Force Friday II - September 1, 2017

[Brian]

I wasn't able to (or willing to) head out at midnight, but went on a little run this morning. First Wal-Mart....nothing. No basic figures, some 6" but it was all Vaders and one Kylo. No vehicles, beasts, or two packs. Ended up picking up some Funko, since our daughter really wanted some of those.

Hit a couple other WMs, since they were fairly close, and both had a little more. Handful of basic figures at the first (able to get Luke - the only one I saw today, and Rey). At the next store I saw the playset, some 6", and the Black Series vehicles and centerpieces.

Finally, decided to hit Target on the way home, hoping for a Black Series Luke. This store was stocked with virtually everything. Basic figures, two packs, beast packs, Black Series figures/vehicles, etc. plus a lot of neat "other" stuff. I did find a Luke (the only one), and I was basically able to get everything I wanted for the most part. Luke was definitely the scarcest here, only found one of each of the basic and BS.

"Old man" rant time....this year really drove home how expensive an endeavor collecting has become. I skipped a lot of stuff this year (basic figures like Finn, Poe, Kylo, etc since they were basically the same and I could get them down the road, and the vehicles), and I still spent way more than expected. I sometimes wonder if I should have stayed away from 6", as much as I like them. Those $60 vehicles and figures add up fast 😉

[Nicklab]

My haul?

3.75" BASIC FIGURES:  Rey, Kylo Ren, Finn, Rose, Paige, Chewbacca, C-3PO and Hux.  I scored Leia online from HTS and the Rey/Praetorian 2-pack from Amazon
VEHICLES:  Resistance Ski Speeder
CREATURES:  Rathtar with Bala Tik
6" BLACK SERIES:  Jedi Master Luke and Imperial Stormtrooper (in store).  SDCC Thrawn & Landspeeder from HTS, Hera, Stormtrooper, Exclusive Deluxe FO Stormtrooper and Praetorian from Amazon

I think I did enough damage.  Now for some bargain hunting!

[Ben]

Headed out at midnight to the local WMs. As Darby said, we had to hit two to get our Luke figures, which was the only reason I went out. Glad to find it finally, as it's a figure that should have been out eighteen months ago, but here we are. A very lousy showing by WM, as it has been the last two releases. One case each of Orange and Teal, and no new Black Series 6" at the second store. Hera was conspicuously absent from the PDQs at the first store, which doesn't surprise me. I don't collect the Rebels 6" figures, but some dude was there looking for just Hera and must have managed to find one.

Going out in a bit to see what's out there. Only ended up buying Luke and Paige last night, waiting to see what gets revealed before buying something I don't want.

[Matt_Fury]

Managed to score three Rathtars (one for me and one each for my boys), and a Probot set.

[McMetal]

I want to hear reports from the following people:

Jeff
Jesse
Jayson
Pete

I know you guys did some damage out there today! 

[GrandMoffNick]

I personally could go for more posts on how all the Last Jedi stuff sucked and what other line POPs caught people's eye

[indysolo007]

Here is my haul from Target last night:

[Pete_Fett]

I want to hear reports from the following people:

Jeff
Jesse
Jayson
Pete

I know you guys did some damage out there today! 

Yeah - I did. 

I went to Target and picked up:

2x Kylo's TIE Silencer
1x Ski Speeder
1x A-Wing
1x Police Speeder (only cause I only found 1)
1x Rathtar
1x Probe Droid
2x Rey, Finn, Poe, Kylo Ren, FO Stormtrooper, Chewie, Luke
1x Hux, Rose, Paige, C-3PO
3x Rey / Praetorian Guard 2-pack
2x Han / Boba 2-pack
1x Force Link Starter Kit (the regular one with Kylo Ren)
1x BB-8 Playset w/Snoke & Praetorian Guard
1x Black Series Titanium Kylo Ren
1x Black Series Titanium Finn

I still need an opener of the Police Speeder. I probably want one, if not two more Rathtars (two because there were three in the movie). Over on the A-Wing thread tmanthegreat had a great suggestion to put Paige in the A-Wing and I agree - so I'm probably going to pick up another Paige opener, throw her in the cockpit so I can have Tallie on display. And then at some point, I'm going to score an opener of that BB-8 playset. Oddly, the place where I found the Titanium Series Finn and Kylo ren ONLY had those two figures - no Rey or Phasma, so I still need those two.

Today, I stacked the Target coupon, I parked at one of the self check-out lanes and just kept ringing up orders of $100 each. Got three of them for $75 in gift cards and then I used that to bring the playset down from $200 to $125. I just kept scanning the coupon I had on my phone. Later when I was home, I noticed that the coupon number of the one I got in the paper, plus each of the ones I got to both my Android and iPhone were all the same - so the coupon is not a unique single-use entity. You are just limited that you can only use it once per transaction (so no using the $100 one twice on a $200 purchase) and you can't use the coupon again when you are using gift cards as part of your payment.

I'll have to go back and look, but it's not as much as the TFA damage, but I *think* it's on-par with the Rogue One damage - maybe only slightly less.

On the Lego side, definitely less as I'm pacing myself this year cause I want to squeeze in the new Millennium Falcon at some point, so I only picked up online the two mid-priced sets - the Resistance Bomber and Kylo Ren's TIE - this was so I would get two of the Scarif Trooper Minifigure that they're giving away with orders over $50.

Oh - and I pre-ordered 3 of that Princess/General Leia TLJ figure from the Disney Store. It's also over on Hasbro Toy shop, but I'm pretty sure if I purchase stuff from the Disney Store using my Chase Disney Visa Card, there's a discount applied to the purchase on my bill and HTS was limiting you to only 2 per order.

Up next will probably be the Target 8-Pack of repackaged figures - just one for the MIP/MIB/MOC collection. They didn't have any at my local Target but they looked it up and showed that they had a case of them coming in on Monday.

There's also the other exclusives - the TRU Poe X-Wing w/Booster Module, TRU Force Link Starter Kit with Praetorian Guard and First Order Executioner, the Target ROTJ Force Link 3-pack, the four 3.75" Black Series figures at WalMart and the WalMart TIE Fighter...

[Jesse James]

I didn't do a ton of damage actually McMetal, but some...

Last night I was out with friends in a larger suburb north of Pittsburgh (Near the Lemieux complex where my Pens practice, go Pens!), and since I only was really jonesing for 3.75" Black Series, I kinda knew my night was short.

None of those were out, nothing new anyway, and so at TRU where most of the crew was, I got a Probot which was one of only a few they had.  More Rathtars, so I'm assuming they're more heavily packed than the probe droid?  Either way I got a probe droid and it's quite neat.  I had 2 $3 off coupons so it was only $15 basically so that was nice too.

They (TRU) were the only ones who had a significant presence of stuff...  Wal-Mart was so-so.  No basic ships, figures, or other similar stuff, only pre-pack displays were put out at midnight.  Dunno what happened there later though, of course.

My WM (which I hit on the way home) had put out some basic stuff, but basic figures were picked to one figure left per peg and all Rose, Pilot lady, & Hux.

Target nearby my area was also the only one on this side of the city open, and it too was picked over when we got there.

Today I went out and got an A-Wing and Rathtar at K-Mart for points.  No basic figures (though they had them at least).  They didn't have the Ren ship and I didn't see the CB Speeder at Kmart either, kinda odd.  I only wanted the Rathtar and A-Wing and Probot first day so I was fairly happy.  No basic figure screamed "buy me now!" and Rose having a TBS 4" figure means I probably won't get her but on clearance maybe.  The female pilot I may get though, she looked quite badass.

Other than that though, yeah, not much.  That's ok though, I'm just anxious for the TBS4" stuff right now. 

Oh and I got 3 of the Jedha Revolt sets for $4 a pop.  Forgot about those but yeah, that was my score of the day!

[Scockery]

Oh and I got 3 of the Jedha Revolt sets for $4 a pop.  Forgot about those but yeah, that was my score of the day!

Still army building Forrest Whittaker, eh? 

[Jesse James]

Fast Times and Platoon customs

[McMetal]

Sounds like a pretty nice haul, Jesse, and for cheap too. That's awesome.

Pete, you never disappoint! Great work there too.

I actually did an interview on my friend's local radio show today about toy collecting in general, but we also talked a lot about FF and some of the antics we witnessed. Simultaneously seems to bring out the best and worst in people.

[Jesse James]

I didn't see a lot of absurdity but I mean it's inevitable you'll see something you're ashamed of haha.

That said I do see more from "peers" in the whole collecting site/news world that makes me feel some collecting shame than the guys out at the stores, haha.

That said I saw some little kids too, including little girls running around with figures and excited.  That was nice.  And contrary to the BS the centerpieces seem to have a solid 50% sell through so far.  Not bad for $50 things.  Basic figures seem to be moving.  Rose not so much so far, and Hux, but heroes for sure and FO Troopers too.  The 2 packs are the only basic 5poa figs I see regularly.

[Pete_Fett]

I really didn't see or bump into any absurdity at all - most everyone was personable, eager to chat about Star Wars and Star Wars collecting and polite with each other when in the store. While there was no one at my local WalMart when it opened at 7am on Friday, Thursday night I had great conversations with the guys at the 24 hour WalMart I was at exactly at midnight, at the Toys R Us I went to right after that, and then again at the Target near me that opened at 8am.

Weird thing about my Target is that they set up with two areas again, just like from the TFA Force Friday, was surprised to see them do that again, some of us went to the main aisle while others went to that seasonal aisle - it was great to see collectors helping each other out by letting each other know what items were where.

[Diddly]

I worked a 14 hour day on Thursday and flew out to LA on Friday so I didn't have a lot of time to hit stores. I hit my local Target and TRU on Friday morning, Target had absolutely nothing new but TRU had some 4 inch stuff. Ended up grabbing Chewie (for the Porg) and Hux. Tonight when I got home from the airport I stopped by a local WM and snagged a Poe to headswap with the Black Series 4 inch figure.

I've still yet to see a single new 6 inch figure.