L.A. area Just Found

[JediTricks]

Culver Target had TF Prime Voyager Bulkhead and Starscream, I passed again. They want $32 now for SW vehicles!!! This is not a good sign. Same Target had GI Joe movie figures and vehicles.

Culver TRU had jack, La Cienega Target was in the same boat.


Seeing the GI Joe movie basics for the first time, I don't see any retracted articulation on the 5 they had - SE, SS, Duke, Roadblock, and Cobra (para)Trooper - it looked like SOP for modern Joes except I think some had swivel wrists while others had universal-wrists but no ankles, which in my book is an acceptable tradeoff. $10 for a Joe figure is not though.

Thanks, JT! Filled some holes in my collection with that!

Thanks JT!

I have the Evazan/Aayla/Nom Amor wave coming from HTS but still need that Mon Cal pilot so I got one of him along with a 501st trooper.

Glad to hear it!

I just kinda figure I don't hunt for toys, and what I find in my normal shopping trips, I get. I only order figures who are unavailable in stores at this point. If I order regular retail figures, it will throw off that rhythm.

Sad to say, it's pretty much gotten that bad over the past couple of years. And, though I really do hate to harp on it, the one-two GIJoe suckerpunch of "the good stuff you've all asked for is only at one discount chain"/"we're recalling the movie toys and to hell with you if you didn't find them in the week leading up to the street date" has disillusioned me even more.

I sorta know what you mean about just looking when you're out, not hunting actively. Still, if it's a figure you really want, getting is better than not getting IMO.

Good tip JT. If they had Aayla, i might go for her and 501st. Dunno

They had Aayla before I got there, sold through I guess, same with Nom Anor and something else, I forget. I couldn't even find the new Vader, the TVC Vader listings all show previous Vaders, too many Vaders spoil the broth.

It came up in another thread. Essentially what they did was delay the movie less than a week before the toys came out, tell fans that what was shipped would be sold but there wouldn't be more, then tell stores (a day or so before release date) to ship everything back. Some stores are, some aren't. Like I said, it looks like I live in the one place on Earth where they stuck to the street date and demand to return everything. Except for one TRU, but, thanks to them being the only place who had anything at all and their BOGO sale, only has the incredibly bad motorcycles.

(Admittedly, those motorcycles are only bad at full price. Once Ross gets them for $5, I'll get a few.)

It also looks like they don't have the sense to make it up to retailers and fans by shipping stuff that they should know would sell through, like the HTF 2011 figures and re-released/repainted Cobras; they supposedly don't mind losing the shelf space.

Happy 50th birthday, GIJoe! It may be a couple of years off, but Hasbro's starting early to make sure it thoroughly blows.

Ouch, that's really bad news, I hadn't heard that. I almost don't believe it just because that's pre-planned real-estate for GI Joe, it's a continuous brand, pulling all product would be a disaster for the brand both for consumers and for retailers who don't want to waste space on empty pegs.

[El Chuxter]

Massive change in my luck. I should just drive slightly further to Riverside instead of San Bernardino more often.

I stopped in the Beaumont Walmart this morning, since it's less than a mile from my house. And they were resetting. There were cleared-out spaces for Spider-Man, Batman... and Retaliation. A manager was stocking some stuff, so I asked her about the Joe stuff. She said they were getting it in (and checked on a few items--none of the stuff I wanted was in yet), but WM in general and this store in particular weren't concerned with the release date because there's not exactly a great track record with Joes. Total opposite of the "if they rescheduled the movie, we won't get the toys" line someone at the same store gave me a few days ago.

So, that in mind, I headed to Moreno Valley, where I hit both Targets, both WM's, and the TRU. All had at least something, and I left some goodies for whoever goes next.

East MV Target (the one beside the Best Buy that just closed down): Got both Ninja 3-packs, Storm Shadow, Snake Eyes, Joe Trooper (brown cape), Cobra Commander (black), and both small (Delta?) vehicles. Figured it was better to get the ones I was on the fence about (the Water Moccasin repaint and CC) and return them later. Left one Dojo Ninja 3-pack, a Snake Eyes, a Duke, a few Roadblocks and a ton of the motorcycles.

East MV Walmart: Got the Cobra Trooper, Red Ninja, Duke (after seeing him again, I decided a headswap with the Joe Trooper would look cool on him), and another Storm Shadow (to combine with the single-carded SE and some other parts for a sweet custom Firefly II). Left Cobra Commander (blue--in person, that blue is way too garish since there's a choice), Joe Trooper (blue cape--looked dumb, in my book, but if the figure's nice, I might get it in March or if I see another sooner), Zartan (not a $10 figure with the sacrificed ankle joints and the garish light-up feature), a few Snake Eyes, a few Storm Shadows, a metric ton of Roadblocks, and more of those stupid motorcycles than I could count.

MV Target: Got nothing, left Duke, Snake Eyes, both Ninja sets, and a gazillion more Roadblocks and motorcycles.

MV Walmart: Got nothing. Left essentially the same stuff as at Target.

MV TRU: All that was left in Retaliation was motorcycles. But they had a goodly amount of Renegades figures. Even though I wanted to wait for clearance sales, I figured the price has gone up and I might as well get custom fodder when I have a chance, so got two each of Scarlett and the Cobra Trooper.

Didn't see the large vehicles at this point. If I do, I'll get them. I doubt Hasbro will waste the investment they put into the molds (especially the Ghost Hawk II). The smaller vehicles are both repaints, so I think there's more chance of them getting "lost" if they don't re-release them in March.

BTW, I thought the 3-pack Roadblock had two of those stupid fixed hands. The one I got (and the others I saw) all had two open hands.

Also, aside from the carded Roadblock (and his ridiculous hand) and those insanely overpriced motorcycles, this stuff looks to be moving pretty well, given there's no movie.

[bikerscout]

Hmph. Maybe collectors or scalpers are just buying them up in case Hasbro does something weird. Dunno. Thought u only had a mild interest in the Retaliation figs? Guess not, .
I was waay way out in Thousand oaks yesterday for work, and I saw the Cobra Ninja 3 packs. No other 3 packs if one exists. Not worth drivin out there anyway. Hate when i'm asked to go out there, I should start declining it

[El Chuxter]

I wanted all the figures with full articulation, and caved in on some of the better-looking figures that were more limited.

I'll admit, if there wasn't something screwy going on, I might've passed on all of the limited-articulation figures for now.

[bikerscout]

I wanted all the figures with full articulation, and caved in on some of the better-looking figures that were more limited.

I'll admit, if there wasn't something screwy going on, I might've passed on all of the limited-articulation figures for now.

the only one that would've got me close to caving in would've been a Cobra commander in blue. Maybe if i see him and they go on a nice sale I'll jump. But a sale is highly unlikely until next year.

[El Chuxter]

I posted some reviews in the GIJoe thread (it's kinda long). I wouldn't recommend Cobra Commander at full price; he's missing two points of articulation in each leg, and the lack of the double-jointed knee really shows on that figure. The best of the bunch is the basic GI Joe Trooper, who I have to believe was designed for the 30th Anniversary line and carried over. All the carded and 3-pack ninja figures are really good, too, but I'd pick the 3-pack versions over the carded ones for all the figures where there's a choice.

[El Chuxter]

I normally don't post finds from there anymore, since it's way out of the way for most of you, but the Beaumont WM put out their Retaliation stuff today (at least the figures, motorcycles, and goofy stuff adults don't care about). It looks like they got one case, with the blue variants of the Joe Trooper and Cobra Commander. I could not pass up the Trooper, even if it's a minor color difference. I considered Zartan, blue Cobra Commander, and duplicates of the Cobra Trooper and Red Ninja--I had them all in hand, in fact--but decided to put them back for someone else to enjoy, and wait for the discounts on this Wave 1 stuff next year to army-build. Except for that Joe Trooper, of course (though it was the combination of how awesome the figure is and the color variation that made me unable to skip him).

So anyone who doesn't mind there not being a Joe Trooper and wants to make the drive, they had them as of 1:30 this afternoon. No vehicles or 3-packs.

[figrin bran]

For the WM exclusive Avengers 6" figures that are apparently one case per store, I'd make the trip to Beaumont!

I don't suppose anyone has seen any signs of them? (Cap, Iron Man, Hulk, Thor, Hawkeye, Loki)

[Tycho]

I saw the new Joe, TF, and Avenger stuff. Not sure what everything was.

Now, in SW I did find the next wave of Greatest Hits or whatevers - the new carded JarJar figure. I'm not sure what else comes with those, as I'm not looking for those figures either.

Vintage is like nothing but TPM Jedi figures. I would love to see the new stuff, but I think I am buying some extras one of our forum members has for me.

I also found the new Figure/vehicles - the SCUBA clone trooper and Anakin and his mini-gunship thing look awesome!

And I found the Jedi Force Qui-Gon (with Obi-Wan).

[Maradona]

For the WM exclusive Avengers 6" figures that are apparently one case per store, I'd make the trip to Beaumont!

I don't suppose anyone has seen any signs of them? (Cap, Iron Man, Hulk, Thor, Hawkeye, Loki)

I echo these sentiments. Hopefully, the movie's success means we'll get more during the dvd/bluray release.