Do you know what is bugging me?

[SHIPWRECK"N"POLLY]

Everyone on all the collector sites has been saying that after the new joe line proved to be a success the problem of product not meeting demand would be fixed. In fact many said after joe con that by the holiday season we would see plenty of joes on the shelf. In reality nothing has changed since wave 1, in our area which is tulsa there have been virtually no figures at any of the major retailers on a consistent basis. I just don't get hasbro's thinking here. And don't give me the toon that it's all the retailers blaim for not ordering, here in tulsa the transformers movie toys sell out regularly and get restocked at least once or twice a week. I just don't get it, how does hasbro make this a success when they are missing out on the biggest toy selling time of the year. I mean when they were doing valor v venom or spy troops the pegs would be loaded at holiday time, i say WHAT GIVES HASBRO! Also in addition to this back when the new line started hasbro was going to do a q&a session with each of the collector sites each month, then all of a sudden it just abrubptly stoped and no answer as to why they don't want to hear our concerns any more. I wonder if anyone knows any real answers as to whats going on with them. What is the purpose for the low distribution, what is the purpose of no longer doing the q&a sessions? I just want some basic questions answered thats all.

[Shogi]

I'll agree that the single packs have been getting restocked sporadically since wave 1. I remember there actually being a glut of wave 1 around here, for a couple of weeks I could find any figure (Including Flint)

I've also seen stores stock 2-4 pegs worth (But it all gets bought within a day or two) VvV used to regularly have 2-4 pegs worth....but it wasn't getting bought. I'd see the same figures at the same stores for weeks on end, I didn't want them and apparently neither did anyone else :) Also you have to think, when wave 1 was around, you couldn't even find 5 packs. Now look at the availability of the 5 packs and tell me that production hasn't stepped up. Is it exactly what we want Hasbro and the retalers to be selling more of? Probably not, but the product was increased.

As for the Hasbro Q&A, it was never monthly, it was Bi-Monthly and it's been going on for a little while, check it: http://generalsjoes.com/qanda.html

[Compulsive Collector]

And don't give me the toon that it's all the retailers blaim for not ordering, here in tulsa the transformers movie toys sell out regularly and get restocked at least once or twice a week. That's because the Transformers movie toys are an event line; 25th Anniversary G.I. Joe is not. This line is far more popular than anyone could have anticipated. Retailers expected those movie toys to be a hot seller from the very beginning, but even those sold better than expected at first. If you don't want the correct answer, why ask the question? Hasbro is working to get more of these into circulation right now. Haven't seen any figures at Wal-Mart in the last week? Blame Wal-Mart, because the only single carded 25th Anniversary figure I didn't see at Target over the holiday weekend was the Cobra Officer.

[ladyhump]

The toy dept manager at a local walmart ordered 4 cases and sent her 1. I guess that would be a warehouse issue, but I've heard that this has happened at other stores. Maybe bigger stores get priority or ordered first, either way, I haven't seen much of anything since the first week of October. Wave 2 hit and since then, nothing.

[motorcyclehero]

Scalpers are certainly a problem, but I've only seen Storm Shadow v2, Snake-Eyes v2 and Hooded Cobra Commander on the pegs.

I've been able to find all the box sets and I saw Stalker once and snapped him up. It's pretty frustrating, I agree... but perhaps scalpers are more to blame than Hasbro? $4.99-$5.99 for a high-demand product is an easier price for a scalper to pay. $9.99 for a 2-pack with only one sought-after figure was probably a turn-off for scalpers. Now a golden opportunity is at hand.

[Compulsive Collector]

The toy dept manager at a local walmart ordered 4 cases and sent her 1. I guess that would be a warehouse issue, but I've heard that this has happened at other stores. The retailers have corporate buyers who place initial orders, and Hasbro bases their initial production runs off these numbers. Retailers take possession of their entire orders and distribute the product among the individual stores themselves. When she "ordered" four cases, what she was doing was requesting them from a Wal-Mart distribution center, not actually "ordering" them from Hasbro.

Scalpers are certainly a problem, but I've only seen Storm Shadow v2, Snake-Eyes v2 and Hooded Cobra Commander on the pegs.

I've been able to find all the box sets and I saw Stalker once and snapped him up. It's pretty frustrating, I agree... but perhaps scalpers are more to blame than Hasbro? $4.99-$5.99 for a high-demand product is an easier price for a scalper to pay. $9.99 for a 2-pack with only one sought-after figure was probably a turn-off for scalpers. Now a golden opportunity is at hand. Only because the initial supply couldn't meet demand. Whether it's a "scalper" or another collector who gets there first, when stores are only getting one or two cases at a time, these aren't going to stay on the pegs for long. These new revised case assortments have already driven down the secondary market prices of Flint considerably.

[sound~wave]

Well all of u guys complain about not enough stock, I live in canada and we havent seen anything except 1 box of the box sets at toys r us lol. so i dont wtf is goin on with hasbro.

[tkprime]

Hasbro needs to step it up a bit, G.I.Joe is a priority for the company Fact is G.I.Joe set hasbro on the map of Boys toys much the way Barbie did for mattel, but over the years Hasbor bought up other companies (parker brothers, Tonka etc. and left themselves exposed) Case in point Kenner comes in and buys hasbro out and revamps the company Kenner now prioritizes Star Wars over every line in Hasbro's toybox, and it's a fine line don't get me wrong, but all of the attention went over to the force and left the Real American Hero out in the cold, remember Sgt. Savage and Extreme? Directly my case in point, but through us the fans we've turned the tide in the toy wars, but Big Hasbro is a Money Machine, and from thatstandpoint they look at Market research to see what sells, and Star Wars Had it's new Episodes 1-3 Transformers got the "Bay" Treatment and look what it did for the lines they are secure, that leads us back to our beloved G.I.Joe, the upcoming movie will secure the popularity for many new years (provided it is a good Homage to our 80's-90's hero) We will see shelves upon shelves of Joe toys, games, posters, toothpaste and all kinds of movie tie-ins, so please be patient, I have a feeling that Hasbro is Researching and building a formable army for us with us the collector, and our children the modern toy players so we'll get our shelves back....and then some, Yo-JOE!!!

[Compulsive Collector]

but over the years Hasbor bought up other companies (parker brothers, Tonka etc. and left themselves exposed) Case in point Kenner comes in and buys hasbro out and revamps the company Kenner now prioritizes Star Wars over every line in Hasbro's toybox Kenner was owned by General Mills for nearly twenty years before Tonka acquired it twenty years ago. Hasbro bought Tonka in '91, thus taking over Kenner.

Kenner never bought out Hasbro.

[Irid70]

Um, I'm pretty sure that Hasbro bought Kenner out, not the reverse. And prioritizing Star Wars was a smart business move for the reasons you've listed. Remember, Hasbro exists to make a profit, not to please collectors.

[ladyhump]

Did Hasbro say that more product would be pumped out before Christmas or was that just speculation? I mean, as far as the amount of each wave because we know that Wave 4 and 5 are out in Asia its just a matter of time to see if these will be any easier to find. Can anyone who has Wave 4 or 5 post the number on the back of the card. The middle 3 numbers are the day of the year so you can tell when the bubble was attached to the card, thus, when these rolled off the line.

[Shogi]

Did Hasbro say that more product would be pumped out before Christmas or was that just speculation? I mean, as far as the amount of each wave because we know that Wave 4 and 5 are out in Asia its just a matter of time to see if these will be any easier to find. Can anyone who has Wave 4 or 5 post the number on the back of the card. The middle 3 numbers are the day of the year so you can tell when the bubble was attached to the card, thus, when these rolled off the line.


I know that the wave 2 & 3 figures I saw on Black Friday had the numbers 72882 so they were carded on Oct. 15th. so that was 39 days from date of being carded to sitting on the shelves at Target in North Carolina

[Shin Densetsu]

Hasbro needs to step it up a bit, G.I.Joe is a priority for the company Fact is G.I.Joe set hasbro on the map of Boys toys much the way Barbie did for mattel, but over the years Hasbor bought up other companies (parker brothers, Tonka etc. and left themselves exposed) Case in point Kenner comes in and buys hasbro out and revamps the company Kenner now prioritizes Star Wars over every line in Hasbro's toybox, and it's a fine line don't get me wrong, but all of the attention went over to the force and left the Real American Hero out in the cold, remember Sgt. Savage and Extreme? Directly my case in point, but through us the fans we've turned the tide in the toy wars, but Big Hasbro is a Money Machine, and from thatstandpoint they look at Market research to see what sells, and Star Wars Had it's new Episodes 1-3 Transformers got the "Bay" Treatment and look what it did for the lines they are secure, that leads us back to our beloved G.I.Joe, the upcoming movie will secure the popularity for many new years (provided it is a good Homage to our 80's-90's hero) We will see shelves upon shelves of Joe toys, games, posters, toothpaste and all kinds of movie tie-ins, so please be patient, I have a feeling that Hasbro is Researching and building a formable army for us with us the collector, and our children the modern toy players so we'll get our shelves back....and then some, Yo-JOE!!!
Please use punctuation.

[Paul]

Putting product into stores isn't as simple as a company just making a bunch of something and sending it to a store, no matter how well we think it might sell. Hasbro might have under estimated their product, but it seems like stores have underestimated it even more. Now Hasbro has to convince them to order more.

[swafus]

I'm 95% sure that hasbro bought out kenner in the early to mid 90's.

[DarthBrett]

Hasbro bought Kenner out in 1991 but toys (I know with SW at least) were still made and released under the Kenner brand name all the way up until late '98/early 1999.

[C.I.A.D.]

Hey, did you guys know?...Hasbro bought out Kenner! :D

Seriously though, it's not a matter of Hasbro dropping the ball..there are way too many variables involved to blame one single side.

Hasbro distributes what stores order. If the store doesn't order it, Hasbro isn't shipping it.

When the store does order it, you have the entire community on the hunt for them. You have those hit with nostalgia looking for them. You have kids looking for them.

Not even 4 hours ago I was in Meijers. I found 1 cobra trooper.

An old man saw it in my hand and asked me where I found it, and if there were more. I just gave him the one I had, as he said that he's been buying them for his grandson...so it's obviously not just "us" grabbing these off of shelves.

[RolandofGilead]

Sadly, by "grand son" the old man meant whomever will pay top dollar from his ebay store. :(

[tkprime]

Buyout, merger whatever you wish to call it Hasbro let joe go to the back of the toyline in favor of Star Wars, and at the same time they gave transformers fans Beast Wars, all of these changes happened during the merger. I've sit bck for years and watched the sad reality of the all mighty dollar, and like I said earlier, the shelves get whats popular (meaning if there's a movie tie in you'll see more of said product). For many of us who grew up in the 1980's toy isles were full of our fav toys because of commercial tie ins (cartoons pushed sales so we had more of shelf space than today) but the big retailers pushed Hasbro to lighten up on the heavy orders. I get my info from several publications on the very subject. It's all about timing and the way the product is commercialized.

[Compulsive Collector]

Buyout, merger whatever you wish to call it Hasbro let joe go to the back of the toyline in favor of Star Wars, and at the same time they gave transformers fans Beast Wars, all of these changes happened during the merger. Well, it's not just a matter of what it's called, but of actually who's in control. And of course STAR WARS get prioritized over other action figure lines. The license costs millions upon millions of dollars and it's the biggest seller in the market. Why wouldn't it?

I get my info from several publications on the very subject. It's all about timing and the way the product is commercialized. You don't need to read "publications" to know that retailers order more of what's popular, or that media releases drive the sales of toy lines. You just need a couple of walks down a toy aisle to see that.

[Nemesis_Enforcer]

I would have to blame the retailers for the lack of product on the shelves.

Monday night my friend had stopped into the local Wal-Mart. On the shelf was roughly a case amount of wave 2 figures. They were sitting there next to the 5 packs (not on pegs). There were also two unopened cases on the pallet. He picked up a Beachhead, Serpentor & a Lady Jay. He stealthly walked over to the unopened cases with his car keys in hand to see if he could score another Beachhead and Lady Jay for me. The night crew ran over and started yelling at him (and rightfully so since customers can't do that). They told him that he was lucky he got the figures he had in his hand because there were NO PEGS for them and should not have been put out. My friend told them that there would still be pegs if they hadn't taken away all of them down a few weeks ago.

So, Wal-Mart has taken away the pegs for the single carded figs and who knows when they'll put any up if at all. Also, TRU, K-Mart & KB Toys have no pegs for them either (at least by me).

So in conclusion I would have to blame retailers more than Hasbro for the lack of single carded figures.

[Compulsive Collector]

He stealthly walked over to the unopened cases with his car keys in hand to see if he could score another Beachhead and Lady Jay for me. The night crew ran over and started yelling at him (and rightfully so since customers can't do that). According to whom? I've done that more times than I can remember, and no one has ever said anything to me about it.

[SnakeEyes]

Well, I was officially on the Hasbro Hater Wagon until yesterday! I found TONS of wave 2 & 3 at a local target. From my count, they had at least 6 cases, maybe more.

Now that Hasbro knows how these are selling, I believe it's just a matter of time guys!!! At least I hope so...I didn't preorder wave 5 in time, so I hope they fix the distribution problem be4 that wave hits!

[Shogi]

According to whom? I've done that more times than I can remember, and no one has ever said anything to me about it.

Actually, I've run into this same problem in Walmarts both here in North Carolina and Florida. Sometimes they'll get bent out of shape and sometimes if you ask them nicely enough, they'll start hunting through the pallets for you and open up many cases (Whether there's room for the toys on the shelf or not)

I've also had some employees of Target try to bite my head off for asking about a DCPI number

It all comes down to who you're talking to and how nice you are

[Compulsive Collector]

Actually, I've run into this same problem in Walmarts both here in North Carolina and Florida. Sometimes they'll get bent out of shape and sometimes if you ask them nicely enough, they'll start hunting through the pallets for you and open up many cases (Whether there's room for the toys on the shelf or not) I only ask if there's an employee right next to the boxes. Usually, though, there's not, and if I see a case of what I want, I pop it open with my house key. I've never had anyone say a word to me about it. And honestly, if you don't want customers to touch the boxes, don't leave them in the middle of the floor. :D

I've also had some employees of Target try to bite my head off for asking about a DCPI number My girlfriend used to work at Target, so I've seen a couple of people get frustrated with just how much she knows about their system. I've never had anyone react negatively to the mention of a DPCI number, but I did read about a collector on another site being told that he isn't supposed to know those numbers. For all the stories you hear about fascist attitudes toward collectors in Target stores, their employees are usually the most helpful people in the world when I ask if they have any of this or that in the back.

It all comes down to who you're talking to and how nice you are I always try to be polite and respectful, but if someone in a retail store raised his voice at me, I can't say that would last very long.

[Nemesis_Enforcer]

According to whom? I've done that more times than I can remember, and no one has ever said anything to me about it.

When I've tried to open cases that are on the floor the employees always seem to come out of nowhere to shoo me away. I've only been successful once. I guess I need more practice.

I was at this one Wal-Mart late at night and the woman stocking told me that she cannot open a case unless there was enough space on the pegs for the entire case. She told me that Wal-Mart does not like opened cases in the back because of theft. I talked to her a bit and now she calls me when shipments come in. Although that's for Star Wars figures. I haven't spoken to her about G.I. Joes yet.

[Compulsive Collector]

It's interesting how different the experiences are. Hell, I was going through a case I opened one night, and a second shift manager who was walking by said, "If you'll hang on a second, I'll see if there's another pallet of toys coming."

[Irid70]

I've never had a problem going through cases but I haven't done it that much.

I have had issues with Target and "checking the back." One of the Targets nearest my mom's house actually had a store policy of limiting the purchases of "collectible" figures (just what "collectible" meant the policy didn't define) and never, ever allowing employees to check the back for something. If you asked you'd get yelled at. Granted, being yelled at by a Target employee doesn't bother me a whole heck of a lot. I find it odd that at a retail store such as Target, TRU or Wal-Mart that can be such a problem, whereas at many other retail stores (Barnes&Noble, for instance, or any store selling shoes) it is a basic part of an employee's job to check for things in the storeroom(s).

[tkprime]

Wow, after reading your posts I feel so bad for my spouse (she works for Wal-Mart) I had seen a few years ago in other cities that Joe had been taking off of pegs, but I guess it depends on if it sells. the Picayune Wal-Mart cancelled the space during valor vs. venom, and it made no sense to me because I bought the entire casepacks back then, but they told me that they were off the planogram, now that I hear your stories I feel for you guys. I just hope Hasbro keeps joe in our reach, because buying from evilbay sometimes gets on my nerves. My Wife's store has 4 cases on order, but it doesn't mean that they'll get em, but I always have my cell handy and wen she calls me I go buy one of each (I'm not a scalper, I try to leave figures for kids, but I'm a collector, as are my 2 sons, so when they do come in I get excited, not just for me mind you, but for the excitment on my boys faces when they get a new joe, or cobra)!

[Riggler]

I've plowed pallets at Wal_mart, too. And with no issue yet. I'm aware of employees who work retail and get assigned to toy depts. with the express purpose of getting rare figures of various lines.

Also, I noticed one Target (but not the other in the area) had a sign up over the Star Wars action figures stating something akin to "Due to high demand of certain rare toys and to be fair to all of our customers, Target associates cannot check toy availability." That's a paraphrase, but pretty much it.

[DarthBrett]

I have wanted to open unopened cases but have yet to do it. I worked at Target when I was at the end of High School for my first job and I heard different stories from different managers as to what was allowed. Some say do not allow customers to touch unopened merchandise pallets and others didn't care at all.

For some reason, whenever I have had the opportunity to do so, I always feel guilty or like I'm being a bad customer and feel as though I am being petty by even thinking of doing it (I have no clue why I get these feelings) and just end up asking an employee for help. Every single time the employees have been more than happy to open it up for me.

[slim19722]

I went to Target today and they had 2 cases of the revised cases, so I was able to get Flint. Went to WM a bit ago and they had at least 3 cases of the revised, 3 Flints, Firefly's, Red Ninjas, Cobra Troopers, Beach Head, Lady Jaye, Cobra Commander, and Serpentor.

[apacolypse]

Just came back from the local Walmart. Not only did they not have any new single pack figs...but they took the pegs down for them. Sad.

[tkprime]

Are these cases the revised crotch cases (that sounds so wrong).