Pittsburgh's changing I guess, but not quickly.
VOTC's still spotty.
The ANH VOTC are ALL OVER the place at Wal-Marts. Those things are bought, literally by the dozen at those stores. Who ever thought buying that many cases of one wave was a good idea needs to lose his/her job because that glut's gonna kill seeing VOTC ESB/ROTJ at Wal-Mart in my area I think, short of a surge of people buying those VOTC up that aren't avid collectors.
The ANH are only sporatically seen at any other store though, so that's good.
Most Targets haven't got more than 4 VOTC figures on the shelves total.
OTC's pegwarming with select figures... mostly the Luke's (all types), the repack bounty hunters, R2 (with wheels), Han Cantina (of course), Dago Wave, Bespin Wave remnants (CCP never sits, proving once again that Army builders always sell well for a longer period when they're done right), and that's about the OTC situation...
No OTC like the Stormtrooper, Scout trooper, TIE Pilot, Gam Guard, Jawas, or Tusken Raider, ever seems to sit for any ammount of time. The Army builders, once again, move. I've yet to see (ever) a Gam Guard, Bib Fortuna, imperial Trooper, or the Endor wave repacks. I'd like the Endor wave figs and Gam guards, but alas I'm hosed.
The figure cases sold incredibly well unless they went to the back rooms of Wal-Mart, because one WM here had at least 2 dozen of 3PO and 2 dozen of Vader, and now they have 2 of each at most. It's a big, high-traffic store, but I'm even in awe that they sold most of those through.
The little kiddie figures (Galactic Heroes or whatever) are everywhere. I mean, tons. I kinda wish they marketed these away from the other figures, but I digress.
TONS of OTC vehicles except the Slave I at Target. All the rest are out in abundance. TONS out there, none moving. I'll wait for clearances on anything I want, but what I want's extremely limited....
Beyond that, I think VOTC are a HUGE hit. $10 still moved figures... A mixed blessing. Only the ANH wave pegwarms, and it's arguably the worst wave overall AND it was also (as most 1st waves are) heavily overordered by some. K-Mart semi-did and Wal-Mart HORRIBLY did so. Only if ROTJ hits in that kinda mass will we all rejoice.
OTC's a mixed hit IMO. It's selling well, but bare in mind a lot of figures aren't evenly packed in it, a lot are "rare" in the first place (Endor wave), and the ones that shouldn't have been packed that most of us called Hasbro on in the first place are sitting just as we predicted.
one WM here even has one of every repack Cantina Han on their various cards. I **** you not, they have what is like a pseudo-retarded Darwinian evolutionary chart of that pile of **** that shouldn't have ever seen the light of day when they're releasing a vastly superior figure for $10 at the same time. Tell me more VOTC Hans wouldn't move if he was only available for $10, ya know?
The army builders, again, are moving. T hey're all pretty solid, even if I'm not fond of the Scout Trooper personally. It still moves. CCP though is proof that they move when done right, and Saga Hoth Rebel's proof they don't move when they're done terrible. I've got a Target here sporting a wall of Saga Hoth Rebels.
And on that note...
Saga still clogs the pegs. Some places have remnants of Star Destroyer and Yavin waves, though usually on Dodonna and Dengar, while other places have WALLS (Mostly Toys R Us stores) of the Hoth wave (R-3PO, Hoth Trooper, etc).
Not good... Then again, Toys R Us is the one with most Saga, and they've got Preview POTJ and POTJ Duros/Bespin Guards too... Though most BG's are gone now too, so kudos to him finally dwindling away from several Christmas's ago.
Retail isn't swift right now... That's the short of it.
But there's empty pegs some places for some stuff, and WM's are often making OTC displays separate of the Saga repacked Jedi/Younglings they overordered, so they're sorta getting stuff in... though most is old OTC nobody needs now.