Quote from: McMetal on October 30, 2009, 01:07 PM

What a great insight into the Walmart drone mindset too. Now I am even more determined to rearrange the pegs every time I go there and leave them with a huge, gaping empty spot where new figs should be. I hope someone DOES get in trouble for that.

I also would love to speak my mind to a rep next time I see one. However, I don't see the sense in trying to get the employees punished. Frankly, that seems juvenile and makes collectors look bad. You cannot expect the employees to know and keep up with 3 barely different packages, especially when the day before they could have been working clothes or food. I'm sure even the toy managers have more to worry about than keeping Star Wars figures on the correct pegs. If Star Wars was the only toy line, there would be no excuse, but unfortunately that is not the case.

Agreed.  It's many store's policy to front face the pegs with product to make them look more full, cleaner, and just generally easier to shop.  While they shouldn't be putting the wrong line on certain pegs, I don't really blame them for not knowing the difference.  I like to rearrange the pegs accurately when I have time and always hope that the employees will catch on because of it, but I don't wish them any ill will if it gets messed up again.  They're just doing their job ignorant of the issue.

I just received Han and Luke Stormtroopers (100%) from Wlyaxe.  Nicely filled two gaping wholes in my collection.  They look awesome!

Well done and nice prices on those from Wyldaxe.  Those are easily two of my favorites - too bad they're so rare.   

What did you end up paying for the Brown Snake version?  I have the darker green Yoda complete with all but his brown snake and haven't been able to bring myself to spend big when all I'm missing is the accessory. 

And is there truly a green snake version?  I thought this was a dismissed variant.  Here's the comment from RS on the subject:

"There is much talk of a Yoda being released with a green snake, but research and common opinion show this to be a case of plastic degradation and not a true variation, just like the green limbed Chewbacca."

I'm okay without another Nein Nunb for a while.  I know his outfit is different, but we just got one with Wave 9 and he's one of the weakest figs in the wave IMO.

Now that we have enough lead time and most folks are pretty satisfied with NCSX, I think I'll try to drop them a note and see if they could offer us some sort of bulk discount?  Maybe I could try to offer them some free advertising at JD to get us a better deal... 

That's a really solid idea.  I would be tempted to buy multiple boxes if there were a JD discount associated with the purchase.  I'm sure it fell on deaf ears, but I mentioned JD in feedback back to NCS after my S10 and Fett Series figures arrived, suggesting that a number of us on JD bought from them via word of mouth in the forums.  I hope they go for it - it's certainly a partnership that makes sense!

Well done.  I'll definitely order from them again.

I'm not sure how "core" a character needs to be, but I like the suggestion on the Endor Rebel Commando and we have been in need of a revised Ackbar for quite some time.  More ewoks would make sense - we're still missing some of the core vintage ones like Lumat, Warok, and Paploo, right?  I'd like to see an upgraded Ree-Yees, and General Lando would be a nice addition as well.

Ok, I realize I am shouting into the wind on this one, but it's not as simple a complaint as "a month is too long to wait for new toys".

It's a complaint compounded by multiple factors. Among them:

I think you have some valid points here, but I think you're over simplifying the issue.  I'm pretty sure that Hasbro wants to sell as much product as possible.  It's not like they're all vacationing somewhere and letting the line die or purposely trying to avoid new product at shelf.  The distribution on this line has been screwed up from the beginning because demand was much stronger than supply.  I think they've been playing catch up ever since and are just trying to send out whatever they can whenever they can send it.  

Most stores in my area have a bunch of older CW sitting on the pegs anyway - it's Legacy that needs to get some new product in.  If the show drives kid interest in the line, then we ought to see some of the older figs clearing out for kids.  That seems to make more sense than shipping in new stuff that both kids and collectors want only to sell the new stuff and not the old.  The show is designed to be a pull strategy not a push strategy...if you do it right, the interest in the show drives older product sales and makes room for orders of new products.

As for the distribution, there's a lot of added complexity here that I'm not sure you're aware of.  For starters, Hasbro takes massive orders from big chain stores vs. online merchants.  They're not going to sit and pick through each case to make sure everyone get's a fair share of each wave.  If Target orders 5,000 cases, then they're going to get the next 5,000 cases.  That may contain 3 different waves, but no one's going to hold the order up or ship less to make sure the last 1,000 cases contain a 4th wave that isn't ready yet.  Big chains order in massive bulk quantities - it's not like Hasbro is shipping out a few cases here and there piecemeal.  They also have to get product from Hasbro to the distribution centers, then from the DCs out to hundreds of retail outlets.  It's very possible that big chains have new product sitting in their warehouses, but they're not usually going to get that product out if there are older cases waiting in front of them.

Online retailers order less, so they can clear out supply faster.  They can probably also choose to order 'x' cases of each wave - something I imagine the big guys pay less attention to.  At the very least, they can better forecast what's going to sell online to minimize the amount of old product they have in the way.  Online also has the advantage of shipping from one location.  They don't have the added steps of getting product to a store, churning through older product first, getting it out to the sales floor, etc.  They get it in, add it to the site, and it's available for order - in many cases you can even pre-order to further reduce the wait.

Given all that, I think it's pretty difficult to offer accurate street dates every time (they are usually pretty close in most cases) and completely unrealistic to think that all retailers are getting the same product within a week or two timeline.  The only time that seems to happen is when there is a brand new line coming out and that usually comes along with an official "do not release until..." street date.