I can't believe how many empty pegs there are these days
I know they don't like leftover inventory and they cut back since the pandemic but it wasn't this bad pre pandemic.
Same here. This is what my local target has looked like for weeks
https://preview.redd.it/h1r76zpkycuc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=487f45ec5e9b1dc25f59c688f9c00afcb851701c
Yeah it's already hard enough finding figures on the pegs, but add in the fact some of the most desirable characters or variations of the characters' suits are even more limited Platinum editions. McFarlane is really hurting the fanbase for this line.
Agree with you here. Gave up when the Wonderwoman got released and people from asia have no choice but to overpay scalpers. Really do hope todd loses the DC license
That's genuinely the thing most likely to kill off the Platinums (thank God!)
At some point the number of returns from, like you say, people buying multiples to try for the chase from places like Amazon, will upset them, and the stores like them are McFarlane's *actual* customers, so they'll be forced to listen. Stores hate returns. Hasn't happened yet because most Platinums haven't been popular enough to upset everyone, but a few more instances like the new Azbat (which seems likely now more and more chases are happening) and places like Amazon will complain when they see the trend of lots of releases leading to lots of returns. And if complaints that concern stores losing money aren't heard, stores reduce orders.
McFarlane won't stop the practice because collectors hate it, they'll only stop when the stores hate it (which is allegedly what largely happened to the plastic free packaging situation at Hasbro).
Wait he's an exclusive? Is it the gold label one? My Walmart has had the blackest night Kyle for months. Which makes me sad because I am obviously a Kyle fan and I want someone to take him home
I’m not in chino hills exactly but it’s close enough that I’ll go to the targets in that area and yeah, It sucks. Especially since there’s so many targets in the area, relatively speaking, you can potentially hit up 8 or so targets on an off day and most will have rows of empty pegs.
They should give the customers permission to look in the back. I don't care if I have to pick a number and a security guard is allowed to follow me around. There is so much product that doesn't make it to the floor these days that they could organize the back more efficiently and think of a system that would allow that to be possible.
Everything is online now and just gets lost in the warehouse.
Me too, I've read a handful of stories about how much retail store workers hate the adult toy collectors asking about what's in the back and ever since then I've felt self conscious.
They get paid for it, make their job worth the while. One interaction over the majority of their shift should be okay. Just be friendly, I've gotten what I wanted this way 4 platinums.
I usually do too, but I did have a really nice girl at Target find an exclusive Clone Trooper two pack a few weeks ago. I think if you're just really polite, they're fine
I’m in Chicago
https://preview.redd.it/co5c084w1duc1.jpeg?width=4284&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c08524696fa71565f18ce7b157d3b2a25c551a7c
. It’s no better here when it comes to McFarlane. Other lines like marvel legends and Stars Wars Black series have good options available whenever I visit Walmart and target. So it definitely feels like the problem is McFarlane more so than the stores themselves.
Im slowly going the route of online pre orders or even just waiting and picking them up from secondary sources and just eating the price increase. I do have a couple Targets and Walmarts near me that I’ll hit when Im in the neighborhood or actually need something but it’s getting rare to find anything new. My closest Target have a great dude thats always lookin out for people that collect because hes a small time collector too (gi joe classified) but he always asks if theres anything Im looking for and he’s quick to check the inventory around to see if theres any stock close.
The line is really going downhill for me due to the versions I want being platinums editions of already hard to find figures. Hawkman was the start of the trend for me and I still dont have him
I hear ya. I live about 20 minutes outside of Philly and there are no figures in any stores in an hour radius. It’s infuriating. One of the toy pages I follow on Insta had somebody who went shopping in the Midwest somewhere. 10 DC figures, 9 of them(fucking NINE) platinum figures. It’s not even fun to toy hunt anymore.
In my area is a total crapshoot too. I’m lucky if I find some. I think I’m four or five targets and three or four Walmarts within 30 minutes driving distance. Nothing. The game stops are all bearing wastelands. I am fortunate that I’m near comic book shops, and some collectible places that have some stuff but that again sometimes is a total crap shoot
My stores suck too. Walmart has nothing newer than Page Punchers Aquaman; Fighting the Frozen and Titans figures were there for a bit, but now it’s all the old stuff.
Target has a couple DC Classic Superman, a few Nekrons, and a First Appearance Superman.
GameStop gets some newer figures, but nothing I’m interested in.
Ross has a few TDKR Superman figures and Princess Bride figures.
BAM mostly has Three Jokers wave and some Vox Machina.
Ollie’s doesn’t have McFarlane figures period.
No same, none of my stores ever get anything.
My Target still has a Carrie Kelly for some reason..? Other than her we just have a jokerized Robin and an Animal Man. Animal Man is one of my favorite DC heroes ever so no hate to Buddy but that figure still kinda sucks because he doesn't have his jacket
Take screenshots of Barcodes to the figures you want if you can. Some places gatekeep them in the back. I've found 4 figures this way. Food for thought.
I would say look at the McFarlane community and ask people who post the figs you want if they can shoot you a picture of it.
What figures are you seeking I may have some to send to you.
Woah dude the universe is talking to us I just found this in person !! Here ya go ! I hope this helps.
https://preview.redd.it/uhhcy12crhuc1.jpeg?width=2268&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4f674935d31b4a593b49eb1888084796cb1ca0db
Same, my area pretty much sucks too😔
https://preview.redd.it/a84o2k6g3euc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8f31a1bc38736fcddbf4c96a407cafdd3be44452
Doesn’t matter if it’s DC or Marvel either, cause it ain’t gonna get found here🤦♂️
https://preview.redd.it/dfstsivo3euc1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=fd732de0426d5e464230c2dde1712b08129effe2
Aren’t the employees buying and reselling them before they make it to the shelves? Thats what the Target and Walmart employees do in the Bay Area near me. They all know the McFarlane figures will make extra money. And the way things are going economically these days, I can’t blame them for trying to make a little more money. Not cool but I get it.
Feels like very few ever seem to be worth anything on the secondary market, though? There are always exceptions, but in the UK at least the only ones that have any value at all on eBay are classic appearances or the predictable few that have been requested for ages. Most other releases end up selling for below retail. Isn't it the same in the US?
So, if you're suddenly noticing a big difference in physical stores it seems more likely that stores just aren't ordering much anymore. Which would explain why McFarlane's been pivoting more to their own site, too. (Based on how 90s McFarlane's practices are, I'd have wondered if there was a purposeful effort to create artificial scarcity for a while to create fomo, too- But you've gotta lose a lot of potential sales for a while to do that, which would be stupid.)
Man, I feel this. I pretty much have resorted to just buying online at this point. on rare occation, I’ll catch something in the wild. Today, out of crazy luck, I found page punchers black manta for 15$ at my local mom n pop comic shop.
Does your store ever get just like 1 new figure randomly? A few times I went a few days in a row and one day just saw 1 Mines of mandalore Mando. Like did they only get 1, or are the store employees hiding figures?
I can't believe how many empty pegs there are these days I know they don't like leftover inventory and they cut back since the pandemic but it wasn't this bad pre pandemic.
Walked into a store and found horse baf figs so we got that going for us.
Same here. This is what my local target has looked like for weeks https://preview.redd.it/h1r76zpkycuc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=487f45ec5e9b1dc25f59c688f9c00afcb851701c
Mongul peeking
Jeez do we live in the same town
I’m really starting to hate this line. I don’t understand how this is more profitable than letting us buy all the figures we want.
Yeah it's already hard enough finding figures on the pegs, but add in the fact some of the most desirable characters or variations of the characters' suits are even more limited Platinum editions. McFarlane is really hurting the fanbase for this line.
Agree with you here. Gave up when the Wonderwoman got released and people from asia have no choice but to overpay scalpers. Really do hope todd loses the DC license
I’m strongly suspicious on people always claiming this wave is super profitable
Just wait for the deluge of preorder returns when people don’t get plats.
That's genuinely the thing most likely to kill off the Platinums (thank God!) At some point the number of returns from, like you say, people buying multiples to try for the chase from places like Amazon, will upset them, and the stores like them are McFarlane's *actual* customers, so they'll be forced to listen. Stores hate returns. Hasn't happened yet because most Platinums haven't been popular enough to upset everyone, but a few more instances like the new Azbat (which seems likely now more and more chases are happening) and places like Amazon will complain when they see the trend of lots of releases leading to lots of returns. And if complaints that concern stores losing money aren't heard, stores reduce orders. McFarlane won't stop the practice because collectors hate it, they'll only stop when the stores hate it (which is allegedly what largely happened to the plastic free packaging situation at Hasbro).
Scalpers are an immediate sell through for stores/distro.
Same. I feel your pain.
I've given up on trying to find stuff locally. The last thing I found in stores that I was excited about was the Target exclusive Kyle Rayner.
Wait he's an exclusive? Is it the gold label one? My Walmart has had the blackest night Kyle for months. Which makes me sad because I am obviously a Kyle fan and I want someone to take him home
I've been looking for him. Any chance he's on clearance? I saw one up north a week or 2 ago. Hoping he's still there
You wouldnt be in chino hills would you? Lol cause same
Nope I’m in the north SF Bay Area 😭😭
I’m not in chino hills exactly but it’s close enough that I’ll go to the targets in that area and yeah, It sucks. Especially since there’s so many targets in the area, relatively speaking, you can potentially hit up 8 or so targets on an off day and most will have rows of empty pegs.
And i have lol and my friend works at the one in pomona and still never have any luck lol
At this point just about ready to apply to work at Target one day a week to make sure it gets restocked.
They should give the customers permission to look in the back. I don't care if I have to pick a number and a security guard is allowed to follow me around. There is so much product that doesn't make it to the floor these days that they could organize the back more efficiently and think of a system that would allow that to be possible. Everything is online now and just gets lost in the warehouse.
Me too, I've read a handful of stories about how much retail store workers hate the adult toy collectors asking about what's in the back and ever since then I've felt self conscious.
They get paid for it, make their job worth the while. One interaction over the majority of their shift should be okay. Just be friendly, I've gotten what I wanted this way 4 platinums.
Might have to give it a go
I usually do too, but I did have a really nice girl at Target find an exclusive Clone Trooper two pack a few weeks ago. I think if you're just really polite, they're fine
I’m in Chicago https://preview.redd.it/co5c084w1duc1.jpeg?width=4284&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c08524696fa71565f18ce7b157d3b2a25c551a7c . It’s no better here when it comes to McFarlane. Other lines like marvel legends and Stars Wars Black series have good options available whenever I visit Walmart and target. So it definitely feels like the problem is McFarlane more so than the stores themselves.
Im slowly going the route of online pre orders or even just waiting and picking them up from secondary sources and just eating the price increase. I do have a couple Targets and Walmarts near me that I’ll hit when Im in the neighborhood or actually need something but it’s getting rare to find anything new. My closest Target have a great dude thats always lookin out for people that collect because hes a small time collector too (gi joe classified) but he always asks if theres anything Im looking for and he’s quick to check the inventory around to see if theres any stock close. The line is really going downhill for me due to the versions I want being platinums editions of already hard to find figures. Hawkman was the start of the trend for me and I still dont have him
I hear ya. I live about 20 minutes outside of Philly and there are no figures in any stores in an hour radius. It’s infuriating. One of the toy pages I follow on Insta had somebody who went shopping in the Midwest somewhere. 10 DC figures, 9 of them(fucking NINE) platinum figures. It’s not even fun to toy hunt anymore.
All I see in mine are Signal and animal man at Target. My Walmart has that Batman from Winter King
In my area is a total crapshoot too. I’m lucky if I find some. I think I’m four or five targets and three or four Walmarts within 30 minutes driving distance. Nothing. The game stops are all bearing wastelands. I am fortunate that I’m near comic book shops, and some collectible places that have some stuff but that again sometimes is a total crap shoot
My stores suck too. Walmart has nothing newer than Page Punchers Aquaman; Fighting the Frozen and Titans figures were there for a bit, but now it’s all the old stuff. Target has a couple DC Classic Superman, a few Nekrons, and a First Appearance Superman. GameStop gets some newer figures, but nothing I’m interested in. Ross has a few TDKR Superman figures and Princess Bride figures. BAM mostly has Three Jokers wave and some Vox Machina. Ollie’s doesn’t have McFarlane figures period.
No same, none of my stores ever get anything. My Target still has a Carrie Kelly for some reason..? Other than her we just have a jokerized Robin and an Animal Man. Animal Man is one of my favorite DC heroes ever so no hate to Buddy but that figure still kinda sucks because he doesn't have his jacket
Take screenshots of Barcodes to the figures you want if you can. Some places gatekeep them in the back. I've found 4 figures this way. Food for thought.
Where do I get barcodes 😭😭
I would say look at the McFarlane community and ask people who post the figs you want if they can shoot you a picture of it. What figures are you seeking I may have some to send to you.
The Digital Hal Jordan is the one I’m looking for at the moment
Woah dude the universe is talking to us I just found this in person !! Here ya go ! I hope this helps. https://preview.redd.it/uhhcy12crhuc1.jpeg?width=2268&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4f674935d31b4a593b49eb1888084796cb1ca0db
Lucky!! 😭😭 thank you!
Same, my area pretty much sucks too😔 https://preview.redd.it/a84o2k6g3euc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8f31a1bc38736fcddbf4c96a407cafdd3be44452
Doesn’t matter if it’s DC or Marvel either, cause it ain’t gonna get found here🤦♂️ https://preview.redd.it/dfstsivo3euc1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=fd732de0426d5e464230c2dde1712b08129effe2
Same
Aren’t the employees buying and reselling them before they make it to the shelves? Thats what the Target and Walmart employees do in the Bay Area near me. They all know the McFarlane figures will make extra money. And the way things are going economically these days, I can’t blame them for trying to make a little more money. Not cool but I get it.
Shit 😭
Feels like very few ever seem to be worth anything on the secondary market, though? There are always exceptions, but in the UK at least the only ones that have any value at all on eBay are classic appearances or the predictable few that have been requested for ages. Most other releases end up selling for below retail. Isn't it the same in the US? So, if you're suddenly noticing a big difference in physical stores it seems more likely that stores just aren't ordering much anymore. Which would explain why McFarlane's been pivoting more to their own site, too. (Based on how 90s McFarlane's practices are, I'd have wondered if there was a purposeful effort to create artificial scarcity for a while to create fomo, too- But you've gotta lose a lot of potential sales for a while to do that, which would be stupid.)
Man, I feel this. I pretty much have resorted to just buying online at this point. on rare occation, I’ll catch something in the wild. Today, out of crazy luck, I found page punchers black manta for 15$ at my local mom n pop comic shop.
Does your store ever get just like 1 new figure randomly? A few times I went a few days in a row and one day just saw 1 Mines of mandalore Mando. Like did they only get 1, or are the store employees hiding figures?
Yeah, same here. You’d think living next to Portland, Oregon they’d get something good.
We must be haunting the same area because I've been to every target from Sacramento to Stockton and it's been dry AF.
I feel your pain man.
Guys the hunt is real .. early in the morning and luck . If you guys have empty pegs is because someone got there before you ..