If anyone here is buying figures at Gamestop regularly and has not joined their annual membership, you need to go do it next time you're there.  It's $15 a year and I think you instantly get $5 off when you sign up.  At a minimum I get a $5 coupon each month.  It's in their system, so all you need to do is give your phone number at checkout to get it versus having to remember to bring something or look up a code.  Then you get additional random coupons and rewards on top of that.  Earlier this year they were issuing a free $20 figure after a certain number of purchases, so its a great way to save some cash on black series or marvel legends.  I stopped in the other day and got an extra Mandalorian Retro figure for about $4 because I had a couple of coupons to burn. 

Curious to know if anyone has found these in store versus online ordering.  Sounds like some people did in store pick up, but has anyone tracked them down in person using the DPCI or other options?  Still no sign of them in the Twin Cities as far as I know.

Given the short windows on the Star Wars online preorders, I have never assumed these were a "gauging interest and building a factory order" situation so much as a "coordinating online availability with online reveals before Yakface can spoil them" deal. But it is really getting out of hand, with unrevealed figures sold out, presells for next March sold out,

The Bad Batch pack is getting a rerun after insane preales, and I would imagine that rerun will get presold too. The TVC Jabba's Palace set got a second run back in 2019 too after everything sold through on initial release. That led to overstock and clearance.

The only Hasbro products that are presells in the real sense are HasLab campaigns. The rest are marketing schemes that are grinding the fun out of the hobby for many.

I'm not sure I'm on the same page with any of that.  If the goal is to get news out before Jayson spoils it, you can just announce that it's coming without the headache of setting up, releasing, selling, and managing all these pre-orders.  I think in general collectors would be happier knowing a product is coming and that they'll have an equal shot at getting it when its released versus the masses crying out when a pre-order sells out in 2 minutes and they're left in limbo for months wondering if they'll find more or have to turn to Ebay.

I also don't see how the Bad Batch sell out is considered "insane presales" versus anything else that's sold out out in minutes.  If they had a huge quantity and still sold out, that would make sense, but I don't know that any of us knows the production number on these.  I don't recall a second production on the Jabba's Throne, but I do recall them hitting stores well after they were made available online, which is a good recipe for retailer clearance. 

A recent example that I think worked pretty well was the Heroes of Endor set.  They clearly made an initial production run, then opened up orders to inform the numbers on a second production run that took another 6+ months to get to people.  But if you're putting up preorders for stuff that is expected to hit in May of 2022 right now, you'd think they would just take as many orders as possible, then adjust the production as needed. I know the factories are probably backed up with production schedules, but I would be shocked if they couldn't still make adjustments this far out.

Maybe I'm missing something, but I thought the whole point of a pre-order was to gauge consumer interest and then update production to match or slightly exceed that amount.  Is there any benefit to the manufacturer or retailer beyond this?  If I sell a product coming in October today versus just selling it in October, what is the benefit beyond holding onto your money for a few extra months (which honestly is not worth the amount of added costs they probably have in setting up and facilitating the pre-order).  What am I not understanding?

Sheesh, I was oblivious for five hours and still was able to preorder all three just now. Thanks Target! Screw you, Walmart!   

Yeah, I had no idea this was even a thing.  I don't even mind if they sell out later today - just refreshing to have an opportunity to get a preorder without being in that 2-5 minute window of opportunity.

I just got my retro Mandalorian figures from Pulse last week.  On the same day I saw them at Walmart on clearance.   

Still no sign of more of these?  What the heck happened?