[tkprime]

Has anyone found the green whiplash at retail? Looking for one for my youngest son.

[theArchivist]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jason1551

Couple of random Ross sightings while I'm on vacation in Destin.

Nice, I'll have to keep an eye out for those. I had sold off all my merry marauders a while back and found myself without one currently. I'll have to check some out near me.

[theArchivist]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tkprime

Has anyone found the green whiplash at retail? Looking for one for my youngest son.

I saw one at GameStop. Did you want the car and the figure out just the car. I don't collect the vehicles so if that's all he wants I can hook you up with one.

[jason1551]

Believe he's a GameStop exclusive. At the very least, I've only ever seen that set in those stores.

[jason1551]

Picked up another LE Master Key down in Destin. Beginning to think the LE label is just a gimmick given how many I've been able to buy over the last month or so.

[theArchivist]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jason1551

Picked up another LE Master Key down in Destin. Beginning to think the LE label is just a gimmick given how many I've been able to buy over the last month or so.

I still haven't seen one in a store yet. It would be nice if everyone that wants one can easily get them though.

Thanks for the ones you got me, they arrived last night!

[jabalong]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jason1551

Picked up another LE Master Key down in Destin. Beginning to think the LE label is just a gimmick given how many I've been able to buy over the last month or so.

Out of curiosity, roughly how many have you come across?

In terms of the rarity, the key question is what do we think is a typical production run on a regular Solo Mode Fortnite figure?

I've seen speculation for "mainstream" toylines having production runs of 10,000-20,000 units. But that's a big generalization. I imagine this would vary significantly between lines and scales. Also, it presumably changes over time within a line. Like the early Fortnite figures in 2018 seem to have been made in huge numbers.

Maybe from your experience at Target you might hazard a guess. Google says there under 2,000 Target stores in the US now. So, if you take a random Solo Mode figure, like a Joltara for instance, how many do you think you've seen come through the pegs in your store? Then multiply that out by the number of Target stores.

Not all Target stores maybe stock equally. Some stuff might show up at other stores, though Fortnite releases seem more segmented by retailer these days. There's also international sales, but no idea about those market sizes. But just as a rough number, could start with a rough guess on what kind of numbers might pass through Target.

I would think it wouldn't be hard to see the numbers reach the 10,000 low end of those general estimates on mainstream lines. Maybe the midpoint of 15,000 seems reachable too.

Say, if the run on the Limited Editions is 5,000 as stated, then while these are more limited, it may only be by half (if a 10,000 regular run) or a third (if 15,000). So, that's not super rare. Don't know what to compare it to, but if you look at some blind bag toys, for instance, the odds on some of them get really high. By comparison, these Limited Editions wouldn't be "rare" at all.

So, it is a "gimmick"? Sure, to some extent. In and of itself, it's a marketing ploy to create some buzz and fear of missing out. And if we're only talking these being limited by half, then that wouldn't be any rarer than a short-packed figure in other lines. And if it's by a third or even a quarter, that's still not super limited compared to chase figures in some lines.

One interesting thing is it seems that Jazwares is moving off a stated 5,000 number, with just a generic "Limited Edition" sticker instead (according to the packaging on Slurp Leviathan). I'd be very curious to know what originally motivated them to include the run number and what then prompted them to drop it.

[jason1551]

I've picked up 5 so far: 1 from GameStop (ironically the first one I bought) and 4 more from various Targets. My store has received at least 3 cases of the Master Key wave, and we usually get 4-5 cases of any wave across a few months. We are also one of the larger cities in Georgia, so our distribution is probably atypical versus smaller or more remote locations.

All that said, it's hard for me to come up with any rational distribution plan that would only add up to 5,000 units spread across Target and GameStop stores (also assuming that Walmart and other distributors passed on the same wave). The only explanation would be the case not being shipped to smaller stores, which is possible but highly unlikely.

[jabalong]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jason1551

I've picked up 5 so far: 1 from GameStop (ironically the first one I bought) and 4 more from various Targets. My store has received at least 3 cases of the Master Key wave, and we usually get 4-5 cases of any wave across a few months. We are also one of the larger cities in Georgia, so our distribution is probably atypical versus smaller or more remote locations.

All that said, it's hard for me to come up with any rational distribution plan that would only add up to 5,000 units spread across Target and GameStop stores (also assuming that Walmart and other distributors passed on the same wave). The only explanation would be the case not being shipped to smaller stores, which is possible but highly unlikely.

Just looking up GameStop, I didn't realize they have more than 3,000 stores in the US (and another 1,500 abroad, though haven't heard of Fortnite toy reports from their overseas stores). So, I see what you're saying about the Limited Edition run, as that's 5,000 US stores between Target and GameStop.

Don't know how the distribution would work in practice, but for the number to be legit, the Limited Edition would have to only ship to some stores. Of course, it's possible the stated 5,000 isn't accurate, though I would think it would have some basis in reality and at least be in the ballpark.

But who knows. That Jazwares later decided to drop a stated number kind of casts further doubt or uncertainty on it in the first place.

I have this theory about the Limited Editions that Jazwares originally intended them to be modest offerings, with a repack and an extra head (Y0nd3r, Triggerfish, Paradigm). But when those didn't get taken up (and seemingly headed for discounters), they shifted to more interesting repaints/new figures (Master Key, Chaos Double Agent, Slurp Leviathan, Mancake).

So, maybe it was those original offerings that were limited to 5,000, but when they shifted to more interesting offerings the numbers went up. Hence, Slurp Leviathan's packaging now longer mentioning 5,000. If so, maybe Master Key does have a bigger production run, but they didn't change the packaging label.

[MacDowin]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jason1551

Believe he's a GameStop exclusive. At the very least, I've only ever seen that set in those stores.

Its not a GameStop exclusive. It is also sold online at Kohls.