Dollar General T'Gin-Zu Auction

G I Joe 2013 Storm Shadow Pre Loose | eBay

good luck!! ill see if he has any others and post back

I take this as a positive sign that the repaint DG Joes will be available next year. I sure would love to army build those Sunbow blueshirts!

Tyt

Missed it. Will we see any other DG Joes from him?

Weird. I was just looking through all of VK's auctions yesterday and didn't see this one.

I expect there will be a lot of activity since we're seeing wave 3 Retaliation figs and now at least one DG fig coming out of Asia.

Yeah this is a good sign of things to come...

Don't take this as necessarily a sign of things to come..

Remember, VK also had most of the canceled RoC figures up at one time or the other (and still has some).

So just because he's got the Storm Shadow doesn't mean it'll be out in stores.

Cobra??

G I Joe 2013 Storm Shadow Pre Loose | eBay

back up

kinda a fugly figure.......

I really love the figure, I plan on grabbing several. It's also worth pointing out that with the two stormshadows and the biol and pop method, it would very easy to recreate a Renegades SS with a different head.

Too bad this figure is incomplete. (Missing the orange sash around the waist)

At least it is a good sign that these are probably being mass produced by now. I wonder if these will be displayed at ToyFair NY in February? If not, then probably at JoeCon in April.

I hope we see these in the store before April.

I want that green Shipwreck something fierce.

Does anybody know anything about the seller?? I was looking at some of his stuff, and was wondering if he has good reviews from anybody on here??

ha ha , your talking about roc figures!!!

VK is pretty awesome if you want some good deals or stuff early. You have nothing to worry about if you buy from him. I've bought SEVERAL items from him over the years

Sa-weet!

I buy from him all the time and have never had any issues. Probably 40 different transactions with no problem. That guy rocks

VK is awesome!! I have bought a lot from him also. He is cool!

Who is this Viperkingdom that he always gets stuff way before the street date?

Well, it helps when you have that sweet, sweet, $80K/yr. IT gig. I wish I had your job Marc. Then I would have cool early stuffs too. :-P

One word: Lockdown

Cool. I can't wait for the green Shipwreck and grey Duke from that wave.

hope this 2nd wave comes out soon

Guys over in China steal product from the factories and sell it on ebay. That's why it's never carded w/ all their gear, becuase they have to sneak them out of the factory. There are a couple different sellers like this on Ebay.

Great seller, I just got two carded Retaliation Alley Vipers from him with no problems and he answers his email really quickly. Have dealt with him in the past as well and have never had any issues with him.

And don't ask how he's sneeking all this out either. You really don't want to know

Wash your toys before you play with them eh?

What's the street date? And how do you know it's way before?

These are some good questions, hmmmm.....

He sometimes leaves out accessories and sometimes includes ones that aren't pictured. You never really know what you're going to get.

Considering how well the 1st wave of DG Joes did, I'd say this has a good chance of reaching retail.

Yeah, I'm going to take this as a good sign until I realize otherwise.

Thanks guys for the info!!

That's actually a bit of an assumption and inaccurate. They have had carded toys and often they are complete. It is quite possible these are rejects or extras from the toy line ... or even gifts from the floor manager. Who knows? Looking at their store, it is an eclectic collection - not just figures they pulled off a conveyor in the past year or so.

I'm gonna go with this, because it's absolutely true.

Street Date??? Didn't they pop up out of nowhere? Hasbro didn't even mention or showed these at ToyFair.

I'm going to take this as a F U for those of us that don't have Dollar General stores.

I bet it's safe to conclude that most of the product sold by these sellers is not obtained by legal means. I don't suspect that all of the sellers are themselves stealing the product off of the assembly line, but more likely they are buying from factory workers who either took it from the production line or the warehouse where the completed product is stored before shipment to Hasbro.

Not sure why it's a safe conclusion - it is just an assumption. I'm not deluding myself- it is A possibility. I just know from my own experience that some places are very strict about extras, test samples and seconds produced and other factories didn't care what people took. It is likely that the RoC figures were thrown away when Hasbro moved away from actor likenesses, so that may have not been stealing at all - more like dumpster diving or a factory that said, "Take all that you want!" I sort of doubt stealing for some of the same reasons that people say that they are stolen - missing parts are typical and even disclaimers about bad paint or other factory errors tend to make me think these were tossed out. Plus, this is China - I know some of these plants have intense security with pretty severe penalties for stealing or espionage.

And the other thing to consider is that it's pretty much a given Hasbro knows this guy exists as long as he has been operating. If they wanted to shut him down they could. So I imagine there is a decent possibility that the stuff is either discarded or given to employees.

Don't let Gary bust your balls, Marc. He was jealous of your sweet gig and got himself a $80/yr IT gig, but get this his is for a time share/motel/travel company (or something). Now he gets all the trips to Branson, MO he could ever want. I hear the Ray Stevens theater is aces. :-P

Lol!

Is it not also an assumption that they are not stolen? If these were being sold legally than they would be available to everyone and then there would be more for sale on eBay. It seems to reason that viperskingdom has an inside source in one of the factories that produces most of the Joe and Star wars products if he doesn't work there himself and that is how he is able to obtain so many figures be they factory rejects ,cancelled or test shots. Also I don't think Hasbro really gives him too much thought, simply because he is really not selling enough to be on their radar. It would more likely cost them more money to try and stop him and prosecute him than they are losing in product. I know this if these figures were produced in the U.S. there would not be any sellers like viperskingdom selling on eBay. And for the record most companies consider dumpster diving as stealing. I used to work at a groceery store and when we would throw out the old cakes and cookies there were always people waiting to grab them out of the dumpster, for this reason we were supposed to open the packages and pour bleach on the product to make it unfit for consumption. I am sure that the production errors and extra action figure parts are supposed to be destroyed and employees are not told to take what they want. Whatever his means of obtaining these it's good to see that people are still willing to shell out 20+ dollars for a figure that will in all likelihood be all over the place for $6 this time next year, but nobody will accuse anyone here of being patient.

Vipers kingdom does not work for hasbro
" just for the record " and he does not steal these

A while back there was discussion about a ROC ripcord that was received and the leg broke.

It's possible that if one defect is detected in a batch, the factory pulls that entire lot. How he aquires it from there is speculation, but I doubt that it's illegal acquisition. He's been on ebay for years selling. Given laws over there are certainly different then those over here...if he were breaking the law...probably would have been caught by now.

I think it's a great opportunity for us to get a hold of product that is, was or may be...regardless of if it makes it over here.

I've purchased from him many times, but I won't compete with those that will pay 80.00 for a figure just to get it a few months early.

That was my point. Kevjul said, "Who is this Viperkingdom that he always gets stuff way before the street date?" Made it sound like he knew of a "street date."

Why can't he get the figures from the concept vault???

Ray rawx!!

Just for the record, there are multiple Chinese sellers that obtain these figures early - maybe not at the same time or the same ones, but generally across the same toy lines. Ws_toys is an example who had the roc toys early, and will likely get dg figures. Viper kingdom is just the seller of the moment.

I guess it just boils down to what you want to believe. Whether you believe that the factory which Hasbro contracts to make it's figures has employees who illegally sell Hasbros property to chineese citizens , who then in turn resell that property on the secondary market , or you believe that chineese factory workers are allowed to have any thing that is discarded to do with as they please is up to you. It just seems to me that if these factories were smart they would not allow employees to have these items because they would then run then risk of people making errors on purpose so they could have the items that would not meet the quality standard.Here is hoping this figure makes it out for mass release and isn't just a one and done. I am looking forward to scooping up several of the shipwrecks and dukes from this set.

Vipers Kingdom is my boy ! you want to see some quality plastic crack from the dealer of all dealers? here it is
these are my in hand pics.