Vintage Collection Pricing - Sales, Discounts, Price Hikes!

[DoctorPadawan]

Yup, saw the same thing, and just like the at my store the pegs are overflowing and not really looking like they'll move now.

I saw this yesterday as well.  I hate to admit it, but the Legends figures moved far quicker at the "reduced" 6.50 than the CW stuff did.  This may, of course, be due to the fact that all three WMs in my area got at least 3 cases worth of the CW 2010 assortment with all the 2008-2009 repacks (Super Battle Droids and even more Obi-Wans aplenty!) and none of the newest wave (Aqua Droid, Wolffe, etc).  At 7.88, I see them sitting there even longer.

Hasbro needs to do something about distribution, and FAST.  I can already see the "collectors just aren't supporting the vintage line" bull**** coming, but it's nobody's fault but their own.  Truly awful case assortments, defective figures (yellow helmeted clones and stormtroopers in multiple waves), and what might easily be the worst repack wave in the history of the SW line being shipped more than any other new wave is what is causing the backup, NOT "lack of collector support."  They've been shipping the same 20 odd Legends figures for almost a year now with NO cycling "new" repacks into it, and even CW is starting to back up to a ridiculous amount.  And they're doing it with a new, higher price point?  BRILLIANT.   

Also on a "let's raise the prices just because" note, I noticed that TRU has raised their prices BACK to the previous 10.99 for Vintage and 8.99 for CW/Legends this morning.  Because that's how you compete in a ****** economy. 

[shmashwitdaclub]

HTS has free shipping on most orders over $25 today only.

[Scockery]

Odd goings on at Wal-Mart, people on other forums have reported $5 Legends figures. Yesterday, I went to the super Wal-Mart, everything was $7.88. Today, I went to a smaller store and found $5 Legends figures. Only applied to Legends, though the store had Clone Wars Malevolence 2-Packs (well one pack left) for $11, if anyone wanted those repacks.

[Scockery]

More Wal-Mart weirdness, the third one closest to me still has Legends and Clone Wars for $6.50.

[Dan]

The Walmart closest to me (St Anthony Minnesota) has the legends at $5, but CW and Vintage are  $8-9. As bad as distribution has been, the stores still seem to have a bunch of Nov-Jan figures. It is going to take at least a 30 day price drop to $6 to unclog the toilet. Stopping at the toy aisle hasn't been this boring for this long in quite a while.

[Jesse James]

I saw the "Legends Clearance" tonight at a local Wal-Mart...  $5 for army builders is kind of nice, and I got the last 3 Snowtroopers they had.  I hadn't bought a Snowie yet so that was nice.  I haven't been anywhere else lately to know if this is happening at other WM's in my area, but I thought I'd just add myself to the list of having at least one WM with clearanced Legends stuff.  This line should be $5 all year.

[Jesse James]

Was at another WM tonight, same deal but not marked...  Legends are $5.  I got the last Snowtrooper.  They had scads of AOTC CLones, which really makes the market for those basically nill...  For anyone looking to swap out the old SA sculpt for the new SDA sculpt, you're really going to eat it when selling those I think.  I mean, $5 a piece nets you a ton of them at WM right now, plus the bonus weapons, stands, and the card game thing...   

[ysalamir]

I would buy the Legends ROTS Clone any day over the Vintage Collection because of the discolored helmets. Don't really care about the removable helmet. Already have plenty of Clones from ROTS, AOTC, and Snowtrooper armies I need.

The new sculpt Battledroid is definitely worth picking up in multiples for a Geonosis army though.
I was able to rub off the yellow spots on the Commander with some Lacquer thinner (high strength automotive grade) and a Q-tip and then I had two soldiers. No one wants an army of Commander BD's.

[Jesse James]

I'm actually going to do the same thing with my Commander Droids since I got so many packs, however those are long gone here.  No $5 2-packs for me unfortunately.

I'm going to use goof-off and a lot of care I think, and see how it goes on a couple.  I figure I'll use them as Geonosis Security droids since they don't have the big soldier's pack.

[Scockery]

Was at another WM tonight, same deal but not marked...  Legends are $5.  I got the last Snowtrooper. 

I went back to the wal-mart that had them at $7.88 last week and they were still $7.88. So the 3 inconsitent local Wal-Mart thing remains in my area, bummer as the two with more Legends have $6.50 and $7.88 prices. There's just one more store I'm willing to try.

They had scads of AOTC CLones, which really makes the market for those basically nill...  For anyone looking to swap out the old SA sculpt for the new SDA sculpt, you're really going to eat it when selling those I think.  I mean, $5 a piece nets you a ton of them at WM right now, plus the bonus weapons, stands, and the card game thing...   

They've already been devalued over the years, in part to years of Legends, folks selling off their armies and Asian-based ebay auctions (from some that you can sometimes get for $3 a figure). In fact,  that $5 isn't that cheap to me, that's probably the most I would've paid for one even a year or two before the new SA sculpt (which I don't own, as I haven't seen one to buy). Same goes for plain white phase 2's. Lots of them out there. The Legends incenitve is the additional weapons (that are going away) and actually seeing what you are buying.

[ysalamir]

I'm actually going to do the same thing with my Commander Droids since I got so many packs, however those are long gone here.  No $5 2-packs for me unfortunately.

I'm going to use goof-off and a lot of care I think, and see how it goes on a couple.  I figure I'll use them as Geonosis Security droids since they don't have the big soldier's pack.

Yeah no soldiers pack, but what you gonna do? Wish they would release these as soldiers only, like the past 2 packs, and in tan also. I very good value nonetheless since the only other release was the Target 2-Packs with just one BD and a Jedi (and no eyes)

Does Goof-off work? I think I tried that (use it to remove price tags too) and it didn't phase it. I also tried the laquer thinner you get at a hardware store, nada. I read the paint was like automotive grade made to stick to plastic. Working in a body shop I had easy access to the strong stuff, and it worked right away ( have to watch out for the droid eyes) I went a little further and used some diluted permanent ink and made a wash over some areas like the head because a little of the yellow got in the seams. I wiped the excess leaving the ink in there.
I seem to remember MEK Methyl Ethyl Ketone being very strong and would also work as it's supposedly the same thing as auto grade thinner, but consumer grade stuff just doesn't phase the paint on hasbro figures which is probably a good thing they use durable paint.

They've already been devalued over the years, in part to years of Legends, folks selling off their armies and Asian-based ebay auctions (from some that you can sometimes get for $3 a figure). In fact,  that $5 isn't that cheap to me, that's probably the most I would've paid for one even a year or two before the new SA sculpt (which I don't own, as I haven't seen one to buy). Same goes for plain white phase 2's. Lots of them out there. The Legends incenitve is the additional weapons (that are going away) and actually seeing what you are buying.

This is why at almost every store around here the Vintage Collection ROTS Clones are warming the pegs in large amounts. I mean excessively! Why buy a clone with a green discolored helmet at a higher price when you can get a pristine Legends one on the peg next to it?

[jedipurge]

Legends Clearance Spreading





Some reports of the Star Wars Legends line getting clearanced for $5 at Wal-Mart stores have been coming in over the last week, including my own find recently. Some great army builders were available too, so it's a good time to stock up if your stores are joining in this purge.


YES JOIN ME OR DIE!!!!!!! 

[Jesse James]

You're thinking of goo-gone, ysalimir...  the citrus-y stuff.  Goof-Off is a commercial-grade graffitti remover and can easily damage plastic if you're not careful, but it lifts figure paint like it's nothing.

You're right though, the paints used by the toy industry today generally are very strong and chemically bond to plastics.  It's an advancement that's come since the 80's when helmets wore off paint on Joe heads and such.  Now, it's bonded pretty good and paint wear doesn't happen.

It's something that's been a bit of a mystery for customizers for eons too.  How do you duplicate that, ya know?  It's not easy, if it's psosible at all it seems.

[ysalamir]

Maybe I didn't try the Goof-off thinking it was just a mild and greasy solvent. It's a lot easier to get than the MEK.

I think the key to get paint to stick to plastic is the same as a Body shop. Where you first clean with  alcohol or heat up then soap and water to get rid of the release agents in the plastic, then spray the plastic bumpers (or in this case a figure) with an adhesion promoter which softens the plastic somewhat and allows the paint to stick instead of beading up as if on a greasy surface. Strong thinner will do the same, but like you said as with the goof-off it does soften the plastic. That is key to getting the plastic paintable though is a clean semi-pliable surface.
I don't know if goof-off has any left over residue, which could make the paint not stick, and a no no when painting pliable plastic that has to be absolutely clean.

Anyways excuse the tangent here, probably better left discussed in a customs thread.

[ysalamir]

Double post...Went to a mega Walmart late last night and saw boxes of Legends it looked like they were fixing to stock (no new Vintage or Clone Wars  )
All the Legends were on sale at $5. I figured they were going to put an isle island out for them maybe? Or throw them back in the stockroom because there's no room for them on the pegs.

I hope they can clear out some of these to make room for more CW figures. I haven't seen any of the latest ones yet probably because the pegs are clogged with Legends and older CW figures.

No new Vintage figures for weeks. Plenty of ROTS Clones and a few Sandtroopers however, with almost nothing else.