first purchase in quite some time.  No K-Marts in town, so no Evolutions or 500 Vaders here yet.  Until those start hitting the rest of the retail outlets, I'm basically just looking for the new Unleashed wave if I'm lucky enough to see it.  Definitely a slow down now, and I'm a little concerned about some of the pegwarmers we have now.  I'd like to see those taken care of as the year goes on so that there isn't a problem by the time "The Saga Collection" starts hitting.

Offline TheBlackDog

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Re: Happy for the "Slow Down"?
« Reply #18 on: July 20, 2005, 09:33 PM »
It was slow until I found a 500th Vader, Anakin Evolutions, all 3 of the new unleashed . . . . .

Anyway, still need to find an Ask Aak for my son and other then that I have what I want until the single pack clones hit! Then I want 1 of each and a couple of some IF I can find em. I heard the Hasbro is actually going to ship alot of the clones in good case assortments to make em easy to find. I hope so.
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Offline Jesse James

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Re: Happy for the "Slow Down"?
« Reply #19 on: July 21, 2005, 12:28 AM »
Yeah,d efinitely dry out at retail.  Even the KM stores near me are bare, and KM is NEVER bare of Star Wars stuff.

Hell, the one is devoid of ROTS figures except one Bail and one Mothma, but they have 2 pegs full of OTC on "sale" for full retail. :)

I've yet to see the Anakin Evolutions set which bums me out some, but that's ok.  It'll get here.  They flew off our KM store shelves though as they were out and gone within one day, seriously.  Every KM in the area got some, and they ALL sold.  That's nuts.  Some have even restocked and sold again.

I know when I go to Target, WM, and even TRU, the pegs are dwindling.  Main characters are gone, Clones haven't been available in any quantity since 4/2 really, secondary Jedi (save for the "girls") have moved well now, army builders are slowly selling...  Stand-out pegwarmers have been the Senators in the intiial waves now...

Last new fig I saw was a fluke in finding Bacara there alone at a Target.  No other figures. 

Funny NOT finding figures in a movie year.  It's amazing what a good film, and good quality figures (overall) in a toy line can do for the popularity of the line.  Nice.
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Offline SpudTrooper

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Re: Happy for the "Slow Down"?
« Reply #20 on: July 22, 2005, 02:31 AM »
i kinda likes this "slow down" since i can save money for future sets like battle packs, exclusives. etc.

it seems stores like Target, TRU and Walmart only get a box of basic figures once a week. i've only seen them stock starfighters, M&Ms, and mustafar playsets most of the time. but i give them till august and we should start seeing the pegs gradually fill up.


Offline Jesse James

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Re: Happy for the "Slow Down"?
« Reply #21 on: July 23, 2005, 03:39 AM »
My area isn't even "slow", it stopped.  It goes any slower and it'd be in reverse I think...

To KM's credit though, they actually got Evolutions, Battlepacks, and 500th Vader...  They're the only store putting out stuff though.  Everyone's reporting that the other stores around here just aren't stocking shelves.
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Offline JesseVader08

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Re: Happy for the "Slow Down"?
« Reply #22 on: July 23, 2005, 03:44 AM »
My area isn't even "slow", it stopped.  It goes any slower and it'd be in reverse I think...

Unfortunately true in my neck of the woods too.  I haven't seen anything new in weeks - last new figures were the 41-44 wave.   :'(

Am I enjoying the slowdown though?  Maybe.  It just means I'm spending money on my older collections that I'm still trying to finish.

Offline Jesse James

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Re: Happy for the "Slow Down"?
« Reply #23 on: July 23, 2005, 03:52 AM »
I was at WM just last night to get some junk for the house, and they had a dozen pegs for SW figures with only 3 Red robed Palpatine figures.

3...
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Offline Darby

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Re: Happy for the "Slow Down"?
« Reply #24 on: July 23, 2005, 05:45 AM »
Things are regressing here, too.  WM is losing its pegwarmers, mysteriously and all at once.  I noticed all the Jedi pegwarmers vanished from Target, all at once (TRU Mega Pack fodder?) and while in Kansas City, I discovered that it's much the same there.

Ben's been lucky finding some stuff, but not Darb.  Sigh.

Offline Darth_Anton

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Re: Happy for the "Slow Down"?
« Reply #25 on: July 23, 2005, 10:41 AM »
I had been wanting to post someting about the current slowdown for a little while, but now it seem things are about to pick back up again with all the new figure sightings.
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Offline DoctorPadawan

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Re: Happy for the "Slow Down"?
« Reply #26 on: July 23, 2005, 10:51 AM »
The stores near me haven't restocked with basic figures in over a month at this point.  Every time I walk into a Wal-Mart or a Target, it's the same Clone Pilots, Neimoidians, Wookiees, Bodyguards, and Tarffulls staring back at me.  The stores seem to have an aversion to stocking the basic action figures around here, and it seems like it's that way just about everywhere.

I've yet to see the Bacara wave (although thanks to a friend about 2000 miles away I was able to get them), and the Tarkin wave has shown up twice, both times at the same Wal-Mart.  The only things that have been restocked are the 500th Vader (one case at my closest WM, sold out in hours), the Wookiee Flyer at Target (twice), and a metric ton of those Energy Beam Blasters.  (On a side note, is silly string still flammable?  No reason for asking though.   8) )

K-Mart is the only retailer that actually has a decent mix of basic figures (they still have #6 Clones and the main characters, and not one Neimoidian Warrior for miles), and they've been restocking a variety of stuff (Evolutions, Battle Packs, 500th Vader, GH Backpack Danglers) as opposed to WM and Target's SOS.  The problem is that nobody wants to shop there for SW figures because they're two bucks higher than the other places. 

Quote
I had been wanting to post someting about the current slowdown for a little while, but now it seem things are about to pick back up again with all the new figure sightings.

I certainly hope you're right Anton, but if they aren't stocking the pegs with figures when the movie is still in theaters (in some locations at least), I'm afraid that they won't stock at all once the movie is gone and SW is relegated to its "black sheep" status in the toy aisle between the mountain of Teen Titans garbage and the consistently empty (as in "we haven't gotten any for six months, but we'll keep it empty anyway") LOTR peg section.

Offline Brian

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Re: Happy for the "Slow Down"?
« Reply #27 on: July 25, 2005, 09:21 AM »
Things have basically come to a stop around here too, and I'm getting concerned about finding some of the later figs/stuff in the ROTS line.  Target finally got rid of the "Star Wars only" aisle, and turned it into a clearance aisle this week.  ROTS stuff is now in the "regular" action figure aisle, but with a fairly large section right now for the basic figs.  Of course, nothing good though :).  Wal-Mart and Target literally only have the following figures...and have for quite some time:

Mas Amedda
Clone Pilot
Polis Massan
Palpatine w/Red Saber
Neimodian Warriors
Occasionally - Bail Organa, Aayla Secura, Luminara Unduli, Saesee Tiin

I hope they can figure out some way to clear this stuff out, so we can see a little of the last few figures of this line, and so things are all gone in time for the Saga Collection as well.  Unleashed pegs are packed with Obi-Wan and Anakin (except Target has only one Unleashed, and Obi-Wan that has been sitting there for weeks).  Force Battlers are the tons and tons of Obi-Wans and Anakins that have been there since 4/2.  Starting to see Mustafar playsets pile up a bit now too, vehicles are thinning out...don't know if I've seen the starfighters at WM or Target in quite some time now.  Looking forward to some new stuff (new Unleashed, Evolutions, 500th Vader) showing up sometime soon.  No K-Marts here, and TRU has piles of the same figures they've had for awhile, Vader wrestling buddies, big PEZ dispensers, and other misc. crap that no one wants :).  I don't mind the slow down (actually had a chance to pick up a few vintage figures for the first time in a long time), but I'm ready for some new stuff to start popping up again.

Offline SpudTrooper

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Re: Happy for the "Slow Down"?
« Reply #28 on: July 26, 2005, 12:44 PM »
It seems this "Slow Down" is picking up the pace!

i dunno, its probably California but honestly, i thought finding the shock troopers, black pilot or green commander would be difficult, but its NOT.

Most of the Walmarts over here probably had a truck load (10-15 cases) of new shipments in basic figures and since the SW aisle are now condense, they only put out 5-7 cases a day.

Also, the new assortments with the shocks are great. Abundance of clones so i guarentee ppl will find wut they want. not as hard as with the At-TE Gunner 2 months ago.

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Offline DoctorPadawan

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Re: Happy for the "Slow Down"?
« Reply #29 on: July 26, 2005, 01:51 PM »
Quote
It seems this "Slow Down" is picking up the pace!

i dunno, its probably California but honestly, i thought finding the shock troopers, black pilot or green commander would be difficult, but its NOT.

Oh, you Californians get everything.   :P

(Just kidding)  ;D

I went into the Target that I had my amazing experience this past Sunday at (check out the Unleashed thread in "Other Collectibles" if you care) and found that, for the first time in about a month and a half (at least; it's probably closer to two months), they decided to stock the pegs full of figures.  Of course, the problem is that they put out two cases of the 41-44 "Army Builder" wave and despite one of the six Clones being left, there were still six each of our friends the Wookiee and the Neimoidian hanging around to add to their already impressive total.

The thing that I'm finding particularly irritating is that out of 56 figures (not counting paint variants) out there, only about 10 of them can be located at this point in time.  That's some way to generate sales when a little less than 5/6th your entire action figure assortment is not able to be purchased.  Not to mention the fact that the retailers have raised the prices on figures again (Target's back to 5.99 and all the WMs near me have gone back up to 5.88), gas prices keep going up, and the selection and availability of items that people would buy is slim to none.  If I see anything at my local retailers in the basic line past what I've seen already (Meena Tills) at this point, I'll be extremely shocked and surprised.

But it's still funny to go in and see the mountain of Fantastic Four stuff that the retailers pushed SW out of the way with not selling at all.  :)