I agree with Jeff - I fail to see what Target, WalMart or TRU's motivations would be for NOT putting the stuff out as early as they get it in.

This is why, if Hasbro wants a street date, they need to try and time the shipping of the merchandise as best they can.

If I was Target and I knew I was charging more than say WalMart for these figures, I would distribute them to my stores as soon as my distribution hubs received them AND tell the stores to stock the empty Star Wars pegs ASAP.

I think more than anything else: the LACK of SW product on the shelves; how fast the Sneak Preview wave is selling (at least around here); and cases that will just scream "put me out on the shelves" -- stores will take the stance -- "f-this, I'm filling my pegs with stock I have on hand NOW!" Of course that will be on a case-by-case basis, up to each individual manager. I'm sure where some of you work, there are always those one or two employees who act first knowing they'll get their hands slapped after-the-fact. Sure the manager might take a ding, but his/her store will also be the store NOT sitting on a glut of these figures come June 2005.

Now - going back to the subject of where the product is right now...

I had a nice chat with my friend who is one of the local Hasbro reps. He swore to me that NONE of the EPIII stuff has hit the distribution hubs for any of the retailers at least locally here in NJ. His guess re: the story that started this thread is that a lone case was shipped from Hasbro by mistake with the rest of the Sneak Preview figures, not that Hasbro has already sent Target their C1 and C2 EP3 figures yet. His guess is that Target/WalMart/TRU wouldn't see these in their distribution warehouses until the middle of next month.

I made him swear he was telling me the truth and not the corporate line, so I have to believe him.

Ok - so now we've seen a carded sample of Darth Vader's Medical Droid (#37) which is up on eBay. However, if you take a look at the posted checklist. Figure #37 should have been a CloneTrooper.

Check it out here: GalacticHunter Basic Figure Checklist

So what gives? My only conclusion can be that the checklist graphic is from an early draft that has since been revised and should no longer be considered THE list of figures since we already know that:

#37 = Vader's Medical Droid (NOT Clone Trooper)
#38 = AT-TE Gunner (NOT Nemoidian Warrior)
#39 = Pollis Massan (NOT Wookie Warrior)
#40 = Mas Amedda (NOT Destroyer Droid)

(completely unrelated, does anybody buy "Teen Titans" stuff?  It seems to never move from where it is yet more and more stuff gets ordered and I never see anyone buying it.  Am I missing something here?)

Ok - I thought this was just me. I liked Batman, Batman Beyond, Superman, Justice League and I like Justice Leage Unlimited. I gave Teen Titans a chance, at first I though, perhaps it's me and I'm finally getting too old to even like super-hero based cartoons and then I asked my son, who likes Justic League and its predecessors. So I said to him "Is Teen Titans good? Is there something I'm not getting" and his response was "Nope, it just stinks".

So - now that WalMart has done the aisle reset, Star Wars shares the same 4ft section with Teen Titans. That stuff is ALWAYS over-flowing into the space that is meant for Star Wars and I kinda find it annoying because instead of calling attention to the fact that they never have SW stuff in, they just sorta fill in the gaps with the Teen Titan stuff to make the shelves look completely stocked. It never moves, it never goes anywhere and I've NEVER seen a kid in the aisle go for any of the figures. I just wonder if the over-abundance of this stuff is just Bandai pulling the wool over the eyes of the WalMart buyer with the simple pitch - "Kids Love Spiderman! Teen Titans is like a group of Spidermen with all different kinds of powers, kids will LOVE this line!"

Interesting looking vehicle...although the one thing that makes me the happiest is that it includes a Grievous figure.  Hopefully that means for the first time in the Prequel era*, we'll have a pilot figure who can actually fit in their ship without any contortionist tricks.

I too am very happy to see that there will be a Grevious figure packed in with this vehicle. I still think there should have been an Anakin and Obi-Wan packed in with each of the their fighters just to ensure that the figure interfaces with the vehicle well.

Ever since I first saw the design for this ride, I've been curious to see how it moves, the toy itself doesn't really imply roll or crawl, my guess is that it can do both, sort of like a Droideka - rolls quickly into position and then deploys the legs for stability when engaged in combat.

For those of you who like using the DPCI trick at Target:

Post-OTC/2005 Vehicle Assortment ($19.99 each)
Assortment #: 85196
DPCI#: 087-06-1246
* Use this number to help you score the Episode 3 Sneak Preview vehicle!

Now we can all keep tabs on when Target gets in Episode 3 Sneak Preview vehicles!

Around here in NJ there are a couple of Targets that have the DPCI/UPC price scanners that will allow you to type the number in, in lieu of having a UPC barcode to scan.

I've been using the DPCI that Jeff posted above for a couple of days now and still haven't come up with any success. Since Target doesn't have shelf space for this item, my only hope is to enter the code and get someone to bring me a couple from the back - this worked with the Slave I.

Anyway - has anyone had any success finding this ship yet in the US? (doesn't matter which store Target, WalMart, TRU, KMart, etc...)

Thanks.

I also don't think Pete's an unethical collector.  I think he made a couple comments that didn't come out exactly as he intended, and I took them and ran with them (like the nabbing rare stuff off the shelf).  In fact, he sounds rather like me when it comes to grabbing things off the pegs in case a friend of his may need it since it's new, and if not, he just returns it later (like I do).  Fair enough.

Thanks, I'm glad you understand a little bit more what type of collector I am.

So like I already mentioned in my PM Pete, no hard feelings.  Hopefully you'll even stop by JD from time to time to check out the community that I was bragging about here.  I'm willing to give it a shot, as are the rest of my JD compadres here, I'm sure.  They're good people, and if they can put up with me, I'm sure they can put up with you too...   

No hard feelings either, Matt. And I will definitely be checking out this forum and the site more.