Changing collecting practices due to covid19

[Phrubruh]

If I have to wear a mask to shop at Walmart, you would think they could at least stock their star wars section. They haven't stocked in about a year. All I see is crappy lightsabers and Jabba palace sets. They have more toilet paper than action figures. There can't be that many of us left to buy this stuff.

[Jesse James]

I haven’t changed anything here but like others have said, toy runs are long dead for me.  I look while I’m in but that’s it right now.  Even that I’m skipping sometimes since I just don’t care really.  I rather enjoy it just shipping to my house and I don’t army build quite as nuttily as years before.  I can order a squad and call it a day.

I will say my Walmart has been doing a good job keeping the store stocked for people.  Things were bad here for a time...  I had my family covered but it was rough.  Don’t know what stores are like in the rest of the country but I think living where I do might’ve had something to do with the hoarding.  It’s leveled out some now though. 

One thing is nice about this...  I realize how much I piss away on impulses haha.  I’ve been much more frugal.

[Nicklab]

I’ve only been looking for stuff online.  In the past 6 weeks I made one trip to Target and a couple of trips to Walmart.  On each of those I was looking for household supplies first.  And I didn’t find anything on the collecting front.  I think the chains are prioritizing with cleaning supplies and groceries over most other stock in the stores, and they’re adjusting their supply chain with that in mind. 

[Jesse James]

Agreed on that Nick...  I’ve noticed far fewer in the other areas of the store stocking than in groceries, health/beauty, etc.  Toys, clothes, and all that have hardly had employees in them when I’ve been in.

[Nicklab]

After I wrote this I went on a supply run to Walmart.  They've been good with paper products, and sure enough I found some.  And then a cursory swing through the toy section had me find a Remnant Stormtrooper, the Clone Trooper reissue and Cara Dune.  I also got what might be my only single carded Retro Collection figure - Yoda.  Easily one of my favorite vintage figures from back in the day.

[Nicklab]

One of the things I've been up to with my kid is a pretty sizable LEGO build.  We've built some of the smaller sets before (Theed generator duel, Death Star chasm swing, Luke's hut on Ahch-To).  But there was a set that we had seen in the LEGO store that kept drawing us back in - Darth Vader's Castle! 

The Vader Castle is on the verge of being retired.  But I managed to track it down through LEGO directly.  It took a little while for them to deliver, but I've gotten accustomed to shipping taking a little longer than usual these days.

This set is BIG.  At over 1,000 pieces I have never built a LEGO set this big before.  But I really like how it's been split up into 11 separate bags of parts, with things coming together in a pretty logical fashion.  And it's been fun doing this together with my daughter.  She's getting really good at figuring this stuff out.  Although when she was looking at the package and saw Vader in the Bacta tank, she called it his "Bacteria Tank", which I just had to laugh at!  But we put together one bag of parts at a time, and we're having a good time doing this together.  We're probably going to be done with it in the next few days.

Now I'm kind of regretting not getting Krennic's shuttle.  It would be a great companion piece to the castle!

[Force Guy]

I scored the 40th Anniversary Black Series Boba Fett helmet last week at Walmart. I haven't really changed or modified my hunting practices but at the same time, there hasn't been anything released (other than the Fett helmet) that would motivate me to be on the hunt, either.