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Jet Ready Go posted:You make a lot of good points but I think Hasbro is going to get buttfucked by re-releasing the Legends line if this is any indication of how much money they want to charge for the pieces of poo poo.
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Apr 14, 2011 05:46
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Ka0 posted:You have me confused mate! Man, who the heck was selling the GL Kyle Rayner?
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Apr 14, 2011 05:56
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Xenomrph posted:Where are you located? I've never seen the 6" Iron Man 2 toys priced at anything higher than like $12 at any store I've ever been to. poo poo, I could probably snap some pics at my local Wal-Mart tomorrow if you're so inclined. $21 is pretty ridiculous. They're about that price around me, of course they also haven't moved. It probably doesn't help it's nothing but 50% one kind of Iron Man and the other 50% is split into other Iron Men. And maybe one War Machine if you're lucky. Is there any reason they even make other figures so rare? It's not like the company themselves are going to make a profit when scalpers hoard them.
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Apr 14, 2011 08:01
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They're $21 at TRU, same place where DC Universe is now $17. I thought $17 was expensive for a 6" figure with no accessories, but $21 is straight up rape. I can't wait for legends to completely bomb next year when they try to charge $25 for a poorly painted 6" figure. Then Hasbro will be like, "Hey, you said you wanted Legends back. I guess you didn't."
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Apr 14, 2011 10:59
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Xenomrph posted:Where are you located? I've never seen the 6" Iron Man 2 toys priced at anything higher than like $12 at any store I've ever been to. poo poo, I could probably snap some pics at my local Wal-Mart tomorrow if you're so inclined. $21 is pretty ridiculous. I can get most of those for £3 a piece at the local Forbidden Planet comic shop, thought about it after being inspired by the Mega Man conversion earlier in the thread.
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Apr 14, 2011 13:47
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MSRP for the new Iron Man stuff is 14.99 ... TRU jacks up the prices and wonders why they swim in them.
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Apr 14, 2011 13:59
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My Toys R Us is still trying to move mask-less Rorschach figures for 20 dollars each.
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Apr 14, 2011 14:12
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Gammatron 64 posted:The way they handle Star Wars is also terrible. Let's release a slightly better Vader, bitbashed from other Vaders, now with wrist articulation! New and improved Darth Vader #5203! Let's also have random, nonstandard articulation on all our figures. I collected Star Wars figures from around '06 to '09, when they were producing a lot of Expanded Universe figures. Star Wars figures are so bizarre, because half of them are just the same molds as figures from the '80s & '90s with new paint apps on them. They would make fan demanded characters like Darth Revan & Malak, interesting concepts like figures based on McQuarrie's original concept drawings, and then release them alongside "hologram" & "Force Spirit" (ie translucent blue) versions of figures they released two months before. Of course, as you point out, the articulation for a lot of figures was completely nonsensical. Take Maris Brood for instance; she had bell-hinged shoulders and elbows and swivel forearms (surprisingly good articulation for a Star Wars figure) but swivel hips, meaning she had a variety of dynamic poses available to her upper body, but she could only perform them while keeping her legs awkwardly still. The best figures were always those that weren't in the movies, or were in the background. Fringe & Expanded Universe characters could rarely be cobbled together from other pieces, and would get brand new molds and decent articulation (at least compared to other SW figures). The Comic Packs and Evolutions were my favorite for this reason. Eventually I had to cut back on spending & Star Wars got dropped; by that time they were switching gears so that their main line was The Clone Wars, and while I like the show, I don't like the angular look of those figures (except for Cad Bane). I'm kinda bummed that I don't have any income at the moment, since I'd like to pick up some of the stuff I missed out on, such as HK-47, the Dark Troopers, and the 2010 Entertainment Earth Comic Packs. Having said all this, and looking at the current non-Clone Wars line on Rebelscum.com, it looks like a bunch of those figures are not re-releases or kit-bashed, and I see they previewed Nom Anor and Bastila Shan at Toyfair this year. drat it, I thought I was out of this game.
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Apr 14, 2011 14:53
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WaynesWorldGirl posted:Man, who the heck was selling the GL Kyle Rayner? Me! open for trades too though not MU, =) Feel free to PM me.
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Apr 14, 2011 16:26
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Fishylungs posted:Is there any reason they even make other figures so rare? It's not like the company themselves are going to make a profit when scalpers hoard them. Well the the casepacks are setup for the theoretical popularity of the product to sales. Someone did a focus group study in the 70s or something where they figured out that kids were not as interested in female and villain characters as the main male heroes. That way of thinking still sadly holds on today. So lets make a hypothetical example. You have 5 characters to put in a casepack of 12. 3 male heroes, one of which is the main character, 1 villain and 1 female. How they would load it out is 4 of the main hero, 3 of the other two males, 1 of the villain and female. It is a good idea in theory but almost never works out in reality. The problems are pretty obvious. How many kids buy a hero to not have anyone to battle with? How many figures of the heroes are they really expecting to sell? In a collector focused line the villain and female figures are short packed so the toy scalpers will pick all of those up for the secondary market. The trick is to look at what the reaction to the characters and figures you are going to have for casepacks. One of the worst offenders I have seen on this is the DCUC Wave 10. The highlight of that wave was the new Joker, a very popular character and a highly in demand figure. Instead of making it a higher packed item they limited it to 2 per pack and gave Forager, Robotman and Powergirl 4 figures each. That wave has been out for well over a year and every Wal-Mart I have been to still is full of those three figures. Now I am pretty sure that is not the fault of Mattel as I have no seen a boneheaded like that by them before or since. I have a feeling it was Wal-Mart having a focus group and telling them that is what they wanted. In all my years of working and dealing with businesses the one thing I can say causes bad decisions 100% of the time is focus groups and surveys. Management tries to use them instead of having knowledgeable people on a subject. They always forget that the biggest problem with them is people are flaky. You can't figure out the public from 16 people in a room or a 1000 surveys. Hell you can't figure out those people.
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Apr 14, 2011 16:38
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Sanschel posted:Having said all this, and looking at the current non-Clone Wars line on Rebelscum.com, it looks like a bunch of those figures are not re-releases or kit-bashed, and I see they previewed Nom Anor and Bastila Shan at Toyfair this year.
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Apr 14, 2011 17:14
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Sanschel posted:I collected Star Wars figures from around '06 to '09, when they were producing a lot of Expanded Universe figures. Star Wars figures are so bizarre, because half of them are just the same molds as figures from the '80s & '90s with new paint apps on them. They would make fan demanded characters like Darth Revan & Malak, interesting concepts like figures based on McQuarrie's original concept drawings, and then release them alongside "hologram" & "Force Spirit" (ie translucent blue) versions of figures they released two months before. A few of the new ones are really good. The recent ROTJ Luke and Bespin Luke are freaking awesome and have just about every point of articulation you'd ever want, plus ignited and unignited lightsabers to put on their belts. I'd say they're the two best Star Wars figures I own, period. They also seem to be 100% new. The Darth Vader with the two-piece removable helmet is also great for a kitbash, although for some reason he can only hold his saber in his left hand (a lot of Vaders seem to have his arms) Recent figures seem to be moving away from lame swivel arms and hips, but there are still a few that use those parts. The newest Han Solo is good except for the fact that he has a swivel waist and legs. The 90's POTF2 line was notorious for having horrible looking figures (and they STILL recycle things from it) but to this date, it has the best looking Yoda and Emperor. They've probably released a hundred Yodas and Emperors since then, but Yoda's face never looks right, and the Emperor's cloak never does.
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Apr 14, 2011 17:30
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Djarum posted:The trick is to look at what the reaction to the characters and figures you are going to have for casepacks. One of the worst offenders I have seen on this is the DCUC Wave 10. The highlight of that wave was the new Joker, a very popular character and a highly in demand figure. Instead of making it a higher packed item they limited it to 2 per pack and gave Forager, Robotman and Powergirl 4 figures each. Wave 10 packouts were actually 2 Batman 2 Joker 2 Powergirl 1 each of Robotman, Forager, Beastboy, and Manbat. Which sort of makes sense, though I would switch around Manbat and PG. You're right about the focus group thing. If you show a kid 10 figures and he says "I want Iron Man!", that doesn't mean that 9/10 figures in the case should be Iron Man. Gammatron 64 posted:A few of the new ones are really good. The recent ROTJ Luke and Bespin Luke are freaking awesome and have just about every point of articulation you'd ever want, plus ignited and unignited lightsabers to put on their belts. I'd say they're the two best Star Wars figures I own, period. They also seem to be 100% new. Bespin Luke might be the best Star Wars figure hasbro's ever made. Good head sculpt, great articulation, good paint. I think Episode 1 had the best Emperor as the sculpt isn't as soft as the POTF2 version. I gave it the cane from the POTF version and I think it's good enough. My Vader is a kit bash from like 4 different figures too. The POTF royal guard is also the best released so far.  The reason all the new Yodas suck is they try to do his prequel headsculpt with the weird hair and smaller eyes. I want muppet Yoda, dammit! And no more cloth cloaks, they look awful. They cloaks they give him usually look they're exploding off of him, like this one http://www.rebelscum.com/photo.asp?image=/TAC/tacTFUshadows5.jpg .And then there's the cashmere sweater Emperor they released last year  Fish Of Doom fucked around with this message at 21:40 on Apr 14, 2011 |
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Apr 14, 2011 21:23
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Fish Of Doom posted:Wave 10 packouts were actually The one case I ever saw loaded out was packed like that and two toy scalpers grabbed the Jokers right out of the box. It was kind of sad really. Toy Scalpers are the saddest people I have ever came across. They have absolutely no shame at all which I guess if you are making a living selling children's toys for a markup you have to have no shame at all. Focus testing and survey statistics have basically taken over common sense in a lot of industries. Used correctly it can be a useful tool but the problem is that most people are not smart enough or trained to do it right. My ex had to crunch a lot of survey data for her job and schooling. You would be amazed at how flawed most surveys are and how it makes the data suspect or flawed. Sadly this kind of stupid stuff is what you are paying for when you buy anything anymore. They even focus test toilet paper anymore. I saw some survey questions awhile back including the best one "How does Brand Name/Product Name make you feel?" If it were me I would write, "Hopefully clean, if not it is some pretty awful toilet paper."
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Apr 14, 2011 21:51
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Wave 10 was scary for the first month or so. Because of the small production numbers of wave 5, the previous Wal-Mart wave, everyone was freaking out that it would be the same. So scalpers went loving nuts for a month, doing stuff like bribing toy department managers to buy cases, standing outside at 5 AM waiting for pallets to get unloaded from the truck. And for the first month, figures were going to for crazy prices on ebay. There were people on Fwoosh caving after like week 2, saying, "I'll never find them anyway!" and paying $200 for a single Joker. There were even pictures from some scalper of like 20 cases of wave 10 in his garage. Turns out that Wal-mart ordered more of wave 10 than they did wave 5. Like a lot more. And 2 months later, the figures were everywhere and going for less than retail on ebay. Joker's the only one from that wave still worth retail or more.
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Apr 14, 2011 22:12
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Xenomrph posted:Are there photos of those online anywhere? I didn't even realize they were making more expanded universe figures like those. Here's Nom Anor. He actually looks kind of underhwelming, with his giant head and cloth cape. I hate cloth capes. I guess they didn't actually have Bastila there, they just confirmed she'd be released this year, and that they have other Old Republic figures in the pipeline.
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Apr 14, 2011 23:07
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Sanschel posted:I guess they didn't actually have Bastila there, they just confirmed she'd be released this year, and that they have other Old Republic figures in the pipeline. 
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Apr 14, 2011 23:17
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Sanschel posted:Here's Nom Anor. He actually looks kind of underhwelming, with his giant head and cloth cape. I hate cloth capes. Nom Anor always looked cooler than that in my head when reading the books  Since we're talking Star Wars, is there a definitive Grievous?
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Apr 14, 2011 23:20
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That 20.99 price tag is incredible on the Iron Man TRU toys. Last I was there that line was 17.99 just like the Green Lantern line. I bought Kyle at that price, but damned if I'm gonna buy anyone else.
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Apr 14, 2011 23:22
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Starsnostars posted:Nom Anor always looked cooler than that in my head when reading the books Yeah, the vintage collection one is by far the best. He's based off of a previous figure, but comes with the cape and a few other additional accessories. http://www.rebelscum.com/TVC17Grievous.asp Depending on where you are, he should still be pretty easy to find in stores.
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Apr 15, 2011 04:46
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I suppose I am way too late for this, but in case I wanted to purchase one of these I guess I'm SOL?
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Apr 15, 2011 07:31
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Ka0 posted:I suppose I am way too late for this, but in case I wanted to purchase one of these I guess I'm SOL? Looks like it goes for like $100 on ebay. Captain America is just a repack, Human torch is a repaint, Namor in a speedo is getting repacked in wave 15 later this year, and Red Skull is just an Indiana Jones Col. Vogel with a new head, so his articulation is bad and he's like 1 head shorter than the rest. There's a new Red Skull coming out this summer in the Captain America line. Unless you like the packaging, there isn't much reason to go hunting for that set.
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Apr 15, 2011 08:53
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I throw the packaging in the trash. I guess it's good I asked before forking out a ridiculous sum of money. Namor is must-buy for me just for the character, kinda like Thanos, Doom and Dr. Strange.
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Apr 15, 2011 09:07
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Fish Of Doom posted:Bespin Luke might be the best Star Wars figure hasbro's ever made. Good head sculpt, great articulation, good paint. I think Episode 1 had the best Emperor as the sculpt isn't as soft as the POTF2 version. I gave it the cane from the POTF version and I think it's good enough. My Vader is a kit bash from like 4 different figures too. The POTF royal guard is also the best released so far. I didn't even know about that Emperor. He looks pretty good. Since it's an Episode 1 figure I could probably get it for like $2 mint. I kinda want the one in the chair. And yeah, you're totally right about the Yoda headsculps being poo poo because they're based off the prequels. He's got funny eyes and beady little eyes and it just doesn't look right. What a lot of people have done is to lop the head off the POTF2 one and stick it on a modern body. I really do like the cloth cloaks and capes and stuff, like for Darth Vader and Obi-Wan and Han's trench coat and all that, but it always looks lovely on the Emperor. It's because they can't do good hoods. Either his hood is cloth and doesn't fit on his head right, or it's plastic and doesn't match his cloth cape and it still looks bad. Plus it's not like the Emperor needs much articulation anyway, either he's sitting on his throne or he's slowly creeping along.
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Apr 15, 2011 22:11
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 After reading through this thread from start (2009!) to finish I've come to realise a bit better why MU is far below expectations compared to Toybiz's Legends line. That being said the newer figures coming out this year as well as the latest ones such as Gladiator and Apocalypse look remarkably better. I just hate the online shops expect me to pay over $23 for say, a Black Panther.
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Apr 16, 2011 04:53
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That X-23 is great, I can't wait. MU's weakest thing so far are the female figures, and they've made a new body and new articulation.
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Apr 16, 2011 05:00
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Scarlet Spider and mother-loving Darkhawk? Holy poo poo!
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Apr 16, 2011 05:04
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Ka0 posted:
You can order most of the figures for cost at Hasbro Toy Shop normally except for chase figures. Speaking of that why in the hell can't you just order entire waves of stuff from Hasbro like you can from Mattel? It drives me nuts when I look at their site and see half of their product "sold out". They make the loving things, you would think that they would be able you know have them to sell. I feel like that is the number one problem with our hobby right now, the unavailibity of product. I can't tell you how many figures I have wanted they I have never got because I have not ever been able to find one. The toy scalpers are part of the problem and get a large amount of the blame but I feel the manufacturers are to blame as well. It can't be too hard for them to at the very least offer the current wave of product for sale online, at retail cost. I think that would take some of the wind out of the scalper's sails as well.
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Apr 16, 2011 05:44
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It's really depressing to see figures that Legends fans have been requesting for years getting made for MU (Silver Samurai, Multiple Man, Darkhawk, Jean Grey, Ultron).
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Apr 16, 2011 05:57
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A little late, but here are a few in-progress pics of NECA's Predator 2 figures: Masks and Spears  Back of City Hunter  The knee articulation of the new P2-style body. Looks like they should be able to have a decent crouching pose 
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Apr 16, 2011 06:12
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Djarum posted:
Being a transformers collector I'm pretty used to this. Hasbro's distribution networks are an absolute enigma and it's not uncommon for entire waves to show up in places around the world where you least expect them. The eBay sharks make a killing of course, but it's not as bad as it used to be couple of years back.
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Apr 16, 2011 07:04
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Djarum posted:It drives me nuts when I look at their site and see half of their product "sold out". They make the loving things, you would think that they would be able you know have them to sell.
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Apr 16, 2011 09:42
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Louisgod posted:It's really depressing to see figures that Legends fans have been requesting for years getting made for MU (Silver Samurai, Multiple Man, Darkhawk, Jean Grey, Ultron). Uh, excuse me, they MADE an Ultron in ML!   This thread has me all nostalgic/sad. Man, ML deserved better. I'll never forget the day I just decided to go to TRU on a whim, and I see a loving freshly stocked shelf full of Series 6. I stood there slackjawed for a minute, considering my town never really got ANYTHING new, even the Wal-Marts, and immediately snatched up Deadpool, Juggernaut, and Phoenix.
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Apr 16, 2011 13:57
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Louisgod posted:It's really depressing to see figures that Legends fans have been requesting for years getting made for MU (Silver Samurai, Multiple Man, Darkhawk, Jean Grey, Ultron). It would be even more depressing if the characters that got snubbed for Legends releases were also snubbed for MU.
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Apr 16, 2011 14:00
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Xenomrph posted:I bitched about the same thing in the Transformers thread a few weeks ago. They had a St Patrick's Day sale where everything on Hasbrotoyshop was discounted and you could get free shipping with any order, and the 2 Transformers I gave a poo poo about were "sold out". I was totally loving baffled for the same reason you just mentioned. It's not really that baffling if you think about it. Like you said, there was a sale with free shipping so of course people are going to be all over that poo poo. Besides, HTS is basically an overstock arm for collectors, not an actual online retailer. They set aside a small portion of their stock for their ~*hardcore fandom*~ and the rest goes to retail where normal people buy them.
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Apr 16, 2011 18:31
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3 posted:It's not really that baffling if you think about it. Like you said, there was a sale with free shipping so of course people are going to be all over that poo poo. Besides, HTS is basically an overstock arm for collectors, not an actual online retailer. They set aside a small portion of their stock for their ~*hardcore fandom*~ and the rest goes to retail where normal people buy them. HTS is no such thing. It is Hasbro's direct retail sales. If it were a overstock arm for collectors and hardcore fandom instead of a online retailer they wouldn't be carrying all of the other merchandise Hasbro produces and sells. If anything the site kind of takes a poo poo on collectors by not having product that anyone would actually want let alone actually have it in stock. You would think as a business they would understand they are letting scalpers have money that should be theirs by limited access to product. Hell personally I wouldn't mind spending a extra couple of bucks than retail to be able to reliably get what product I want. It is still cheaper than dealing with scalpers and I know I am actually going to get what I want. I don't mind spending more on the secondary market for a older product, that is how it works. But as a consumer I expect to be able to go somewhere and be able to buy a new product at or near MSRP. It is like going to the Grocery and I can't get a bottle of Heinz Ketchup so instead I have to deal with a jerkoff who is selling packets for 3 bucks a pop. If that happened I am pretty sure Heinz would do something about it quickly. I am amazed toy companies can not do the same. Captain Charisma posted:Uh, excuse me, they MADE an Ultron in ML! That was NOT Ultron. Not sure what it was but Ultron it was not.
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Apr 16, 2011 19:22
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Djarum posted:HTS is no such thing. It is Hasbro's direct retail sales. If it were a overstock arm for collectors and hardcore fandom instead of a online retailer they wouldn't be carrying all of the other merchandise Hasbro produces and sells. If anything the site kind of takes a poo poo on collectors by not having product that anyone would actually want let alone actually have it in stock. So tell me exactly why it is in Hasbro's best interests to devote more of their product to a website that comparatively few people shop at when they could be unloading crates of toys at far greater profit and far less risk to physical retail stores? Or do you think the company is simply sitting on unopened boxes of action figures in some kind of Raiders of the Lost Ark-esque warehouse while cackling gleefully? The majority of product is moved into brick & mortar, what's left is sold online, it's not really that hard to figure out. quote:I don't mind spending more on the secondary market for a older product, that is how it works. But as a consumer I expect to be able to go somewhere and be able to buy a new product at or near MSRP. It is like going to the Grocery and I can't get a bottle of Heinz Ketchup so instead I have to deal with a jerkoff who is selling packets for 3 bucks a pop. If that happened I am pretty sure Heinz would do something about it quickly. I am amazed toy companies can not do the same. Hey, it turns out selling food is somehow fundamentally different from selling first world entertainment goods. Fancy that!
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Apr 16, 2011 19:38
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Heinz is killing the line.
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Apr 16, 2011 19:41
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Satsuki posted:Heinz is killing the line. They changed the logo on the bottle from a cucumber to a tomato, this is an affront to G1 Ketchup fans everywhere!
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Apr 16, 2011 19:51
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3 posted:They changed the logo on the bottle from a cucumber to a tomato, this is an affront to G1 Ketchup fans everywhere! Remember the color schemes for the G2 line? Green ketchup? Purple ketchup? What the gently caress were they thinking. Still it holds a special memory for me as a kid though. So if they ever rerelease it I am all over that poo poo.
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Apr 16, 2011 19:58
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