Quote from: JediJman on May 12, 2012, 05:09 PM

I was just at Target and they had GI Joe figures for like $7 on clearance.  I was a little surprised at the cost - I thought they were only $7-8 to begin with.

I noticed that too... Spider-Man figures were "marked down" to $7, "originally $10". I'm pretty sure they were pricing that Spidey line at like $8.50 a figure, so not much of a deal. But then again I've found that outside of the odd exclusive, Target doesn't really like getting money from collectors anyway, so no big deal.

I've noticed that, in recent months, Target will mark up things to a ridiculous amount a few weeks before they put it on clearance.  Saw this most recently back in January when they jacked the prices of the Mattel DC Batman Legacy two packs (you know, the one with Gordon and Wayne that every store had tons of?) up to 40 bucks before marking it down to 20 2 weeks later.  I don't know if they've got someone else in charge of things these days on the corporate level, but between that, the 17 dollar TF:DOTM deluxes, and the 10 dollar Joes, it seems to be standard policy now.  I guess that way, when the first clearance is back to original retail price, they can pretend like you're getting a deal by saying "WAS 10 DOLLARS, NOW 7!"

Given how only one Wal-Mart near me has gotten anything past the Episode I wave, I broke down and ordered the case with Wedge in it from BBTS a few minutes ago.  I'm going to wind up with a few figures I don't need (Maul, Qui-Gon, and Nom Anor), but I'd rather pay for 9 figures I do want/need now than have to worry about searching later.  I guess (unless the case never actually ships and I don't wind up with the figures at all; what a pessimist I have become) that only leaves me needing Bespin Han and Barriss Offee (from wave 7) and Darth Malgus and the Imperial Navy Commander (from wave 3) to be (technically) "caught up."

Only the second case I've ever bought online, btw (the first was the AOTC wave last year which, Hasbro should take note, I only ordered because I needed 10 of the 12 figures from it; this is why even halfway acceptable case packs are better).

I've never met DePriest (or anyone from Hasbro, for that matter) personally, but the 30th Anniversary (2007) line was probably the high point of the last 10 years of Star Wars for me, at least in terms of character selection and the ability to actually find figures at retail.  Aside from the huge drought mid-year (which seems to have become a staple of the line since 2007 unfortunately) and the large number of waves hitting all at once, that was probably the last time I recall every figure that we were promised actually being released in decent numbers.  Everything since then has been horrible, both due to the inability to find new figures and for certain waves being almost impossible to locate.  So, for whatever else he may have done poorly, I can't fault the guy for 2007.

That being said, I thought Hasbro said that they had "learned" from the 2011 Vintage case assortment situation and were going to presumably remedy it for 2012.  I guess that didn't happen, because we're heading right back down that same path with the 2012 assortments.  I've said it before, but I never actually saw wave 7 at retail (only got the other four figures through the revision cases later in the year that Wal-Mart did get), and I still don't have Bespin Han or Barris Offee, so I'm glad to see them (and the Gammy and Wedge) make a comeback.  I do agree that Bastilla/Echo Base Rebel/Walrus Man could do with another few cases, and why Hasbro isn't doing that confuses me to no end.  The very idea that a "Fan's Choice" winner is about as common as a villain in a Hasbro Marvel movie line is, frankly, asinine.

At this point, outside of maybe Maul, there is no reason whatsoever for any of the vintage TPM figures to be repacked in ANY future case assortment.  There is an abundance of every figure at retail, and it's blocking anything from getting stocked.  Hasbro could stop shipping those figures, put new figures in cases at 2 per case, with repacks of older, truly HTF figures (Bastilla, Echo Base Rebel, Wedge) to fill out the case and things wouldn't be nearly as bad as they are now.  Of course, the TPM stuff would still be sitting on the pegs, so maybe not.

Given several factors (the new brand manager, whoever he/she is, that seems to have a fondness for 1995-level articulation, 2002-level action features, and 1923-level distribution; continually abysmal case assortments; dropping of the Q&A with websites; price hikes; essentially dumping Clone Wars figures altogether; Movie Heroes as a whole; and the admitted bombing of TPM 3D in theaters), it honestly feels like Hasbro is trying to deliberately kill the SW line as an ongoing thing.  And to be honest, if they are doing it purposely, I wish they'd just go ahead and pull the plug at the end of the year completely and stop jerking us around with false promises of things getting better.

Everything happening with the entire SW line seems like a colossal cluster**** right now.  Do they REALLY need to be rereleasing all of those Wave 3 and 7 figures this spring?  I mean I get Wedge and Gammy but the rest?  The carry forwards, the lack of any new vehicles, this crap, the lack of exclusives, the demise of the Clone Wars line, the quintuple releasing of figures (Mau, Obi and Qui) at the same time...ugh.  It is like they are trying to kill the line

I can honestly say that I never saw a single case of Wave 7 at any store I went to last year, and I'm still without Bespin Han and Barriss because of that.  The only reason I have the other four from that wave is due to them reshipping in random "Revenge of the Jedi" cases two waves later.  I'm actually happy they're reshipping that wave, and that Wedge and Gammy are getting another go around (especially since the former was nonexistent seemingly everywhere).

But yeah, all the other decisions Hasbro's been making lately seem like deliberate attempts to kill the line.  It's like 1995 and 2002 got together and had a baby who looked like ****.

I'm not sure if you meant it that way Diddly but the Droideka in DTF is the 2007 figure, not the 1999 figure...

You're both right on this one.  The DTF figure is the 2007 figure with a slightly different paint job, but the 2007 figure was the 1999 figure with a new "head" piece that had the extended sensors instead of a complete curve (I think they may have just used the same head from the 2005 ROTS version with the launching missiles, but I'm not too sure about that, as I don't have the action-feature impaired version).  That said, the Droideka (1999, 2007, or 2012) continues to be one of the better figures of all time, IMHO.  Back in the day of 5 dollar figures and TRU's B2GO sales, I army built the crap out of the the 2007 Droidekas.  That said, I have WAY too many blue shield balls hanging around (har har).

Been a while since I've logged on here, but over Christmas, the family got me the Republic Frigate for a gift, which is really cool.  I hadn't seen any pictures of the side pods opened up (aside from the ones on the box) so seeing that you can have Yoda and Eeth Koth sit at a table viewing a hologram was pretty fun.  Also, it has a handle built in, which makes carrying it a whole lot easier.

Before Christmas, I also caved in, spent some VIP dollars, and bought the Death Star.  Alongside my vintage Micro Collection Bespin World, this thing is the crown jewel of my Star Wars collection.  It took me around 26 hours over a 5-day-period to build it from bottom to top, but wow, was it worth it.  Probably the most fun I've had with a Star Wars toy ever, and I highly recommend it if you have the cash and the space.  Or, I suppose you could spend that money on five Hasbro figures at this point.

Believe it or not, everything is gone.  I guess this can be deleted now, then.

I'm not going to make an entire list of everything I've gotten recently, but this is just a general post about Lego (SW and otherwise) purchases.  Due to Hasbro's continual botching of the various SW action figure lines (I can't find new figures to save my life, horrible case assortments aren't helping, and I'm just tired of walking out of stores empty-handed), I've been buying a LOT of Lego stuff over the last four months, and I couldn't be happier. 

As cool as the vintage and CW SW lines still are to me, I've found it much more fulfilling to buy a Lego set (even the so-called "subpar" sets like the Ewok Tree and V-Wing) and put it together; it's a sense of accomplishment I don't get with Hasbro's stuff.  And I don't have to worry about cherry-picking employees, "scalpers" or any of the secondary market nonsense when it comes to finding something at retail. 

The weirdest part is that, because of Hasbro and the horrible retail situation, not only am I buying SW Lego, but other Lego lines as well.  I love the Alien Conquest stuff (I've gotten at least 20 of the little 5 dollar sets and have rebuilt a lot of MOC Alien skiffs and weapons platforms), and I've really gotten into the Creator houses (the Hillside House and Lighthouse sets are great on just about every level).  The minifigure series is nothing but fun, and I'm even at the point where I'm eyeing sets based on parts instead of the set itself. 

So I guess Lego owes Hasbro some thanks for increasing their bottom line to an extent, as I've seen several people on here comment in recent months about buying more and more Lego stuff. 

Oh, and to make this an official "recent acquisitions" post, I found and bought the Lego Boba Fett alarm clock at Wal-Mart this morning.  First time I'd seen it show up at retail (19.99).  Also bought a City Police Helicopter, just for the heck of it.