Black Series 3.75" Is Now Walmart Exclusive

[Rob]

I'd love it if they could find a way to send this line somewhere other than Wal-Mart... hell, give it to Entertainment Earth, or make them HTS exclusives.

Something I can order online is all I ask for...

[Darth_Anton]

I'd love it if they could find a way to send this line somewhere other than Wal-Mart... hell, give it to Entertainment Earth, or make them HTS exclusives.

Something I can order online is all I ask for...

Can't disagree with a word of this statement.

[Nicklab]

The lack of any online availability is a real kick in the pants.  Especially since these WalMart exclusive Black Series figures seem to be getting made in some quantity and they're pretty good figures.  Even though WalMart has over 4000 stores in the U.S. alone, not everyone lives close to one of them. 

I get the concept behind exclusives:  they're designed with the intention of getting people to walk into the store repeatedly.  That increased foot traffic leads to sales of other unrelated items, etc.  In this case, though, it's odd.  Because all of these figures were listed on the WalMart website at some point in time.  But the new figure offerings were never put up for sale, only the first wave which was all reissues.  I blame WalMart.

[Pete_Fett]

Fault equally lies with Hasbro and their case pack ratios. I'm still convinced that there is no coincidence between a wave that consisted of an even breakdown of each figure in the case was offered online, yet all subsequent waves which do not feature a similar even breakdowns have not.

Walmart.com sells thousands of products - even case pack ratio allows inventory control to say "we're getting 1000 cases and there are 4 Luke Skywalkers in the case therefore put that item on the site up with an available quantity of 4000".

Variations in case pack ratio prevent that sort of simplification.

There was no reason for wave 1 to be all repacks/rereleases, they should have limited these waves to 2 new figures/1 rerelease and evenly packed them at 4x per case. With 1/3 of the case using pre-existing molds that should have kept the cost per wave down.

I can't imagine how difficult it's going to be to get the 4th wave of these things with the 3.75" SA Captain Phasma packed at 2x or 1x per case.

[Nicklab]

There was no reason for wave 1 to be all repacks/rereleases, they should have limited these waves to 2 new figures/1 rerelease and evenly packed them at 4x per case. With 1/3 of the case using pre-existing molds that should have kept the cost per wave down.

Yes, there was a reason.   SALES.

Hasbro has notoriously double dipped with character offerings in the action figure line during movie years.  I distinctly remember seeing this in 1999, 2002 and 2005 where a crap version of Obi-Wan, or Qui-Gon or Anakin would be in the initial offerings, and 3 or 6 months down the line a much better version would be offered.  So the onus is on us as collectors who remember what has come before to recognize this pattern. 

Wave 2 of The Black Series offered up the SA renditions of Kylo Ren and the First Order Stormtrooper.  When did those start showing up, November?  That's a considerable amount of time since Force Friday back in September.  And what were among the hottest figures in the TFA 5 POA line?  Why, Kylo Ren and the First Order Stormtrooper!  They don't announce it that way because then consumers might wise up to the scheme.  I kind of saw this coming and vowed to NOT buy the 5 POA versions of Kylo Ren, the Stormtrooper, Finn, Poe and Rey.  But that collecting/buying impulse is strong, and even though I knew things would play out like this I bought the 5 POA versions of these characters before I was able to get a hold of the WalMart SA versions.  But had the WalMart Black Series new offering been out in October?  Then I probably could have held out.

As for the first wave of reissues?  Darth Vader, Chewbacca and Luke are evergreen core characters.  They continue to sell through, albeit at a slower pace than the new characters.  Vader is the face of the franchise.  Luke proved to be the McGuffin of the new movie and had an all new allure as a character since everyone has been asking the JJ Abrams inspired question, "Where is Luke Skywalker?"  And Chewbacca is in THE FORCE AWAKENS, so there was a tie-in for him to sell.  Another reason for this first wave?  It was a placeholder.  It was supposed to secure pegspace in the WalMart planogram for this line until the new figures could be offered.  But it seems likely that Hasbro and WalMart wanted the general line in place for at least 6 weeks following Force Friday before they launched the second wave so that they wouldn't hurt sales of the 5 POA versions of Kylo Ren and the FO Stormtrooper.

[Jesse James]

Yeah I'm with Nick on this...  I remember all the incessant bitching on those Wave 1 figures, and I said at the time to just wait and see...  And here, Wave 1 sold out, twice, by the movie's release.  Wave 1 carry overs and the Han are all also selling.  They weren't a hindrance at all...  Hell, all it took was the movie releasing to blow out all the Chewbaccas my nearest WM had, and it had a lot (this particular store got in a TON of Wave 1, twice).

Case packs...  Can be argued all day long as to the why's, and Hasbro has said it's getting increasingly difficult to do 3.75" SA for a justifiable price...  I don't have much reason to disbelieve this, personally, but whatever.

I think it's kinda ****** of WM to not offer them online.  Exclusives are a pain, we all agree there.  WM surely isn't handling any of theirs with much skill it seems.  Look at the BF Trooper for instance.  The X-Wing too.  Bad place for these to land, but not many others would've handled it well either.

And if Amazon got them we'd have unending bitching/"news" about them being damaged in shipping, if TRU got them we'd have unending bitching/"news" about the price or stock boys "scalping" them...  Target it'd be price and people bitching about the DPCI trick selling out of all the good stuff, and blah blah blah... 

I have seen all of them now in person (still don't have some of wv3 though for myself) and I have to say, I just hope there's still TFA SA 3.75" figures to buy because that's all I want and get truly excited about to collect that has Star Wars slapped on it.

I'm not happy I can't walk into a store and find these, or order them online and avoid hassle too though.  Ideally WM would put these up for pre-order, but they're not a collectible shop.  And EE doesn't potentially have the buying power to support a continuing assortment of exclusive action figures like we want.  Consider these designer toy lines out there, which put out limited stuff over long periods of time, and for considerable price.  $14-ish sucks as it is to most people, so just imagine the same toy for $20. 

But hey, this is an old argument at this point.  I just hope I get more stuff.

[JediJman]

I hear people on wanting to order these online, but that's not why Walmart signed up for an exclusive.  They want you go into the store to buy these and hopefully buy something else.  That's one of the big draws of having an exclusive. 

[Jesse James]

There was rumor, at one time iirc, that these were specifically to be put up for pre-order...  But with WM, I doubt that was ever much more than a rumor without much truth to it. 

And to be fair to WM, they're getting out.  They're just selling fast.

[Jeff]

I hear people on wanting to order these online, but that's not why Walmart signed up for an exclusive. 

There was rumor, at one time iirc, that these were specifically to be put up for pre-order...  But with WM, I doubt that was ever much more than a rumor without much truth to it. 

It wasn't a rumor, it was in the Walmart/Hasbro press release - "fans, customers and collectors can expect Walmart and Walmart.com" to carry the figures

That's why people are so annoyed - the press release makes it sound like the waves would be put up for pre-order on Walmart.com and that never happened for Wave 2 (or Wave 3, but the press release never talks about Wave 3 technically).

Here was the press release again...

Here is the full press release from Hasbro & Walmart...

WALMART IS ANNOUNCED AS THE NEW EXCLUSIVE U.S. HOME OF HASBRO’S STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES 3 3/4-INCH FIGURES

The Collector-Favorite Line Will Feature Figures From the Saga Films and STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS, Beginning on September 4

BENTONVILLE, AR, Sep. 4, 2015 – Walmart and Hasbro, Inc. (NASDAQ: HAS) announced today that the retail giant will be the exclusive home of the fan-favorite STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES 3 3/4-inch toy line in the U.S.

Starting on “Force Friday,” September 4, Walmart.com will begin selling the first wave and taking pre-orders on the second wave of the highly collectible toy line. Customers will find the product in stores beginning in October, making Walmart the only destination in the U.S. for fans looking for highly detailed, highly articulated 3 3/4-inch figures based on the upcoming film STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS.

First launched in 2013, STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES 3 3/4-inch line quickly became a fan-favorite line, in the tradition of earlier Hasbro toy lines like the STAR WARS VINTAGE collection. As the new exclusive US home to the STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES 3 3/4-inch line, Walmart is proud to become the go-to destination for STAR WARS fans looking for the finest Hasbro toys available.

“Walmart is very excited to be the exclusive home of the Star Wars Black Series 3 ¾ inch figures,” said Anne Marie Kehoe, vice president of toys at Walmart. “This is just the beginning - fans, customers and collectors can expect Walmart and Walmart.com to be the place to find the newest characters and figures as they are released.”

“We’re thrilled that Walmart will be the new home for fans’ beloved STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES 3 3/4-inch toy line,” said Maureen Smith, senior vice president of brand marketing for Hasbro. “With the support of a world-class retailer like Walmart, we can ensure that collectors continue to get new, highly detailed and articulated 3 3/4-inch STAR WARS action figures for years to come.”

The first wave of the new STAR WARS: THE BLACK SERIES 3 3/4-inch line is currently available for purchase on Walmart.com and features EPISODE VI DARTH VADER, EPISODE VI LUKE SKYWALKER, and EPISODE IV CHEWBACCA. The second wave, featuring a brand new EPISODE IV PRINCESS LEIA figure and the first two figures based on STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS (FIRST ORDER STORMTROOPER and KYLO REN), are available to pre-order now on Walmart.com. Both waves will be available in stores in the next few months.  Additional 3 ¾-inch figures will be coming later in 2015.

The press release pretty clearly says "are available to pre-order now on Walmart.com" but that wasn't the case.  There were Walmart.com placeholders for the figures (some of which have since been deleted), but they never went "live" for orders until ToyWiz started selling the Wave 2 figures for ridiculous prices as a Walmart.com secondary seller.

So yeah, I can see why people are upset Walmart.com isn't the option they thought it would be...

[JediJman]

Clearly "saying" and "doing" are two very different things at Walmart.   

[Jesse James]

Yeah.  Sounds like it was something that was planned, but didn't happen then.  I couldn't quite recall where that said that, but knew I'd read it somewhere, at some point. 

I had Wave 1 out on Force Friday here, and they sold oddly well, but then another shipment hit and sorta sold steadily but then hit a stagnant point and then blew out on the weekend TFA released ultimately.  They got TONS of both shipments of wave 1 in too.  I don't recall those ever being available online either were they?  Nobody was really looking for them though either so maybe they were and just nobody cared?  I watched the wave 2/3 like a hawk online just incase, but yeah. 

Oh well...  They're out anyway.  Could be worse, in that there could be no SA figures for the line at all I suppose.  I can't think of anything besides Amazon that would've gotten them out "easily" though.    And who knows what they'd have cost I guess.

[Pete_Fett]

I had Wave 1 out on Force Friday here, and they sold oddly well, but then another shipment hit and sorta sold steadily but then hit a stagnant point and then blew out on the weekend TFA released ultimately.  They got TONS of both shipments of wave 1 in too.  I don't recall those ever being available online either were they?  Nobody was really looking for them though either so maybe they were and just nobody cared?  I watched the wave 2/3 like a hawk online just incase, but yeah.

Yes, Wave 1 was available for ordering online and when my local WalMarts were completely void of them, I ordered a single set from the website just to cover my MIB/MOC/MIP collection. We didn't get them in stores until late Sept/early Oct in my area - and Wave 1 did hit in much greater quantity than Waves 2 or (so far) Wave 3.

[Rob]

I hear people on wanting to order these online, but that's not why Walmart signed up for an exclusive.  They want you go into the store to buy these and hopefully buy something else.  That's one of the big draws of having an exclusive.

That's all fine and dandy, but I live in the middle of Chicago and it takes me 30-40 minutes on a good day to get to the nearest Walmart.  Then it's another 30-40 minutes to get back home.  So it's not happening for me or any of my neighbors unless they're gluttons for sitting in nightmarish traffic.

I'm not making that trip for hit or miss product availability and like Jeff said, they initially advertised it as being available online.  It's 2016, nearly everything is available online, and as much as the goal could be to get people into the store, getting them to the website works in much the same way.

[Jesse James]

Maybe it still will be?  Just not anytime soon it seems.

[Nicklab]

I think Walmart was always far more interested in getting that collector foot traffic into the stores, rather than making this exclusive subline easy to acquire online.  I know that I made plenty of trips to Walmart without being successful getting any Black Series 3.75" figures of the 6" Battlefront Shocktrooper.  Those trips numbered at least 10 to 1 in terms of number of trips to the number of times that I was able to get the figures.  WalMart is playing those odds that in those trips where you don't find the exclusive you may buy something else.  And it does happen.